What's up, my pups? Nate-Dawgg hitting at ya! So I have decided to do another fanfic. Next chapter for this and first for that one will be up before you know it. If you have any problems with my writing, please let me know. Flame me or praise me, I can take it. PEACE OUT!

- Nate-Dawgg73

P.S. - I do not, I repeat, do not own Naruto at all, whatsoever, no matter how much I wish I did. I have forgotten to do this in previous chapters, so here it is now. Naruto ain't mine and probably ain't never gonna. Peace out again!

"Hiiiiyaaaa!" yelled Lee as he sprang forward to attack his former sensei. Gai simple side-stepped him and grabbed his ankle. Lee went for a kick to the head, but Gai caught his attempt and threw him by both legs into a nearby training post. All of a sudden, Neji sprang from cover and jabbed a kunai outward. Gai just barely dodged, loosing a strand of hair as he went. He raised his leg and hit Neji clear on his head, knocking him over. Tenten appeared behind Gai with a katana in hand. She swung down, but met metal with metal. Gai had blocked her katana with a kunai without even turning around. Tenten sweat-dropped then took another swing at Gai only to hit the ground. Gai was behind her in a flash and disarmed her, the katana flying and landing in the branches of a tree. Neji jumped up and Lee ran straight towards Gai while Tenten whipped out another scroll. Neji grabbed Gai and put him in a grapple while Lee began to assault him. Fortunately for Gai, Neji only had one arm pinned down. Gai blocked every punch, kick, chop, and thrust Lee barraged him with. Tenten had finished summoning her weapons and had a mini arsenal of sharp toys for him to play tag with. She picked up a kunai a threw it at him, following that one by many other deadly doohickies. Neji let go and Lee sprang safely at Tenten's side. Without warning, Gai was stabbed and shanked with every skin-piercing object Tenten threw! The three gasped at the spectacle, only to find that Gai was a now a log, which could hardly be seen, because Tenten's weapons were nearly completely blotting out the brown wood. They turned around to see Gai standing in his nice-guy pose, looking more triumphant than usual.

"Nice try, sprouts! I am the victor and you three are the losers! Ha!" he said, smiling brilliantly.

At that time, the rest of our favorite heroes joined the battlers. Only Naruto and his group hadn't yet arrived.

"That was some intense fighting." said Choji.

"Yeah. Must be a drag."

"Shikamaru, shut up. I'm gonna tell Temari your being an ass when she gets here!"

"Humph! Troublesome."

"Anyways, we're all here except..."

"Sorry we're late, guys! We had to go to both their houses."

"Hello, Naruto, Hinata. Nice to see you. You too, Shino, Kiba, and Ryoko." Neji was still kind of a stiff, even if Naruto straightened him out four years ago.

"Well, you three didn't tell me I would have more opponents?"

"What's the matter Gai? Can't handle yourself?" said a certain white haired ninja, reading his Icha Icha book.

"Kakashi! My good friend and arch rival! I'd like to see you do any better."

"Ha, I don't know if I could. I saw how you had some difficulty with your old three. Not too long ago, I had trouble with just Naruto and Sakura. I'd get my ass kicked if all of them were on me, with the Byakugan, Shadow possession, and Rasengan wielders down there."

"Hmm, at least you admit that. Aha! I, using my incredible intelligence, have come up with a proposition for you, Kakashi. Since we are tied in our compitions, what do you say we team up against all of our lower counterparts."

"Ha, you two? Against all 13 of us? Well, I thought Naruto was too confident, but you two would probably cover for the rest of us."

"Ahem, well, Ino, at least I could stand a chance against one of them."

"Enough, enough. If these two oldies want to fight us, let them." said Tenten, matter of factually.

"So, the youngsters agree to it then. Whataya say, Kakashi?"

"I got some time to kill so, why not."

"So Neji, Tenten, Lee, Sakura, Sai, Naruto, Hinata, Shino, Kiba, Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, and Ryoko? Are y'all ready for the taste of defeat with a side of failure, cuz thats whats on the menu for today!"

They were all getting ready for their competition when Hanabi and Konohamaru ran up to them. "Hey, Naruto!" yelled Konohamaru, accidentally stepping on Ino's foot as her ran up to him.

"Hey, twerp! Watch out!"

"Sorry. Anyways, Tsunade needs you."

"Ah, Grandma, what now?"

Hanabi eyed him rather oddly. Hinata noticed this, but didn't let it bother her. "Hinata, Tsunade also needs you. Along with everyone except Kakashi and Gai."

"Well, I guess I can finish my book and you, Gai, can go comb your hair."

"Kakashi! How dare you insult my wonderful, perfect locks!"

"Konohamaru, why didn't you just say she needs all of us?"

"I dunno."

"Because he's dense like you," said Hanabi, earning a giggle out of the other girls. Naruto glared at her then turned towards the others.

"Alright guys, let's go get this over with."

Shino started walking towards the Hokage tower, but stopped and tilted his head ever so slightly. "Do you hear that?" he asked no one.

Ino and Sakura jumped on top of a training post to look in the direction Shino was listening in. "Damn it, forehead, I was here first."

"No way, pig, I got here before you did."

Kiba and Akamaru started to smell in that direction as well. Ryoko and Akita did the same. Neji and Hinata activated their Byakugans. Shortly after, Neji and Hinata gasped in unison.

Shikamaru got that serious look on his face. "Neji, what is it?"

"It's the Kazekage and his caravan. They are about fifty miles out, but something is wrong. They have a box and packs, but Gaara is carrying his sister...and they're sprinting very fastly."

Shikamaru's serious look turned into one of concern. "Temari? What are they running from?"

This time Hinata spoke. "Th-they are running from a cloud or a storm rather."

Tenten ran up to Neji, gripping his shoulder. "Shouldn't we go to Tsunade and report this?"

"Yes. And because she summoned us."

"Shikamaru, Sakura and I should stay and wait for the Sand caravan. The rest of you go." Naruto was Gaara's closest friend in Konoha and he'd feel more welcomed if Naruto was there to greet him personally. Plus, if they had to fight, Naruto would be enthusiastically delighted to help his friend.

Neji nodded towards Naruto and him and the rest began to walk in the direction of the Hokage Tower. Hinata looked at Naruto and decided she'd do something. She grabbed his hand and told him, "be c-careful." Naruto grinned a fox-like grin at her and then she ran off with the others.

Shikamaru, Sakura and Naruto ran to the front gate. Izumo and Kotetsu were there, almost as always. When the three arrived in their hurry, the two Jounin got up and went to them. "What's going on here, you three?"

Sakura looked him in the eye as if he were stupid, then said, "the Kazekage and his caravan are on their way in and in quite a hurry." As if on cue, the gargantuan thunder-boomer came into better view of the citizens and shinobi of Konoha. Lightning struck a tree, which burst into flames and fell into the approaching Sand caravan. The box Neji spoke of flew up and landed on the opposite side of the burning part of the tree. Gaara's sand snaked around it again and they returned to running for their lives. Kankuro, Matsuri, and Baki along with a few other Sand shinobi were ahead of their Kazekage, who was still carrying Temari and controlling his sand. Gaara's gourd fell off his back, but turned to sand before it hit the ground and went to form around the box with the other sand.

Izumo and Kotetsu stared at the huge cloud. Shikamaru and Naruto ran towards the Sand ninja. They passed Kankuro and the others and went straight to Gaara. Shikamaru took Temari and Naruto picked the box out of the sand. Gaara looked utterly exhausted, but ran on again, Shikamaru a little ahead, Naruto running beside him.

Sakura, Izumo, and Kotetsu lead the group to the Hokage Tower, following the last one inside. Sakura noticed all the people were inside and looking through windows or open doors at the spectacle.

Finally, the cloud arrived and seemed to be shredded. Rain poured down in a furious downfall. Lightning kept striking the lightning rods all around the Hidden Leaf.

"So Kazekage? Welcome to Konoha." Naruto said, bent over panting. Gaara looked at him, coughing once or twice.

"Heh, and I thought the sand storms in Suna were bad."

"Well, we hardly ever even get a storm half the size of that one," said Naruto, pointing to the window. He turned around and saw Tsunade standing there, tapping her foot expectantly. The others were behind her, looking at them as well.

"Good afternoon, Kazekage. I see you had a mostly good journey, except for that freak storm. Wait a sec! STORM?! Shit, there can't be a storm; tonight is the festival! No no no no!"

"Lady Tsunade, maybe the storm will pass," Shizune said to Tsunade. Tsunade put hands on her head and began to rub her temples.

"I already have enough stress and irritation and this freakin' storm is getting on my case. Last thing I need. I do know what I need," she turned towards the group, "so who wants to have a drink with me?"

"Lady Tsunade! None of them are old enough to drink yet." said Shizune.

"Hey, I'm the freakin' Hokage so if one of them wants to get a drink with me they can. If they don't serve us, they are basically refusing me as their Hokage! So, anyone up for it?" Naruto and Gaara looked at each other decided one drink wouldn't hurt them.

"Yeah, Grandma Tsunade, me and Gaara will go with you."

"But N-Naruto, you don't d-drink."

"Don't worry, Hinata. I promise I won't drink to much at all. And I never break a promise." He smiled and winked at her, then walked over to Tsunade.

'Oh, Naruto.' Hinata began to think about what had happened the past couple of days. Not so long ago, Naruto had held her hand to bring her to the training grounds. His eyes had made her heart beat loudly and even though she finally was convinced she could spar with him and not worry about getting hurt or hurting him. His fox-like grin and crystal cerulean eyes mesmerized her every time she saw them. She had a thought and walked over to Sakura to ask her about it. "Umm, Sakura?"

"Hmm, oh, hi Hinata. What's going on?"

"Oh, n-nothing much, but I need to ask you a question."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Well, you said you loved Naruto right? But only to get him to stop chasing after Sasuke. Since Sasuke is back," she said, glancing at the box over by Neji and Kiba," do you love Naruto for real?"

"Uh..." Sakura didn't know. She had been in deep thought about this particular issue for some time now. She still felt very strongly for Sasuke, but also for Naruto. She loved Naruto as a good friend, but Lee, too, as well. She admired all three of them for their amazing abilities. This was no ordinary love triangle as it were. This was something different, a love maze, as it would seem. "I...I can't really say. I'm just confused about all this. Sasuke being home, spending time with Lee, Naruto's personality changing a bit. It's just not the same and I'm not sure." She looked Hinata dead in her eyes. "If you ask me, I think Naruto loves someone else besides me."

Hinata felt her face heat up. She nearly started pushing her index fingers together, but stopped herself. "Wh-who?"

Sakura knew at that point that even if she loved Naruto in that way, it was already to late. His heart had been snagged by someone else, whose affections had been for him longer than anyone else's for anyone else. 'Huh? Did I really just say that in my head?' "He loves you, Hinata. He doesn't quite get love yet. I've noticed him stare at you with lustfulness, but now every time he looks at you, that lust is no longer there. There's something more. Something bright."

"B-but how do you know?"

"Every time he's near you, he seems to glow with happiness. If someone mentions your name, he has to know what they're talking about. He looks at you constantly, but only enough for people paying close enough attention to him to notice. And the kicker is, he has a picture of you in his Gama pouch where he keeps his money." Hinata blushed a bright red at the mention of the picture, which made Sakura laugh. Hinata looked down, slightly trembling. "Hinata, are you ok?"

"Of course. I'm overjoyed. Naruto actually lo-..." she stopped and her heart fluttered at the that thought. The one thought she had wanted to be true her whole entire life and she was about to say it. "loves...me..." Finally she fell forward and fainted in Sakura's arms. Sakura laughed then signaled for Ino to help with her.

Meanwhile, the Hokage, the future Hokage, and the Kazekage walked into a bar to get out of the rain. As they walked in, everyone gasped at the sight. Three of the biggest names in modern history were standing side by side in one room. A man, most likely the owner, lead them to a table. "Madam Hokage. Lord Kazekage. Naruto. H-how is your day?"

"Wet and exhausting. How 'bout two bottles of sake for us?"

"Right away! But, uh, are they old enough to drink?"

"Tsumino, I like you and all since I come here a lot, but since they are here with me, the Hokage of Konoha, and one of them happens to be the freakin' Kazekage, It'd be safe to say they are allowed to drink. That clear, bud?"

"Y-yes ma'am." Tsumino said, scampering off to get the drinks. The chatter of the bar had switched from the weather to the three that just walked in

"I can't believe they're here..."

"It's the Kazekage and the Hokage sharing a drink..."

"Fox-boy Naruto..."

"OMK, there he is! The Kazekage IS hot..."

"So is Naruto!"

"So, Gaara? Nice to see you again. How'd you enjoy keeping our Uchiha out of trouble?"

Gaara shrugged. His face still blank, but he still looked tired and worn out. "He tried escaping. I captured him, but sadly I injured him a little too severely. He passed out from blood loss, but he was stable right before this freak storm reached us." Thunder boomed extremely loud right then. Everyone in ther bar was scared and looked outside the window. Lightning continued striking rod after rod. Hail the size from marbles to pool balls began to fall. A giant hail stone the size of bowling ball, landed in the street, shattering into smaller ones. Panic began to set in on the people of the bar.

"Naruto, Gaara. What is this?" Suddenly, an enormous snake appeared by the window glaring in at Naruto. The door opened and in walked a figure soaking wet.

"Hello, Naruto, Tsunade, Gaara. I heard Sasuke's back in town..."