Hey guys!

New chapter, right here! Not really much to say -_- But! A poll on who gets to be in a romantic relationship with Naruto will posted on the very end of the chapter. So, make sure to vote or this story will be continuing without romance(if you want).

I apologize for any wrong grammar of spelling. And I hope you enjoy!

(Chapter 7 – Bad News and Bonding Time)

Konoha

Kotetsu and Izumo both felt bored. Ever since Naruto was banished, not only did things go downhill, but it also became pretty...mediocre. It was really quiet, gloomy and downright ordinary. Not ordinary like; "Hey! Naruto's here!" kind of ordinary. No, it's like; "Crickets chirping loudly and tumbleweeds passing by awkwardly from time time" ordinary. Both nins were pretty close to the blonde and they held nothing against the kid, they even help him with his early pranks, sometimes. And it certainly made their days in guarding the gates more lively.

When they heard about the banishment, the duo was devastated. They knew Naruto hadn't done anything wrong, he was just doing his job. Unfortunately, not many believed this and caused the blonde to be banished. Now, days in guarding the gates and generally living in Konoha was agonizingly boring and sad. Kotetsu sighed heavily while Izumo laid his head on the desk in dullness, both wishing that something unexpected would show up and at least, make them feel something other than boredom.

The guards' wish suddenly comes true when they spotted Kakashi and rookies all injured. After glancing at each other, the duo stands up and aids the group to pass the gates. All of them looked roughly exhausted, except for Kakashi.

"Can you both get some help and escort them to the hospital? I need to report to Hokage-sama", the silver haired nin asked. Kotetsu and Izumo nodded and helped the rookies to get to the hospital. Kakashi slowly made his way towards the hokage tower. Contemplating on what to say the female hokage when he gets there. Surely, the blonde leader won't like the report on what had happened but he couldn't really keep the whole thing a secret.

Meanwhile, with Naruto

Laughter and sounds of glee echoed as Naruto chased Junko, Shiro and Ryuu around the front yard. The rest watched the older blonde play with his 'brothers' and 'sister' in amusement and happiness. Hideki, the raven haired boy with glasses, sighed and attempted to cover the small smile sprouting on his lips while he watched Naruto and three kids play. Naoki, a white haired child with amethyst-colored eyes, saw this and secretly smirked.

This is Naruto's new home and family. It isn't too big and it isn't too small, though he wouldn't mind if his family increased in numbers. More the merrier, right? Every single member holds a special place in the blonde man's heart, none were treated unequally. Like Naruto, they all experienced a dark past and a once lonely, miserable life. A lot, though not all, of them were actually orphans, similar to their big brother figure.

Kazue, the red headed girl, is a very loyal and passionate child. She used to live with her grandfather, who was a retired samurai from the Land of Snow. Both her parents died and was taken care of by his grandfather. The redheaded girl was trained in the arts of the swords by her grandfather to able to protect herself from harm. At the age of 80, Kazue's elderly guardian passed away from an unknown disease, leaving her to survive by herself. Naruto found her at the age of seven years old, which was a year after her grandfather died, and took her in.

Ryuu was the second child to arrive in the family, he used to be with his parents when they were suddenly murdered by a known killer in their country. Ryuu was able to escape before he was found by the murderer and had no choice but to live in the streets since his only family had died. Unlike Kazue, who got a small job and worked for her daily needs, the dirty blonde boy had to steal to survive. He was once caught by a merchant, leading him to be punished by the same man he stole from. That was when Naruto had saved him, after witnessing the abusive punishment he was enduring.

A few months after Ryuu came in the family, Shiro and Junko were adopted. And similar to Ryuu, they once had a family. An uncontrolled fire bursts through half of the children's home village, setting his home aflame with Shiro, his parents and 3 year old baby sister, Junko, still inside the building. Their father died in the fire while their mother died from suffocation. Both Shiro and Junko were sent to an orphanage, which was thankfully saved from the fire; they lived there for a while before the older of the two decided to escape the orphanage with his sister. The night after their getaway, they were found by the blonde mercenary.

Naoki, the white haired child, soon joined the ever-growing family. The only things you need to know about this 8 year old is that he is very quiet and he is very sneaky. No one really knows how Naoki became an orphan or how he ended up on the streets like some of the kids, since he doesn't really say anything. Actually, Naruto wasn't the one who found the white haired boy, but Akiko. She was going around town when she suddenly bumped into Naoki, literally. They both fell on their bottoms but all was forgiven, Aki talked to Naoki (at least, she tried to) and confirmed that he was all alone. Deciding on her options, the strawberry blonde woman took Naoki in as one of her new brothers. Of course, none complained, because 1.) They really didn't mind and 2.) Kami knows what would happen to them if they opposed the woman's wishes.

Last but not the least, Hideki. Now, Hideki is very observant child and believe or not, his parents actually abandoned him. He was sold to a group of men, whom his parents had a debt to. And instead of paying by cash, they payed by giving them their one and only son. Yeah, talk about caring parents. You could already guess who saved him from a life of slavery. If you're asking, Hideki is the oldest, celebrating his 9th birthday just a few months ago with his new family; who he secretly cherishes. Out of all the kids, Hideki is the most mature, Kazue just behind him in ranks of maturity.

For others, this was a very rambunctious family full of people who aren't even your blood-relatives, but for our blonde mercenary, this was his home. This is where he belongs, with people like him; with people who actually wants to be with him and loves him dearly. He couldn't and wouldn't trade anything else in the world.

Back in Konoha

Kakashi nervously stood outside of Tsunade's office, he was nervous of what the Godaime might do. Everyone knew that the blonde woman missed her 'little brother' dearly and that Naruto was very important to her. The chance of the female hokage getting angry because of their failed mission to retrieve Naruto, was a very big chance. Punishment might even pop in Tsunade's mind for failing their mission, and that made the jounin shiver. After all, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, mostly a VERY strong woman, at that.

Finally deciding to break the news to the hokage, Kakashi knocked on the door and stepped as soon as he heard a 'Come in' from the other side. He straightened himself as he stood in front of the village leader. Tsunade faced the silver haired jounin, her face immediately turning serious at the very moment she saw him.

"Kakashi, I see that you're back...", she then glanced behind the tall man and continued, "Where's Naruto? Is he injured? What happened?", she quickly asked. The man shakily cleared his throat and gathered his courage.

"I'am very sad to say this Hokage-sama. But the mission was a...fail", he answered before covering his ears for the oncoming verbal attack. But silence only assaulted his hidden ears, no sound was heard and peace in the office occurred instead of chaos. Blinking, Kakashi removed his gloved hands away from his ears and gazed at the female hokage. Tsunade sat still on her chair, hands shaking lightly and her teeth clamping on her lower red lip, she knew this was going to happen, she knew that the mission to retrieve her little brother would be a bust. She had already read the page about Naruto in the bingo book, so she knew that there was a 98% chance that he would defeat the rookies and his former sensei without breaking a sweat.

The whole point of her sending a retrieval team after the male blonde was that he might give them a second chance. And that maybe, just maybe, Naruto won't fight and the others won't resort to force. Still, she as pretty damn sure that she is going to do what ever it takes to at least, talk to her surrogate brother. Tsunade wanted to make it clear to Naruto that Konoha was sorry and is receiving punishment for what they've done to him, they want him to understand that the village seeks forgiveness.

Snapping out her thoughts, the blonde hokage nodded sadly before speaking, "Alright, go home and get some rest, Kakashi. Just hand over your report tomorrow so you can get some medical treatment for your wounds. Dismissed". The silver haired man dumbly nodded his head in reply and shunshined out of the office to go to the hospital. Tsunade sat there, sighing and then continued on with her paperwork. Hard as it may be, she has to continue working as the village's leader, there's no way in hell she'll be handing her position to any of the old prunes in the civilian council. Especially to Danzo.

'Danzo', she bitterly thought. Oh, how she hates that mummy, he had been nothing but a pain in the ass for her. All these years without Naruto seemed to fuel the council's taste for power, thinking that they can do what ever they please, now that the 'demon brat' was out of the picture. Feh! Well, I'll show them what would happen if they even cross out of their lines, Tsunade devilishly cackled to her self. Going back to work, she noticed the picture that she always kept in her office, her eyes softened at the image of a thirteen year old Naruto with a big smile on his face , standing right beside her.

'I promise Naruto. I'll somehow make it up to you, believe it'.

Finished!

Pairings:

-Naruto x Hinata

-Naruto x OC (Could be Akiko or some other OC)

-Naruto x Others

Or

-No pairing at all