Chapter 11: Return
Naruto, Zabuza and Haku were heading back towards the Land of Waves to drop Naruto off before they departed. Zabuza looked over at Naruto and saw that he was still carrying the three large scrolls on his back.
"Here kid." He handed Naruto a storage scroll. "Put the scrolls in that so it'll be easier to carry."
"Well alright." Naruto did as he was told and sealed the three scrolls. "Thanks Zabuza."
"No problem brat." After a couple minutes of walking in silence, Zabuza had an idea come to him. "Hey you know what. Here." He tossed Naruto two more storage scroll.
"What's these for?" He asked.
"Open that one later. And open the other one when you get home. That's the share of the cut you get that I stole from Gato's vault." He replied. They soon got close to the town and the two Kiri nin decided it was time to go. "Hey brat. We'll come pick you up when we need your help. Till then, cya." Zabuza said as he body flickered away.
"Till we meet next time Naruto-san." Haku said with a smile before he too body flickered away.
Naruto smiled and started heading into town. As he walked aimlessly for about fifteen minutes, soon realized something very important. He didn't know where Tazuna's house was. He looked around and decided to ask around. He walked up to a lady in a clothes store, with barely any clothes.
"Um excuse me?" Naruto said, getting her attention. "Can you tell me where Tazuna lives?"
The lady looked at Naruto for a little bit before she answered him nervously. "I'm sorry. I-I don't know." She lied to the blonde. She was scared that the blonde was working for Gato and sent him to take out Tazuna.
"Oh ok." The blonde responded and went to the next person to ask for directions. Only to get the same outcome. The process repeated until Naruto got frustrated and went towards a wall and leaned on it to try and calm down.
He was rubbing his forehead as an attempt to stop the headache he knew would be coming soon. He dropped his arms to his sides and his left arm hit the other scroll Zabuza had given him. He decided to check out what the Missing nin had given him and unsealed the contents of the scroll.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" He yelled out causing many eyes to land on him, which soon widened. "Why would he give me his head!? I don't want to remember how his face looked when we killed him." Naruto muttered to himself, but was loud enough for others to hear him.
"WAIT! You killed Gato!?" A man exclaimed and rushed over to his side. "How!?" He exclaimed in awe.
Others heard the man's exclamation and rushed towards the blonde that was holding Gato's head as proof of the man's claim. The gathered group all started to mutter. The mutters consisted of how a single boy could take down Gato to how could they be scared of Gato if a single boy could take him out.
"SHHH! How is he supposed to explain if you all are shouting over him!?" The man yelled. After everyone quieted down, the man faced the blonde once again. "Alright, can you please tell us how you took down Gato?"
"Sure." Naruto shrugged. He proceeded to tell them how he did it, although a little tweaked to exclude Zabuza and Haku's involvement. "...and I let all the ladies escape while I killed this trash." He said as he held up Gato's head.
Everyone was in awe at the blonde's description of his pretty much massacre. They all cheered for the blonde and started to praise him, much to Naruto's embarrassment.
"Hey kid what's your name?" One of the men shouted excitedly.
"The name is Naruto Uzumaki!" He yelled out proudly.
"Let's hear it for Naruto! Na-ru-to! Na-ru-to! Na-ru-to!" They chanted as they lifted him up and started to march around town.
-With Team 7-
The rest of team 7 have been down in the dumps after the masked nin had taken Naruto with them. Kakashi summoned his dogs to chase them, but in the end their effort proved futile as they oddly couldn't track his scent.
Hinata tried to locate Naruto with her Byakugan, but her efforts too weren't enough to find them. Hinata had felt an empty feeling within herself which confused her greatly. She knew that feeling was tied with Naruto's disappearance but she couldn't pinpoint the feeling.
Sasuke was probably the worst off. He slipped back into his avenger phase where he only thought about killing the person responsible. This time his target was Zabuza and that masked nin.
Tazuna and Tsunami both felt sorry for Team 7. They had lost a member of their team, they had lost a member of their family. They remembered how it felt to lose Kaiza. Inari never smiled after that happened.
When Team 7, minus Naruto, and Tazuna arrived at his house, it was nightfall by the time they arrived. After explaining everything, they all ate the food Tsunami had prepared for their arrival. Not long after that the family went to bed while Team 7 had trouble sleeping due to being guilt ridden.
They were so entranced in their own thoughts, that no one heard Inari make his way down the stairs. He had been looking over the ocean from his window when he started to hear cheering coming from the town. He made his way down to question his parents about the noise.
"Mom? Grandpa?" Inari called out. "What's all that noise from the town?"
Team 7 flinched and instantly shot up, thinking that the ruckus from the town was due to an enemy.
"Did it sound like something was wrong in town Inari?" Kakashi questioned.
Inari shook his head and continued. "No it sounded like they were cheering for something."
Everyone was left baffled by the boy's response. "Well why don't we go into town to check it out." Tazuna said with a shrug. Kakashi turned to look at his team and saw them nod to him.
"Very well. Let's go."
-With Naruto-
After marching around town with Gato's head now on a pike that one of the townspeople had happily given to him. Naruto was now watching the happiness the townspeople were in after hearing about Gato's death. He had thought over his actions that he did in Gato's mansion.
He had initially felt nothing, but as he was retelling the story… he couldn't help but feel awful at what he had done, though he hid it. How could he have taken so many lives like it was nothing?
"Do we have to go through this again?" Naruto heard Kurama grumble inside of his mind. Feeling Naruto's confusion, Kurama elaborated. "You're feeling guilty about killing those disgusting humans. Stop it. They chose to live like scums so they die like scums. If they were given a second chance, who's to say that they will?"
'But there was a chance-'
"No. Humans aren't very accepting of change. They are greedy disgusting creatures." Kurama said as he made a sour face.
'Hey I'm human too!' Naruto thought as he scrunched up his face.
"You're special." He replied. "You managed to get me, the Kyuubi, to trust and accept you. You have a good heart. But in this world, you'll have to take some lives."
Naruto felt his heart soar at the praise but fell when he heard that killing would be a necessity. Kurama could feel the emotions the blonde was going through and decided to help.
"The very fact that you feel guilty after killing those monsters, means your human. Means that you don't enjoy killing. You're not a monster."
Naruto could feel the fox's emotion at the moment and accepted his words. 'Neither are you.'
As Naruto felt the fox's shock, he focused back out of his mindscape and found four girls his age had surrounded him while he was talking with his friend.
"Oh hey guys." He awkwardly chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "What do you need?"
Instead of answering, the girls smiled. The smile of a predator that cornered their prey. Naruto's eyes widened and looked around to see that the crowd was too busy to notice his predicament. He turned back around to see the girls stepping closer to him. Naruto's only move was to whimper while Kurama laughed loudly.
-With Team 7-
Kakashi was walking towards the center of town when he heard the chatter that Inari was talking about. The town was much more lively than it was last time they stopped by. His curiosity peaked and decided to eavesdrop to find out the reason.
"..really? Was it really that boy?" One of the men asked.
"Yes!" A lady responded cheerfully. "That boy was asking something around town and then he pulled out Gato's head out of a storage seal!"
Kakashi was shocked to hear that someone, a boy no less, could take down Gato and his men. He stopped his team and Tazuna from walking further. He turned and led his team towards the woman.
"Excuse me. You said a boy took down Gato?" Kakashi asked the lady. He saw the fear in her eyes but it disappeared as she saw Tazuna accompanying him. She smiled brightly and nodded.
"Yes I did." She said happily.
"Who's this boy?" Tazuna asked with a sour face, disbelief written all over his face.
"Naruto Uzumaki!"
Team 7 and Tazuna were left dumbfounded. Immediately Kakashi broke out of his stupor and looked at the lady with a hopeful and desperate look in his eyes.
"Please tell me where he is."
The lady softly smiled and nodded. "Let me take you to him instead."
After about five minutes of walking in tensed silence for Team 7, they came to a sight that made the men chuckle while making Hinata turn red in anger and embarrassment. They saw Naruto swaying slightly surrounded by a few girls with lipstick lip marks all over his face. Hinata started to stomp her way over to the blonde, but faltered for a second when she heard Kakashi mutter something about "lucky blondes."
As Hinata was making his way over, Naruto caught sight of her and his teammates. He smiled widely and got up from where he was sitting, much to the girls' disappointment.
"Hey there Hinata-chan!" He said happily, unaware of the honorific he added to her name. The girls that surrounded the blonde looked depressed after hearing him call her that. Hinata on the other hand just grinned at their reactions.
Instead of responding to Naruto, she just engulfed him into a hug. "We were so worried about you Naruto-san."
Naruto's mood darkened at realizing that his disappearance had caused his team great grief. "I'm sorry." He said as he returned the hug. He opened his eyes and looked at Sasuke and Kakashi. They got the message and nodded. Naruto let go of her after a few seconds and grew perplexed as to why Hinata was still hugging him.
Before Naruto could ask a question, Hinata let go and backed up with a frown on her face. "How do you plan to make this up to us?" She asked with a stern face.
"Oi it wasn't my plan to get kidnapped!" He protested. He froze when he heard many gasps from around him and he mentally face palmed. "I'll tell you later at Tazuna's house… preferably in the morning because I'm sleepy." He said as he yawned.
Sasuke chuckled at the blonde's antics and went over to stand next to him. "Glad to have you back dobe." He said as he lightly slapped Naruto's back. Naruto smiled at the playful greeting and nodded his head. He turned his head as he saw Kakashi making his way over to him as well.
"Please try not to get kidnapped again." Kakashi said with a smile hidden behind his mask while ruffling the blonde's hair. Naruto smiled and his heart soared at knowing his team cared for him so deeply.
"I'll try sensei." He said with a warm smile that portrayed his happiness and tiredness.
"Alright Naruto, I think it's time to get you to bed." Kakashi said with a chuckle. Naruto didn't realize how tired he really was. He had adrenaline coursing through his body since he had been kidnapped by Zabuza and Haku. Now with the danger gone, so was his adrenaline and he was left exhausted.
He nodded to Kakashi and turned to the townspeople. "Sorry guys but I have to go get some rest." He earned groans from some people, mainly from the girls that were gathered around Naruto early. They would've asked to accompany him to bed, but the look Hinata gave them froze them in their tracks. "See you guys tomorrow!" Naruto said as he turned and started to follow Kakashi, only for Kakashi to give him a piggyback ride.
"Maa maa calm down chibi. You did a cool thing by taking out Gato by yourself. I can't let you get too cool, I'm supposed to be the cool one." Kakashi said after Naruto tried to squirm himself out of Kakashi's piggyback ride.
"But I'm already cooler than you sensei." Naruto replied as he started to relax. He closed his eyes and ended up falling asleep on Kakashi's back.
"Awww he looks so cute!" One of the girls that surrounded Naruto squealed. She got up and tried to male her way towards the Uzumaki, but stopped when Hinata gave her a death stare. Everyone laughed at the sight. With Gato gone, the Land of waves can now recover.
Team 7 and Tazuna took Naruto back to his place so he can rest and recover from his impromptu assassination mission. After Kakashi placed Chibi down on a spare bed, he turned and faced Hinata.
"Care to explain what that was all about?" He asked in an amused tone and with a smug grin. Hinata looked like a deer caught in headlights and started to sputter.
"T-There's nothing to talk about." She managed to reply as she exited the room. Kakashi and Sasuke chuckled at her excuse. Sasuke looked back down at Naruto's sleeping form, got up, and exited the room. Kakashi soon followed his students' decision to leave and to let the blonde rest.
What no one noticed was that while Naruto was tired, he wasn't asleep. He merely went to his mindscape to talk to Kurama. When he arrived in his mindscape, he saw Kurama sitting close to the cage that sealed him.
"Kit. This thing needs to go if you do plan to fight in the war." Kurama told the blonde. Said blonde nodded and stood up from his sitting position that he was in seconds ago. He stood and made his way towards the gate. He stopped when he was in front of the gate.
"How am I supposed to reach it?" The blonde questioned. Kurama answered his question by lifting him up with the water that was in his mindscape. "Oh alright." He reached for the seal, and just as he grabbed the seal, he was tackled back to the floor of his mindscape. He faintly heard Kurama gasp which confused him further.
"What are you doing here?" Kurama asked in a curious and disbelieving tone.
Naruto looked at the perpetrator and he too gasped at the sight. "The Fourth Hokage? What are you doing here?"
The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, smiled at the little blonde boy. "Yes Naruto, I'm the Fourth Hokage, and I'm here because I'm the one that sealed the Kyuubi into you. I'm so sorry Naruto." The blonde said with a sad smile.
"How do you know my name?" Naruto asked.
"Easy. I'm the one who named you Naruto." The man said with a smile. "I'm your father."
"M-My f-f-father?" Naruto stuttered with a suddenly very dry throat. When he saw Minato nod his head, Naruto could only fall on his butt from shock. "How did I never notice?" He said in disbelief.
"Yes Naruto, I'd prefer if you didn't let anyone know but those you trust with your life. If other villages knew you were my son, they'd send assassin attempts constantly to try and kill you to get to me. Oh and please tell Yugao and Kakashi that you know of your heritage now. They'd be more than happy to help you out when you need it. They were supposed to be your surrogate older siblings."
"Kakashi-sensei? What would he know of my heritage? And who's Yugao?" Naruto asked confused.
"They were supposed to be looking after you." Minato explained. " Wait did they not look after you?" Naruto shook his head. "How about Jiraiya or Tsunade?" Naruto shook his head again, making Minato let out a heavy sigh. "So what happened?" Minato asked, but dreaded the answer.
"Well I was in the orphanage when I was young, but after 4 they kicked me out." Minato cringed at hearing that. "Then I spent around like 5 weeks sleeping outside. After that the old man found me, apologized, then gave me an apartment." Naruto was about to continue when Kurama interrupted him by moving and started to project his memories in the mindscape. After all of his younger days finished, Naruto cut it off just before his six month disappearance.
"Wow I'm shocked no one noticed you weren't my son besides the ones that knew beforehand. We're pretty much twins, except you have whisker marks." The Namikaze chuckled. Naruto could only nod. "Naru why were you taking off Kyuubi's seal?" He asked as he crouched down next to his son..
Naruto shook his head to clear his mind so he could answer his father. "I need his help. I'm going to be fighting a perfect jinchuriki soon, but I'm not sure when exactly." He said as Minato's eyes widened after he finished speaking.
"You're going to fight a perfect jinchuriki!?" He yelled out. "Why!? What happened!?"
"I'm going to help the Kiri rebels in overthrowing the Mizukage. Since I'm also a jinchuriki, hopefully I can be of some help."
"You're fighting the Mizukage!? Yagura!?" Naruto nodded at his question. "B-But why!?"
Naruto let out a sigh. "I want to help get rid of a monster." He said as he walked towards the Kyuubi again. He held his hand out and Kurama lowered his head so Naruto could rub his head. "An actual monster."
Minato was shocked at what he was seeing. His son had managed to befriend the Kyuubi at such a young age. He sealed the Kyuubi hoping one day that this would happen, but he thought that the day would come way later. "Alright Naru." He placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "How can I help?"
"Well you can help me by not stopping me from taking the seal off." Naruto joked as he tried to reach for the seal again. He was shocked when his father had lifted him up to help him reach the seal. "Hey what are you doing?"
"Helping you reach the seal." He replied cheerfully. His smile dropped and his face took on a solemn look. " I'm sorry Naru. I wanted the people to see you as a hero, for protecting them from the Kyuubi. Guess it didn't turn out the way I hoped."
Naruto couldn't help but smile at his father. Sure he might've ruined his life within the village, but he wanted nothing but the best for him regardless. He wanted the villagers to see him as a hero. "That's alright dad." He ripped off the seal and the gates opened, releasing Kurama. Naruto felt the power rushing through him. The power of Kurama's chakra was so potent, Naruto almost passed out from it.
Kurama walked past where the gates were, and lowered his head to meet Naruto. He smiled at the blonde and lightly pushed his nose into him. "Thanks kit."
"Naru." Minato said, gaining his attention. "Promise me you'll be safe. Please. I don't want to see you in the afterlife just yet. It's still too soon." He joked, causing Naruto to chuckle. Minato's face lit up as an idea struck his mind. "Naru, I want to give you something, but I'll have to use up the rest of my chakra to do it. Which means I'll disappear from your mindscape afterwards." He smiled sadly.
Naruto looked at his father sadly. "So I guess this is goodbye?" he asked in a depressed tone.
"Sadly yes. Goodbye my Naru-chan." Minato said as he hugged Naruto tightly. If this were any other time, Naruto would've pouted at being called that, but he just wanted to embrace his father that he barely met.
"Goodbye… Dad." After a few seconds, Minato suddenly disappeared. No fading away, just disappeared. Naruto turned to face Kurama and smiled while wiping away the tears. "I'm glad you're out Kurama." Naruto said as the exhaustion became too much and he passed out.
Kurama gently lowered Naruto down on the floor of his mindscape before forcing him out so he can sleep better. After doing that, Kurama turned around and walked back behind the cage's gate. "I'll be feeding you a bit of my chakra. But it'll take a while before it'll convert to you're own. Until then you'll be in a stasis state."
"Thank you, but why are you helping me?"
"I care for the kit…. And unfortunately his path won't be an easy one. When he gets close to the edge, that's when you and the other one will be there for him." Kurama said as he turned and walked back out of the cage. Kurama laid down slowly and closed his eyes to take a nap. Before he did, he had one last thought cross his mind. 'I hope what I fear is coming doesn't happen. This boy isn't like the rest and if he were to change… I fear the outcome will be drastic.'
-Next Morning-
When Naruto woke up, a wonderful smell reached him. He opened his eyes and walked down the staircase towards the kitchen in a daze. After entering the kitchen area, he saw that his team was already awake and eating.
"So food was prepared and no one decided to wake me up?" He said in a mock hurt voice. Everyone turned to him and deadpanned.
"We tried. You slept through all of our attempts at waking you up." Kakashi replied.
"Oh." Naruto chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry." He said as he eagerly sat down next to Inari and was practically jumping from excitement in his seat. Tsunami noticed his excitement and giggled at how cute he was.
"You look so cute Naruto-kun." She said as she placed his plate down in front of him and pinched his cheeks before he could dig into his food. After a few seconds of that, she let go and walked back to her seat. "Why so excited Naruto-kun?"
The blonde chuckled nervously once again. "Well this is actually my first home cooked meal." He said with a sad smile.
"What do you mean? Don't you have a family?" Inari question. His mood had changed for the better after hearing the news of the blonde taking out Gato. He was much happier now that Gato, the person that had killed his father in front of the whole town just to make an example out of him, was now dead.
The blonde's shoulder slumped but he elaborated. "No. I was an orphan my whole life. I never even got to know my parents." He let out a sigh as he started to eat. He knew that shouting out that the Fourth was his father, was a good way to get himself killed. Minato explained that he didn't want Naruto spreading out that information, and he had to agree. If Iwa or Kumo caught wind of that fact, he was surely dead.
"Oh I'm sorry for asking." Inari said sadly.
"Nah it's ok. I might not have known them, but I got a good feeling that they loved me a whole lot." Naruto replied as he ruffled the boy's hair playfully. "Plus I found a brother figure in my old teacher Iruka-nii."
"So Naruto, how exactly did you take out Gato?" Kakashi asked, trying to change the subject.
"Oh yeah. Well first Zabzua and Haku kidnapped me…" He then told them all that had happened when he was with Zabuza and Haku, but left out the part where he found an Uzushiogakure forbidden scroll and his trip to Uzushiogakure. "Oh yeah that reminds me. Kakashi-sensei can I talk to you outside alone for a bit?"
Kakashi looked at Naruto a bit confused but nodded. "Sure Chibi." He said with a chuckle, but was surprised when Naruto lightly chuckled too.
After finishing his food, Naruto nodded to Kakashi and went outside with Kakashi following him. "So Naruto what do you want to talk about?" Kakashi asked after they walked a good distance away from the house.
"Kakashi-sensei… how do you know my dad?" Naruto asked which made Kakashi's eye widen.
After sputtering for a couple seconds, Kakashi managed to get himself under control. "What do you mean Naruto? I don't know who your father was." He tried to lie, although it hurt him greatly.
Naruto let out a sigh and transformed into the Fourth Hokage using the Transformation Jutsu. After a few seconds, Naruto dispelled the jutsu and looked at Kakashi, who was whiter than a sheet of paper.
"H-How did y-you f-f-find out?" Kakashi stuttered out.
"Dad sealed some of his chakra into my seal somehow." Naruto said with a shrug. "Oh and he said that you and this Yugao person were supposed to be my surrogate siblings. So how come you barely entered my life as my sensei?"
Kakashi let out a heavy sigh before he answered Naruto's question. "The damn elders were hellbent on making sure no one could adopt you or look after you." He gave Naruto a tired and sad look. "I tried to fight for custody of you. Me and Yugao and even some clan heads did. But the damn idiots kept denying any request made. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you."
"Well I understand the elders part. But how come you didn't visit me or anything?" He asked in a sad tone. It hurt Kakashi to know that he played a part in Naruto's pain.
"I was stuck in ANBU. However, I did get to watch over you when I wasn't assigned missions outside of the village."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"The Hokage assigned some ANBU members to always watch over you."
"Well they sure did a great job." Naruto mumbled out. Kakashi however heard him.
"What do you mean Chibi?"
"Ehh nothing, don't worry about it. So who's this Yugao person? Dad said you two would be like my surrogate siblings, but the damn council fucked that up too." He said in an annoyed tone.
"Yugao is in ANBU too. She's got purple hair and she's a really kind person, but very dangerous when she wants to be. She wanted to take care of you as well, but they wouldn't let her leave. The only reason I left was because I was forced to be Sasuke's sensei." Kakashi said in an annoyed voice. He then eye smiled at Naruto. "But luckily I managed to request you on my team."
"Oh alright. I guess it's not your guys' fault. Well I'm just glad that you're here now sensei." Naruto said with a smile.
"I'm glad to see that you're not mad at me little brother." Kakashi said with an eye smile.
"I like that, but I'd prefer Chibi in the village. Can't give any hints to my heritage now." Naruto joked.
"Good point. Let's get back to the house now. We'll have to watch over Tazuna just in case. Oh wait here, give this a try." He said as he pulled out a spare orange book out of his Jonin vest pocket.
"Hmm? What's this?" Naruto asked as he opened the book to read a bit to see if he liked it.
"It's a spare book of mine that I always read. I thought you might like it." He looked down at the blonde, and saw him enticed in the book. 'Success.' He thought to himself happily.
As the two were walking back, they were both too engrossed into their books to start any conversation so it was quiet the whole way back. They arrived at Tazuna's house after a while, and when they entered, Hinata walked up to Naruto and dragged him back outside. Everyone was confused by the Hyuga's sudden action.
-With Naruto and Hinata-
"Hey Hinata what are you doing?" Naruto asked, after pocketing his new book. He was confused as to why his female teammate was dragging him away from Tazuna's house.
"Too many people over there, I need to talk to you in private."
After walking for a bit longer, Hinata released her grasp on Naruto. She faced him with a puzzled look on her face. She was trying to figure out the blonde before she asked any questions. She gave up after looking at his puzzled face for a few seconds.
"Naruto-san… just what was that back when you fought Zabuza. That wasn't you… that power seemed… overwhelming." Hinata saw Naruto started to nervously shuffle his feet.
"Well…"
"If you fear that I would tell your secret, don't worry. Kakashi-sensei has already told me it was an S-ranked secret. If I were to tell another person without your permission, I'd be sealing my own death sentence."
"Wait wait wait. S-ranked secret?"
Hinata nodded her head. "Sensei said that whatever power you used was an S-ranked secret."
Naruto stared down at the ground with rage burning inside of him. 'If it's an S-ranked secret… HOW COME EVERY VILLAGER KNEW ABOUT IT BESIDES ME!? I SWEAR THE OLD MAN BETTER HAVE A GREAT EXCUSE!'
"N-Naruto-s-san." Hinata barely stuttered out. Naruto looked at her and realized that she was struggling to stand or even breathe because of the amount of killing intent he was unknowlingly releasing. He stopped releasing his killing intent and Hinata was left light headed. She swayed a couple times before she started to fall. Only for Naruto to catch her.
"Sorry Hinata! I didn't mean to do that!" He looked at her with worry filled in his eyes. Hinata faintly smiled at him before she tried to sit on the ground.
"It's okay Naruto-san. Can you tell me the secret now?"
Naruto tensed for a second before he reluctantly nodded. "Alright. Might as well since we are going to be teammates." After a heavy sigh he told her his secret about being the Kyuubi's jinchuriki, and how the Kyuubi was actually nothing like they spoke about. "... he's nothing but a big furball." He said with a wide grin. He faintly heard Kurama grunt, which made Naruto grin wider.
"So is that the reason you are disliked throughout the village?" Hinata asked.
"Yup. Pretty much." He said with a heavy sigh. "Is that all?"
"Yes, thank you Naruto-san." She stood up and started to walk away when something caught her eye. She saw Naruto pull out a book with a smile plastered onto his face. Curiosity getting the better of her, she asked Naruto a question. "Naruto-san. What's that book about?"
The blonde panicked and the book fumbled out of his hands. He quickly picked it up and placed it back in his pocket. "N-Nothing Hinata-chan!" Come on let's head on back! Tazuna is probably going to work on the bridge soon!" He said as he started to pull Hinata towards Tazuna's house while jogging.
However Hinata's curiosity only increased more. It tripled even. Determination to figure out what the book was about, Hinata activated her Byakugan. She tried to focus in on the book, but caught sight of something else. She immediately blushed harder than she ever did and passed out soon after.
"Hinata!?"
-1 Week Later-
After a couple days of helping Tazuna finish his bridge, with Naruto helping by creating an impressive amount of shadow clones, the bridge was finally complete. Team 7 were on the bridge prepared to leave but were saying their last farewells.
"Do you really have to go?" Inari asked Naruto. Throughout the few days they've known each other, Inari grew quite attached to the blonde. He came to view him as an older brother, and Naruto saw him as a younger brother as well.
"Yes Inari. I'm afraid I have to go home. I'll try to visit when I can though, how about that?" Naruto asked while crouching down to be Inari's height and was ruffling his hair. Inari nodded and hugged the blonde one last time, earning "awwws" from the crowd that had gathered to say farewell.
After Inari let Naruto go, Naruto stood up and waved at everyone. "Thanks for a great time here! And thanks for welcoming me here!" Naruto yelled, which earned him an applause and some shouts along the lines of "No problem", "Anytime!", "Of course cutie." As he was about to turn around, he was surrounded by the fangirls that had surrounded the blonde when he first arrived in town.
"You think you'll leave without goodbye kisses?" The braver one of the group asked the blonde. Before he had a chance to even nervously chuckle, they had already planted their lips onto the blonde's face. After releasing him, he was once again swaying back and forth.
"Thanks." Was all he said as he turned around and tried to walk towards his team. Naruto was so light headed, he never noticed the frown on Hinata's face or the huge smirk on Sasuke and Kakashi's face.
The rest of Team 7 waved farewell at the townspeople. Hinata sent a few death glares at the girls that had the gall to do that to Naruto. After they were gone from sight, Tsunami spoke up.
"So what should we name this bridge?"
"The Great Naruto Bridge!" Inari shouted. Which earned nods and murmurs of approval from the townspeople.
"Well he did kill Gato." One of the townspeople said. "Which brought back the happiness in the town."
Tazuna nodded. "The Great Naruto Bridge it is then."
-Later At Konoha-
Team 7 had arrived in Konoha and gave their mission's debrief to the Hokage. After receiving payment for the C-rank that had been bumped up to an A-rank, Team 7 was heading out to go back to their respective homes to rest.
"Chibi, hold on."
Naruto stopped walking and turned around. Kakashi laid a hand on Naruto, and body flickered to training ground 7. "Sensei?" Naruto asked, a little dizzy.
"Again I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you Naruto." Kakashi started, after gaining Naruto's full attention he continued. "But how about I teach you one of my sensei's jutsus?" He asked as he held his hand and an orb of spinning chakra came to life in the palm of his hand.
"Woahhhh. What's it called?" Naruto asked as he felt excitement well up in him at learning one of his father's signature jutsus.
Kakashi smirked and said it's name. "The Rasengan."