"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"Demon/Summon speech"

'Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts'

"Jutsu name"

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Beta read by: no beta

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Welcome back readers

Please check out my Deviantart page for cover art for current and potential future stories, as well as original and requested drawings I do. DA Name: Artistfan62

Chapter 1: A Fox's return

~unknown location~

In a dark cavern that had 9 seats of earth forming a circle sat a group of people shrouded in darkness as they discussed an issue they had been dealing with for the past two years

The one that had purple eyes with two black rings spoke towards the one that had the Sharingan "This is unacceptable. We had prepared for the capture of the Jinchuriki yet due to the actions of the Kyuubi Jinchuriki and your younger brother, we have only been able to retrieve one of them. We cannot tolerate any more failure."

Itachi nodded as he spoke, "it is unfortunate that my younger brother has become such an inconvenience."

Kakazu glared at Itachi "'inconvenience'?! That little shit cost me a hefty bounty and took one of my hearts! Know this Itachi! Next time I run into him, his heart will be added to the ones I have."

Itachi merely looked at the man with an impassive stare "do with him as you wish. It is of no concern of mine."

Kisame was the next to speak "let's not forget that the Kyuubi brat has become a thorn in our side too."

Deidara looked towards their leader "that is true. Our encounters with him have become problematic. He has become a major threat to our plans."

The leader nodded "yes. Despite our attempts to keep track of him, he has eluded us for some time, and his appearance to other Jinchurikis' aid is cause for concern as well."

Sasori was next to speak "do we know where he is now?"

Pain took a moment before answering "it appears that he is heading home."

~Road to konoha~

Two figures were making their way towards the village hidden in the leaves at a brisk pace as they wanted to get there but were not in any real rush.

The tallest one, Jiraya, stretched out his arms in the air as a few pops could be heard coming from his spine "it will be good to be back in the village. And get to do some actual research."

His companion, Naruto shook his head "you did plenty of that every time we stopped at a town or village." he immediately took a step to the right to avoid the fist that would have hit his head 'nice try.'

Jiraiya had a tic mark on his head as he glared at Naruto "gaki! You wouldn't let me do any research on this trip! Every time I tried you somehow slapped a genjutsu tag on me so all I would be able to see is …" he shivered at the thought of what he saw "...Guy….."

Naruto gave a foxy grin as he said "well that was because you were supposed to train me and it was the only way I could get you to do that."

Jiraiya grumbled as he thought about all the torture he went through on this trip. He wasn't sure if he should praise the kid for how far he got in only two years or hate and kill him for all the sleepless nights he had because of him. He sighed as he figured that he would at least be free of the kid once they reached the village. 'Not to mention that it was thanks to him that I finally got it mastered.'

Naruto folded his hands behind his head as he smiled at the idea of getting back to his compound and back to Hinata and Ino. 'wonder how they are doing?'

It wasn't long until they made it to the main gates of Konoha

Kotetsu and Izumo both looked up when they noticed that someone was making their way through the gates and they were stunned to see who it was.

Kotetsu smirked as he spoke, "well look who's back."

Izumo chuckled as he leaned back into his chair "looks like the quiet days of Konoha has come to an end." he looked to his partner "you think the villagers still remember his 'goodbye' to them?"

Kotetsu shook his head in amusement "I'm pretty sure that they will never forget the second appearance of the Kyuubi. I still remember how all of us were scrambling for a battle only to be told that it was not an attack but Naruto's way of saying 'see ya later'." he remembered how terrified he was that day "let's try and make sure that he doesn't have to say it again."

Izumo laughed at this "yeah. But, one thing we know for sure is that now that he is back, the villagers are either going to fear him more or hate him. My money is on the former."

"It's their own fault. The kid was given a hand and he turned it against them. But we should get some laughs out of it."

Naruto looked around and could help but feel a small bit of nostalgia. "Looks like not much has changed. It was then that he noticed the Hokage monument. Feeling the need to get a better look, he ran up a telephone pole and landed in a crouch at the top. "Looks like they finally put in Baa-chan's face. Should be fun if I choose to mess with it." he stood up and looked over the village and couldn't stop the smile from forming "wonder if the village is ready for the return of Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze."

~elsewhere~

Ino and Hinata were getting dressed in their new attire as they had decided to spend some time roaming the village.

Hinata finished putting on her clothes as she turned to see Ino just finishing clasping her right brace. "Ready?"

Ino turned to Hinata and smile "yeah, let's go."

The two walked out of the compound and began roaming through the village. They smiled as they enjoyed each other's company, with Hinata having her arm around Ino's as they continued to talk about their teams.

Throughout the two years that Naruto wasn't around, Ino and Hinata had improved their relationship with each other and it had gotten to the point that they were not afraid of showing each other affection in public. This had gotten a few odd looks from some of the villagers when they kissed each other on the street but after some time they no longer cared. Although there were a few that did not like seeing such a thing, but the girls got over it. Well, Ino got over it quickly with Hinata being a bit more reluctant but after some coaxing from the blond, the shy girl gained more confidence in her relationship.

Though Inoichi's and Hiashi's reactions were somewhat dramatic

"...and then he says that it was too troublesome to even think about before he walked away leaving the missions room."

Hinata giggled at the antics of Shikamaru on Ino's last mission "you can't expect Shikamaru to act any differently."

Ino sighed as she shook her head "I know. But I figured that he would have changed a bit being a Chunin for two years."

Hinata's smile dropped a bit as she looked forward "how do you think he is doing?"

Ino turned her head to look at Hinata with a confused look "what brought this on?"

Hinata shrugged her shoulders as she gained a thoughtful look "I don't know. I just felt like I should ask. It has been so long since we've seen him and I worry about how he is doing."

Ino sighed as she nodded "I don't know Hinata. Like you said, we haven't seen him since he left and I don't know what he is doing."

"I wonder how he has grown since then."

"Hopefully he comes back soon so we can find out."

"Hey, you two."

Ino and Hinata turned around to see Sakura and Haku walking up to them.

Ino smiled as the two got closer "hey guys. Where are you heading?"

Haku gave a greeting before answering "we are heading to the Hokage tower to report on the completion of our mission."

Hinata gained a thoughtful look before asking "do you mind if we go with you?"

Ino looked at Hinata with a confused look before she figured what she wanted to do. Through the two years, Hinata would go to Tsunade and ask if the woman heard anything from Naruto but every time, it came out negative.

Sakura nodded as she didn't see anything wrong with it. "Sure. we can hang out afterward before we all head home."

The other three nodded as they all began making their way to the Hokage tower

Naruto had his arms crossed as he was being dragged through the streets towards the Hokage tower with his boots leaving lines in the ground. "Why the hell do we need to go meet baa-chan so soon?"

Jiraiya sighed as he kept dragging the boy "we have to inform her about our arrival. If she finds out that we didn't meet with her first, she is going to have our heads!"

Naruto smirked as he answered back "don't you mean 'have your head' since you were the one that was supposed to inform her about my progress?"

Jiraiya felt dread grip him as he knew that the kid was right. It was up to him to inform Tsunade about how the trip was going. However, with what had happened during the trip and all the trouble and training they did, it was a miracle that he was able to get any time for himself. He brought the kid forward, so they were eye to eye "look, I trained you so you owe me. And all I ask is that you don't throw me to the wolves."

Naruto gave an innocent smile as he answered "don't worry, I won't."

Jiraiya squinted his eyes as he scrutinized the kid. He didn't believe that halo over his head at all. He knew the kid well enough to know that the halo was only hiding the horns he had. He sighed as he began to drag the kid towards the Hokage once again and get this meeting over with since he knew Naruto had some important tasks he needed to do.

End of chapter

Yes it's short but at least the story continues

Ok readers, there is a reason I did not give any detail on what Hinata, Ino, Sakura, Haku, or Naruto were wearing because I'm still trying to figure out what they are wearing. I have an idea of what Naruto has on but I need ideas for Hinata, Ino, Sakura, and Haku.

I might just slim down Haku's outfit and make Sakura's outfit like his but I still don't know.

Also if you haven't caught it, Naruto came back earlier than in canon. In the anime, I believe that he came back after 2 ½ years. In this, he came back after 2. I will be filling in some of that with new material before the Akatsuki's second (yes second) attempt at Gaara.

Naruto's trip will be brought up and talked about in later chapters so look forward to that

I will say this, the updates for this will be really slow since I have other stories I want to get back to as well as new story ideas that I want to bring out before I forget them but know that I will work on this when I can.

Once I have an idea on the outfits, I will begin working on the cover art

If you haven't followed/favorited me or my "Story announcements and future ideas" I ask that you do so you can get told about new stories that I do or ideas that I have come up with.

Poll has been closed and the next side story that will be done will be in the order of the top five

Fairy tail

Rosario vampire

Young justice

Highschool of the dead

Mass effect or Inuyasha - votes were equal

Now here is something I want to bring up about these. I'm thinking of dropping some of the worlds that were given because as I thought about it, some of them would work a lot better if Naruto was the only one that went to that world and he wasn't in a relationship with Ino and Hinata. So yeah.

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