Naruto was on his way back to his apartment from academy. Ignoring the glares the villagers gave him, it was a surprisingly pleasant affair.

Although, it shouldn't have been. The blonde ninja had been fighting in war,before that training under Bee, and before that running around the elemental nations, and fighting Pain even before that. Not to forgot the training he was doing before that even. It was a nice change of pace for Naruto.

But even such a calm walk wasn't able to make Naruto forget about his situation. He had travelled back in time. It meant many people he had die in the other timeline, were alive once again. It was not that difficult for Naruto to get over the deaths of his friends, given they had died only a couple of hours ago in his perspective, but he wasn't sure he could meet Pervy Sage or old man Hiruzen once again without breaking down into tears. While it was difficult for him, he had to face them eventually if he were to achieve the goals of his mission.

Another technicality Naruto wondered about was if would be able to use his jutsus after the time travel too?

It was a answer which could only be found through practical means, although Naruto decided to put off Senjutsu due to the risk of turning into stone. Naruto, breaking off his thoughts, realized that he had reached pretty close to his apartment finally. Naruto then proceeded to enter his apartment and flung down on his bed. As he contemplated his next move, Kurama spoke in his mind.

"Hey Kid."

"Yes Kurama?"

"What do you suppose our next move should be?"

"I suppose using the time till my graduation to relearn my Jutsu and more if I can."

"That would be the most logical move, although.. "

"What Kurama?"

"I propose you try to get close to the Sasuke Uchiha in the meantime."

Naruto was kinda taken aback.

"Why Kurama? Could it not butterfly effect into the timeline being altered significantly?"

Kurama replied in a calm voice.

"Since last time we talked, I have been thinking of ways to aid in our mission, and getting along with that Uchiha seems to be our best bet."

Naruto at this point decided to enter his mindscape and converse with the biju about it's plans.

"I can see why getting along with Sasuke will help us in the long run, although by your oice seems like you have a much better plan thought out, haven't you?"

Kurama merely chuckled.

"Indeed kid. Just imagine, what was the main driving force behind Sasuke's betrayal of the leaf? The fact that he had fallen behind in power in comparison to you. For now, he sees you as a failure. Showcasing him some of your capabilities will surely infuriate him for sure, but when you give him a chance to train with you he will take it for sure as he has the prefect drive to pursue further strength and skill to back it up."

Naruto thought the plan was good. A stronger Sasuke by his side means they will be more efficient in dealing with future threats, but Kurama wasn't finished with his plan.

"In addition to gaining a strong ally, Sasuke's increased strength means that he will feel much less far behind you in strength and will be less tempted to join Orochimaru when the time comes."

Naruto had to agree, the plan was quite good. Kurama was pretty intelligent and had layed out a pretty solid strategy. He would try to talk to Sasuke after he was sure he could perform a good amount of his jutsus as for the plan to work.

"Geez Kurama you are smarter than you let on."

Kurama just sweatdropped.

"In any case for now you should rest. As much as your mind is three years older, you body is still the same it was at this point, so you should take some rest for now, we will start training from tomorrow onwards."

Naruto agreed and decided to take a nap and decided to get some scrolls for jutsus later on.

" So he will strike during the Chunin exams, eh"

An old man's voice echoed around the room. It was an underground facility to be exact, located below Konoha, in utter secrecy.

It was the base of operations of the ROOT.

The old man mentioned earlier was none other than Danzo Shimura, the head of the ROOT.

The man was as mentioned, old. He had a wrinkled face, a bandaged right eye, dressed in white shirt and over it a black robes, a cane in his left hand. The most striking feature about this man was his right arm, covered by his black robes, and covered in golden braces.

Before the man was a hooded figure, though one could make out the glint of eyeglasses behind the dark covering his face.

"It seems like it Lord Danzo."

"Then tell Orochimaru that my forces will keep out of his way as long as he keeps his end of the bargain."

"If that is your final message, I would like to leave now, my companions might notice my absence from the hospital if I linger around here much longer."

Danzo nodded at the hooded figure as he walked away towards the path leading kut of the facility.

"And remind that Orochimaru the consequences if he doesn't uphold the deal."

The hooded figure stopped in his tracks and replied,

"I will make note to tell him that."

He the simple sunshined out of view.

Danzo was left alone in the family as a sly smile appeared on his lips.

Hiruzen's time to lead was over.

For soon he would be the Hokage.

Around six in the evening, Naruto woke up from his nap. He saw outside his evening to see that the sun had set. The village was active as usual even during night time. Naruto decided to first get something to eat before going to the library for some scrolls.

He freshened up and put on his footwear and headed down towards the village centre. Although people seemed to not glare at as much as usual. Naruto then approached his destination, the Ichiraku ramen stand. He then entered the shop and saw Teuchi in the shop as usual.

" Oh Naruto is it? Here for the usual?"

"Hi Teuchi-san, and yes one bowl of Miso Pork Ramen please."

Teuchi gave Naruto his usual confident smile and a thumbs up and got to work.

"Ayame-san didn't come here today?"

"No, she just went out to get some supplies, I didn't realize that we had ran out of some vegetables you see."

Naruto gave a slight nod in understanding as he let Teuchi do his work.

For Teuchi it was as if he was talking to Naruto after only a day at best. But Naruto hadn't seen the man for weeks nor had he eaten his ramen.

After a few more minutes with Teuchi occasionally asking Naruto about his day, Ayame had returned from the market.

"Here are the vegetables you needed dad", she said handing her father a shopping bag.

" Thanks Ayame, now would you be as kind as to bring Naruto here his order while I go and keep these vegetables in the storeroom?"

Ayame then noticed that it was Naruto on the counter and said, "Of course dad."

She then brought Naruto his order while he immediately started eating.

"So Naruto, it's only six more months till you become a ninja, isn't it? "

"Yes Ayame-san, and I will be the best ninja, dattebayo!", Naruto said as he raised one of his hands.

Ayane just smiled at the boy's antics and the two chatted a bit more till Teuchi joined them and the three started chatting together.

Up until a familiar face appeared in the shop.

"Hokage-sama, welcome!", Teuchi greeted as Hiruzen Sarutobi entered his shop. Ayame bowed in respect while Naruto was frozen for a while, kinda caught off guard by the old man's appearance. But he put himself together and casually said, " Hey jiji."

Hiruzen just smiled at the blonde boy as he sat down in the shop.

"What would you like Hokage-sama? "

"One of whatever you will serve me Teuchi. "

Teuchi the got back to work, just this time Ayame was with him to help in the cooking.

"So Naruto how have you been lately?"

"Fine as one can be jiji. " He said chewing only for him to cough up a little when the food got stuck in his neck.

"Eat slowly Naruto, it's my treat for you today, so eat as much as you like."

Naruto smiled while thanking the Hokage. The rest of the evening went pleasantly as Teuchi brought a mushroom ramen for the Hokage.

By the end, Naruto had eaten ten bowls of ramen which Hiruzen paid for as promised, although Teuchi tried to deny the Hokage's payment. Both Hiruzen and Naruto then went their ways, Naruto to the library, while Hiruzen went back to the Hokage tower.

"Man, it was sure refreshing to eat some ramen again."

"You call ten bowls 'some'?"

Naruto then smiled sheepishly while continuing on to his destination, the shinobi library.

As Hiruzen was walking up to the Hokage tower, smiling occasionally to the civillians around, inwardly Hiruzen was in deep thought. When he had first entered the ramen shop, for a split second, Naruto's face was one of surprise, and not in a good way. During his years as a shinobi having been trained under both Hashirama and Tobirama Senju, Hiruzen had come to acquire the ability to read most of his opponents' facial features to determine what they were thinking. Naruto's facial expressions expressed distress, sadness and to some extent, even a bit of joy. He had seen the boy sad, yes. But what he saw today was something only someone who had lost one's dear to them. He would need to look into it more thoroughly if he was to find out the reason as to why.

Maybe having some ANBU tail him would be the best course of action for now.

A. N. - Wanted to write more, but got a bit tangled up in some stuff. More coming soon.