Naruto returned to his hotel fully aware that he was being followed. 'Does she really think she is well hidden? I mean all she is doing is staying about the same range, that I am guessing she can sense back! She has no idea of what she is doing. But then again I guess she is only a fresh genin' Naruto thought as he entered the hotel trying to put the pink haired kunoichi out of his mind.
"Damn I didn't think he would be staying so close to the Hokage tower! Oh wait I know, I can go get Sasuke-kun! He will be so pleased, that he will have to go on a date with me!" Sakura said before running off to try and find the Uchiha.
Meanwhile Naruto was making his way back to his room to rest before venturing out into the village later to find something to eat. Arriving on the floor he was staying on he saw Akimi and Haku both exit their rooms.
"Hey, you guys going out?" Naruto asked casually.
"Yeah we just wanna go look around the village. Do you wanna come?" Akimi said.
"Well I was going to relax here for a bit then go out later to get some dinner, but I may as well come with the two of you, besides so far nobody has recognized me, which is good" Naruto said.
"Why don't you just use that weird Henge you learned from Tsunade-sama? Nobody can detect it and it can't be dispelled. Nobody would have a chance to find out who you are!" Akimi suggested.
"I don't want to hide who I am. If they have a problem with me then I guess they just wont get my service, besides I can take care of myself should anything get out of hand" Naruto said simply.
"Please don't cause a scene. When you get worked up things tend to get destroyed" Akimi said.
"I'm not that bad" Naruto complained.
"Heh when you get angry or overly excited you cant not destroy something. You do it all the time. Just after Akaru and I joined the Yoinokuchi, a Year ago. You thought Jiraiya-sama had ate the last cup of instant ramen you almost destroyed the entire kitchen of a hide out in the land of Earth" Akimi said.
"That was different... … I was hungry" Naruto said sheepishly.
"How could that happen?" Haku asked.
"Well I still didn't have full control of my gravity element at the time and every so often when I was angry I would accidentally use my gravity jutsu. It wont be happening again." Naruto admitted.
"It doesn't matter. I just don't want to have people angry at me because you go destroy something because someone kicks you out of a store" Akimi said.
"It will be fine! I am here to relax, I have no intention of getting worked up over little things like that" Naruto assured the two kunoichi.
"Well lets go, I'm hungry and would like to get something to eat before it gets too dark" Haku said.
"Yeah why not, there used to be this awesome ramen stand in Konoha. It was my favorite place in the village back when I used to live here. Although that may have been because it was the only place I was treated kindly" Naruto said.
"Well that explains where your love of ramen comes from I guess" Akimi said as the three ninja left the hotel to look around and find something to eat.
It was a strange experience for Naruto, to return to Konoha. There were no cold glares or people forcing themselves to simply ignore him. Now the village looked to be full of friendly people that were just going about their lives having long ago forgotten about the existence of the blond jinchuuriki.
"This place seems nice. I don't know why you and Jiraiya-sama would want to leave" Haku said, as she looked around at the groups of family's shopping and laughing together.
"I am sure it was a great place to live for anyone else. It was the fact that I lived in the village, that people didn't like. I was treated poorly and eventually a ninja stole me from the village and dumped me in the middle of the Land of Forests, with no food, and no idea where I was! I was simply left to die" Naruto said.
"That's so sad, why would they do something like that!" Haku asked.
"Because I am a jinchuuriki, a human sacrifice that contains a Bijuu's power. According to Jiraiya sensei the Yondaime Hokage wanted me to be seen as a hero to these people. It worked about as well as Jiraiya sensei's last pick up attempt on Tsunade Baa-chan" Naruto said.
"What does that mean?" Haku asked.
"It means it failed horribly. Jinchuuriki are never liked liked or loved by anyone. It doesn't matter what Jiraiya-sama says. People naturally distrust jinchuuriki and isolate them! The only jinchuuriki I have ever heard of that was loved is Killer Bee, the Hachibi jinchuuriki from Kumo. He had to work so hard to get everybody to like him that in the end they just seem like a lot of effort for nothing. All he is to Kumo is a weapon for them to use, the same could be said about the Nibi jinchuuriki Yugito Nii. But the villagers still isolate her and ignore her" Akimi said.
"But these people sound like they keep the Bijuu they contain from killing people and running wild! I may not know much about the nine Bijuu. But I do know that they are incredibly powerful and dangerous" Haku said.
"That may be the truth, but people do not see a person when they look at a jinchuuriki. They see the creature that they are locking away!" Akimi said harshly.
"It's not so bad, because of it I was able to meet Jiraiya sensei and all the other people who have been able to make my life far better than it was while I lived here. I may not like what happened to me, but it is not like I can change that. So I may as well just accept it and move on" Naruto said with a relaxed smile.
"He sure is a lot different to how he was when Zabuza-sama and I first met him" Haku whispered to her fellow kunoichi while gazing at Naruto.
"Give you the cold shoulder too huh?" Akimi asked.
"Yeah. Why didn't he like you either?" Haku replied.
"Naruto has never really liked Kumo shinobi. In fact the only time I have seen him even remotely enjoy killing someone, was when a group of Kumo hunter ninja came looking for me while we were out on a mission. That was where he learned a rather disturbing new technique that is given to him with those eyes of his" Akimi said.
"What did he do?" Haku asked tentatively, unsure if she really wanted to know.
"Naruto can read peoples minds if he places his hand onto them and they remain still. When we encountered the group of Kumo ninja Naruto wanted to question them about who else was moving around looking for me and my brother. But he sort of went over board and in the end he ripped the mans soul right out of his body. You could even see a ghostly outline of it as he tossed it away without a care in the world! When I checked over the Kumo ninja their was no sign of a cause of death and he was just dead" Akimi said.
"I think I have seen the results of that jutsu! When Naruto and Itachi came to recruit Zabuza-sama and myself for the Yoinokuchi. We had been hired to kill a bridge builder, by a despicable man named Gato. Naruto and Itachi produced the body of Gato and when I looked it over all I could tell was that he was dead. That must also explain how they were both able to dine where we were at the time, Gato would have known. That is the reason why Naruto didn't like us. Because we were hired to kill an innocent man, who had never hurt anyone. Itachi said Naruto was strongly against that sort of thing" Haku informed the black haired kunoichi.
The two kunoichi were unaware that Naruto could hear their entire conversation. However he decided against informing them of this and instead only decided to speak when they found the place he had been looking for since arriving back in the village. "Hey alright! Ichiraku Ramen! I haven't been here in years. You girls coming or are you going to go somewhere else?" Naruto asked.
Hm I am not much of a ramen eater, so why don't we meet back after we have something to eat, you can show us around to places you used to like in the village" Akimi said.
"Heh alright see ya soon" Naruto replied and ran off.
The old ramen store looked like it had been upgraded since Naruto had left. There was a large number of people inside the store and Naruto had never seen it this busy. When he lived here Ichiraku Ramen received most of its business via home deliveries. But now that Naruto thought about it, that may have just been because people didn't want to be around Naruto while he ate there.
'The old man looks like he hasn't aged a day. But Ayame has grown a lot! I guess that is to be expected, she was just slightly older than I am now the last time I saw her. Should I tell them who I am or keep it a secret? Well I haven't gone out of the way to hide who I am. I mean I have used my real name and not used a henge. But I think telling them that I am the young boy everyone used to hate in a crowded restaurant, would be a bad idea' Naruto thought as he took a seat and waited quietly to be served.
It didn't take long before Ayame came over to take Naruto's order. "Hello and welcome to Ichiraku Ramen! What can I get for you today?" Ayame asked.
"Hm can I get two bowls of Miso ramen please" Naruto replied.
"Yes right away sir... Say you look familiar, but I don't remember you eating here before" Ayame said as she handed the order over to her father.
"I haven't been in Konoha for years so it is probably just a coincidence" Naruto replied.
"Yeah, you sorta remind me of a small boy who used to come here, the face is almost exactly the same. He had blue eyes though, so you can't be him" Ayame said.
"What happened to the him?" Naruto asked, he was trying to find out what sort of reaction there was to his disappearance in the village.
"Well I hate to have to say it. But a ninja named Kou Hyuuga kidnapped him and dumped him a few countries over in a forest to die. Poor Naruto-kun was not well liked in the village unfortunately. What made it worse was when the Hokage had the bastard that committed the crime executed, the villagers all sent money and flowers to his wife and the Hyuuga clan, saying how sad they were that there 'hero' had been killed" Ayame said sadly.
Naruto's blood was simmering under the surface now. It appeared that the villagers of Konoha wouldn't show kindness towards him even after they thought he was dead. Needless to say he was far from pleased and even considered simply leaving Konoha to its fate at the hands of Orochimaru.
He could not bring himself to leave however as he knew that should he do that then the Hokage's life would be put in danger and he did not want to see the man he considered a grandfather figure to be killed. Also he knew that this place was the home of his parents. And who ever they were he knew they would not like to see Konoha destroyed.
Naruto ate in relative silence after that. And once he finished his meal, he simply paid the bill and left. He did however give the father and daughter ramen chefs a friendly wave goodbye.
(With Sakura)
'Oh where is Sasuke-kun. I thought he would be at home by now' Sakura thought as she looked around the old Uchiha district for her raven haired teammate.
Moving to the back of the compound she found Sasuke. He was practicing his Katon jutsu. There were also kunai and shuriken scattered all over the clearing.
"Uh Sasuke-kun?" Sakura said tentatively, trying to get the Uchiha's attention.
"Sakura... Why are you here? I thought I told you I didn't want to go on a date with you" Sasuke said. There was no emotion in his voice and he seemed to be more angry than usual.
"I know that. But that boy who was with your brother, I think he is in the village at the moment" Sakura said.
"What! Are you sure?" Sasuke said eagerly.
"I am fairly sure that it is him, but he entered his hotel, so I don't know how to find out for sure" Sakura admitted.
"Well did you see those weird eyes of his?" Sasuke demanded.
"I think so. I was trailing him since he left the Hokage tower, but I am almost positive that I saw the creepy purple eyes of his. So I was thinking we could capture him and that way he would be able to lead us to your brother" Sakura said.
"I will finally be able to kill Itachi! I'm in but first I want to see him myself" Sasuke said.
"Right, and maybe we should get Kakashi sensei to help us?" Sakura suggested.
"No, he would stop us. After all we don't know why he is in the village and could be here to see the Hokage. So we need to confront him alone, and if he doesn't give me the location of Itachi, then we will just have to make him!" Sasuke said.
"Alright then lets go!" Sakura said.
"No, I am tired! We will do it tomorrow, before our team meeting" Sasuke said.
"Okay, that's a good idea Sasuke-kun. So do you want to go grab some dinner with me? It might help you get your strength back from all this training." Sakura said.
"No" was Sasuke's only reply before walking off leaving the pink haired kunoichi alone once more.
(With Naruto)
Naruto had left Ichiraku Ramen, but had been unable to find where Haku and Akimi had gone to eat. 'Damn, well I guess it is no big deal as long as they can find their way back to the hotel it will be fine' he thought as he walked through the streets of Konoha. The sun was beginning to set and the villagers were beginning to return home which made the streets quiet.
It was not long after that Naruto realized that he had been walking aimlessly for so long that he had stumbled upon the old apartment complex where he used to live. The multistory complex looked like it had seen better days. The gardens were all overgrown and several windows had been boarded up because of broken glass.
'I wonder what my old apartment is like now?' Naruto thought as he began climbing the stairs there were several wooden steps missing on the way up to the third floor and it looked like several others were about to be rotten right through. 'What happened here? I mean it wasn't the best of Apartments but it was always clean and well looked after' he thought as he arrived on his old level and began looking for the room that was once his own.
Naruto found his apartment quite easily. It was after all the only door that had 'Demon' written on the door in big red writing that had faded over time. 'Well it is good to know I was missed' Naruto thought sarcastically as he opened the door.
Everything was the same as he had left it. Unopened ramen containers long past there use by date were stacked up in the kitchen and and the old table with two chairs still stood right where he remembered them all those years ago. In fact apart from the dust and smell of mold the apartment was just the way he remembered it.
Moving into his bedroom he saw that it too had not been touched since he left. The bed was unmade and messy his clothes were still mostly in the wardrobe with the exception of a few that were just tossed onto the floor. Finally on Naruto's bedside table there was a picture of him wearing the Hokage's hat and robes with a smiling Hiruzen Sarutobi in the background. Naruto picked up the photo and stored it in his kunai pouch.
Having seen enough the blond made his way out of the room only to come face to face with four Anbu. "Can I help you?" Naruto asked casually.
"It is not allowed to enter that apartment! You are to come with us to Anbu HQ and then taken to the T and I department for questioning over the current location of Naruto Uzumaki" a ninja in a Bull mask said.
"I would rather not, and besides why would I need to answer questions about my own location" Naruto said offhandedly.
"What do you mean?" A cat masked kunoichi said.
"I mean that I am Naruto Uzumaki, now leave me alone!" Naruto said before turning to walk away.
"Impossible Naruto Uzumaki has Blue eyes!" the Bull masked Anbu said.
"Wait, do you remember what Kakashi sempai said when he returned from that mission in the land of wave! He said he ran into Naruto Uzumaki along with the S ranked criminal Itachi Uchiha. He said Naruto no longer had blue eyes and that they were purple with a ripple pattern" Cat replied.
"Yeah that was me, now if you don't mind I am leaving" Naruto said.
"Wait! If you are Naruto Uzumaki then we are to take you to the Hokage" Bull ordered.
"But I am not a ninja of this village! What right do you have to order me around? Besides I have already seen the old man" Naruto replied.
"That doesn't matter! Now come quietly, or we will have to take you there by force!" Bull said.
Naruto contemplated this for a while. 'Well it wouldn't be that difficult to get rid of them. But then I would be committing a crime against Konoha. Well at least the Hokage tower is close to my Hotel, this is still such a pain in the ass' the blond thought before agreeing to go with the team of Anbu.
Naruto didn't complain when Bull grabbed Naruto for a shunshin. They arrived right outside the Hokage tower and marched Naruto inside. He was slightly disappointed that the receptionist wasn't there, she could have cleared this whole thing up without disturbing the hokage.
After a knock on the door the hokage beckoned them to enter. The Anbu squad marched in with Naruto in the center of them. "Hey Jiji what the hell! I go check out my old apartment and I get arrested by these guys!" Naruto complained.
"Ah Naruto-kun! I am sorry for this. Bull, you and your team are dismissed. Naruto-kun is a guest in Konoha as he is competing in the chunin exams. He is in the team of wandering shinobi I informed the counsel would be competing this year" Hiruzen said.
"I see, I am sorry Hokage-sama. May I ask have the village elders been informed of who this boy is?" Bull asked.
"No I haven't informed them, quite frankly it will be far to much of a headache, I do not want to deal with them trying to convince me to capture and confine Naruto-kun. And if I did I would have Jiraiya-kun very angry at me" Hiruzen said.
"Jiraiya-sama? I don't understand!" Bull said.
"Jiraiya is the boys sensei and acting sensei for Naruto-kun's team. And is therefore under his protection. Involving the elders and the counsel would be a very bad move" the Hokage said.
"I see. Please forgive us for the inconvenience Naruto. I am sorry to disrupt you while you are working Hokage-sama" Bull said with a bow before his entire team shunshined away.
"Well I am glad that is sorted out" Naruto smiled.
"Yes I should have warned you that your return to the village has been kept classified and that we have sensory seals in place around your old apartment. They have been there since the time you lived here. They were placed as a precaution should anyone attempt to attack you wile you slept" Hiruzen said.
Naruto went to reassure the old Hokage that there was no hard feelings but just as he opened his mouth the door burst open. "I've got you now old man, prepare to be defeated!"
Naruto reacted instinctively and spun around manipulating the gravity around the would be attacker. It turned out to be nothing but a young boy around three years younger than Naruto was. He had spiky brown hair and a scarf that seemed to be longer than he was tall. Naruto left his jutsu up keeping him suspended in mid air "Hey what the hell! Let me down!" the boy yelled as he struggled to break free.
'This must be Naruto-kun's Gravity manipulation, amazing!' Hiruzen thought as he stared in awe at the spot Naruto had his grandson suspended in mid air in the middle of the room. "Naruto-kun it is alright. This is my grandson, Konohamaru" the aged Sarutobi said.
"Yeah that's right I am the Hokage's grandson so you better let me down and show me some respect!" Konohamaru yelled indignantly.
"Respect is earned kid" Naruto said. But he did drop his jutsu causing Konohamaru to land in a heap on the floor.
"Hey jerk what was that for I was about to finally defeat my grandfather and become Hokage!" Konohamaru yelled.
"That's not how it works! The Hokage is chosen by becoming the strongest ninja in the village! Just because you beat one person will not make you the Hokage. Becoming Hokage is tough and you need to work really hard. There are after all a lot of strong ninja in Konoha, you will need to be able to defeat all of them if you want the title of Hokage" Naruto lectured.
"What no way! I should just have to defeat the old man!" Konohamaru whined.
"I'm afraid that he is right Konohamaru. There are no shortcuts to become the Hokage" Hiruzen said.
"Well then, I demand that you teach me!" Konohamaru said pointing at Naruto.
"What? Why me?" Naruto questioned.
"You got the drop on me easily I want to learn how you were able to stop be and hold me in the air like that" Konohamaru said.
"Ah well it's not that simple. You see that is a skill that cant really be taught" Naruto said.
"Well then teach me something else!" Konohamaru said.
"Don't you have a sensei for this kind of thing?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, but Ebisu sensei never teaches me anything good" Konohamaru complained.
"I bet what he is trying to teach you is really important, you just don't realize it yet" Naruto said.
"But you are way better than Ebisu sensei! Come on, teach me something" Konohamaru said.
"Sorry kid but I'm not a ninja of this village, I bet you will be able to find a much better sensei than I will ever be. It's dark outside now so I am going to return to my hotel room, I will come see you agin sometime during the week old man" Naruto said, he left the room with a friendly wave to the Hokage and then casually made his way back to his hotel.
Akimi and Haku were already there waiting for him when he returned. "Hey where did you two disappear to after I went to get some ramen?" Naruto asked.
"Oh we found this amazing Dango shop and we spent the rest of the afternoon looking around the village" Haku said.
"Oh find anything interesting?" Naruto asked.
"Not really, but we saw a couple of freaks in green spandex running around the village yelling something about 'flames of youth'. It was kinda scary" Akimi said.
"Oh well, hopefully you wont have to be scared by men in green spandex again during our stay" Naruto laughed and entered his room ready to relax before looking around around the village some more tomorrow.
The next day started normally enough. Naruto went into the village to get breakfast before heading to find somewhere quiet to train. He did not get very far however, before he realized he was being followed. 'That kid is going to need a lot of help if he ever wants to be hokage. I mean who try's to follow someone with a square shaped rock? At least those other two are keeping out of sight' Naruto thought as he quickly gave a sideways glance to where Sasuke and Sakura were hiding. 'Well it looks like I better loose them' he thought and turning around he pushed off with a great burst of speed.
"You can't escape from me! Come back and teach me some jutsu!" Konohamaru yelled from inside the box and he got out of the box and charged after Naruto.
"Sasuke-kun what should we do?" Sakura asked from where they were hiding.
"You go chase after that kid, I will keep out of sight and when we find him set up some traps to capture him" Sasuke said.
"Awesome plan. don't worry Sasuke-kun I will find him for you!" Sakura said and jumped down into the middle of the road before leaving to chase after Konohamaru.
Following an academy student who is chasing after a skilled ninja is not the best idea however and it didn't take long for Konohamaru to make a wrong turn. However it was a wrong turn that turned out to be an even bigger mistake.
"Ow watch it brat" a boy wearing face paint and a black full body robe said as he yanked Konohamaru up into the air.
"Hey let me go!" Konohamaru yelled.
This was the sight that Sakura walked in on. "Hey whats going on here?" she asked.
"This kid bumped into me and now he is going to pay!" the older boy said.
"Come on I am sure it was just an accident, let the kid go" Sakura said.
"She is right Kankuro, what is the point of making enemies here. Let him go" a tall blond kunoichi with four pigtails and green eyes said.
The now named Kankuro didn't comply however. "No way this kid needs to be punished for disrespecting me!" he said.
"Bansho Ten'in!" came a calm voice from behind Sakura.
Konohamaru shot out of Kankuro's arms and flew right into the outstretched hand of Naruto.
"What kind of jutsu was that?" Kankuro ordered, as Naruto set Konohamaru on the ground and slowly approached Kankuro and the blond kunoichi.
"You Suna genin must have some sort of death with to attack the Hokage's grandson in the middle of Konoha" Naruto said causing the blond kunoichi to pale.
"He disrespected me, I was just going to scare him a little, but I can see from your lack of a head band that you do not belong to this village, so why are you even bothering to help these weaklings!" Kankuro replied.
"Weaklings? The only weakling I see here is you. You need to pick on an academy aged kid just to make yourself look big. I think you might have a better chance at that, if you lost the make up, and wore some proper clothes" Naruto laughed.
The blond kunoichi couldn't help herself and began to giggle. Kankuro however was less than impressed. "Shut up Temari! This is war paint not make up! Looks like I am going to have to teach you a lesson then" Kankuro said and went for an object that was strapped across his back.
Naruto looked mildly interested but let out a sigh when several kunai landed on the ground in front of both Naruto and Kankuro. "I can't allow you to harm him, I need him to tell me where my brother is hiding!" Sasuke yelled from a tree.
"Oh it's you. I was hoping that our other visitor was going to show himself. I have no interest in helping you in your foolish vendetta against Itachi sensei, now leave" Naruto said calmly.
"How dare you mock me! Now tell me where my brother is!" Sasuke ordered.
"No" Naruto replied.
"Look you can have him after I have finished with him. don't worry I will leave him alive... just" Kankuro said, and removed the object from his back.
"No time for that I am afraid. Looks like your teammate is here, and it doesn't look as though he is happy" Naruto said a second before there was a swirl of sand and a young boy appeared around the same age as Naruto was. He had red hair, sea green eyes, and had a kanji for love on his forhead.
"Ga-Ga-Gaara!" Kankuro and Temari both stammered upon the red heads arrival.
"Kankuro what do you think you are doing?" Gaara ordered.
"I was just teaching this pest some respect" Kankuro said clearly scared.
"You are a disgrace to Suna. Temari, Kankuro we're leaving!" Gaara said authoritatively.
"Wait what is your name!" Sasuke ordered.
"Gaara Subaku. I would like to know yours" Gaara replied not even looking at the raven haired Uchiha.
"Sasuke Uchiha" Sasuke said proudly.
"I was not talking to you, you do not interest me. I was asking the blond that mother fears" Gaara said.
"Mother? That is a weird relationship to have with a Bijuu" Naruto said causing Gaara's eyes to widen in shock that Naruto knew his secret. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I am here for the chunin exams as I am guessing you are as well".
"Indeed I am" Gaara replied relatively calmly.
"Then I guess we may have to fight at some point during the exams, I look forward to it" Naruto said.
"Yes I too am eager to test my existence, against someone that even mother fears" Gaara replied and without a second glance at Sasuke or Sakura disappeared in a swirl of sand.
For Sasuke being ignored by not only Naruto but Gaara as well had become too much for him and he jumped down into the road in an attempt to attack Naruto but found him nowhere to be seen. "Where did he go!" Sasuke ordered an answer out of Sakura.
"I don't know. He simply disappeared in a puff of smoke, I think it was a shunshin" Sakura admitted.
"Damn him! This is Itachi taunting me. I will make him pay for this!" Sasuke seethed before stalking off.
"Wait Sasuke shouldn't we go looking for him?" Sakura asked hopefully. She figured the longer they spent looking for Naruto the more chance she would have of getting a date out of the Uchiha.
"No we have a team meeting in fifteen minutes. Maybe Hinata can help find him" Sasuke said grumpily as he stalked off.
During this exchange Naruto sat on top of a building watching their movements. "He is a rather angry revenge obsessed boy. I think you may have made a mistake letting that one live Itachi sensei" Naruto said to himself before hopping down into the street and continuing his search for an empty training ground.
End Chapter!