Naruto sat at his favourite ramen stand and watched as the owner tossed his noodles into the air. Kakashi sat to his left. A quiet silence had settled between them as they waited for their food. Kakashi had noticed that his usually boisterous student had definitely settled down after his illness and come to appreciate quiet. The question remained - was it here to stay or was it just a remnant of exhaustion?

Naruto had quickly discovered that sprinting all the way to Ichiraku's straight after being discharged from hospital may have not been the best idea he'd ever had. After launching himself up to a roof intending to make a shortcut, his legs had buckled under him and only Kakashi's strong arm had stopped him falling flat on his face. 'Fine - I suppose here's no rush to get back to full health. It's not like Granny is gonna give me a mission any time soon…' he mused as they took a more relaxed route the rest of the way.

Two bowls of hot, steaming ramen were slid in front of the two ninjas. Naruto clapped his hands together with gusto, shouting "Itedakimas!" before shovelling noodles into his mouth. Kakashi casually lifted his mask a little higher to protect his skin from soup fallout before starting on his own meal.

"So, Naruto," Kakashi began between bites. "Sasuke, Sakura and I thought it would be nice if we and some of your friends went to a hot spring together soon."

"You mean like a trip?"

"Yes. Tsunade doesn't want to put us back on active service just yet, and the onsen is supposed to be good for the body and the soul…" Kakashi imagined himself sinking into the open bath, an Icha Icha novel in his hand and a towel on his head. Bliss.

"Souns fun!" Naruto gabbed at him around a mouthful of food. "Whem we goin'?"

"A few days. Make sure to wash some clothes!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I haven't been at home for weeks. I've got loads of clean clothes."

Kakashi quirked his single visible eyebrow. "Your version of 'clean' and mine are not the same, Naruto." He smirked as his student humphed.

—

Naruto shrugged his backpack higher up his shoulders. He didn't want to admit it, but he was finding the journey tiring. The hot sun was high in the sky, and the heat was hot and piercing on the back of his neck. A small trickle of sweat ran down his neck and soaked into the collar of his jacket.

The group had only been walking for an hour or so, but Naruto already felt like he needed a rest.

He allowed himself to gently drift to the back of the group. Seven backs faced him, strong and broad and of varying heights: Kakashi, Iruka, Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, Kiba and Shikamaru. It was a motley crew, but due to missions and family commitments, many of the ninja Naruto had invited had been unable to come. Still, he was happy that so many people wanted to take a trip with him. It lifted his spirits, and Naruto found himself chuckling, a toothy grin on his face.

At that moment Iruka looked back, spotting Naruto flagging behind them. "Naruto, what are you doing?"

"Ah, nothing Iruka Sensei!" Naruto called, jogging back. He'd keep going for a little while longer. He was fine. He was.

Iruka looked over his student critically as he approached. "Naruto, are you alright? You look a bit flushed."

Naruto could feel seven pairs of eyes staring at him. "I'm fine!" He laughed, his hand scratching the back of his neck. "It's just hot."

He could sense that nobody believed him. Okay, new tactic. "Iruka Sensei, you're looking all red yourself. Did you forget to put on suncream?"

He watched as Iruka's eyes widened. "I can't remember! Kakashi, is it true?"

The group laughed as Kakashi nodded solemnly and Iruka scrabbled in his pouch for a tube of suncream and dolloped a blob on his hand. "Naruto, you're getting burnt too."

"Eh?! I don't burn!"

"If you don't burn, then I'm Jiraya's sandal. Come, Naruto."

Naruto huffed and stomped up to his teacher, scrunching up his face before presenting it to Iruka. The older man huffed and drew three messy lines across his cheeks and nose with his thumb. "I'm not rubbing it in."

Naruto squeaked as the cold cream hit his face. He scrubbed it into his skin, grumbling as the rest of the group turned away and continued onwards. Kakashi however hung back.

"Naruto, do you need a rest?"

"Eh?"

"You're sweating."

"It's just hot, Sensei."

"It's not that hot. I'll carry you on my back for a while if you like."

Naruto balked. "No way! Sasuke will never let me live it down if he sees me on your back!"

Kakashi sighed. "Fine. Give me your backpack."

"No."

Kakashi's whole body seemed to slump as he sighed again. "Don't be difficult. You can give me your backpack, or you can get on my back. It's your choice."

"No! I can walk fi-"

Naruto squawked as he was suddenly lifted from the ground, backpack and all, and dumped unceremoniously on Kakashi's back. "Hey! What are you doing!?" Naruto yelled as he kicked and squirmed, trying to break Kakashi's iron grip on his feet. Kakashi simply set off again, ignoring his unwilling passenger's protestations as he caught up with the group.

Sasuke spotted them first. "Oi Naruto, is the ground too hard for your precious feet?"

Before Naruto could retort, Kakashi cut him off. "No, it's called recovering from an illness. I'll let you ride on my back next time Naruto trips you up in training. How's that?"

Sasuke reddened as the other Genin cackled. "No, that won't be necessary."

The rest of the journey went in relative peace, with Kakashi eventually letting Naruto down to walk the last 20 minutes. The air was fresh and bright, and a smooth summer breeze had picked up, rustling the trees. The familiar smell of metal, food and life in Konoha had gone. It was refreshing.

"Ahh! I'm so excited to have a dip! Aren't you, Hina?" Sakura said, throwing an arm over the shy Hyuga girl.

She nodded, a slight blush creeping over her cheeks. "Yeah, it'll be nice."

Kiba leaned in, his eyebrows raised. "Yeah, all of us bathing togeth- Ow!" He rubbed his head where Iruka had just punched.

"If I catch anyone peeping I will have your heads mounted on my wall." Iruka growled, his face grave.

The boys paled. "Yes, Sensei," they chimed in unison.

Naruto smiled as he stepped over the threshold. The hot spring was traditional, with dark wood cladding and paper screens to divide the rooms. He knew he'd sleep well. 'In fact,' he thought as a wave of tiredness washed over him, 'a nap sounds really good.' As soon as these thoughts crossed his mind, he mentally slapped himself. 'You're Uzumaki Naruto! You don't take midday naps!'

The old lady attendant showed the group to their rooms. Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke shared one, Iruka, Kiba and Shikamaru the room opposite, and shortly down the hall was Hinata and Sakura. Naruto dropped to the floor, shrugging his backpack off his shoulders with a grunt. He flopped down onto it and sighed, his head falling back. 'Why am I so tired?' he inwardly grumbled, letting his body sink further downwards into a more comfortable position.

"Naruto."

Kakashi's voice jumped him from the light doze he had so easily slid into. "Eh?"

"If you want a nap, put out your futon." A huge wad of folded cotton hit Naruto with force, bowling him over. He scrambled out of the futon, squawking as Sasuke cackled at him.

"Fine! Fine!" He haphazardly rolled out the futon and shed his outer layers before getting into bed. "Happy now?"

Kakashi nodded, Sasuke smirking behind him. "Happy. We are going to have some lunch. Would you like anything?"

Naruto paused for a moment, already finding it hard to keep his eyes open. "Nah, not really…" he mumbled sleepily.

He didn't hear Sasuke pull the door shut.

—

Kiba was the one in the bath first. He crashed through the saloon style doors, hair dripping wet from his cursory shower before he jumped bodily into the pool. His dog Akamaru bounded in after him, skidding short as he encountered the water.

"Akamaru, come on! It's lovely!"

Akamaru sniffed the water, before turing around and settling on the crumpled towel Kiba had discarded in his mad dash for the pool.

"Oh, fine. Whatever."

Sasuke and Shikamaru entered next, both of them smirking when they spotted the sleeping dog. "Looks like your dog doesn't even want to spend time with you, Kiba." Sasuke drawled.

"Shut up, Sasuke. He just doesn't like hot water."

"Yeah, that's definitely what it is."

"What are you all bickering about now?" Iruka sighed, pushing the doors open, Kakashi following closely behind.

"Nothing important. It's troublesome." Shikamaru grumbled, sinking lower into the water.

"Ah! The water is so warm!" Iruka cried gleefully as he submerged himself. "How nice…"

As they all settled into their spaces, Sasuke looked to Kakashi. "Is Naruto still sleeping?"

"He was last time I checked. He still tires easily."

"Well, that's to be expected isn't it?" Shikamaru said, his lips barely above the water's surface.

"Of course," Kakashi said. "He hasn't been discharged for more than a few days."

"I'm not a cripple though!" A voice echoed from the changing room beyond, and Naruto appeared in a flash of yellow. He yelled and sprinted towards the pool, leaping into the middle in a giant cannonball, dousing the other occupants.

"NARUTO!" Iruka and Kakshi shouted, Kakashi's white hair flopping over his eyes, his mask soaked.

The four Genin exploded into laughter, splashing about and making a ruckus. The two teachers quickly realised the previous tranquility would not return, and instead just tried to avoid the worst of the splashing.

Kiba piped up. "Hey, I can hear the girls talking over the partition. HEY GIRLS!" He cried, a grin on his face as he cocked his ear towards the women's baths next door.

Sakura answered back. "Yeah?"

"How is the bath?"

"It's great! The water is so nice!" Sakura called, smiling at Hinata as they listened to the ruckus.

"I feel sorry for Kakashi and Iruka Sensei," Hinata said quietly, her white eyes glancing towards the partition.

"Well, they can always come back later when the boys have tired themselves out."

"True. I think it would be pretty in the evening."

At that point, Kiba's voice filtered over the divide again. "Hey Hinata, I'll come back in the evening if yo-URK"

Hinata cocked her head, listening. "Sakura, can… you hear bubbling?"

"Yep."

"Do… do you think that they're pushing Kiba under the water?"

"Yep."

"Should we do something to help?"

Sakura looked at her incredulously. "Do you really want to?"

Hinata looked down at the water for a moment, listening to the bubbling sounds interspersed with grunts and the occasional bark from Akamaru. "No, not really."

And a whole 4 years later, here is the promised Hot Springs Epilogue.

This is it. There will be no more chapters in this fic. Please stop asking me if there will be more chapters. I will also not be writing another Naruto story for the foreseeable future.

I really appreciate all the positive responses this fiction has had over the years, and I'm still kinda reeling from the amount of views it gets per month despite it being years old. You're all rad. I get nostalgia memories of sitting at my kitchen table in my school uniform writing this.

If you want to read some work I'm actually proud of, please take a look at any of my Sherlock fics. If you don't, thats cool too.

If you have anything you wanna ask me, I'm available at spockandspan on tumblr. Send me stuff. I will reply. Or just drop a review here. I appreciate it.

Love ya.
Dangsoo out.