Welcome to the sequel of Born on a Border and Happy New Year! Enjoy!

The Hokage Monument was one of the first things Naruto spotted as he and Jiraiya broke through the tree line and approached Konoha. With a small smile, he took note of Grandma Tsunade's face on the mountain, marking her position as the fifth Hokage. So they had finally gotten around to adding it, had they? Now her likeness would be remembered for years to come, long after her death, unlike…

Naruto shook his head to get rid of the thought. He wouldn't think on that anymore. He was back in Konoha, where his allegiances lied and where he belonged. Konoha was his home.

As the gates came into sight, Jiraiya and Naruto traded meaningful looks. After a minute, Naruto inclined his head in understanding.

Silently he apologized to the fox inside of him. The inhabitants of Konoha wouldn't understand, so he would have to suppress the Kyuubi more than he had been doing on the journey back. The fox—Kurama, Naruto forced himself to remember—grumbled but didn't protest or try to break free. Over the journey home, he and Naruto had seemed to reach an understanding.

As Kurama returned to the cage he called home, Naruto's vision lost its tint of red and the shinobi could feel his senses dull. He grimaced at the feeling, an action caught by Jiraiya.

"It's necessary," he informed the blonde.

"I know," Naruto responded. By now the gates loomed above them. "Time to make an entrance, I guess."

As they strolled through the gates, Naruto could see the heads turning and people doing double takes upon seeing them. If he hadn't suppressed the Kyuubi's strengthened senses, he would have been able to hear the whispers as well. As they made their way to the center of the village, Naruto glanced down, wondering how the population of Konoha viewed him now.

He knew he had changed since he had left a few years ago. His new uniform was proof of that.

Naruto glanced around the village and spotted some shops and streets that looked unfamiliar. Clearly he wasn't the only one that had changed.

Face blank, he started to climb the nearest pole, curious to see just how much the village had changed in his absence. Jiraiya sighed and shook his head with a small smile. He knew what the boy must have been feeling. It was a strange feeling, coming home after a long absence. There were always some changes, but for the most part everything was the same. With the familiarity, most people expected it to be easy to fall into old routines and habits, not realizing that it would be difficult because they themselves had changed. Jiraiya hoped that Tsunade would be able to get Naruto back on missions quickly enough. The boy would need something to keep himself occupied and not focused on how much he and others had changed.

Naruto gazed at the village below him. Everything seemed so bright and busy. It was a far cry from—

He cut those thoughts off and busied himself by trying to find his landmarks. He easily spotted his old apartment building and the Hokage tower. He also located Ichiraku's and his stomach rumbled at the sight.

Then his eyes wandered to the outskirts of the village, where the clan compounds lie. They looked so still and peaceful. Naruto narrowed his blue eyes to make out the clan sigils that graced the entrances. Nara, Hyuuga, Uchiha…

The blue-eyed shinobi clenched his hands into fists and stiffened as he thought he saw a bloodied shinobi lying in the street, dead. Within seconds, five others, then eight accompanied the body. The faces were familiar and Naruto could practically hear their dying cries. The blonde clenched his jaw and stilled his breaths, afraid that if he breathed too deeply that he would be able to smell and taste the blood.

"Naruto!"

Blue eyes blinked and the bloodied bodies were gone. He let out the breath he was holding. It had been a memory.

Just a memory.

"Naruto!" The shinobi glanced down toward the base of the pole he was standing on and his lips lifted upward into a smile.

"Sakura!" he called as he made his descent. His old teammate was a welcome sight.

The two stared at each other in silence, large grins on their faces as they sized each other up.

"You've gotten taller," Sakura finally remarked. "You're taller than me now."

Naruto's grin widened as he let out a cheer. Sakura watched him fondly before asking, "What about me? Do I look different?"

Naruto only took a few seconds to examine her before stating, "Don't worry, Sakura! You haven't changed at all."

When his cheek swelled up from the resulting punch, Naruto wondered what he said wrong. Sakura still looked like Sakura with her bright pink hair and green eyes. Plus, she was alive, which was more important to Naruto than any change she could have undergone.

Jiraiya shook his head. Same old clueless Naruto. "I would have thought that someone would have taught you what not to say to girls," he sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean, Pervy Sage?" Naruto demanded. Jiraiya refused to answer and began walking away.

"Stop stalling, Naruto," he called behind him. "We need to go see the Hokage and let her know that we're back." Jiraiya didn't even bother to look back to see if Naruto was following him. He already knew that the younger shinobi was by the sheer loudness that constantly surrounded Naruto.

As the trio of shinobi made their way to the Hokage tower, Jiraiya wondered how the next few weeks were going to go. Would Naruto find it easy to return to his old routine in Konoha? Or would he long for something more? Something he had left behind?

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