AU Note: This will not be a canon story, but it will keep the personalities as best as possible.

Ages: Naruto is around 21 years old, Anko is around 23. Sasuke and co are all 19-21.

Likewise, this will not be a very long story, possibly about 5-10 chapters. Hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless. Also, I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 1: Naruto's Return

It has been four years since the First Great Konoha War. A very specific long, blonde-haired ninja was walking on the main track back to his hidden village. He was wearing a black hooded cloak that had the Uzumaki clan symbol on the back in orange and orange flames at the bottom. Underneath the cloak he wore a black shirt with orange flames at the bottom, black loose pants, and a pair of black open-toed ninja was none other than Konoha's Orange Shadow, Sannin Naruto Uzumaki.

"First time in three years since we've been back here kit." A large fox-like creature said from inside Naruto's mind.

"Yeah, but I need to turn in these bounties, reports, and have my weapons resharpened. After that, we'll head back out. Maybe visit Uzushiogakure again, see if we can open more locked buildings." Naruto thought.

"You going to try to patch things over with... her... before you leave again?"

"Really, Kurama? I thought we went over this before, we don't talk about... her. And no, I'm not going to try. She's the one who turned her back on me. If she wanted to fix whatever was wrong, she should have done it already." Naruto spat out, his anger rising as was his disappointment. Her... the woman he loved and the woman he THOUGHT loved him back. He ran a hand through his unruly hair before putting it into his pockets and walking through the gates of the hidden village of Konoha. He stood right inside the gates, waiting for ANBU to pick him up. He didn't have to, but it was customary for them to do so, especially after the war. Sighing, the blonde naturally thought back to the war.

FLASHBACK

Naruto stood at the front of the gates, red and white sword in hand, in front of a group of thirty Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri ninjas. "You guys ready to give up, or you thirsty for more?" The group of thirty ninja rushed him, threw jutsu at him, and everything else in order to kill him as their goal was to get into the city. They could have just gone through some of the holes in the walls, but they also needed to kill the blonde shinobi, once he died.. the rest of Konoha would probably fall.

It had been a grueling six months of fighting and all sides lost plenty of decent shinobi. The village of Konoha lay in ruins, buildings destroyed and collapsed, the dead bodies of shinobi and civilian alike littered the streets. However, the village of Konoha was still standing, a statement to the strength and resilience of the shinobi who lived there. Though, their forces were almost completely wiped out, and only about 500 shinobi remained on active duty, while another 200 were incapacitated or wounded. The enemy forces were just as bad, if not worse off. Konoha was renowned to have the largest shinobi force rivaling the five great villages, and were also renowned as being the most powerful. A testament that was proven true by a six month long war to destroy the village of Konoha, even the Land of Fire Daimyo was most impressed that his ninja forces could hold and push back against three of the great villages. It was the aftermath of the war that left the current Hokage, a silver-haired masked man, to implement new policies and training regiments for upcoming shinobi. One of which, anyone arriving through the gates would be greeted and searched by ANBU.

END FLASHBACK

Naruto waited for about two minutes before a group of ANBU jumped in front of him and bowed their heads. "Naruto, pleasure. We assume you want to visit the Hokage?"

Naruto nodded his head, "Yeah, is he free?"

A bird masked ANBU spoke up, "Yeah, he's free. He's expecting you actually."

Naruto put his hands in his pockets and started walking towards the Hokage's tower. "The place has changed a lot over the past six months. I wonder how everyone's doing." The blonde ninja turned his head as he heard his name being called from behind him.

"Naruto! Good to see you dobe. How's life on the outside? Any threats we need to prepare for?" A raven haired young man asked. Next to this man, was a pink haired woman holding a small child that cooed at every little thing she saw.

"Not that I know yet, Sasuke. How's the family coming? You seem pretty happy." Naruto asked his childhood friend as he held out a fist to bump him with.

Returning the fistbump, Sasuke sighs but replies, "It's been hard. Ever since most of the clan was wiped out in the war, the advisors have been trying to push some sort of polygamy program to increase pregnancies. Personally, I'll keep to Sakura alone. One woman is hard enough to handle." Sasuke grinned as he said this, knowing he was gonna get hit by his wife, Sakura.

"Don't be such a prude, Sasuke. Its not that I'm too difficult, it's more that I won't let another woman touch you." Sakura said, punching Sasuke in the arm lightly.

Naruto laughed and smiled at the interaction as he continued his walk to the Hokage's tower, his two Sannin friends beside him. "So how's everyone else been doing?" Naruto asked curiously, putting his hands behind his head as he walked.

Sasuke walked alongside his friend as he spoke, "Well, Hinata's become clan head and abolished the branch family garbage and got with Kiba, Shino opened up some sort of insect breeding grounds for his clan, Choji is training to become the next clan head, Shikamaru is the new tactical advisor to the Hokage since his father died in the war..."

Sakura chimed in at this point, "Ino married Itachi and they have three beautiful children, Tenten joined the medical corps and has been helping Neji with rehabilitation after he nearly killed himself to save Hinata. Lee is... well... Lee. Asuma and Kurenai had another kid, Guy's been placed as an advisor, Sai and Tenzo returned to the ANBU..."

Sasuke waved to some people as they waved at him. "Ichiraku has become widespread throughout Fire Country, and Anko has been..." Sasuke stopped suddenly as he felt a spike of chakra flash beside him, making him realize that Naruto wasn't there anymore, "unhappy..." he finished saying.

Sakura growled at her husband, "What's wrong with you?!"

"Oh come on! How the hell was I supposed to know Anko's still a touchy subject? Its been 3 years since he proposed to her and became a travelling Sannin!" Sasuke yelled at his wife, gaining the attention of passersby. "He should have gotten over it by now! It's not my fault that he's not letting go of the past and refusing to accept the truth."

"That doesn't mean you need to bring it up right when he gets back! Those pictures and her rejection was why he left in the first place, asshole!" Sakura spat back. "Now he's probably gonna leave again!"

Sasuke sighed as he started walking back to the Uchiha compound, still arguing with Sakura.

Anko was sitting in her apartment, holding a picture of her and Naruto, caressing his face gently and sighing to herself. "Why did he leave? I just wanted three days to figure some things out. Thats all, three days and then he leaves for three years. What did I do wrong?" she thought to herself. She looked up and around her apartment, her eyes being drawn to multiple pictures of her and Naruto together in various places, in various types of attire. In one picture, there is Jiraiya, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and herself. She smiled to herself as she remembered that that was the day Naruto had been promoted to Sannin after a two day fight with Jiraiya and almost winning. They all shared a picture and threw a party, with herself and Naruto going back to her place for some after party fun. She sighed and stood up to get something to eat, which she had been having to force herself to do for the past three years.

FLASHBACK

Anko and Naruto were hiking the Hokage Monuments one peaceful spring day to the top, because Naruto told her he wanted to do something special. They had been together for two years, fought alongside each other during the war with him saving her more times than not. Each time he saved her he would tell her, "You're not allowed to die on me. Not ever." They had been through so many trials and tribulations that she couldn't see herself with anyone but Naruto. As they got to the top, she smiled as they stood over the Fourth Hokage's head, Naruto's father, Minato Namikaze.

Naruto stood there and took Anko's hands in his, "Anko Mitarashi..."

"Yes, Naruto dear?" Anko replied, smiling at her boyfriend.

"We've been together for two years, fought alongside each other, defended each other, yelled at each other, cared for each other, and we've been through almost everything together. You are the most beautiful and amazing woman I have ever met or laid eyes on. You are an absolutely critical and important person in my life, and if I didn't have you, I'm not sure where I'd be or what I would do. You give me hope and you give me more of a reason to live than just this village..." Naruto paused and smiled at her, "So... Anko Mitarashi..." Naruto let go of Anko's hands and got onto one knee, activating a seal from his wrist which releases and reveals a ring of pure silver with a ruby in the middle of the ring with a fox on one side and a snake on the other, "Will you marry me?"

Anko stood there, shocked and surprised. Her entire body had gone numb and unresponsive. She wanted to say yes, but her mind was telling her no, and before she knew it, she blurted out, "I can't. I want to, but I can't. I need to think about this. I love you Naruto, but give me a few days. I want to make sure I'm prepared for this." She said, trying not to cry and throw her arms around him.

Naruto stood up and frowned, but nodded in understanding. "Alright, three days. I'll ask you again in three days." Naruto pulled her close and kissed her, even though she told him no.

Three days later she went to his apartment, but he wasn't there. So she started asking around and was told by Sasuke that Naruto had put in to become a travelling Sannin two days prior and left two days ago and that there he had to be back in three years.

END FLASHBACK

She sighed and stood in the kitchen in front of her refrigerator when she suddenly felt a spike of chakra that she knew oh so well. "Its him... he's back." She threw the picture onto her bed and ran through her bedroom grabbing the sexiest and modest attire she could find. She found a bra that gives her breasts an ample amount of lift, not that she needed it being a D-cup. She wore a fishnet shirt over that and a black miniskirt with slits in the side to allow easier travel. She grabbed her fox necklace that Naruto had given her and the silver fox promise ring he'd given her as well and put them on. Looking into the mirror, she put her hair into a high ponytail, much the way Naruto always liked her having it and bolted out of the door, tracking his pulses of chakra. "I need to see him, I need to set things straight. He's mine." She thought to herself as she reached the Hokage's tower and stood outside the door, waiting for Naruto to leave.

"I see. Take the prisoners you've managed to capture to Ibiki for interrogation and take the bountied shinobi to the bounty office then medical facility for autopsy." a silver-haired man wearing a half face mask said.

"Thanks, also, I'd like approval to take another extended absence from Konoha to visit Uzushiogakure, my home." Naruto requested.

"I'm sorry, but I can't authorize that. You've been gone for three years and while you might not have found or heard anything drastic, I'm going to have Shikamaru go through your reports for possible patterns and hidden issues. Plus you need to reclaim the Uzumaki Clan head title." the man said.

"Come on Kakashi, I need to go back to Uzu to see if I can find anything else of importance to my clan and heritage. Karin and Han have been handling the clans issues for three years now. Whats one more year?"Naruto asked his leader and friend.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but I can't allow it. You've been gone too long and we need you here in case Iwa or Kumo decide to mount another attack on the village." Kakashi restated, putting more authority into his voice.

Naruto growled and bowed as he said, "Hai, Hokage." Not wanting to get into a further argument with the man.

"On a personal note, how have you been? Kakashi asked, leaning back in his chair as some shadow clones took the reports and paperwork out of the office, making sure he didn't reveal Anko's location right outside the door.

"Eh, I'm ok. Three years on the road can really drain you. Especially when you are constantly being targetted by bounty hunters and attacked in groups. I tend to do ok though." Naruto said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"You're a terrible liar. I see you sit there every night and brush your snake charm." Kurama said, laughing as he did so.

"You're an asshole, Kurama. I told you, I don't want to talk about her." Naruto replied to his inner demon tenant.

"You're going to have to talk about it at some point. You can't hide from her forever. She will track you down." the demon fox answered.

"Yeah right, we'll see about that." Naruto retorted before cutting off communication with his friend.

"Hmm. Alright, well I'm glad you are doing ok and made it back safely. You may leave." Kakashi said, noticing the way Naruto's eyes twitched when he spoke to how he was doing. "You're a terrible liar Naruto."

Naruto bowed once more and turned around, heading toward the door. As he opened the door, he was greeted with a sight he hadn't seen in three years. A sight that shown with magnificent beauty and terrible heartache. A sight that he has to admit was down right sexy and just the way he liked it. "Damn it..."

"We need to talk Naruto." Anko said, staring him straight in the eyes.

"Told you, brat."

AU: Reviews are always welcome. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll do my best to release more in a quick and timely manner.