CH. 1 The Hero's Return

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

Happy?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Off in the distance walked a tall man with long white hair and odd markings on his face, beside him a slightly shorter man walked with blond hair framing his face. They were walking towards a village with the emblem for fire on the gate.

"Jeez finally we're back." the white haired man said.

"We would have been back sooner if we had gone at my pace…" The blond one retorted.

"Eh, I'm getting old I shouldn't be running all day anymore."

"That's just your excuse for taking your time Ero-Sanin!"

"Whatever runt. I'm going to go tell the Hokage we are back, you go have fun. Later." the white one said as he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

The blond haired man just walked towards an apartment complex off to the side of the village. He climbed the stairs slowly dreading the thought of seeing all the destruction on the other side of his door, if he even still had a door. The villagers had always hated him, but that was soon to change.

A smile lit up his face when he saw his door, no damage done. But he was shocked upon opening the door to see his apartment clean, no damage what so ever. No dust or dirt.

"Wh-what?" he stammered out walking into his room. He noticed a letter on his night stand near his bed. Opening it a big fox like smile colored his face.

'Naruto,

Since you have been gone for so long Sakura decided it would be nice for us to keep this place clean and orderly for you. Kaka-Sensei even put some instant ramen packs in your kitchen.

Cant wait to spar with you when you get back dope,

Sasuke'

"Heh, I cant wait either teme." Naruto thought out loud. Walking out of his apartment he decided to go to get some food. Naruto disappeared and reappeared in front of his favorite place to eat, Ichiraku ramen. But much to his dismay it was closed today.

Naruto's eye's narrowed as he grumbled and walked away to look for somewhere else to eat. Suddenly a scent caught his attention. He followed it to a restaurant and took a seat near the source, stay far enough as to not draw attention though.

'Bingo' he thought as he saw the pink haired beauty. It was Sakura, who not surprisingly was sitting at a booth across from Ino. He looked over the menu sitting out of ear shot for normal people, but with the Kyuubi paying rent he was able to hear everything clearly.

"Sakura, ever since Sasuke shot you down you have been drowning yourself in work. What are you hoping to achieve?!" Ino asked angrily.

"I don't know Ino…" Sakura said solemnly. The sound of her voice hurt Naruto, but he showed no signs of affliction.

"I know what you need!" Ino nearly shouted making Naruto wonder if he even needed help from the Kyuubi to hear her, "You need to find your self a man!"

"Ino I'm fine!" Sakura protested quickly with a hint of fear in her voice. Remembering Ino, Naruto could imagine why she would be scared.

"How about that guy over there?" Ino said, he suddenly felt two sets of eyes on him making him slightly uncomfortable.

"Ino I don't even know him!" Sakura stated now getting slightly angry. Naruto nearly fell out of his seat hearing this, hed he really changed that much? Or was he just that easy to forget?

"But he's sooo cute!" Ino protested, "He looks familiar too." great the one he didn't know so well recognized him somewhat.

"Does he?" He heard Sakura reply.

More conversation carried on but he was distracted from it by the waitress requesting his order. After she had left he looked back over to Sakura's table to notice Shikamaru now sitting near Ino.

"Yeah he resembles the Yondaime Hokage." Shikamaru said dully.

"Your right!" both girls yelled in unison. Naruto began to form a sweat drop on the back of his head. He hadn't even focused the chakra to his ears again, now they were just being loud.

His food arrived and he split his chopsticks to begin eating when he noticed someone standing over his table.

"Can I help you Ino-San?" He asked trying to sound respectful.

"How do you know my name?" She asked blushing slightly.

"Well there's no fun in telling you so lets just say its my little secret." He replied smirking a bit.

"Oh uh well ok. My friends and I were just wondering if you were from this village or if you were just passing through?" Ino asked now taking a seat across from him.

"Well isn't it obvious?" Naruto questioned poking his forehead with his thumb. Wait… forehead… finally it clicked. He raised an eye brow remembering he had forgotten to put his forehead protector on before leaving his apartment.

"No not really…" Ino replied. By this time Kiba had walked in leaving Akamaru at home due to his size wouldn't do well here.

"Naruto?" Kiba said as he sniffed the air in his direction.

"Heh way to ruin the fun mutt boy…" Naruto said standing, Kiba now growling at the term 'mutt'.

"Naruto? Is that really you?" Sakura asked taking a step towards him.

Naruto just smiled while laying some money on the table. "Hey Sakura-Chan, long time no see eh? Well I gotta go see Baa-San now so I will catch up with you guys later. Oh and thanks for keeping my apartment up while I was gone, I owe you one." his smile got bigger and his eyes closed. He then posed with the peace sign and disappeared in a flash of yellow light.

Sorry for the short chapter, this is more a test if anything else. Got dozens of ideas for a NaruSaku fic putting a few together into this. Next chapters will be longer and will continue so long as I get positive comments.

Thx!

TTR