This is an AU Naruto story. It diverges away from the main storyline of the actual Naruto universe when Naruto is banished from the village at an early age. It takes place at about the same time that Naruto would return from his training with Jiraiya. I have yet to decide what the pairings will be and I probably wont know for a few more chapters. It will either be Naruto/Sakura and Naruto/Ino (not a threesome), just Naruto/Ino, or Naruto/Tenten.

There will be no bashing any characters out of the context of what is called for by the storyline. There are certain characters that I dislike (cough Hinata cough), but there wont be any unnecessary bashing taking place.

Now onto the warnings. This is my first ever written fanfic. I have actually had this story in my head for a few years, and actually had the first three chapters done for it for the majority of that time. I abandoned it cause I wasn't sure where I ultimately wanted the story to go. It wasn't until a week ago that I found new inspiration and an idea of what I wanted to do with it. I also don't have a beta, and I tried to spellcheck it as best as I could on my own (I literally reread this thing at least 20 times trying to make sure it was how I wanted it).

This first chapter is almost entirely dialogue. Real action scenes wont happen for another few chapters, so if you don't like this chapter, the next few very well might be very similar style of writing.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy

Chapter 1: The Return

"KABUTO! GET IN HERE NOW!"

The silver haired man known as Kabuto quickly puts down the clipboard he is looking at and leaves the patient that he was checking over and walks down the hall. As he hurriedly walks to his master, Kabuto couldn't help but wonder what had gotten into him, seeing as how he had been practically giddy for the previous week.

He makes a left and down a flight of stairs and enters the containment cells. He spots and his master looking over one of their new 'patients'. "You called master?"

"Yes. I need you to watch these four for the next few days. I don't care what else you think is more important, these four are your top priority. I want to know of any changes in any of them, and if the procedure worked." The snake Sannin, Orochimaru said.

"But my lord" Kabuto began, "Kimimaro is on his last legs, and our other exper-"

"I SAID I DON'T CARE!" Orochimaru screams, turning on his subordinate. "If that weakling dies, then so be it, the rest will still be there once these four have left us. Do as I say, NOW!" Kabuto was a medical genius, and just as devious as he was, which made him the perfect assistant. He, however, often times thought that he knew best and would question the decisions made by his master. He failed to grasp the grand picture, which Orochimaru was more than obliged to keep from him.

"Yes my master" Kabuto said with that perfectly calm and willing to please voice.

"Good, I will be back in a weeks time. Me and my new apprentice will be taking a trip." Orochimaru finished as he walked out the room. If his planned worked, those four would lead to the final downfall of Konoha.

At the same time that these experiments where taking place, a young man walks back towards those that had shunned him so long ago. He walks with purpose in his steps and a grin on his face. He is going to march right through that gate, find the Hokage who had summoned him and then tell him no to whatever favor he knew that the old man would ask. It was always a good day when you get to turn your back on the people who turned their back on you.

As he reaches the main gates of the village of Konoha, not because the gate guards were blocking his path, but rather he was trying to take in the scenery. It had been years since he had seen the place.

It all looked exactly as he remembered it. The Hokage Monument in the backdrop, the Hokage Tower rising above all the other buildings. Hell, all the other buildings appeared to be exactly the same as well. 'No one can pick up a paintbrush and mix things up a little bit?' he wonders.

For Kotetsu and Izumo, watching the gate today was just as boring as it always was. A few jounin come and go but nothing exciting. However, following the Hokage's orders, the two were staying constantly vigilant. After what had happened, who knew what would happen next to the village.

Izumo was leaning against one side of the gate, as Kotetsu was leaning against the other. They observed a figure approach walking with a purpose down the road. Once he reached the gate, both chunnin held up their arms and blocked the path of the mysterious stranger. The young man appeared to not even be paying attention to either guards and was rather, looking past them and observing the village.

Now that he was stopped in front of them, they could take stock of his appearance. The young man had long blonde hair that went down to his shoulders. It was being held back from his face by a black bandana, which tied in the back, with the strings swinging in the breeze. He wore a black jacket, with white strips down the sides, and had an orange swirl on the back. The jacket was unzipped revealing a white muscle shirt underneath. His chest and stomach were extremely toned and it was obvious he took his physical fitness seriously. He had black cargo pants on, with the same white stripe down the side, and a pair of black shinobi sandals. Both Kotetsu and Izumo could have sworn that they recognized the stranger but neither could place from where.

"State your name and your purpose here." Kotetsu demands while standing up. The stranger finally seemed to notice that the two chunnin were there. He stood there, the smirk on his face gone, and he seemed to become more on guard than his previous carefree attitude.

"I'm here to meet with your Hokage," and before the chunnin's could respond the blonde boy disappeared. This startled both the chunnin and it took a second for either to move. They hadn't even seen the man move, and just like that he was gone.

It was Kotetsu that broke out of his shock first. "I need to alert Lord Hokage that we have an intruder headed his way. Stay at the gate!" Kotetsu immediately ran off towards the Hokage tower while both chunnins had the same thought 'So fast'.

The Lord Hokage is sitting in his office doing paperwork. Despite the arduous task that would bore anyone out of his or her minds, the Hokage had a smile on his face. He kept thinking about what this day had to bring, and couldn't help but think it was going to be a good day.

"I'm not interrupting anything am I?" came a voice the Hokage was expecting sometime soon.

Looking up the Hokage turns to see the blonde who just a few moments ago had caused a disruption at the main gates sitting on his window sill, "Just some meaningless paperwork that I will gladly be distracted from." Sarutobi couldn't help but grin. It had been years since he had since this young man, and somehow he seemed to not change. Sure, he looked older, but there was just an air about him that the Hokage doubted would ever disappear.

"How's it going old man? The years sure haven't been kind to you have they?" the blonde chuckles.

'He will never change' Sarutobi thought. "No, they sure haven't, but they definitely been to you." Before the blonde can respond the doors burst open and in runs a panting Kotetsu. Both men turn their attention to the man at the door.

"Lord Hokage, there's been an intru…." Seeing the blonde the chunin immediately grabs for one of his kunai and throws it at him. The blonde makes no move whatsoever at avoiding the incoming kunai. When the kunai is just inches from his body, his hand springs forward lightning quick and his index finger slips through the hole on the end and stops it.

The boy turns back to the Hokage while spinning the kunai around his finger "If this is how you treat your guests old man, I might just as well leave now." He allows the kunai to spin off his finger and imbed itself in the wood floor at the chunnins feet.

"Guest?" Izumo questions, retrieving his kunai from the floor in front of him, maintaining his guard.

"Yes Kotetsu, he is here on my request. You have no need to worry. You can return to you post and inform everyone that everything is fine." Sarutobi said dismissing the chunnin.

"As you command Lord Hokage" Izumo says as he bows and walks out of the office closing the door behind him.

"So I see you have improved," Sarutobi says not at all surprised.

The blonde smirks and sticks his hand behind his head "I picked up a few things here and there. So, why did you summon me, old man? Your lucky I like the ramen here, or I would have told you to shove it." The blonde moves around Sarutobi's desk and takes a seat in front of it. He puts his feet up on the desk as he reclines in the chair, to Sarutobi's slight annoyance.

"I called you to make you an offer on behalf of Konoha. One that I think you will be very interested in"

"I stopped caring about offers from this village a long time ago old man." The blonde says with a slight bit of anger and sadness in his voice.

Sarutobi sighed and pulled out his pipe. "Then don't think of it as a offer from the Village." He lights his pipe and takes a quick drag from it. "Think of it as an offer from a old man trying to make amends." He says as he is exhaling smoke.

"It wasn't your doing as to why I was banished but just get to the offer so that I can reject it and leave here in peace. Preferably before anyone else finds out that I am here and problems arise." The blonde says, clearly uncomfortable with the topic of discussion. "Let me tell you right now old man, I wasn't able to defend myself ten years ago, but I will be more than happy to do so now. I helped you once before, and almost was killed because of it, I will not let the same thing happen again."

The conversation clearly not going the way that the old Hokage wanted it to, he decided it would be best to just get straight to the point. "You see, our shinobi forces are going through a bit of a rough patch."

"If your contacting me, I am going to have to guess that it is more than a 'rough patch'. So whats going on that you had to contact the number one person in the Konoha Bingo Book?"

"Well, as you probably already know, four years ago, Uchiha Sasuke was given the cursed mark by Orochimaru." Seeing the blonde signal that he knew and needed no further explanation the Hokage continued, "Well, our villages worst fears have come to pass. Sasuke has decided to leave this village and go to join Orochimaru in what we can only assume was in a attempt to master the seal, and get stronger."

"So your calling me back here because the villages golden boy decided to leave here under his own power? Why should I care that the Uchiha went rogue?" The blonde states, clearly getting more annoyed as the conversation continues.

"Its not that Sasuke left. We could live with one missing nin, even if he is the last Uchiha. It is the fact that we sent out a team immediately after he left with the intent on bringing him back. This group consisted of 3 jounins, and 5 chunnin" The blonde scoffs at hearing the size of the force sent after the 'precious' Uchiha. He holds in his resentment however seeing that Sarutobi was clearly saddened as he retells this tale. As much as he hated this village, he had a deep respect for the old man sitting across from him. He pauses before finishing "We are unsure of what happened on their mission."

"What do you mean you do not know what happened. With that many shinobi going after only one, they shouldn't have had any trouble stopping him. Especially since the last time I saw the Uchiha, he wasn't very strong at all." The blonde couldn't help but sneak in a jab at Sasuke.

"Indeed. When they came to me and requested this mission, I thought the size of the force was overkill but I thought, since they were all friends, that the bigger force would have shown Sasuke how much he meant to this village" He takes another drag from his pipe "Now I wish I had sent more."

"What happened?"

"Simply enough, we don't know. Nearly a whole day after the group left on their retrieval mission, we had no word from them. I sent out a quick recon team to see if they could find any trace of them. Well, they found them." Another drag from his pipe. "At least some of them. Kakashi had managed to get himself and three others to safety but at a huge expense to himself. He managed to do this with severe chakra drain and critical wounds. As soon as our recon team discovered him, he passed out and slipped into a coma. The other three have yet to wake up as well."

"So what happened to the rest of the team?" the blonde asks, straightening up a little/

"No clue. That is the disturbing part. We found the battlegrounds, and believe me these were huge battles. There was very little left of the forest in these areas with all the destruction, but we found no bodies. None of our own, none of theirs." Sarutobi paused to let the news sink in. Knowing that the blonde would be able to piece it together.

The blonde, now sits straight up in his chair and utters a name "Orochimaru."

"Precisely. I would rather our men have been killed than be in the hands of Orochimaru. Who knows what he is doing to them." A noticeable shiver shot up the spine of the Hokage.

The blonde not wanting to be rude but wanting to keep the conversation going, "I still don't see why you called me here. I understand that you have lost a good chunk of your shinobi force, but your Konoha for crying out loud. Losing 8 shinobi is not going to diminish your strength."

"I think you underestimate the strength and abilities of those that we have lost."

"Enlighten me"

"The four out of commission are Kakashi, arguably the strongest shinobi in our village. Hinata Hyuuga, the heir in line for the head of the Hyuuga House. Arguably the best tracker that the village has in Kiba Inuzuka, and a up and coming kunoichi, Sakura Haruno." The list was a strong group, but nothing special to the blonde boy. The only major loss in his opinion was Hatake. He signals for the Hokage to continue with a wave of his hand, "Of the four that are currently in the hands of Orochimaru are the ones I am extremely worried about. Orochimaru gained access to four different family jutsus with whom he has. He has taken Nara Shikamaru, who was just recently promoted to jounin before this mission. He also has Chouji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka, both of whom are heirs of their respective families. To make matters even worse, he also has managed to get the strongest Hyuuga that this village has to offer, in Neji."

Sarutobi pauses and contemplates whether or not he should reveal the next bit of information to the missing nin. It was after all, only known to him and a few select others and if it got out, it could risk the whole village to attack. In the end, he decides that full disclosure would be best since he was asking him for help "I am also going to tell you why this issue is so troubling to me now. As you so elegantly keep pointing out, I am old. My good years are long since past. In fact, I have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning now."

As he was confessing this all to him, the blonde had never heard the Hokage seem so worn down. He was unsure of what Sarutobi's actual age is, but he seemed to age thirty years in the span of the conversation. "You're over exaggerating. You're still the best ninja in this village. Why else would you still be Hokage?"

"Well, therein lies the issue" Sarutobi continued. "I'm not. Or rather, I was not going to be anymore. This was supposed to be my last week serving as Hokage. Kakashi Hatake was supposed to take my post in five days. To make matters even worse on top of all of that, this couldn't come at a worse time. Our best spy, Shino Aburame, returned a couple of days ago with news from Kumo. The Raikage is preparing to attack Konoha in a month's time. Even with the aid of Suna, at our current strengths… we wont stand a chance."

"So, what your saying is, that right now either the heir or the strongest person from each clan in Konoha is either in a hospital bed or captured and the soon to be Hokage is right there with them? And to top off matters, we are on the eve of the Fourth Great Ninja War?"

"Now you see the dire situation that we are in right now. It's a miracle I found you in time."

"Of course, but I still don't see why you called me here. I am not fighting a war for you."

"Simply put. We need help. Badly. We have valuable people who are in hospital beds and we have no medic-nins who are strong enough to heal any of them. We also have four shinobi captured under the control of Orochimaru. What I am asking of you should be pretty obvious. I want you to ask your mother to come help us in the hospital, and I want you to lead a mission in order to get our men back. I would never ask you to defend this village after what it did to you. I am asking you to do me this favor so that we will have a chance to defend this nation ourselves." Sarutobi finishes.

"You know I don't control her right? You know she hates this village as much as I do and is less likely to help you than I am. Don't take our helping this village last time as a sign that we will always be available to you." The blonde scoffs at him.

"Which is precisely why I am coming to you with this proposal. You have always been the reasonable one out of the three and I know you will be able to convince her to help." Sarutobi gives a slight all knowing smirk that he is known for, "So all I have to really do is convince you, don't I?"

"And you still have yet to do that old man." The blonde says while shaking his head.

"Ahh, while I have no doubt that you will eventually decide to do me this favor out of the goodness in your heart, I would rather speed up the process." As he says this, he pulls out a scroll from inside his desk drawer, and hands it to the blonde. He waits for the blonde to unroll the scroll and begin reading. As the blonde reaches the bottom of the scroll, he sees the blondes eyebrows raise. "So do we have a deal?"

The blonde pauses and thinks over all of his options. On the one hand, he was happy with his life but on the other, there has always been a deep desire within his heart. "I suppose I have work to do." He gets up and heads back to the window he came in from. "I will be back in about a week. I'm not promising anything other than that."

The blonde steps up to the windowsill. Before he exits, the Hokage calls back to him. "Oh and Naruto?" The blonde looks back at him "Thank you and please hurry." With that, the blonde leaped out of the window and vanished.

'That troublemaker may be the only hope this village has' the aging Hokage thought to himself. 'If only he can forgive me'