Reaper Threat
Adopted from Alpine992
Author's Note: Just so you know, I've adopted this fanfic, but in my adoption, I'm putting my own spin on the story. A good portion of the original text remains, as my time constraints won't allow me to completely rewrite the entire fic. You'll see from the first chapter, which I've revised, to show my new vision for this fic. Naruto will not be at odds with his former teammates when he leaves the planet, this will still be a FemShep/Naruto story.
Naruto Pov
My story is a complicated one, has been since the day I was born, my father the Fourth Hokage saved the village by doing the only thing that could stop the feared nine tail Bijuu, Kurama. He sealed it in his new born son which just happened to be me. That was a long twenty one years ago now. My father asked his predecessor which was the third Hokage to tell the village to treat me like a hero for my sacrifice but it was in vain as my death was what they truly wanted, as they thought that I was a reincarnation of the beast. I was hunted most of my child hood, and brought to the brink of death every time I was caught by the villagers. Anbu and the Hokage would always save me, I had no family or friends, My mother and my father both died in the sealing process to protect me from Kurama's claw.
I was that kid in class that would always mess up and get laughed at but I had attention when that happened so I didn't even try to stop it. It was the only time in my child hood that any one ever noticed me apart from being called the demon brat. I was twelve years old when I first found out that I was Kurama's jailor from one of my own teachers who had lured me to steal a certain item from the Hokage to become a genin. I was told to steal the scroll and learn a move and I would pass, but things went down hill from there. Both of my teachers fought it out, and the one that told me to steal the scroll was arrested. When I was put on my genin team I thought that I was the luckiest guy on the planet well partly. I had the girl of my dreams on my team Sakura, but unfortunately she had the guy of her dreams on the team also Sasuke.
Its been a long time since I have thought of both of them but im getting off track. We were given D-rank missions as every genin team had, but we got our first C-rank mission and it turned out to be an A-rank mission. We continued on anyway. We fought a member of the hidden mist who had gone rogue, turned out that he helped us in the mission along with his friend Haku who I thought was a girl. After that mission we were accepted into the chunnin exams and were faced by the Sand village Suna. A member that was around the same age as I am turned out to house a Bijuu as well the one tails Shukaku. His name is Gaara. We faced off and I came out the victor but barley, that was when I met Jiraiya a massive pervert but a great teacher none the less. I took a training trip with him for three years after I turned fourteen and the betrayal of Sasuke who I had become close friends with even going as far as to call him my brother. We fought it out at the valley of the End and he defeated me leaving to join Orochimaru.
When my training trip was done we had the Akatsuki to deal with, a criminal Organization that was made up of S-class missing nin. They hunted the Bijuu and killed there tenants when extracting them. Gaara was one of the ones to survive, but barley, he actually lost his life but if it weren't for a great old lady he would not be here today she had saved his life by sacrificing her own. We faced off against Orochimaru to try and find Sasuke and that was also a failure. After a couple of months doing missions and after the death of Jiraiya our village was attacked by the Akatsuki or what was left of it. They basically wiped the Leaf village of the face of the planet. I was training to become a sage to stop it and when I came back things didn't go as planned. I defeated a few of them but there was one left, he struck down a girl that I knew from my classes in the academy and she confessed her love for me. Then the Kyuubi started to take control and eight of its nine tails came out and I had defeated pain and learned who my father was. I met another student of Jiraiya, Nagato and he had told me that he wants to end all war, he sacrificed himself and brought back members of the leaf who had died in the assault. Then there was Konan a beautiful woman with blue hair, I have seen her on my travels every now and then, she was Nagato's partner in Akatsuki, but they had known each other since they were kids.
After the start of the reconstruction of the Leaf village, I went to plead to the Raikigae to stop him from trying to kill Sasuke but my attempt failed. That was when I first met Tobi. He spoke some words that I cannot remember and told me that Sasuke was a true avenger. I do not know what fully happened at the Kage meeting but Gaara told me his version. When I had finished talking with Gaara I was upset to say the least, then what made my day worse was that Sakura confessed her love for me but I knew it was a lie and was even told so by Sai. She wanted to kill Sasuke herself. After I had followed them and had seen Sasuke in the state he was in from fighting Danzo I knew I would have to face Sasuke, who I still thought of as a brother, again. But Tobi took him away and that was the start of the war.
It went on for two years until I ended up fighting Tobi and his Gedo Mazo, along with Kakashi, Guy and Killer Bee and ended up winning ending the war. Sasuke went back to the village because I finally beat some sense into his thick skull. I hadn't talked to Sakura in those two years, or anyone else for that matter. At the start of the war, I was learning to control Kurama's power, and didn't know what was going on, until I was able to sense the war itself. Then, Bee and I left our "Turtle Island", and made our way to the battle field. During our fight with Tobi, we were joined by Might Guy, and my old sensei, Kakashi Hatake. During my battle with Tobi was when I finally made friends with Kurama, and achieved my full Biiju form, too.
That was two years ago when I was nineteen and am now twenty one. I sit here on the edge of a village that I don't even know its name. I cant show myself in a town unless I want to be targeted by bounty hunters looking for a quick pay day. They never learn. I look to the stars every night for hours on end wondering if there was someone else out there that was even remotely in the same boat as I was. Cursed and forgotten thrown to the wolves after everything I had done. I see shooting stars often now and wonder what it would be like to fly among them even for a little while. I never knew how much my life was about to change.
Naruto Pov end.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Ah Commander You really have to see this." Joker's voice came over the radio.
"What is it Joker." She asked from her personal quarters. She was a well built woman a small cut above her left eye she had shoulder-length red hair with blue eyes. She had on the Cerberus dress uniform.
"We went searching for some Element Zero on the planet below and EDI found signs of life but there is no known race that inhabitants this part of the galaxy. Could be a whole new species that the galaxy has yet to see."
"Get the two Cerberus officers I forget there names into the briefing room I will talk it over with them."
"That would be Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor, Commander." Came EDI's voice over the comm.
"yeah right them too." She said as she headed towards the elevator.
"Commander you just got onto this ship and already forgetting names I thought it would take a while longer." Joker laughed.
"Ha ha very funny Joker just tell them." She smiled.
"Will do."
Miranda and Jacob were waiting for her in the briefing room and had been told a little about the current situation and were more then shocked about it.
"Commander, we have to check it out." Miranda said. Miranda was a beautiful woman with long black hair that fell past her shoulders she wore a white and black uniform most of it being white apart from the sleeves and the boots which reached up to her upper thigh also having the Cerberus logo on her chest. Jacob was a well built man with dark skin and his uniform was black with a little bit of white on the back under his arms along with the Cerberus symbol on the uniforms chest.
"What about the mission we have to get these people that the Illusive man has recommended." Jacob argued.
"What's the difference between going down to this planet and going to get supplies at the citadel then rushing back to Omega?" Miranda argued back while Shepard watched them.
"Both of you settle down you still don't realise this but, this is my ship and it goes where I say it goes, got it." She said as she crossed her arms over her chest. Both turned to look at her and nodded. "Good, now we are going down there to check it out maybe we can get someone who would be a great help otherwise we will leave and tell the council about it later. Now go suit up and met me at the Mako."
"Ah commander we don't have a Mako any more." Joker's voice came over the radio.
"God damn it I keep forgetting!" She hissed.
XXXXXXXXXX
Naruto sat watching the stars when he saw another shooting one or what seemed to be one and it was heading straight towards him. He started to panic when he saw that it wasn't disappearing like the others but was starting to come down to the surface.
"What a way to go, fight and win in a war and get taken out by a falling star." He thought with a small smile as he closed his eyes. He felt a large wind rush passed him with incredible heat and then heard the snapping of tree's behind him. He opened his eyes and glanced over his shoulder from where he was sitting. What he saw shocked him it looked like a huge hunk of metal with steam coming off of it. He stood up and looked at it for a moment before something made a loud hissing sound and a compartment started to open. "I don't think this is a star."
"You don't say," Kurama chimed in, "Thank you, Captain Obvious."
He cautiously walked over to the door only to get thrown back from a blue unknown force and landed on the ground in a defensive stance.
"Who's there!" He called out. He saw a faint yellow glow from within the ship.
"Commander, this language is a lot similar to Japanese back on earth." A voice came back but he was unable to understand.
"Sorry, I don't understand you, could you repeat that?" He asked scratching the back of his head. Out of the metal room stepped out three people two women and a dark skinned man. They wall wore strange looking uniforms and the woman with red hair looked like she was wearing a type of armor which had two strange symbols on the chest plate.
"My name is Jane Shepard, man this is weird can't you give him something so I don't have to talk into this omni tool?" She asked. Naruto could understand a little bit of what she was saying but only picked up the word name.
"Alright just hang on a second." The second woman spoke. "My name is Miranda." She said as she approached him her voice echoed around him. "I'm going to give you this ear piece, it will help us understand you and you to understand us. Do you understand?" Naruto looked at her and scratched the back of his head again.
"Sure I guess." Miranda handed him and ear piece that came down into a make shift mike down the side of his cheek. "This feels weird."
"You will get use to it." Miranda said as she walked back to the ship.
"What's your name?" The man asked.
"Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki, or Namikaze, take your pick." He replied.
"Take your pick?"
"It's very complicated, and I really don't feel like explaining it all right now. What I do want to know is, what the hell this thing is," Naruto said, pointing to the crashed ship.
"What this?" Shepard asked.
"yeah that thing that came crashing down and almost hit me! Then you three popped out of it and something hit me and I was like 'what the hell'!"
"This is our ship." The red head replied.
"But were not anywhere near the ocean!" He growled while sitting down.
"Why are you sitting?" Miranda asked.
"I sit when I'm confused." Making Shepherd chuckle.
"Let me try and explain we came from the sky."
"No shit you almost hit me!" He growled again. "And I was just sitting here minding my own business and POW!" He said making a loud noise with his hands to make it easier to explain."
"Calm Down, Naruto," Kurama advised, "They're probably from a more advanced civilization. Remember, how you used to wonder if there was other life out there, back when you were 7?"
"I didn't think you'd remember that," Naruto thought back to the fox.
"Why didn't you move out of the way? I mean you would have seen us coming right?" Jacob asked.
"yeah I thought you were a shooting star and I thought what a way to go." He smiled which looked like a fox.
"A shooting star?" Miranda asked.
"I see a few every night. Ever since the war ended I watch the skies every night."
"War?" Shepard asked.
"Yeah, a couple of years ago, all 5 great nations were allied together in the 4th great Ninja War, against Tobi and the Akatsuki"
"Ninja?" Miranda asked internally.
"Who's that?" Shepard asked, as Naruto sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"I really don't feel like getting into it at the moment. Go find one of the hidden villages if you want to know more." He sighed as he layed on his back and returned to looking at the stars.
"So Naruto." Shepard started.
"So you remember his name but not ours!" Jacob yelled at her.
"Where would be the closest village?" Miranda inquired, then thinking, "This could be interesting."
"About two days walk to the west you will find the Leaf Village but they won't let in strangers, unless they changed the rules." he said as he yawned.
"Could you be our guide?" Miranda asked.
"I'm not going back there I will be killed on sight." This raised the others curiosity.
"Are you a criminal of some sought?" Shepard asked.
"Not really no but to them I am." He said as he stood up. "It's really complicated to get into and would be rather troublesome."
"Now you're starting to sound like Shikamaru," quipped the fox, making Naruto laugh in his mind.
"So you can't take us to the Leaf village then where is another village?" Jacob asked.
"About three weeks run to the south."
"We don't have three weeks Shepard."
"I know that, Naruto if we can promise your safety will you take us to the Leaf village?"
"I can protect myself thank you very much and I have history in the leaf and I don't really want to go back."
"We will give you credits." Miranda offered him.
"What the hell are those?" She sighed this was not going anywhere.
"OK Naruto how about this, you take us to the Leaf village and get us in to see there leader we will tell you whatever you want to know." Naruto stood in thought for a moment and then nodded once and picked up his black cloak which had red clouds on it in random order, he put on a straw hat with white strands of materiel going down covering his face.
"Alright follow me. Granny Tsunade is going to be pissed tho. When you meet her, try not to piss her off to much." The three nodded and walked behind him.
XXXXXXXXXX
The three were marveled at how thick the trees were in what was supposedly Fire country, Naruto had been telling them little bits about the five elemental nations and he had learned that they were from space and were on some sought of mission. The walls of Konoha came into view a few hours before they arrived at the main gate and Naruto had put the cloak away and pulled out a white one with black clouds, they hadn't asked about it and all of them continued on. The gate was huge, Shepard was in awe over it, Miranda and Jacob had both noticed that Naruto was now at the back of the group, as they walked a few meters into the gate before they were called to a stop by two men in green flat jackets.
"This isn't a village," Jacob whispered to Miranda, "This is a city."
"Who are you and what business do you have here?" One of the men asked. Naruto stepped forward as they wouldn't be able to talk to them. He took of his straw hat and both of them gasped in shock. "Anbu!" Suddenly Naruto was on the ground four swords were at his neck. The three that were traveling with him pulled out there weapons.
"We must congratulate you three he has been missing for two years." One of the Anbu spoke. He had a white mask with the design of a snake on it. Miranda and Shepard activated there omni tools and spoke into them.
"We have come to speak with Tsunade." Shepard stated.
"And you shall, this criminal has a lot of explaining to do." The Anbu spoke again as he struck several points on the blonde and he was dragged through the streets towards the large building at the far end of the village. The three gave sympathetic looks to him but he just looked away from them with a glazed look on his face.
"Was that the right thing to do?" Jacob asked.
"I don't know." Shepard replied as she started to follow them. The village had changed in two years there was some still rebuilding and children were playing in the streets, some of the people who saw Naruto were shocked to see him some had tears in their eyes others spat at him which made the three spacers confused. The three followed the Anbu into a large room where Naruto was forced onto his knees.
"Please wait here until the Hokage has arrived." The three nodded and they left. Naruto had not made a move and still had a glazed look in his eyes.
"Naruto are you ok?" Shepard asked as she kneeled down next to him.
"I just thought that I might have had a better reunion." He smiled at her. "Man that guy never gives me a break."
"You knew him?"
"yeah... I fought him in a thing we have here called the chunnin exams, I totally kicked his ass." He chuckled. "I wonder how his cousin is." He said as he sat back on the ground.
"Confused about something?"
"No... hungry, I haven't eaten since this morning."
"You had like thirty bowls of that ramen stuff!" Jacob said in shock.
"yeah but that's just a snack!" Naruto whined making the three wonder how he was so fit. The door on the far room opened revealing a very busty woman. Both Shepard and Miranda felt self conscious after they first saw her. Tsunade has fair skin and brown eyes. She has long blonde hair which is tied into two ponytails using red bands, except for her bangs, which are parted in the middle and fall down the sides of her face . She wears a grass-green robe underneath she wears a gray, kimono-style blouse with no sleeves, held closed by a broad, dark bluish-gray obi that matches her trousers. Her blouse is closed quite low, revealing her rather sizable cleavage.
"Naruto!" She growled.
"Hey Granny Tsunade miss me?" He yelled at her in a happy voice.
"I should kill you right here!" She yelled at him. The others stood in shock at the conversation between the two got even more heated and Naruto was sent through a wall and two Anbu members brought him back in. They were surprised at the woman's strength. "Where have you been for the last two years!"
"Oh you know here there a little to the left then a bit to the right." He smiled. She approached him again and they thought that she was going to hit him again but she leaned down close and hugged him and cried into his shoulder.
"You did it didn't you? You stopped the war and sent Sasuke back?" Naruto nodded much to the others shock. "Why didn't you return Naruto why go rogue?"
"I didn't go rogue, Grandma, I simply wanted to see the rest of the world like the Pervy Sage." He smiled a sad smile.
"Your already to much like him you know. All you need is the long white hair and funny looking shoes and your there." She chuckled as she stood up. He was unable to move as he had been hit in several nerve connections from the Anbu member. For the first time Tsunade noticed the little ear piece and pointed to it. "What's this Naruto?"
"Oh these guys gave it to me so I could understand them." He smiled pointing to the three behind him.
"Ah sorry about all that he just has caused some trouble is all." Tsunade smiled as she sat down at her desk. "My name is Tsunade, Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village what can I do for you?" She asked. Miranda walked up to her and gave her an ear piece.
"My name is Jane Shepard, you may not believe us but we came from the stars, we had been searching your planet for materials that would help us in our mission when we noticed life signs on the planet."
"You came from the stars?"
"I know it's hard to believe but they all most hit me with there ship!" Naruto growled.
"You thought it was a shooting star!" Shepard yelled at him making him pout at her.
"So. You still almost hit me!" He yelled back.
"What is your mission?" Tsunade asked.
"This is going to be even more insane then us coming from the stars." Miranda spoke. Both the ninja listened as they were told about the reapers and how they wiped out all living things fifty thousand years ago. How that these people in front of them were risking there very lives in trying to save the galaxy.
"So we came down here to see if you could offer us any aid in our mission." Shepard spoke as she watched Naruto struggle to stand up much to Tsunade's shock.
"Naruto?" She asked.
"Where...where do I sign up?" He said with a shit eating grin.
"Sorry but we need trained warriors." Jacob said, to which Naruto and Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
This didn't go unnoticed by Shepard. "Is he cut out for it?" She asked.
"If anyone was cut out for it and you all wanted to survive he is the one that could pull it off, he is of course the number one most unpredictable ninja that the elemental countries has ever seen. He stopped the last war single-highhandedly. He's probably the strongest warrior on our world, and we start training our shinobi at a young age. They graduate from the Academy at age 12, then start their training from an experienced sensei, while taking on missions for the village. Naruto has been doing incredibly difficult to impossible missions since he started his career. " She grinned. There was a knock at the door and Tsunade gestured for them to come in only to see Narrator's eyes flash red as he turned to face her his back turned away from the door. Shepard looked behind her to see a young woman near the age of Naruto but the strangest thing was her pink hair. "What is it Sakura." Tsunade asked.
"Great, her. Could this day get any worse?" Naruto thought
"It could, but that would only be if the Uchiha shows up," Kurama responded, "but, there are people here that aren't total assholes."
"Such as?"
"Your friends: Shikamaru, Choji, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Neji..in his own way, Lee, Tenten. Not too sure about Ino, though. Iruka, Kakashi, that crazy snake woman, Guy, Shizune, and Tsunade."
"Ok, ok, you have a point. I'm still not ready to return here full time. Probably never will be."
"That's up to you," the fox stated, "And I'm behind you either way. Have to be, being stuck in here."
"Oh ha ha."
"It's too much fun picking at you, kid."
"Is it true?" She asked as she approached the male blonde. "We thought you were dead." She said as she reached for him only for her to get a look from Tsunade which made her stop.
"Sakura now is not the time I am in the middle of an important meeting as you can see."
"Lady Tsunade?"
"Sakura, get the hell out!" She shouted and she left the office with tears in her eyes. Shepard and the others were confused and thought that there must have been history between the two. Plus, the way Naruto seemed to space out for a minute piqued her curiosity.
"I will need to find out about that later on." Shepard thought to herself.
"Calm down Naruto." Tsunade ordered and he unclenched his hands and his eyes turned back to there normal blue. "She hasn't been able to apologize to you ya know."
"There is no need." Naruto replied in a sad tone. "I fulfilled my promise to her, there is nothing left for us to discuss." He said his voice breaking a little. Tsunade was saddened by the news but looked to Shepard to see that there was something that she was wanting to ask.
"Jane, is there something that you would like to ask?" Shepard looked up to her and smiled.
"You wouldn't have any metal or something that is impenetrable around this village would you?" She asked.
"Not here we don't but we could get some in the next few days if it is urgent." Tsunade replied.
"It's just that our ship took some damage and needs a few repairs. It needs to be air tight otherwise we die from loss of air and I don't plan on going out into the great beyond any time soon." She continued to smile.
"I will do the best I can if you would like we could retrieve your ship and bring it here so you can work on it." Shepard nodded and Tsunade ordered in two Anbu who nodded and headed for the ship with Jacob. "As soon as they get back the metal should be here. But for now I should offer you two some sought of place to stay."
"My old place should be fine Grandma." Naruto smirked.
"Brat what have I told you about calling me that!" She yelled at him as he lost his senses in his legs again and fell to the floor. "It should wear off in a while but be sure to give them good exercise over the next few days. And for your idea your apartment complex was torn down Naruto. But there are some apartments we use for guest under the Monument." Shepard and Miranda nodded and headed for the door.
"What's the monument?" Shepard asked.
"The mountain with the faces carved onto it." Tsunade smiled. "I will get Shizune to lead you there. Naruto I need to have a few words with you." Naruto could only gulp.
XXXXXXXXXX
After a long talk with Tsunade, Naruto was walking the streets of Konoha, having an internal dialogue with his inner Biiju.
"I know that seeing Sakura still hurt, kid," Kurama told Naruto, "But would it be so bad to at least let them TRY to mend some fences? It's been two years, and not to sound too reminiscent, but you're starting to sound a bit like I did, back before we finally made sense of our situation."
"I guess you're right, Kurama," Naruto replied, "It couldn't hurt, could it?"
"And who knows..maybe this mission to the stars is just what you need, but it would be a shame to leave the planet on bad terms."
"We'll see."
XXXXXXXXXX
Shepard and Miranda followed the cheerful woman that Tsunade had introduced as Shizune. They had seen the pink haired girl again and she was talking to another blonde haired girl probably around the same age. Shizune gave them a tour around the leaf village that they both found fascinating especially when they saw a group of Anbu members jump over head. Most people in the village gave them a curious glance from the weapons they had on there backs and the clothing that they wore. They had a two bed room apartment and it was nicely decorated with a fridge packed full of food, which they were hesitant on eating but did anyway. It had been around five hours since they had left Naruto with Tsunade and were starting to wander what was going to happen to him. When they were sitting in the kitchen Shepard was looking over some data pads while Miranda was starting a report when there was a knock on the door. Miranda and Shepard looked to each other and Shepard nodded signaling Miranda to be ready and headed for the door. To there surprise it was the pink haired girl they had seen earlier.
"Hello?" Shepard said to the girl for her to understand through her omni tool.
"Please...please don't take him away!" She said as tears ran down her face. She collapsed to her knees and Shepard helped her stand and brought her inside and Miranda gave her a head set. "Please you can't take him away." She pleaded to the commander as she was sat down on the couch.
"This is about Naruto?" Asked Miranda and Sakura nodded.
"Please he means to much to the village to much to me he can't leave... not again..." She trailed off. Shepard looked at her and could only feel sad for her.
"What's your name?" Shepard asked.
"Sakura, Sakura Haruno." She said.
"My name is Jane and this is Miranda, as you can probably tell we aren't from here we are on a very important mission." She said as the girl lifted her head and looked in her eyes. "If Naruto comes with us on our mission we have a higher chance of surviving, but if he doesn't I doubt that anyone here would be able to live in the benefits if he did stay here."
"W-what do you mean?" Sakura asked.
"Our enemies seek to destroy the galaxy and everyone in it." Miranda told her making her gasp. "Our mission is clear, we need to stop the Reapers from their goal."
"If Naruto goes with you...will I be able to see him again?" Shepard frowned at that she had seen the way Naruto acted to her in the office.
"Sakura?" Sakura turned her head to look at the red head. "What was Naruto's promise to you?" Sakura's eye went wide, and were filled with sadness.
"When we were both twelve years old we were put onto the same team along with a third member. We never got along with one another I always hit Naruto and never noticed him. I always flaunted myself for Sasuke."
"Sasuke?" Miranda asked.
"Our third member, ever since he was a kid he had always been out for revenge on his brother who killed his entire clan to gain more power. He thought he was better then anyone else especially Naruto. When Sasuke went rogue Lady Tsunade sent a team after them Naruto was on that team, before they left I asked him for one thing. To bring back Sasuke. He told me that it was a promise of a life time, see Naruto is a man of his word if he says it's a promise he will never break it. It was almost six years later but Sasuke returned home saying that Naruto beat him and ordered him back."
"Six years?" Miranda asked.
"He was on a training trip for three of them, then he had to deal with the Akatsuki after that before he even had a chance to go after Sasuke. When they were younger they viewed each other as rivals and then as brothers."
"What happened when Sasuke arrived back in the village?" Shepard asked.
"All he said was that Naruto told him to get back to the leaf, then there was no word from Naruto until a couple of hours ago when you walked through the front gates with him." She said as tears fell from her eyes.
"If we take him with us there is a chance you will never see him again Sakura." More tears fell from her eyes as she cried more and her words weren't even recognizable. "That doesn't mean that you won't Sakura, if Tsunade believes in him and he was able to end a war single-handed there is no doubt that he will survive the mission." Shepard smiled at her. She could tell that Sakura had hope in her eyes.
XXXXXXXXXX
Sakura walked down the main street and for once in four years felt happy and had hope that she could fix things with Naruto, who she came to see more like a brother. She made friends with both Miranda and Jane, they seemed to be nice people even if Miranda was a bit out there with her assumptions and that Jane was always trying to be funny most of the time she made her smile. She had been there for two hours learning about there mission and what Naruto would be doing most of the things she wasn't comfortable with and Shepard assured her that they could handle themselves. Naruto was the person she was currently looking for, she had thought that he would instantly go to his favorite place when he was done with the Hokage but he wasn't at the ramen stand they didn't even know he was back. She had been searching for and hour and it was starting to get dark and her hope was slightly faltering when she ran into someone and they both fell down.
"I'm sorry please let me help you up." A voice said above her strangely familiar, she could see a white cloak with black clouds something like the Akatsuki use to wear and she was immediately on guard and jumped up and got into a fighting stance but lowered when she saw who it was.
"Naruto."
"Sakura." Naruto replied he had an indifferent look in his eyes. She jumped at him and wrapped her arms around his neck as she hugged him like she had only done twice before, when he defeated pain and when she confessed her love for him. "What's up?" Naruto said his arms hanging at his side.
"Naruto?" She asked as she looked into his eyes only to see them flashing between red and blue. "I thought you would want to come have dinner with me." She said with a smile.
"I've got a lot going on, Sakura," Naruto replied, "And a lot to think about."
"Maybe later then?" She asked.
"I've got a mission I've got to prepare for. This is unlike anything any shinobi's done before."
"How long will you be gone?" She said as he turned his back to her.
"I don't know. There's a chance no one will be coming back." He replied as he started to walk away only come face to face with Sasuke. His onyx eyes only showing that he was at ease. If not, the Sharingan would be showing. He wore a white shirt opening showing his chest and wore dark blue ninja pants with shinobi sandals.
"Dobe." He greeted. "Long time no see what have you been doing for the last two years?" Naruto stopped. His conversation with Kurama earlier had made him rethink things, and he came to a conclusion.
"Seeing the world," he answered, "Much like the Master Jiraiya did. And you guys?"
"Please Naruto come have dinner with us." Sakura pleaded, "We can catch up, and would it really be so bad to try to be friends again?"
"You know, the fox said the same thing."
"So you'll come?" Sasuke said back to him, "And you now have conversations with the fox?"
"Please Naruto your going away and there is a chance you won't be able to come back please stay with us for just a little while." She pleaded again.
"Why not?" He said as he walked away with Sasuke and Sakura
A couple of hours later, Naruto slammed the door to the apartment he was given while he waited for the ship to get fixed Tsunade had told him that he was allowed to go and he had to promise he would survive because she knew that his promise was the best thing to get from the blonde. He walked into the apartment and threw the cloak on the couch as he headed for the bedroom. He went to bed, after a long tiring day, to be awoken in the middle of the night by a knock on his door. He sluggishly got out of bed and opened it to see a panting and seething Ino standing there.
"What is it Ino?" He asked as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and as soon as he pulled his hand from his face he was slapped.
"That was for staying away for 2 years. Do you know how many times Shikamaru, Choji and I got sent out to try to find you?!" She growled at him only to get a look of confusion from Naruto.
"One question, Ino," Naruto said, "Could this not wait till morning?"