Chapter 24

Another two years of straight, hard training and Uzumaki Naruto was a changed person. He was stronger, faster but most of all confident. He felt as if he could take on the world at the moment, and nothing could drag him from the precipice he now stood upon.

It had not been easy though. He trained all day long, his resolve never wavering. His desire to remove the weight upon his shoulders only fuelled by the life and vitality he saw on a daily basis in Konoha. His pranks had become more sophisticated; no-one was spared including the Hokage himself who woke up one morning to find he couldn't move. For an entire twenty-four hours he had remained stationary on his bed, and so he thought he'd catch up on some sleep until someone could come and figure out what was going on with his body. His son, Sarutobi Asuma, had eventually gotten fed up waiting for his leader at the briefing of his latest A-Rank mission and stormed into the house to find his father staring at the ceiling with a vacant look on his face.

It turned out that someone had been impersonating him for half the day, most probably with an excellent Henge, but the person had made a vital mistake: he had gone out for lunch. The Sandaime NEVER went out for lunch.

It was then that the old Hokage realised he was such a lazy and undignified person. The Yondaime had always gone out for lunch even at the expense of his own work pile growing larger. Yet the Sandaime was always found in his office, all day long and only at night did he ever relinquish his duties. He ended up thanking the person, for some reason the Village had been run in exactly the right way and nothing at all was out of place. Hiruzen had a strange idea that maybe Naruto had been behind it.

It had been Naruto and Anko's plan of course. The blond nutcase needed an outlet for all the energy bottled up inside him and it didn't help when Anko seemed to be a kindred soul in that regard. One day of training and the two had been cooling down in the shade of a tree. The older Shinobi had struck up a conversation and somehow they had moved onto the topic of jobs.

"Well brat, I won't lie to ya', I love bein' a Shinobi. It's the only job in the world I could see myself doin' and I get to kick and punch things without it bein' illegal."

Naruto nodded absently. What did he want to do with his life? He wouldn't become a Shinobi, but then how else would he earn money when the time came for him to sustain himself?

"Are there any jobs where I'd be allowed to kick and punch things without bein' a ninja?"

Anko leaned back against the rough back of the old elm behind them and stared up at the sky; the oranges and pinks blending as twilight began to set in. The stars of the heavens were bright for the time of day and one shone extremely bright.

"See that kid? That star is like you. You're in a sky filled with stars that are almost the same all around ya'. But you have to make something of yourself on your own, find something you're good at that fits ya'. Like that star shines bright where it is, brighter than the ones around it. You have to find that place too and shine brighter than everyone else around you."

Naruto remained laying on his back, gazing up at the celestial bodies for a while. Could he do that? Was it possible for him to become like that star, more powerful, more unique than all the other stars around him?

"Hey Anko-nee...When did you learn all this stuff?"

Said Mitarashi blushed at the scrutiny and turned away. When she replied, her voice was tinged with regret and a slight amount of mock anger.

"What you tryna say there gaki? You think I don't have my moments of wisdom too?"

There was silence for a while as they both stared up at that star, each lost in their own thoughts.

"I've been through a lot Naruto, maybe even more than you. I won't say I even understand how you felt when you were younger, but I've had bad experiences too. I just hope you'll never have to go through something like that...

Ever."

The last word was whispered so quietly that the Konoha Jinchuuriki almost lost it to the noises of the large animals in training ground 44. He didn't notice when the purple-haired woman rose from her position, straightening her knee-length, tan trench coat and then loping off into the trees. After a few more minutes it hit him that Anko had said his name this time; not 'brat', 'kid', or 'gaki', she had actually called him by his name.

And she hadn't once shortened her words like she usually did.

After that it seemed he and Anko had grown closer, forming a sort of friendship beyond that of normal friends, yet not quite family either. There were things that neither would mention to the other, and Naruto began to realise that TenTen had been the one at fault all along all those years ago. The girl was prideful and stubborn, and even now she refused to apologise for her actions. He sometimes saw her at the Higurashi weapons store and although the anger and arrogance seemed to have disappeared, the tension and awkwardness had not.

Naruto wasn't going to apologise, not now and definitely not for something that hadn't been his fault in the first place. His initial stance was correct; there were some secrets that were better left as secrets. So apart from the mandatory 'Hi' or 'how've you been' the two hardly spoke any more to the other.

Naruto decided not to press it. Their friendship would never be the same as it was all those years ago; both had changed too much in the years bygone and her attitude was beginning to unravel for the prank-master. He had other friends now, ones he could count on in any situation, friends he had shed sweat and blood with in dangerous situations and yet they had all come out laughing. He now knew what it was to be a friend and what friends could expect from one another, and at that point TenTen could not be described like that.

Speaking of friends, Kakashi had woken up for the next few weeks with Omni-paint dripping down his face. Being the genius that he is, he realised that Water-natured Chakra was required to remove said gloop and so took to washing his face with a low-powered Suiton Jutsu every morning. Naruto got a good kick out of watching the elite Shinobi squirm every single time he looked at him. It seems he still hadn't figured out that the paint was actually on the head-rest of his sleeping bag. Why did he use his sleeping bag at home anyway?

Shisui had been happy to see the blond return too. He had taken to meeting the Genjutsu master at least once a week where they would catch up with all of Naruto's pranks he had let off the previous week. One time, Naruto had unintentionally set something off that sent the entire village into uproar and the poor Uchiha was left bed-ridden at the hospital due to a constricted gut; a result of laughing too much. Jiraiya would remember that event all too well for the rest of his years...

Naruto had been working rigorously on seals in the months after returning. His Taijutsu training with Anko left him exhausted after every day and so he had taken to reading his old scrolls on basic sealing theory that Jiraiya had given to him. Imagine Jiraiya's surprise when he found the kid working on something that would be totally revolutionary to Konoha should the blond Jinchuuriki ever decide to share his knowledge.

"What's that you've got there gaki?"

Naruto looked up from the scroll held in his hands as he sat hunched against a wall of his bedroom. Jiraiya noticed the frown of confusion on his face as he balanced on the window he had just jumped to.

"Oh Ero-Sennin! See, I was workin' on this seal thingy where you stick two of those thingies together and then use them to do one thing!"

Jiraiya sweat-dropped at the choice of words. 'He calls complex seals 'thingies'?! How the heck does he learn this stuff?!'

"But ya' see, I can't seem to get it to work!"

"What are you trying to do?"

Naruto placed the scroll on the wooden floor of his bedroom and picked up another sheet of paper he had obviously been working on.

"Well, see, I had this idea where I can control my Airboard without having to actually be on it! Kinda like a joystick thingy from those computer games they sell at the electronics store. I'm sure it's all fine though but whenever I put Chakra in it, my Airboard don't move an inch!"

Jiraiya stared at the seal. It seemed to be a dual-design with a central control-seal attached to another seal that was very familiar to the Toad-Sage. Naruto had the control seal hooked up to an elemental control seal which obviously was meant to control the additional elemental control seals on the Airboard. The difference between the first and the second elemental seals was that the first was directly controlling the second whereas the latter was the seal that handled the actual elemental manipulation that the user normally would. It looked fine to the elite Shinobi, yet he watched the seal light up again and again as the young blond attempted to prove his point by showing his 'teacher'.

"Woah, woah...hold up. Are you telling me you created your Airboard using these basic seals?!"

Naruto shrugged lightly. Jiraiya sweat-dropped again; he was a total genius, and the kid had not a clue in the world!

"...Naruto it seems as if the first seal is incorrect. See that central control seal? When it lights up, the Chakra seems to be dispersing before it hits the elemental seal."

Naruto just stared at him.

"HOW THE HECK ARE YOU LEARNING FUUINJUTSU WITHOUT KNOWING THE NAMES OF THE THINGS YOU'RE DRAWING?!"

Naruto scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Oh, I know what I'm doing! It's just I don't know the names of them!"

Jiraiya's brain was about to break down. The kid was doing the same thing he had said before; he was making complex seals without knowing what they were called.

"Ok, look. That central thingy is not doing the job it should because the other seal thingy isn't getting any Chakra at all. Well...it is, but it isn't doing what it's meant to be doing."

"OH!" The 10 year old chirped, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

'GOD DAMMIT! I'M BEGINNING TO THINK IN 'THINGS' AS WELL!'

Naruto continued to prod the seal and channel chakra into it at irregular intervals.

"So what is it doing then?"

Jiraiya whipped his head up to stare at his 'quasi-student'. That was a surprising question; it was obviously not doing anything. 'I'm sure that first seal looks like something I've seen from somewhere...'

"Well, it ain't doing anything, is it?"

"Oh..."

Jiraiya still couldn't force the foreboding feeling of doom setting over his mind. He knew he should have recognised the first seal, but for some reason he just couldn't quite place it...

Meanwhile, halfway across the village, Hyuuga Hiashi was having a very strange day. The first inclination he had that things weren't quite the way they should be was when he was walking proudly from the Hyuuga clan compound's foyer to his office after meeting with a Hyuuga elder to discuss the state of the new generation's dress sense. As he rounded the corner of a hallway, he met a very strange sight indeed.

Hyuuga Neji, the prodigy of the Hyuuga Branch House, appeared to be trying to walk through a wall. Everytime he would force his head into the brick and mortar with force, he would curse, stop and then try again. Hiashi frowned at this development. Geniuses weren't what they used to be it seems.

"Neji, the door to the fountain garden is over there. I suggest you use it, instead of trying to make a new one."

The Hyuuga Patriarch pointed towards the obvious exit. How could this boy miss it?! It was labelled as an 'exit' after all; in big red Kanji too! To his slight anger, his nephew didn't seem to respond at all to his advice and the only evidence that he had even heard his uncle was the rigid stiffening of his back.

Suddenly, the boy's head reared back and with a small, high-pitched scream of horror, blew through the wall with gusto.

"DAMN YOU FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!"

Hiashi looked aghast at the damage done to his precious home. Running to the hole in the wall he peered out to see his nephew rocketing off into Konoha at such high speeds that the clan head's clothes were buffeted by the winds in the boy's wake.

"NEJI! YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT HOLE WHEN YOU GET BACK HERE, DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

Naturally there was no answer and so the clan elder sighed in exasperation and returned to plodding resolutely towards his office. He would not allow that little stunt to affect his day; he had an image of honour and superiority to preserve.

To his growing shock and terror, he found himself at the lounge of the Hyuuga Branch House that cut sideways from the hallway to his office. The lesser clan members were throwing themselves all over the place, destroying furniture and precious ornaments wherever they stood. In his anger, Hiashi activated his Byakugan and gaped at what he saw.

Every Branch House member's Caged-Bird seal was activated, yet they were not being hurt in the slightest. Instead, a strong amount of Wind Chakra seemingly sprung up around them at irregular intervals and caused them to go zooming in whatever direction it wanted them to go. They were blowing holes through everything in sight! This was unacceptable!

After a few more seconds of scrutinising the activated seals he caught a faint Chakra connection that seemed to be directed from outside of the compound. But how was that possible? The Caged-Bird seal was designed so that only Main Branch members could use it. And there weren't any Main Branch members outside of the house attempting to punish their subordinates.

As he mused over the apparent problem he didn't notice a certain Branch member moving towards him until it was too late.

"Hiroshi! What are you-"

SMACK!

Hyuuga Hiashi was knocked out, plain and simple. Hiroshi would later deny that it had been intentional although the delirious smile on his face tended to hint the opposite.

After that debacle, the Sandaime had called Naruto in for a meeting in the Hokage Tower. Once arriving there he had gotten down to business right away.

"Naruto, were you controlling the Hyuuga the other day?"

"Huh? The what?!"

"The Hyuuga. The people with the white eyes and no pupils!"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, the ghosty guys! Why would I be controlling them?"

"It has come to my attention that the Hyuuga Caged-Bird seal had been used by someone outside the clan and it was propelling the 'users' all around the Village."

"O_o"

"Don't look at me like that!"

"Like what?"

Hiruzen gave up right there. He obviously hadn't been the culprit and the blond seemed to be acting cold to him still.

"Naruto-kun, what's the matter with you these days? You are being very belligerent."

"Bal-le-leargh..."

The Sandaime sighed.

"COLD! You're being very cold to me these days!"

Naruto's demeanour changed instantly. His eyes grew hard and distant and his entire posture turned defensive. Sarutobi was slightly worried by this outcome, yet he forged on.

"Well?"

Naruto's bangs shadowed his eyes as he spoke, his voice low and filled with a certain emotion the venerable Hokage was unable to recognise. Was it bitterness?

"You haven't forgotten have you, Jiji?"

The elder Shinobi stiffened at those words, a cold chill running down his spine at how the last word was almost spat out at him. 'Jiji'...When was the last time Minato's legacy had called him that?

A pang of sadness went through the old ninja's heart.

"You used me...and then threw me out to the most dangerous places. Do you know how many times I almost died out there Jiji? Do you even care?"

His voice was emotionless, hollow, almost to the level of a certain Uchiha. The Hokage bristled at the veiled accusation.

"You chose to leave! I couldn't stop you! You are a civilian just like you wanted to be! How can you accuse me of not caring when I was the one who sent Jiraiya out after you?!"

Naruto turned to leave, his mind already set. With a last sentence of finality, he left the Third Fire Shadow with a burdened heart.

"And who was it that made me leave in the first place, eh Jiji?"

Jiraiya was astonished by the outcome of that meeting. Naruto didn't mope and stew in his thoughts like he would have done before he left Konoha. It seemed as if the young blond had matured well with his experiences in the greater world and Jiraiya could only say that he was proud of his godson. Akatsuki were beginning to move and with the strength he had now, the pre-teen may be able to give the lower members a workout.

Anko had trained him hard, in what exactly, he didn't know. But aside from his own instruction, the Gama-Sennin knew there were others helping too. Perhaps Kakashi and Shisui had a hand in his large growth in strength, but there was one thing for sure in all of this.

Naruto was light-years ahead of any and all Academy students, even most Genin and Chuunin for that matter!

And at the end of the two years, just after the Konoha Jinchuuriki's twelfth birthday, his year's Academy class would graduate and be put on teams. Naruto would be left on the sidelines again, a spectator as his Jounin friends went about preparing the next generation for Shinobi life. Jiraiya would always stand by his side though, even if he had to fight tooth and nail to do so.

Just before the graduation exam, Naruto met up with Anko, Kakashi and Shisui for the last time. The three were very close; Kakashi the tortured senior, Shisui the crazy nutcase and Anko the even crazier snake-mistress. The patchwork family would meet every week after the other two found out about Shisui and Naruto's meetings and so it became a regular thing for them, a constant in their lives.

As they sat swapping some of the more mundane tales and accomplishments in their lives (Naruto had a lot to add), the three simply basked in each others' presence, enjoying the last quality group time they had. Kakashi was slated for another Genin team this year and it was possible that they would pass with Uchiha Sasuke on the team. Shisui was being drafted into ANBU after a large successful stint as a Tokubetsu Jounin alongside Anko. And Anko...she would still be available at least.

"So how's the training coming along Naruto?"

The young blond turned his head to gaze at the Uchiha survivor, yet Anko answered before he could even open his mouth.

"He's damn good I tell ya'! He could give any of us three a hard time if he went all out!"

Kakashi's book snapped shut in the quiet evening darkness as he turned to regard them. His eyes searched Naruto's sapphire orbs, looking for something there that only he could see. Naruto had taken to playing pranks on him at every corner and he had noticed an increase in not only his own abilities as a Shinobi, but also Naruto himself had improved in leaps and bounds. After a full three minutes, the elite Jounin relaxed, his only visible eyes curving upwards in what Naruto had come to realise was a smile.

"You'll do!"

Warmth filled the blonde's heart as he looked at the three...acknowledging him. An image of a small family from Wave flashed across his mind and tears began to gather at the corner of his eyes.

"You're not gonna cry are ya'?! Oh hell no! The great prank-master Uzumaki Naruto crying over a compliment?!"

Naruto roughly scrubbed his eyes with the side of his hand as he glared at the Uchiha.

"SHADDAP YOU!"

All three broke out in laughter before flopping down onto the grass of the park they were currently meeting in. Their heads touched each other in a rough circle as their bodies were pointed outwards.

"We are so gonna kick some butt!"

The other three nodded at Shisui's comment.

"We are totally gonna own this place!"

They nodded again.

"I'm totally gonna kick Naruto's butt!"

They nodded again.

There was a brief silence.

"HEY! WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!"

The three Jounin chuckled at their young friend's antics.

"But is he ready?"

Kakashi's voice was a whisper on the wind, calm and soft yet booming to the ones who were listening. The three descended into a thoughtful silence as Naruto strained anxiously to see where they would go with this. For some reason he knew not to butt in at this point; this was something between them and he had to sit it out. It was almost like an exam...like- like a laser beam checking you for explosives and-

'Damn! I've got to stop reading comics all night!'

Anko hummed lightly, Naruto realised it sounded more like a growl than a hum. Slowly she sat up and turned to them, a thoughtful look on her face.

"I guess there's only one way to find out!"

The other three sat up straight.

"And what's that?"

Ever the cautious one, Kakashi wanted the details before agreeing.

"We have to test him!"

The two Sharingan users nodded at that. It was a sound idea. Anko whipped around to face her 'student', a manic grin stretched across her visage and her finger pointed at the blond whilst her other hand pumped the air. Naruto's stomach plummeted to his feet.

'This can't be good...'

"You! Uzumaki Naruto, are hereby challenged to put a seal on every single ANBU in this village without them noticing. You are then to steal the Sandaime's seeing ball before spreading a banner of us four with victory signs. You are then to draw a massive cartoon-styled picture of the Sandaime picking his nose in the air using clouds above the Hokage Monument. You are then to hide for five hours without being caught, seen, heard, smelt or felt!"

Kakashi and Shisui looked askance at the...idea. There was no way in hell Naruto was going to-

"I ACCEPT!"

The two grinned and threw their arms over the other's shoulders, their smiles reminding the other two oddly of a snake and a fox.

'Kami-Sama, we are sorry for ever introducing Naruto to Anko. Please don't torture us when we die!'

For the rest of the night, the four friends talked and joked with each other, Shisui managing to give Naruto the 'noogie of death' and Kakashi's book being stolen a dozen times. By the time midnight rolled around the three were tired and weary, their hearts heavy with finality. The grass beneath them seemed to sway in the slight breeze along with their sadness, a certain stillness settling over the group.

"We'll survive. All of us. Promise."

"Promise."

Standing, the four friends looked at one another for a moment, simply scrutinising each other in the dim street-light that managed to reach this far out; almost as if they were trying to memorise each others' faces, every little detail.

Finally, they turned and walked away, moonlight bathing the area in a silvery glow.

Naruto wouldn't cry until he slept. And even then he wouldn't remember his tears from his dreams; dreams of emptiness and loneliness.

The void that had been closed for two years cracked open ever so slightly.

ZZZZZZZZ