If, for some remarkable reason, you’ve read chapter one before - please do reread it. I’ve re-written it and it’s changed quite a lot.

Modest Mouse - Missed the Boat.

Looking towards the future
We were begging for the past
Well we knew we had the good things
But those never seemed to last
Oh please just last

Well nothing ever went
Quite exactly as we planned
Our ideas held no water
But we used them like a damn

Oh, and we carried it all so well
As if we got a new position
Oh, and I laugh all the way to hell
Saying yes, this is a fine promotion
Oh, and I laugh all the way to hell

Of course everyone goes crazy
Over such and such and such
We made ourselves a pillar
We just used it as a crutch

We were certainly uncertain
At least I'm pretty sure I am
Well we didn't need the water
But we just built that go god damn

Was it ever worth it?
Was there all that much to gain?
Well we knew we missed the boat
And we'd already missed the plane

Serendipity
Chapter 2: Certainly Uncertain.

Sakura awoke with a painful start. She noted somewhere in the back of her head, which was already throbbing with pain and nausea, that she was very unaware of her surroundings; she had definitely never been here before. Yet, somehow, as she took in the room around her, she felt at ease. An unfamiliar feeling of being at home, safe, somehow. Something she had never felt outside of the walls of her village. Ironically enough, that very same feeling kept her on her edge unlike anything else. That feeling was supposed to be alien to her as a ninja, at least right here and now.

Sighing, she first checked on her wounds before doing anything else. With an eye-brow mildly raised in question, she noticed that the they were all seemingly gone. Her uniform was still ripped around where it had been, but that was it. No further evidence of the massive wound existed.

Shaking her head in confusion or just plain disbelief, she recalled the events of what she presumed were yesterday. It felt like a surrealistic dream. She didn’t quite understand her own reasoning for plunging at him like she had. Did she have a death wish? Had all the angst and feelings of betrayal just gotten too much and she had finally snapped?

She didn’t have any answer right now, and decided to at least wait until her head stopped throbbing until she asked again.

Still a bit too groggy to stand up, she instead took a good look around the room, taking in her surroundings. It was what looked like a normal cabin. Nothing fancy at all - no decorations or anything like such. Her educated guess was that this was the only room. The fact that there was only one door - that supposedly led out into the world - somehow supported her idea.

She saw that there was a simple kitchen across the room. Glancing over there she noticed that something had recently been cooked on the stove, if the steamy pot was any indication.

To her side stood a chair pulled close and she noted that there was a small tray on top of it, holding what seemed like green tea, some bread and a note. Folded under the note were clothes of some sort, but right now she focused her attention on the other items.

She extended her shaking and still very tired arm and snatched the note, bringing it to her eyes. Her brows furrowed on her forehead as she read the short message, and then she had the urge to either roll her eyes or mangle a certain blonde-haired shinobi that was bound to be somewhere close.

Sakura,

Please accept my apologies and eat this breakfast I prepared for you.

She looked at the letter and then to the food on the tray and then back to the letter once again. Then she promptly shook her head. Did he think that she was that stupid? There could be all sorts of poisons - especially as seasoned green tea was the easiest type to hide numerous poisons in.

As if on cue, her stomach rumbled a bit at the thought of food and she found herself in quite a predicament. Sighing to herself she tossed the note aside on the tray but in doing so, she found another message on the back.

PS.It’s not poisoned. If I wanted to poison you, I would've done so while you were out cold.

She sighed to herself again and in doing so managed to suppress a groan. Sakura could literary imagine the grin the loud-mouthed brat she knew back in the days would've sported right now. With sadness, she compared that boy to the man that had handed her ass to her earlier. It was hard to imagine that they were both one and the same.

Setting her doubts aside, she took a sip of the tea - surprised that Naruto out of all people could cook something so delicious. She took another sip immediately afterwards and then continued to greedily eat all the bread given to her.

A minute later she had finished her breakfast and found her strength renewed. It had had almost the same affect as a soldier-pill she noted, but not quite to the same extent. She wasn't sure if it was the bread or the tea, but somehow she felt a lot of her strength returning again.

Pulling herself up from the bed, she gravely noticed that all of her belongings save from clothing had been taken from her, even her ANBU mask. Just like a true captor would to his hostage. The kevlar armour lay on the floor next to the chair, its thick white cloth coloured in stains of her blood. She gritted her teeth and then re-checked all her hidden weapon-supplies and found with delight that he had forgot to remove her three spare kunais, hidden just next to her body under her shirt.

Sakura smirked a bit, thinking that the young enigma maybe had not entirely changed. Eight years ago, Uzumaki Naruto would've been way too embarrassed to feel a female person - even ninja - up for weapons hidden in quite intimate places.

She removed the tray and took a look at the material underneath it. As she had predicted, they were clothes - or more accurately, a brightly-coloured blue tee and black combat pants.

Sighing, she contemplated whether to wear the clothes or not. This situation was already beyond anything closely resembled normal, and what would her captor think if she did indeed clothe herself in his clothes? The childish part of her mind rejected the idea, screaming obscenities about how she couldn’t let him have that mental victory over her. Especially not after the night before.

Seeing however as her uniform was torn to pieces in more places than one, revealing a tad bit too much for comfort, she took the shirt and slid it over her head, leaving the pants on the chair. Instead she kept her full ANBU uniform save for kevlar and armour under the blue shirt.

Sakura moved towards the door and opened it slowly, intent on finding out exactly where she was. To her great surprise it wasn't locked - but maybe thinking a simple door could hold her in was a foolish thought to begin with.

As the door creaked open, she noted a figure sitting on the steps leading out into the clearing that surrounded them. Tight black coat wrapped around broad shoulders and muscular body coupled with that silkily blonde hair. He was taller, his hair longer and wilder, his body firmer built and he held himself better these days, like one of his strength, determination and confidence would. But even from behind she could still recognize him. She was torn between making her presence known and just lounging at him with her kunai right there and then.

Instead of waiting for her, he made the first gesture.

“Good morning, Sakura. Slept well?” She didn't need to see his face to know that he had that unsettling grin from last night on his features.

“What do you want from me?” Straight from the pleasantries to the point.Good girl, she complimented herself.

“Huh? Not even a 'Hello' or 'Good morning' for your old comrade? Even a simple 'Thanks' would be nice, y'know.”

She was starting to get annoyed now. He was enjoying this way too much. And he still wasn't even taking her seriously - he hadn't even turned to face her yet! Didn't she even pose a threat to him from behind?

“Wow, you sure are full of yourself, bastard. Why would I even want to thank you?”

“If not for the breakfast or taking care of your injuries...”

No response. So he continued on.

“Or perhaps the fact that I didnot kill you in your sleep. Or when we fought, for that matter.” He finished, satisfied.

If the glare was any indication, she was fuming now. Not that he still had turned around to notice. “You kidnapped me!”

He shrugged carelessly. “So you would’ve rather I killed you?”

She knew she was out of her position, but she couldn't help herself. Somehow, this boy, man, still got to her with little to no effort. “I'd like to see you try!” She huffed in annoyance.

There was no answer this time, he didn't need to. They both knew that if they faced of straight-up right now, Sakura still injured and not close to her full capacity, she wouldn't stand a chance. So she was forced to re-think her options and come up with some other plan.

Sakura slowly but surely sat down next to him on the steps, still careful of his every move. His face had hardened some, seemingly loosing the baby fat. It made him look more mature, but that could've been the faraway look in his gaze, she thought. He looked painfully a lot like their old Hokage, the Yondaime. There was no denying that fact.

The Yondaime had been a hero of unrivalled strength and even though she wasn't even born when he passed away, she had seen many pictures of him. She absentmindedly wondered why she hadn't made that connection before, because the resemblance was uncanny. Well, except for the whiskers that adorned his features, which seemed to have paled somewhat in colour...

...And of course the absence of a forehead protector on the top of his head, letting his already spiky hair all over the place. She sighed loudly. Seeing him without Konoha’s symbol saddened her more than anything else.

She saw that he was holding her ANBU mask in his hand, but he wasn't looking at it directly - instead he was gazing down on the ground a few meters in front of him. Less careless now, when she opened her mouth again, she decided to tread slowly. “You never answered my question.”

After not getting an answer, she decided to elaborate. “What do you want from me?” she asked firmly.

He raised his gaze from the ground and up towards the sky, indicating that he was thinking.

“Honestly?”

She didn't quite know how to respond to that since she didn't know what it meant. Somehow she felt that it held a greater meaning; whatever he was about to answer - she wouldn't quite want to know. Was he going to tell her he was going to kill her or something like that? Either way, Sakura decided that she needed to find out. Noticing the small outlines of a smile gracing his face, she nodded.

“It was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. I don't know why.” He stated bluntly, still looking upwards to the heavens.

She didn't know quite what to read of it, and neither did he. He hated how she messed him up without even trying. Just her mere presence disturbed him on so many levels. It had taken him years to build up his self esteem after he had left; and he now applauded the parts of him that were careful, cunning and full of caution - everything his childhood self did not even closely resemble... He needed to be that person in order to survive.

And while he was still known to be impulsive now and then, he would never be described as careless or without caution. There was always a way out of what he got himself into. Always.

Except, maybe now.

It had taken her all of one second to destroy all of what his carefully planned persona had entitled him to and revert him back to his old ways; impulsive and careless. And she hadn't even needed to open her mouth to do so! Just one look from her, and he was a messed up, emotional shell of what he had been these past years.

Will I never get over you, Sakura?

He laughed slightly and ever so bitterly at the irony of it all, and almost scowled himself for doing so. Laughing was part of an emotion, and he never let emotions get the best of him. He looked her up in the corner of his eyes. His field of vision only allowing him brief details as his head was still stubbornly held high.

Her hair had gotten shorter, he noted. She held it simpler now compared to years ago. Maybe that was because she was supposed to hide behind the mask he still held in his hand - hadn't simply had time to fix her hair up yet. Or maybe she had gotten over her looks and instead had started to focus more on training these last years. Maybe she had finally realized that a battlefield didn't care about how you looked, while it was painfully aware of skill and experience.

He frowned to himself, hoping he was right in his assumptions. Besides, she would always look deadly to him. Now there was a pun worthy of the old, foolish Naruto.

Shaking his head in a vain attempt to make his trail of thoughts disappear. He handed over her mask to her, giving it a quick glance-over before he did so.

It looked fierce. He would've half-expected it to be a horse, a slug or maybe some magnificent bird of some sort. Hell, even a unicorn would've made more sense than this, he mused. Instead it held similarities to a canine. Large fangs, whiskers, protruding ears on top. All decorated in an orange colour upon the white mask - which somehow made it look partly gentle & innocent while the fierceness still remained.

“A fox, eh.” He stated nonchalantly and smiled warily up towards the sky before turning to his captive. If he was right in his thesis, then he'd get an explanation soon...

She held him steady in her gaze and after a while their eyes finally met. She hadn't noticed a few minutes ago as he was staring straight forward instead towards her, but his eyes! They were slightly different from the ones she knew. The bright innocent blue colour still remained within them but he held a different gaze now compared to years ago. It was a sad gaze of someone that had seen too much and had the weight of the world on their shoulders.

Furthermore, there were two things that disturbed her greatly about his pupils. First off, they weren’t their normal round shape, rather they were of a very slight oval shape. While not complete slits like those of a wild animal, there were still a small resemblance. Second of all, the colour. They held a hint of blood red in them, compared to normal black pupils.

For a second she considered it a gen-jutsu cast to hide his features from the many people tailing him, but quickly dismissed that idea - he would've changed more features and none of them this apparent. She shuddered involuntarily at the thought, but didn't voice any of her concerns.

Releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding in, she took a firm grip on the mask but he didn't let go just yet. Not without an explanation.

“ANBU's are supposedly the demons of Konoha; doing all the dirty work. I thought it would be fitting.” she stated, with just a hint of smugness which spoke volumes.

Just one thought crossed his mind at this point. So everyone knows, then... He had told Sakura himself during their first mission after his little trip with Jiraiya, but for her to wear a mask of a fox, a creature considered taboo in Konoha for many reasons, most probably meant that everyone - even his generation - knew of his 'relation' to the demon.

He didn't know whether to feel relieved or damned at the thought of his biggest secret being spilled like that. He knew just how naive he was in thinking they hadn't bothered explaining to everyone after he had picked up and left. He was an enemy now. They sure as hell did not owe him anything.

Although, he added as an after-thought, they should be very happy I haven't come back and razed their village to the ground.

Shrugging subconsciously he focused his stare upon her again.

“So everyone else knows, then,” it wasn't a question as much as it was a statement - so she didn't bother answering.

An awkward silence enveloped the two of them, but Sakura soon broke it. She felt like she had to know. “Why did you leave, Naruto?”

He didn't quite know how to answer. Or perhaps he didn’t know how to approach the answer. Despite everything he felt towards his old home, he didn't kid himself. Sometimes he had found himself wishing that he never had made that decision, but even so he somehow managed to never regret leaving it.

It would've just been easier... less complicated, to stay sometimes, and it was in specifically hard times he had found his resolve faltering a bit.

“I could give you a million reasons, Sakura-chan.” He finally stated wistfully.

For some reason his effort to ditch her question did not impress her. “I've got plenty of time, idiot.”

He found himself smiling fondly at her and her resolve.

There had been a lot of reasons for his departure. Some of them obvious to everyone while others went deeper than that. His smile broke out into a slight frown. He had certainly not prepared himself for that question and found it difficult to answer it because he didn't know what reason he wanted to give her. There were too may approaches to his decision.

The continuous hatred from the villagers.

The threats from the council.

The death of his dreams and aspirations.

The fear of not being able to save his precious people.

The fear of involuntarily invoking the death of said people.

Tired of taking orders from moronic commanders, serving codes that stood without a cause.

Or perhaps the aftermath of that day.

“In the end, there was nothing to keep me there. I don't blame you or the old lady. If anything, it was the work of the hidden powers that taints Konoha.” She didn't know quite what he meant or where he was getting with this, but he pressed on. “I guess I did not want to sit idly by as another catastrophe unfolded just because some old fart thrived for more power than he could handle. No, you can have your home for all I care.” There was no missing the sarcastic tone at which he used to address the word home. “There's so much shit going on beneath it all that it'll burst any second, anyway.”

The pink-haired ANBU wasn't famed as an academic genius for nothing, but even so she had trouble putting together what exactly the blonde was getting at. She made a mental note to ask her mentor about it when she came back.

If I even make it back... Somehow their conversations and silent musings had completely made her forget - if only for a minute or two - just the situation she found herself in. She sighed to herself and then frowned. And that illusion of instilled safety still glared over her like a dark cloud. It disturbed her a great deal. That together with what Naruto had said just now. Trying to understand his - and to some extent her own - feelings on the subject. She just couldn't seem to make sense of it all.

As if sensing her change in sudden posture, he opened his mouth but rather abruptly figured that he didn't know what to say. After all, he knew that whatever she was feeling or thinking he had been the catalyst to. So instead he did the only thing he could think of, and almost slapped his own forehead after doing so.

He put his own hand over hers. Perhaps not the biggest gesture of comfort between two human beings available. But none the less the situation screamed awkwardness in any and all direction.

To his surprise she didn't flinch at the contact, but maybe that was because it confused her more than anything else. He was almost about to retract his hand upon her quizzical stare but something kept him from doing so.

After yet another awkward silence Naruto figured he had overstepped his bounds. So he sighed and made to stand up. Just as the blonde was going to mouth an apology and retract his hand he found himself being yanked down to a sitting position again. It was his turn to confusedly stare at her in surprise. That's, of course, until she did something that surprised him even more.

Without even so much as a warning he found her lips crashing down on his own.

The kiss was completely one-sided at first. It took him a moment or two to realize just what exactly was happening. And then an additional moment to contemplate exactly how to respond to this gesture before instincts took over instead and he, to his own great surprise, found himself deepening it.

He heard a moan escape her lips and a shudder against his body as she took yet another initiative and pressed her body closer to his. His left hand went up to cup her cheek before his right instinctively went up to his right side to stop the kunai rapidly descending towards him.

He gripped her arm around the wrists and held it firmly, inches away from his face. The kunai drew blood on his neck, only penetrating a few millimetres. He noted that it would've been far from fatal, although it would've stung like all hell and possibly incapacitated him for a while.

Her eyes snapped open wide like saucers. Oh shit...

Their lips now only mere inches from each other. Eyes were staring intently, predicting who would make the first move from here. They could feel the each others hot breathing on their faces.

“I didn't know you had it in you, Sakura-chan. Quite the seductress, ne?” he allowed himself to smirk a bit, and if he didn't know any better he could've sworn he saw her blushing faintly out of the corner of his eyes. “Tsk tsk, still not with the intent to kill.”

Gripping her wrist a bit tighter, he forced her to release her hold on the metal. It struck the stair he was sitting on with a thud standing upright; the tip embedded in the wood.

Naruto was almost reeling over the power he had over this situation. Of course, he had felt the feeling of power, or command if you will, a lot during these past years... but never in the presence of those that he had ones called comrades; who knew him as the dead-last, a follower. No, they’d never considered him an alpha-male.

It was almost intoxicating, the advantage and the feeling of coming out on top like this. He wondered slightly if this was how Neji and Sasuke had always felt back in the days, but quickly stopped that line of thought. It would do no good to think of the past.

Instead he took full advantage of the situation and pressed his lips gently on hers. If to tease her or even punish her he did not know, did not care. The threat was disarmed now anyway, and he did not want to hurt her physically.

Had this been any other situation, Sakura would’ve probably slapped him by now, screaming bloody murder and a handful of obscenities. Yet for some reason, she found herself deepening the kiss by her own initiative.

With a soft moan of pleasure against his lips, she slipped the tip of her tongue inside his mouth, meeting his.

She could’ve claimed she took this initiative it was because she felt threatened or even guilty, but that didn’t make sense as she still felt that feeling of instilled safety. When she later opened her eyes her vision felt slightly blurry. If it wasn’t so absurd she would’ve almost thought she was crying. Then her whole body tensed and she felt weak in her knees, even sitting down. Her head throbbed, and she felt dizzy. Again, it was almost absurd, and while normal people would’ve just placed it as being love struck, this was far from it.

The kunoichi looked at the blonde quizzically and he regarded her with a laid-back expression, still only a short distance away. It was almost like he was expecting this to happen.

“What... what’s happening to me?” she asked weakly.

He embraced her tightly before answering. “It’s started to take effect.”

“What...? How--- What did you do?” she was already struggling to form coherent sentences.

“Poison.” His response came in a whisper to her ear. “I’m sorry, Sakura-chan.”

Her mind went into overdrive, trying to analyze everything, although the effects of whatever poison she was under didn’t exactly help the process in the slightest.

What type of poison was it? She doubted it was anything fatal. One, they were often working very slowly or very fast and, unless he had slipped her something through the kiss - which sounded odd considering she had initiated the first one, that didn’t make any sense at all.

That brought her on to the second question - when had he managed to slip it to her? If he would’ve done it while she was sleeping she probably wouldn’t have woken up this early and, why go to the bother of leaving warm breakfast if that was the case.

It hit her like a ton of bricks.

Of course, the goddamn breakfast. Had she had any strength left to do so, Sakura would’ve surely rolled her eyes.

It all made sense. The green tea. The stupid note. And, of course, the enhanced bread renewing her strength. Probably so she could take the full effect of the poison without any chance of it screwing her up more than intended.

The only question that remained was, why go through the bother?

She used all her remaining strength to pull free from his enveloping hands and regarded him carefully, seeking any hints that could answer the question. His expression was calm, but there was that little hint of mischievousness somewhere that she just couldn’t quite place.

When she tried to open her mouth he put a firm finger over her lips.

“Shhh,” he began, and as if sensing her question he continued. “I wanted to see if you could trust me again.”

Her eyes widened just a bit, but she didn’t quite know what to say or do. So instead she just nodded dumbly, mumbled a word closely resembling “Idiot,” before unconsciousness claimed her and she fell into his waiting arms.

He gazed at her for a while, and then sighed to herself. Of course there had been a second reason, something that compelled him from poisoning her sleeping figure. Using some sort of skewed up logic, he just couldn’t bring himself to poison her himself. Instead, it had been easier to put it inside the tea and let her make up her mind herself.

But she doesn’t need to know that, and with that thought he put her sleeping form over his folder before heading inside the cabin. There, he strapped a huge scroll to his back and took care of a few other preparations. Naruto then walked the door, closed it and channelled chakra into a big seal on top of it.

Taking one last glance around the vicinity, making sure that noone was nearby. Satisfied, he set of towards what used to be his home. The village hidden among leaves.

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“Is it true?” Tsunade’s firm voice resounded throughout her office the moment he had entered. There was a hint of eagerness not usually found coming from her vocal-cords and as she spoke, she arose from the seat behind her desk, leaning over her hands that were placed like fists on the giant oak table. He noted that she was very much on edge compared to when he, as the vice-captain, together with the captain of their squad, reported their missions. Although that was understandable; after all - this was far from the usual debriefing.

For one, he was alone.

She has no doubt heard through a rumour already, he thought, not even approaching how on earth a rumour could’ve even spread so soon. Better get to the point fast. It was common knowledge that the Godaime Hokage did not like dancing around subjects; especially not when it came to her subordinate’s well-being.

“Yes, Hokage-sama.” the man, clothed in a simple uniform and a mask resembling that of a bug, spoke in his usual stoic voice. Sense of urgency aside, it would never do to act informal around the village’s supreme leader.

“Don’t just stand there! What happened!?” the fifth commanded.

He contemplated for just a mere moment. Would she be interested in the status of the mission as well, not just the disappearance of the team’s captain? He guessed so. “After making contact with our target and succeeding in the miss-”

The bug-masked man was rudely cut of by his leader’s fist impacting on her desk, no doubt leaving a dent.

“Shino! I don’t care about that! Get to the point, damnit!”

Noting the lack of use of his codename - something supposed to be used in situations like this at all time without exception, he wondered briefly what bothered his Hokage more. The news of her pink-haired protégé or perhaps a certain blonde missing-nin? He intelligently chose not to voice this question.

“Yes, Hokage-sama. We turned in to an inn for the night. Taichou claimed we had deserved it after the success of the mission. After we checked in, Taichou remained downstairs and... then disappeared, Hokage-sama.”

The bug-user regarded the Godaime before continuing. She still looked somewhat furious, but there were undertones there of... anxiety and perhaps anticipation? Interest? Her features had softened, at least.

“We tracked her chakra-signature into the forest, but she had been travelling at a much faster pace than us, obviously chasing someone. When we found her, she...” he trailed of here. Perhaps not the wisest move but a quick glance at the dent in the table somewhat held him back.

“Yes?” Tsunade glared.

“She was unconscious, Hokage-sama. In the hands of Uzumaki Naruto, missing-nin, ranked S-class. He then disappeared, bringing Taichou with him.”

There was silence as Konoha’s leader promptly sat down on her chair again, looking straight forward at nothing in particular.

“I see...” she began but quickly trailed of. “Was she hurt?”

“Nothing fatal, Hokage-sama. One big but patched-up wound in her stomach, and a few smaller wounds on several limbs. Also the possibility of weak chakra-exhaustion and minor to medium blood-loss.”

“Oh.” the fifth mumbled numbly, still staring of into nowhere.

Lacking experience on this type of awkward social situation, Shino felt the sudden urge to soothe his leader but did not know exactly how to voice it. “She’ll be alright, I’m sure of it.” he began, but then wavered a bit. Upon seeing that he had her full attention, however, he continued. “Sakura-taichou is a fighter,” He offered, watching her expression gradually change. First into one of surprise, undoubtedly because of his words, and then a faint outline of a smile on her young face. He then added a “Hokage-sama.” at the end, not one to forget the formalities that accompanied his duties.

There was a moment of silence in Tsunade’s office, before she finally spoke up with a question. “Tell me, what do you think his intention was?”

“I don’t know, Hokage-sama.” the Aburame stated. The Hokage merely frowned at how fast he was back at his usual, stoic, self.

“Let me rephrase that. Based on your memories of Naruto as a genin, compared to what you saw yesterday... would you say he was a threat?”

“Uzumaki Naruto is an S-classed missing-nin, Hokage-sama. And he disabled a high jounin-levelled opponent and captured her.” Tsunade was almost about to groan at his stoic and typical answer. “But, my instinct tells me he did not harbour any ill feelings towards Taichou, Hokage-sama.”

She breathed out a sigh of relief. “What was his reaction when he faced the rest of you?”

“He did not engage us in combat.” Shino began. He knew there was a second part of the question, however. “… and he did not seem to recognize me.”

“Very well. I expect a written report on the subject along with the other details on the mission. Thank you for your time, ANBU-san.” she dismissed him.

“Yes, Hokage-sama.” Shino bowed and moved towards the door.

“Oh, and Shino-san.” Tsunade called out before he opened the door. Using his real name now but referring to him as a subordinate when he was dismissed, he recognized that what she was about to say was under the protocol. “Please consider mentioning your personal instinct in the report. It’d make it a lot more... easier, to avoid a public outcry.”

“Anything else?”

“Has he... changed much?” she finally asked.

“Quite. Good bye, Hokage-sama.” he opened the door and walked into the hallway, leaving his village’s leader alone.

“This is gonna be one of those days.” she said aloud after he was gone, to no one in particular. “I can already feel the migraine coming.”

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A shadowed figure made its way through the forests in the dark, below the ever-watching moon. He enjoyed the moon, and spent countless of sleepless nights watching it. This was a habit he had probably taken up thanks to one of his few close friends, a man he would consider his own brother in every way but blood.

He threw the half-moon a glance, still hopping like an expert between branches. A couple of distances in front of him laid a huge village, one hidden among leaves.

The man sighed contently. He didn’t particularly look forward to visiting his birthplace but, it had to be done. He would’ve had to stop running at some point, that much was clear.

He spared a look down to the woman snoring lightly on his shoulder. He had been surprised to notice her being quite the heavy sleeper, snoring and sometimes even snorting mid-sleep, as he had tended to her wounds the day before.

The man shook his blonde hair, obviously amused. He had assumed she was sleeping so heavily due to the extent of her injuries but apparently there was more to it. Oh well, he thought. It’s kind of cute, anyway.

Focusing on the task ahead, the walls guarding Konoha that got bigger and bigger with every leap he made. The birthplace of the woman neatly tucked on his right shoulder. He realized then that he didn’t know where she lived anymore, and let loose a bunch of swearwords.

Whatthe hell do I do now? He contemplated leaving her on top of the Hokage-monument, perhaps on the fifth’s bosom, but figured neither one of them would appreciate the sentiment.

There has to be a way to get a hold of her address, the blonde figured. And there was, at least one place that he could think of. He knew that the Hokage’s tower had files on every active ninja’s personal records. He had, after all, once upon a time so different and long ago that it almost felt like another dimension, been mindset on taking over the office after Tsunade. For that reason, over the span of a few months, he had devoted his free-time that wasn’t spent on training to make sure he knew everything there was to know about the job.

The shadowed figure gritted his teeth at his own memories and old naivety. He usually didn’t think back to that time any more, but these last two days... Suffice to say, the pink-haired woman hooked over his shoulder brought more out of him than he wanted to admit.

With a giant leap he scaled the walls. He’d have to start being more careful now, seeing as there were usually patrols, ANBU and chuunin’s, all over the place at night. Without a sound he landed on the other side, on top of a tiled roof. Quickly he jumped down into an alleyway where he placed the unconscious woman.

Moments later the black-clad blonde could be seen leaving the alleyway alone, sneaking off towards the large tower placed directly in front of the mountain-side monument that watched over the village.

Scaling the huge tower slowly, step by step, using chakra to keep his footing to the wall, he peered into window after window until finally finding one close enough. The figure silently opened it using a stealth-technique mastered years ago and snuck in.

He did a few handseals and crouched next to a door leading out into the main hallway of this floor. If he remembered correctly, there would be four guards, all members of the Hokage’s personal elite ANBU. Two of them would stand guard outside the Hokage’s office to the left, while the other two would guard the entrance to the right, guarding the room he needed to reach.

The jutsu he had just completed confirmed it.

The blonde removed four senbons from a pouch on his left leg. He had, in fact, stolen them from his ex-teammate a few minutes earlier but figured she wouldn’t mind. Or at the very least, it wouldn’t be as high on the list as several other things he had done to her. He usually didn’t work with needles, since while they were precise, they didn’t inflict as much pain and damage as a kunai or shuriken.

For knocking someone out or just disabling them however, they were irreplaceable.

In a split second he appeared on the other side of the door and flung his metal objects in different directions. Four collective thuds were heard following impact as the guards all fell to the ground, eyes wide behind their masks and still conscious, but unable to move or speak, a senbon sticking out of their neck.

He bowed slightly in both directions, as a magician would do in front of a crowd, and then stepped to the right. He carefully moved his legs over the fallen figures on the ground in exaggerated movements as if to mock them. The feint chirping of a whistling tune could be heard from the blonde as he made his way through the door that was his goal.

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The fifth Hokage groaned awake in her office. She had been sleeping, if the trail of saliva running down her shin down onto the neatly stacked paperwork that she used as a make-shift pillow was any indication of it.

And it was commonly known that Tsunade, Godaime Hokage and Legendary Slug Sannin, did not appreciate getting woken up in the middle of the night. She wondered slightly what, or who, had awakened her in the first place. It better be something important, I was having such a beautiful dream...

Her eyes narrowed slightly. At first she had assumed someone had woken her up on purpose but there was not a single soul in her office.

No doubt one of those idiots guarding the door made some noise. Wait, is that someone... whistling I hear?

She shook her head. Maybe it was just her imagination after all. None of the guards she had would be that unprofessional. But then the noise came again, and she was now sure that she was not just imagining things. Indeed, someone was chirping some melodramatic tune down the hall.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously again as she huffed in annoyance and rose up from behind her desk, taking a second to remove the wet trail on her cheek before moving out the door.

In the dark of the corridor, the only thing that kept her from tumbling over the limp bodies outside her office was her extra-ordinary ninja senses and split-second reaction time.

Out of instinct she knelt down besides one of the figures and put two of her fingers on his neck, searching for a pulse. Breathing out a sigh of relief when she found one, she plucked out the needle but not before placing one finger in front of the mouth on his mask, indicating that he should stay quiet no matter what.

The chirping could still be heard down the hall, slightly muffled by the door. She followed it with her gaze, noticing that the rest of her supposed guards were in the same state as the soldier in front of her.

She recognized some sort of substance on the needle, and immediately started removing the poison, whatever it was, from the ANBU’s nerve-system.

It was a fairly potent poison she concluded, but its intention wasn’t lethal. Its design was only to disable the opponent by disrupting the nervous system until removed. For it to act this quickly, it had to be injected with a lot of accuracy.

She briefly listed the people she knew of that could mix together such a poison but there were only two, perhaps three names on that list. At least now with Sasori of the Sand and his grandmother, Chiyo, dead.

“How many?” she whispered.

“One male, Tsunade-sama.” he answered, still feeling the effects of whatever had disabled him but being able to speak now that the offending object was removed.

The Hokage swore silently. For one man to take out four guards this effortlessly and barely not making a sound in the process, he had to be real good. Perhaps even better versed in the art of stealth as one Hatake Kakashi.

But who on earth would give it away by whistling afterwards? Is he dumb or just plain arrogant?

She focused her attention on the ANBU again, as it seemed he had something more to share.

“Yondaime-...sama.” he wavered, obviously taking a lot of effort to speak.

Tsunade’s eyes widened to dangerous levels and her head snapped to the right again, towards the room that housed the offender.

Without another word she made her way down the hall, not bothering to release the other guards from the poison. They would no doubt only get in the way. The closer she came the louder the tunes of his whistling could be heard.

With not so much as a warning, she smashed down the door into several pieces with one killer swing, and the whistling died in surprise.

“Huh?” a voice, belonging to a man no doubt, could be heard inside the room.

As the smoke caused from the remaining pieces of what was once a four-inch thick door, a blonde-haired man looked back at her with surprise in his eyes. He was standing next to file cabinet and held a file in his hand that he had apparently been reading when she came barging in.

However, at the sight of him, Tsunade was dumbstruck. No doubt this man looked a great deal like Yondaime. Same hair, the same eyes and almost-identical face. If it wasn’t for the two sets of three horizontal birth-marks lining both of his cheeks, she would’ve been sure she was staring her predecessor down right now.

“Na... ruto?” she spoke in a calm voice and took a few seconds to regard him. He had no doubt changed a great deal from the last time they met.

The blonde man, in turn, only smiled widely back and nodded. “Been a long time, eh, old hag?”

She took a few seconds more to take the sight of him in, before remembering herself. Tsunade glanced quickly to the file in his hands and the words that read on top of it; “Haruno Sakura.”

In an instant the fifth grew furious again, remembering the events that had taken place earlier. Her pink-haired protégé, the guards in her office, the numerous hunter-nin that had come back on the brink of death.

“NARUTO!” she ushered again, this time as a battle-cry as she charged forward, fist first.

The blonde’s expression didn’t change in the slightest, however, still that dumb smile adorning his face. Even as the woman’s fist connected with his jaw, it never wavered.

Instead, he just disappeared in a puff of smoke in the aftermath of the fatal punch. Leaving the Hokage momentarily taken aback before she realized that he, no - his clone!, had gotten what it had come for and had now successfully delivered the data back to its master.

Crouched in an alleyway, ten blocks from the office, a blonde man grew a mischievous smile as his clones experiences merged with his own.

The old hag is still the same after all, and with that thought in mind he picked up the unconscious form of his ex-teammate and darted off towards her home.

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Ten minutes later, the pink-haired woman was carefully tucked inside the gentle confinement of her own queen-sized bed, still snoring lightly. The blonde wondered if she had found someone to share it with during all these years, but quickly recognized that that type of thinking would do no good.

She was out of his grasp now, and had probably always been. He had chosen this path himself and she certainly didn’t owe anything to him. Not after he had abandoned her like he had.

He sighed, brushing a pink lock behind her ear and then bent down to place a kiss on her forehead. Although she was still sleeping, she still whimpered ever so slightly, as he pulled back.

Uzumaki Naruto moved towards the window from which he had entered, but before doing so spared a look around the flat.

It was not heavily decorated, but still homey. Some few pieces of modern art mixed with more traditional paintings. One, in particular, drew his attention.

It was a picture of him, together with Kakashi and Sasuke, Standing in front of a huge, pink, blooming Sakura-tree. It had obviously been modelled after the picture their teacher, Kakashi, had taken after they passed the bell-test. That same picture rested on her bed-stand, and for some reason he was absolutely sure that Sai had painted it.

He shrugged at the old memories that lingered and opened the window. “I’ll be seeing you, Sakura-chan. I can feel it. But I can’t help but think that it’d be best if you just forgot about me.” And with that he abruptly left through the window, out into the night.

The cold morning air swept through the apartment for just a moment before the window was closed, and a young kunoichi stirred from her deep slumber. A sense of dread welled up inside of her as she watched the cloaked figure jump away from outside her window. For some reason, her heart was torn in two, and numerous emotions passed through her. She was infuriated at her old teammate and disappointed in her self. In that instant she felt so much towards him; hate, anger but above it all she missed him dearly.

That made her remember the two kisses they had shared, and another feeling - this one strangely pleasant, took over. Then she thought about what she had heard him say right before he left her. She hadn’t made out most of it, only parts here and there. Something about that she should forget about him. She grew furious, again.

Who the hell does he think he is, saying something like that!? she all but screamed, without even opening her mouth. She hadn’t realized just how worn out she was. She sighed tiredly before sleep claimed her again.

Haruno Sakura spent the rest of the night and well into the following day dreaming about small and furry blonde foxes.

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After having tucked the sleeping body of Sakura in, Naruto could be found standing on top of the Hokage monument, gazing over the village he had once left. The moon was still out, but for the most part covered by clouds. He paid it no mind right now, however.

Instead he looked over his shoulder and called out behind him. “You can come out now.”

Nothing happened for several seconds, until finally there was a slight shift in the air and a female form landed gracefully a few steps behind him.

“It’s rude sneaking up on people like that, don’t you think, Tsunade-baa-chan.” he smiled warily as he glanced back towards the village instead.

“Naruto...” was all she said before she pulled herself together. “So you noticed?”

“Mhm.”

“Since when?” she asked, if nothing else then to determine his skill. It is my duty, after all.

“Half-way out the village. Plus I had already guessed you’d figure out what I was doing with Sakura’s records. It’s why I turned around and went up here.”

“Oh.” She responded numbly. She wanted nothing else then to envelop the man in front of her in a hug, before beating him to a bloody pulp for leaving in the first place. But she was well aware of that her duties as a Hokage came above everything else.

“Tell me, what are you doing here?” Her voice was firmer now, with a sense of authority over it.

“My, my, Tsunade-sama.” He mocked, a mischievous glint to his eyes as he turned around to face her. The blonde folded his hands over his chest defiantly as he continued, but there were obvious hints of playfulness in his voice. “You can’t really order me around anymore, now can you?”

She sighed, but decided to play along. Tsunade recognized what he was doing; he was not going to let her speak to him as the Godaime Hokage but instead as Tsunade, the woman that had all but adopted him as a smaller brother.

She silently thanked him for it.

“Fine.” She almost spat out in that same firm voice, before taking a deep breath and changing her posture entirely. “How have you been, Naruto-kun?”

He contemplated for just a moment how much of these past years he could share, and what she may end up doing with the information he may or may not give her.

“I’ve been... okay. For the most part. How about yourself? Still going strong, I see. I would’ve guessed you would’ve chosen the sixth by now.” He spoke with calm that she hadn’t expected, at least not during the latter part. “Aren’t you supposed to go senile soon anyway, old hag?” he continued, that same mischievous glint shining in his blue eyes.

“Nostalgic are we, brat?” she countered, and the blonde man in turn only smiled slightly. “If I would’ve known just what a pain in the ass it would be to pass on the torch, I likely would’ve never let a certain obnoxious runt talk me into taking the job in the first place.” She huffed before continuing, narrowing her eyes while speaking. “Or, for that matter, let him run away.”

There was a brief silence, but seeing as he didn’t have anything to say, she continued. “What happened, Naruto-kun?”

He sighed. It had been obvious that that question was going to come out sooner or later, but that didn’t make it any less annoying. “I guess I grew up.”

“Bullshit!” she claimed, and he noticed that the term was used very much with the same expression as Tsunade’s pink-haired protégé two nights prior. “That boy would never run away like that! No, the Uzumaki Naruto I knew and loved would’ve faced it head-first and came out on top! You didn’t grow up, if anything it was the opposite.”

The start of tears had begun forming in her eyes during her speech, and she was looking back at him with mixed emotions. Rage, confusion, anxiety and fear? The two last ones he didn’t really know why she felt, but if he would’ve attempted a guess he would’ve believed it was at missing her little brother.

“Be that as it may,” he finally spoke. “I read somewhere that part of maturing is choosing your own battles. I realized that this wasn’t one I wanted or even needed to fight in the first place.”

Tsunade slumped her shoulders in defeat. No matter how much he had changed, he was obviously still irrational and stubborn as hell.

“So you’re telling me you’re happy out there, on your own?”

“Who said I was on my own?” he threw her a smile before continuing. “And yeah, I’d say I’m pretty much happy. I feel free. Content. That’s far better than I felt here, in the end.” he sighed slightly. “Look Tsunade, I won’t claim that I’m happy to be rid of you or that I don’t miss you - because I do.”

The fifth nodded only, the beginning of tears finally rushing down her face at his words.

The first tell-tale signs of the birth of day could be sighted across the horizon behind Naruto, a few rays of light peaking ever so slowly upwards, towards them.

“At any rate, old hag, I better get going. It wouldn’t do any good for anyone to find the Hokage talked friendly with S-Class criminal of my calibre, now would it?” The blonde huffed the last part in obvious sarcasm, but then smiled genuinely as he continued, taking a step back while doing so. “It was nice catching up to you, Tsunade-hime. Too bad we can’t do it more often. I’ll see you.” He promised, and with that he leapt backwards, somersaulting in the air and then plunging downwards the monument.

He reeled in the feeling of the free-fall, spreading his arms out like wings and let himself enjoy the moment as he forgot his troubles for just a second. Letting the morning gusts clear his brain. As soon as it started, however, he had to end it lest he should hug the earth, face-first.

Turning his body around mid-air, he formed a familiar handseal and two clones appeared on his sides. With all their might, they threw the original by his feet to the side and slightly upwards, before hitting the ground and turning into wisps of cloud.

That was a fun distraction, just what I needed, Naruto thought as he shot away from a rooftop, using the momentum of the clones throw to attain a very high speed as he blurred through the village. Some stress-relief would be nice right about now, he figured. A mischievous grin hugged his facial features. He knew just the place.

And with that same grin plastered to his face, Naruto shot over the gates and headed south-west through the forests.

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Tsunade groaned for the umpteenth time that very morning as she stole a glance at the clock. 10 am. It was still too early to be awake in her modest opinion. Especially on a day such as this.

First of all, she hadn’t been able to get any sleep after being awakened rather abruptly last night. By a whistling missing-nin, no less.

The migraine from yesterday had yet to disappear.

And it didn’t really help that every so often, someone would burst into the door demanding to know whether the rumours regarding the ‘Kyuubi-vessel’ were true or not.

Most of them had no idea what had transpired anyway. There had been theories and beliefs that Naruto had slaughtered whole squads of ANBU’s while civilians had heard the Kyuubi were coming to extract revenge upon all them all.

She merely sighed. So much for avoiding public outcries.

A poof of smoke announced another sudden visitor. Tsunade merely rolled her eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“Is it true?” the man’s normally lazy and withdrawn voice was instead today very eager and right to the point.

She merely grunted in response. “What are you doing here, Kakashi?”

He took a second to calm himself before answering the question. “I’m requesting a transfer to the hunter corps., Hokage-sama.”

Tsunade merely looked up at him in surprise, trying to discern from the few visible parts of his face if he was serious or not. And indeed he was, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to voice her concerns on the idea. “You can’t be serious, Kakashi.”

His visibly eye narrowed slightly. He had been hoping he wouldn’t be questioned, but alas that was not to be. “I am very serious.”

Tsunade leaned back into her chair. “And why? What exactly are you hoping to gain from this?”

He sighed slightly, and there were clear signs of pain and weakness in his voice and posture as he continued. “It’s something I should’ve done long time ago. I can’t help but feel guilty for all that’s happened to... those two.”

“And if I should consider your request, what would happen when you come across him? Do you think you’re even strong enough to take him out?” It was a legitimate question but the famed copy-nin, not needing his sharingan to read others, easily noticed the underlying motives. It was no secret that she cared deeply for the blonde, even now.

“I... Listen, Tsunade-sama. I have no reason to go after him other than to bring him back. Back here to Konoha, where he belongs. And with or without your clearance, that’s what I’m intending to do.” There was a sense of authority, finality even, in the latter parts of his words. Perhaps not something one would expect from a subordinate talking to his superior, but the words of his old friend and teammate rang in his head.

While it is true that people that abandon their mission is trash, people that abandon their friends are worse than trash! And indeed, he couldn’t help but feel he had abandoned Naruto a long time ago. It was a long time overdue that he made up for it to the best of his abilities.

If nothing else, he owed it to his own teacher.

Tsunade waited a few moments before she chose to answer his request, closing her eyes and massaging her temples. “Fine. I’m expecting the paper-work required for such a transfer to be done by tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Hokage-sama.” Kakashi bowed.

“Don’t thank me just yet,” A foreboding smirk grew on her features. “You’re not going alone.” He was about to interject but she persistently continued. “I’m handpicking the rest of your team.”

“Absolutely not!”

And in turn Tsunade’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Excuse me?”

“I’m going alone. He’s my responsibility. I was his sensei after all, Hokage-sama.”

“Hatake-kun, do you really think that you’re in a position to demand anything here?!” The fifth growled.

The copy-cat ninja merely sighed, shaking his head slowly and calming his breathing before continuing. “I’ve got to do this alone. If you don’t trust me, then that’s fine - send someone to trail after me that won’t interfere.”

“We don’t know anything of his capabilities, and even less about his intentions! You know how high his potential was when he left, and now... who knows? For all we know he could be a new Itachi!” She hated herself for saying it, but as the Hokage shehad to remain objective and wary of any potential threat.

“You know that’s not true, Godaime-sama. Especially not if it’s true, about Minato-sensei...” he trailed of.

The Hokage could only roll her eyes. There were, as far as she knew, only two people left alive that knew for sure right now, unless the runt had figured it out on his own. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of confirming it, however. Besides, if he did manage to track Naruto down, he’d find out on his own.

“You’re taking Tenzou with you, at the very least.”

“But-!”

“This is not up for discussion, lest you want me to strip you of your rank and place you under Iruka as a teacher at the academy!” She shot him a defiant glare, telling her not to take her threat lightly. “Am I making myself clear, Kakashi-kun?”

Kakashi’s one visible eyebrow shot up. She wouldn’t! ... would she? There was only so much he could do to keep himself from gulping nervously. Decades of ‘controlling his cool’ came into practice but Kakashi still shuddered slightly.

“Yes, Hokage-sama. Perfectly.” He sighed. Besides, he couldn’t disagree that Tenzou’s abilities would prove most... worthwhile, on such a mission.

“Good.” She smiled, happy on having won their little dispute. “I assume there’s nothing else, Kakashi. Dismissed.”

He had poofed out of her office before she had even finished the first part of the last sentence sentence. Tsunade only shook her head slightly.

Now, where was I?She yawned. Ah, that reminds me. Paperwork.

The Hokage was snoring on her desk not even five minutes later.

Silly Author’s Musings

-shrugs- Good? Bad? Thoughts?

I'd love some feedback since, well, I'm pretty much clueless.

First off; Thanks to the dear, humble, Norwegian little child going by the name of FenrisLupus (around here, at least - in the real world, I hope not) for telling me how and why I suck and how to fix this to the best of my abilities. No, before you start spamming him, he’s not a flamer; just someone I’ve used (a lot) to vent ideas upon. Cheers buddy.

Okay then, I realize I’m probably gonna get some criticism on how OOC Naruto is. I'm going to try to clear that out later on, along with his reasons for leaving. It's just, very complicated and I'm trying to do this whole missing-nin thing as un-cliché as possible. Seeing however, as this idea is very cliché to begin with, meh. Time will tell how well I handle it.

I did leave some traces to his old personality however, which I enjoy immensely. I hope everyone agrees on that, so I at least didn’t butcher the poor blonde completely!

Don't ask me why I picked up this series or, for that matter, fandom at all, again. I think it had something to do with closure and also, lurking somewhere in the back of my mind, was the fact that I haven't written in three long years.

So where does this take us? I honestly dunno. I do know that I've got some plans for this fic. I've always had, but they seem clearer now than they did 3 years ago.

I know many of you have whined, moaned, begged and last (but not least!) kindly asked for updates on Behind a Mask. Sorry but, there's probably not going to be any. I do hope to finish this story - but I won't make any stupid promises to do so. I know better than that. Cough, cough. Okay, I do know better than that now, at least.

Very well, then! Until next time. I'll try not to be several years, this time around.