Key:

“Normal talking”
“Thoughts”

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto, and I don’t plan to. I think. Right?

Summary: Six years after Naruto became a Genin, Tsunade orders a team of elite ninjas to go on a super secret class ‘S’ mission that could last up to four years. While Sasuke is still missing, a relationship grows from acquaintance to love. Parings: Naru?

You’re gonna have to guess the parings. Heeheehee…

Characters that will be on the team: Naruto, Lee, Neji, TenTen, Sakura, Shikamaru and Chouji.

A/N: This chapter will have a lot of describing of what people look like. Sorry if it bothers you, but I have to. It’s been six years, right?

“It’s a particularly sunny day, the birds are chirping and…Damn. I have to go see Tsunade-sama today, don’t I? I was so relaxed here though.”

A pink-haired kunoichi was leaning against a tree atop a small, grass-covered hill. She sighed, and then, with a grunt, stood up. After a moment of silence, she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

This girl was none other than Haruno Sakura, but she had certainly changed. Reason? The girl now concentrated on becoming a great ninja, not just being some traitor chaser. Her once soft silky hair had grown longer, but she no longer spent that extra hour conditioning and curling. Drastic changes also had been made with her old clothes. She used to wear a freakin’ dress while she fought! What the hell was that, Sakura had wondered, and then decided to venture out to buy some new ones. Black pants, in which she placed her weapons case, a red shirt, and a Konoha jacket now clad the green-eyed girl.

Sakura arrived right outside Tsunade’s office. She hesitated before entering when she heard some voices drifting through the door. One obviously belonged to the Godaime, but the other was a deep tone that could only be male. The kunoichi was curious as to who it could be and therefore decided to eavesdrop.

“So I have to gather six Jounins?” the male asked.

“Yeah. Six, and only six. Got that? We don’t have enough ninjas to form a bigger team,” Tsunade replied sternly.

“Right, so like what Shikamaru did four years ago?”

“Right.”

“But, an ‘S’ class mission right when I come back? Why!” the deep voice whined angrily. It sounded like he had slammed his hands onto the table.

“Come back?” Sakura knit her eyebrows together.

“We need you to control this mission. Jiraiya told me that your growth was exceptional. I even heard you could sometimes keep up with him in spars! You’ll be perfect for this job,” Tsunade replied.

“Jiraiya? Could it be?” Sakura asked herself, feeling excitement growing inside her.

“Oh, fine,” the male conceded.

“Thanks, Naruto.”

“NARUTO!”

Sakura now burst through the door, crying out the blonde’s name. Naruto wheeled around to face the kunoichi with a concerned expression on his face. When he recognized the intruder, his face changed to a broad smile.

“Yeah?” he asked, grinning in that unique foxy way.

“You’re… is that really you!” Sakura blurt out.

“Um, yeah,” Naruto said, still beaming at her.

Sakura walked up to Naruto, surveying him. He was wearing a really battered up black jacket with some beige pants. Boy, he had grown. Sakura found herself looking up at Naruto now. His face was longer and slimmer. His hair had grown out too; it was a hell of a lot longer. Still the same golden spikes, but longer.

She socked him in the stomach.

Naruto found himself hurling toward the wall. He reacted quickly and saved himself by jumping off of it.

“Sakura-chan! What was that for?” Naruto gasped when he landed. The Hokage smirked to herself, standing forgotten in the corner of the room

“I thought you said you’d be gone for three years, not four! You’re a freakin’ year late!” Sakura yelled.

“Same old Sakura...” Naruto thought.

“Yeah, well Jiraiya wanted to put in another year in, and for good reasons!” Naruto said, hiding his stomach in fear of Sakura’s fury.

“Calm down, Sakura,” Tsunade said, making her jump a little and then grow a tint of pink on her cheeks, “I need to give Naruto something; you can talk, or fight, later.”

“Right,” Sakura sighed, smiling a little sheepishly at her childish behavior in front of the Hokage.

“Naruto, come here,” Tsunade said as she rummaged below her desk. She pulled out a set of dark grey clothes and a Konoha jacket. After folding them neatly, she handed them to Naruto.

“It looks like you need some new clothes!”

Naruto took the garments, astounded. “But I didn’t even take the Journeyman Chuunin selection exam!” He exclaimed.

“Doesn’t matter! You’re Jounin!” Tsunade smiled.

Naruto stuffed the clothes in his backpack then said, “I’ve got something for you as well!”

He untied a necklace from around his neck and started to hand it to Tsunade.

“No, no,” the Godaime muttered, “You keep it.” She pushed away Naruto’s hand.

“Sweet! Thanks!” was Naruto’s gleeful reply. He refastened the necklace.

“Gather quickly, Naruto. You leave in two days,” Tsunade’s voice returned to her normal quick stern tone.

“Right.”

“What was with that necklace, anyways?” Sakura asked as they walked through Konoha a little later.

Naruto, who was busy looking around the village, answered slowly.

“She gave it to me four years ago, when we fought Orochimaru and Kabuto.”

“Oh…” said Sakura softly.

“Yeah, it’s one of my prized possessions!” he exclaimed, grasping it, “But, I’ll tell you more about it later.”

The angry stares that Naruto was receiving were starting to dampen his mood.

“So, Naruto, who are you getting to go with you?” Sakura asked, hoping to avert his attention.

“Well, I thought about it while I was changing my clothes…” Naruto muttered.

“Yeah?”

“Well, I thought maybe you could come?”

Sakura pondered for a second. She was, after all, Jounin and she wanted to catch up on old times, but Naruto was only going to be in the village for two days. She might as well. Sakura started to speak, but was abruptly cut off by Naruto.

“Before you make your decision, I need to tell you something very important,” said Naruto grimly.

“What?” she asked.

“This mission could last up to four years. Or maybe even longer.”

“Oh!” Sakura gasped.

“Four years? Damn! That’s a long time!” she thought.

“I await your decision,” Naruto said. With a pop, he vanished in a cloud of smoke.

“What? Four years?”

“Yeah, four years…” Naruto said, covering his ears.

Naruto was talking to Chouji. He knew that Chouji would be the perfect person to have on this mission considering he had already gotten Shikamaru to agree to go with him before this. The two were best friends, after all.

Chouji: He wasn’t some fat-ass anymore. He had huge muscles. HUGE muscles. He wasn’t wearing his traditional ‘diaper’ on his head either. The boy had tied his forehead protector on his arm like Shikamaru.

Speaking of Shikamaru, he hadn’t changed a bit! Same old lazy bastard, just taller.

“Well…” Chouji trailed off, thinking for a second. “If Shikamaru’s going, then I’m going.”

“Thanks!” Naruto replied, “Meet me at the gate in two days time, with all your stuff, at six A.M.”

Once again, Naruto vanished in a cloud of smoke.

“Naruto? Leading?” Chouji asked himself, before turning around to find Shikamaru.

“Naruto-kun! You have returned at last! SPAR ME!”

“GACK! LEE! NOT NOW!” Naruto yelled, shielding himself.

After calming Konoha’s Azure Beast down; Naruto explained the mission to him, ignoring the constant whoops that he would give at any mention of ‘training.’

Rock Lee had remained the same for the past four years he hadn’t been in the village. The green-clad boy was taller, like everyone else, but also held the same hairstyle. Naruto noticed that the eyelashes under his eyes where now gone. He was starting to look a lot more like Gai.

“Sure, Naruto-kun! I’ll go with you! In honor of GAI-SENSEI!” he yelled.

“Right…” Naruto’s eyebrows were slightly raised. “Meet me at the gate in two days time, with all your stuff, at six A.M.”

The blonde vanished once again.

Lee immediately charged off to go train.

Naruto now approached a pair of Ninjas who where training in the forest. He heard the sound of weapons hitting trees or targets and a rapid succession of ‘thonks’ on a log.

He ‘poofed’ again and appeared right in front of a target, the very same one TenTen had just thrown a kunai at.

“Oh no!” TenTen yelled.

Naruto brought up his arm and easily caught the kunai, centimeters from his forehead.

“You’re not going to kill me, are you?” the boy asked, grinning.

Naruto didn’t really know the girl that had thrown the kunai. All he knew about her was her name, she had lost to Temari in the Chuunin Selection Exams four years ago, and that she was very pretty. Well, in his eyes at least.

TenTen stared at Naruto. She couldn’t quite grasp his name. She searched her mind, but it nothing was coming up. Neji decided to say it for her.

“Uzumaki?” Neji had a mildly surprised look on his normally blank features.

“Uh, yeah…” Naruto replied impatiently.

“Why is everyone asking if it is me? Geez! Can’t they freakin’ tell it’s me?” he asked himself, puzzled. Cleary the blonde was oblivious to the fact he had gone through a tremendous change over the past four years.

“Wait…” TenTen asked, after recalling the short, pudgy little boy that had beaten Neji four years ago, “Is that really you?”

“Here we go again…” Naruto thought.

“Yeah, it’s me. I’ve come to ask you a favor,” Naruto explained as he tossed the kunai back to TenTen, who was eyeing him with interest.

Naruto told the pair about the four year mission, and, by the end of his description, they had both said yes. Surprisingly, TenTen said it first.

“Great!” Naruto exclaimed. “Meet me at the gate in two days time, with all of your stuff, at six A.M.!”

Before long, he had vanished.

“Damn, he’s changed…” Neji muttered before going back to murder the log.

Two days later…

“Is everyone ready?” Naruto asked dubiously.

Most of the team was checking their backpacks and side pouches for all of their things. Some gave a little thumbs up while the others just nodded.

“I’m going to be your leader during this long mission,” Naruto said, smirking at Shikamaru, “I’ll explain it more as we walk.”

Naruto’s six companions all nodded and followed Naruto out the gate. Quite a long moment of silence passed between the seven before Naruto spoke again.

“This mission… is not a mission you could possibly slack off for a moment,” he said with a grave voice, “On this mission…on this mission we will fight Orochimaru and his Sound Village and retrieve the traitor, Sasuke.”

“Sasuke?” Sakura gasped.

“Yes, Sasuke,” Naruto went on, almost reading Sakura’s mind, “Hmm… details, details…”

“But how can we possibly defeat an entire village!” Sakura questioned, her voice rising in pitch with a slight shudder in it.

“Good question,” Naruto continued, “You know how I told you all that this mission could last up to four years? For three of the four years, we will train, as I told Lee…”

Lee whooped.

Naruto ignored it and continued, “I will overview your training with methods two of the Sannins taught me.”

“Pfft,” Neji muttered.

TenTen looked shot a slightly angry look at Neji. How could he patronize someone who had beaten him in battle? How could he be so stupid? Naruto was trained by two of the legendary Sannins!

“Neji,” Naruto said sternly, “You’ll have to trust me on this. There’s a reason I chose you. Along with everyone else here.”

Another very long moment of silence passed between them. Then Chouji hesitantly asked, “Um, where exactly are we going?”

“Another good question,” Naruto answered. “We are going to go train in one of the places that Jiraiya and I trained. In the high mountains of the Kunsan.

“Kunsan?” Lee asked, “Gai-sensei told me about those mountains! They’re supposed to be holy and sacred!”

“That’s exactly why we’re going to go train there!” Their leader responded, grinning.

“I guess we’ll camp here tonight,” Naruto said to the group.

They all laid down their things and started to make camp in the midst of the trees. After they had finished setting it up, they made a fire, and all sat circled around it.

“Are we going to be starting to train today, Naruto-kun?” Lee asked, full to bursting with anticipation.

“Actually, yes. We will be starting to train today,” Naruto said, “We’re going to begin with chakra control.”

“Chakra control?” Neji asked churlishly. “We learned that in the academy!”

“Neji!” Naruto exclaimed, losing his temper a bit, “I’ve asked you once already, trust me! Or, do you want to settle this now?”

Most of the group was giving heated glares at the Hyuuga. Neji sighed and said, “Fine. Go on…”

“Thank you,” Naruto grit his teeth, controlling his temper, “We will be concentrating on controlling the chakra that comes out of your hand; manipulating it to make shapes and contract things.”

Naruto looked around at the group. They all had puzzled expressions on their faces. He sighed and reached into the fire with his hand.

They all jumped. Why in the hell did Naruto just stick his hand into the fire?

Naruto pulled his hand out slowly. They all stared at his wrist first. None of the skin looked burned. It looked just as normal as before. He pulled his hand out all the way while levitating a small ball of fire above his palm.

“This,” Naruto said as he waved his hand around, bringing the fireball with it, “Is true chakra control. You will be learning to do this soon. What I basically did was concentrate a chakra shield around my hand, and pulled a little bit of fire into it, by contracting it. The points are to elevate your chakra control level in your hands and be able to contract it into shapes, got it?”

“Sure,” TenTen said, misty-eyed.

-End Chapter-

Alright! Finished! Anyone know the pairing yet?