Starting over

#41 Coming Back

Naruto POV

I was sad that we had to leave the spa again. The days went by so fast that I wished we would have more time to explore all the different activities the place had to offer. We had went to a special mud bath, Temari convinced me to go with her to get our nails done and we also went to one of the group activities where we played all sorts of games with the other guests. But what I liked most about our time at the spa was that we went to the bath every evening and apart from the first night, we always fell asleep in the warm water.

I smiled taking my scrolls, going to my waiting girlfriend. Temari smiled at me and took my hand. We went out of the spa and towards the gates of Sunagakure.

Gaara didn't look happy at all, when we came to the gates. “Hey Gaara, what’s the matter?”, Temari asked, drawing a slight smile from the redhead. “Baki won't be coming with us.”, he said. “Why?”, I wanted to know, looking worried at my fellow Jinchuuriki. “While you were gone, Orochimaru again tried to assassinate the Kazekage. Don't worry, he is alright. But after that Baki decided, that it would be best if he and Rasa would stay in the village to ensure the security of the people. He will accompany us to Konoha, but after we get a room, he is going to leave again.”, Gaara told us with worry in his voice. He obviously didn't like the thought of us being all by ourselves in a foreign village. “Gaara, we will be fine, after all we have permission to be there so there is nothing that could happen.”, I tried to ensure him. He smiled weakly at me, but didn't respond.

Then Baki came and immediately Temari and I saw how hard it must have been to fight off Orochimaru and his partner. Baki’s face was fully bandaged only leaving small slits for his eyes to look through, he had bandages around both of his hands and I was almost certain that his left leg was heavily bandaged as well. I could only imagine how hard the fight must have been.

“I see you’ve made it back in time.”, Baki greeted us. “Baki, we’re so sorry that we weren’t here.”, Temari started but was interrupted by our sensei. “Don't worry about it, Orochimaru would have just waited with his attack until we were gone to Konoha. This way we are prepared if he tries to attack again.”, he said.

“Now, I trust that you have everything you need?”, he asked earning a nod from the three of us. “Naruto would you be so kind to transport us in front of the gates?”, Baki asked, obviously wanting to be back as soon as possible. I smiled and held out my hand to them, taking one of my hiraishin kunai in with the other. After concentrating for a few seconds we disappeared in a flash.

The crows flew away at the sudden disturbance when we appeared in the forest near Konoha. We went towards the gates of Konoha and were stopped by some chunins. Before they could say anything two shinobi appeared in front of us with their weapons at the ready. They were wearing animal masks leading me to believe they were Anbu. “He is not allowed in this village.”, the one with the bear mask said, pointing at me with a kunai. Baki just rolled his eyes. “He is part of a genin team that is enrolled in the chunin-exams, so I think that he very well is allowed within the city walls.”, he said handing the Anbu a permission slip from the Hokage. The Anbu examined it and then turned to his partner. “Go and ask the Hokage about this.”, he said and his partner immediately disappeared.

After a while he came back with the Hokage himself, accompanied by another pair of Anbu.

His eyes lit up seeing me standing next to my teammates. “Naruto, I see you are back. What's the problem?”, he asked looking at the two chunin. “It's not their fault, the Anbu wouldn't believe that I have a permission to enter.”, I said handing Hiruzen the paper, that he had signed himself. Hiruzen smiled at me. “Well I can verify that I have indeed given Naruto Uzumaki permission to enter the village, albeit his current banishment from the village. He is allowed to come and go for the duration of the chunin-exams.”, the third said sternly facing his shinobi. They nodded and Baki, Gaara, Temari and I got small paper slips that gave us temporary citizenship. We went with the Hokage who had insisted on accompanying us until we had found a hotel that still had free rooms.

So of course we got a few weird looks, especially from the people that thought I reminded them of the 'demon’. But luckily we didn't get harassed by any of them, so I just ignored the comments about how the I had supposedly died and that it had to be a coincidence, that started to get whispered behind our backs.

The second hotel we tried had exactly two two-bedrooms available. I smiled as Hiruzen turned around and went to leave. “Where are you going Sandaime? They have exactly the right amount of rooms.”, I called out, causing Hiruzen to turn around. “What do you mean, don't you need three rooms, one for Gaara and you, another for Temari and one for Baki?”, Hiruzen asked confused. “Don't worry about that, I think my girlfriend doesn't have a problem to sleep with me in one room.”, I said laughing, putting an arm around Temari's waist. Hiruzen's eyes widened in surprise before he smiled warmly at me. “So you finally told her. Congratulations.”, he said smiling, before returning to the counter to help Baki with the booking, after a bit of discussing if we could be trusted, the Hokage managed to convince the receptionist that we would be paying, even though we were from another village. Afterwards he bid us farewell and we went into our rooms. After we had put our scrolls in one of the dressers Gaara called us to come into his and Baki's room.

“Well, as you know, I will be going back home so you will be on your own. As you know, there will be a lot of fighting in the exams so don't get rusty, this is no vacation. I expect you to train hard and win these exams. Show them what Suna's next generation is capable of.”, he said before he hugged us, saying goodbye and vanished