Embers of a Burning Sky

Chapter Two

The morning after Naruto returns home, he has time to think.

Too much time.

Being away from the village had changed him. He's less selfish now, he's been told, and he's made a lot of friends on his travels. It's weird to blend the two lives this way; like it was normal...

It wasn't.

  He had enjoyed seeing the sand ninja, though; it was nearly impossible to keep in touch with them during his training. He almost couldn't believe that Gaara had become Kazekage in such a short amount of time, but he was never to be underestimated. Gaara was not only a very skilled ninja, but a master of pioneering change.
Even changes to himself.

The only dissapointment was that the Akatsuki had no information on Sasuke, but there wasn't much to go on. They never left any evidence unintentionally. 

~ ~ ~

After a while, he decides to go out.
It had been too long since he had visited Ichiraku, and he nearly skips through the streets to the stall. He sits down on a stool inside the booth, smiling happily at the man behind the counter.
"Hey Gramps~!"
He snaps his chopsticks apart and rubs them together enthusiastically. The man smiles and begins to prepare him food, accompanied by happy humming from Naruto and the sound of boiling broth and cooking noodles from the kitchen.

"How nostalgic," Naruto hums, lost in the memories of his time here with his sensei, Iruka, when he was younger. A smile playing on his face as he remembers the pranks he used to play.
The time he had painted on the Hokage mountain...
When he had tricked the closet pervert, Ebisu, with that sign...
Good times...

"Na-Ru-To...!"
He looks up to see Sakura, fist raised and he reels; horrified as her fist makes contact with the counter where he used to be leaning.
"You! You're thinking perverted thoughts again aren't you!?" She shreiks, face contorted in annoyance as Naruto pries himself from the wall, resisting the urge to pull out a knife for defense.
"I wasn't!" He cries.

She places her hands on her hips and stomps forward;
"Oh really? Well, I don't believe you!" She snarls, a terrifying grin on her face as she reaches back to hit him again.
Naruto floundered, both for words and in fear;

"Sakura."

The pink-haired ninja froze and immediately moved aside, standing at attention as Shizune, Tsunade's assistant, stepped between them.
"Naruto, come with me." she tells, not asks, turning and striding away quickly, heels clicking on the stone street.
Naruto looks from his teammate to the assistant before standing and rushing to catch up.

Shizune leads him to the Hokage's building and up to Tsunade's office.
"Lady Tsunade, I brought him... I thought you might want to speak to him..." She calls.
Naruto cringes as Tsunade's growl shakes the walls.

"No way! Take that brat back where you found him! I don't have time for him right now!" She screams, obviously angry.

A bead of sweat trickles down her neck as she steps away from the door carefully, smiling apologetically at Naruto.
"Well, I supose I assumed..."
His face falls into an annoyed expression and he simply shoves his way into the office and looks around.