Naruto Hirashin'd to the docks, and sat by the water, waiting for Haku. It wasn't long before he sensed the cool chakra of the Yuki. He stood and turned, watching the kimono-clad boy approach. 

"Naruto-san." He acknowledged.

"Haku-otouto. Let us be on our way. There has been a small change of plan. We are going to Konoha now. Zabuza will join you in a few days."

The blond had thought on this long and hard as he stood by the window for hours. It would be better for Haku to get acquainted with Konoha, then meet his team. 

Naruto decided to release his henge and took off, Haku following close behind. Nami was a good day away for a ninja, but for Naruto it would take around three hours. Mainly because he could Hirashin once he was close enough. He could have used the Jutsu from Nami to Konoha, but he didn't want to waste chakra.

Naruto grabbed Hakus’ arm and suddenly the ice user felt a wave of nausea. After the dark haired boy recovered, he looked up to see a blond woman who looked to be in her early to late twenties.

The woman looked extremely amused, and her hazel eyes were focused on the blond next to Haku.

“I assume this is the Haku you’ve told me about?” Her voice was smooth and even toned, her eyes sparkling slightly.

Naruto grinned, an arm slung over Hakus’ shoulders. The ice user himself merely stood there impassively. “Yep! And I was able to save Zabuza too.” He said smugly. The woman sighed and handed Naruto a bundle of Ryo. Those hazel eyes landed on Haku, making the ice nin shuffle nervously.

“He’s young, feminine, very pretty, has at least fifty hidden senbon, an has a decent amount of chakra.” Haku bushed at the assessment.

The woman nodded and cleared her throat. “I am Senju Tsunade, theFifth Hokage.”

Haku bowed. “Yuki Haku. A pleasure, Hokage-sama.”

Tsunade stood and walked over to the two, swatting Naruto over the head. “Leave brat. You have a mission to complete. And be careful not to put a hole in a roof while leaving.”.

Naruto chuckled before vanishing, leaping out the window and down to the rooftops below. He raced across Konoha, doing flips and somersaults as he raced for the gates. Now that he thought about it, he should probably get back to Nami before Zabuza did something like appear in front of Tsunami or one of his teammates.

The thought spurred him on to go faster, and he became a mere blur, leaping thought the trees at breakneck speed. As soon as he was of a distance that he wouldn’t experience the discomfort of a considerable chakra drain, the blond used Hirashinto teleport to the seal just outside the house.

He silently opened the door and nearly groaned. Zabuza was causally leaning on his sword which was seemingly humming as it felt Uzumaki chakra nearby. The ex-Mist nin grinned toothily as he spotted the blond, who was back in his genin form.

Naruto sighed as he took in Sasuke’s glare, Sakura’s fear, Tsunami was holding a frying pan and looking very terrifying, and Kakashi had a hand on his headband, ready to pull out his Sharingan. The blond casually walked up to Zabuza and smacked him upside the head.

“Ah! Gaki!” Zabuza cursed, rubbing his head. Naruto glared at him and he shut up, sulking silently.

The blond turned to his team. “He’s with us. He found out Gato was gonna betray him and took him out. He decided after I offered to pay him and provide him with a home and a way for steady income, to help us complete the mission.”

Sasuke’s glare lessened, while Sakura sighed in relief. Tsunami put the frying pan down and went to make breakfast, while Kakashi stared at Zabuza a while longer before shrugging and digging his nose back into his book.

Zabuza tossed Naruto a scroll and Naruto, ignoring the curious looks from his team, walked to the kitchen, where Tsunmai was humming, gathering ingredients for a tasty breakfast.

“Tsunami-san?” Naruto said, and the dark haired woman looked up questioningly.

“Yes, Naruto-kun?”

Naruto handed her the scroll. She unfurled it and as she read her eyes grew wider. “Wha...er.... Why me?”

Naruto smiled. “Tazuna-ji told,me you went to business school and studied politics. And don’t worry about having any problems. I have a few connections that will help you get started and going steady.”

Tsunami nodded. “Yes, I did attend business school and majored in politics, however it’s been a while.... I’ll need to pull out the old textbooks...” Tsunami pulled out a ribbon and tied her hair up as she pulled up her sleeves. “Would you mind making breakfast Naruto-kun?” She mumbled as she wandered towards the stares, obviously lost in thought.

Naruto nodded. “Of course.” He turned to the ingredients already laid out and decided to just make a simple egg and fried meat with toast. 

“So why does Tsunami-san look so determined?”

Naruto didn’t look up from his cooking as he identified the voice of his lazy sensei. “She has just become the leader of Nami. She said something about refreshing her memory. And she can’t be touched by any of the villagers due to the fact her entire family now has the Uzumaki name. I’m sure the people of this town know of Uzushio and the Uzumaki.”

Kakashi hummed, and the sound of him turning the page in his book filled the otherwise quiet room. Naruto three the meat in the pan, and soon the silence was filled with the sizzle of the meat and the popping of grease.

“So... how are you gonna convince Lady Tsunade to allow Zabuza into Konoha?”

Naruto sighed. He wiped away the sweat that had formed front the heat of the stove and brushed his spiky hair out of his face. “I already have. I have a summoning contract with the Toads.”

Now that the blond thought about it, could he still summon the toads? He’d have to try that later. 

The silver haired nin didn’t show it, but he was shocked. Naruto had already met Jiraiya? Does that mean he knew of his heritage? And what happened to the blond to garner that old, worn look that the Copy Nin saw every time he looked in a mirror?

The blond continued to cook, unaware of the thoughts going through his sensei’s head. He hummed a tune under his breath as he navigated the kitchen. At some point his other teammates and Zabuza had wandered into the room at the smell. 

Naruto placed plates down and dished out the food. He placed cups down and placed a jug of water and a carton of milk. He walked out of the room to get Tazuna, Imari and Tsunami, leaving his team to marvel at the delicious smell wafting from the simple looking meal.

“I didn’t know Naruto could cook anything other than ramen!” Sakura exclaimed. Sasuke ‘hn’d’ n agreement. They all sat down and waited for the rest of the inhabitants of the house to show up.

Naruto walked up the stairs and stopped in front of Inari’s room. He opened the door and,saw said boy staring desolately at a framed picture of his dead father. It was too early for depression.

“Inari,” Naruto called. The boys’ head snapped up and he glared at Naruto.

“What?” He snapped. Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his spiky blond hair.

“Listen kid, I know how you feel towards hero’s and stuff, but Gato is dead. I had an ally kill him last night. I even have his head if you want to see it. So my ally is a hero, and your mom in now in charge of Nami. Hero’s don’t always die, but when they do, you need to do your best to make it so that they don’t die in vain. Especially if that hero was someone close to you.”

Inari looked startled, obviously not expecting Naruto to give him a speech. He glared.

“Like you would understand!” He sneered. “You’ve got no idea what pain is, what loss feels like!”

The boy was half expecting the blond to get angry. The other half expected the blond to look cowed. So he flinched when he was met with a humorless chuckle and eyes full of grief.

“Inari, let me tell you a story. There was once a boy, whose parents died when he was born. He grew up alone, with no family. Everyone in his village hated him, except one person. He never knew why everyone hated him, beat him. He was beaten by the villagers at least once a week. Yet he never hated the village. And when the one person who hated him introduced him to two more people who didn’t hate him, he was happy. He had people who cared about him.”

The blond paused to take a slightly shaky breath. “The boy eventually made more friends, lots more. He found out why everyone hated him, and strived to change the people’s opinions of him. Just when he was accepted by everyone, he lost them. All of them died for him, protecting him and his home.”

Inari was smart enough to know that Naruto was the boy in the story, and looked ashamed. “Uh... I-I’m sorry, Naruto.”

Naruto smiled and walked over the the boy, ruffling his hair. “It’s ok. Just be mindful from now on. Now, breakfast is ready. Would you mind grabbing Tazuna? I’ll be down shortly, I need to drag your mom out of the attic.”

Inari nodded and ran out of the room. Naruto bowed to the picture of Inari’s father and walked out of the room and towards the attic.

Everyone sat around the table and waited for the blond to come back with Tsunami. They were tempted to just eat without the two, but refrained, not wanting to be disrespectful. Finally Naruto entered the room with a reluctant Tsunami. Naruto laughed, “You can go back as soon as breakfast is over.” He reassured.

The two sat and finally with a chorus of “Itadakimasu!” Everyone dug in.

Immediately everyone began eating faster. “Naruto, where did you learn to cook?!” Sakura asked.

Naruto chuckled. “Actually, this is the only thing I can cook other than ramen at the moment. Yoshino-San taught me just a few days ago. She decided I needed a healthier diet and as decided to teach me how to cook the meals I eat.”

“It’s really good.” She admitted as she continued eating. Naruto glanced at Kakashi who had already finished eating. The silver-haired nin gave him one of his trademark eye smiles. “It was delicious, Naruto-kun. I’m so proud, my little student is growing up!” He wiped a fake tear and Naruto chuckled.

“Thank you, sensei.” 

Kakashi got the feeling he was being thanked for far more than a compliment, but he didn’t press. He did take note of it though, to add to the list of ‘What is Naruto Hiding?’

Lastly, Naruto looked to Sasuke, who raised an eyebrow before ‘hn’ing’ and finishing the last few bites. Naruto smiled. Slowly, Team Seven was bonding more than they had the first time. Hopefully, the bond wouldn’t be broken by the curse seal. Orochimaru had disappeared after the second year into the war, allegiances unknown. No matter the slight possibility, the Uzumaki wasn’t going to take any chances.

When breakfast was done, Kakashi dragged his students through the forest to a small clearing. “Okay my cute little genin, climb this tree. Without your hands.”

S

akura furrowed her brows. “What do you mean?”

Naruto walked up to the tree and placed his foot against it, channeling a small amount of chakra to his feet. He placed his other foot and took a single step before falling.

He had fallen on purpose of course, but his teammates didn’t need to know that. “I’m guessing we use chakra?” The blond said.

Kakashi gave him an eye smile. “Yep! And it might be better to do a running start.” He walked over to a tree and leaned against it, pulling out his Icha Icha. Naruto rolled his eyes fondly before making a show of concentrating before running at the tree and making it up five meters before pulling out a kunai and slashing the tree, flipping off of it and landing on the his feet. 

Glancing over he saw Sasuke running at his tree, getting up four meters before kicking off the tree and landing on the ground only slightly off balance. Sakura ran at her tree and shock was on her face as her feet kept carrying her up the tree. She grabbed onto the closest branch and swung herself up to sit on it.

“Sakura got it. Guess the Uchiha can be beat by a civilian. And a ‘clanless’ orphan.” Kakashi remarked. Sasuke scowled before running at his tree. He got up six meters before his control faltered. He slashed at the bark and fell.

Naruto rolled his eyes. Sasuke was easily provoked until the war. The blond ran at his tree and made it up seven meters before he forced too much chakra too his feet and the bark exploded, throwing him off. He was pretty high in the air, not to mention the blast force, so Sakuras’ worried shout wasn’t unexpected. Naruto flipped and landed on the ground rolling. He stood and brushed himself off, pulling out a few pieces of bark from his ankle.

“I put too much chakra in.” ‘Way too much. I only intended to channel enough to get my footing knocked off.’

“It’s because of the time travel jutsu. Your control isn’t terrible, but you, Nara, and Hyūga need to refine your control again.”

‘Coulda told us sooner...’

“It’s fun to watch you three figure things out.”Naruto scowled at Kurama. Damn fox. He ran back at his tree and managed ten meters, just wrought to reach the lowest branch before his control slipped. He shot his arm out and grabbed onto the branch as he steadied his chakra. No wonder his jutsu were a little uncontrolled in training. He bet Shikamaru had figured it out and had told Hinata just so the two could watch him struggle. He was so going to beat them into the ground for this.

Naruto rested for a moment on the branch as he closed his eyes and felt for his chakra. He touched the massive ocean that was his reserves and tried to grasp a small drop and instead was hit with a wave. He kept trying until he finally huffed and threw himself off the branch, plummeting to the ground. He channeled his chakra to his feet and landed without breaking his ankles.

“Stupid chakra.” He grumbled.

“Having trouble Naruto-kun?” Kakashi asked amusedly.

“I sometimes hate having so much chakra. It so hard to control.” Naruto mentally flipped off his laughing tenant. It wasn’t funny. It wasn’t. 

“Well, you are an Uzumaki.” Kakashi said idly.

Naruto sighed and ran at his tree. Sakura was trying to get to the top by walking, and Sasuke was stuck at the lowest branch of his tree, a meter higher than Narutos’. 

The three genin fell asleep easily that night. Well, two of the three. Naruto laid awake, staring at the ceiling and mapping the cracks in the aged wood. He didn’t sleep well without Hinata or Shikamaru. They warded off each other’s nightmares.

He heard a sigh, but didn’t face it.

“Naruto.”

“Hm?”

“Why aren’t you asleep?” He sighed. Stupid nosy sensei with their stupid questions.

“I’m not tired sensei, that’s all.” Lie. 

He could feel the Copy nins gaze piercing through him. “You’ve killed.” The copy nin stated.

Naruto just hummed. He wasn’t going to play twenty questions. 

“Who?” Why was he so persistent? Naruto rolled over, his back to the silver haired nin.

“Why?” Stop.

“Naruto.” Please stop.

“Ple-“

“Stop. Please. I’m not going to answer your questions sensei. It’s-it’s in the past. That’s all you need to know.”

The blond got up and walked over the the window, and like the night before, he stared out the window all night, only moving when the sun began to rise.

AN// Okay so. I managed to write this on my sister's iPad because I am shit at writing on a phone. If I do update any of my stories this summer it's because of that iPad. Updates will be even more sporadic than usual though. I hope y'all enjoyed!