A bright, glaring sun was breaking through the crowns of trees in a large forest and brightening the path under them.  Clouds lazily moved across the sky at a pace of a gently blowing wind.  Only the awakened birds flew among the trees singing their morning songs and making the journey more pleasant for the wanderers.  Wild animals began their everyday procession in search of food, and the flowers opened their buds, creating a picturesque landscape.

It was just this forest path that two figures headed towards the Village of the Leaf.  The old, white-haired man with a smile on his face was looking at the joyful, teenage blonde walking in front of him, with three scars looking like an animal's whiskers, dressed in an orange-black tracksuit and with Konoha's protector on his forehead.  Naruto Uzumaki, because this was this 15-year-old boy's name, was returning from a 2,5-year-old training with Jiraiya, the strangest and most perverted teacher he had ever met, who was now following him and watching him with interest.

"So, how are you feeling Naruto?  Are you happy to return home?" The Sannin asked.

"Of course, dattebayo!" The blonde shouted "I can not wait to meet Sakura-chan and Sasuke! I wonder if they've changed? Do you think they miss me?" He began to think aloud.

He did not really enjoy it that much.  Of course, he wanted to meet all his friends and teachers, but he did not want to go back to the inhabitants of the Leaf Village.  He wasn't itching to be beaten and called the worst monster again.  Who would want it?  And if his companions also turned away from him?  The boy's smile faded a little.  He shook his head to ward off the thought.  No, they would not do something like that ...

But what if they did...?

Jiraiya probably realized what worried his godson, because he came to him and put a hand on his shoulder with encouragement.

"Don't worry. I'm sure that they are also waiting impatiently for your return."

Naruto looked gratefully towards the old man.

"Thank you..." Suddenly he stopped, smiled devilishly and finished "... Ero-Sennin!" He began to run as fast as he could in the direction of Konoha, knowing how much the Sannin hated that nickname.  When Jiraiya realized how Naruto had just called him, he ran after him, trying to catch him.

"Come back here, rascal! I am comforting you, and you are so repaying to me?!"

"First, catch me, you stupid old man, dattebayo!"

"You will not get away with it!!"

***

The next day, the walls of the Leaf Village, so familiar to both men, loomed on the horizon.  Naruto, who could not wait to return, ran happily forward, leaving behind his godfather who smiled at the sight.  Despite everything that the boy had suffered from there, he still recognized the place as his home and he had friends there, thanks to which he was happy, and the joy of this lubber was very important for white-haired Sannin.

He caught up to the blonde just before the gate, where, as usual, two bored guards sat.  However, as soon as they saw the young jinchuuriki, they broke up from their seats.  One of them said something and ran towards the Hokage Tower, while the other waited for Naruto and Jiraiya to reach the gate and then, smiling, the man greeted them.  Naruto returned the smile, in spirit, glad that the guard was one of the few people who accepted him.  He ran deeper into the village and stood on the highest pillar.  He looked around to see the changes.  The first thing he noticed was Tsunade's face engraved in the rock.  He smiled when he saw it.  To think that once she did not want to become a Hokage.  He further saw that the Uchiha District was restored so that more villagers could live there.  He was honestly surprised that Sasuke agreed, but when he thought about it longer, he inferred that they probably had to convince him for a long time before he finally gave in.  When he finished studying changes in the village, he straightened up, spread his hands and shouted at the top of his voice:

"Everyone, listen!  Naruto Uzumaki has returned, dattebayo!"

***

Tsunade was listening to the Kakashi and Guy's team's report on their last mission.  Team 11's captain, along with his favorite student, Lee, were talking about how they fought against the bandits, together with their, so called, "power of youth", while The Copy Ninja stood alongside the rest of the charges and read his favorite book while waiting for his rival to finish  telling the story and they will be able to come back home.  The Hokage was afraid that they would sit here for the next two hours, when one of the guards of the village gate, who came to the office like a bullet from a gun, saved her from this torment.

"Hokage-sama!"

Tsunade jumped up from her desk and asked:

"What is going on?!"

"You will not believe what just happened!"

Everyone in the room froze, waiting impatiently for what the man would say.

"He came back!"

"Who came back?!" Hokage asked impatiently "Tell me!"

The guard was about to answer when suddenly a scream could be heard outside:

"Everyone, listen!  Naruto Uzumaki has returned, dattebayo!"

The guard smiled.  Yes, that was to be expected from Naruto.  He turned back to the Hokage.

"He came back."

There was a moment of silence, after which almost everyone ran to the window, pushing each other, just to see the old companion.  The only people, who didn't rush there were Tsunade, who was too shocked to move, Sai, who did not know the said boy, because he was assigned to Team 7 only after his departure as a deputy, and Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi, who without wasting anymore time ran out on to meet their friend.  They dropped out of the Hokage Tower at the speed of light, knocking at least four people along the way, and ...

... They stood in place, realizing that they did not know where Naruto was at the moment. It did not take them long to find him though, because the boy was still standing on the pillar and waving to the window in the Fifth's office.  Under the pillar was Jiraiya, who, seeing the friends of jinchuuriki, waved to them, but Sasuke and Sakura completely ignored him, focusing all his attention on the blond.  Only Kakashi nodded to him, but then he looked up again.

"Naruto?! " Sakura shouted towards the teenager.  The blonde looked down.

"Sakura-chan! Sasuke!" He shouted at them.

"Is it really you, Naruto?!"

"And who else could I be, dattebayo?!"

"And maybe you will stop screaming like a moron you are and you will come down here, idiot?!" Sasuke joined the conversation "You can be heard all over the Village!" He shouted, so that the Uzumaki would hear him.

Naruto jumped to the ground and looked with superiority on the rival.

"And who is here now, screaming at the whole Village?" Uchiha wanted to answer something, but he didn't manage, because the blonde was first "You missed me?"

Sakura suddenly hugged him so hard that he ran out of breath.

"S-Sakura-chan, you're choking me, dattebayo..."

The pink-haired woman immediately let him go and looked at him apologetically.

"Sorry..."

Naruto laughed.

"Relax, nothing bad happened. But I take it as a yes."

"Yo, Naruto!" Kakashi said from behind his back, who had listened to the exchange of words between his students "We haven't seen each other for a long time."

Jinchuuriki turned around and gave him a big smile.

"Definitely too long, Kakashi-sensei."

Team 7's Captain looked him up from head to toe.

"You've grown very much. I hope that the training brought results?"

"Of course it did! What did you expect, Kakashi?" Jiraiya asked indignantly, giving jounin a nudge "Anyway, I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Maybe we'll go get something to eat? Then we can talk about everything that happened here during our absence."

Everyone nodded.

"Well then, we're going to Ichiraku Ramen!!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly "I haven't eaten there for years!"

"And there he goes again with this ramen..." Sasuke sighed "Do you even eat anything beside it?"

"Does it matter?! Let's go, because there will be a queue! I'm taking a shortcut!  We'll see each other on the spot!" And then he ran towards the Ichiraku's stand.

Sasuke sighed again and ran his hand over his face.

"What a moron..."

***

The blonde boy turned around the corner of the nearest street and walked on to his favorite restaurant when something struck him on the back of the head.  He turned and saw some angry man holding a stone in his hand, which he then threw at the direction of the jinchuuriki.  He grabbed a piece of rock before it hit his head again, which made the man even more annoyed.

"Demon!  What are you doing here?!  We were fine without you!"

Then a crowd of residents of the village gathered around Naruto and more stones started coming towards him from different directions.  The boy was trained and could easily avoid all of them, but he knew that other people would then receive these blows, and he did not want that to happen.  Despite everything he experienced here, he did not want to hurt them.  Tears came to his eyes.  Why do they hate him so much?  It's not his fault that he is a jinchuuriki!  Did he ever do something to them?  Meanwhile, more and more insults came from the crowd:

"Demon!"

"Monster!"

"Get out of here!"

Finally, the boy could not stand it.  He pushed some people and started running, wiping away his tears.  He ran past Ichiraku Ramen, where everyone was waiting for him.  He did not pay any attention to them, however, and kept running, as far away as possible from other people. He did not heed his friends calling for him.  He did not think about the people he hit or about the next stones flying towards him.  He just wanted to disappear. Fall under the ground. He ran to his house, locked himself and fell on the bed.  There, he finally gave vent to all his emotions.  Salty tears began to flow down his cheeks, and the cry came out of his mouth.  He looked at all his wounds and only then did he feel the pain they caused.  He hid his face in his hands.

Why did it always happen to him?