Three days have passed since you've been walking and you would occasionally stop by the nearing small villages to look for an inn. You thought your stay at the (L/n) clan would take longer but apparently it didn't.
You were walking down a long stripped dirt road and you were about an hour away from the village. You were tired from this long journey and all you wanted to do was rest and possibly take a nap once you return.
'There better be no interferences or-.' Your thoughts were interrupted once you heard the sound of rustling leaves and bushes nearby. In front of you appeared four bandits who were dressed in a black long sleeved shirt and jeans. They wore a mask to conceal their face except their eyes. They wore no type of headband whatsoever so you weren't sure if they were affiliated with a village.
'Great just my luck...' You sighed at the bandits who stood in front of you. You seriously didn't want to deal with this.
"A fine girl we got here. Maybe she's the one who we're looking for eh? Too bad no one will be able to help her." He smirked at you while holding up a katana in front of you. The other three bandits began to circle around you.
'Should I spare them...or kill them?' Your face was stoic and showed no sign of fear. However, on the inside it irritated you. He was about to grab your chin until you slapped his hand away. He had a surprised look on his face but in a second turned into one of anger.
"Get her!" They all lunged in the air coming closer and closer. 'Almighty push.' The palm of your hands were faces outwards and a powerful force sent them crashing against the trees nearby. You walked up to one of them and gazed down at him, your Rinnegan eyes intimidating him and piercing into his soul like daggers.
"What is it that you guys want?" You spat out at him. His hand trembled as he pointed a finger at you and stuttered out," T-those e-eyes?!" His eyes widened as he stared up at you. The others stood up and were cautiously standing behind you.
"Well spill it." Your voice was demanding and held a tint of anger.
"T-there have been rumors about a beautiful woman traveling by and our Lord Takashi, wanted us to bring you in to be betrothed to him." He held his head down low as he revealed the information to you.
"I'm not interested in marriage at the moment especially with someone I don't even know. Tell your lord I have no interest in him." You threw a smoke bomb on the ground, clouding their vision and allowing you to make a run for it. While running, you turned your head back and saw they weren't after you. A relieved sigh escaped your lips as you continued on home.
*30 minutes later*
You finally saw the village gates up ahead of you and started to slow down your pace into a walking pace. You smiled at the thought of returning after so long. Walking inside the village you didn't notice Izumo and Kotestu's eyes widen like saucers at the sight of seeing you.
The atmosphere was peaceful as civilians tended to their daily life. You kept walking further down into the village and found yourself standing near the academy. The village remained the same the only difference was Lady Tsunade's carved face on the Hokage Stone Faces. The sound of laughter was heard as students from the academy ran out and joined their parents. You remembered your first time in the academy and how your life here began. Time sure does fly.
"(Y/n)?" You turned around once you're name was mentioned and saw a grown up Kiba and Akamaru.
"Long time no see." You held up a peace sign while giving them a grin.
"I wouldn't forget that familiar scent of yours. You sure have matured over the years," he said with a smilrk while rubbing his chin.
"Yeah, I've noticed." At the corner of your eye you saw a lock of someone's hair quickly disappearing back into the nearby tree with the swing set. That person peeked their head out again and revealed a shy Hinata. She slowly stepped out from behind and walked towards you.
"I-it's good to see you again, (Y/n)." She gave you a kind smile until she gave you a welcome back hug. You're turned the embrace and noticed that everyone else was already coming. 'Word goes around fast huh.'
Shino, Kiba, Hinata, Tenten, Lee, Ino, and Choji were gathered around you, welcoming you back and wanting to know about your training. You noticed some of your friends were missing but you assumed they were probably busy.
"My epitome of beauty has grown even more beautiful!" He exclaimed with fire burning in his eyes, but then received a nudge in the face by Tenten. Civilians that were walking by had confused faces as they began to stare at you.
A few murmurs had erupted in the crowd wondering who you were and what was going on. You awkwardly rubbed your neck and hung your head down, embarrassed by the attention you were getting. You decided to not attract anymore attention as you decided to get going.
"Guys, I'd love to stay and talk with you guys but I still have to inform Lady Tsunade about my arrival. Maybe tonight we can go eat BBQ again just like two and half years ago."
They all agreed with you and decided to meet up there at 7. "We'll let the others know about it," said Tenten with a thumbs up.
"Thanks, I'll see you guys later!" You yelled out as you jogged on over to the Hokage tower.
It has taken you a few minutes to reach the tower and you straightened your clothes out along with your hair. You loudly knocked on the door three times before you heard the words come in.
You stepped inside with a smile on your face. "I'm finally back, Lady Tsunade." You noticed Shizune was there as well. Tonton had walked up to you and nuzzled your leg.
"It's good to see you again (Y/n). How did everything go?"
"Everything went well except there was a bit of trouble although I managed to deal with it."
"I'd like to hear more about it however I want to see how much you've grown over the years. Show me what you got."
"Against you?"
"No I made your teammates wait until you're return. They should be here any minute now as well as your opponent." A knock was heard behind you and the ones who entered were Naruto and Sakura.
Naruto ran up to you and embraced you in a hug. "You're back! It's been pretty boring without you, you know!"
"You saw me less than a week ago," you said as a sweat drop appeared on your forehead.
"S-still!" He stuttered out, blushing in embarrassment and letting go of you. You looked at Sakura and awkwardly waved hello at her. She waved back with a smile on her face, holding no grudge against you about your words from the past.
"So who's our opponent?" You asked. Lady Tsunade pointed out the window and the three of you went to go peek your head out the window. Sitting on the ledge of the roof was Kakashi Sensei reading his Make-Out Paradise book. He still hasn't changed a bit. You and Naruto had jumped out the window and stood in front of him.
"If it isn't (Y/n) and Naruto. You guys sure have grown up," he said while examining you two, although he kept his eye on you a bit longer.
"Oh before I forget I have a present for you." Naruto ended up pulling out of his pouch the new novel to the Make-Out Paradise series. You could see that Kakashi Sensei's face was overwhelmed by it but regained his composure as Lady Tsunade scolded him. He cleared his throat and we climbed back inside the window. He greeted Sakura as well but sat crouching on the window.
"So shall we begin?" He asked while looking at you three.
"Does it have to be today?" You asked tiredly while placing both your hands behind your head.
"You know what, (Y/n) is right. She's tired and probably wants to rest for awhile," he said in a fake innocent tone, but in reality wanted to read that pervy book of his. "I'll meet you later at the training grounds, so long." In a second he disappeared in a poof of smoke.
"Ugh, but I was ready to fight already," said Naruto in a dejected tone.
"Well you did give him that book so.." Naruto had caught on to what you were implying and slumped his shoulders.
"That explains it," added in Sakura.
"Anyway, I'll be on my way out now." You said and excused yourself from Lady Tsunade and left out the door with Naruto and Sakura behind you. The three of you were walking together down the streets but decided to head home then you'd meet up with them at the training grounds in a few hours.
You bid them farewell in the meantime and teleported home. You were met with a dull dusty room although everything was still in place just like when you had left. It'd be troublesome to clean the whole room again. You took off your backpack and threw it on your bed.
You took out the picture from your pocket and rummaged through your cabinet to look for a frame. Eventually finding one, you placed the family picture frame right next to your team seven photo.
A small smile made its way on your face as you picked up your team photo. It sure did being back memories but part of those memories are gone now. 'I wonder how you're doing now Sasuke.' You placed it back down and went over to sit in the center of your bed.
You reached over to grab your backpack and took out the antique chest that you had found. You tried opening it for a few minutes but it was futile. Your last option was to try a jutsu and perhaps see if there actually was a sealing jutsu placed on it. You extended both your index and middle finger while the rest of your fingers were curled go the palm of your hand along with your thumb.
"Release!" Once those words escaped your lips, a light glow was seen around the chest, but a powerful wave was emitted from it and sent you crashing against the wall.
"What the heck..." You rubbed the back of your head in pain and saw that the chest was open. You peered into the chest and saw a small dagger along with two scrolls. You observed the small, black dagger that looked like any other dagger but you noticed (L/n) was carved on it. You placed it in your holster and opened up the scrolls. While reading through the contents you realized these were jutsus from your clan.
'This is pretty cool, now I can learn more jutsus.' You placed the scrolls in your pouch for safekeeping just in case you have time to learn them.
Closing the chest, you placed it behind your photo frames. You still had some time to kill before you had to meet up with your teammates. You lied down on your bed and felt your eyelids go heavy. A nap wouldn't hurt right?
*Timeskip*
Kakashi's P.O.V.
I ended up coming late to the training grounds to meet my students, but what I found odd was that (Y/n) wasn't there yet.
"Where's (Y/n)?"
"We don't know. Earlier she never told us what she'd be up to."
"Hmm well I guess we'll start without her."
"Huh? Are you sure that's fine Kakashi Sensei?" Asked Sakura in a worried tone and Naruto had a worried look on his face as well.
I nodded my head and added," who knows maybe she'll eventually show up." They looked at each other still unsure but agreed nonetheless. While we began to walk, I created a shadow clone to take my place for awhile, while I checked on (Y/n). I quickly vanished and appeared outside of (Y/n)'s window.
Opening the window, I snuck inside and saw her peaceful sleeping face. 'I guess I could leave her here to rest.' Her breathing was light and even while she slept, she still looked like a beauty.
I removed a few strands of her (h/c) hair from her face and tucked them behind her ear. A small smile was forming behind my mask that would be impossible for others to see.
It felt serene and peaceful just staying here besides her, being able to watch over her closely. I slowly pulled down my mask a little and leaned in close to her. I planted a small kiss ontop of her forehead before pulling my mask back up. 'It's wrong but...I'll take my chances.'
I quietly escaped out the window and retreated back to the training ground.
Reader's P.O.V.
You groggily opened your eyes and looked out the window to see that the sun was already setting. Rubbing your eyes, you got off your bed until realization hit you. You were suppose to meet your teammates at the training grounds. You quickly gathered your weapons and teleported over there.
You were now standing in the middle of a destroyed terrain in the training grounds. The ground had dents l, cracks, and fallen trees were on the ground. 'Must've been Sakura's doing,' you thought while going in search for them.
You leaped deeper into the forest and saw a patch of blonde spiky hair and pink hair. You jumped down in front of them giving them a scare.
"Wha-Where the hell have you been?!" They both yelled out in unison, demanding for an answer.
"Sorry I was...busy. I guess I got lost on the path of life? You said in what came out more like a question. They angrily glared at you as you apologized again.
"Anyways, what's our plan?" You said as you huddled besides them in the tree.
"While you were doing who knows what, we've tried to think of a way to obtain the bells. We have to retrieve the bells just like before." Sakura explained the rest to you and what has happened so far. Also mentioning Naruto's plan.
"You really are unpredictable to think of something like that but we'll go with it. I'll get the bells from behind. Once Naruto is about to spoil it for him I'll go behind him and swiftly retrieve them."
"Alright, let's go!" Naruto was pumped to finally get this over with.
You and Sakura nodded your head in agreement and you all went in search of Kakashi Sensei. In a few minutes you saw his spiky gray hair from a distance. You made a hand sign and teleported by the trees that were behind him.
Once you saw them jump out and saw Naruto's lips moving you knew it was your cue. You jumped out as well and sharply striked him in the back of the neck with your hand causing him to fall forward unconscious. A smirk formed on your face as it was a success.
"You didn't have to make him unconscious you know!" Exclaimed Naruto with his mouth open.
"Hehe sorry about that, but he should wake up in a few minutes or so. I didn't strike him too hard...I think." You bent down and grabbed the two bells from his pocket.
"Catch." You threw the bells over to Naruto and Sakura who gave you a thumbs up.
"How nice of you to actually show up (Y/n)." From behind Lady Tsunade, Shizune, and Jiraiya Sensei stepped out.
"Good work, although I'd still like to see how much you've improved (Y/n), but I guess that can wait until another day," said Lady Tsunade with an amused look on her face.
"Thank you." You slightly bowed your head to her and realized you had to get going again. You grabbed Naruto and Sakura's hand to drag them over to Yakiniku Q.
"We have to get going now. Maybe you could do something about Kakashi Sensei." You motioned with your head to where Kakashi Sensei was.
"Goodnight!" You yelled out to them while running away with your teammates.
"She sure has changed," spoke Tsunade directing her comment at Jiraiya.
"She sure has. She is my student after all," said Jiraiya with a triumphant smirk on his face. Tsunade nudged him in the ribs before she started to walk away with Shizune.
"Hey what about Kakashi!"
"You can take care of him." She dismissed him with her hand, leaving him to grumble as he carried a now slightly conscious Kakashi.
*Timeskip*
You were seated with all your friends sharing your experiences and training that has happened during the span of two and a half years. You found out Gaara had become Kazekage and all your friends have either been promoted to Chunin or Jonin. You were a bit disappointed that you and Naruto were still genin but hey at least you weren't alone on this.
"Now that you're stunning, I bet you got everyone's eye on you eh," playfully said Ino.
"I wouldn't say that..." You trailed off as you began to remember what happened earlier while you were on your way back to the village and while you were away training.
"Stop lying (Y/n) you know what happened last year," added in Naruto. "Some guy tried asking her out! And so did others."
*Last year*
You, Naruto, and Jiraiya Sensei had just finished training for the day. You were covered in sweat and had a few stains of dirt on your clothes. You wiped the beads of sweat off your face as you were all approaching a small simple village.
People looked at you three with kind smiles but you didn't notice some teenage boys and older men gawking at you. Their gawking faces caught Naruto's attention but brushed it aside for now.
"Why don't you guys get something to eat while I do some research."
"Yeah 'research'" scoffed Naruto as Jiraiya Sensei scurried away.
The two of you sighed but headed somewhere to eat. While looking around Naruto spotted a place that made his mouth water.
"Is that a ramen shop?! Oh man I haven't had ramen for awhile. Let's go!" He grabbed your hand and dragged you inside. There were a few people inside but you took a seat at a table by a window.
A waitresss came by asked us for our orders. "I'll take one miso pork ramen!" She wrote Naruto's order down and looked at you.
"I'll just have the same as him." She smiled at you two then left to get your orders ready. You lightly tapped your fingers on the table while looking out the window with a bored expression on your face.
A few minutes of silence had gone by...well except for Naruto's growling stomach, until the waitress came back with our ramen. "Here you go, enjoy your meals."
A smile beamed on Naruto's face as he started to dig in. Your broke your chopsticks in two and began to eat as well. While you were both eating you heard someone clear their throat, gaining both your attention.
A boy who was about a year older than you with the same height as you, stood in front of the table. He had messy dark black hair and green eyes. His eyes were casted to the floor but nervously raised his eye to meet yours.
"Um hi?" You said unsure of who this person was and what he wanted.
"Uh I know we're complete strangers, but I just wanted to say that you took my breath away the moment I saw you. I know this is sudden and all, but...will you be willing to go on a date with me?" He asked with hope in his eyes and a blush forming on his cheeks.
"Huh?"You had a surprised look on your face at what he said. This was unexpected.
Naruto began to choke on his ramen but soon spit it out and yelled,"W-WHAT?!" He slammed his hands on the table causing some of his ramen to spill. "What do you mean a date?! I'm going to become Hokage someday so you better watch out or else! And you don't even know her!
"I know but with this date hopefully I get the chance to get to know her. Um..I'm sorry but are you two...? He left the words hanging in the air.
"No we're not. He's my best friend," you said clarifying for him.
"Yeah..best friend..." Naruto said in a low quiet tone with a bit of sadness in his eyes. Your words caused him to shift moods. His words were barely audible, however you didn't hear him.
"Sorry but I'll pass." You gave him an apologetic smile but even after being rejected he asked for your name.
"I'm (Y/n)." He repeated your name in a whisper, but it'd be a name he'd remember. He excused himself from you before you even got the chance to ask for his name. You turned back to look at Naruto and shrugged your shoulders.
Naruto's eyes trailed the older boy as he hardly glared daggers at the back of his head. He stood up and set a random amount of money on the table. He grabbed your hand and dragged you out trying to find a different place to go to where there would be less people. He really hoped this wouldn't occur again, but boy was he wrong.
Present
"What a drag..." Mumbled Shikamaru as he heard the story.
You sheepishly looked away and felt embarrassed that Naruto had revealed that everyone. Some of the boys had a jealous look on their faces but also of annoyance that they would try doing that.
"I can see why," said Kiba with a sly smirk on his face. He was sitting next to your right and to your left was Tenten. Naruto had kicked Kiba from under the table and caused them to start glaring at each other.
"Oi stop it you two." Ino had thrown a piece of meat at their faces. They gritted their teeth at her and were about to throw the meat back at her until Sakura punched their heads. A bump had formed on their heads and they winced at the pain, but stayed quiet so they wouldn't upset her again
You all kept conversing with me another until the sky grew even darker. Their smiling faces and laughter that filled the room was a sight that you smiled to. Friends with whom you've found comfort with and with those who you can truly be yourself. The ones who'd be there for you. This is what you missed, your friends.