I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters. They just won't stay out of my head.

Chapter 6

Naruto was thinking longingly of sleeping in trees. Or on rocks. Or even in his dank little apartment. Anywhere except this hospital room. He knew every crack and ridge of the ceiling. He had been bored of the view out the window since an hour after first waking up. He even found himself counting the tiles on the floor for want of anything else to do.

He never knew waiting for all hell to break loose could be so mind numbing.

Oh, he knew something bad was going to happen eventually. How could it not? He had unleashed a potentially devastating jutsu while in the village. People who had been alarmed at rumors and second hand accounts of his exploits in other countries had seen for themselves just what he was capable of. To say that things were still a little stirred up, even a week later, was a slight understatement. All he had to do was observe his friends to know that things had gotten bad out in the village. Kakashi stuck his head in his room at least once a day, as did Iruka. Tsunade was looking a little more worn than usual. He sensed a couple of familiar ANBU signatures nearby off and on. Sakura and Sasuke practically lived in his room.

The people who cared about him were worried.

But he wasn't supposed to know that.

In fact, he was supposed to be in here recovering in ignorant bliss. Or at least that's what his friends were trying to accomplish. Unfortunately for them, they forgot just how good his hearing was. He was being kept up to date inadvertently by the medics who worked on his floor of the hospital. He actually knew just about everything.

He kept up the charade of ignorance mostly for Sakura's sake. She spent as much time with him as she could and not neglect her other duties. She did things for him that required working thumbs and kept him from going too stir crazy. She, and the fact that he couldn't make hand signs, was the only reason he hadn't left a clone behind and escaped to the woods for awhile. Their relationship was the one good thing to come from this whole fiasco. But she also neatly evaded any of his questions about what was going on outside. He was glad for the company though, especially since the rest of his visitors were also acting really fishy about something. They seemed to have some sort of joint project going that they could not or would not tell him about.

He hated secrets.

That was actually providing him with some entertainment, as he could needle whoever was visiting him at the time for information. He especially worked on Lee and Kiba. Lee he could read like a book, and Kiba could usually be egged into blurting something out, but the others were careful not to leave the two alone with him.

The only other diversion he had was when Shizune dropped Kenkou off with him for a few hours. Trying to corral an energetic rug rat with a 30 second attention span without your hands certainly took all your attention. Ken was a pretty cool kid though, for a two year old. Now that his godson was past the drooling and babbling stage, Naruto could finally have some fun with him. He was cute, funny, quit smart, and completely hyper. In fact, now that Naruto had grown up and dropped his act, Kenkou had probably taken his place as Konoha's ADD poster child. Luckily for Ken though, he was irresistible. He had inherited both of his parents dark good looks, with Shizune's sunny nature and Genma's laid back attitude. Of course Naruto was usually insuring that some of himself rubbed off on the kid as well. What were godfathers for? The hospital staff had to keep a stern eye on them after one incident involving the window, pedestrians, chakra wire, and bedpans filled with water. Connecting with his inner prankster always helped him forget what was going on around him.

Even people not from Konoha could feel the tension in the village. The group from Suna were still in town. Kankuro came to play cards with him at least once a day, with Gaara often sitting and watching. Naruto could almost count these visits as training. As Naruto couldn't turn over his own cards, he had to watch the puppet master like a hawk when he did it for him.

The first time the two had shown up, Naruto had asked them why they weren't on their way home. All Gaara would say was that he had unfinished business here. When he walked out of the room sometime later, Naruto had shot Kankuro a questioning look. Kankuro, sitting cross-legged on the foot of Naruto's bed shuffling a deck, shrugged easily. He was quite used to translating for his quiet brother.

"He's worried about you. He hears the rumblings in the town and he's reminded of what back home was like before he became Kazekage. He mentioned to me 'n Temari that if things got too hairy here, you might want to come to Suna with us. We could use a shinobi as strong as you, and our village knows how to treat jinchuriki now. Think about it. Besides, you and Sakura are family and we take care of our own. And hey, the way things are going between you two, we might just get a damn good medic out of the deal." He gave Naruto a lopsided grin." OK, we gonna play, or what?!"

"Fine, but I see any chakra strings, I'm telling Temari."

"Dude! You play rough! I haven't even done anything yet!"

"Yet" being the key word there."

"Man. No trust."

As Kankuro dealt the cards, Naruto digested his words. True, the three siblings had practically adopted he and Sakura after they had saved Gaara and Kankuro from the Akasuki, and the offer touched him. He liked Suna, and he was comfortable there, but his heart was here.

Even if here didn't want him.

Naruto sighed and concentrated on making sure his friend didn't cheat him out of a months pay.

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"Um, guys? If you're here to walk home with me, we're going the wrong way."

It was a sunny day, he was wearing new clothes, and Sakura's arm was around his waist as he walked out of the hospital. His hands were just bandaged now, and he could finally, carefully, hold her hand as his arm rested across her shoulders. He was feeling pretty happy. Then this crazed mob had come and swept him in the exact opposite direction from his apartment. The only reason he wasn't alarmed was that the mob weren't angry villagers, but his friends.

The weird thing was, they all looked like they had just completed the worst D-rank mission ever. They were, all of them, even Temari and Kankuro, a paint splattered, cobwebby, bruised mess. Takara was perched on Shikamaru's shoulders clutching a paintbrush.

"Naru!" the dark haired little girl said delightedly as he reached up to ruffle her hair. He noticed that there were a few people missing, namely Sasuke, Shino, and Lee. He knew for a fact that they weren't on missions.

The mystery deepens.

"What have you been doing? Did you all need money so bad that you started your own house painting service or something? And where the hell are you taking me?"

Kiba, who was walking on his left, smirked. "Something like that. And we're taking the scenic route, so just shut up and keep walking."

Naruto bristled slightly, but Sakura gave him a reassuring squeeze, and he relaxed. It was useless to get mad at Kiba for being Kiba, and at least now he would be finding out what the big project was all about.

He had his head down, laughing at something Sakura said, when the chatter around him stopped and the group slowed to a halt. Naruto looked up to see a crowd blocking the street, radiating determination and bad attitude. He shuddered involuntarily. It was silly for someone of his age and experience to be afraid of a small group of civilians, but old lessons died hard. He had learned at a very young age that gangs of villagers rarely meant him any good. A group this big usually meant a hospital stay was in his future. True, nowadays they were too scared of him to do more than vandalize his apartment when he was gone, but these guys seemed to think they had safety in numbers.

He concentrated on Sakura's arm around his waist instead, and calmed himself enough to mask his emotions. The last thing Naruto wanted was for his friends to get mixed up in his problems. These people were obviously here for him and only him. He was about to tell everyone around him to back off when he found himself overruled before he even said anything.

The crowd of villagers faltered a bit as they closed on the young shinobi. Neji and Hinata had moved to the front and were hitting them with the uncompromising stare of the Hyuga, and Akamaru was growling menacingly. That seemed to weaken the resolve of some of them. There was a series of muttered conversations before the mob found their courage again and moved foreword once more. The Rookies held themselves ready. Naruto knew things wouldn't escalate too much. He could sense Sai somewhere nearby, as well as Kakashi. The ANBU and former ANBU would step in if needed.

Naruto wasn't about to let things get that far. He started to push his way to the front.

" I don't want you guys to get in the middle of this. Let me deal with it."

This statement was met with instant and emphatic opposition and much rolling of eyes. Choji took one deliberate step to the side, right in his path. Naruto grimaced. He new there was no use arguing with a determined Akimichi.

Shikamaru looked at him and snorted. "Yeah right. We've had to listen to these idiots for the whole week you've been in the hospital. We've been dying for them to make some kind of move first so we can do something about it."

Naruto gaped at him. "Are you crazy Shika? We can't fight our own people."

"Sure we can! If they threaten one of us, they threaten all of us. Now here," and he came over and deposited Takara on Naruto's shoulders, "be good and watch the kid."

Takara squealed with delight and wrapped her arms around his head, covering his eyes. It took him a moment to get the giggling three year old to release him. By the time he could see again, It was too late.

"But..but.. Hey!" Naruto's protests went unheard as the rookies moved in front of him, the two Suna jonin right with them.

"Temari! Kankuro! This isn't even your village!"

Kankuro looked around at him and winked. "I told you. We look after our own."

Naruto just spluttered. They were all mental.

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Sakura hung back to keep herself next to Naruto, in case of more self sacrificing attempts. It had been particularly clever of Shikamaru to dump Takara on him. It effectively handicapped him in that he wouldn't make any decisions that would endanger her, and it could also give him the incentive to protect himself for her sake. Sakura, and everyone else, knew that Naruto usually didn't care about his own safety much, but would die to protect a child. And they knew it. Even children in other countries , in the middle of running battles, would flock to him, as if they knew instinctively that he would protect them.

Sakura looked up at her friend and love and almost laughed at the indignant expression on his face as everyone proceeded to ignore him. He had never had this many people stand up for him before, and he wasn't sure what to do about it. Then she saw his eyes widen and whipped her head around.

A second, larger group was converging on them from a side street.

Ok, things weren't funny anymore.

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The fourteen teenagers backed up a bit so they could keep an eye on this new threat. To their surprise the larger group completely ignored them and moved in on the first crowd, surrounding them. Individuals in the original group were taken by surprise as they were detained, sometimes forcefully. Naruto noticed headbands on some of the newcomers.

Suddenly Shikamaru laughed. " Hey old man Kubo! Nice of you to join the party!"

" Hey Shikamaru. I thought something like this would be too much work for you." An older man came over to stand in front of Shikamaru.

Sakura sucked in her breath when she saw his face. Naruto looked at her curiously.

"That man used to be an ANBU captain. He retired while you were training, and became a woodworker. He has a lot of influence in the neighborhood nearest the main gate"

"Yeah, he's an old friend of my dad's," Shikamaru said, looking expectantly at the old shinobi. "So, is there a particular reason you dragged your entire neighborhood to this side of town?"

"Just returning a favor," the man said, looking straight at Naruto. "Come here and let me look at you, boy."

Naruto slowly came up to stand in front of the old ANBU, and studied him. What he saw was impressive. Few people rated an automatic "sir" from him, but he could tell this would be one of them. Sharp gray eyes bored into his from a weathered face that had seen a lot of action in its day. The man was shorter than him, with a hard, lean physic and ,despite the age difference, Naruto still felt that he would not want to get into a taijutsu match with him.

Naruto saw that he was being studied in return, and smiled slightly. Finally the man nodded, as if approving of something. "You turned out better than I could have hoped for young man. I used to detail the squad that guarded you when you were a baby." Kubo grinned as Naruto gaped at him." I wanted to thank you in person for what you did at the gate. I was at the exam that day, and my granddaughters were home alone. They are very young and attractive, and if they had been captured, I have a good idea what their fate would have been. If you ever need anything, me and my family will always be in your debt. The same goes for everyone else that came with me. They all have homes and loved ones in that neighborhood."

"I was just doing my duty, sir," said Naruto in an embarrassed tone.

"Things might have changed, but in my day dying kind of went above and beyond the call of duty," the old man replied dryly. " Now, I believe you and your friends were going somewhere before this herd of sheep got in your way. We'll just shoo them back to where they came from."

The group of protesters turned red as the rookies started to laugh. One brave soul broke away and confronted Kubo, gesticulating wildly and yelling in a nasal voice..

"We will not tolerate that "thing" near our homes. You live on the other side of town, you're perfectly safe."

Shikamaru groaned. "Lady, you just don't learn, do you? The Hokage let you off easy before. I don't think that's going to happen this time."

The old ninja looked down his nose at the woman. "Personally, I would feel much safer if he lived closer to my side of town. I'd know my grandchildren were safe. I could care less what he has living inside of him, as long as he continues to protect our village. If you had an ounce of brains in that pointed head, you'd feel the same.

Naruto was listening to this exchange in stunned surprise. Here was a complete stranger defending him. A whole crowd of complete strangers. From his own village. Who knew who an what he was. It was hard to take in.

The woman doing the talking was reaching new levels of shrillness when one person in her group tried to level the playing field. A kunai whipped towards the old ANBU from the center of the mob. Without even thinking, Naruto reached out and snagged it out of the air with bandaged fingers. Kubo, his vision blocked by the wildly waving arms in front of him, hadn't even seen it coming. Suddenly there was a lot more activity in the street as masked ANBU descended on the troublemakers. Two, who Naruto knew were Sai and Yamato stood in front of Naruto and Kubo, along with Kakashi, who had appeared from nowhere.

"Nice of you to join us." Naruto said.

The one with the wolf mask turned to him. "We had to wait until someone made a move. If they didn't, we were just going to let Kubo-san's people deal with them. But one did an aggressive act, so now we get to take all of them in for questioning. The ringleaders at least will be doing some time in prison. Kubo-san, good to see you." And with that, the mob was hustled away.

"Well young man, that's two I owe you, " the old man chuckled, looking at Naruto.

"We'll start a tab, " Naruto laughed.

Suddenly Shikamaru made them all jump by loudly laughing. Ino looked at him like he was crazy.

"What!?"

"I won't have to hear that fool woman's voice for a really long time."

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" Ok. Now are you going to tell me where we're going?" Naruto said, plaintively.

"Yeah, yeah, were almost there. Geez!" Kiba said, rolling his eyes. "You guys sure we wanted to do this for such a whiner."

"DO WHAT!?"

"Naruto! We're here!" laughed Sakura, squeezing his arm. They all stopped.

" Here? Wait, what?"

They were standing in front of the gate to the Uchiha clan compound. Naruto hadn't been here in years. Sasuke was never very eager to visit, for obvious reasons. Now the walls were sporting a new coat of paint and colorful banners were hanging here and there.

Sasuke was standing just outside the entrance in what Naruto recognized as his "I'm really impatient, but I try not to show emotion so I'm just standing here" pose. "What the hell took you so long? The place will be falling down again before we get moved in."

Moved in?

"We ran into some old friends," drawled Shikamaru. " But I can honestly say that they probably won't be bothering us anymore."

"Hnn," was the only comment out of Sasuke, but he looked satisfied.

Naruto was still trying to wrap his brain around one of the previous comments. "What do you mean move in? Sasuke, are you going to live here again?"

"Yep, and so are you."

Hinata came and slipped her arm through his. "All of us are. Sasuke is renting it to us. Cheap."

"Just think. Our own little neighborhood." Lee, as usual, was practically bouncing with excitement.

"Come on, we'll show you around." said Hinata as she gently tugged him inside.

Naruto walked through the entrance with two lovely ladies on his arms.

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It was a nice warm night, and Shikamaru was sitting on the roof of the small house he shared with Choji. Kurenai wouldn't be back from her mission for a couple of days, so he still had Takara. He swore the kid was nocturnal or something, she never seemed to sleep. So here he was, the middle of the night, sitting on his roof with a wide awake three year old sitting on his lap. At least it was a full moon. There were some nice clouds drifting slowly over it. It was also very quiet here. The compound was tucked into its own corner of the village, and with only the twelve of them living there, it still looked like a ghost town.

He looked down over the collection of buildings. Everyone now had their own niche here, and seemed happy. He and Choji had taken this small house, Sakura and Ino were sharing another, and Hinata had settled in to a third with the easygoing Tenten. Kiba and Shino had taken apartments on the other side of the main house and Lee had moved into living quarters off of the family dojo. That left the main house to Naruto, Sasuke ,and Neji, with plenty of room to spare. Over a communal dinner, Shikamaru had been watching Sasuke covertly, knowing it must be somewhat hard for him to be living here again. Then, at one point, as everyone had been laughing at one of Naruto's stories concerning bedpans, Shikamaru had caught an almost tender look on the Uchiha's face. Sasuke had glanced at him, and, instead of covering the emotion, had grinned….

"Pink!"

Huh?

" Shika! Pink!"

A small hand whapping him on the arm woke Shikamaru up from his soliloquy.

"What's that Kara?" "Pink" was a bit of a non-sequitur even for a three year old. "What's pink?"

The little girl pointed, and he tried to see what had caught her attention. She had uncommonly good eyesight for a child and he had long ago stopped doubting her when she said she saw something. There was one thing that Kara always referred to as "pink" and that was….

Movement caught his eye at that point as a silent shadow moved into the light of the moon. Cherry blossom hair flashed in the light. Sakura. Kara had always called her Pink. Shikamaru watched as she glided across the courtyard and gracefully vaulted up to the roof of the main house. He had a pretty good idea where she was heading, and wasn't surprised when she dropped over the edge of the roof onto the sill of Naruto's window.

Shikamaru smirked as he entertained a brief fantasy of Temari doing the same thing through his window. Moving here had definitely been a good idea. For everyone.

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Two weeks later

Tsunade sat behind her desk and studied her four new captains. The ever increasing demands on her ninja had required her to form a few new teams to send out, and these four were the ones who were going to lead them. They represented the finest of their generation, and the ones who would make the best leaders.

Although with two of them carting around small children, they didn't look that tough at the moment.

Neji was an obvious choice to lead a squad. The teams he was temporarily assigned to always had a high success rate and few injuries, mostly due to Neji's insight and tactics. His cousin Hinata was her other choice. She was strong and always put her team's welfare before her own. She was still somewhat quiet with strangers, but enemies constantly underestimated her because of it. Until she started wiping the ground with them, that is. She was developing an attitude to match her Inuzuka boyfriend.

And then there were her two newest jonin.

Shikamaru. Tsunade had a soft spot for the lazy genius. The nonchalant exterior and blinding intelligence hid an extremely loyal and caring heart. The young man who had had his carefully worked out plan for the future shattered by the death of his mentor was now helping to raise his daughter without a single complaint. And loving every minute of it, though he would never admit it. Even now little Takara was perched on his shoulders, giggling as Hinata made funny faces at her.

Tsunade swelled with pride when she looked upon her fourth choice. Standing there, resplendent in his haori, shaggy blond hair dangling in front of piercing blue eyes, was Naruto. Kenkou was fast asleep on his shoulder, arms wrapped trustingly around his uncle's neck. Backed by a large portion of the village, the council had had no choice but to finally accept him as a jonin. When that had happened, Shikamaru had accepted his long overdue promotion. Tsunade already knew what kind of leader Naruto was, and had hand picked his team herself.

"Alright! I've selected your teams based on compatibility of personalities and skills. I tried to give you each at least one person that you have worked with in the past. I also gave you some of this year's chunin to train and assess. They're assembled and waiting for you. Go talk to them and get to know each other. Shikamaru, Neji, Hinata, yours are waiting for you on the roof. Naruto, yours are going to get a trial by fire. I have a mission for you. Your team is waiting by the front gate. You leave right away. Here give me the kid. " Tsunade took Kenkou from him. Her grandson was just as happy to continue his nap on her lap. She looked at the four. " Go and make me proud."

Naruto looked her in the eye. "Always."

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Naruto stopped by the compound just long enough to grab his pack and a goodbye kiss from Sakura before heading to the gate. As he walked up, he saw two people waiting. Two people and one rather large dog. Akamaru barked a welcome as he approached.

"Kiba! Akamaru! Right on!" This was someone he could definitely work with.

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it when she told me! I didn't know what kind of captain I was going to be stuck with. You, I can live with. That and I think Hinata pushed for it. She said she knew you would bring me back in one piece. "

"I'll try not to disappoint her. I certainly don't want her pissed at me!"

He turned his attention to the young kunoichi and was surprised to see his crowd control specialist from the gate incident.

" It's good to see you again," Naruto said, smiling. "I never got a chance to tell you how well you handled yourself that day. I would be glad to have you on any team of mine…..?"

"Machi, Uzumaki taicho. My name is Machi. I requested this assignment. I knew that you would be a good captain."

"Great, but were going to have to work on this "taicho" business. Call me Naruto please. I assure you, dog boy over there will be." He looked around. " Now, aren't we missing a person?"

"I'm coming!! I'm coming boss!! Footsteps pounded on the road as a lanky, black clad teenager puffed up.

"You have got to be kidding me! What did I do to deserve this?"

Konohamaru looked hurt. "What? Oh, come on boss, you know I'm a good fighter."

Kiba ruffled his hair. "He knows, kid. He's just giving you a hard time."

Konohamaru was still looking at him. At fifteen, he could almost look Naruto in the eye. He had become a formidable fighter, with his grandfathers memory for jutsu.

" Konohamaru, I wouldn't have anyone else watching my back." The teenager cheered up at that. "Ok, we all set? Than let's go. Kiba, you take point. Move out."

"Hai!"

And with that, Team Uzumaki dashed out of the gates.

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Thanks for reading. I know, it's a happy ending, all is right with the world kind of story. I did kill the hero though, if only for a few minutes.

Let me know how I did, I was suffering from killer writers block and technical difficulties with this chapter.

I will have more stories based on this timeline.

Cheers, uzumakisunspydr