Guess who's back! (Naruto)

Homecoming (2.0)

It was a normal day in Konoha. The sun was shining, people were happily going about their day. Outside of the gates, a figure was slowly approaching. It was a tall man with short blonde hair. He was wearing a simple grey t-shirt, slightly oversized, hanging loosely on his lean but muscular body. In contrast to his shirt, his pants were a bright orange, held up by a simple brown belt, which had a ninja headband dangling from it. The man carried a backpack with a few scrolls tied to it. One of his arms was completely covered in bandages, and he walked calmly towards the big walls which he hadn't seen in quite a while. A single drop of sweat rolled down his whiskered cheek, as he picked up his pace a little.

Kotetsu and Izumo were sitting in the usual shed just inside the gates of konoha, bored out of their minds. Guarding the entrance had been their job for years and they took it seriously, so they resisted the urge to just lay down and take a little nap. Good thing, or they would have missed the at first glance unfamiliar character casually walking by. 

"Hey! Please state your business." 

The man turned around a little confused, apparently not expecting to be called back.

"My business? I mean... I think I'll quickly go put down my stuff before I go to Ichiraku's. But why are you asking anyways? You guys know me."

What the man didn't know, is that the two guards had stopped listening the moment he had turned around, since they were trying to process the face that was speaking to them in such a familiar manner.

After a few seconds of wide-eyed stares the awkward silence was broken:

 "Jesus Christ, it is you! You finally decided to come back!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The blonde man was happily walking through his hometown, a big grin appearing on his already bright face as he saw the small noodle stand that had fed him throughout his childhood. He walked towards it, pushed aside the curtain and peeked inside, taking in the smell he had so dearly missed.

"Good afternoon, what can I ge-"

The old owner of the ramen place stopped in the middle of his sentence to take a closer look at the guy who had just entered his shop. It was the face of a young adult, but his facial features were still reminiscent of a boy. A boy he knew very well. Before he could snap out of it though, said boy spoke:

"Teuchi-jiji! How are you? I really need to report to the Hokage so I can't stay right know, but I'll be back very soon! Believe it!"

After his old number one customer had ran off, the old man slowly turned around to look at his daughter, who was still looking at the flapping curtains with a shocked look.

"Ayame... Did you know he was back?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now running, itching to get back to the heavenly smell, ready to devour at least eight bowls of pork miso ramen, the blue-eyed Shinobi made his way to the Hokage tower. When he reached it, he didn't even bother to stop and look at it for a moment. He would have, had the emptiness in his stomach not overpowered the light nostalgia he was indeed feeling. He had been gone for almost two years after all, he did realise that much, although he was happy to know that not too much had changed. So he swallowed the thought and made his way up the stairs of Konoha's administrative building.

Meanwhile in the Hokage's office, the Godaime was discussing her retirement with her top Jonin and planned successor.

"As I said, I plan on retiring and leaving you the position next month."