Things we do for love

Chapter 13

Everyone was standing at the gates of Suna, ready to depart.

"See you later, Gaara," said Naruto.

"Bye Naru chan," said Gaara with a smirk.

"I hate you..." mumbled Naruto rolling his eyes.

"I love you too," said Gaara.

"I got a girlfriend bro!" said Naruto as Gaara and Kankuro snickered.

"I am never gonna get used to seeing them like this," said Temari with a fond smile.

"Yeah, I mean it wasn't too long when he would try to kill all of us," said Shikamaru.

"Yeah. Remember when he broke Lee's bones?" asked Temari.

"Or when he killed that sound guy," said Shika.

"He killed some ninja team during the second exam."

"He threatened Sasuke."

"Can you both stop? It's mean you know," said Gaara with a slight pout.

"Gomen gomen," said Shikamaru with a chuckle.

"Don't mind him, he gave up common sense for extreme knowledge," said Naruto.

"Let's go, we need to reach Konoha quickly," said Sakura. Sasori had given her a vital piece of information about Sasuke, and she wanted to make the most of it. However, right now, her priority was Naruto. His injuries, though mostly patched up, needed some attention from Tsunade.

"Keep in touch Shikamaru," said Temari.

"Wow, do we even exist?" asked Naruto.

"Not for her," said Gaara and Kankuro chuckled.

"Keep visiting Naruto," said Gaara with a small smile.

"Hai," said Naruto as he got onto a bird and they took off.

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The rest of the journey, which should have taken at least 2 days, took only one thanks to Sai and his ink birds. They finally reached Konoha and were now in front of the gate.

"Kotetsu, Izumo," greeted Naruto.

"NARUTO!" they both stood up as they greeted him.

"How are you kiddo?" asked Izumo.

"Well, aside from exhaustion I am completely fine," said Naruto as he limped towards them.

"You're completely roughed up dude. You need to go to the hospital or your house," said Izumo.

"Nah, I'll first report to Granny Tsunade, then I'll do these things," said Naruto.

"Oh hell no, you're not in great shape, so nope, you're going home," said Kotetsu.

"You can't make me," said Naruto defiantly.

"We know, but she can," said Kotetsu as he pointed towards the village, from where Hitome was coming.

"NARUTO! You're back," said Hitome as she and Hinata, who was supposed to take the log for the day was coming.

"Naruto kun," she chirped and hugged him.

"Hime chan," said Naruto happily as he hugged her tightly.

"Hitome san, Naruto is injured and exhausted, but is still arguing to go to Tsunade sama to report," said Kotetsu.

"Is it true Naruto?" she asked in a sickly sweet tone, causing Naruto to break into a sweating fit.

"N-n-no, I w-was j-just thinking Granny c-could check o-on me after we g-gave her the report," stuttered Naruto, scared of the aura she was giving off.