Beyond Konoha - Road to Ninja

Chapter 1

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I stood alongside the large group of families, ready to greet Konoha 11 from their latest mission, dealing with the Akatsuki. Naruto, my brother, had been away with the rest of Konoha 11 for nearly three days now, but they were due home after what we'd been told had been a successful mission.

Unfortunately, I had been relieved off duty with missions as a part of Konoha 11, since I had been away on other errands in the Sand village for a couple days. When I had returned to Konoha, I'd learnt that they'd left early, with news of the Akatsuki going on the move again. So I stayed home this time, but I was ready to meet my brother at the village gates, ready to welcome him home.

'Look! Here they are!' one of the mother's shouted excitedly as the Konoha 11 squad came through the large, heavy gates. The parents cheered as they watched their children, now young adults, returning home from a successful mission. Some of the parents rushed forward, some of my comrades ran to meet their parents. In the midst of it all, I spotted my brother. My heart skipped a beat as a smile crept onto my face.

'Naruto!' I yelled and ran towards him, embracing him in a big bear hug. He hugged me back, but it wasn't a strong hug like I'd normally get off of him. It was a half-hearted hug. I pulled away to see his face, a little grazed and rough, but sad.

'Naruto?' I said, tilting my head to the side, and resting my hands on his shoulders. 'Naruto are you okay?'

'Kasumi,' he mumbled.

I looked around to see the families. They all looked so happy. Naruto looked around too.

'Ino, we're going to sign for your Jōnin rank,'

'Kiba, we are so proud of you and Akamaru, we're signing for your Jōnin,'

All I heard were their parents, their families all agreeing to sign their Jōnin rank papers, for the next exams. And here we were, with no parents or guardian to sign for us. It saddened me, but was especially painful for my brother.

I put my arm around his shoulder and hugged him.

'It's okay, Naruto. We'll ask Iruka Sensei to sign for you, I promise,' I told him, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. He smiled weakly.

'Yeah, thanks Kasumi,' he smiled.

'Argh! Why do you always do this?! You're so embarrassing!'

We looked up to see Sakura, looking rather angry and embarrassed. Her parents were laughing together and smiling. They'd obviously done something to annoy her. She stormed off, with her parents at her heels.

'Sakura! Come on honey! Let's talk about this now,' her mother called after her.

Naruto and I headed back to the apartment. I noticed that Naruto was still a little down.

'Hey, why don't we head over to Ichiraku's, hey? My treat,' I laughed. A small smile made its way onto his face.

'Sounds good to me!' he smirked. We took a left down the street and stopped off at Ichiraku's.

'Whatcha gonna have Naruto?' I asked.

'I don't know,' he grinned. 'What are you having, Kasumi?'

'Hmmm, maybe pork or chicken ramen,' I grinned. We eventually ordered our food as well as a number of side dishes and tucked into our meal.

'So how'd the mission go?' I asked, after swallowing some menma.

'It was okay, but it sure was freaky with all those Akatsuki members ring reincarnated and all. It was like we'd never defeated them before. It was so weird,' he said, slurping.