fated (Various! Naruto x Reader)

don't worry, you won't be lonely

The walk to the Hokage's office had been a light one. Villagers would stop the three of you, gawking at a certain orange clad ninja. Naruto would become flustered over their compliments of how different he looks, taller and somehow more serious; Sakura did her best to reassure them that the young man only physically changed and that everything else about him remained the same.

You recalled her smacking the life out of him earlier when Konohamaru had suddenly showed him his sexy jutsu and a sweat formed at the side of your face.

That was a pretty good jutsu, though.

"So? How does it feel to be back?" Tsunade asked when the three of you arrived at her office.

Naruto gave her a thumbs-up, and she had averted her gaze to the other Sannin in the room, but even he simply gave her a thumbs-up too.

Your eyes lingered on Jiraiya'a figure, narrowing your eyes at how much Naruto managed to take after him. There was definitely a more serious aura that Naruto now emitted, though the cheeky tendencies still remained. The older man noticed your stare on him and gave you a wink, to which you pretended to vomit at.

Shizune and Sakura caught onto your little act and had tried to stifle in their laughter. Meanwhile, Jiraiya only rolled his eyes playfully.

"Well, then I suppose I'll have to see how much you've improved." The Hokage smiled and you noticed the glint in her eyes. "This goes for you too, Sakura. There's someone I'd like you to meet and battle, to assess the improvements in these two years."

On perfect timing, Shikamaru walked into the room, with Temari trailing right after.

"Shikamaru?!" Naruto hurried to his old friend. "You're the one I'm supposed to battle?!"

"Naruto?" Shikamaru looked taken aback at the presence of the one he hadn't seen in so long. "Oh, you're back aren't you? Also, I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm here to tell Hokage-sama that the Suna Shinobi will be heading back to their village now."

"You're going off, already?" You turned to your same aged friend. "That's... disappointing."

Temari nodded her head, turning her attention towards the oldest lady in the room. "I have finished my work here for the preparation of the Chuunin exams. I need to go back to Suna to take care of some other stuff."

"Right." Tsunade nodded her head approvingly. "I hope you had a great stay here."

"I did." She replied, side eyeing Shikamaru at the same time. You snickered at the sight, to which she only rolled her eyes at. "It would have been better at the end too if (Y/N) hadn't run off to go welcome Naruto. I imagined she must have been very excited for his arrival that she simply abandoned her duties."

You glared at Temari, crossing your arms at the accusation. "You know that's actually the opposite of what happened."

Temari snickered before making her exit. She waved you a goodbye before subtly whispering in your ears.

"Not so fun when it happens to you now, does it?"

"Say hi to Kankurou and Gaara-I mean, Kazekage-sama for me!"

"Kazekage?!" Naruto suddenly appeared beside you. "Gaara's the Kazekage now?!"

"Naruto, calm down." Tsunade sighed as she watched the noisy scene unfold before her. Shikamaru has quickly pulled Temari out of the room, knowing that answering whatever questions Naruto had will probably take the whole day. The young woman waved you another goodbye and the rest of you concentrated on what Tsunade said next. "I want you to meet the person that you're going to battle."