Naruhina: Something New

Chapter 1: Black is the New Orange

The bells of the store clanged against the door as it shut behind him. Naruto bowed himself out of the store as the shop owner called out, "Don't forget that you've got your spare uniform available in a week, Naruto!"

"Got it! I'll pick it up then!" he replied.

He scratched at the collar of his neck as he walked towards the street.

"But, man, this is really itchy, though," Naruto muttered to himself. "I guess there's nothing I can do about it. It is brand new, after all."

He suddenly spotted his reflection on a storefront window and stopped to check out his new mission gear. He shifted his shoulders and rolled his arms. The fabric felt a little stiff, but he could still move freely.

Not bad, he thought, looking at his jacket. The all-black top really did look cool. Of course, he needed his trademark orange, too. But it didn't seem as flashy as his old gear because he kept the color limited just to the pants. He probably should have chosen a plainer color, but he couldn't leave out the orange! He grinned. He wouldn't be Naruto without it.

Still smirking at his reflection, he thought: Probably shouldn't say that out loud to others, especially to Sakura. She'd probably deck him and accuse him of being vain.

He wasn't, though, he was just glad to have a new look to match a new future he was looking forward to.

Naruto brought his attention back to his face then raked his hand through his hair—or what was left of it.

He frowned. This hairstyle, though, was going to take some time. The shorter haircut was just so different from what he was used to. He felt strange looking at the face staring back at him. It was still the same face, but there was something different. Something he couldn't completely explain to himself.

Suddenly, he smiled, as he recalled the conversation he'd had a few weeks ago with Shikamaru...

Three weeks ago at a village near Konoha

Naruto was breathing hard. He'd chased the villain through the woods and was finally able to knock him out. Quickly, before the man could recover, he wrapped him with the rope extracted from his backpack. That done, he left the man propped up and unconscious against the tree as he waited for his team to catch up with him.

"Nice job, Naruto!" Aoba panted as he finally caught up to him.

Naruto grinned back at Aoba. "Senpai! You guys are so slow!"

"Yeah, well you told us to leave it to you, so we did," retorted Aoba as he leaned down to make sure the villain wouldn't be able to escape. Now they just had to haul him back to the village that had requested their help.

"Proves to you how awesome I am!" Naruto said with a laugh.

He gazed into the horizon. "What happened to the others? Weren't they with you?"

Aoba stood up and squinted towards the direction Naruto was looking.

"They'll be here in a few minutes."

Naruto glanced back at the villain. He frowned. "I'm glad we finally caught our perp. Man, he was so hard to track. Almost lost him in that crowd of villagers."

"Yeah, but thank goodness you were able to chase him out of there without getting anybody else injured," Aoba said. "You've gotten faster turning on sage mode these days."

"Of course!" Naruto said, still waiting expectantly for Shikamaru and Chouji's arrival.

Sure enough, one of them strode into the clearing, taking his time.