Chapter 15

Since I knew that the security of the village at the border would be like usual, I didn't even try and sneak in. I am in a situation where if I alerted any ninja and made them doubt me, I would be dead. I shouldn't let anyone know that I can fight a chunin level ninja.

The only thing I am betting on to enter the village safely is the fact that I don't have chakra and I am not a ninja. This should decrease the suspicions of me being a spy.

So, I walked along the path which is used by merchants to enter the village. It isn't any hidden route or something. You can find it at all four directions and they meet at a single entrance to the village.

Usually, if you are a merchant or a traveller, they will let you go till the entrance of the village while constantly following you. That's exactly what happened.

As I walked along the path in the woods, I was being followed by two ninjas, who looked like they were experienced enough, as I couldn't even hear their footsteps or the rattling of the tree.

As I made my way to the entrance of the village, I saw the huge doors of the village open and near the entrance was a small desk room kind of thing.

When I approached them, a man with a single strip of bandage across his nose and spiky black hair, said "Stop, state your name and your purpose of entering the village."

This managed to grab the attention of another man sitting beside him. He had black hair, with some hair covering one eye. They both had konoha headband.

I walked to them and showed them my Uchiha member plate and said "I am Hatsuo Uchiha. I would like to go home."

They were shocked to see the Uchiha nameplate and hear my name. The guy with the bandage said "So, you are still alive. Everyone thought you died in the Uchiha massacre. How did you even leave the village? I don't see your name in this log book."

I replied "It doesn't matter how I survived or how I escaped. I would like to enter the village. Now, let me pass."

The guy with the bandage was pissed. He was about to get up, when the guy beside him stopped him and said "Kotetsu, let me handle this."

He then turned to me and said "Look here Hatsuo, you left the village without permission. That makes you a deserter and we have all the rights to kill you. So, shall we start this again, but without the rude tone."

"Yeah Izumo is right. You better behave properly if you don't want your head cut off." the guy with the bandage named Kotetsu said.

I smiled and said "That applies to ninjas and civilians who are in an important position in the village. I am just a normal civilian without any chakra. So, if I leave the village without permission and return back, I can leave after questioning and a few days of observation."

Kotetsu's smile froze when he heard that. Izumo also had a face of realisation before he sighed and said "Let me inform the Hokage about this, as although you are a civilian, your identity is not ordinary."

I also sensed the three ninjas that were following me, leave. Two of them left towards the guard tower, but one left in some random direction. I assume Danzo is going to know about my presence. That's why I had to put up this play of an arrogant boy.

Danzo is a coward and a cunning man. He would love to get rid of a potential threat. The only reason I was left untouched might be because I have someone backing me up without my knowledge.

This is the only theory I bet my life on and dared to return to the village. Also, I displayed my character to be the same childish and impulsive kid from before. That will make him believe that I am still a kid and he isn't threatened by my presence.

I waited there for a while, with both the root ninja returning and spying on me and the ninja who was guarding the gate, Izumo.

But following him were two other people whom I recognised. One was a blonde kid with spiky hair and another was a woman with long pink hair.

They came running towards me and both jumped at me for a hug. Naruto said "I knew you didn't die. I knew that they were just rumours." and he had tears in his eyes.

Sakura also had slight tears in her eyes and said "I didn't believe them too. I was waiting for you." I patted their back and said "Sorry for taking so long."

After a while, Naruto and Sakura separated from me and Naruto said in a disappointed tone "I thought you would be there for my graduation."

"Yeah, we missed you." Sakura added and I said "Well, I didn't even know how these three years passed. I wasn't aware of the time and I had a lot of things going on."

Then Izumo said "Sorry to interrupt your reunion, but the Hokage has allowed you to enter the village, but you will be under surveillance for a week and you shouldn't leave the village without informing us in the future."

I nodded and Izumo then returned to his usual spot. Naruto then looked at me and said "Hatsuo, look at this. I have also become a ninja. This is my first step to becoming the future Hokage."

"I would like to talk more, but I need new clothes and food." I said and that's when Naruto looked at my clothes and started laughing. "What's with those clothes? They are too shabby."

"Yeah, so my dearest friend Naruto. Why don't you lend me money. I promise to pay you back later." I said as I placed my hand on his shoulder.

"But, I don't have money." he said, but he is a bad liar. I looked at him and said "Come on Naruto, can't you help out your best friend who has returned to the village after three years. I promise to pay it back."

"You promise me that you will pay me back in a month." he said, finally giving up and pulling out his toad purse.

I immediately snatched it and said "Thank you Naruto. You are the best." and ran away with the cash while Sakura just stood there and chuckled before following Naruto, who was chasing me.

Then, all three of us went to many different clothing stores and luckily, many people forgot about me and went back to their busy lives. The only reason they still remembered me is because I always picked flights with the genin of the village to train.

We all roamed around for a while and brought thirteen pairs of clothes. Since I already had 50,000 ryo left after buying the ink, I made sure not to spend that money. As for my food while staying in the cave, Tagori mentioned that Anko had gifted her that rice and miso paste, which I adjusted for three years.

But Naruto still had to contribute half of his savings, making his fat toad purse little slim. While me and Sakura were happy, Naruto was aad when he looked at his purse.

"Come on Naruto. I will pay you back later." I said and Sakura said "Let's celebrate your return. Let me treat you to dinner tonight." as it was slowly turning dark.

I then asked "How did you get to know I arrived at the village?" and Sakura replied "We just finished our mission and went to Hokage's office to submit our mission report. That's when I heard that guard talk to himself about you.

We asked him and he told us that you were near the gate. So, we followed him to you." Naruto added "That was the first time reporting our mission was actually useful."

"Don't say that Naruto. It's important for a ninja to report back to the Hokage office and record all the things that happened in the mission." Sakura lectured Naruto, who shouted back "What should we report in a mission to find a missing purse or a mission where we clean the garden?"

"Even I hate these missions, but we are still genin and only graduated from the academy six months ago." Sakura said and although Naruto was the only one complaining out loud, she also didn't like the missions.

I excused myself for five minutes to return back to my house. When I arrived at the house, it was completely dirty and looked how an abandoned house should look.

I unlocked the door and the dust rose from the door and the floor. I coughed and looked around at the table, cupboard and other things, which were now completely covered with dust.

I placed my clothes inside a cupboard and returned to Sakura and Naruto, who went ahead and invited others.

When I arrived there, Sakura caught Naruto's jacket and shook him while yelling at him. When I got closer, I heard her say "Why did you call them? I was going to be alone with Hatsuo. You even went and called that pig Ino."

Naruto said with a confused face "I thought they would also like to meet Hatsuo." and Sakura hissed at Naruto before letting him go when she noticed me.

Ino, who was behind Sakura, came running to me and said "Why didn't you come and meet me when you came back to the village?" followed by Hinata and the rest.

Shikamaru just stood there with his hands behind his head and just gave me a smile. After our reunion, Naruto announced "Let's go everyone. Sakura promised to treat us to dinner." and Sakura immediately glared at Naruto while Ino and Akari, the girl with blonde hair, turned to Sakura with a wide grin on their face.

"Oh did she now. I guess we can't disappoint Sakura." Ino said and Akari joined in and said "Yes yes, we can't deny her good will."

Sakura looked at her purse and was already imagining it being empty. She glared at Naruto and said in a low tone "You are going to regret doing this."

Kiba and Choji were laughing while Hinata chuckled. Shikamaru just smiled at Sakura. We then went to Ichiraku ramen and I heard Ayame's voice from behind the counter say "Everyone are here together. Any special ocassion?"

I then entered the stall and she looked at me as I waved at her. "So you are back huh. That explains why all came here together. So brat, do you have money to pay back the money you owe me?"

"I don't have money now. I plan on working here to pay that money." I said and Teuchi also greeted me "Hatsuo, you are back. So, how was your little journey?"

"It's better if we don't talk about it." I said and we all ordered food. We all had a good time, catching up with everything that happened after I left.

Akari didn't become a ninja and joined a technical division that studies science and since Akair was interested in stars from childhood, she joined the astrology division.

The teams were as usual and I then asked Sakura out of curiosity "Who is the third member of your team?" and she replied "You should know him. He is Uchiha Sasuke, the only other survivor of the Uchiha massacre. Oh, you don't know about that do you, a man named Uchiha Itachi killed everyone from his clan the day you left the village. You were lucky you left before that happened."

"Sakura" Ino said, signalling her to stop, as I might feel bad hearing about Uchiha massacre. I said "It's ok Ino. They actually never treated me as an Uchiha, so I don't care about their death." but said in my head 'I should visit Mikoto's grave. Sasuke should have atleast built one.'

We then went our separate ways and I returned to my house and slept after dusting my bedroom. I woke up late the next day and immediately went to my trusted blacksmith.

He was happy to see his only customer back and asked "So you didn't die brat. Now, what do you want?"

I replied "I need the heaviest weights you can make. As for money, I will need a loan for that."

He wanted to refuse, but since I knew him for long, he asked "Fine, but this will be the only time I will do this. Don't try to do this in the future. Now, how heavy are you talking about?"

I replied "More than 500 kgs if possible."