"Yo!"
"Naruto-kun!" Lee screamed, as opposed to Neji's and Tenten's quiet surprise.
"Ohh, Naruto! You're finally back from training! Yosh, you look much stronger indeed! How youthful!" The team's leader, Guy, had a jovial smile, immediately spotting the young man's positioning and the seemingly casual stance that, however, presented no weaknesses.
"My God, you've changed…!" Tenten, the least familiar of the foursome, exclaimed to herself, checking out how handsome the younger colleague had matured since their last encounter, back when Lee was still hospitalized after the Chunin Exams, even before the rescue mission for Sasuke back then.
"Thanks…" A cheeky grin spread across his face, already familiar with the look of surprise on his old friends, especially those of the female variety.
"So, Hokage-sama, about our mission?" Guy asked the older woman (though she seemed much younger than him at the moment). Despite his team, and admittedly himself, wanting to get reacquainted with the young man, a call from the Hokage at this hour probably meant some urgent mission, so he plowed through.
"I'm waiting for a couple more people to debrief everyone, so wait for a moment." Tsunade gestured to the young man, implicitly telling them they could talk a bit with Naruto.
"Naruto." Neji walked past his teammates, stopping right in front of his past Chunin Finals adversary and looking him directly in the eyes.
Naruto felt no animosity and knew for a fact that Neji wasn't holding any kind of hard feelings about their match and, more importantly, their talk back then. In fact, it was clear even back when they went out of the village going after Sasuke, shortly after the invasion. Much like himself, Neji seemed to have matured quite a lot; there was this calm, reassuring feeling coming off of him.
"It's good to have you back…" The pale-eyed shinobi extended his hand for a handshake, which was promptly returned.
"Yeah, it's good to see you too." A smirk grew on Naruto's face, together with a collected smile on the corner of Neji's own.
"Hic… This is so beautiful…" Guy and Lee said at the same time, letting some tears fall, to the equal parts amusement and exasperation of their comrades.
"Anyway… You sure look different. What have you been drinking all this time, Naruto?" Tenten jokingly said after Neji stepped back, everyone convening in a circle to talk with the jinchuuriki.
"Aw, do you mean I look handsome? Thanks a lot, Tenten, you're not looking bad yourself…" His answer was accompanied with a grin and a wink.
Everyone but the man in the shadows was taken aback by Naruto's flirting, not used to the idea of a smooth-talker Naruto. Even Tsunade was taken aback, a single eyebrow raised. Thoughts of how Naruto was being influenced by her old teammate sped through her mind.
'Well, unlike Jiraiya, though, he's pretty talented, and more than handsome enough to pull it off…' Her thinking was confirmed by the slightly flustered kunoichi, who suddenly found something very interesting on the floor and didn't immediately answer.
Naruto didn't mind, though. He just laughed good-naturedly, brushing his hair back and turning to the trio of men who were observing him even more closely than before. Lee was muttering 'how hip!' under his breath, while Guy was saying 'as expected of my rival's student'. Only Neji was composed enough to hold a conversation, despite still feeling surprised inside, so Naruto began to chat about what they had been up to these past years.
"Excuse me, Hokage-sama…" Kakashi's voice broke into their conversation from the windowsill.
A huge grin split Naruto's face as he turned to his old sensei. There, crouching with an open book in his hand, the silver-haired Jonin was also smiling relaxedly at his old genin, whom he hadn't seen or heard of in years. Anyone who could say they knew Kakashi knew just how much of a family he saw his teammates as. And for his first, and so far only, genin team… They were much closer to his heart than anyone ever was, even his own teammates from before.
"Kakashi-sensei!"/"Naruto…!"
They both greeted at the same time, Kakashi hopping down from the window as Naruto came up to him. He placed a hand on his head, messing his hair a little with his usual eye smile. "You've grown a lot, Naruto."
"Yep! And I'm strong as hell now; you'll see…" Naruto was smiling so much today, he might feel his facial muscles hurt later.
At the same time, Sakura got inside the room through the door after a light knock. Seeing her sensei and teammate together made her smile, despite the memory of the missing piece to that picture. Having met Naruto earlier that day already, she didn't fuss over Naruto again but quietly stepped up to greet her sensei, whom she hadn't seen in a while.
"Kakashi-sensei." She greeted, standing beside Naruto.
"Oh, what a fine young man and woman my little genin have become…" Kakashi said to himself, patting their shoulders.
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