A Thousand Years

The End

Three years passed in the blink of an eye and Konoha hadn't changed much.

Naruto groaned as his alarm clock rang loudly next to his ear. He gathered up the energy to roll over and smacked the off button. Rubbing his eyes tiredly, he propped himself up and hopped out from under the sheets, groggily putting his clothes on, all the while trying not to trip over the numerous objects strewn about the floor.

In five minutes, Naruto had managed to fully wake up and get ready for the day. With everything ready to go, he strapped his weapons pouch to his leg and stuffed a slice of toast into his mouth. He dashed for the front door but stopped at a small table a few feet away. Quickly kneeling in front of the table, he pressed his hands together and bowed to the two pictures resting in front of him.

"Mom, Dad, I'm going now." He said to them as he did every morning. He scooted a bit too the right and bowed again. This time, there was no picture, instead, there was an old, full kunai that had been placed on a miniature round cushion. "I'm going now, sensei." After saying his quick goodbyes, he slipped his shoes on and sped out of the apartment.

"Hey guys!" Naruto waved as he burst through the door of the Hokage's office.

"You're late." An irritated Tsunade frowned at the boy. Hinata and Sakura gestured for him to stand next to them. "As I was saying, the three of you will be going to scout out a section of the forest. There's been a rumor going on among the younger kids that involves that part of the forest and apparently some of them have been going in and getting lost. All you need to do is patrol that area for a few hours and make sure no children are entering the forest." She handed Sakura a file folder. "I'm sure I can trust you all with this."

"Graaaannnny, why do we have to go on such a boring mission?" Naruto complained.

"Because everyone else is already on a mission and you three were the only ones suited for the job." Tsunade glared. "If you don't want this one, the academy could always use a few extra teachers..."

"NO! We'll go scout the forest!" Naruto nodded his head vigorously and quickly dragged Hinata and Sakura out of the office.

Shizune laughed.

"That last mission really scared him, didn't it?" She smiled.

"Certainly taught him a lesson." Tsunade smirked triumphantly. She slid open the top drawer of her desk and put a few papers away, being careful not to place any on top of the small book that lay in the corner. The book seemed quite old; it was a childrens' book with a cartoon version of the first Hokage on the cover. Though faded and fragile, it was in relatively good condition.

"Isn't it weird that we've been put on the same mission?" Naruto asked as the trio headed towards the targeted section of the forest.

"I guess Tsunade-sama really didn't have any other choice, why else would she make a team like this?"

Sakura was right, putting two kunoichi on the same team was nearly unheard of.

"It's just for this mission, anyways. Everyone else should be back soon." She added. The two nodded in agreement.

"We should hurry, Tsunade-sama said the previous scouts are waiting for us." Hinata reminded softly.

A few minutes later, the trio arrived at the section of the forest where they were greeted by a boy about the same age as them.

"Oh, Sakura-san. Are you on the next shift?" The boy asked, surprised.

Sakura nodded.

"Mmhm. Souichi, you know Naruto. Naruto, this is Souichi, he's on Team 7 with Sasuke and I."