"YATTA! I'M HOME!" a certain orange clad blond shouted as the group reached the village of Konoha, making the other three with him sweatdrop at his enthusiasm.

"Calm down brat, we've got important stuff to do before anything else," Jiraiya informed the whiskered child calmly before glancing at the blade at the blonds side, "be careful with that sword while we're away alright."

"Screw you ero-sennin, my sword is my partner and you aren't going to make me change my mind," the blue eyed genin stated firmly earning an exasperated sigh off the older ninja.

"Look brat, you won't let me analyse that damn blade so I can't say if it's safe or not," the white haired old man tried to reason, earning another glare off the blond.

"And I keep telling you it is," the near snarl that the orange clad boy made upon making his statement was not something that normally adorned his face, however it had quickly become rather common since the old pervert kept trying to get him to give up his new ally.

"Listen Naruto, you don't know as much as I do so I don't trust your judgement yet," the toad summoner stated seriously, earning yet another glare off the blond before he turned around and said a simple statement.

"Fuck you ero-sennin."

Silence reigned amongst the remainder of the group as they watched the blond walk away from them.

"Well Jiraiya, it looks like your own stubbornness has made your new student hate you," the busty woman stated with a smirk when Naruto had gotten out of earshot.

"Come on Tsunade-hime, you know as well as I do that you can't trust stuff like this without knowing the full picture and I'm certain that gaki isn't telling us everything, haven't you noticed the way he keeps looking around now?"

The other two in the group knew the white haired pervert was right, ever since he had gotten that sword Naruto had been focusing on area's with nothing in them, one time he even gained a look of absolute terror when there was absolutely nothing there.

So it was clear to them that there was definitely something wrong with him, however Tsunade was unconvinced that it was the sword that was causing the problem. During the war she had managed to revive a few people that died without too much damage caused to their body and one of them started displaying the same problems Naruto had started to display.

It was for this reason she believed he was suffering from a form of PTSD, however Jiraiya was convinced the sword was the problem. She could see where he was coming from, a blade like that being created from regular chakra was unheard of, meaning the chances were it was formed from the Kyūbi's chakra which could potentially weaken the seal and render Naruto's mind easy prey for the beast.

A theory that was further supported by the blonds refusal to allow the old shinobi access to it. The sheer protectiveness the blond displayed about his sword was quite possibly unhealthy, with him even going so far as to sleep with it, preventing the older ninja from studying it while he slept.

However she was far more convinced that it was PTSD, Shizune had stated that the chakra that created the blade was definitely Naruto's and unlike Jiraiya, she trusted her students judgement.

But the old pervert wouldn't be deterred.

"(sigh) Come on, let's get the meeting with the old farts over with," she eventually said before walking past the man with purpose, she may not have initially wanted to become Hokage but she at least wanted to get the meeting with the elders over sooner rather than later.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto couldn't stop himself from letting out a sigh of disappointment upon returning to his apartment. He had returned with the old man and Tsunade and his opinions of the duo had changed drastically since his temporary death.

Tsunade, the woman that he had once hated with a passion for her mocking of the Hokages had quickly become almost like a mother figure to him, though he chose to call her baa-chan due to her age. Then Jiraiya, a man he actually thought was pretty cool once you got past his apparent stupidity had quickly grown to be someone he hated, simply because he wouldn't leave the matter about his sword alone.

Honestly why couldn't the legendary shinobi just accept his judgement? That was the part that really pissed him off, that despite knowing about the blonds unconditional loyalty to Konoha he still refused to trust him on matters related to himself.

So it was with a tired sigh that the young boy proceeded to let a small smile adorn his face as he thought of something that always cheered him up, ramen.

He would've gone out to Ichiraku's however that annoying old man had pretty much stolen all his money and blew it all on women and drinks (that was yet another reason he had grown to hate the old bastard), so instead he simply settled with preparing some of the instant ramen he had stored away in his cupboards.

Then again, instant ramen annoyed him as well, they called it instant but it was anything but instant, taking a minute or two to boil the water and then another three for the noodles to actually be ready to eat. However it was all he had right now so he'd make do with it and just enjoy the noodles when he could.

So it was with barely contained glee that he awaited his favourite meal, all the while biding his time talking with his newest friend/sword.

XXX XXX XXX

Elsewhere in Konoha a young woman with long black hair, calculating but bored eyes and flawless features watched the meeting of the elders from within the very chamber they were talking.

She was wearing a set of clothes consisting of black hakama, a matching waist length kimono and a pair of okobo protecting her feet. At her waist was a wakizashi and a clipboard with several sheets of paper was being held in front of her while she took down several notes concerning the conversation she was overhearing.

While she took the notes, nothing seemed particularly important from her observations, well except for the whole fact that this medic was being appointed the position of Hokage. The chances were that this decision would probably result in Konoha restarting the Iryō nin program and therefore help minimise casualties amongst its ranks, which would in turn result in less work for her kind.

"I see, is that the end of your report Jiraiya?" Mitokado Homura, an old man with spiky grey hair, a thick beard that framed his jawline and a pair of glasses resting on the bridge of his nose asked the younger man.

"No, during our encounter with Orochimaru, Uzumaki Naruto died," instantly the shock on the faces of the two elders gave away just how serious a situation that was, "however Tsunade managed to revive him quickly enough."

The unseen observer quickly noted the annoyance that appeared on the faces of the two oldest (outside of her that is) at the apparently unnecessary information.

"If he is still alive then there is nothing to worry about," the other elder, an old woman with grey hair tied into a bun said seriously, earning a sigh off the spymaster.

"Actually, after he was revived, he… changed," the toad sennin's words caught the interest of the three oldest in the room, though none more than the observer, "somehow he managed to form a solid sword from chakra and beyond that, he's started looking at things when there's nothing there."

"I told you Jiraiya, he's just suffering from PTSD," the blonde sannin stated firmly, earning an exasperated sigh off the man.

"What makes you so sure? He's being far too protective of that sword of his don't you think?" the old man started to argue, however the observer was currently deep in thought.

"A sword formed from chakra that he is protective of? He temporarily died and has started looking at nothing as if something is there? Is it possible?" her thoughts were racing at a million miles a minute as she thought over the first situation in over fifty years that had actually incited her curiosity.

It didn't take long for the meeting to be adjourned with the decision that Tsunade would be declared Hokage before the entire village within three days.

However that didn't matter to the spirit form woman, she had seen all the Hokages take the mantle after all, seeing another was nothing special to her.

However the knowledge of Uzumaki Naruto's new situation was something that she really wanted to confirm, had the young boy really become a shinigami after mere minutes of dying? That was a mystery that she needed to solve, or her name wasn't Shutara Senjumaru.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto couldn't stop himself from feeling nervous as he walked through the streets of Konoha and towards the Hokage tower, sure he knew that he had just been summoned for the purpose of getting paid for the mission he had just completed, which meant he would be able to have some Ichiraku's later on, however that wasn't what worried him.

No, what worried him was the figure that was following him. He once again recognised the strangers clothing as being the same as his own spirit forms, which meant that this person was one of those people that guided others to the afterlife… so why was she following him?

It scared him to think that this apparently invisible woman could potentially be attempting to return him to the world of the dead, then again why would she be attempting that when the other black clad sword wielder simply ignored him? Or did this particular one have a special interest in him?

"No, bad Naruto, you've been hanging around ero-sennin too much," the whiskered blond immediately told himself.

"But it may be true, you are an amazing person after all Shukun," came the calming voice of his partner in his mind, earning a small smile off the blue eyed genin in the process.

"Maybe but I've got to prepare for the worst," the young sword could do little more than agree with his statement, he had been raised as a ninja after all and they were taught to prepare for the worst.

Time passed rather slowly for the blond as he kept his mind on his stalker, not that they were trying to hide their presence, especially if the small smile that adorned her face whenever he faced her was anything to talk about, hell it was almost as if she was happy that he knew she was there.

He tried his hardest to ignore her presence as he reached the Hokage's tower and received his payment for the mission, which made his smile grow infectious upon seeing that it was officially recorded as him completing an A-rank mission, receiving the appropriate payment in the process (which he had to admit was a surprisingly large figure).

However as soon as he left the tower he decided it was about time to confront his new tail. He knew that he wouldn't be able to confront them amongst others, they would probably believe him to be insane if he started talking to thin air after all. To make matters even worse, even if it turned out that this person was violent, there was no one he knew of in Konoha that could help him, meaning he would simply have to hope that they were weaker than him (something he believed was probably unlikely).

However there was one thing Uzumaki Naruto was not and that was a coward, so it was with a steeled resolve that he proceeded to walk out of the village and towards the training fields, at least there he wouldn't have to worry about enclosed spaces or collateral damage.

It didn't take long for him to start his walk towards a vacant training ground, once again looking behind him and once again seeing the strange dark haired woman following him, this time with a small chuckle escaping her lips while she wrote on a clipboard she had pulled out of nowhere.

Now that action alone made the blond shiver in slight fear, why was this woman laughing while writing on a clipboard? Then again the first question would have to be, who the hell was she in the first place?

Upon finally reaching a vacant training ground he turned to face the strange woman only to be beaten to the punch as she opened her mouth and started talking in a surprisingly formal yet simultaneously excited manner.

"Uzumaki Naruto, I am Shutara Senjumaru, would you be so kind as to answer a few questions?" instantly the blond was caught off guard by her apparent openness at this moment in time and in the end all he could manage was a blank nod of acceptance, "good, now is it true that you temporarily died on your last mission?"

"W-what does that matter to you?!" the whiskered child asked defensively, earning a small smile off the strange woman.

"So you did, oh and please, don't try to hide anything or lie, all that will do is make me make possibly incorrect observations which would create more chance for error in my current line of research," the strange woman said calmly as she finished taking her newest note.

"Eh?" was all that could escape the genin's lips at the woman's statement, earning a small chuckle off her.

"Basically, you could ruin my fun," the woman calling herself Senjumaru explained in much simpler terms for the now dumbstruck teen, "next question, during your temporary death state did you successfully commune with your Zanpakutō?"

"Huh? What's a sand pack tow?" the spiky haired youth asked the strange woman who promptly proceeded to slap her head in a manner that indicated she had forgotten something obvious.

"My apologies, Zanpakutō is the term given to the sword of a person's soul," the young looking woman explained, earning another shocked expression off the blond as he tried to process this strangers words.

To think that his newest teammate was known as a Zanpakutō, the mere idea was actually rather strange in his mind, then again he wasn't exactly used to the goings on of the afterlife yet so that was to be expected. However this strange woman seemed to be explaining more to him than he was answering her questions, quite possibly because knowledge of what she was asking about was necessary but then again, it could've just been that she liked explaining things like Sakura or Iruka.

"Y-yes," he managed to stutter out after remembering what the woman had told him before about trying to hide things or lie.

"Then I assume you pulled on your Reiryoku? I mean, the power associated with your Zanpakutō," Senjumaru asked him after she finished writing on her clipboard.

"Y-yeah," once again the blond really didn't know what to do, on one hand he really shouldn't be giving out information like this so willingly however this strange woman was probably his best bet at actually getting some answers about the events surrounding his temporary death.

"Can you please give me a demonstration?" the thoroughly confused blond quickly let a bit of his new power leak out of his body, earning a happy smile off the note taking woman, "good, good, now can you please explain to me the circumstance surrounding your temporary death?"

"W-why the hell do you want to know that?" the now properly scared boy asked defensively earning a playful smile off Senjumaru.

"It's simple really, learning to commune with your Zanpakutō and draw on your Reiryoku normally takes years' worth of training and yet, you managed to do both quick enough for you to be revived, I want to know the circumstance surrounding your death to see if it's possible to replicate the effects," most of the explanation went right over the academically challenged blonds head however he understood enough to get the basic gist of it, he was awesome and she wanted to see if it was possible to make others as awesome as him.

It didn't take long for the blond to decide that telling the woman probably wouldn't hurt anyone, the simple fact that she was literally invisible to the rest of the populace was proof that they wouldn't be capable of defending against her even if she decided to attack one day.

So it was with a strained face that he told her of the battle of the sannin, of his successful use of the Rasengan and his temporary death, of his desperation to protect Tsunade and his meeting with his Zanpakutō.

"Please wait a few minutes, did you say 'her'?" the dark haired questioner asked him with surprise clear on her face.

"Y-yeah, is that a problem?!" once again the blond got defensive only for the clipboard wielder to write more on the object.

"No, it is just unusual, out of all the shinigami I've met they've always had Zanpakutō that were either the same gender as themselves or completely genderless," she explained, earning several blinks off the significantly younger blond.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN SHINIGAMI!" the sudden increase in volume caused many animals to scatter from their perches in the woods while Senjumaru simply stared at him before slapping her head again.

"I forgot to mention that those who manifest their Zanpakutō are referred to as Shinigami didn't I?" she asked rhetorically, earning a curt nod off the young boy, "sorry?"

The look on her face almost made him laugh as it reminded him of himself when he had pulled a prank that went a little too far, he had been genuinely sorry but at the same time acknowledged that they probably wouldn't believe him.

"For that, I want you to answer some of my questions," Naruto decided to try and bring the situation into his favour only to be surprised when the (apparently) young woman gave him a firm nod of acceptance.

"That is appropriate given that I came here to ask you questions," she acknowledged, "so what is your first question?"

"What do you know about me?" Naruto knew that it was a long shot but given this woman's ability to spy on people without them even knowing she was ever there meant she may have at least discovered who his parents were.

"You are Uzumaki Naruto, the only child of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, the godson of Jiraiya," she would've continued if it wasn't for the blond interrupting her.

"W-wait a minute, did you just say I'm the son of the Yondaime and that that stupid old pervert is my godfather?!" the whiskered blond asked in complete shock at the information he received.

"That is correct," instantly the young boys world had been turned upside down, not only had he found out who his parents were but also that one of them was actually a freaking Hokage! "back onto my knowledge of you, you are the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no kitsune and feared by the general populace of this village for that very reason. You possess an overabundance of chakra that you were never taught finer control of until it was too late, preventing you from performing any delicate jutsu with it, you also possessed a desire for attention which interfered with your tutelage and resulted in you taking on the mantle of your years 'dobe'. You have completed seven D-rank missions, one B-rank and two A-ranks… that is all the information I have on you outside of your love for ramen."

Naruto had to admit, even with the knowledge that this stranger had given him, her objective analysis of his life was rather harsh as far as he could tell but then again, he supposed she wasn't simply saying 'you suck' and was actually giving what she believed to be the reasons for his lack of skill.

"Do you have any more questions?" the dark eyed woman asked him calmly, earning a thoughtful expression off the significantly younger of the duo.

"Oh yeah, I saw one of you people sending a ninja to the afterlife once… does that big door always appear for a shinobi?" his heart started to beat rapidly as he ask his question, partially fearing the answer he would receive.

"More often than not, though it does depend primarily on what they did in life," the clipboard carrying shinigami stated bluntly, "if they ever killed anyone then they would automatically be sent to hell."

Instantly the blond stared in shock, so simply killing someone was enough to send a person to hell, that wasn't something that anyone ever mentioned, sure they didn't know about it but couldn't someone of at least come up with the possibility that killing was a one way ticket to hell?

"Honestly the only thing that shinigami is allowed to kill are hollows," she informed him calmly, snapping him out of his stupor once again.

"Huh? What's a hollow?" the sheer confusion present on the young shinobi's face made the woman laugh nervously at the fact she had forgotten to really explain anything to this child.

"An evil spirit that devours pluses, the term we give to a soul that hasn't become a shinigami or hollow," the dark haired woman stated, earning a blank stare off the blond.

"Did you just say that normal souls can turn into hollows?" he asked her blankly, honestly he had grown tired of the constant surprises and was beginning to find it difficult to muster any sort of emotion anymore.

"That is correct," Naruto certainly had to admit that this woman was rather... unusual from what he had seen of her so far, then again he hadn't actually met any shinigami until she had confronted him today, "is that all you wish to ask?"

"N-no, not right now anyway," the young blond proceeded to respond as calmly as he could.

"Well, then, may I continue to ask you a few more questions?" earning a blank nod in response, the strange shinigami opened her mouth once more, "so during your meeting with your Zanpakutō, did you hear its name?"

"No," he answered, honestly he was really annoyed that he couldn't hear her name, it meant that he couldn't call her by it and instead had to refer to her as soul sword or something similar.

"Well that's the first thing about you that bears some semblance of normality," the dark haired woman stated bluntly, making the spiky haired youth blink in surprise.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked with a hint of confusion in his tone.

"Oh, it's just that it's exceedingly rare for someone to learn the name of their Zanpakutō right off the bat, you normally have to be a competent shinigami before you can synchronize with your Zanpakutō to that extent," Senjumaru informed him calmly, making the young boy nod dumbly as he tried to understand exactly what she meant even if he did manage to get the basic gist of what she was saying, "now, how often do you speak with your Zanpakutō?"

"Huh? Why do you want to know that?" the whiskered blond asked her as he tried to understand what she was after.

"I just want to know how freely you can commune with your sword right now," the shinigami stated calmly, making the blond blink in slight surprise.

"Uh, why wouldn't I be able to talk to her freely?" once again he was greeted by the sight of the young looking woman's eyes widen in surprise before she jotted more notes down on her clipboard.

"Interesting, unable to hear his Zanpakutō's name while being capable of freely communicating with it… you really are an unusual shinigami Uzumaki Naruto," she muttered, barely loud enough for the blond to hear her before she put her clipboard away and looked him in the eyes, "okay then Uzumaki Naruto, thank you for being so cooperative, I'll leave you to carry on with your day for now."

"Huh? W-wait! What are you going to do now?" the blue eyed genin asked her as he tried to understand exactly what this person was thinking.

"I'm simply going to summarize the information I have collected from you before handing it over to Yamamoto-sama," she stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Huh? Who's Yamamoto?" the blond asked, earning a soft look from the dark haired shinigami.

"A true demon of the blade, a merciless monster that will do anything to destroy hollows, the first and strongest shinigami," she stated seriously, "he is not someone you would get along with."

With that said, the strange woman simply turned away from him before calmly walking away, leaving the mentally exhausted boy alone in the training ground.

"Shukun?" came a comforting voice from the back of his mind, earning a soft smile off the tired blond.

"Yeah?" he responded tiredly, only to feel the concern his sword possessed flow into him.

"Are you alright?" she asked him nervously as she too tried to take in all the information that they had learned from that Senjumaru woman.

"I don't know… I don't know."