Naruto rushes out of the classroom to hurry home. "See you later, Kiba and Shino! You too, Hinata!"

He runs out the gates of Konoha High and sprints back home in record time.

"I'm home!" Naruto exclaims as he opens the door. He peaks around the corner to see his dad chatting with a patient, so he bounds up the stairs to find Sasuke.

He spots Sasuke sitting at the table snacking on a tomato. He's wearing Naruto's old hoodie and a pair of sweatpants. Seeing Sasuke in all black reminds him of last night and all of his questions come surging back to the front of his mind.

Sasuke looks up from his tomato, "Oh, you're back."

Naruto grins and pulls the seat across from him out. "Yeah, I wanted to ask you a lot of stuff!"

"Hn." Sasuke doesn't say anything else, so Naruto takes it as a confirmation.

"Okay, so first, I want to know how long I'm gonna have this power. Does it just slowly go away, or do you take it back?"

Sasuke frowns a little and seems to glance forlornly at his tomato before setting it down on the plate in front of him. He looks up and Naruto thinks that maybe he imagined that last part, but–

"First, I'll explain from the beginning. I am a Shinigami and we are the beings tasked with maintaining–"

Naruto holds up his hands and makes rapid cutting-off motions, "Wait, I already heard this spiel from my dad. He was a Shinigami before, he explained all of this to me last night."

Sasuke furrows one of his eyebrow at Naruto, "What? Your father was a Shinigami?" He makes a confused face and Naruto thinks he's processing information, but he just looks kind of sulky. It's kind of funny because so far, especially when Sasuke first showed up, he spoke like reading lines from a play. But since this morning, Naruto thinks he's been able to see a more genuine side to him.

"Anyway, he told me about Hollows and what you guys do mostly. I just want to know what I'm supposed to do now. Can I help spirits too? Because I, I think it would be great to be able to help them cross over and stuff." Naruto stares at Sasuke and hopes he can channel his eagerness to help through his stare. Because he's helped out in the clinic before, and unfortunately, they can't always save everyone. But if he can help them pass on in this way….

Sasuke looks kind of surprised, but Naruto doesn't really understand why. A long silence stretches between them and Naruto fidgets a little.

Sasuke steeples his fingers in front of his face and broods. "You can. I- I mean, I don't know. What I did last night probably goes against the laws of Soul Society. I don't think I can take the power back even if I wanted to. As of now, I can't complete my mission, so if you say you want to help, then that would mean exterminating Hollows. However–"

Naruto beams, "Oh, really? I thought you'd say no for sure! That's so cool Sasuke! Teach me how to fight then! I know a few moves because I've gotten into fights before, but–"

"I'm not finished." Sasuke's eyes harden and something unreadable flits across his gaze. "Exterminating Hollows is dangerous, and I can't guarantee your safety. You're going to have to train hard before I let you fight anything. This isn't some game and I don't want you doing this out of curiosity. If you are careless, you'll die."

Naruto grins right back, "Got it! When do we get started?" He doesn't say any more than that because he has a feeling Sasuke's not the type of person to be swayed by words. Naruto needs to show he means it by hisactions.

Sasuke nods, seemingly satisfied for the moment. "I have an errand to run first, but we can get started after I come back." He picks his tomato up from the plate and resumes eating like he and Naruto didn't just have a really important conversation.

"An errand? Can I come too?" Naruto's mind whirls for a moment as he tries to remember if he has the spare time to be running around after Sasuke when he needs to study for finals, but he's really excited right now so he wouldn't be able to focus either way. "I mean, you might get lost and stuff since it's your first time in town? Or have you visited Konoha before?"

Sasuke shakes his head as he finishes off his tomato. "This is my first time in the Material World."

Naruto's eyes widen eagerly, "Really! That's so great! I'll show you all my favorite places around town! Like, Ichiraku, and cheap clothing stores and-"

Sasuke rolls his eyes in annoyance, "Fine. We need to patrol anyway." He gets up and moves to rinse his plate off.

"Wait! I can wash it for you! You're the guest in the house." Naruto reaches for the plate.

Unfortunately, Sasuke's reflexes are impressively fast and Naruto's fingers grasp thin air as Sasuke jerks the plate up out of his reach. "No, I don't need your help! I'm being provided for right now, so I might as well do what I can." Sasuke hisses like a particularly miffed housecat.

Naruto whines childishly, "But Sasuke, I promised I'd help you out in any way I could! You have to let me do this for you!" He attempts another stealthy swipe for the plate, but Sasuke's eyes catch the movement; he ducks away just in time.

Sasuke's eyebrow twitches in irritation, "No! I refuse to rely on you for everything. I'm not useless. You idiot, I don't need your help with this!"

"But, if it's something so simple I can definitely do it for you! You said this was your first time in the- the Material World, right?"

"That– that doesn't mean I haven't ever washed dishes before! In fact, when I first joined the 13th all I did was dishes and laundry!" Sasuke blurts as he continues to evade Naruto.

Naruto pauses. Sasuke seems to process what he just admitted, and he colors similarly to the tomato he devoured minutes ago.

Sasuke shoves the plate at Naruto in defeat. "Fine, I'll let you do it this time." He huffs softly and leans against the counter.

Naruto blinks as he processes this new information. "So, Shinigami do normal things like chores too?" He smirks as he waves the plate at Sasuke for some more satisfaction before drying and stacking it with the rest of the plates.

Sasuke glares, "What did you think? All of us were just spirits to begin with, and we live similarly to you humans when we aren't carrying out specific duties." He tilts his head toward the stairs and starts to go down. Naruto quickly follows him, delightedly realizing Sasuke's letting Naruto accompany him on the errand.

Although, Naruto feels a little disappointed that Sasuke has regained his composure. It's pretty fun to rile him up. "So, what's the 13th? Is it some group or something? Are there lots of Shinigami?"

Sasuke nods. "Yes, the 13th refers to the 13th Division. We belong to an organization known as Gotei 13. It is composed of 13 imperial guard divisions, and each is led by a captain and supported by a lieutenant. From there on, each division includes seated officers who hold ranks starting from 3rd to 20th. The size of every division varies; however, on average each includes approximately 200 Shinigami, with the Gotei 13's standing force totaling to just over 3,000 enlisted troops." Sasuke stops abruptly and ends with a sour look on his face.

Naruto thinks that the Shinigami seem awfully like a military. "So what seat are you?"

Sasuke mutters something in the other direction and Naruto latches on immediately.

"Ehh, what did you say? I couldn't hear just barely."

Sasuke scowls, "I'm unseated right now. I just got out of Shin'o Academy last year."

He seems more upset than Naruto had anticipated, so he lets it go. "Huh, so Shinigami go to school too? That's cool! Do you live with your family–"

"We're here," Sasuke interrupts. "I need to purchase something for you as well."

Naruto perks up at this news, "Hmm, sounds great!" He looks up at the storefront. It's a cozy looking little shop, but for some reason he's never noticed it before even though he frequents this area often.

A brown-haired lady opening boxes behind the counter looks up as they step through the front candy section. "Welcome! I'll be with you in a second!"

Naruto stares unabashedly at all the various products as they wait. "Hey Sasuke, what are you buying?" He flips a few stacks of little cards around.

Sasuke slaps his hand away with an agitated look. "Don't touch anything and don't reveal needless information," he whispers.

Naruto has to hold in a laugh at Sasuke's seriousness. "Okay, okay, I got it."

"Hello, and thanks for waiting! My name is Nohara Rin; you must be Uchiha Sasuke, right?" The lady smooths wrinkles from her professional-looking black top away and pulls out a slip of paper from the white apron-skirt she's wearing. She hands it to Sasuke and gestures for them to follow her. "You're in luck. We've just completed your gigai, so if you'd like, try it on before you leave. If there are any last-minute adjustments you'd like, we can also do our best to cater to your needs." She smiles and slides a door open to a long hallway.

Sasuke dips his head slightly. "Thank you, Nohara-san. I appreciate the promptness with which my order has been handled." Naruto snickers at Sasuke's politeness and gets a sharp elbow in his gut.

"Of course! And please, call me Rin. I heard from Kakashi that you'll be staying in the area for a bit? Oh, and who is your friend here?"

Sasuke glances at Naruto who jerks up from holding his stomach to beam at being addressed with impressive speed. "This is… Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto waves, "Hi Rin-san! It's nice to meet you!"

Rin waves and moves to lead them down the hallway, "You as well, Naruto-kun." She slips her shoes off and Naruto and Sasuke follow suit.

The design of the back of the store is like a traditional Japanese house, and Naruto admires the cozy atmosphere. The building didn't appear to be nearly so large from the outside though, so Naruto wonders why there seem to be so many rooms.

A guy with spiky dark hair and eyes almost as black as Sasuke's pokes his head out of a room a way down the hallway. Unlike the lady guiding them, this guy is dressed lazily in an orange t-shirt and capris. A pair of orange-tinted goggles dangle from his neck. "Yo, Rin! You brought the customer with you?"

Rin's smile widens and she ushers them over. "I'll introduce you! This is Obito. He and Kakashi worked together to finish your gigai. Obito, this is Sasuke-kun, our client, and his friend Naruto-kun."

The man introduced as Obito slides the door open all the way and grins when he spots them. "Hey kiddos, come in! Kakashi's putting some finishing touches on right now."

Rin steps to the side to let them enter the surprising spacious room. "Oi, Kakashi! Sasuke's here to pick up his gigai! You done or what?" Obito calls.

Some shuffling is heard and a man, probably this Kakashi, shoves the shoji aside with enough force that the neat grid frame of paper door cracks against the end of the wall.

He waves one hand tiredly in a beckoning gesture, "Sasuke, come here and try it on."

Sasuke nods, striding over quickly. Naruto doesn't know him well enough to read his expressions entirely yet, but it looks like he's a combination of impatient and nervous.

Naruto is left standing in the larger room with Rin and Obito in a soon-to-be awkward silence. He scratches his cheek as his recalls Sasuke's instructions to stay quiet and contemplates whether he should bother to follow them.

"So, you're the human he gave his Shinigami powers to?" Naruto jerks his head up like a deer in headlights to stare at Obito as he tries to formulate a response.

Rin glances disapprovingly at him, "Where are your manners, Obito? Naruto-kun, you can ignore Obito's question if you'd rather not talk about it."

"No, it's fine!" Naruto shakes his head rapidly and blurts, "But how did you guys know? What– are you guys Shinigami too?"

Rin seems amused and she and Obito share a look before she speaks. "We aren't Shinigami, but we are spiritually aware, like you are."

"Yeah, and we felt your huge reiatsu last night! Man, that was some pressure," Obito chips in. "And, in case you haven't noticed, you're kinda leaking all over the place right now."

Naruto flushes at the implication but is mostly confused. "What? I'm- I'm leaking? What do you mean I'm leaking?" he demands worriedly.

Obito leans back against the wall, "Well, simply stated, you don't have any control over your own power, probably because you have a ton of spiritual energy, so you're exerting a pressure that others like us can sense," he grins, "like this."

Naruto is confused for a second, but then he feels something almost like a ripple in the air. Like he's walked into a sauna, but the temperature hasn't changed. Yet it's harder to breathe and–

"What's going on?" Sasuke rushes back out and flashes across the room to Naruto's side. The pressure subsides and Naruto slowly relaxes. Sasuke bristles and pins a heated glare at Obito like he's incredibly offended and is going to lunge any second–

"Maa, there's nothing to worry about, Sasuke." Kakashi saunters over and ruffles a hand through Sasuke's hair like he's smoothing down the fur of a cat on edge. Sasuke swats it away with mild vexation. Naruto notices distractedly that the duck butt shape springs back up defiantly. "Are you sure you don't want to add some customizations? I'll even give you a discount and we could–"

"No." Sasuke rudely cuts off. He turns to Naruto and grabs him by the lapel of his school uniform, "You didn't just spill everything did you? I leave for two minutes and–"

"Wait, but they already knew! It wasn't– I didn't say anything before!"

Sasuke lets go and grimaces, shifting his glare to Kakashi. "Tch, I should have known."

Kakashi eye-smiles amicably, "I'll make some tea. Let's all have seat and talk this out, alright?"

Rin ushers them to the low circular table as Obito pulls it over to the center of the room. She smiles at him, "I believe Obito has something he needs to say before we begin." Obito proceeds to pale dramatically and nods quickly.

He scratches the back of his head abashedly, "Sorry, Naruto. I shouldn't have done that so suddenly."

"No, I'm fine, really!" He sneaks a glance at Sasuke who kneels stiffly next to the table and plops down next to him. "I just got a little surprised, that's all."

Rin nods, "The reason why Obito brought it up is because we wanted to offer you some help with learning how to be a Shinigami, Naruto-kun."

Naruto hears Sasuke shift forward to speak, but he's really confused, so he rushes to beat him to it, "I thought you said you guys weren't Shinigami though?"

"That's right. We were Onmitsukido."

Notes:

Hi!

Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you liked it! I had a bit of fun writing this chapter and I'm really looking forward to introducing more characters. :) I'm going to try to move the plot along a bit faster soon. If you have time, please let me know what you liked or things I could improve!

- DreadnoughtAqF