Chapter 7: Homecoming

After the meeting with the Nomads, Hiruzen retired to his office to receive a mission report from his earlier order. Inoichi Yamanaka, current clan head and the most talented mindwalker of Yamanaka clan, was waiting for him.

This method they used might be underhanded, but Hiruzen was not taking any chances when it involved Naruto. It was not a trivial matter to tap into the village's primary defense seal matrix just to remotely peak into one person's mind.

"Well, I guess this proves my earlier hypothesis to be a bust." Inoichi said with a grimace. He rubbed his face tiredly as he reported to the Hokage, "I was so sure the boy was a bastard child from our clan for the longest time. My father almost enacted a forced Mindwalk on all my clansmen right after the Kyuubi incident, just to see who should be responsible for the child. Now I understand why you ordered him to stand down. Everything she said was true, Hokage-sama. The likelihood of her falsifying her memory is next to none. She simply does not have the mental defense to even be aware of the intrusion. Granted it was a bit strange to walk the mind of a blind person, I've verified her memories with all other senses. She did suffer amnesia from the head trauma and remembered nothing except for her name and her practical skills. As to the primary concern we have, I have confirmed that there is absolutely no reason for her to do Konoha harm, unless we threaten her family. Her family, especially Naruto, is everything to her."

The Hokage nodded in understanding and gestured the man to continue.

"In fact, I would say she is terrified to have any connection to any shinobi matters, except for training her children. Originally she did not want to come to Konoha after she found out about her true identity. Her children convinced her to come. Despite her bravado earlier in the meeting room, she was actually shaking in her boots. I could trace the irrational fear all the way back when she first lost her memory. It's a testament to her character that she would try so hard for her family's sake."

Humming thoughtfully to himself, Hiruzen asked Inoichi to clarify. "Could you discern the root of her fear? Would it hinder her performance as a shinobi?"

Inoichi shook his head. "The fear itself would not hinder her ability the least. If anything, it makes her a better shinobi since she is quite paranoid when it comes to assessing potential dangers. The deep psychological connection between anything ninja-related to a sense of loss is the cause of her fear. To be fair, she did lose everything while serving as a Konoha's loyal shinobi. A lot of veteran shinobis have the same problem. Her adopted children helped her regain her purpose in life. This is why she seems a little overprotective when it comes to her family."

"Regarding her family, did you get a good read on them?"

Much to the Hokage's surprise, Inoichi seemed oddly giddy all of a sudden.

"Not in depth, but I did gleam off enough information from reading Rin's memory. Hokage-sama, for Konoha's greater good, we must get on their good grace and entice them to stay."

Hokage raised an eyebrow.

Inoichi elaborated. "Putting Naruto aside for obvious reasons, all his siblings are sure to be valuable additions to our rank. The oldest son, the white-haired young man named Kimimaro, is the last survivor of the famed Kagura Clan who possesses the Dead Bone Pulse bloodline limit. According to Rin's memory, he is at a solid jonin level already. In other words, he is stronger than his mother. The second oldest son, the black-haired feminine boy named Haku, is an ice user from the Yuki Clan. The boy may not be a powerhouse like Kimimaro, he is a highly talented medic nin. I would say he is at high chunin to low jonin level, easily."

"Two rare bloodline users. I would wager a guess they were refugees from Water Country?" The Third mused.

"They are, but this is not the best part. The two girls are most likely of Uzumaki by blood. Karin, the one with shorter hair and glasses, is the best sensor I've ever met. Not only that, her chakra has a special healing property that is rare even amongst the Uzumaki clan. Tayuya, the one with long red hair, is very talented at genjutsu. Much like Kushina, her chakra can solidify into various shapes. She can produce chakra puppets, Hokage-sama. I'm talking about multiple self-sustaining, chakra-draining, solid chakra constructs that can be remote-controlled like puppets. Combining that with her skills in genjutsu, she is a fiend in battle. I would rank both girls as mid chunin, if not higher."

Hiruzen was speechless at the revelation. Three Uzumaki by blood! What's the chance of them randomly bumping into one another and getting adopted into the same family? Someone up there must favor the Uzumaki clan. "What about Naruto? Is he also skilled?"

Inoichi confirmed without any hesitation. "Naruto is easily as powerful as Haku the ice user, if not more so. Granted, they never go at each other with the intent to kill during their regular spars, so I cannot say for sure. Rin considered him to be decently skilled with a sword, but I cannot tell what level he is at from her memory. Apparently she was not the person who trained him on kenjutsu. More notably, his proficiency with shadow clone is simply insane. He can churn out hundreds, if not thousands of shadow clones, all without using Kyuubi's chakra."

"This... is a lot to take in." The Third said softly, not entirely sure if he should feel proud of Naruto's achievement or to be alarmed by it. "Without Kyuubi's help, you say? Does that mean he can consciously tap into the Tailed Beast's power?"

The Yamanaka clan head nodded gravely. "Yes, Hokage-sama. He only ever used it once when he thought Rin was killed by an Iwa jonin. But still, he can reliably call upon Kyuubi's chakra if he wants to. To what extend? It is still unclear." Inoichi said the next sentence with a pained expression. "In Rin's memory, Naruto said, and I quote, 'the fox likes me enough. If I ask nicely, he agrees to lend me as much chakra as my body can take. I think he really appreciated the bouncy ball I got him. I don't like using his power though. It makes me feel really angry, and it takes a long time to calm down.'"

"Boun... Bouncy... Why I... I don't even know where to begin." Hiruzen said dumbly.

"You and me both, Hokage-sama. Naruto is one interesting boy. I would love to see what kind of ninja he would grow up to be." Inoichi agreed most enthusiastically.


Konoha's rumor mill was positively abuzz with talks about this mysterious family from Iron Country. Word on the street was that this family was looking to settle down in Konoha, and the Hokage himself was pulling all the stops to entice them to stay. Why would the Hokage be so interested in this family from Iron Country, one might ask, and the answer was simple - they possessed at least three distinct bloodline limits. No one really knew the details regarding those bloodline limits, but according to the whispers from the medical corp that conducted the analysis, they were both rare and powerful.

Not to mention if they managed to produce at least five active shinobi ranked chunin and above, they would instantly qualify for official clan status - something all families in Konoha strived for.

Why, think about all the perks that came with the clan status. The prestige aside, all official shinobi clans received free land from the Hokage. For the major clans that regularly maintained at least twenty active shinobi ranked chunin and above - Hyuga, Aburame, Akimichi, and Uchiha (which, had sadly been lost since the massacre) - they were not only tax-exempt, they were granted a generous yearly stipend for their loyal service to Fire Country. The best part was, on top of all that monetary gain, the entire clan would be elevated to Noble status by the Fire Daimyo's decree! One's social standing wouldn't get any higher than that!

"I saw them near the Hokage Monument this morning. There were like, six of them with four Iron Samurai escorts. A mother and five kids, so I've heard. They were all wearing this large grey scarf that covered half of their faces. I hope the boys are cute, even though none of them would be as cute as Sasuke-kun. We could really do with more good-looking guys in our class." Ino Yamanaka, eleven-year-old Academy student, sighed wistfully to her friend Sakura Haruno.

The two friends/rivals were currently chatting their Sunday afternoon away inside the Yamanaka flower shop. It was a rare sight to see Iron Samurai inside Konoha, naturally their presence generated great interests.

"You mean the family from Iron Country, right?" Sakura asked curiously and got a brief nod as a confirmation. "I saw them in the Archive just now. I don't know about them joining our class, to be honest. A couple of them are obviously older than us. Especially the tall guy with white hair. If you see him close-up you'll understand what I mean." The pink-haired girl made a vague gesture, all the while blushing brightly. "His shirt opens low at the front. The guy is more of a man than a boy. All that muscles... Sha! What am I saying? Sasuke-kun will definitely look hotter than him in a few years! For sure!"

Ino deadpanned, "You're a total perv. Seriously, get your giant forehead out of the gutter."

Sakura huffed, embarrassed about her previous slip. "Well, excuse me. You weren't there to see him up close. I almost walked into that wall of pecs and abs... I mean, That guy is too old to be in the Academy. Besides, it's not like they are going to stay in Konoha for certain. No one said anything about them wanting to be ninjas. Remember? They are from Iron Country. They are most likely trained to become samurais. Who knows, maybe they are only here for sightseeing, or shopping, or visiting distant relatives. My point is, it's just a rumor. Nothing is confirmed."

Elsewhere, similar conversations were taking place.

Kiba Inuzuka, the son of the Inuzuka clan matriarch, was gushing about the mysterious family from Iron Country (more specifically, about the girls.) to his classmate Shino Aburame. The two of them walked past the family on their way to a training ground earlier. This brief encounter, if it could be called an encounter at all, sent stars to Kiba's eyes.

"I'm telling you, that girl with gorgeous black hair is unbelievably hot. She had her scarf down, so I saw her face. That babe is positively smoking. I should totally try to ask her out before she joins the Uchiha fan club. I mean, she seems like the type who would appreciate the roguishly handsome look, like me, right?" Kiba puffed out his chest and flexed his biceps as he stared at the direction his dream girl went by an hour prior.

Shino raised an eyebrow at his friend's antic, but did not comment on the dog user's behavior.

Not really expecting an answer from his stoic friend, Kiba turned to his faithful companion and asked, "you agree with me, right? I know you agree with me, Akamaru."

The little white dog barked happily.

Kiba scratched his chin and said thoughtfully, "I know what you mean. Hinata is nice, top of our class, easy on the eyes, and she is already growing boobies. It's not like I have a chance with her though. Not with her cousin constantly hovering over her like a hawk. You know how the Hyuga is like. The Neji dude always gives me the evil eye. On the other hand, this new girl from Iron is a total babe, and she doesn't have a clan full of overprotective male relatives ready to Juken my nuts off. Any way you look at it, the new girl is a better choice. Well, safer choice at least. Last time Hinata's cousin caught me staring at her tits, I woke up three hours later in a dumpster with a shaved head. He even got my eyebrows, that bastard."

"Kiba." Shino finally spoke. The bug user adjusted his sunglasses and said slowly. "I understand that you appreciate the female anatomy, therefore I must advise you to reconsider your budding affection toward this individual from Iron Country. Why, you ask? My little friends informed me that your new romantic interest is in fact, male."

Kiba's jaw dropped open.

Shino elaborated. "This individual was very cautious as he warned away my allies with a subtle nudge of hostile intent. However, they did glean enough information about him, namely, his gender."

Tears started to well up in Kiba's eyes.

Shino moved in to deliver the finishing blow. "It is none of my business, and perhaps I've overstep my bound when I say this; if you are truly attracted to this individual, feel free to pursue him. Your sexual preference shall not affect our friendship."

Kiba wailed.


Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake, the person in charge of the Nomads' request, took them to a stone-paved garden one afternoon. "Your mission request requires me to give you a tour to all significant sites within Konoha. This is the Memorial Stone, a monument that listed all the names of Konoha shinobi who are killed in action. Our teacher Minato Namikaze's, as well as our former teammate Obito Uchiha's names are engraved on it. So is yours."

"How strange it is to stand in front of my own tombstone. It makes me feel like a ghost." Rin reached out to the stone and caressed the smooth surface, not entirely sure what she should feel at the moment.

The silver-haired jonin gave the blind woman a sideway glance. "You are a ghost to me." He said quietly.

An awkward silence ensued after that. Rin always knew that by coming back to Konoha, she would have to confront her past at some point. Knowing it in advance did not make things easier for her. "Maybe I am. The Rin you know is dead. She died when she lost her identity. I am not the same person anymore. I'm sorry, Hatake-san, please understand." Rin apologized with a sad smile.

"Kakashi." The jonin replied with a closed-eyed smile. "You may call me Kakashi."

"Alright then, Kakashi." Rin withdrew her hand from the stone and folded her arms. "It seems unfair you know so much about my past life than I do. Would you mind sharing that information? It really bothers me how much I don't know."

Kakashi thought about it for a moment and started with a chuckle. "I know next to nothing about your family, seeing how they've all perished during the Second Shinobi War, that's why you grew up in the Konoha Orphanage. We used to be in a team together under Minato-sensei. That much you knew already. When we first became a team, Minato-sensei asked us what our likes, dislikes, and dreams were. I remember you said you like to help people, you dislike quitters, and your dream for the future is to have a big family. Obito was thrilled to hear that since he had the biggest crush on you, but you turned him down. He was such a crybaby about the rejection, and he coped by whining and picking fights with me. It was actually quite funny."

"Picking fights with you? Why you? Oh, does that mean I... Did we?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No." He raised a hand to touch his headband covered left eye. "I promised him to take care of you. It was his last request. I am eternally ashamed to say I have failed him."

Rin unfolded her arms to touch the cold stone again. Without saying anything more, Kakashi reached for her hand and guided her to Obito's name.

A short distance away from the two adults, Karin discreetly nudged Tayuya in the ribs. Tayuya rolled her eyes and passed her sister a folded ryo note.

Naruto gave Tayuya a questioning look.

"I lost a bet." Tayuya whispered simply.

Naruto made a vague gesture to ask her to elaborate.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Tayuya explained to her little brother in a hushed tone. "Right after the cyclops got assigned to our request, Karin told me he had the hots for mom. I bet against her, and I lost. So unfair. Next time I won't bet against a sensor."

Naruto grinned. "That's exactly what you said last time."

Tayuya gave the blond a dirty look.

"Kids, you can whisper louder. We heard you." Rin's voice rang out. From what the siblings could tell, their mother sounded both amused and slightly annoyed.

The two redheads started giggling to each other. Haku and Kimimaro both sighed. Girls.

"Busted." Naruto laughed and said to Kakashi, "hey mister, you better bring your A game if you want to impress my mom. She has admirers lining up from here all the way to Iron Country. Right now I would say the top contender is this super cute travelling healer. She visits us in Iron Country every month, and she makes mom blush a lot. The second most hopeful is the captain of the Crossguard garrison. He is a little older but he has been really good to our family. You have some really tough opponents if you want to join the competition."

Rin groaned. Her two older boys palmed their faces. The two girls each gave their little brother a light slap in the back of his blond, blond head.

"Naruto! Stop embarrassing your own mother! Her love life is no one but her own business." Karin scolded with a light blush on her face.

"Oops. Shutting up now." Realizing what he had done, Naruto grimaced apologetically to Rin and made a gesture to zip up his loose lips.

Not far from the group, the four Iron Samurai had to exercise considerable restraint to stop themselves from roaring in laughter.


The Third had expected everything to go smoothly, but he had not expected to see an unanimous decision from the entire council. After two weeks of deliberation, each council member voted to have the Nomads stay in Konoha.

It was easy to understand why the elders supported his decision. After all, they could not allow the chance of obtaining valuable bloodline users to slip by. As for the clan heads, they were happy to have a few more of Uzumaki blood inside Konoha as backup Containers in case the Kyuubi escape.

Hiruzen was more than glad he had the forethought to label this as a shinobi business so the civilians were barred from discussing this matter. Sometimes he cursed the First for creating the council at all. He understood that as a Hokage, he needed to listen to a wide range of opinions lest he become a dictator. As an older and wiser man, he couldn't help but appreciate the effectiveness of dictatorship. If that made him a bad person, then so be it.

After a long winded discussion to hammer out the details, the council summoned Rin to present their offer.

With two Iron Samurai on her side and her oldest son behind her, the former Konoha kunoichi entered the council chamber. "Hokage-sama." She greeted with a polite bow.

"Miss Rin." The Third cut to the chase. "The allotted two weeks has passed. Have you come to a decision yet?"

Rin tilted her head slightly. "It would depend on you, Hokage-sama. Here is a list of requirements from my family. If Konoha would grant these requests, then we could formally join Konoha." She said and handed a scroll to the Third.

Giving the scroll a quick once over, Hiruzen chuckled. "It's more than reasonable, Miss Rin. I accept. Before we sign the paper, here is a list of Konoha's requirements. If you agree to these conditions, then we can conclude this business."

Rin's oldest son Kimimaro took the scroll and read it out for his mother. After a few moments of contemplation, Rin asked, "most of them coincide with our own requests. There is only one clause that stands out. Condition number six: all members of our family who are willing to join the Konoha shinobi corp, must enroll in Konoha Ninja Academy for no less than one year. Excuse my ignorance, but I thought all clans in Konoha are allowed to privately train their own clan members to fill Konoha's rank given that they meet Konoha standard. I thought my children had demonstrated beyond genin level skills at your earlier request."

Beyond genin level, indeed. It was more like beyond chunin level. Hiruzen was glad he requested the demonstration to be a private affair, otherwise he could only imagine how jealous some smaller clans would be. If he gave the Nomads their fair rank based on skills alone, then it would elevate the Nomads to an official clan status instantly. He did not need to deal with this political headache, so he decided to add in this clause. Of course, no one other than himself needed to know that.

The Third nodded. "This condition only applied to your five children. Future members of your family would not be bound by it. The purpose of this condition is twofold. One, there is an age restriction for becoming a genin of Konoha. A few years ago the we imposed the peacetime measure so no one younger than twelve may join the Konoha shinobi corp, however talented the person may be. This is to ensure the psychological well-being of our shinobi force. Your youngest son is only eleven. If we send him to the Academy by himself, he might feel left out. We might as well allow his older siblings to accompany him in school."

No one said it outloud, but everyone understood they only had this restriction in place to prevent having another Itachi on their hands.

"Two, since you have been away for a long time, we feel it would be best for your family to get use to living in Konoha. More importantly, it is to Konoha's best interest that your family integrate fully into our ranks. What better way to do that than to make friends with your peers? Keep in mind I'm only asking your children to enroll in the Konoha Ninja Academy, not the Konoha Military Reserve. Standard procedure for foreigners to join Konoha shinobi rank is to enroll them through the Fire Daimyo's military program. I am already showing favoritism by sending your family to our own premier shinobi school where all genin candidates have a chance to apprentice under a jonin after they graduate. Normally, only Konoha natives have the privilege to do so."

Officially, Konoha was only one of five major military forces under the Fire Daimyo's command. To Konoha citizens, most of them often forgot the fact that the Hokage was not the supreme military commander of Fire Country; that role belonged to the Fire Daimyo.

Fire Country, population twenty-seven million, had at least one hundred thousand soldiers stationed all over the country at all time. Of that one hundred thousand soldiers, roughly one in ten had the ability to mold chakra. The Fire Daimyo established the Konoha Military Reserve to train those talented soldiers to be full fledged shinobis. One word described those ninjas the best - disposable. Even though they were large in number, rarely did anyone from the Reserve made it to the rank of chunin.

When they did, they were promptly transferred to the Konoha shinobi corp, if the Fire Daimyo did not snatch them up to be his private guards first. In other words, Konoha was established to be the elite shinobi force that the Fire Daimyo could brag to other lords about. Those who did not have shinobi somewhere in their family tree had a hard time making it. The majority of shinobi lived their lives having less than six jutsus under their belts, that's after counting the Academy three (clone, substitute, and transform). Shinobi clans with established bloodlines or secret techniques were basically born elites. The likes of Copy Ninja Kakashi who was famous for knowing a thousand jutsus was like the stuff of legend comparing to the grunts from the Reserve.

Rin understood the underlying message. This one year was most likely a probationary period meant for observing their family closely. Given how much Konoha had to offer to her family, this one precautionary measure on their part was completely to be expected. With a confident smile on her face, the tattooed woman replied, "I accept. Now where do I sign?"


A/N: I have a hard time justifying Kishimoto's numbers. Seriously, according to him, the Allied Shinobi Forces for the Fourth Shinobi World War is 80,000 in total. Since Fire Country is one of the five great military might on the Elemental Continent, I estimated there are at least 16,000 shinobi (1/5 of total) in Konoha.

Naruto's graduate class produced a grand total of 12 genin. Do the math. If the Academy were the only source of Konoha's shinobi force, it would never work.

Here is a list of the five major military branches in Fire Country in this story, assuming the size of Fire Country is about 900,000 km2 with a population size of 27 million. Most of them are peasant farmers. Population density is low because I assume the social structure to be more similar to pre-industrial era. This is all made up by me, they are NOT canon at all.

1. Konoha Shinobi Corp: They are the elite shinobi force under the command of Hokage. Some of them are clan-trained, and some of them are graduates from the Konoha Ninja Academy. Since the ability to mold chakra is largely hereditary, they are mostly born of shinobi clans, or are related to one somewhere in their family tree. Rough number: 2,500.

2. Fire Army: Regular soldiers who are trained to fight with weapons and to perform military drills. Any Fire Country citizen over the age of fifteen can join. Only the high ranking officers are allowed to carry full length swords. The majority of the Fire Army are garrisoned inside major cities or strategic border towns. They maintain the roads and keep a constant patrol throughout Fire Country. During peacetime, their primary duty is to repair roads and fortify walls. Their inside joke is that the Fire Army's signature weapons should be a shovel, instead of a spear. The highest authority of this military unit is the Fire Daimyo. Rough number: 90,000.

3. Konoha Military Reserve: Most of them are originally regular soldiers in Fire Army. They have shown ability to mold chakra, so they are sent to Konoha to be further trained as ninja. The Fire Daimyo established this unit as an effort to manufacture as many ninja as possible, knowing how much more powerful a shinobi is comparing to a regular soldier. The Reserves are housed and trained within the Barrack, not the Academy. Since they start training with chakra relatively late in life, it's very rare for them to reach even chunin strength. The Military Reserve is essentially the cannon fodder unit that takes on the blunt of inglorious border patrol missions. They are under the Hokage's command during the time they are in the Reserve, but those who showed significant talents would be recalled to join the Fire Guardians to serve directly under the Fire Daimyo. Most of them would leave Konoha after they retire from the military, normally only those who start a family in Konoha would stay. This is where most of the civilian or first generation shinobi clans in Konoha stem from. Rough number: 10,000.

4. Fire Guardians: They are elite soldiers serving as the Fire Daimyo's private guards. Most of them come through the Military Reserve route, but a handful of them are from Konoha's clans. The Guardians are given the privilege to carry full length swords in court as a status symbol, as the Nobles do. The Guardians answer to the Fire Daimyo, and the Fire Daimyo only. The Hokage has no authority over the Guardians. Rough number: 200.

5. Fire Country Civil Police: Their duties are normally limited to civil affairs. During time of war, they can be drafted by the Fire Daimyo to fill the rank of Fire Army. The Civil Police has a large presence in regular civilians' day-to-day lives. The signature weapon of the Civil Police is a baton. Rough number: 20,000.