Nearly a year had passed and life had settled into a surprisingly comfortable routine.

He only had to wake at dawn to start training with the swordsmen, go to the academy, train with the swordsmen again after school let out, and then go back to Mei-sama's home and pass out before repeating it the next day.

Once a week there was also lessons with Utakata-san, lessons that usually ended up the training ground nearly destroyed and Kurama howling in either anger or delight.

Zabuza had started taking on missions again after the first month had passed, and as much as it hurt the first time, Naruto was growing used to how the bond weakened whenever his soulmate left. He couldn't sense Zabuza's emotions, not when the man was out on missions, but he could sense enough to know the man was alive. That would have to be enough.


Released early from the usual lesson with Utakata-san after managing to finally knock the man out, Naruto slips through the crowds of people flocking the streets and into the Mizukage tower.

Suigetsu is off doing something, he doesn't particularly care enough to find out what, and Haku is currently training with their sensei from infiltration. Without his friends, however grudging said friendship might be, and without Ringo in the village, he finds himself bored and alone.

And, well, being bored and alone tends to make him do things he shouldn't. Things like sneaking past the bored guards in the halls, things like exploring the lower levels of the Mizukage building.

He may be a shit sensor, but Kurama isn't, and he nods at the fox's warning grumble there's ANBU, doing their best to mask their chakra, following him from a distance as he goes from door to door, opening each and peering inside.

There's nothing interesting, nothing but dusty boxes and faded scrolls, so Naruto resigns himself to leaving and searching for entertainment elsewhere, maybe even bothering one of Mei-sama's aids.

That's the plan until the final door doesn't click open with just a push. It's simple enough to get by the lock with only a press of chakra, warping the wood just enough for the door to creak open.

He can feel the ANBU stop outside the room, seemingly uncertain, and Naruto takes advantage of that uncertainty to slip inside.

Oh.

Scrolls are pinned to the walls, kanji flickering and almost dancing. Naruto watches, wide eyed, as he reaches out his senses and feels the chakra hidden in the scrolls, feels the heavy current dancing through the books stacked against the walls.

Seals, Kurama rumbles in his mind, the surprise obvious in the fox's voice, and he slowly smiles in response.

This should be fun.


Naruto wasn't there.

They'd established a routine of sorts after he started taking missions again, a routine that involved his soulmate waiting for him by Mei's office, happily antagonizing the clerks and aides stationed outside.

But his soulmate isn't waiting, and while Zabuza wants to be concerned, he can still feel the low thrum of happiness through the bond, can still feel the contentment Naruto is giving off.

The report is finished within minutes and he's about to leave when one of Mei's endless clerks sticks his head through the door, expression pinched as he surveys the room.

"Mizukage-sama, Momochi," the man pauses then before speaking, fingers tapping on the door frame. "One of the ANBU guarding Uzumaki would like you to come with him."

Mei stands, as elegant as ever, before exchanging a look with him, rolling her eyes when he offers no answers. Zabuza knows he's fine, that much is obvious, so he has no fucking clue why the ANBU are demanding them or why the routine changed.

"Report," Mei tells the shinobi standing at attention in the hall, sweeping her eyes over her, and the woman grimaces in response.

"With all due respect, Mizukage-sama, it would be easier to show you."


"Ikeda," Zabuza greets the man standing guard outside the door, the ANBU giving him only a nod in response before Zabuza opens it, wondering just what could hold Naruto's attention for so long. Wondering just what could keep him from noticing the thread of concern snaking along the bond.

He stops just short of the threshold, though, stopping at the sight of scrolls covering the floor, of parchment pinned to the walls.

Stopping at the sight of Naruto standing on the ceiling, one leg kicked up as he painstakingly draws a brush over a blank scroll.

"Easy," his soulmate mutters, "easy," before finishing with a flourish, swinging forward and sticking the scroll against the wall with a gentle application of chakra.

And then Naruto smiles down at him, a smile he's grown to love, before dropping from the ceiling. He easily flips up, feet landing on his soulmate's shoulders as he grins at Mei from his perch.

"Do I want to know what you've been doing?" Mei asks dryly, though the amusement in her voice is plain.

Zabuza may not be able to see the expression on his face, but he can feel Naruto's excitement, can feel the joy through the bond.

"Seals."

"Seals?"

"There's books here-" and he gestures grandly, still perched on Zabuza's shoulders, "there's books on fuinjutsu here-probably taken from Uzushio-and Kurama helped with the more difficult parts."

"So, what," he asks his soulmate, grabbing hold of his ankle and pushing until Naruto flips forward and into a handstand on the floor. "You've been studying seals?"

"Studying?" Naruto repeats, an almost manic look in his eyes as he peers up at them two of them. "I've been making them!"

Naruto flips back and onto his feet, still smiling, before pointing eagerly to the scrolls on the wall.

"This one is a basic chakra suppression seal," he pivots then, pointing to the next, "and this one actually drains chakra, taking it from the target and giving it to whoever applies it."

"I found one that binds the target, but only for a few seconds, and I found a way to turn the length into minutes!"

"There's explosive seals I want to test too," Naruto continues, tapping his fingers against yet another parchment pinned to the wall, "and this one-I haven't tested it, but it should flood whatever area it's in with water."

He pauses, still smiling, before adding on, "I made that one."

Zabuza doesn't know shit about fuinjutsu, has never even thought of bothering to learn, but he can feel the chakra hidden in the seals on the wall, can see that whatever the seals are, they look like the ones Kiri had long ago looted from the remains of Uzushio.

"If you made it," he interrupts whatever Mei's about to say, ignoring her in favor of his soulmate, "then we have to test it."

Naruto beams up at him, smile practically lighting up the room, before darting forward and peeling off some of the seals, rolling them up and managing a shunshin into the hallway before any of them can react.

Laughing lowly at the looks on the guards' faces, he saunters forward, eagerly following Naruto as he slips past the crowds and heads to the training grounds, listening idly as the kid ducks to the side of a street vendor, still gesturing wildly as he expounds on the seals.

It's good to be home.