A/N: Hey people of the internet! I hope you've been doing well. I'm gonna be honest here, I'm pretty much flying at the seam of the pants from now on, ha. I have an idea of where the ending will be and details of the plot here and there but the journey? Creative writing ftw! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 12: Of Family and Friends

If Sera had to admit one single thing she enjoyed from having a Devil body once more, it definitely had to be its alcohol tolerance. Sure, she was pretty much immune to most basic drugs and toxic substances that would kill an average human, but it wasn't like Sera went around chain smoking for the hell of it.

HA! She could imagine the headlines now, "Rebellious daughter of the Fourth Hokage diagnosed with lung cancer due to her severe smoking habits!"

Nope, no dying because of dumb substance uses for her, no sir. Just plain old alcohol to sooth her mind and body was enough for her.

"One hell of a story you just told me there, kiddo."

Sera shot a stink eye at her godfather, "If it was just a story, I would have slapped myself awake by now."

"But still, meeting the Death God of things and saving your dad like some sort of hero?" Jiraiya cracked a smirk, "That's some prime writing material there. You mind?"

"Whatever," Sera waved off, "Use it as some cheap story line in your 'erotic literature'. Just make sure to change the names so it's not so obvious, will you?"

"Hey! The names of my beloved characters are fine just is!" Jiraiya exclaimed.

"Funade?" Sera raised an eyebrow, "Hiraiya, Nimato, Rushina, and for fucks sakes gramps, Tera? I was like, twelve back then!"

Instead of stammering or blowing up at Sera's jab at his creative intelligence, the man just sighed wistfully as if she had told him an old, positive memory, "Good times. If you hadn't turned into a snappy, sassy girl who swears like a sailor and scams people better than most con artists."

Sera scoffed and chose not to comment because she honestly had nothing to retort. She was exactly what he had said, and she was proud of it. Sera liked who she had become despite all the weird celestial interference that happened. At the end of the day, her core values and who she was on the inside hadn't been affected.

"So…" Jiraiya said as the smile slowly faded from his face, "New body, huh? Not the weirdest things I've heard in my lifetime but definitely up there."

"Uh huh," Sera responded, swirling her cup of sake, "I'm like a fallen version of Sera I guess, depending on how you look at it. Serafall, eh, eh?"

"That was terrible," Jiraiya deadpanned.

"And you have no sense of humor," Sera shot back, "Anyways, I'm still me up here and right here." Sera tapped her forehead with her finger than rested her hand above her heart.

"Ain't that the truth," he replied, "It doesn't take a genius to see that you're still the same Sera Uzumaki. You can rest assured that I don't doubt your choices or see you any different, kid. If I as in your position I would have done the same."

"And this is why you're my favorite godfather," Sera smiled.

"I'm your only godfather."

"Doesn't change the fact you're awesome."

"Whatever brat."

The two fell into a comfort silence after that. It felt as if a giant weight had been lifted from Sera's shoulders, one that had been there for the past six years. Sure, the pressure wasn't completely gone but a big portion had disappeared. It felt as if she could pull her shoulders back and just breath again.

No matter what people said about her godfather, he has been and will always be a source of knowledge of wisdom for Sera. He may be a pervert and a general menace to any woman at a bathhouse but hey, what kind of shinobi doesn't have a weird quirk?

"Now that you mention it, you ever think about taking on a new moniker?" Jiraiya asked, "It might help if you're trying to redo your whole image with the magic girl thing you have going on."

The man waved his hands up and down at her pink magical girl outfit. An outfit that would only act as a giant "kill me" target for the wearer's enemies for ninety-nine percent of the shinobi world but it kind of helped that Sera stood safely in the top one percent in terms of sheer power and fighting prowess.

"Hmmmm," Sera hummed, "How about Serafall Leviathan, eh?"

She cracked a bitter smile. How ironic would it be? The death of Sera Uzumaki would lead to the birth of Serafall Leviathan. It would serve as a sick and cruel reminder that her past hasn't been forgotten.

"Leviathan?" Jiraiya scratched his head, "I don't even want to know where you heard that god's name from. Seriously, that religion's been dead for a long time now. Hell, the only reason I know it is because I found one of their temples during my adventuring days."

Sera's breath hitched at those words. Temple? Religion?

"Where?" Sera practically hissed, slamming her hands down on the table, "Where is this temple?"

Apparently, the sudden slam woke the man up and sobered him up in an instant because Jiraiya's eyes narrowed slightly as he steadied the table, "Hidden deep inside the mountains of Earth Country, North West of the Hidden Rock."

He knew better to ask Sera why she was so adamant about knowing the location. She was much like him in that sense, if she couldn't get an answer from someone, she would spend time searching for it herself. It was both a curse and a gift, having the soul of an adventurer that is.

"Thanks Jiraiya," Sera said hurriedly as she quickly got up, snatching Kyubel up with her, "Give this to Naruto the next time you see him, yeah? Peace out!"

Jiraiya didn't have a chance to respond as a spiral of sparkles wrapped around his goddaughter, whisking her away to god knows where in an explosion of confetti and colorful lights. He glanced at the scroll she had tossed at him and shrugged, slipping it inside his sleeve. It was about time to pay the village a visit anyways.

It was nice seeing Sera again. His job as the village's spy master gave him little time to see his precious people, or anyone for that matter, for very long. It had been coincidence that he was in the same area as Sera that day.

Though, he was curious to what she was doing all the way out in Water Country, and inside a brothel of all places…

"Wait a minute… she left me the bill!"

"And that about sums it up. She's doing fine so stop worrying so much, your hair's going to go white with all this unnecessary stress."

Jiraiya was now sitting across from his former student, his wife, and second child. It hadn't taken long to arrive at the Hidden Leaf Village and after spending hours in the debriefing room with a bunch of stuffy councilmen, he seriously needed a break.

"Thank you Jiraiya," Minato sighed deeply, sinking into the couch, "You have no idea how much I've been thinking about her and if she's doing well. No matter how strong she is, she's still human at the end of the day."

"Kid, just trust in Sera to make the right choices. She's a bright girl," Jiraiya told the blonde Hokage.

"I know, I know."

Jiraiya took this time to toss Sera's scroll at the little blonde munchkin who looked like he was suffering from a stroke just by sitting still for five minutes.

"That one's from Sera, do whatever you want with it," Jiraiya said to Naruto and made a shooing motion with his hands, "I'll come find you later, brat. Go skip rocks with your friends or something."

"FREEDOM!" Naruto whooped loudly and bolted out of the Namikaze estate in an instant with the scroll in hand, "SASUKEEeeee…"

Jiraiya couldn't help but chuckle at the little boy's actions, "The future poster child of the Hidden Leaf everyone. A round of applause for Naruto Namikaze."

"He's… a handful," Kushina sighed with a smile.

"He smeared brown paint all over the village and spread rumors that its poop," Minato deadpanned.

"A… bit of a handful?" Kushina offered.

"He, Sasuke, and Hinata ditched the Academy last week to release all the Nara deer into the village streets," Minato continued.

"Ok, he has his moments," she replied as sweat began dripping down her forehead.

"With banners tied to their antlers saying that water makes hair fall out because every bald person has washed their hair with water!" the Hokage exclaimed, "You would not believe how many people ACTUALLY believed that and filed concern reports asking if that was true!"

Jiraiya was rolling around on the floor at that point, clutching at his sides.

"Please, Jiraiya-sensei, don't laugh at my expense," Minato grumbled, cupping his face with his hands as Kushina awkwardly pat him on his back, "I love Naruto, trust me, but that boy is going to drive me insane one of these days."

"Honey," Kushina said softly, "Naruto's just getting his energy out of his system now. I'm sure he'll calm down as he grows older."

This caused her husband to actually glare at her, "Oh? Who pulled a prank on her friend just the other day? Hm? Who replaced all of Mikoto Uchiha's wardrobe with orange jumpsuits and the Uchiha matriarch's perfume with ramen scents ones? Hm?"

Kushina blushed and looked away as she couldn't think of a good retort to that. She still regularly pulled pranks and jokes on her friends because, in her honest opinion, they were really funny.

"Thought so," Minato huffed, "Anyways, what's with the sudden visit sensei? You're usually out doing your own thing by now and come by once it's time for dinner."

The Toad Hermit did an exaggerated double take and made a loud gasp, "One, rude. Two, I'm here to settle something that should have ended six years ago and if I'm being frank, this shouldn't have been an issue in the first place."

Minato winced at the insinuation but kept quiet. He knew that this was coming at some point and he had to agree with his old teacher, six years was far too long.

"Kushina, I'm going to say this once and once only, so listen closely," Jiraiya began.

The woman in question gave a curt nod. The only reason she hadn't left the room or protested was because she saw Jiraiya as a father figure of sorts. Both she and Minato had grown up without parents and the white-haired hermit had stepped in to fill that role for them. He wasn't the greatest parent model out there, but it didn't matter to the couple because Jiraiya had tried his best to mentor them to the best of his abilities.

"Get your head out of your ass," Jiraiya said seriously, "This is gone on for too long. Your obsession with your clan and blood is childish and a joke at best. You HAVE no clan anymore. All you have is what you have now, and you've practically burned the bridge to one of your most precious."

"Did you know that she doesn't even call you mom anymore? She calls you Kushina. Imagine that. It's as if she has not mother anymore."

The stoic look never left Jiraiya's face as he continued.

"Wasn't it your dream as to have a family of your own? Marry Minato and give your kids what you couldn't have? A happy home life? So, who are you to kill that dream? I'm honestly very disappointed in the mother you have become. Open your eyes Kushina, blood isn't everything. She is still the same girl you raised and doted on. The same Sera that you spent countless nights making sure she was sleeping soundly."

It hurt to say these words. He didn't want to say it, but it didn't matter what he desired. This was a need at this point.

"Personally, I would gladly sacrifice my connection with the toads if it meant I could save either one of you. Sure, the toads have raised me and made me what I am today but you, YOU, are family. Family goes beyond blood. They are emotions and memories, the good and the bad, the ups and downs. So, let me ask you this one more time, Kushina. What are you doing?"

Jiraiya took a deep breath as he cooled his emotions. He was no father or a parent in any sense, but Minato and Kushina were basically his kids at this point. It fell on his shoulders to correct their mistakes and set them on the right path.

"Please, Kushina. Reach out to Sera before she's too far gone," Minato said softly, barely loud enough to be a whisper.

"Kiddo, we work in a dangerous profession," Jiraiya said with a sad smile as memories flooded his mind, "Today could be our last day alive. I could walk out of the village and get ambushed by a group of missing-nin who might overpower me. Nobody is immune to death and us shinobi thread the line between life and death every day. So, don't wait before it's too late."

The Toad Sage stood up from the couch after that and walked around the table to give the girl he had watched grow up into a fine kunoichi a hug. He didn't want to see Kushina act like this but sometimes, pain is necessary to begin the healing.

"I know you're smart," Jiraiya whispered as he felt her return the hug weakly, "I'll be around the village for a few days so come find me if you want to talk some more, yeah?"

"Ok…" he heard her said quietly. He ignored the dampness on his shoulder, opting to just pat her head.

Six… Seven… Eight… Nine… Teeeen?

"How are you so good at skipping rocks?"

One… Two… Sink.

"You're just bad. Seriously, you can throw a bullseye with a kunai and shuriken ten times out of ten, but you can't skip a rock past two?"

Fifteen… Sixteen… Seventee-!

"Seriously? It hit a bird?!"

Naruto and Sasuke turned to look at the girl who had tossed the rock in question and all they saw was a whistling Hinata looking up at the sky with her hands behind her back.

"What?" she asked when the boys just stared at her silence, "I have done nothing wrong. I am a proud and noble member of the Hyuga Clan and as such I would never hit a harmless avian with a rock."

"Ok, stop with the formal talk, I get enough of that at home," Sasuke blanched, making a fake gagging motion, "Also, if you're a 'noble' member of your clan then I must be the of the Uchiha Clan already because you are anything BUT noble."

"How dare you?!" Hinata gasped, wrapping her arms around her chest in a protective manner, "I'll have you know that I am taller than you."

"What does that…?" Sasuke looked confused, then baffled, "Our height has nothing to do with this! Also, you are NOT taller than me, I am-!"

Naruto stepped in at this moment and waved his arms between his two friends. He was happy that they were getting along well enough to banter but sometimes their "noble" and "pride" jokes went over his head because he honestly couldn't care enough about clan politics.

"Seriously, people say that I argue too much but c'mon, you two argue like mom and dad! We're six! We can't even swap spit without permission yet!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sasuke stilled very quickly and did a double take at the last portion of what his best friend had just said.

"Swap spit?" the Uchiha asked hesitantly.

"Yeah! That's what Rara calls kissing," Naruto answered proudly, "Sounds really gross right? Why would people want to taste each other's spit? Kissing sounds really yucky. Why can't people just hold hands and hug like normal people?"

"I'll hold your hand Ruto!" Hinata said with a smile before diving to grab one of his hands, holding it in an iron grip.

Naruto shrugged, knowing that he would have to function with a single hand for a while since Hinata rarely let go of his hand once she took hold of it. Sera had told him that he should let her hold it for as long she wants because he needed to be nice. She also said it would get him "laid" at some point, but he didn't know what that meant.

"O….kay then, aside from that," Sasuke motioned at the hand holding, "Why did you bring us here anyways?"

"Oh yeah! Here!" Naruto responded before rummaging through his pant pocket before fishing out a standard sized scroll, "Pervy Sage said this is from Rara and I wanted to open it with you guys."

"Well… open it already," Sasuke said quickly.

Naruto spent little time ripping away at the string that kept the scroll shut with his teeth, unfurling it on the ground in front of them.

The three Academy students watched with wide, unblinking eyes as the scroll rolled open to reveal… nothing. Well, not nothing but rather a single circle in the middle with weird squiggling lines around it.

"Ah man, this is a blood seal," Naruto whined.

"Blood seal?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, I need Dad's help opening this," Naruto pouted, "Booooo!"

"Of course," Sasuke just shook his head, "Why would she send a scroll without some kind of safety? Your sister's insane, not dumb."

"Hey! Sera is amazing!" Hinata yelled, glaring at her Uchiha friend. She would have bopped him on his duck's butt resembling head, but her hands were currently, uh, occupied, "She's super smart, super funny, and super strong!"

It wasn't a secret that Hinata Hyuga adored Sera Uzumaki. Ever since the Uzumaki heiress had saved the Hyuga heiress from a kidnapping two years prior, Hinata had done everything in her power to resemble Sera as much as possible. At first, she tried to dress like Sera but that was quickly shot down by the entirety of the Hyuga clan. So, Hinata just settled to mimic Sera's personality and strived to be as strong as the sixteen-year-old Jounin.

"Ok, ok I get it, you're a Sera fan," Sasuke relented with raised hands, "Doesn't change the fact that she's insane and its contagious. Seriously, my brother took one, one, mission with her and he's been acting totally different."

"You mean the drum thingy?" Naruto asked, dismissing the insanity comment. He already knew that his sister wasn't normal by any means and neither was he. Normal was boring.

"Yes!" Sasuke yelled, "Itachi's been learning how to play the drums lately and when my mom or dad ask him about it, all he says is, 'This is a must. I must learn to play for the final showdown.' We all don't know what he means by that."

"I think drums are cool," Hinata commented, missing the entire point, on purpose or on accident, she wouldn't tell.

Sasuke just gave up at that point and changed the subject, "Are you guys down to get some dango?"

"Oooh, can we get ramen too?" Naruto asked, jumping up and down.

"Cinnamon buns?" Hinata also asked, her body rocking back and forth from Naruto's jumping.

"Works for me," Sasuke shrugged.

"Yay!" the Hyuga Uzumaki pair yelled, "Last one to the dango shop is a stinky loser!"

Without another warning, the two booked it down the street towards the shopping district, leaving behind a slightly confused and gradually getting tilted Sasuke Uchiha.

"Cheating! This is cheating! I'm telling the Uchiha Police Force!" he yelled as he sprinted quickly to catch up to them.