Hello dear reader, hope you are doing well.

Here is a new chapter in this saga.

(Wave Country: Forest)

Naruto slung over the unconscious form of Gato over his shoulder as he ran towards the clearing, once at the given location he hid Gato in the hollow of the tree and extended his senses to survey the area. Making sure that there was no one else nearby he covered the area with a few branches before he dropped down and started running towards the bridge.

The rest was up to Kyuá.

'I hope I still make it within time,' Naruto thought as he ran towards the bridge. It would be suspicious if he was too late in getting to the bridge.

…

"Goddamit!" Suiryou shouted as he got to the shore, the rest of the mercenaries followed his as they wrung their clothes dry. No one had any idea as to what had happened, the water hadn't acted up since that time…but that one strike had cost them pretty much everything.

'We have no boats,' Suiryou grimaced, 'Most of our weapons are gone and almost everyone is tired from all the swimming…and Gato is gone!'

'…it could've been Hatake or Zabuza,' Suiryou deduced as he looked around, 'That shit with the water was definitely Ninja-stuff, we underestimated those guys a bit too much.'

But now he had another problem on his hands, he now had a very angry band of mercenaries behind him who had travelled across borders on the promise of millions that he had waved in front of them…millions which were now nowhere in sight now that Gato was gone.

"…we even lost out meal ticket!" one of the mercenaries bellowed, "Damn those ninja!"

'I'll have to initiate a raid,' Suiryou thought as he looked at the bedraggled army he had conjured in the past few weeks, 'If these idiots don't get to vent their anger in the next few moments they'll even turn on me.'

"There's a village over by the docks!" Suiryou shouted as he turned, "Gato's been bleeding them dry for some time, but they've got a hell lot more than they ever gave that midget!"

"Yeah!"

"I'm gonna take the best woman!"

"Let's kill something!"

The cries of the mercenaries filled the air as an arrow zipped through the air and landed straight near Suiryou's feet.

'What?' Suiryou thought as he looked towards the mud road, the form of a small child emerged from the mist.

"Get away you morons!" the child shouted as he held up a sword too big for his body, "You idiots aren't getting anything from us anymore!"

"Get lost kid!" a man spoke from the crowd, "Run off to your mommy! And tell her to put on some makeup for the guests!"

"You drunkards don't deserve the privilege," a woman emerged from the mist and held a dagger towards them, "Go away, or we will make you do it."

"Heya! We got a lady even before we got to the village!" a man shouted, "Come here sweetie!"

Another arrow shot forward and impacted the man painfully in his shoulder.

"…get lost," a man emerged holding a bow as he strung another arrow from his quiver, "We have had enough of scum like you."

The mist rolled away and the number of people seemed to increase, as the mist got thinner Suiryou's anxiety started increasing.

Hundreds of villagers, armed with everything from rusted swords to pots and pans stood like an army before the rag-tag army of mercenaries he had standing behind him.

'We're outnumbered 5 to 1,' Suiryou felt a bead of sweat roll down his neck, 'There's no way we can even survive.'

'Clang'

All it took was for one of his underlings to drop his sword and start running, soon enough the rest of the mercenaries followed and even Suiryou started running.

'I've got to get to Nanshibari,' Suiryou thought as he continued to run, 'Enough of playing a roughshod on the road for me, I'm going back to farming once I get back home.'

With that, the last of Gato's influence in the country disappeared.

…

(The Bridge)

Sasuke looked around as he held his position near the bridge builder, it had been over an hour since the clones of Zabuza and his partner - the masked Hunter-nin known as 'Haku' had attacked them and there had been no action since then.

'What is happening?' Sasuke thought as he extended his senses as much as he could, he wasn't a sensor like the Yamanaka but he could still hear their breathing if he concentrated hard enough. However he found no trace of anyone other than the drunk of a bridge builder and his annoying female teammate.

"Alright," Kakashi spoke as he materialized in a shroud of leaves, "There's no trace of any traps in the area, Zabuza and Haku have either already left or were never here in the first place."

"What!?" Sasuke couldn't help but let his feelings attain the form of words as he gripped his kunai harder. He had been expecting a test to see how far he had come in order to compare with him.

…but all of that was in the air now. Was the enemy planning a surprise attack later? Was today only a bluff?

Suddenly smoke started coming from the end of the bridge, everyone in the team gripped their weapons in case it was an enemy attack.

"FEAR NOT!" A voice bellowed from the smoke, "FOR THE GREAT FUTURE HOKAGE NARUTO UZUMAKI IS HERE TO SAVE THE DAY!"

Sasuke felt his grip go limp as his actions were mirrored by the others in the team, the smoke cleared to reveal an orange-clad idiot who was also unfortunately his teammate.

"…AND THE VILLIANS SHUDDER AT-eh?" the dobe stopped his rant as he looked at everyone, "Aren't we supposed to have like…a big fight today?"

"You missed the action Naruto," Kakashi spoke as he gave the area a last one-over, "Zabuza and his partner are long gone."

"Man!" the dobe pouted as he looked at the area, "I wanted to show everyone how awesome I got!"

'Could he be a bit less loud?' Sasuke thought as he felt himself sweatdrop, 'Not that it matters anyway.'

Kakashi soon gestured them to break formation, Sasuke only turned back once during the trip back to Tazuna's house when he heard the Dobe speak about how he had been 'awesome' while saving the drunk's family from 2 measly mercenaries.

'Atleast I got to fight the water clones,' Sasuke thought as he looked on ahead, 'It's better than fighting 2 idiotic civilians.'

…

Kyuá moved through the forest in the cover of darkness as he came near the appointed location, gathering chakra near his feet he jumped back to the top of the tree and moved a few branches to see the target in the hollow as per his mission instructions.

He picked up the target and slung him on his shoulder, now he had to get back to his team before the target was disposed as per Uzumaki Naruto's instructions.

…

(Tazuna's House: Nighttime)

Naruto ate his fill as Tsunami-san served him another round, a feast had been cooked to celebrate the day of Gato's downfall and Tsunami-san had clearly outdone herself.

'Gotta hand it to her,' Naruto thought as he chowed down on more rice, 'She doesn't have much in the way of ingredients, but she makes one helluva dinner.'

"…so you're saying that someone burnt down Gato's palace today?" Kakashi asked Tazuna.

"Yeah!" Tazuna shouted as he put down his bottle, "Some of the guys from the bridge got really annoyed at Gato's episode in the mornin' so they went over with all the oil from the construction machinery and burnt it down. Best part was that all the guards of that shrimp were partyin' with whores outside, so all the lads came back in one piece too!"

It took all of Naruto's training to not choke, he just forced himself to concentrate on the food and not partake in the conversation unless absolutely necessary.

He didn't trust himself to not react abnormally.

"…I see," Kakashi-sensei spoke as he tapped his chopsticks on the table, "So Gato is gone?"

"Yup!" Inari spoke as he jumped from his seat, "We beat off his thugs near the docks today too! They're never comin' back here again!"

Kakashi-sensei nodded at him and continued to eat, after dinner Naruto excused himself as he moved outside.

It was only when he saw the sparrow perched on the roof that he allowed himself to smile. He raised his fist in the air as the sparrow disappeared into a puff of smoke.

Kagebo and his team had safely left the country's borders and were going back to Konoha.

His first mission as a team leader had been successful.

…

(The Bridge: A week later)

Naruto smiled as he waved back at the crowd of villagers who had gathered to wave them goodbye. The last week had been pretty cool, he had kept on practicing the tree-walking exercise and had his clones help with the bridge construction. Tsunami-san had been extra kind to him and had even fed him some pretty delicious dishes.

No one had spoken about his plan, even the workers in the bridge had not given any trace of their involvement except a discreet thumbs-up when they were alone.

…he had also spent some time compiling his mission report, no doubt Jiji would demand it immediately once they were back. Ofcourse he could not write anything down, so he just kept a group of clones constantly memorizing and mentally repeating everything he had done throughout the mission and where he could have possibly gone wrong or taken a too big a risk.

'Gato's disposal is going to be a big pain in the ass,' Naruto thought as he lied on his bed, 'I know it would've been much easier to let Zabuza kill him and bury his body somewhere in a ditch…so I need to defend the choices I made.'

He would stand by what he did, even if it meant not following the most 'efficient' path as he had been taught.

…

The villagers waved the shinobi goodbye, they had truly brought peace to their land.

"Hey!" One of the villagers shouted, "We haven't got a name for the bridge yet!"

"Yeah!" Another one spoke, "We gotta name it something awesome…like the Great Freedom Bridge!"

"No, it's the Great Bridge of Change!"

"Nonsense!" Tazuna spoke, "It's the Awesome Bridge of Tazuna the Great Bridgebuilder!"

Everyone on the bridge sweatdropped as they heard the self-obsessed rant of the old drunk.

Inari then looked on ahead as the form of the shinobi vanished into the horizon. He looked down at the kunai Naruto had given him to protect his family, he pocketed the tool again as a name came to his mind.

"Naruto," Inari spoke, "It is the Great Naruto Bridge."

"Eh," Tazuna looked down, "That's…lame!"

"The Great Naruto Bridge," Tsunami spoke, "It sounds great!"

"The Great Naruto Bridge!" People began to cheer at the name, and hence one of the longest sea bridges in the world was named.

…

Kakashi walked behind his team as thoughts about what had happened swirled in his head. From what little information he had been able to gather in the past few days Gato was nowhere to be found, presumably fleeing somewhere after his palace had been burnt down and his army of mercenaries was chased out of the country.

'That still doesn't explain what happened with Zabuza,' Kakashi thought as he rubbed his chin, 'Did he know what was going to happen with Gato? Is that why he only sent clones to the bridge as decoys so that he could get away? How was he involved in this?'

In the end Kakashi figured that Gato had probably been cost cutting and didn't pay his dues to Zabuza when the bridge builder had survived the initial assault. Enraged and injured from his fight with the Leaf Shinobi Zabuza used the water clone technique to fool Gato before fleeing the country with his partner.

'I bet it was him that told the revolutionary army about Gato's movements,' Kakashi thought, 'He gave them information about exactly when Gato's defences would be weak, and in the chaos of the fire he probably made off with some of the cash.'

A classic backstabbing move used by the missing-nin, but Kakashi was unconcerned as he looked on ahead. This was the most plausible theory of all, and therefore this would be the hypothesis he provided in his official report. Whatever had happened had in the end worked in their favor. Perhaps Zabuza was involved, perhaps he was not – the only thing that mattered now was sending an official communication to the Hidden Mist from the Hokage's office and putting a bounty on Zabuza's head for attacking a team of Leaf Chunin.

'Though I think I'll have to give Naruto a lecture on stealth,' Kakashi thought as he looked on ahead, 'If he had actually done something like that entry in a real battle he would have been dead before he could make the slightest difference.'

In a few days they were all back in the village. Kakashi gave an oral report as to what happened during the mission to the Hokage and then dismissed his team for 2 weeks, they could use a bit of rest from so much travelling.

…

(Konoha Underground: ROOT Base)

Naruto gulped as he stood in attention before his teacher. Jiji had asked him to stand here since over half an hour, and he was sweating like a monkey from the heat.

"Report," Jiji finally spoke as he put his pen down and looked at Naruto.

"The mission my team was assigned," Naruto spoke, "Was to protect the cargo of the Kinhako guild until a deal could be struck at the designated exchange port in the high seas. The mission proceeded without any event of note until the ships stopped to commence trade. On the 4th day of the mission the ship was attacked by a group of pirates, they were in possession of breathing apparatus that enabled them to swim underwater for long durations. They bombed the port side of the ship with explosives and thereafter climbed over the sides to takeover, however Team 7 was able to subdue them with little effort."

"Did you do anything to reveal your skills?" Jiji asked.

"…at the commencement," Naruto spoke, "I may have kneed a pirate in the nose, which could be a bit out of character given how I generally fight. However no one from my team saw me, and even if Kakashi-sensei noticed it he never spoke to me in that regard. Most likely Sasuke Uchiha was thought to have taken him down."

"A mistake," Danzo spoke, however he was willing to be slightly mellow considering the fact that it had probably been the boy's fight or flight instinct working his body…and what he had accomplished thereafter, "However, was there anything else?"

"No," Naruto spoke, "I used shadow clones to fight them thereafter like a gang fight, we won easily but the damage done to the ship was bad."

"Proceed further," Danzo spoke.

"The ship took refuge in a small port in the southern part of Wave Country," Naruto spoke, "Kakashi-sensei took the decision to start the journey back via road given that it would take over a week for the ship to be repaired. We therefore started travelling back towards fire country, however on the second day of our trip we felt chakra flare at a nearby location, and Kakashi-sensei asked us to remain steady as he went on to check the location stating that he had smelled blood. His clone thereafter returned to inform us that a missing-nin of the Hidden Mist, Momochi Zabuza was engaging a team of Leaf Chunin a few hundred meters from our location. The clone relayed instructions that Kakashi-sensei would be engaging Zabuza by himself and that we were to retrieve the injured chunin and protect them. Kakashi-sensei had proceeded to fight Zabuza, who later utilized a high-powered water technique to distance our team before he was retrieved by his accomplice."

"Your role in the fight?" Danzo asked.

"Limited to providing support by utilizing clones," Naruto spoke, "I created over 30 clones, 9 to surround the injured, 10 to provide long range support in the fight and 10 to attack with Taijutsu. A single clone was meanwhile transformed into a Fúma Shuriken and thrown by Sasuke Uchiha in the guise of the Shadow Shuriken Technique. The clone was able to successfully get behind Zabuza and aim a Kunai at his form. Zabuza managed to evade the attack, but it forced him to let go of his sword and use a high-powered technique to gain distance."

"Acceptable," Danzo spoke, the boy had played an effective role without revealing any trace of his training, "What happened thereafter?"

"Yuki Haku," Naruto spoke, "Who was Zabuza's accomplice had taken the garb of a Hunter-nin from the Hidden Mist, he was able to effectively hide his presence during the fight only letting me get a trace of his chakra when he revealed himself to everyone on the team while retrieving Zabuza. He shot 2 senbon in Zabuza's back putting him in a false-death state and then ran off with his body. The client of the Chunin-team revealed himself to be Tazuna, a bridge builder from Wave Country. His identity was verified by Kakashi-sensei who then asked us to build stretchers to transport our injured comrades and take them to the client's house for further treatment. Once in the house we Genin were asked to take watch while Kakashi-sensei gave first aid to those injured, the treatment drained him of his chakra and he spent many days after that recovering from the strain."

"The location was secure?" Danzo asked.

"Yes," Naruto spoke, "I was able to check the surroundings constantly with my sensory abilities and had my clones lay many discreet traps around the house. Even if an intruder would manage to evade them all, the spider-web formation would have atleast caused enough noise to alert everyone."

Danzo simply nodded.

"Thereafter I ran the clone protocol for intelligence gathering," Naruto spoke, he went on in detail about how he used his disguised clones to gain intelligence and subsequently used the same information to enter Gato's base.

…

"…therefore I had Kyuá take the charge of defending the villagers," Naruto spoke, "I admit that my priorities were slightly off from what was taught to me in the protocol, but simply taking Gato out of the equation would have meant that he would be replaced by one of his henchmen in the future…who could be a possible threat. Instead I figured that letting the people gain power would be better as in the end the increased trade would benefit Fire Country, and the people of Wave are more likely to hire our Shinobi in the future against the practice of hiring from the Mist earlier."

"Well thought of," Danzo couldn't held but feel a tinge of satisfaction at how well the boy had implemented his limited training, but there was still one facet that displeased him greatly, "However is Gato truly taken care of?"

"Well…," the boy seemingly debated a long explanation but ate his words, instead he took a deep breath and spoke clearly giving a monosyllabic answer, "No."

"…and why is that?" Danzo asked, disappointed at the soft approach taken by the boy in the end, "Is he not a threat? He may have been unconscious and sedated when he was kidnapped by Zabuza, but if he does come back he will undo most of what you have achieved."

"That won't happen," the boy spoke, looking him straight in the eye.

"Why?" Danzo asked, his visible eye narrowing, "Has he 'promised' you that he shall mend his ways?"

"No," the boy spoke, "…but I thought that Kagebo-sensei already told you about what Kyuá did."

"I only know of the fact that you failed to order his death and took a weak stand," Danzo spoke, "It reflects an aberration on your part, one I am not sure I am willing to forgive."

"Gato is alive," the boy spoke, "…but he won't be back, probably forever."

"…and how have you ensured it?" Danzo spoke, "Elaborate."

"I had Kyuá take Gato to Nanashibari," the boy spoke, he straightened his posture and his features hardened as he continued, "I had ordered Kyuá to cut off his tongue and his left thumb, shave off his head, dress him in rags and then had him sold as a bonded laborer to one of his own mining slave rings for over a decade…"

For the second time since the mission, Danzo felt stunned at the absolutely flawless plan the boy had concocted.

"…I've prepared for a Hundi for the amount of his selling price be delivered to him when the bond expires 10 years later," Naruto spoke, "I didn't really give it much thought, but I'm sure that we can completely change the structure of whatever he owned by then. That way we still get our win and…"

"…there is no blood on your hands," Danzo completed the sentence as he internally smirked, the boy was soft, but he had been taught well to be so ruthless on the field. For the first time in decades Danzo felt something stir inside him.

Could it be…

"Very well," Danzo spoke, "Take 7 agents from my troops, I want you to head the mission to compile everything we have obtained from Gato's residence. Figure out a way to obtain everything Gato Corporation owned, and subsequently have it under your absolute control."

The boy gulped at the enormity of the task.

"…this shall be over and above your regular training ofcourse," Danzo spoke, "You have 2 minutes to name your team, or else you shall have to pursue it by yourself."

"…Kagebo," Naruto spoke, "Surume, Akemi, Kuro, Henso, Kyuá and Ginko."

'A well thought of choice,' Danzo thought, "Very well, the assigned agents shall report to you within the next hour. Get started."

…

Naruto let out a breath he had been absently holding as Jiji ordered him to proceed to the eastern storage room. As expected Jiji had summoned him the moment he set foot in the house, and the main shot had been at why Gato was still alive.

'I think Jiji was satisfied,' Naruto thought, he couldn't really bring himself to order the death of a man yet, so he had gone with the 2nd option he could think about which would ensure that Gato never came back. The idea itself was inspired from a book he had bought at Genkai which he had read while he was bored on the ship. The protagonist, a young swordsman from the fictional land of 'Lakeó' who was trained by his father to be a ruthless warrior and avenge the dishonor and subsequent death his mother suffered at the hands of their enemy. The boy had vowed to fulfill the mission by training day and night until he was able enough to challenge the man in an open duel, but on the battlefield as he was about to proceed and slit the enemy's throat the boy was stopped by his mother's spirit which manifested in his sword.

He tried to reason with his mother, to kill the man who dishonored her and bathe her tombstone in his blood so that she could finally rest in peace…and yet he stopped when he heard her final words.

'…I can never rest in peace knowing that my son has become the kind of man I lost my life to.'

The spirit was gone, and yet the boy could no longer bring himself to kill the man before him.

…that was when the boy cut off his knotted hair, the symbol of a swordsman. The enemy was thereafter banished to an unknown land, with open hair proclaiming his disgraced status and his thumb cut off to deprive him of the skills he had worked his entire life to achieve.

'Was it justice?' The boy had thought at the end of the book, and the question still plagued Naruto today.

Was it really justice? Was it proper what he did to Gato? Should he have killed the guy instead as protocol dictated and acted like a soldier?

What gave him the right to decide all this? To decide what should happen to Wave and what should happen with Gato? Who was he to decide what should have happened to all those people?

'…because I was strong,' Naruto thought, 'I was stronger than them, all of them. I could choose what had to happen to all those people because I had the power to go ahead with whatever I planned.'

Wasn't that how it worked? Afterall the Hokage decided what happened in the village, and he was supposed to be the strongest Ninja of them all.

'Then what stops me?' Naruto couldn't help but ask himself, 'What stops me from becoming someone like the enemy that boy fought? Someone so completely drunk on his power that he does whatever he desires without caring the slightest bit for others?'

Do you have anyone precious to you?

The question still plagued him, but he didn't have much time to ponder over it as Henso opened the door and came inside with a bunch of storage scrolls.

'Alright,' Naruto thought as Jiji's troops rallied around him, Henso unfurled the scroll and made a few handsigns and a mountain of paper manifested in the room.

'…this is going to take some time,' was all Naruto could think as he picked up the first file.

…

"This sucks," Naruto allowed himself to speak as he ate his dinner, training had started at the usual time and it had been Ginko-sensei's turn today. After having endured over 2 hours of physical torture disguised in the form of spars and weight training all he wanted to do was to collapse in bed…but the new task of compiling everything they got from Gato was looming on his head.

Thank goodness there weren't any team meetings for 2 weeks, he was pretty sure he'd die from the exhaustion otherwise.

'Atleast I don't have to worry too much about the money now,' Naruto thought, Jiji had given him the responsibility of managing everything Gato had, which meant a lot of money even after he had repaid the 30 million to Jiji's account with interest.

He had quickly found out that the task before him was enormous. Gato had been in business since decades, with the business itself running across almost every country on the continent. The shipping business itself was a focal point, but he had his hand in almost everything known to mankind - from roadways in Lightning Country to the flourishing flesh trade in Wind Country…Gato had a stake in everything. Moreover all his 'unofficial' dealings were coded in the form of simple greeting cards or letters and needed to be decoded by his team members.

Needless to say he had over a hundred clones working with Jiji's troops underground just to arrange everything chronologically. The hurry of getting everything from the palace meant that all they had was a huge mess of papers that could or could not be related to each other. Just half an hour before Naruto had found page no. 32 of the resolution of some company Gato owned in Bird Country and right now the others were searching for the first 31 pages.

'Alright,' Naruto thought as the memories of a clone hit him, 'They found pages 18-26 atleast.'

These 2 weeks were going to be painful.

…

2 days later, Naruto's patience finally ran thin. Constantly being hit by memories of clones working endlessly to make sense of a stack of papers, coupled with his normal training under Jiji's instructors had worn him down.

So instead of spending his afternoon reading a bunch of stupid papers Naruto finally decided that it was time to go out and hand over the gifts he had gotten on his trip.

His first stop ofcourse, was the underground.

…

Danzo was working in his office when he heard a knock on his door, putting down his pen he permitted entry to his blonde trainee.

"You are done already?" Danzo asked.

"No," the boy spoke.

"…I do not believe that I had asked for a progress report," Danzo spoke as he picked up his pen again, "Report only when you are asked to."

"Actually," the boy shuffled in a bag before he took out a box and placed it on his desk, "I wanted to give you this."

Danzo looked at the package before his gaze again fell on the boy.

"It's something I got for you when I was in Genkai," the boy rubbed his head, "I figured you liked tea, so I tried to buy one you might like."

Danzo looked at the box again and held it, the boy then bowed and moved out.

In the silence of his office, Danzo peeled open the packaging and inspected the contents. It was a mediocre blend from the north, not in the least comparable to the imported beverages he had developed a taste for.

…but for some odd reason he decided to keep it.

…

Naruto moved out of the house and jumped across rooftops as he came near his favorite place in the village, the Ichiraku Ramen stand. Once there he moved inside and ordered 5 bowls to fill in his quota for the long trip.

"Been some time since we saw you Naruto-kun," Ayame spoke as she put a glass of lemonade on the stand, "So, did you go on an exciting mission?"

"Totally!" Naruto pumped his fist as he spoke, "We went in the high seas on a merchant ship, and I took down a bunch of bad pirates too!"

"Wow~" Ayame spoke as she pulled his cheeks, "My little Naruto is getting so big, fighting pirates by himself!"

Naruto smiled as Teuchi-jiji put a bowl of his favorite ramen in front of him. He was about to leave after paying the bill before he remembered about the gift.

"Ah, Ayame-neechan," Naruto rummaged through the bag, "Here, I got you a little something from my trip."

…

Ayame looked at the box Naruto handed to her, before she could even speak he was gone saying something about going to Iruka-sensei's place.

In the stand she opened the wrapping to see a fancy looking box, inside were a bunch of the prettiest hairclips she had ever seen in her life.

'Oh Naruto,' Ayame thought as she picked up one of them, 'When did you grow so big to bring gifts for others?'

She undid the ribbon in her hair before tying it again with a clip. She looked at the mirror and smiled, it looked perfect on her.

Out of the corner of her vision, her father smiled as well.

…

Iruka was grading papers in an empty classroom when a familiar mop of blond hair came into his vision. He smiled before he put the papers down and looked at the boy.

"Naruto," Iruka chided, "What have I told you about coming in through the window?"

"…that is not allowed in the academy," Naruto spoke with a smile and pointed to his forehead, "But I'm a ninja now sensei."

"You certainly are," Iruka got up and ruffled Naruto's hair, "So how is it going? Got any cool missions you want to talk about?"

"Yeah!" Naruto spoke as he jumped around, "You know we went to…"

Iruka allowed himself a small break from work as he listened to Naruto talk about his most recent mission, he was a bit surprised to know that the team even came across one of the most infamous missing-nin in the world.

"…and then I helped them complete the bridge too. It was actually fun given that I could walk under it upside-down and fix up things they couldn't."

"That's nice Naruto," Iruka spoke, "…but I've got to get to work now. There's a bunch of assignments I need to grade."

"Ok," Naruto chirped, he was about to leave before he stopped and took out a packet from his bag, "This is for you Iruka-sensei, I got these at Genkai."

Before Iruka could speak Naruto was gone, he sat down on the desk and undid the knots tying package which revealed to be a stack of books and a nice set of pens. Iruka smiled as he let his old pen rest in the drawer and used the new gift his ex-student had gotten him.

The smile stayed on his face throughout the day.

…

Naruto jumped across the rooftops after he had given his gift to Konohamaru and his group. He looked at the clock in the market and realized that it was almost time for his regular training…and he did not want to be late.

The last gift would have to wait.

…

"That shall be enough for today," Fuu-sensei spoke as Naruto dropped from the exhaustion. He could still feel the phantom pains from Ginko-sensei's physical training yesterday and the strain from arranging Gato's belongings wasn't helping either.

'This royally sucks,' Naruto thought as he got up from his seat, he rarely had problems with understanding words given his constant training with Jiji, but writing Kanji was much tougher and draining.

"Danzo-sama has asked for a report on the progress of the mission," Fuu spoke and Naruto deflated again. He then proceeded to the storage room and had his clones disburse in small groups as he sat down to assimilate the memories. Once he was done he moved to Jiji's office.

He knocked on the door and was let in. He bowed as a gruff voice called upon him.

"Report," Jiji said.

"It is difficult to give an exact estimation of the work which has been completed," Naruto spoke, "At present we are arranging the documents chronologically, till now we have been able to trace the link of Gato Corporation to 5 companies across the world; 2 in water country, 1 in lightning country, 1 in bird country and 1 in wind country. We have presently decrypted 5 communications which indicate that he had a substantial stake in flesh trade in the Eastern Part of Wind Country and illegal poaching in Bird Country – the legitimate business of the companies possibly being used to further the trade."

"Estimated timeline for conclusion?" Jiji asked.

"Uhh," Naruto rubbed his head before straightening himself, "We still have 2 more scrolls before we hit the artefacts and armory, so I expect everything to be arranged by the next week. Then I will have the team travel around a bit, maybe hire a few law firms to sort out formalities and then start taking over control of all the entities. Gato is currently reported to be missing and suspected to have gone underground, so have some time before everybody across the continent tries to dig in their claws into his holdings given that he had no recognized legal heirs."

"Recognized? So are there any unrecognized ones?" Danzo asked.

"Yeah," Naruto spoke, "From what we've concluded, he had atleast 3 bastards through different woman across the elemental nations…all of them Akasenko – born of prostitutes. His real wife, the heiress to the Makoto Business Group, had passed away many years ago shortly after their marriage leaving all her fortune to him which was used to set up his current holdings. Presently everything he has seems to be structured to be controlled from Hot Water Country, so we will start from there once we're done."

"I see," Danzo spoke as he looked at Naruto, "I was informed that you were not present in the base this afternoon…I hope you understand the scope of your physical training has already been set."

"I," Naruto shuffled, "…was not training. I got a bunch of stuff for a few people in the village I like and was out visiting them. I was just about to go out after dinner to meet Kagome-"

"Uchiha Kagome?" Jiji asked.

"Yeah," Naruto spoke, "I couldn't really get the image of her crying out of my head when I was in Genkai, so I got her a little something…did you figure something out about her?"

"…no," Danzo spoke, "You are dismissed for the night, make sure that everything is in order for your mission."

Naruto bowed and left.

…

Once again alone in the privacy of his office Danzo made an important call, the hit on Kagome Uchiha he had planned for the night had to be called off immediately.

After Uzumaki had reported a strange form of chakra emanating from her form Danzo had left no stone unturned to find out her identity. He had his agents go through every document they could lay their hands on, civilians of the Uchiha clan who were still alive were questioned discreetly but to no avail.

She was a descendant dasi, a child of someone who had been captured as a slave by the Uchiha clan during the era of warring clans. From whatever Danzo's agents had been able to gather, Kagome's grandmother, Hisoko, had been the sole survivor of the now extinct Kisuki-clan. She had been captured by the Uchiha clan and forced to lead a live of servitude and shame until she died, leaving behind her an avaidh daughter – one born of a dasi and forced to lead the same life. Kagome herself was the same, and was leading only a slightly better life than her mother - Kanomi.

…technically slavery in the village had since been outlawed by the Shodaime Hokage, however the decree had one exception – the dasa and dasi captured before the village was established…and their descendants. All throughout Konoha there were many clans, both civilian and shinobi that had many such slaves in their compounds.

The strange thing about Kagome's family was that an unofficial decree that was passed by Uchiha Fubuki, the then Clan head who had barred Kanomi from ever having any children – a rarity as all clans wished to keep their supply of slaves intact. There was no written record of any such nature, but the same had been revealed by a elderly civilian of the clan who had fancied the woman in his youth – only to be at the receiving end of a very harsh tongue lashing at the hands of Fubuki. He had happily revealed many sordid details after a few drinks and a little dose of hallucinogens, courtesy of Surume.

…but all such gestures had been pointless as Uchiha Keboshi, Fubuki's own brother, had impregnated Kanomi sometime in the past. Scared at the prospect of angering his brother, Keboshi had kept everything a secret until the girl was born. Fubuki had been furious but ultimately forgave his brother, and Kagome was inducted in the Uchiha Clan as a dasi for life…Kanomi's decree having been extended to her daughter as well.

Kanomi had been killed in the massacre with a majority of her clan, but the reason of the strange decree for the bloodline was what puzzled Danzo. He had his agents dig deeper and deeper but nothing could be found except for rumors that the family bore 'cursed' blood.

It was as if Fubuki, and then subsequently Fugaku Uchiha had taken the secret to their graves.

…that was until one of the agents stumbled across the half-burnt diary of Mikoto Uchiha in the trash while some women of the clan had taken up a recent cleaning expedition. Careful reconstruction of the document had revealed everything and made Danzo finally realize why the Uchiha Clan did not wish for this bloodline to fester.

Kanomi's father, and Kagome's grandfather…was Uchiha Madara, making Kagome his granddaughter and the only person in the world who bore the madman's blood in her veins.

Danzo had made plans immediately, the girl was an imminent threat waiting to explode. She had been kept at arm's length from the Shinobi Arts, her chakra seemingly sealed at a young age without her knowledge.

However Uzumaki's testimony meant that the blood of the madman ran strong inside her, and that she could very well go off like a ticking time bomb given how the women of the clan treated her. Given that almost every shinobi of the clan who could have possibly known the secret was dead, the seal on the girl was gradually weakening without any maintenance. It would not be overestimation on his part to predict a second and more deadly massacre in a year or two if she cracked.

…but Uzumaki Naruto's involvement in her life meant that simply eliminating her was no longer an option. The plan for tonight had been for Kagebo's team to infiltrate the compound and make it look like she had hung herself, something any other person in her position would likely have done to escape their perilous and disgraced existence. The highly understaffed police force was unlikely to make any investigation, and the people of the clan would not even bother with her death.

'This can be used to my advantage still,' Danzo thought, 'If Uzumaki can…'

The thought had been on his mind since the time Fuu had read out Kagebo's report.

For the longest time, Danzo Shimura had been looking for someone who would provide him the answer to the future…as to what would happen to the village after his death.

Unlike Orochimaru, Danzo accepted the concept of death to be a part of the journey of life. He knew that death was inevitable in any person's life, and that he could not escape from it no matter what he did. The only reason he had kept elongating his life despite the belief was the factum as to who would succeed him if he were to die.

Kushina had given him some hope in this regard, she had been an excellent Shinobi and he had a once developed a fleeting hope that she could possibly lead his troops to defend the village…but she had been far too soft for his liking in the end.

He had even tried his hand with Orochimaru, disgraced as he was after being passed up for the seat of the Yondaime Hokage. The snake had worked well until some time ago when his research had started extending to areas even Danzo had never approved. iIt was his inkling suspicion that the snake had since been plotting the demise of his homeland after being kicked out by his old teacher.

Both times, he had failed to find anyone worthy.

…but Uzumaki Naruto had rekindled his hope. The boy could be ruthless, as was proven by Gato's disposal and could handle himself perfectly even under highly volatile situations. What he lacked in talent as a Shinobi was compensated by the sheer amount of effort he was willing to put in, and the other talents he had gained from his blood and the demon sealed inside him.

The boy…could be his successor, his foray out of the darkness and into the light. The boy who would become the Hokage of the village once Danzo had lived his life and protect the village from the vile forces that desired its downfall.

…and the granddaughter of Madara Uchiha would be the perfect match for the future Hokage.

Danzo smirked as a plan manifested in his mind, if Uzumaki could effectively handle the takeover of Gato's empire then this would be his final decision.

Uzumaki Naruto would be the future commander of ROOT, and then become the Hokage upon Danzo's death.

So I hope you liked this.

Stay Safe!

Please review if you like…or even if you didn't. It helps both ways.