A/N: Surprise! A second update in 2 weeks.

As some of you may have noticed, Chapter 1 has been revamped as a friend has pointed out that kidnapping is OOC for Sarkhan…so it's been edited to keep him IC.

With any luck, this chapter is still up to snuff.

…

[Konohagakure no Sato]

Naruto sat at a table, taking in the sights as he settled down with a cup of green tea and a stick of skewered sweet dumpling balls called 'dango' with everyone too busy going about their day to notice him. To ensure that he'd be seen as a traveler instead of an invader, he chose to hide his spear and sword in a different plane, only keeping his knife holstered at the small of his back; besides, even if he was disarmed, he could always fall back on his magic.

It'd taken him a while to get here due to a wrong turn he'd taken, but Naruto was able to get a better feel for his home Plane; nonetheless, he'd pressed on as his master had instructed, seeing many interesting things along the way. As he'd been told, the experiences he'd have on this Plane would help shape his choices in the future…and the adventure he'd had a little over a week ago told him of the dangers he'd have to face. Maybe not other monsters like his master had, but there were pretty powerful warriors aplenty here.

As he looked at the buildings, he could see that Konoha was a fairly prosperous village, as modern technology such as televisions and electric lights were starting to become more prevalent. The most advanced technology he'd ever seen were the Cogwork Archivists that ran the Biblioplex at Strixhaven. He remembered the time he'd seen one chasing down a student that had missed a due date for a borrowed book.

He was brought out of his thoughts when someone ran into his field of vision and tripped in front of him. Naruto looked down to see a blue-eyed brunette boy roughly three years his junior on the floor, and on his ass. He wore a strange metal helmet on his head, and was dressed in a dirt-green shirt and gray pants, with a long blue scarf around his neck.

The boy glared at Naruto with no small amount of anger in his eyes, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "You! You tripped me!"

"You tripped over your own two feet," Naruto said matter-of-factly.

"Liar!"

Naruto said nothing, finding his drink and snack to be more interesting than the younger boy's tantrum. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

"Honorable Grandson!" called out a voice from behind the boy.

The speaker was a man in his late twenties jogging up to the younger boy. He wore a complete indigo jumpsuit with a pair of sunglasses, and he had a stylized leaf emblem engraved in a metal plate on his bandana. He had a lithe, wiry frame; overall, he seemed like an ass to Naruto, but he could see that the man had the bearing of a veteran that had the skills to back up his boasting.

"I've been looking all over for you!" said the tutor, "You didn't show up for your session!"

"I needed a break, Ebisu-sensei!" the boy fired back.

"Well you've had your break, now it's time to get back to work!" replied the tutor, who then turned his attention to Naruto, "And you, show some respect! This boy is the grandson of the Hokage!"

"Respect given is respect earned, you prick!" Naruto shouted back, setting his cup aside.

His response had earned a good amount of attention from both the tutor and the apparent student, both of whom looked as though Naruto had suddenly sprouted a second head. Ebisu in particular, had a striking resemblance to a fish gasping for air as he sputtered in shock. "And who do you think you are!?" he asked.

"I'm just a simple traveler, trying to make his way through the world," Naruto answered.

"A simple traveler that looks like he can handle himself in a fight," snarked the tutor, skepticism heavy in his voice.

"Gotta be able to take care of myself against the crazies," Naruto replied with a shrug.

"Well we have a tutoring session to get back to!" said Ebisu, grabbing his student by the collar as he tried to sneak away, "And you have a lineage to live up to! Your grandfather became Hokage, and thus it is within your ability to do so as well!"

"Hey, ease up on the kid," Naruto said.

"And what would you know about teaching someone of such a lineage as his!?" Ebisu shot back angrily.

"Nothing at all, but I did graduate from a university, so I may have something to say on this matter," admitted the Planeswalker, waving at a server before pointing at the boy, "Anyway, from the way you're hard-pressed to get him to study, I can only guess that you're doing a cram session. Not a bad idea to be sure, especially if exam day is coming up, but you still need to give him time to really unwind, or he'll be too stressed when it comes time for him to shine, and it'll all be for nothing. And as a school athlete, I can tell you that sometimes overtraining can be worse than undertraining."

He then turned his attention to the boy. "And what's-your-name, how badly do you want to graduate?"

"It's Konohamaru," answered the boy, surprised by Naruto's genuine lack of recognition, "And I want to graduate very badly."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "And why is that?"

"So that people can see me for me," answered Konohamaru; taking Naruto's silence as permission to continue, he took a deep breath, "Every time people talk about me, it's always 'honorable grandson' and never by name…like they only see my grandpa, and not me. I wanna become Hokage so that I can prove to the people that I am my own person, and so I'll become my own Hokage."

"Then pay attention to all your teachers," Naruto replied, "I haven't really met your tutor to be sure, and I honestly think he's a stuck-up prick." At this, Ebisu glared daggers at him. "But I can tell just from looking at him that he's a guy that's seen it all, and he's trying his best to teach you everything he knows; you want a break, you've got to earn it by doing well, and keeping it up. From what I understand about a Ninja's life, it's gonna be hard, and you might die, so take what's useful from your time with him, and apply it to your life so you have better chances of coming home to be Hokage."

"What about you?" asked Konohamaru, "Why are you traveling if you did so well at school?"

Naruto thought for a moment before sighing. "I know it probably sounds weird, but I'm travelling because of my master; he raised me as a baby and taught me the best he could before sending me to university. When I got back to him, he told me he had nothing else to teach me, before telling me to come here and explore; I made a promise to him that the next time I see him, it will be as equals, and I promised myself that I would tell him about my travels."

"When I become Hokage, will you tell me your stories too?" Konohamaru asked hopefully.

"Only if I get to hear yours," Naruto replied, reaching into his money pouch as the server walked out. He fished out a large wad of paper money he'd gotten from his adventures in the Plane before leaving.

…

[Elsewhere]

The day went on as usual as a raven-haired boy and a pink-haired girl duo walked the streets of Konoha.

The boy wore a dark iron-gray shirt over a black tank-top and dark green pants, and open-toed boots; around his neck, he wore a chain with the Uchiha gunbai as a pendant. His body was made of lean, wiry muscle toughened from a combination of hard training and several missions under his belt.

The pinkette wore a red blouse over dark grey shorts, and a pair of thin-rimmed glasses; her shoulder-length hair was kept in check with her hitai-ate, which she wore as a hairband. Her body told the tale of a girl that had come a long way.

As they passed, many gave the two of them a wide berth, and some went so far as to lightly bow before them; something they'd both experienced for quite some time now.

"So what do you think of the mission, Sasuke-kun?" asked the girl.

"Not my problem, Sakura," answered the boy.

"Ah come on, don't give me that," Sakura admonished, "Surely you've got some thoughts about what happened."

"I really don't wanna talk about it," Sasuke bit out.

The duo had just gotten back from a most peculiar mission that had apparently been completed before they could even start in earnest, and it all began when an old bridge-builder named Tazuna had come to Konoha, looking to procure their services for a C-rank mission. After being attacked by the Oni Kyōdai en route to Nami no Kuni, it was made clear that the mission was in actuality a B-rank at the very least…a deception that Team Seven confronted their client about. Evidently, Tazuna had categorized it as a C-rank because it was all he could afford, but he'd promised that he'd repay the team whatever he owed after his project was completed. Seeing as they'd already had a foot into the mission, they agreed to see it through to the end.

En route to Nami no Kuni, Tazuna had confided in Team Seven as to why he had to lie to the Shinobi team. The shipping magnate Gatō of the Gatō Company had set up shop in Nami no Kuni, and had a stranglehold on the island's economy; buying out docks, burning down fishing boats, even threatening shipwrights, all so he could buy out the island for cheap. His endgame was to use Nami no Kuni as his base to ship illegal substances, and turn it into a den of sin and vice…his own personal Tanzaku City. Tazuna's aim was to build a bridge connecting Nami no Kuni to the mainland, thereby subverting the need to use Gatō's personal shipping fleet, while also effectively giving the criminal businessman the finger.

As soon as they arrived on the island, they'd encountered no signs of resistance; beyond the signs of a fight that took place, they were able to pass through the mangrove forest without incident. Upon setting foot in the village of Nami no Kuni, Tazuna was surprised to find the villagers and his family in better spirits…and the village in the process of rebuilding.

It wasn't until Team Seven was invited to Tazuna's home that his daughter Tsunami explained the situation to them. While Tazuna was in Konoha trying to hire a Shinobi team, a stranger had entered the village from the forest before being accosted by Gatō's thugs, who then proceeded to threaten him for money. A little while after the stranger made short work of the brigands, she offered him a place to stay temporarily in exchange for protecting her home and her son. In that time, he was apprised of what was happening in the village, and how the corrupt businessman murdered anyone that tried to resist.

Eventually, one of the villagers decided to play the snitch, telling Gatō about the traveler who took out an entire squad of his thugs; to nobody's surprise, the snitch was never heard from again. After that, thugs were sent to attack the residence almost every day, hoping to overwhelm the stranger with numbers like they did with Kaiza. The traveler fought off every attack with his spear, coming off with nary a scratch; being the cowards they were, the army of thugs were hesitant to press the assault, especially after every victory had emboldened the villagers to take the stranger's side. Some had even outright decided to fight back, driving off whatever help he'd hired.

One day, after finally deciding he'd had enough of Gatō's antics, the stranger went to put an end to his reign of terror once and for all. Nobody knew for sure what had happened up until that point, but everyone knew that the end had come for the criminal businessman when a meteorite fell from the sky, and completely leveled the man's base of operations in one go. After saying goodbye to Tazuna's family, the stranger had left just a few days before his return.

Unsure of what to do after that, the Konoha team decided to stay and see the mission through, if only to ensure the project went on smoothly, and that they were able to collect on their pay. Overall though, it was an easy C-rank pay.

"Still a pretty nice story though," said Sakura, "I only wish I was there to see it for myself."

"Yeah, and it would've been a missed opportunity for us to get stronger," countered Sasuke.

"You just want to track the guy down so you could duel him," accused the pinkette.

"We really need to see how far we've come," defended her colleague.

"Oh come on! It's not like we're gonna meet the guy…"

Whatever else Sakura was about to say slowed to a sudden stop before tapping on her colleague's shoulder to get his attention before directing it to a figure that was walking past them. The description that Tsunami had given of her benefactor was fairly straightforward: naturally blond, easy on the eyes with the body and movements of a trained fighter, white tunic and beige pants under a baggy brown travelling robe. While he was obviously bereft of his spear and sword, what really made him stand out were the vulpine whisker-marks on his cheeks.

And he was here in the village.

They split up while moving behind cover as they followed their target. Each member of Team Seven had their own curiosities to satisfy while questioning this intruder…Sakura wanted to personally meet this traveler that'd be willing to help total strangers stand up to a bully, while Sasuke wanted to fight him and prove that he was truly strong. Either way, they were going to make sure to take him down in an isolated area with no civilians caught in the crossfire.

The stranger walked all over the village, taking in the sights without a care in the world as he toured the village. As he was blatantly masking his intentions, the two members of Team Seven found their wish coming true before their very eyes, as his movements led them to the dike…there was no doubt in their minds that they were made. Still, it was an isolated area located in a fairly closed space to hinder any plans of escape, and it was quiet enough for any nearby shinobi to hear and come in for reinforcements; perfect for them to deal with the stranger in the event their discussion got heated. Their target had come to a stop near the bridge as Sakura slid down the walls of the dike in front of him, while Sasuke brought up the rear.

"I was wondering when the two of you would show yourselves," sighed the stranger exasperatedly as he turned to face the river.

"And we were wondering when you'd drop the whole 'innocent traveler' act," noted Sakura.

The stranger snickered mirthfully. "Well maybe not that innocent, but I'm still just a traveler."

"A very dangerous traveler that effectively started a rebellion against Gatō in Nami no Kuni," Sasuke accused.

A moment of recognition flashed across the stranger's face, before looking at the couple with a searching gaze. "I'm guessing you're the ones Tsunami's dad was trying to hire."

"No hair off my back," Sakura assured, puffing up her chest in pride, "Easiest B-rank pay we've earned, if I'm being honest. Still, I would've been happy just sending you to jail for questioning; Sasuke-kun on the other hand wants to duel you. "

"Neither of which I have any interest in," replied the stranger wryly.

"Not like you have a choice," Sasuke snipped back, "You can either come with us peacefully to answer a few questions, or you can answer them in the hospital."

"…how about I choose option three: I continue to explore this village and neither of you can stop me," finished the stranger, balling his hands into fists.

Sakura simply glared at the traveler. "Not an option."

Sasuke on the other hand, was far from amused. "You think we're going to let you continue your little tour without…"

Before Sasuke could finish his sentence, the stranger lifted up both of his hands in front of their faces, expelling a pale golden energy from both palms that knocked them back. As both Shinobi were flung a short distance away from the stranger, they tried to right themselves before landing on the floor…only to find that they had suddenly stopped, their bodies suspended in midair. They struggled, hoping to get out of whatever force was keeping their feet off the ground.

They were disturbed from their thoughts upon hearing the stranger's laughter. "And I still got it!"

"What have you done to us?!" Sakura demanded, her partner settling for glaring angrily at the stranger.

"Just a little trick I learned in school," explained the stranger, as though it were the simplest thing in the world, "You'd be amazed how much you can do with so little…in this case, I was able to lock each of you in a Detention Vortex━a harmless spell I saw teachers use to stop students trying to escape detention. Don't worry, the solution to getting out of this is actually pretty simple; not that I'm gonna tell you what it is, I wouldn't want you stopping me from my personal tour, after all. Anyway, I hope we never have to see each other again soon, so bye!"

The members of Team Seven stared at the stranger as he scaled the walls of the dike, before disappearing back into the village.

"When I get out of here, I'm going to kill him for this stunt," Sakura groused.

Sasuke sighed in frustration. "Let's just put our heads together and figure out how to get out of this thing! Then you can decide what you want to do with him."

…

[Hokage's Office]

All was quiet as Hiruzen sat at his desk, keeping an eye on the events that unfolded in his village through his crystal ball.

Everything seemed to be going well as usual, like it had for the past fifteen years; until he came across a sight that had caught his attention. A teen in white and beige clothing under a brown travelling robe, exploring the village like a tourist…however, what got the old Hokage's attention was the fact that the boy was blond with whisker-like marks on his cheeks. It was as though his successor Minato had come back from the grave, and was inspecting the village.

He sighed to himself, massaging his temples as he remembered exactly what had happened on that fateful day. After telling the village of what had occurred that night, Hiruzen had been busy trying to calm the mob, while also enacting a decree in which nobody was to speak of who carried the fox that nearly destroyed Konoha. He'd spent nearly an hour trying to placate the mob when he went to check up on young Naruto, learned that the boy was gone...taken by five vengeful shinobi who also happened to be in the pockets of some very influential individuals in the village.

By the time he and his trackers had found the boy, he was already rescued, the corrupt shinobi already killed; the stranger that rescued Naruto was a middle-aged man with a broken spear. Upon arrival, he'd quickly noticed how the dogs were terrified of this man, and how that fear was shared by their Inuzuka partners…and looking back on that day, he could recall the terror he'd felt himself. Inuzuka dogs were known to be fearless in the face of their enemies, for this man to strike terror in such brave animals spoke volumes of his power.

It took every ounce of backbone in his body to confront the stranger. What followed was an exchange that rocked Hiruzen to the core; he had no idea what a "khan" was, but the way he accused him of ordering Naruto's death filled him with pain and anger in equal measure. He apparently saw the old Kage as a weak leader, and all but said that Naruto was not safe in the village…and in all honesty, he couldn't blame him. Fortunately, he was able to come to an agreement with the stranger, and was able to keep tabs on young Naruto.

After that incident, the rescue party had returned empty-handed and officially declared Naruto dead for the boy's protection. As they returned, Hiruzen was emboldened by a fire he hadn't felt in a long time; a fire that burned when the time came to divulge what had happened, the village cheered…until he told them what would happen if the other Hidden Villages were to learn that their Bijū was missing. He wasn't lying when he predicted that they would be invaded on all sides by people with a grudge against them. Because of that, he put out an initiative for higher-quality training to compensate for their lower numbers, and lack of a Bijū to deter invasions.

Along with the changes made to the Ninja Academy curriculum, he made it clear that there would be changes in the village policy, chief among them being the formation of a special ANBU unit dedicated for anti-corruption activities to help clean house. A bold, and very necessary move that Minato had been trying to make during his tenure as Hokage, trying to free Konoha from the corruption of the merchant guilds.

So many changes were implemented in the village, and all thanks to the stupidity of the merchant guilds. Though he felt he'd done the best he could, Hiruzen could never forget the sense of failure he'd felt whenever he looked at Minato's portrait. If he'd put his foot down on how much power those rich fatheads had in the village, this would not have been necessary, and Naruto would not need to have been raised outside the village until he was fifteen years of age.

As far as Naruto was concerned, Hiruzen had agreed to the stranger's suggestion to take him away with a stipulation that Naruto be sent to the Ninja Academy when he came of age…a stipulation that was shot down. The stranger instead suggested he be taken to a school he'd heard of in a faraway land for a proper education to learn to better control a power he'd apparently seen the boy awaken when the Kyūbi was sealed within him. Hiruzen agreed, with the added condition that up until the boy was to be taken to this "Strixhaven University" for formal education, a Shinobi minder would go with them to give Naruto a basic education, and to give the Kage regular reports on the boy's status.

From what he understood in the reports, being with this stranger…this Sarkhan Vol character was a great boon to Naruto. While the man had made it clear to the boy fairly early on that he was his teacher and not his father, he had nonetheless given him a much-needed parental figure in his mentorship, and because of this, Naruto would grow up to be a fairly well-adjusted child. In his mind, this was a good thing, as Hiruzen wondered what would have happened if Naruto were to enroll in the Ninja Academy with the risk that his educational experience would be sabotaged.

While Hiruzen was skeptical of Vol's reported claim that he could travel to different planes of existence, Naruto was being taught to use senjutsu chakra at a very young age; something that Vol seemed to have mastered without any obvious effects or difficulty, much to the minder's shock. Pretty soon, the minder would witness the sage using senjutsu chakra to cast 'spells' and to temporarily summon creatures that could not possibly exist in this world. All doubts of those claims were shattered when all traces of Vol and Naruto vanished in a pillar of fire shortly after his tenth birthday: Vol would return the next day, and say that Naruto was at Strixhaven, and that he'd come back in five years.

For now, he would continue to monitor Naruto's exploration of the village. So far, due to the fact the boy was officially declared dead, the only thing that they had on him was illegal entry into the village…at best, that would result in him being kicked out of the village, ironically enough. And he knew just the team to bring him in…

…

[Streets of Konoha]

Naruto walked the streets of Konoha, still laughing after the stunt he'd pulled on the couple. It'd been a long time since he'd pulled a double-Detention Vortex, and it still amused him to no end. Granted, wouldn't have worked on a more seasoned mage, especially not in the Mage Tower ring, but the time and energy it took for them to figure out how to get free of it was taxing. Either way, it would have given him an opening to make any number of moves.

As he walked through the village, Naruto kept his eyes open for an inn until he bumped into someone.

"Watch where you're going!" said a feminine voice in front of him.

The form he beheld was a girl around his age with raven hair, and stark white eyes. She wore a yellow short-tailed kimono with red fire motifs on the sleeves and the tail, and knee-length open-toed leather boots. Healthily-tanned skin was pulled over a lithe musculature like a wildcat, and she had the movements of someone that regularly trained, and put that training to good use. There was no need for her to put on makeup, as she was already beautiful without it.

She was accompanied by a girl around her age with pale lilac eyes and long, midnight hair. This girl was dressed more, her attire consisting of a lavender and khaki hoodie over a fishnet mesh tank top, a pair of short-shorts, and knee-length stirrup socks under a pair of open-toed sandals. Rouge lipstick contrasted against paler skin, and she was no less a wildcat than her companion for it…though her ferocity was more reined-in.

"Well?" asked the more aggressive girl.

"Sorry about that," Naruto finally said, nodding respectfully as he was taught, "I was busy looking for an inn when I bumped into you."

The fiery girl was about to open her mouth, when the calmer girl fixed her in place with a stare. She was quiet for a moment, until she sighed. "Y'know what? We were talking when we bumped into each other…so I guess we're kinda even."

"Thanks, I guess," said Naruto, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"You're not from around here are you?" asked the calmer girl.

"How'd you know?" Naruto queried.

"Well, for one thing, we've never seen you around before…" explained the calm girl,

"…and you didn't bow before us like we were royalty," finished the feisty girl, "Kinda refreshing, actually."

Naruto smirked. "Should I start bowing, your majesties?"

The calmer girl squeaked and turned red while the fiery girl laughed. "I like him, neechan. Anyway, the name's Hanabi…Hyūga Hanabi; the shy one behind me is my older sister Hinata."

"Naruto…just Naruto."

"Like the whirlpool?" Hinata asked.

"That's what I was told," replied Naruto, "Most people look at me weird when I tell them my name."

Hanabi let out a nasal 'hn' of approval as she circled Naruto, the veins around her eyes bulging. "So, Naruto-kun…are you going to tell me what you're doing in the village?" She paused momentarily as her voice had taken on a slight edge. "Or are you going to start by explaining to me why you're carrying such a big knife in the village?"

"I travel a lot," Naruto answered, "Because of that, it's my most trusted tool whenever I'm outdoors."

Hinata nodded understandingly. "So why are you here, Naruto?"

"I heard quite a few things about this village, wanted to see it for myself," replied Naruto, "If I'm being honest though, my master sent me here to start on my journey of exploring the world."

"And what do you think so far?" asked Hinata.

"Honestly? I can see that the village is putting up a strong front…but there's something weak about it, like its strength has been sapped," Naruto began, "Granted, it's still plenty strong, but at the same time it's still very fragile…like the an old warrior with a lot of skill and experience, but not a lot of time left, you know?"

"You're not wrong," Hinata replied, sighing in resignation with wistful eyes, "Then again, it's true of any village; we just have to be more careful around here to make sure we don't lose it."

After a moment of quiet reflection, it was Hanabi who broke the silence. "So where are you staying?"

"I haven't found a place yet," answered Naruto, "I figured I would get started with my exploration now, and hopefully find a place to stay along the way."

Hanabi grinned as she moved closer to Naruto's ear, her whisper carrying a sultry undertone. "Then how about after you find a place, you could meet us here a little later?" Naruto looked at her, his face red as a beet as she ignored her sister's protests. "Until then, stay out of trouble, and enjoy your tour of our village."

Watching as she swaggered away, Naruto was brought back to his time at Strixhaven, when a good number of the student body had formed a sort of fan-club over him. In all honesty, he had no idea why they would be fawning over him; he was a B-student, and an accomplished Mage Tower player, but he had no idea what justified their attention. To his knowledge, only Killian Lu and the Kenrith Twins' fan-clubs were bigger.

Shrugging nonchalantly, Naruto walked down the street. The duo he'd encountered earlier were bound to figure out the secret to the Detention Vortex sooner or later, and he needed to find a place to stay before they did. As the hours passed, the density of Konoha's population had thinned out as the work day had drawn to a close. Naruto sighed, as that also meant that most of the inns were filled out.

Deciding to keep up with his appointment with Hinata and her sister until he spotted someone skulking around near the edge of a forest contained by a chained fence. He had the body of a trained veteran, and seemed a little younger than Ebisu from before; he wore a green vest over indigo clothing, and wore his metal plate on a beanie. He also had white hair and brown eyes that scanned the perimeter like a man on the run from the law, carrying a heavy sack over his shoulder.

He didn't know that man, but Naruto had a feeling that he was up to no good; to that end, he decided to follow him. With his mind made up, he remembered his teachings under the Kenrith twins about Planeshifting, and his experiments with short-ranged Planeshifting. Unlike before where he allowed his mind to wander off into different worlds, it was focused on his target, faded in and out of reality, keeping close enough while avoiding his attention. The Shinobi continued walking through the forest, his eyes peeled for anyone trying to follow him as he ran up the trees, hopping from branch to branch. Once or twice, Naruto had seen the bag moving…as though there was something alive in there.

After nearly fifteen minutes of navigating the forest, the Shinobi came to a stop in a clearing, looking around to see if he'd been followed. Satisfied that nobody was around, the Shinobi placed the sack on the floor to inspect his cargo…and much to Naruto's rancor, he saw that the man had Konohamaru in the sack, gagged and struggling to get out of his bonds. Satisfied that the apparent hostage was unable to get away, he pulled out a short blade from inside his vest, gazing greedily at his prize.

"The day just keeps getting better," cheered the white-haired man, "I'd only expected to get the chakra tantō wielded by the Shodaime Hokage himself, but to get the Honorable Grandson as a hostage? Mizuki, you've hit the jackpot now!"

"Last I checked, kidnapping and theft are both felonies," Naruto taunted from his branch, startling the man.

The kidnapper looked up at him with what appeared to be a combination of anger and envy. "This does not concern you, stranger!"

"I just met that kid earlier today, so it kinda concerns me," Naruto replied, "That, and I take it personally when people steal ancient artifacts."

"And why do you care?" asked Mizuki, a sinister grin forming on his face, "Unless you're here to reap the rewards yourself?"

"Unlike you, I'm not even interested in whatever petty rewards you think you're gonna get for this," Naruto shot back, unaffected by the kidnapper's barb, "You however, there's only one end for a traitor like you…and yours will be the tale of shame and disgrace-"

Naruto was unable to finish his sentence as a kunai was thrown at his face. With a quick thought, he Planeshifted away from the kunai and onto the forest floor before summoning his winged spear from his personal storage space. As he grabbed onto the spear, he could feel the his mana coursing through every grain and carving on the haft as elegant runes inscribed on the spearhead and ferrule glowed with power; at the other end of the spear was a faceted, conical pommel terminating in a point.

Planeshifting from a volley of shuriken thrown in his direction, Naruto continued fading in and out of the battlefield while firing arcing bolts of electricity at him after every volley until he was able to close in on Mizuki, shifting his grip to stab with his spear. As Mizuki drew a kunai from his holster in an attempt to deflect the stab, he had not counted on the fact that the spear was extremely light, yet deceptively strong, and was forced to dodge the stab as it cut through the reinforced plate of his vest, rendering his armor useless. Not missing a beat, Naruto quickly transitioned his stab in order to strike him in the abdominals with the haft to stun him, before striking him in the back to stand him back up, and following through with a stab. Instead of running his spear through Mizuki, Naruto watched him vanish in a puff of smoke, and in his place was a log wearing his vest, sliced in half like a hot knife through butter. Thinking quickly, Naruto jammed the pommel of his spear behind him, striking Mizuki in the abdomen enough to stun him before changing his grip in an attempt to cleave him in twain in one downward stroke. Mizuki was quick enough to backflip away, but not quick enough to avoid the small cut in his inner thigh; so clean was the cut that Naruto could see that he was not able to feel it until he'd landed on all fours.

"I almost fell for a trick like that," Naruto said wryly, "And let me tell you, the Demon of the Hidden Mist was a much better fighter than a scumbag like you will ever hope to be."

Mizuki scoffed, biting back the pain. "Look who's talking about scumbags? What trick did you have in that spear to give you a leg-up?"

"That's funny, coming from a so-called Shinobi," Naruto admitted, twirling his spear around before bringing the head in front of him, "I'm not telling you anything about this spear…you don't deserve to know; what I will tell you is that you just plain suck overall, because I got you with pure skill."

"Skill huh?" Mizuki asked, fishing a small vial filled with a red liquid from his pocket before popping off the cork with his teeth, "Let's see how good you really are…"

Mizuki downed the contents of the vial in one gulp, clutching his chest while screaming in pain as bones and muscles shifted under his skin. As he was too far for Naruto to even throw his spear accurately, he channeled mana from the environment into his hands, feeling the warmth as mana flowed through his fingers and into his spear. Mizuki's screams died down as he stood up confidently, the wound in his leg having healed up; his musculature had changed from slim and wiry to bulky and imposing as his body became an unholy amalgamation of human and tiger features.

Grinning sadistically, Mizuki began his attack by charging Naruto, who responded in kind by leaping over the tiger-man flipping over him and cutting into his shoulder with the head of his spear before landing behind him and thrusting it into Mizuki's chest from behind. What happened next had filled Naruto with shock; while the blade was able to cut into Mizuki's shoulder, his thrust stopped short by the strengthened bones of the rib cage. As he withdrew his spear to reorient the blade for a second shot between the ribs, Mizuki was able to turn quickly, parry the spearhead away with a thick forearm before kicking Naruto away. Upon landing on his feet, Naruto waved a mana-infused hand, hoping that the spell he'd casted would work.

Mizuki was about to run his claws through Naruto's chest, when something tackled him with enough force to redirect his momentum. The form that appeared was composed of some sort of flaming energy; dirt was lifted from the ground, the particulates electrified as they coalesced into its form as they solidified to the consistency of a strong concrete. Within seconds, the gestalt took the shape of a gigantic canine around the size of a workhorse, with electrified concrete sculpted into the shape of a lupine head, jaws, legs, and even parts of its fur.

"Well what do you know? It seems this village has a rich history after all," Naruto tittered, twirling his spear as a second form materialized right next to him.

"What is that thing?!" asked the thief, terror evident in his voice.

"I've been watching you from beyond the grave since you were young, Mizuki," snarled the dog statue with a feminine voice, the lights of her flames pulsating rhythmically to every word, "You went bad the day you allowed envy and hubris to dictate your actions, especially when your pack died because of you."

Mizuki squinted at the living statue, until recognition dawned upon his beastly features. "You're Ishihime, and progenitor of Kuromaru's line; you died at the last battle of the Sengoku Basara! How is this possible?!"

"When sentients die, their spirits can be called from the afterlife for aid," Naruto explained, readying his spear for another go, "Whether they are called for their help as teachers or as soldiers, spirits always bring their experiences with them no matter where they go…and in that way, they too can affect the land of the living. And all it takes to summon them is a physical form to tether them to this realm…if there isn't one, then you can always make one for them."

Satisfied with his spell, Naruto turned to face the resurrected Inuzuka dog. "You ready?"

"Oh you bet," answered Ishihime, her hackles raised.

"You called me out on cheating earlier," Naruto said, tightening the grip on his spear as he regarded Mizuki, "Well you drank a potion that healed and bulked you up—so consider us even."

From the moment Ishihime and Naruto re-engaged in the fight, Mizuki was forced into the defensive, having to avoid a two-pronged assault. On the one hand, he'd had to deal with the Inuzuka dog's brute physical power as she tried to bite his head off several times; on the other, he had to deal with Naruto's spear techniques which were so fast and graceful they may as well be calligraphy strokes. Both the dog and the boy covered each other's weak spots, while punishing Mizuki for every little mistake he made. Eventually, the fight had come to a close when Naruto avoided one last swipe aimed at his head and countered with one last thrust to Mizuki's chest, piercing through layers of mutated skin, fat, and muscle before penetrating well into his heart.

As he pulled his spear out, Mizuki fell to his knees, dead within seconds. Naruto let out a sigh as he regarded the dog spirit. "Thanks for answering my call."

"No worries, it just felt good to be alive again," said Ishihime, scratching her ear, "But a word of advice, pup? Try not to summon spirits again; it may have been okay wherever you learned that, but people around here frown upon such things."

Naruto nodded in acknowledgement. "I'll do my best to remember that."

Ishihime bowed in response, before yawning. "Well, I guess it's back to the afterlife for me. If you see my descendant Kuromaru, tell him he's doing a good job as alpha of the Inuzuka dogs."

"Will do," Naruto replied, as the giant dog's concrete body disintegrated into dust, her flames of life snuffed out in a gust of wind. With his erstwhile partner gone, Naruto drew his knife from the small of his back. It had a wide, heavy blade with a clipped point, had stick-like runes inlaid near the spine, and was fitted in a brass and horn grip, made just the way an Axgard dwarf liked it.

"Hang on, I'm gonna get you out of this in a jiffy," he said, walking towards Konohamaru, who was stunned into silence even as he cut his bonds.

As soon as the gag came off, Konohamaru did very little to hide his excitement. "That was so cool!" he shouted, "Well, maybe not about the spirit part, that was creepy. But the way you handled Mizuki-baka? And up until he turned into that tiger-thing? That was sooo AWESOME! Where'd you learn to do that?!"

"Well, I wasn't exactly the perfect student, but I do think I was a damn-good athlete," Naruto admitted, "Won my team a lot of games while I was at school."

Naruto and Konohamaru had stopped in their tracks when kunai and shuriken were thrown around them, their blades planted in the ground as though to form a barrier around him. Naruto turned to find the two Shinobi he'd locked in the double-Detention Vortex…along with Hanabi, who was looking at him with an indiscernible expression on her face.

"You're not going anywhere else!" cheered the pinkette.

"Well, I didn't think you and your boyfriend would figure out how to get out of the Detention Vortex," Naruto replied, unperturbed.

The pinkette gasped in shock, her face turned red with embarrassment at the insinuation.

"Honestly, I would've killed you for that stunt alone," said the raven-haired teen, "Lucky for you, the Hokage wants to see you…said it was important."

…

A/N: And we're done for now.

To those who haven't caught on, the college that Naruto attended in Strixhaven was Lorehold, which means that most of his summons will be spirits…but given how Naruto is more a close-contact fighter, he's gonna focus more on the use of artifacts, and likely artifact creatures whenever he's not slinging spells.

I have stated that Naruto will have already traveled to several Planes…Kamigawa and Ikoria being among them.

…

Translations:

Ishihime: Her name means "Stone Princess" (石姫).

…

Cards used:

Detention Vortex (White)—Enchantment - Aura—Enchant nonland permanent. Enchanted permanent cannot attack or block, and its activated abilities cannot be activated. (3) Destroy Detention Vortex: Only your opponents may activate this ability, and only as a sorcery.

Shock (Red)—Instant—Shock deals 2 damage to any target