Chapter Eight - Back Home

Naruto walked on a trail through the forest before coming to a familiar clearing; the farm, with the house now completely burnt down.

The blonde followed the trail to an oak tree that stood tall, finding five graves. The headstones didn't have any names or anything, but he knew who they were for all the same.

Kneeling down, Naruto cleared a few fallen twigs and leaves from the graves, brushing off the headstones as well. He just looked at them, his eyes going back to the middle one as tears started forming. "I'm going to be leaving today. My team and I completed our mission. The village is finally free."

Naruto took a shaky breath as he wiped his eyes. "I want you to know I made the bastards suffer. I finished off Gato and everyone can have peace, again…everyone but you."

The blonde hung his head as he cried now, his body shaking as he fought the sobs from escaping. "I'm sorry I couldn't hold onto my promise. I really tried but it wasn't enough. I don't know if you forgive me or if you are cursing me, but I deserve nothing less than your judgment."

Naruto bowed his head to the graves, his fingers clenching through the dark dirt. "I applied seals to your graves so that they won't decay, and no one can disturb your rest for any reason. I hope that is enough."

Naruto gave one last bow before standing and leaving to meet his team at the bridge.

"…so after that, Tazuna had more help and the bridge finished quickly after that. We stayed for the festival and left the day after that morning."

Hiruzen blew on his pipe, setting it aside to ask, "and what of the missing-nin, Zabuza Momochi, and his apprentice?"

Kakashi looked at Naruto, who was looking out the window. "You may want to speak to this one here."

"Privately, if possible, Hokage-jiji," Naruto glanced at his two teammates, who were barely paying attention. "What I share is private clan business, I'm sure you understand."

Hiruzen nodded his head and waved his hand. "Your team is dismissed, Kakashi, they may leave. You and Naruto will stay, however."

Kakashi nodded his head and led his students out of the room, both of them torn from being grateful that they don't have to stand there anymore and curious of why Naruto was staying. Nonetheless, they followed their sensei and Hokage's orders and left without much fuss, even if they wanted to.

"Now, Naruto-kun, please explain," Hiruzen waved his hand.

"Zabuza and Haku, his apprentice, were given an offer on behalf of myself as head of my clan, which is not stationed inside of Konoha. As such, I did not need to consult with my sensei about my decision, and when they accepted I gave them a location to go to so that they will be taken care of."

Hiruzen listened silently. "Where is your clan situated? You and I both know that your clan, at most, is scattered to the wind, and your old home was destroyed just as long ago."

"For the last seven or so years I had come in contact with retainers of my old clan, and they found that I am the closest related to the previous royal family Prince. As such, they pledged themself to me and do as I say. I respect the old man of the clan, as he was alive and the childhood friend of my great grandfather, and he survived the Uzushio massacre."

Naruto pulled out a scroll that he was handed as soon as he got to the village from one of his shinobi. "This scroll is the latest update from them. I already looked it over and found it safe to share without revealing any private information."

Hiruzen took the scroll and read the contents of the scroll, his eyes the only thing to show emotion as he found his eyebrows rising. "I see, so this is where your funds have been going."

Naruto grinned as he accepted the scroll back. "I have, and now I am self-sufficient. I have no plans to leave Konohagakure or anything, but my loyalties do not solely reside here. I am sure you understand, due to the laws of the first Summit."

Hiruzen nodded but his aid, Iruka, was confused by this as he refrained from looking at the scroll and had been writing out payments to teams that have completed missions. "A shinobi cannot have any loyalties to any other village, rival, or ally. It causes a conflict of interest."

"For the most part that would be true, sensei, but during the first Summit, it was deemed necessary for clans to maintain a bit of autonomy or there would be difficult to keep them loyal to the village. During those times, clans did not want to be told how to handle their finances, training, or traditions, so the Summit gave a few protections to clans. To those who have many branches, they have much more freedom but if they are deemed too much trouble, they can be dismissed from the village and therefore are not given the support of the village. The only stipulation is that a clan cannot give village secrets to any other village and if their branch clan does so they must be excommunicated or be faced with punishment for such a hazard."

"My clan, the Uzumaki, are not a Konoha clan and they never pledged themselves as, and as such, it was by alliance and marriage that Uzumaki lived here. We had our own nation of sorts, off the coast of Fire Country, and we had our own military and culture. As such, Uzumaki are loyal to themselves with their main line as rulers, and therefore cannot pledge to foreign powers under any circumstances."

Hiruzen nodded his head to show that it was true. "It's old, and because many villages have built up trust and loyalty over the many wars there hasn't been a need for the first Summit to be revisited but it is very much still a valid law that must be internationally accepted and followed."

"What if someone doesn't," Iruka asked.

"Then the village will find a curse affecting them," Naruto chuckled. "Old Fuinjutsu is tied to those who signed the agreement to the laws of the Summit, and should one village choose to ignore it, then there will be various natural or supernatural disasters targeting them. The Uzumaki helped make that specific seal, and it was used on their official contracts to prevent anyone from backing out or taking advantage of them."

Iruka gulped, nervously glancing at the others. "D-did I ever tell you how scary your clan is, Naruto?"

"No, but that's alright because I already knew that," Naruto grinned back. "Now, if that's all, I have a few meetings I must attend today and also avoid a horny snake woman that has likely heard I am back in the village."

"Take care, Naruto-kun," Hiruzen gave his farewell as the door closed and he turned to Kakashi. "I'm sure you still want to talk about the Exams."

Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha towards the Interrogation and Torture office to see Ibuki about the picture, making sure to keep a watch out for a purple-haired woman that will surely find out that his team had finally arrived. He wanted the game of cat and mouse to go on a bit longer, if only because he wanted to see what lengths the woman would go through to get to him, but also because he wanted to get the important stuff out of the way before he had some fun. It wouldn't do for him to forget his duties and goals as Uzumaki.

"Ah, you're back," Naruto heard from his left and turned to see the man he was just about to look for.

Ibiki is in his trademark bandana and trench coat, but he sat at an outside dining table with a scroll in his hands and a cup of tea, and a plate of pastries. He looked normal rather than the grizzled chief interrogator that has been the scariest man alive to anyone that had the misfortune to enter his care. But Naruto understood better than anyone that you can't be who you need to be all the time, so he can appreciate meeting a man like this instead.

"Hello, Morino-san, mind if I join you?"

"Not at all," Ibiki motioned to the chair across from him before turning back to his scroll. "You took longer than you said you would, I almost thought you were never coming back."

Naruto laughed and gave a smile to the man. "The mission went from C to A so quickly that we had to be even more careful. Thankfully, everything went well and we came back in time for the Exams. I've noticed quite a few foreign shinobi walking around."

Ibiki nodded with a sigh. "The necessary patrols and watch to make sure nothing happens has been giving me a headache. Already detained a foreign shinobi because he got in a fight with one of our civilians."

Naruto shook his head with a frown. "I can't understand some people. Anyway, I know you're busy so I will cut to the point for you. Did you find out anything about that picture I gave you? A name or location could help immensely."

Ibiki nodded and reached into his pouch and pulled out a small scroll and handed it to the young blonde. "This came about three hours ago from the Daimyo's head scientist." When Naruto took it, he continued. "The basic explanation is that it is a research facility looking into creating its own summonable creatures. She is the lead detaining personnel that is meant to stop anything from going awry. Her name is Honoka, no last name, but due to some irregularities I think she is related to you."

"Irregularities how," Naruto asked while pocketing the scroll after taking a brief look through it.

"Enhanced chakra, a sensor, and a natural with fuinjutsu," Ibiki answered and gave a look at Naruto. "I have no need to know why you wanted to know about her and the island, as I am sure it is something simple like finding your lost family. For that, and my respect for you, I will not ask anything about your reasons and such."

"I appreciate it, Morino-san," Naruto bowed briefly before standing up. "Before I leave, have you seen or know where Anko is?"

"She will be getting off her shift soon," Ibiki answered without looking from his scroll.

"Understood," Naruto smiled before walking off.

Honoka is likely related to me, and she is on a remote island between Kirigakure and the mainland.

The island is protected by the Fire Daimyo. If we do anything wrong or show any type of aggression, we may very well be inciting a war with the royal family.

Good thing we will have the Whirling Tide unit to handle it.

The Whirling Tide is a nickname for a branch in the Uzushiogakure shinobi forces since centuries before the formation of hidden villages, and they specialized in kidnapping and small group rescues in hostile territory. They were especially invaluable during the First Shinobi World War when many villages and foreign powers wanted the Uzumaki blood for their own. Many women had been kidnapped and forcefully raped and most of them had been rescued and taken back home where they either gave birth and created a branch line, a separate clan or aborted the fetus. The people that could not be saved were few and that is mostly because their names had been changed and hidden, causing difficulties to launch a rescue operation as they did not want to risk getting the wrong people.

One family thought to be a descendant of such Uzumaki blood is the Terumi clan in Iwagakure. Just before the Second Shinobi War, they suddenly had an entire generation with unique Kekkei Genkai; Lava, Boil, sensors, you name it they started gaining it. Uzumaki blood can be the only explanation.

Deciding he will use the sealed message book to contact Ginrei, he put the thought to the side as he reached his next location; the bounty office of Konohagakure. It was controversial to have this organization inside Konoha, as a shinobi village it created problems as many shinobi in the ranks have high bounties on their heads for some reason or another from other nations. However, to operate in the village they cannot issue or accept the bounties of native shinobi unless they are missing-nin and even then they are having to notify the Hokage offices whenever a bounty has been cashed in.

Because of the stipulations, it isn't the most popular in terms of bounty offices compared to those around the continent, but they are still pretty busy most of the time. The store is run by five individuals but is particularly owned by one of Naruto's cousin clans descendants; Paul Greyrat, the son of a surviving Uzumaki retainer, a bounty hunter who is one of the only non-shinobi to have reached S-rank, and a master of three sword styles. He has three children and two wives. The other five who staff the bounty office are his previous traveling companions, altogether being A-rank or S-rank people.

One is Paul's first wife, Zenith Greyrat, who is skilled in old ways of healing that were lost to time upon the advent of chakra thousands of years ago. The only place that trains these mystical arts are in the unexplored regions far east beyond Water country where the only place even remotely explored is Sky country; Zenith is from a further nation called Demon country. The mother of two of Paul's children with the oldest, Rudeus, being a good kid around Naruto's age, and her youngest Norn, an adorable girl ten years younger than her older brother and Naruto, also has a crush on the blonde.

The second is Ghislaine Dedoldia; a half-human half-feline woman from Claw country, which borders Sky to the east. She is an experienced swordswoman but her thirst for action and testing her abilities makes her restless at the simple life and she often goes on bounties herself to sate the desire. She is an aggressive and impassive individual, which causes Paul to refer to her as a meathead, but it is a considerable improvement from what Naruto heard; hearing that she was a very violent person who bullied a brother she has no longer seen in nearly twenty or so years, which is also the cause for why she left her village and was found by Paul.

Next is the short bearded man named Talhand, a rugged man from a village on one of the tallest mountains in Iron country with a penchant for not conforming to what people think he should act. He used wind and water magicks, which ostracized him from his village as they saw it as useless for a village of miners whose main export are metals and jewels. Add to the fact that he was exiled from his village for being homosexual, another choice that his village didn't accept, and he left without a single glance back due to his stubborn nature. The man is a fun person to be around, and when around alcohol he is even more outgoing which Naruto greatly enjoyed witnessing.

The final person is a female warrior from Honey country, Elinalise Dragonroad. With long pointed ears and beautiful hazel eyes, her youthful appearance is deceiving as her specific line can live nearly as long as an Uzumaki with her being seventy-five years old currently. She is cursed as well to always seek out sexual pleasure - a weird curse to Naruto as he found it an excuse to seek acting out his more lustful daily thoughts - and as such she is also very popular among the red district women as a regular client. She is skilled with a sword, not the best but enough that she is considered an A-rank threat to the average shinobi, but she is also carefree in personality and lives her life as such despite the curse.

"Hold on, I'll be right with you," a voice called when Naruto entered and rang the hanging doorbell.

"Good to see you again, Tal," Naruto smirked as he saw a few scrolls fall from the shelf.

"Fucking bugger," a shout could be heard before footsteps approached and the short man came into view from the back. The man gained a large grin as he approached after confirming his ears weren't tricking him. "Lad! How ya been?"

Naruto laughed and grasped the man's hand and pulled him into a hug. "I'm doing well, how are you? Any interesting bounties coming in?"

"I'm doing excellent, lad, and aye there have been a few interesting ones," Talhand nodded his head as he led the young man to the back. "Paul is home today with Zenith and Lilia to enjoy some alone time. They had Rudeus take out Norn and Aisha so they don't have to worry 'bout bein' quiet."

Naruto laughed as he nodded his head, knowing that sounded just like Paul as the man was very lustful despite being a dangerous individual. Seems to be a trend, being sexually active as well as dangerous. "Well, I came to see what bounties you have on Kirigakure missing-nin."

"Didn't think you would pick up bounty huntin', lad," Talhand remarked but led the boy to the shelf labeled 'Water'. "We have a few. Zabuza Momochi the Demon of the Mist, Meizu and Gozu the Demon Brothers, Kisame Hoshigaki the Monster of the Mist, Raiga Kurosuki the Thunder of the Mist, and we have Utakata the Jinchuuriki of the Six-Tails."

"I want the one on Raiga Kurosuki."

Naruto and Talhand looked back to see a young woman standing at the threshold between the front and back; with long red hair and dark eyes, she is relatively short and only reached up to Naruto's chin. Naruto recognized this woman from studying the dangerous ninja from other villages as Ameyuri Ringo, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist, but she was declared dead by her village nearly five years ago. "It's rude to interrupt, y'know."

The woman flashed a sharp-teethed smile at him before turning back to Talhand. "I insist on taking that bounty on Raiga."

When Talhand looked at Naruto, seeing as he was the first one to come to look at the bounties, the blonde shrugged and let the man walk forward with the scroll for Raiga. "Alright, girl, I need you to fill out this paperwork."

The paperwork is simple; the name of the bounty hunter who is taking the mission, a blood fingerprint, as well as any other person that will be splitting the reward for the bounty. No identification is ever taken as many bounty hunters are former shinobi and want to remain anonymous so pseudonyms were used most of the time, and some bounty hunters are also missing-nin with bounties as well. Naruto watched the process, keeping his eye on the supposedly-dead woman.

From what he could remember, she is the previous owner of the Kiba swords that are now in the possession of Raiga, which most likely explains why she wants to go after him, but she is also a very bloodthirsty woman which is not surprising considering she graduated around the same time as Zabuza Momochi and their graduation ceremony was a literal deathmatch. She is known for dragging out fights to prolong suffering and sate her bloodthirst which only makes her even more dangerous to those around her. It is the reason why for the five years she was part of the Swordsmen she never had a partner as the times she did they always ended up dead at some point.

"Just a quick question, Ringo-san," Naruto said before the woman could grab the scroll with mission notes. "Can I just confirm, but are you trying to regain the Kiba swords that previously belonged to you?"

The woman paused to get a good look at the blonde and nodded her head. "That bastard kept what is not his, and if he can take those weapons because he feels like he deserves them then I think that they should belong to me. Unlike that bastard, I remained loyal to that traitorous village."

With that, the woman turned to leave.

But before the woman could open the door and leave, Naruto stated one last time, "if you ever need a place to settle down and do your business, whatever it may be, seek me out here again and I will give you an offer too good to refuse."

At the woman turning to look at him, he flashed a bright smile that spoke of no deceit before she grinned and turned to leave without a second glance. Talhand chuckled at the blonde. "Now that the missy is gone, is there anything else needed?"

"Just turning in the bounty for the Demon Brothers," Naruto said as he pulled the scroll from his pouch that he took from Kakashi to cash in. "Split it four ways, my team and I took them down together."

The short man nodded and went to do as needed to confirm their identities and divvy out the payments. "Just one moment, lad."

Knowing that he will be waiting for half an hour at most, Naruto went to sit in the small lounge area. He had just sat down when the door opened.

"Uncle Tal!"

Naruto laughed as he heard the young girls' voices and just as he expected, Aisha and Norn came rushing in. "Girls! Look how big you are!"

The girls gasped and ran at Naruto just as Rudeus walked inside, tackling the sitting Uzumaki with a squeal. "Naruto!"

"Hahaha," Naruto laughed as he hugged the girls that were strewn over him. "It's good to see you. How have you been, staying in trouble I hope!"

"You mean out of trouble," Rudeus corrected with a grin.

"I meant what I said," Naruto smirked at the boy. "How have you been, Rudy?"

"Still learning with mom, but hopefully I will be able to go traveling soon."

Naruto nodded his head in understanding. "You'll get there, don't worry. You're headstrong."

"Naruto, don't ignore us!"

Naruto laughed at the young girls' pouts and hugged them more. "I could never ignore you, girls."

"Good!" They shouted with proud grins.

Naruto shook his head in amusement and listened to the girls tell him all about what they've been up to lately, mostly small things like learning the basics of magic and being a maid in Aisha's case, and he listened attentively while also asking Rudeus about him. He is more simple, as he is being trained by his father to wield a sword in one of the styles while his mother taught him more magic.

"All set, lad," Talhand said as he came to the front but stopped when he saw Paul's children. "Kids, what're you doin' here?"

"We came to visit you!" Aisha giggled as she and Norn approached the man to give him a hug, getting a small one in return as he still held the four bags of money.

"Here, lad," Talhand said as he handed the gold over.

"Thank you, Tal, stay safe girls, Rudy," Naruto waved before leaving.

Naruto took the time to walk to each of his teammate's places to give them their gold; he gave Sakura's father the money as he was the one to open the door. However, looking for his male teammate quickly got annoying as the Uchiha district is a ghost town and he couldn't find the Uchiha at the main house or any of the nearby houses. It was clear the boy wasn't there. He decided to leave the money in a seal on the door to the main house that seemed the most used that would activate upon opening and triggering the seal parameters. He wasn't going to go on a manhunt for his emotional teammate and made his way to Kakashi's place which resided in the middle of the southeast district.

Close to Anko. I wonder if she will see me by then. Naruto chuckled to himself at the thought of being found by the woman.

He had heard Kyuubi chuckle rather mischievously before he felt a few pairs of eyes on him. While that is not much for concern, as many villagers still stared at him with that awe they gave Sasuke after the Uchiha massacre that sickens his stomach, what does concern him is the amount of killing intent he can sense directed at him.

Interesting to feel hate for you specifically after so long.

Indeed, the last time we felt this kind of intent was before I revealed my heritage.

Naruto decided to let this play out and continue his trek for his sensei's home. He was a block away before he felt their chakra flare slightly and he jumped to the side to avoid the shuriken aimed at him. He moved again to avoid a water bullet and backflipped to avoid an earth-binding technique.

He looked up to see three individuals on the roof of the building opposite him. They held no village insignia but from their uniform, he can tell they are from Iwagakure. "You know, discarding your headbands just to fight me does not prevent us from knowing who you are."

"Shut it, bastard," one of them shouted before moving forward to engage Naruto in taijutsu.

Naruto blocked a few strikes before grabbing the man by his jacket and pulling him to the side, using him as a shield to block the kunai sent by his second teammate. He tossed him back and made the hand seal for horse-tiger-monkey-ram-tiger-snake. "Fire Style: Final Dawn!"

Naruto breathed in deeply before exhaling crimson flakes that spread like wildfire and lit anything it touched on fire. The shinobi that took the brunt of the attack screamed as he felt his clothes and his skin start burning to ash and he fought to get rid of the flames, falling to the ground to writhe in pain. Coincidentally, this is the sole fire style ninjutsu that he knew as he found that he had a hard time learning that specific nature. It made sense when he realized that he had affinities for earth, lightning, and water natures.

Turning to the side, Naruto grabbed a shuriken and tossed it at the third and most frozen teammate of the trio, using the mass shadow technique to make the single shuriken turn into a few dozen. The shinobi had realized the attack just in time to avoid death but his right leg was not so lucky and four kunai stuck out of the limb. He landed with a yelp of pain next to his teammate, making the young man look at him in worry before facing the Uzumaki once more.

"You'll pay for Soru's death!"

"You didn't have to do this, you made it a fight to the death when you attacked me unprovoked. I sensed you fifteen minutes ago following me, I gave you the chance to walk away. I am no longer responsible for your health."

"You can't lie to us! We know you're the bastard spawn of the Yellow Flash!"

"My parents were actually married, thank you very much," Naruto stated, causing the man to get angrier.

"You don't deny it! If we kill you, our village will praise our names even if we die after! We will have done what could not be done to your father!"

"You're not threatening anyone," Naruto gave a deadpan stare at the bravado displayed. "I killed one of your teammates, injured the other, and there is only you. Do you really think that you can kill me when you are outnumbered?"

"Outnumbered?! Are you blind!"

"There's one and a half of you," Naruto trailed off and looked around at the building rooftops. "And about thirty of us."

That's when the Iwa shinobi realized his mistakes. During their shouting, they missed the element of surprise, and any shinobi in this district will have felt and heard their attack. Looking around, he gulped as he looked at the Anbu and Jonin that now stared down at them, prepared to make a move if they did anything.

"Y-you coward! You waited for help to come!"

"No, I let you drone on about your honor and reward if you were to defeat me," Naruto shrugged. "You let yourselves get caught. Now that I don't have to worry about you anymore, enjoy the T department and make sure to ask for Anko. She'll treat you nicely."

So I'm done with Chapter Twelve. This is a longer chapter, which is fine, but I usually try to keep my chapter at least within the 2000-3500 word range so if anyone has to step away they don't get lost in the chapter or anything. We all got busy lives I'm sure so I make it easy. Anyways, we get introduced to some characters from the Mushoku Tensei universe. The Greyrat family and the Fangs of the Black Wolf adventure group, all of who are now the owners of the Konoha Bounty Office.

Also, I'm working on a fandom currently so that I can keep my notes somewhere that is easier to navigate rather than my notebook or word doc. I think it would also be nice for yall if you ever wanted something like that to look at but, of course, it will have some spoilers for the two chapters I do have written ahead. Or four chapters ahead now that I realize it... uhhhhh. Well then...

Habu2010: Yeah, decided to add a form of magic into the universe, which will be the ancient and primitive force that is mostly practiced in the other continent (Sky,Demons,Fang,Claws,etc), and because the Uzumaki is one of the only people to have traveled outside the influence of the Sage of Six Paths they have a school for magic.

NinjaFang1331: Thank you

777torn777: Thank you, as you can tell I update a lot and I want to keep the ball rolling with the story. I'm glad that you enjoy what you're reading so far :D