Sasuke sighed as he and the very most unlikely companion he could have in this most unlikely journey in Nara Shikamaru had followed the two women who he swore were speaking in a language they haven't heard before. Not even bothering to dust himself off the sand that had invaded the inner deep soles of his leather sandals, the last remaining loyal Uchiha alive in Konohagakure sighed as he and Shikamaru didn't expect themselves to find themselves in this new world, something whose possibility has been brought up once by their former academy classmate Uzumaki Naruto in their class a decade ago.

I swear even back when you're the dumbest kid in our class, you probably had the sharpest instinct and wiseness I only saw in Itachi.

You see, the blonde Uzumaki has been gone from the Elemental Nations for quite some time now. It's been a long ten years already since rumors spread that the 'demon stain' has been gone and nine years and three/fourths since the Sandaime, the now-retired Sarutobi Hiruzen, had been forced to announce to the whole village that Naruto had left the village and almost all people either interpreted that as the Kami already killing the boy or that he had betrayed the village, something which was the handiwork of a certain bandaged warhawk who ordered his Root lackeys to spread a false rumor that the blonde Uzumaki left the village because of an "unexplained crime" and that whoever brings him back to him in secret in one of Danzo's security building disguised as a store would be rewarded ten million Ryo and ten-hectares of land near the village.

Sasuke scoffed at the crazy old man's schemes. It might have worked in uniting and keeping the villager's anger channeled into something temporarily but in the long run, it was also the reason why Konohagakure was embroiled deeply in so many bloody conflicts during the course of his post-academy days and how early in his life was his eyes opened to the harsh realities of shinobi wars.

The Uchiha can't help but remember as to why he added "forced" on the Sarutobi head's announcement as it was a part of the day he had discovered something that was the biggest shocker of his life.


Opening his doors calmly and stating "Tadaima..." even if there is no one in the house to greet him back, Uchiha Sasuke was a compose and calm figure in the exterior although inside, he was a swirling vortex of both rage and anger swelling wildly as it threatened to consume him dearly, "It's not enough! What I'm learning in the academy is not enough to kill that man!" He said darkly to himself as he put down his school bag. "I needed to train more...to get stronger…"

He then remembered his class and scoffed. He saw that not one of them is good enough to be a barometer to how close he can be to killing his brother. The Haruno in their class was too much of a stalker for his sanity and would probably kill her in the future if she tried to even touch him in his arm. The Nara, while smart, was too lazy and would not even do much to improve his taijutsu skills. The Akimichi was too busy gorging in chips and the Inuzuka, while decent enough, was only as good as the brawler in the streets. The Yamanaka in their class had no taijutsu skills to even speak off and the Hyuuga, as far as he can remember, was too timid to even argue back against someone.

"Oi, teme…"

"Who's tha…Naruto?"

Before Sasuke could even react properly, Naruto flashed in front of the last remaining Uchiha in Konohagakure quickly, knocking down the raven to his knees, nearly taking the oxygen out of the Uchiha.

"Wh-What the hell?!" Sasuke angrily demanded while trying to catch his breath.

"I know you're going to react like this so I'm going to make this short and don't worry, you won't die," Naruto assured the raven. "In fact, what I'm going to show to you in the next five minutes might enlighten you, even shed some light about the truth considering the circumstances surrounding your older brother and the downfall of your clan."

Sasuke's eyes flashed with fury as he tried to attack the blonde but Naruto was quicker, quickly kneeing the Uchiha in the stomach.

"Listen to me first, dammit," the blonde barked angrily, "And keep your voice low! Someone could probably hear us and it could compromise what I am supposed to do."

'How the hell did the class clown manage to get this strong?! He wasn't supposed to be this fast!' Sasuke gritted his teeth but merely complied as he kept his mouth shut.

Naruto sighed while pulling out what looks like to be a crumpled piece of paper and some few scrolls from his leather bag, "Sasuke, since asking you about the massacre directly would make you into an emotional mess, I will just ask this instead: Have you heard of any fishy events prior to the downfall of your clan?"

As much as he didn't want to answer the blonde, Sasuke begrudgingly knew that at this point, Naruto held the advantage over him, "None…whatsoever…" He gritted out.

"As expected…well, I don't know if what I am going to do is wise or not but considering how much you went through and the limited time I have, I believe you deserve to know about this." Naruto then threw the letter as well as the scrolls of official and confidential documents exclusive to the Hokage and the three elders of Konohagakure. "Believe me or not, behind the usual stories of your older brother going insane is something almost everyone in Konohagakure does not even know or recognize."

Seeing the letter and the three documents now sprawled on the floor in front of him, Sasuke picked it up slowly as for some reason, he began to feel nervousness and fear at what he may discover in reading the letter and the scrolls. As soon as he opened the letter first, he then began to read slowly.

Yo, Sasuke-chan ^^

I will keep this short. There is more to your clan's massacre than Itachi-san going batshit insane and killing all your kin. Based from the records that I accidentally stumbled when I infiltrated the Hokage Tower originally to prank the old man Hokage, it seems that your clan was accused of attempting to stage a coup against the village and so, a mummy among the three stooges stooped low to force Itachi to kill off your kin. You can check it out in the documents. I hope it helps..

With Love,

Uzumaki Naruto, the real one, not the clone standing in front of you.

"Clone? How…"

"Oi, keep your voice down or some roots hidden beneath the trees out there will hear us!" Naruto smacked the raven in the scalp. "Boss' time is limited, thank you very much, so just read out the three documents."

Sasuke shakily nodded and quickly opened the documents. Feeling a dread forming in his stomach, he slowly read the three documents thrown to him on the floor and throughout the whole time he was reading all of it, he felt his world slowly spinning around like he was about to lose himself in an imaginary spiral.

His whole clan was plotting to rebel against the whole village?

Itachi was ordered to kill the majority of his kin?

A man named Shimura Danzo was behind the whole Uchiha Clan Downfall?

"Look, I know that you have a lot of questions but if you want to know more, confront the Hokage all about it with all your heart's content," Clone Naruto shrugged, "But I suggest that you do that when it's just you and the Hokage. We wouldn't want that mummy to learn that you know about the grisly affair, would we?"

Sasuke could only shake as he had a hard time getting over the revelations that were coming to light. "Oh…and just for you to know, by the time the sun goes up, my name will be the most talked about in the whole of the village. One, because they thought I am a traitor like your brother but they don't understand and second, because the village has lost a weapon."

"I don't understand…what are you saying…" Sasuke was trying to comprehend everything Naruto was telling him.

"Look…other than whatever your problem is with your brother, don't ever tell this to the old man Hokage or else…" Clone Naruto's voice was dead serious as he brings out a kunai knife and sensing the Killer Intent leaking out of the blonde, Sasuke gulps as he can only nod. "...You can be sentenced to death for babbling this in the public as the old man had enacted a law about it but on the night of nine, the flash and the red princess gave their lives saving not only their greatest treasure but also their people. If you don't understand, then try to understand it. I need to be on the move after all."

Clone Naruto then started to move away from Sasuke and towards the exit but the raven-haired kid shouted at him, "How sure am I that this is not some type of prank?!"

The clone looked at him as if he was an idiot (or perhaps, he's too confused at all the new evidence that he had not noticed it) while pointing to a certain mark in the documents, "Sasuke, you do realize that the Hokage's stamp is there?"

Sasuke blinked before he noticed the stamp in there, "Well?! What should I do now?!" The raven yelled, feeling for the first time since the massacre how hollow his planned revenge is right now as his little world seemed to be crashing down.

"I don't know and I don't care right now how you plan to respond to all of these but for real, I believe you need to confront your older brother about what happened during your clan's downfall. Well, my time's up…so long until we meet again…" Clone Naruto turned his back and waved before quickly exiting through the window.

"Wait…Naruto…!" Sasuke tried to chase the blonde as he staggered up and ran towards the window but it was too late as the clone had spoofed out of existence.

Now staring out on dead space in the window, Sasuke can't help but feel agitated and at the same time, he's starting to get paranoid. If Clone Naruto and his original one is to be believed, whoever is this Danzo person had eyes everywhere in the village and Sasuke can't help but quickly shut down his window and lock all his doors.

The Next Day…

Hiruzen sighed as he received all the important written reports about the outcome of the Uzumaki Naruto Retrieval Team. Despite having secretly notified all of the village's high-ranked jounin and chuunin and their entire ANBU force to keep looking out for any signs of the blonde jinchuuriki, the elder Sarutobi received negative responses so far and even with the help of the ROOT Anbu which he was forced to turn to, it seems that any hopes of retrieving the jinchuuriki is vanishing every second that passes.

Even though he had accepted the decision of the blonde to "betray" the village for the sake of instilling some unity among the villagers as well as "other things", the old Hokage didn't give up in finding the blonde as he was an integral part of the village's defense, albeit with any connections to the Fourth Hokage concealed heavily. He took out his pipe and smoked heavily. It has become a habit of his whenever he is dealing with his paper works ever since the fall of the Uchiha Clan.

Speaking of the Uchiha Clan…

"Uchiha-san, you can't just simply enter…"

"I can't wait any longer. I needed to speak to the Hokage quickly!"

"I can't simply…"

Before Hiruzen can even comprehend what the commotion was all about, the door suddenly broke down and coming in was the last surviving Uchiha that is still living in Konohagakure.

"Old man, you have a lot of things to explain to me about Itachi!"

"What are you…"

Hiruzen wasn't able to finish what he was saying as Sasuke threw three documents with his seal on it. He sighed as he felt a headache was about to come later.

This wasn't really just his day.


"...suke…Oi, Sasuke…"

Sasuke blinked as he snapped out of his memory lane and quickly looked at Shikamaru, who motioned at the two ladies who, in turn, looked awkward at the deep thought of the raven.

"I was calling your troublesome ass five times and you look like you got hypnotized. Not really like you at all," the Nara bluntly said.

"Shut up, Shikamaru…" Sasuke replied back but there was no actual bite in his words.

"What a pain you are…" Shikamaru sighed, "Well, this isn't what I expected. I thought we're really jumping at the far end of the world. But instead, we stumbled upon a strange civilization."

"The moment I noticed it, I can say that Naruto was right about his questions ten years back at Iruka-sensei's lesson," Sasuke replied in hushed tones as he didn't want the two women to hear their conversation, "But whether we can find Naruto here or not is a different matter."

"It's an entirely different matter if we can even bring him home or not," Shikamaru reminded him, "After you did that troublesome confession at the end of the 4th Shinobi World War, it ripped Konohagakure into that civil war last year although thank Kami we got out of it alive. I just don't think it's safe to bring Naruto home and that's yet to consider if he even wants to."

Sasuke nodded as he remembered how early in their years they got embroiled in war.

For as long as he can remember, on the day that they all just graduated from the academy when all of the sudden, Konohagakure was attacked by a combined force of the shinobi armies of Sora no Kuni and their allies from rogue mercenaries of shinobi from all over the Elemental Continent. Apparently, word got out that the 'Demon Stain' of Konohagakure was gone and the civilians, despite having a ban on speaking anything about the Kyuubi and the Sandaime Hokage's attempts to conceal its disappearance from other villages by passing another decree after carelessly speaking it in front of the village body, decided to babble it discreetly and from there, merchants and spies passing throughout the village had sent the word to their higher ups, who felt emboldened in taking revenge on Konoha since they learned that the major village is without their own jinchuuriki…


"Yay, mom! I became a ninja!"

"That's my boy!"

"I'll cook your favorite food later night!"

"Now that I became a ninja, I can hunt down that traitorous demon that you are talking about dad so we can get that reward and become rich!"

Sasuke merely grunted at the last comment that he heard as that comment was murmured with everyone hearing it agreeing to it and he didn't take a second to realize they were talking about that secret bounty that was rumored to be set up by an elderly advisor in the clique of the Hokage. Right now, they are just starting to get out of the academy building after receiving their forehead protectors as a sign that they have passed the bare minimum in becoming shinobi graduates.

In his opinion, Naruto and his older brother were the real unsung patriots of the village as they sacrificed more for the village than anyone in the village had. Yes, after confronting the Sandaime Hokage about the truth

Suddenly, he heard a loud and long siren suddenly rang sharply around the air. "Wha-What was that mom?!" One of the female graduates of the ninja academy trembled as all of the sudden, they felt powerful tremors vibrate throughout the village as a large explosion was seen from afar. If Sasuke can remember correctly from his older brother's conversation with Shisui, that place should be the armory and weapons storage of the whole Konohagakure shinobi force which means a simple explosion from inside occured or…

"Shit, we're under attack!"

Before everyone else can react quickly, a horde of winged mechanical device was seen flying above the academy and they all dropped what Sasuke knew as…

"Shit…they're exploding spheres…"

Sasuke quickly ducked in the nearest area he deemed was safe as one of the spheres exploded in the academy. Unfortunately for the rest of the academy graduates, the bombs had, one by one, began to claim the lives of the fresh graduates who are all panicking in the open.

"Tobio!" One of the parents screamed as she witnessed her son getting hit point-blank by the bomb and immediately, the kunai and shuriken projectiles attached in the spheres sliced the boy into a giant sushi-like remains.

"So this is war…" Sasuke said to himself as he took out a concealed chokuto that originally belonged to Shisui but was now given to him by Hiruzen as he ducked and blocked an overhead strike by a shinobi, who had a Kiri forehead protector.

"Die!" The Kiri nin tried to stab Sasuke in the heart but the latter parried away his knife and struck his neck, beheading him.

Sasuke then looked around his surroundings and to his surprise, the now-scarred battle ground was not only filled with Kiri-nin but also teemed with a diverse rogue shinobi from different villages. The invaders then engaged what is left of the academy's fresh graduates as well as the few chuunin who are present in the area.

"Troublesome…" Sasuke heard a familiar voice suddenly call him out in the air as he turned around and to his surprise, he saw a rogue nin that was about to strike him with a spiked club, only to get strangled by a stretched shadow. "...Look, I don't like you personally, Sasuke but watch your back. Dad told me that we're under attack and we're being ordered to head straight to the evacuation shelters."

"Thanks and I don't really like you as well, Shikamaru…" Sasuke grunted as he struck a rogue nin with a kunai blade that he shot towards the neck and Shikamaru had to duck away as the blood began to spray. "Should we really run away, though? We're already here, fighting."

"You make it sound like we're cowards but the correct term is being smart," Shikamaru sighed, "Hurry. As much as I don't like fighting, I'd rather not destroy my chances of getting out of the academy just because we failed to follow orders."

Sasuke grunted before he followed Shikamaru. The two then sped towards the evacuation site while at the same time, they had to fight through the horde of enemy shinobi blocking their way. Luckily, Sasuke had an improved version of his Fire Style technique and he quickly barbequed a phalanx of axe-wielding rogues in just one second before weaved through a series of pathways leading to the Hokage Monument thru a map that Shikamaru had gotten from his father. Once they got out of the main residential area of Konohagakure, they quickly headed to a bunker disguised as a barn and from there, there is a secret passageway hidden by a carpet which leads to the evacuation cells. The two wasted no time jumping through the carved tunnel, leading through a large cell where a lot of people are cramped inside now.

Sasuke had to admit that this concept of a bunker was pretty much smart as not only was it concealed under a mountain and its entrances blocked by residential houses but it provided a secondary option for defenders trying to launch a counterattack. Smart, Konoha. Very smart.

"Not even curious as to whether our other classmates survived the attack?" Shikamaru asked him as they both leaned on the wall.

"Not to be cold-hearted but I don't think that's any of my concern and if they do die right now, that just means they're either too weak, too stupid, or simply too unlucky. We're shinobis, after all and we can die at any moment's notice," Sasuke shrugged as they both watched people pass by the stone corridor directly connected to the cell where they are staying.

"Ah…Shikamaru! Sasuke! There you are!"

The two then turned their heads to the opposite end of the hallway only to see their other classmate Inuzuka Kiba together with the rest of the surviving class namely Hyuuga Hinata, the stoic Aburame Shino, the two of the next generation InoShikaCho formation in Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Chouji, and the pinkette Haruno Sakura, who was the "best" kunoichi in terms of academic ranking.

"Where the hell are you Shikamaru and I'm so happy that Sasuke-kun is alive!" Sasuke can only groan in annoyance as Ino's mood quickly shifted from being irritated at the lazy Nara to seeing the boy of her dreams.

"Back off, Ino-pig! Sasuke-kun belongs to me!" Sakura shouted angrily as the two then glared at each other.

"Did you get into a fight or something?" Kiba asked as he smelt the blood from Sasuke's blade.

"Would I use my blade to kill something as insignificant as a dog or something?"

"Hey!"

"Neh, I'm glad I survived," Chouji said as he took out his chips and began eating, "Dad told me to leave it to the older shinobi in the whole village…"

"This was supposed to be my best day!" Ino wanted to rip out her hair due to frustration. "Daddy promised to bring me and mom to a treat day for my graduation and suddenly, all of these happens!"

"I hate to say it but I agree with you Ino-pig! This day sucks! They got my dress so dirty! Why don't the older shinobis just finish them off already!" Sakura's screech nearly made everyone deaf.

'We're in the middle of a sudden fighting and this is all you're babbling right now?' Sasuke's eyes were twitching as he watched and listened to his batchmates complain about what he feels are non-essential things.

"I-I do hope this fighting end s-soon…" Hinata shyly whispered as she played with her fingers.

After almost five hours of waiting in the rock-hewn evacuation hideout, a chuunin suddenly came out rushing inside the bunker and announced to the people hiding out there, "The coast is clear. You may all come out now but watch out for any debris or unexploded tags. The enemy might have left traps so follow me in a straight file."

As everyone from the evacuation room eventually followed the chuunin, Sasuke cracked his neck as he was glad he didn't have to endure another hour listening to the rants of Sakura, the complaints of Ino, Chouji biting his seemingly endless supply of chips, Kiba's annoying puppy, and a few of the other academy graduates' non-stop whining about when the attempted invasion will be over.

The Next Day…

Sasuke and Shikamaru were quietly waiting in one of the stone benches that were left intact outside the Jounin Standby Station building. They were here because yesterday, the surviving academy graduates were ordered to proceed to the building although they were not told the reason to do so. Shikamaru was merely watching the clouds while the Uchiha was busy sharpening his kunai with a black stone.

Soon, the rest of the graduates arrive, with Sakura and Ino in their usual competition to win their precious Sasuke-kun's heart while the other arrive in their own bearings.

"Ehem. Stop the chit chat or else…" A man with a bandana for a hitai-ate suddenly released a small amount of Killing Intent, causing everyone to stop talking and paid attention to the man in front of them. "I know this isn't the usual activities for you graduates but considering the attempted invasion yesterday but due the casualty rate, we'll have to announce or assess who's becoming genin by field promotion, who's going to be sent back to the academy, and who's going to be kicked out from the shinobi program."

Everyone, save for Sasuke and Shikamaru, looked at each other worriedly at hearing the announcement.

"B-But…" Sakura voiced her opinion. "What do you mean, genin? We already graduated from the academy and we're already…"

"On the contrary, you all just passed the bare minimum needed to see if you can even become the lowest of all shinobi ranks," Sakura nearly passed out when the irritated man concentrated his KI on her, "So shut the hell up and wait for our announcement."

The pinkette can barely nod properly as the announcer began to call out names…


"If Naruto was stayed in Konohagakure and performed decently in the field, he probably would have been assigned to the frontlines with the two of us….granted that the platoon commander wouldn't been so biased against him for being a jinchuuriki," Shikamaru yawned as he looks upwards, "Well, we can only speculate right now."

Sasuke nodded. The war (as well as the conflicts that soon followed) already happened and pondering about the 'what-fs' won't really help them in their mission. Speaking of which…

"Apart from possibly finding Naruto around this place, did Tsunade-sama tell you more about the presence of the alleged white men roaming around the extreme borders of the Elemental Nations' north-west seas in their red, metal ships? I didn't have the time to read the report from what remained of our ANBU espionage company," Sasuke asked.

The Nara heir took out a picture of what looked like a red cargo ship, "Tsunade-sama said that these strange, white men seemed to be surveying the seabed based on their activities. They don't seem to be interested on making a landfall on the mainland but we can't be sure," Shikamaru explained, "Actually, this was not the first time that sighting of white men were reported but in the past, the locals in the area where they are sighted say that the ships would suddenly explode, leaving no survivors. If that's not the case, they would swiftly leave the area before any local shinobi can intercept them."

But before Sasuke could reply, one of the two women tapped the former, signaling that they are already in front of the house where they would be staying, "Apologies if the house for guests are a bit dusty. We will be having an event tomorrow, after all."

"It's no problem to us but if you don't mind, may we ask what this event is?" Shikamaru inquired.

"Oh, you see, it's going to be the wedding of my adoptive son and her daughter," one of the women answered with delights as she imagined the outcome of the marriage, "We have lots of guests coming tomorrow and…oh, if you won't leave tomorrow early, you two can actually go to the wedding itself. I'm inviting you if it's fine."

"Hmm. We'll see about it but I guess we can come for the free food," Shikamaru shrugged as the old woman nodded.

"Mǔqīn! Guówùyuàn yè fēi gē hé zhōu fēng hé xiānshēng yǐjīng dàole jiǔdiàn. Nǐ huì hé tāmen jiànmiàn ma?" A servant suddenly came rushing inside the quarters where Sasuke and Shikamaru will stay temporarily.

"Gōngjìng de gàosù tāmen wǒ yī xiǎoshí hòu dào. Wǒ xiànzài yǒu dāndú de kèrén yào jiēdài," the woman speaking to Shikamaru said. The servant nodded and left. Sighing, the old woman then turned to the Nara and said, "Apologies but I have to leave now. It seems that some of our guests have just arrived. I'll come back later to arrange for the payment."

The two women then left quickly.

"Well, it's just the two of us. I might as well start resting now," Shikamaru yawned as he removed his flak jacket and sandals before he began to sleep in the soft bed.

"Hn…" Sasuke muttered before he also removed his black cloak and sat down on his own bed.


Meanwhile, in the main Wadatsumi house straddling at the top of the hill overlooking the shores of Kanagawa, Wan Qing was busy making egg tarts, almond jelly, and youtiao (Chinese fried dough) in the kitchen as Naruto, who just arrived from work, was working on a few paper works and surprisingly, their newly-arrived guests in Kamijou Touma, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, Kanzaki Kaori, and the silver-haired Index Librorum Prohibitorum was in the living room.

The spiky-haired Touma was already having a hard time trying to stop Index from going to the kitchen to demand a taste testing session from Wan Qing as Kanzaki looked exasperated at the two while Tsuchimikado was obviously enjoying the whole scene.

"I-Index-san, stop going to the kitchen just to ask the bride and groom for food! It's obvious that they're for the wedding tomorrow," the boy with the Imagine Breaker said as he was holding on to Index.

"We're guests Touma so I had the right to!" Index justified her reasons for wanting to demand a taste session, even after Wan Qing had already given in to her request by giving her a tray of the fried dough as sample for her to eat.

"But it's not enough Touma!"

"Well, it's enough already, Index! There's still the wedding tomorrow! You can eat there to your satisfaction!"

"It's too far away. I can't wait another day, Touma!"

"Argh, Index!"

"Do those two even shut up?" From the kitchen, Naruto was obviously having a hard time concentrating on his work as the shouts of the two were being heard even from the kitchen.

"It seems that the nun had a high appetite that not even a full tray will satisfy her," the Chinese teen sighed as she puts one of the tarts near the electric fan for the sweets to cool off, "It seems that mom and your adoptive mom is meeting up with Uncle Ye Fei and Sir Zhou Feng He from the State Council…"

"The State Council…you mean the administrative authority of China? The only thing I can say for them is that they're too full of themselves," Naruto said, not even looking up from his paperwork, "Although to be fair, a lot of state bureaucrats here in Japan are also totally assholes…"

"You've met with one of their councilors?" Wan Qing asked in genuine surprise.

"You've heard of the Ginza Incident nearly a year ago? Met up with one of the Chinese State Security chief's right-hand morons in Ginza for a one-on-one high level meeting concerning improving relations between their agency and our own Ministry of Defense and guess what…" Naruto stopped to sip his coffee, "...He started demanding if I could tell him about Japan's new missile installations in Akita in exchange for 1 million Euros and I nearly burned him to death for even saying that shit in my face…"

"Oh my…so it was you who nearly burned that government building in Ginza? But who knows, maybe he was just asking it as a part of the whole meeting and…"

"I don't think I would answer someone who asked that such sensitive information be sent directly to their chief. Besides, I don't want to be executed due to treachery because I slipped up saying this and that…" Naruto cut her off before adding, "But hey, I did apologize to their chief in the Chinese embassy but not wholeheartedly though."

"You know babe? Sometimes, I wonder how you still manage to evade the radar of all the Chinese politicians and my suitors out there that you have pissed off so much, even from our high school days," the brunette cooed as she sat down on the chair besides Naruto and leaned her head into her shoulder, "But you have more Chinese friends, my parents included."

"I donated back $1 million to our high school as some sort of peace offering, hehe," Naruto sheepishly scratched his head, "But hey, I'm just doing my job and the same goes for that moron. He just didn't know what was coming to him."

They were silent for a moment before Wan Qing asked, "Is Chief Kano coming to our wedding?"

"Yeah, I sent him a letter after all and he asked if he could invite Madame Yuriko to our wedding tomorrow. I just said yes, why not…"

"Madame Yuriko…wait, is she…"

"Yeah, she's from the Imperial Family although she had worked closely with the Ministry of Justice as an English expert and cryptographer. I heard she took cryptography and English studies at the Royal Holloway and she does a pretty good job at it," Naruto complimented her royal coworker, "Even I sometimes had a hard time decoding stuff and yet, she cracks codes in less than five minutes."

"She's a princess and yet, she does stuff like that. I'm honestly surprised someone of her status would be willing to do stuff normally intended for undercover agents…" But before Wan Qing can finish what she was saying, they were interrupted by the running footsteps of Index, who succeeded in breaking away from Touma's grip and was about to make a beeline towards the oven if she didn't made the mistake of passing by Naruto, who stopped her by merely grabbing and taking hold of her robes.

"H-Hey, let go of me!"

Naruto then threw the nun back to Touma, who entered the kitchen, and said, "Here's your lost child, kid."

"L-Lost child…" Touma twitched at that.