A/N: sorry for all the delays. Life intrudes, and my train of thought for this fic was lost for a while. Found it again, though, and I should be back to weekly updates. Hopefully. Thanks go out to my reviewers (all of you) for giving me the inspiration to pick this one back up.

Chapter 11: Streets of My Home
It was a week later, and I was finally allowed to walk alone, out in the streets of Konoha. All I had to do was come back by the time they closed their doors at midnight. There was some kind of medical reason for it, despite my weakened state. Could be anything, really, perhaps even a dose of sunshine to try to counteract this week's overdose of depression.
Inevitably, I spent most of my waking hours wandering the village. To be honest, I was still more than a little disoriented. My life had been turned upside-down in the space of two conversations, and my thoughts were still a plague upon me.
---
As my dad walked in the hospital room, I looked at him, but could not for the life of me hold his gaze. Me, his own son. I will regret that moment until the day I die, that look of anguish on his face, having to see that which he'd thought left behind years before I was ever born.

Instead of those eyes, though, I'd seen the famous Seal of the Fourth… what was left of it, anyway.
---
Much as I wanted, desperately, to shy away from that moment, my thoughts were on a much more focused track than my physical wanderings. The Seal, the twin Four-Elephant method, containing the prison spiral. Arranged to allow the recipient to access the chakra of the sealed. A masterpiece, when it was made. Now, nearly 40 years later, it had eroded so badly that it might as well not have been there.
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"Dad… why hasn't it ripped itself free and killed us all? Nothing is there to stop it!"

"It is only his own word, and the pact we made."

"Pact? What kind of a pact would a Demon follow?"

"One that would end in my suicide, and thus his final death, should he attempt to break his word. He leaves me alone and resides in my body, as long as he can come out once each year at least. I had to call on his power to reach you in time, and so this was his one."
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My feet kept on moving. Though I'd left the hospital doors around noon, the sun was beginning to set. My stomach reminded me that it was past time for dinner, and that my lunch hadn't been all that substantial, either. A trip to the nearest sushi place eased that problem, though it left me with my own to contend with.
---
"Who knows, Dad? This can't be known in general, or you wouldn't still be Hokage, and that's a fact."

"Besides you, now, just my closest friends. We total twelve, and you are the thirteenth. You know them, though. All of them have taught you at one time or another. If something ever goes wrong, they can stop me before it goes too far.
---
All things considered, I shouldn't have been surprised when my wanderings took me to a park bench facing the Hyuuga estate. For one, that estate faced a LOT of parks. However, half of my inner turmoil was coming from one particular resident of that great house.

Funny, isn't it, how things work out. I probably would have never caught Hiromi's emotions until she slapped me across the face with them, had Neji-sensei not told me. It's an odd feeling, to say the least, just knowing that someone my age feels that way about me. Should I Look in at her, to see her directly? Nah, that's a bad idea. At this time, she's probably either asleep or getting ready for it, and feelings or not, I'm fairly sure she wouldn't appreciate a peeping tom.

But as for my own emotions… I just don't know. Well, what can I do? Perhaps I just need to think this through a bit more. Am I being just that kind of idiot, in the proud tradition of my father? Or is what I THINK I feel what it truly is? Whichever it is, I need to find the answer soon.

A rustle from the bushes behind me snapped me out of my reverie. Whoever it was needed practice in stealth, badly, and was likely just practicing. However, nervous as I was, I could not let that go as it is. Taking up a significant amount of my remaining chakra, I activated my Byakugan and looked through the light fog of the evening and into the bushes behind me… and proceeded to dive forward out of my seat to dodge the blade swinging at the back of my neck.

Crap, it's a Rain assassin… how did he get so deep into Konoha unnoticed? Hardly matters, really. He caught me at a BAD time. I dropped into an easy defensive stance, only then realizing my biggest problem was not that I was facing down a foreign ninja. It was that my body had been on strictly inactive for better than a week and a half, and my chakra reserves remained low from the accelerated healing treatments I'd been given. I could not hope to face an opponent of any real skill alone and win, so I drew breath to yell for help.

He, unfortunately, had other ideas. As I began my shout, I found that all I got out was air, no sound. My vocal cords refused to engage, like they were frozen in place.

The mist… he's channeling it to stop my voice. I can't afford to turn and run, either, since he can probably snare me. I guess I'll just have to hope, then.

No true shinobi is ever without his gear, though those walking around town usually carry far less. In my case, that meant 2 kunai, twenty shuriken, and a single explosive tag. Make that one kunai and no tags, as my most powerful weapon went sailing high into the air, detonating fifty feet straight up (outside of the mists) and signaling to any looking in the right direction that something was wrong, here.

From the rapid assault I had to fend off, he knew it, too. It was all my body could do to get out of the way of some of those cuts, despite the advanced warning my eyes allowed. A ripping sound and a line of fire drawing its way across my upper left arm told me that I hadn't been QUITE fast enough to get out of reach. I was tiring fast, when salvation arrived.

My attention was so focused on my opponent that I hadn't even noticed Kentaro coming across the rooftops. However, I noticed it quite well when his katana interposed itself between me and the assailant's own shorter blade. "Kentaro, your timing is perfect."

"Save it, Shien, this guy's tough." And truly, for the first time I could remember someone was actually keeping up with my friend's strikes. More than that, he was executing counterattacks, nearly forcing Kentaro onto a true defensive.

"Ken, I'm out of chakra. You got anything for this guy?" This said while attempting to plant my remaining kunai in the assassin's back.

"If you can keep him off me for five seconds, I've got something I'm working on. After that, don't be the hero. Get out of here!"

"Got it." A leap slightly out of range and five of my shuriken drew the rogue's attention. As he came at me, I noticed Kentaro doing something rather odd. He was staring into the flat of his katana, muttering something under his breath. I set about creating false openings in my defenses, having to do everything in my power just to keep them false. Six seconds later, I Saw Kentaro's chakra flare, then muddle. It was as though he laid a Genjutsu upon himself.

"Ninpou: Kenshin no Jutsu!"

I never saw him move, until the assassin was suddenly QUITE busy. I'd heard Kentaro dropping hints about a new "sword-soul" technique, but I hadn't thought he was THAT far along with it. My friend was moving like a god, his attacks coming in sequences I could barely see or describe, much less ever hope to execute myself. All I could do was what he'd asked of me: I ran, straight to the nearby Hyuuga compound. If fifty or so of Konoha's finest couldn't stop this guy, then nothing could.

Go figure, the gate was locked. It's the little things that get you, huh?

I just did what I could, and jumped. I may have landed badly, but the gardener I nearly landed on got the message fairly quickly. It took maybe a minute to get the first two Hyuugas out to help Kentaro, and another one to get the next ten. Less than three minutes later, it was all over. Thankfully, Kentaro was alive at the end of it.

As it turns out, though, Hiromi was not in the compound. Had I looked in on her, I would have seen an empty room. She walked back from the training grounds just in time to see me start to limp back to the hospital. Much better than a crutch to lean on, that one. Gave me all the more time to think, though my mind was not precisely clear or unbiased at the moment.

Interlude 11: Status of Konoha's Older Enemies

In this account, many become curious about one thing: what has happened to the various greater opponents that shaped the course of Konoha's current days?

Uchiha Itachi is confirmed dead, killed by his younger brother Sasuke, just before Sasuke returned to Konoha. Little is know about the fight, save that Uzumaki Naruto and then-Haruna Sakura participated in it. However, scars of the battle remain today, as a large patch of high forest in the mountains still does not grow, the grounds permanently sterilized by the forces released there.

Shortly thereafter, presumably in the same mission, Orochimaru was defeated. As mentioned earlier, the largest portion of his body retrieved was his entire severed right hand, which was clenched around the Sword of Kusanagi (which now hangs in the main hall of the Uchiha compound). He is presumed dead, though without more concrete proof this cannot be confirmed. His main assistant, Kabuto, remains at large, assumed to be hiding in the Sound village.

The Akatsuki took several major hits, including the deaths of Itachi, Kisame, and no fewer than three others confirmed. However, its leader was never found, and the organization is still out there. Due to their infamy and reputation for power, it is assumed that they are back to their normal full compliment of nine A and S-class missing-nins.