Don't look back, Uzumaki

by Tofuman41

The discovery of Nagato's Rinnegan by Jiraiya finally causes Tsunade to take a more active role in the Shinobi world, both forced to call an old friend for a favor, a favor to take Genin Uzumaki Naruto into hiding at his Academy for Yokai. everywhere Naruto will go, trouble will follow just behind him, now with an Anxious Human, a Possessive Yuki-onna, and a Ditzy Vampire.

23. Where is my Mind? Part 1

Yo yo yo, it's been a hellish several months, training base was humid to hell but I'm out of that, anyway, Sorry for rushing out that last Chapter, I should go back and fix it some more which I'll eventually do but for now, here's your fallout Chapter, few things. this is an Arc so yeah, it ends a little weird I'm sorry

Thank Cowboy Bebop for this Chapter i guess and also Technology in this world and story is only going up to the year 2014 with some exceptions

I'm gonna tweak a few things about Combat here mostly with Ruby and Yukari being Witches in relation to Chakra, making Ruby a little bit stronger with extra stuff, like I said way back when I was gonna explore Yoki, Magic, and Chakra, and how they would all interact so there you go have fun with spells and runs now Tsukune I have to focus back on him on this too, one thing that sucks is that I can't seem to squirm in Kurumu's thing with Anti-thesis.

PARINGS/ROMANCE, Officially as of now, by my own declaration unless my feeble THC-fried two brain cells mind says otherwise.

Naruto X Mizore - All of the Story

Add_Naruto X Kahula X Akua, Big maybe X Ruby- Post Main Story aka- Fairy tale

you'll have a lot of moments with Ruby, along with that Kokoa and Hanabi will have a crush on Naruto and shit are you for a surprise with Ruby here.

Arc: Where is my mind? 1/3

Sorry, I feel like I'm forgetting something

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"But by now the Americans must have taken the airfield! It's practically suicide to go back!" a man in a military uniform spoke as the younger soldier scoffed, the sun was setting on the pacific as they walked through the jungle

"I know that! But I made a promise to my friends and I'm going back for them!" the young soldier spoke, the older soldier only looked on with worry as the two continued through the jungle

"It's useless to wonder why…" The Older one muttered

A puff of smoke filled Naruto's vision as the blond Shinobi blankly just stared at the tv in his dark dorm room.

The Uzumaki scoffed at the movie playing before continuing to watch the strange movie. He didn't even know how he had come across it but it didn't even really matter to him, it was just white noise as he didn't even pay attention to the show.

He finally put out the cigarette on an ashtray and went for his metal flask.

Scattered around his dorm room were papers, late assignments he didn't bother getting done, a handful of empty booze bottles, and a handful of Dvds just laying around.

"God, it reeks here!" Yūgao hissed as she entered through the front door, in her hands were the Uzumaki's report card along with some junk mail

She began lightly glaring at the Shinobi just loafing around on the couch, Naruto didn't even pay her any mind while the Anbu woman noticed the small hole in their ceiling

"What the fuck…when did you break the Smoke detector?" She questioned though got no verbal reply from Naruto

The Uzumaki only gave her a shrug before slowly getting up, it was then Yūgao took note of his appearance, bags under his eyes, his messy blonde hair was even more unkempt, his clothes were stained with ashes and he reeked.

Same as yesterday but it didn't make any less depressing to see

"Kami…he's still pretty bad right now…but it's only been three weeks, he'll get out of this funk just gotta give him some more time" Yūgao mused before controlling her emotions and giving him a sympathetic look

"Hey, could you just clean up a bit later? We might have another big mission this month and I need you to look your best." She commented before opening up the Academy's report card on Naruto

The blond Uzumaki paused upon hearing that, a flash appeared in his mind about his attack on the train station

"Another mission… great…" his lips curled into a frown, as he glanced at his own surroundings.

"Er…Naruto…" Yūgao trailed off trying to look a little understanding of Naruto's situation

"You should probably start at least showing up to your classes again too."

Naruto completely ignored her instead of going back to the TV.

Yūgao's eyes went back on his report card, noticing his grades had taken a straight nosedive, the Anbu woman sighed, remembering what Naruto's homeroom teacher had told her, earlier that day.

"He needs to start attending his classes again and pick up a new club…if not he won't graduate and Tsunade-sama might get on my case if he starts flunking classes."

"So are you gonna go to Class today, or not?" Yūgao frowned, Naruto's baggy eyes merely stole a look at her before shrugging

"Is that an order then?"

Yūgao's eyebrow twitched, however, she bit her tongue from a snarky reply and actually still maintained her sympathetic composure.

"Yes, you have to just go for today, at the very least don't let your attendance slip," Yūgao ordered as the Uzumaki slumped down before nodding and giving her a thumbs up

The Anbu woman saw Naruto already getting himself ready for the day, even showering and putting on a few changes of clothes

Yūgao threw her things on her bed as a Photo of Hayate, sitting on her bedside suddenly caught her eye a wave of guilt then flooded her seeing her student like this.

She knew he would eventually bounce back but Konoha still needed him and soon, regardless, her personal feelings weren't supposed to be involved…like every order from the Hokage but there were other things she could try.

It was then Yūgao made a choice, she'd make the effort to at least help him get out of this depression before it could spiral into something far worse.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Naruto continued to replay in his head the events that followed his own break up with Mizore and his attempts to explain himself to his friends.

Every attempt to speak to Tsukune about anything other than Shinobi training ended with an awkward silence and weak excuses from the former Human, essentially Tsukune could only address Naruto as his sensei and no longer as friend

Trying to Talk to Kurumu was met with a Cold Shoulder.

Moka would consciously make an effort to avoid him altogether so he had literally not seen her since.

Yukari would pretend he didn't even exist, completely apathetic to his existence

Gin had told him to not bother coming back to the Newspaper Club.

And Mizore…

Naruto's breath hitched, remembering how he tried to explain himself a few days after.

The Academy bell chimed throughout the whole campus, Naruto anxiously grabbed his things and scanned the classroom.

It was an endless sea of Students doing their usual routine.

After a few seconds, he cursed, going to the hallways to personally find her locker. Luckily the Uzumaki, Mizore was there. Naruto built himself up for a second before slowly making his way to her

Mizore stood there with a blank stare as her blue eyes looked away from Naruto.

"Uzumaki-san…." Mizore greeted and tried to keep up her facade, while the blond frowned

"Mizore-chan please, we can talk about this…" Naruto stated as the Yuki-onna shrugged before smiling at him

"There's nothing to really talk about," Mizore said and went back to face her locker, she even tip-toed to grab a textbook, with Naruto looking on in disbelief.

"What do you mean there's nothing to talk about? How could you say that?"

Mizore's smile completely disappeared from her face as she tilted her head and put up a completely blank look before staring at him and throwing a question of her own at him.

"Well…How could you lead me on?" She asked with a completely cold tone now devoid of any friendliness as Naruto recoiled in shock

"Uzumaki-san, I trusted you, it's not that you lied to me about your…jobs…we probably could've worked that out, it's that you lied to me about the Snow White Ceremony." Mizore stated, beginning to feel herself get angry.

"I didn't lie!"

Mizore perked up slightly before noticing they were both starting to make a scene, other students were starting to look over at the two wondering what the shouting was about.

"Naruto…" She started her tone was completely cold and devoid of any love for the blond

"We just weren't good for each other, please forget about all of it and move on for your own sake." The Yuki-onna's voice slightly cracked as she finished before Mizore closed up her locker and began to walk away.

Naruto merely looked at his feet as he continued wandering around aimlessly, still being forced to recall everything he was honestly surprised his former friends didn't outright tell the whole Academy what he had done with Anti-thesis

Keito was already satisfied with being able to put the whole vigilante affair to rest and even went as far as to try to get the Headmaster to end up recruiting Naruto to better control him, though that went nowhere

Regardless she had come out on top in the end and everyone now heard rumors about the Committee finally taking in the Vigilante and bringing him to the headmaster while simultaneously ambushing Anti-thesis's leaders

That was the crappy cover story Naruto had heard anyway, still, the students mostly bought it and Naruto was essentially let off the hook

"You loved what you did, wasn't it great to hear them cry out in pain?"

The Uzumaki sighed, looking at the dead trees around the campus grounds.

He did say he'd go to class, if Naruto was right they would be in art class right now…with Kurumu and Yukari…

"You said Shinobis weren't tools and yet…they're still using you…Konoha and your 'friends' …When have you ever decided anything for yourself?"

Naruto took a deep breath and grew stoic as he simply continued to walk around, he sure as hell wasn't going to class, there was nothing for him anyway but listening to this insane rambling in his head was not something he was going to put up with either

"It's not our fault and you know it! So why are we suffering the consequences of what we were just ordered to do! We saved this place and Konoha! they should both be thanking us!"

Naruto then paused, twitching ever so slightly upon hearing that.

"Why are you like this?

The Uzumaki was still only feeling nothing, there was no sadness, no anger, not even regret about the whole situation, and yet…

"Just why do you keep letting other people make choices for you…?

Naruto's mind actually paused on that phase for a second thinking about everything in Konoha as well, He really wasn't here out of choice, he never wanted the Fox in him and have a giant target placed on his back, anger began to gather in him

his time in the Academy and Midou's last words finally broke his thoughts and anger.

"They didn't make me do it, They're dead because of me even if they were just orders I made that choice to kill them just like he did, maybe I deserve this then…" he concluded

"Coward…"

The Uzumaki shook his head and looked at the blue sky over the campus.

"You know there's only one way out of this type of life, just make them all suffer for once we can choose for ourselves "

The blond Shinobi was completely stoic and stood there for some time wondering what he was going to do next at the very least.

*poof*

Whatever plans he was making would never come as a puff of smoke caused the blond to flinch as a familiar Green old Toad sat in front of him.

"Old Geezer?

Naruto's heart skipped a beat seeing a sudden familiar face like this before briefly catching a glimpse of the old Toad's bandages on his stomach.

"Naruto-boy…Kami, is it good to see you again but…I'll have to make things quick right now…I have things to arrange back home…" Fukasaku wheezed out as Naruto now felt a pit in his stomach, seeing the Toad take out a black scroll and a short letter

"And I need you to be understanding and rational right now, Jiraiya explained to you why you were labeled MIA?"

Naruto could only dumbly nod

"Well, Jiraiya would have trusted you to be mature with this grave news and…I feel as if you have the right to know" The old toad continued, Naruto only looked on, slightly fearful having accidentally seen that black scroll once before.

Despite these anxious thoughts, Naruto nodded once again, still blindly having one last holdout of hope that his worst fears weren't real.

"…Jiraiya-boy was a Strong Shinobi and while he had his faults, he considered you his successor and heir." Fukasaku tried to give the Uzumaki a weak smile

"Geezer-Toad, What is this? You're not serious right?" Naruto started to get slightly pale, his eyes beginning to water as Fukasaku winced before hopping off and not being able to look at the Shinobi

"Naruto-boy…There's no easy way to say this, but Jiraiya-boy…He had a mission with Kiri to intercept any attempt on their Tailed Beast but the Leader of Akatsuki was present, He was far stronger than any of us could've imagined, Jiraiya gave his life to give the Mizukage time to withdraw the Survivors and the Tailed Beast was lost."

The Uzumaki only blankly stared at the Toad before the solemn realization set in and tears formed from the corner of Naruto's eyes

"Dead…Ero-Sennin's dead?" Naruto muttered to himself

Naruto still couldn't even properly digest the information, not even a few weeks ago the old pervert was at Naruto's dorm stealing his booze and now…he clenched his fist as irrational thoughts flew through his brain.

"Why, Why, Why!?" He mentally raged before turning that full anger onto Akatsuki's ring-eyed leader, violent and bloody urges ran through him

Despite all that, Naruto was doing well with his breathing, managing to barely keep himself together, though not for long. This was all something that the geezer toad noticed and kept quiet

"Hahaha, This is just great! What kind of Hokage can't even fight his own battles and let his 'precious' people…do it for it?!" That same voice screamed as Naruto grit his teeth .

Suddenly the Uzumaki threw a bare fist at a nearby tree and snapped it in half, his violet eyes now turning a blood-dark red as tears streamed down his cheeks and Shinobi finally broke down

With genuine concern Fukasaku watched Naruto's internal turmoil and grew even more worried, The Old toad had never seen such a thing from a Jinchuriki.

"Kami…" Naruto muttered

"This is all what I was talking about too! They used us! They hurt us! And you! I know you're just letting them do it again!"

He growled at the voice in his head but for once didn't feel like he disagreed, his whole world turning black.

"What are we gonna do about this Rinnegan guy if you're so weak they have to keep hiding you away?"

"Everyone still thinks We're a rogue Shinobi! They destroyed all that Goodwill, you managed to scrape together from the Villagers."

"Naruto-boy? Are you even listening?"

"Boy, no one will ever adopt…your kind"

The Uzumaki was only catatonic at this point

"That's the boy, the Monster, The Fox" The Villagers whispered amongst themselves as Naruto found himself turned away looking at the familiar swing outside the Academy.

"Naruto-kun?"

The Uzumaki only felt numb now as he was assaulted by childhood memories and the whispers, the stress, loss and betrayal felt from everything that had been going on in the Academy and Konoha.

"Uzumaki Naruto? That Loser?"

"Thank Kami that boy is dead-last with some luck he'll get himself killed within a few weeks

"Yeah but He'll get someone else killed out there in the field too"

Naruto's vision began to get blurry as he grit his teeth refusing to allow himself to bring up those memories.

"He's the dead last of his class, the fact I could be in a mission paired with him is making me regret becoming a Shinobi, he'll probably get me killed too"

"Aw, is the little whiskered loser crying now?"

"Do you think we should…?"

"Naruto-kun!"

"Naruto-boy!"

Ruby finally managed to snap the blond out of it by grabbing his shoulder, she was completely terrified seeing Naruto in this state.

Naruto hissed as he recoiled before glaring at Ruby and the Elder Toad.

"What?!"

Ruby flinched while Fukasaku only glared back then watched Naruto panting then shaking his head and he began repressing his anger and grief about the whole thing.

It took several seconds of awkward silence but Naruto had to catch his breath and regain his composure.

"S-Sorry…I'm sorry, Ruby, why are you here?" Naruto asked while still calming himself down and catching his breath.

Ruby bit her lower lip before extending her hand

"Headmaster wants to see us…" Ruby started, for some reason, the blond Uzumaki felt a bit of relief that the old man wanted to see him and the fact he wouldn't need to go to class today, though he didn't get a hand and just stood up.

"Naruto-kun…do you need to talk about it?" Ruby offered once more, though a part of her wanted to be more aggressive with just prying it out of Naruto she figured this was for the best.

"No, I'm fine, let's just go see the old man." Naruto bluntly stated as he began to make his way there, almost leaving behind the Old Toad and Witch, the Uzumaki for a second felt another sob about to break him as he repressed his feelings.

"W-What did you tell him?" Ruby asked, wondering what news Naruto's familiar could've given him, Fukasaku actually perked up, completely forgetting he was still in the Academy and this girl wasn't even from Konoha or any of the Villages, she wasn't even human but at the same time he could tell she was close to him.

"I…Well, I just gave Naruto-boy some news from back home…Someone close to him passed away, His father figure."

Ruby felt a pang of sadness come through her, on top of all of what Naruto was already going through, he had lost his only father figure and somehow her blond-haired crush was simply bottling it all up.

Fukasaku looked at the older witch as she seemed lost in her thoughts about Naruto, though once again the old toad sighed

"Look, You seem to be close to Naruto-boy, I have things to prepare for the Funeral ceremony…and he seems to be replacing his grief with anger right now…please keep an eye on him, he's important to our family." He softly spoke, Ruby gave him a hesitant nod before watching the Toad disappear in smoke

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"So they're talking about how the festival is still on and how the Committee is working towards reconciling with the Students…" Tsukune explained while holding out a paper for Gin to read

"Nice, aren't you still a part of the Festival staff or something?" He asked as the former Human sighed

"Yeah…they're not letting me get out of it, I won't be able to help with the paper often, Senpai." Tsukune replied and Gin waved him off instead looking over at Kurumu and Moka passing out copies

"Don't worry about it, even with you and me not being here I'm sure everyone else can pick up our work, I did this for a whole month by myself once." Gin spoke as he walked out of the Clubroom, Tsukune shrugged watching his upper-class man leave, and began to gather his things to leave as well

"Tsukune-kun! Tsukune-kun!"

The Brown-haired teen prepared himself as he turned over to have Kurumu throw herself at him

"You're taking me to the festival committee meeting right? Right? I can be your plus one!" Kurumu cheerfully stated as Tsukune laughed nervously and quickly got her off him before they started this usual charade

"No, no I'm not even going to the meeting at all!" Tsukune called out, Moka hummed as she finished grabbing Newspaper copies, turning over to the former human.

"You're not going?"

Tsukune scoffed

"No! Why the hell would I?" he snapped back uncharacteristically, glancing at all of the girls with an almost uncaring gaze.

"It's literally just a bunch of pricks having a meeting about the stupidest things ever." Tsukune started before he prepared to leave the clubroom though Kurumu latched on to him as he tried to walk away

"Yeah and that new Festival Committee leader? I hear he's a little too crazy about his new position too!" the Succubus added

"And you don't think you won't get in trouble for it Tsukune-kun?" Moka asked as Yukari scoffed putting away a folder

"Moka-chan, he's just being an idiot again, just ignore him for now." the small witch added, before noticing Kurumu motioning for her to follow.

the Pink-haired Vampiress sighed while awkwardly playing with her hair, recalling yesterday afternoon's events as she looked out the window, Moka couldn't help but feel a deep concern with her former Shinobi friend.

"I told you, I was asleep for the time being but you truly haven't even seen Uzumaki since then?"

Moka was sitting on her desk, looking at her homework, she blinked

"No, I haven't seen…Naruto since then…why are you bothering me about this anyway? It's not like you ever cared about him." Moka spoke annoyed about having to talk about those horrible events so soon after the fact.

getting up and looking out the window of her small dorm living room, she heard her other self sigh

"it's Nothing then…well…actually, we just need to talk later"

Moka stood there frowning before she was snapped out of her musings by Yukari tapping her shoulder, Tsukune had finally used this chance to formally slip away from Kurumu as the Succubus instead was using Yukari to grab Moka's attention

The Vampiress laid her eyes on Kurumu as she pointed over to Mizore's almost unmoving form.

"She's been like that since we got here, she hasn't said a single fucking word" Kurumu then took a deep breath before leaning over to whisper in Moka's ear

"I don't know about you but even though we fight over Tsukune-kun I still consider you girls as my closest friends and She shouldn't have to suffer like this." the Succubus spoke as Moka's eyes narrowed slightly at Mizore being talked to by Yukari

"Kurumu-chan! I told you, she wasn't going to do it, it was a stupid idea to begin with!" Yukari cried out while Kurumu scowled and folded her arms under her breasts

"We haven't even tried it and the guys already agreed to show up"

"It's just stupid" Yukari replied while Moka perked up

"What idea?"

Yukari open her mouth to answer when Kurumu latched on to Moka from behind

"Speed dating, the most fun type of dating! yay!"

"No, I'm not doing it." Mizore abruptly stated over to Yukari who gave her a small smile and nodded

"Gah! Okay! look! Mizore-chan! I know Speed dating has a bad reputation but just give it a try! You just have to talk to them. we all thought this was a good idea and we'll be with you the whole time." Kurumu argued

Moka and Yukari gained deadpanned looks as they glanced at each other

"We?" The Small Witch mouthed while the Vampiress only shrugged

"Look, just trust me, this will work and you don't even have to date them, just talk to them like I said, this will help you…" Kurumu trailed off as the blue-haired teen waved Mizore off

"Move on from him."

Mizore's hair only shadowed her eyes before abruptly standing up

"I don't need help like that, I'll be fine." The Yuki-onna said before leaving the Clubroom

"Wait, Mizore-chan! I already put my good word in! You have to go tomorrow or I'm screwed!"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Naruto uncaringly pushed through the doors of the Headmaster's office and quickly the Uzumaki took note of everyone around.

Yūgao, The Bus driver, Himself, and now Ruby follow behind him.

"Hey, old man, what's up!" Naruto greeted as the Headmaster glanced at the Anbu and Bus driver.

"Well, Naruto…" the Headmaster started, staring at Naruto's blank face, he couldn't finish his sentence as he motioned for the Anbu woman next to him to speak.

"I decided to give you time off." Yūgao's voice caused Naruto to glance at her in disbelief

"W-What?"

"I'm making you take an extended vacation, we're getting some reinforcements from Konoha soon so you can take a break, go explore the Human world for a few weeks, you earned it." the Anbu woman stated while Naruto just stood there in complete surprise, before two scrolls were tossed on him.

"I even got you packed up with supplies and you can set up your new cell phone, you have a fake ID and other paperwork in Japan, go on and enjoy yourself." Yūgao continued before walking out of the room.

"Now Naruto…Ruby-san and my friend here are going with you." the Headmaster spoke, though Naruto who was still in shock couldn't even respond, though the possibilities were passing through his mind, though finally he laid his eyes on the fake ID

"Namikaze?…"

"You'll be under your father's name here if that's alright, it's just a procedure for your mission that your Hokage wanted…"

"A-Alright…" the Uzumaki muttered, Naruto looked over at his little flip phone

"I even took the liberty of putting Kakashi-senpai and Anko's numbers if you need them." Yūgao finished, the bus driver suddenly smiled

"Now let's wrap this up because we're leaving after a Lunch break." The Bus driver spoke before Ruby smiled and snapped her fingers.

Now she was really excited to get some alone time with the blond.

"I-I still need to pack though!" She said and quickly dashed out of the room

"I'll meet up with you guys!"

The Bus driver suddenly placed his hand behind Naruto's neck and slowly guided him out of the Office, leaving the Headmaster completely alone sighing as soon as the door closed

Truth be told, he felt bad about the whole situation and did what he could to minimize the social damage to Naruto and while he succeeded in most places, Naruto was still kicked out of his friend group and the Newspaper Club.

Still, he hoped those two would help the Uzumaki out of his depression.

Both Naruto and Nurari were dead quiet to each other walking down the empty hallways, after leaving the office, Naruto was still completely surprised, he felt a weight lifted off his shoulders now that he was on a 'vacation' it was a surreal feeling after feeling so much pressure the last few weeks.

"Alright, Naruto, we're gonna pick up some lunch and get the hell out of here as fast as possible," he spoke as Naruto gave a hesitant nod

"Hey…uh, what should I do when I get there?" Naruto asked, the Bus driver only shrugged before the two noticed the cafeteria still had students at this time even though lunch was almost over.

"Anything you want…I'm just there to give you a ride and tell you anything you need to know and keep an eye on you." He answered as the cafeteria worker came over to serve them

The two ordered their food and began to wait, the Uzumaki noticed students were actually stealing glances and stared at him.

Naruto looked down still seeing all the ash stains and how he still smelled of booze and tobacco, he frankly dressed and looked like a bag of smashed dog ass.

"Is that Uzumaki?" a female student muttered and a random student in front of her peeked over to check.

"Wow, what happened to him?"

"He looks like shit."

"Oh yeah, I heard Mizore-san broke his heart!"

"What? I heard Naruto-san actually cheated on her with a senior student!"

"Kami, you two are dumb…"

The whispers were already making him anxious though something worse had caught Naruto's eye on one of the tables, completely on the other end, a familiar mop of purple hair.

His heart dropped, Mizore sat there in front of a guy that Naruto had never seen before, he saw flowers on the table and felt even worse now, he began to grit his teeth when he saw her smile back at him.

Naruto noticed Kurumu standing not too far from them as well as Moka and Yukari completely oblivious.

Violent thoughts suddenly flooded his mind, his eyes flashing red, and breathing became more difficult until it all suddenly stopped

He watched Mizore smile and mouth some words he couldn't understand before leaving and accepting the flowers.

There was only one thought in Naruto's mind now, one word that screamed out from the deepest part of his head.

"Independence…"

The word was alien as Naruto paused and processed what he had heard

"Freedom?"

Now he really didn't know what to feel but his thoughts were broken out of when Nurari tapped his shoulder that they were leaving

Naruto stole one more glance at where Mizore was sitting, she was gone, and was the guy too...finally the flowers.

Somehow, Naruto only was still focused on these new realizations and feelings. There was no reason to go for Mizore.

"Hey, she said it herself it was over…I really screwed up man…" he mused and followed the Bus driver out, the two began to meet up with Ruby and get out to the Human world.

It took a while to get everything set up with the Bus and Naruto even had time to run back for a quick shower and change of clothes which felt nice actually. Naruto even had time to leave a message for his 'student' of his absence and who would be taking over.

They all began to prepare for the Human world, apparently to Naruto's surprise, Ruby was going to be staying with him at his apartment.

Naruto went over his things one more time, he kept on him the cassette tapes for the journey and sat down at the front with Ruby next to him

"Naruto-kun, what are you going to listen to!" Ruby cheerfully asked, while the blond just went through the titles and shrugged

"Whatever he had in his storage room." He answered in a flat tone, pointing to the Bus driver before finally picking one

Ruby watched with mild deep thought, the older witch blushed thinking about the two were really going to be alone together for an extended amount of time.

The Uzumaki placed the earbuds in and sat back silently as the Bus drove into the tunnel

Little by little Naruto fell asleep, and Ruby decided to lean her head on him as she too fell asleep, the Bus driver adjusted his mirror and had a small grin on his face, laying his glowing eyes on the two.

"You'll be fine, kid," he muttered to himself before a flash of light appeared and they had finally arrived in the Human world.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Mizore kept her completely stoic face as she began speed walking the hallways trying to get out of the building as fast as she could.

As soon as she got out her facade broke and she began to spew out a flurry of curses in her hands was now a completely solid chunk of Ice with flowers encased in them

"What a waste of fucking time!" She spat out in anger before slowly taking a few deep breaths to regain control of her emotions

"Mizore-chan! Wait!" Kurumu cried out

"That was a horrible idea and I can't believe you talked me into it." Mizore hissed as the Succubus flinched and waved her arms defensively

"H-Hey, look, I just didn't want you to be sad all the damn time! I thought this could help!" Kurumu replied, before she watched Mizore sigh

"I appreciate the thought and effort behind it but no, I just…" Mizore trailed off, remembering a conversation with her mother and the Snow priestess back home. The Yuki-onna looked at her friend as the rest of the club caught up to them

"I need time, alright?" She barely spoke, though glanced back at the frozen bouquet of flowers.

Kurumu looked more sympathetic

"I'm sorry, really I am, I just wanted to help." Kurumu softly apologized, Mizore took a deep breath and nodded.

"It's okay…It's fine." Mizore said, finally Moka and Yukari had caught up both with concerned looks.

Yukari put up a bold face before speaking

"Look, Mizore-chan, we know Naruto was an idiot for doing what he did but don't bottle up how you really feel!" Yukari spoke trying to ease the Yuki-onna's worries while Moka joined the witch

"Yukari-chan is right, you can really do so much better than him!" she cried out, though the Vampiress flinched not really liking how she was talking about her former friend

Moka looked lost in her own thoughts not understanding why she was feeling guilty about saying something like that while Kurumu nodded in agreement.

Mizore just shook her head.

"No…I already fixed my problems back home anyway, trying to replace Naruto is pointless and it's not worth going back to." She said in a completely dead and flat tone.

It was an awkward and tense silence that next set in before Kurumu suddenly let out a nervous laugh and held her stomach as it suddenly growled.

"Haha…so I'm still pretty hungry…could we go back and get something to eat before Lunch is over?"

Mizore managed to grin ever so slightly as the group slowly began to head back to the Cafeteria, though Moka stayed behind still musing

"I don't blame Uzumaki you know…"

Moka nearly jumped as she watched the jewel on her Rosario glow.

"I…huh?"

"I said I don't blame Uzumaki for following his orders, you know damn well what those hybrids wanted for us 'purebred assholes'"

Moka blinked as flashes of her kidnapping by Midou and the Hybrids passed through her mind

"I suppose you could be right…" before frowning remembering the bloodied corpse of Mako and she shuddered

" but He didn't…need to take it that far"

"Yes, his methods were brutal but it's not like our Monster world is pure rays of sunshine and roses, these things happen a lot more often out there than here, humans just don't ever see or hear about them…"

The Pink-haired Girl still had a grim look on her face, she knew deep down her other self was right and it was slowly starting to get to her

"…I would've done the same if I was in his position, they tried to kill us several times already and you know how close he was to the Yuki-onna girl."

"I…guess so but he still lied to all of us and broke Mizore-chan's heart."

"Well that part I don't have an excuse for, I don't really know him …but from what I've seen, I just think Uzumaki right now is a very confused guy…"

Outer Moka let those words resonate with her for a time before her thoughts were broken by Tsukune approaching her with a piece of paper in hand

"Hi Moka-chan!"

The Vampiress blinked, seeing her crush in such high spirits

"Uzumaki-sensei is taking time off! So I actually got free time Haha!"

Moka's face broke into a small smile though for some reason she still couldn't shake off the feeling that Naruto needed someone to reach out to him.

"U-uh, T-That's good, Tsukune-kun, c-could we talk after class?...privately," Moka spoke with a light blush.

Tsukune stood there not believing his own luck before furiously nodding.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Naruto adjusted his safety glasses and grinned slightly, holding up a rifle and firing at the paper targets, he worked with his breathing as he aimed down the lane and double-tapped the target, the Bus driver looked in with amusement.

The two were the only ones in this abandoned warehouse, apparently, this is where Nurari would come to, his own little shooting range, in rural Japan, far away from any civilians.

"Shame that Ruby didn't want to come…"

Naruto took out one of his earplugs to hear the man before he shrugged.

"I understand why though! She hates these things." Naruto replied before reloading his last few rounds and taking aim.

Nurari nodded, recalling how not many monsters actually bothered with firearms and how most boundary beings didn't like them.

Naruto let out a deep breath as he heard a familiar click and nothing fired.

"Well…kid, we can keep practicing later if you want but Ruby's been alone too long so we should get going …"

Naruto gave a small nod and grabbed his things to leave on the Bus

The ride back to his apartment wasn't very long as they quickly drove through the tunnel and found themselves on that familiar highway, Naruto lit a cigarette and watched the cars pass by

He huffed, somehow completely forgetting about his troubles temporarily, his mundane depressing cycle was at least now broken

Though the Bus finally stopped, and as Naruto hopped off

"Right, you got my number if you want to go anywhere, alright just give me a heads up." Nurari's glowing eyes blinked and Naruto only gave a thumbs-up.

*Beep*

The sound was still foreign enough to Naruto rise him as he quickly grabbed the phone in his pocket, seeing a message from Yūgao

"Are you doing alright?"

The blond Shinobi blinked at the random question before answering his sensei, painfully and slowly texting her.

The sound of tires screeching grabbed Naruto's attention, he watched Nurari drive off. Naruto felt strange as he did and suddenly it returned to him, the feeling of emptiness.

Naruto could only sigh as he dug around in his pocket and walked up the stairs, he could see all of his neighbor's lights were off, and went over to his apartment

Opening his door, he didn't understand what he happened to be seeing seeing in his kitchen, things were floating in the air, a broom was sweeping dust by itself and a cooking pot was being stirred.

The Uzumaki blinked before noticing Ruby setting down instant ramen on the kitchen counter, though she simply sat there as both ramen cups were filled up with hot water by a floating teapot.

"Hi!" Ruby casually greeted making herself at home already, Naruto blinked completely surprised at this.

"Sorry about all the magic, I don't get the chance to really use any spells at the Academy since we need to learn how to 'blend in' with humans…" Ruby casually motioned for Naruto to sit down before realizing something

"Oh, yeah, you don't know this yet but this apartment is also one of the most important safe houses the Headmaster has, the runes this apartment happens to have are all extremely powerful security and unity spells, I think you'll like them!" Ruby informed with a cheerful smile, Naruto raised an eyebrow watching the Witch walk over to the living room and her spell book in hand

"Safe houses?..Runes?."

Naruto vaguely could recall the Headmaster talking about a safe house but Runes… When the hell did that happen? this apartment had seemed so normal since he had moved in here.

"He didn't just give you guys this place specifically for no reason! Check this out!" Ruby smirked, she stood in the middle of the living room and waved her wand, chanting something in a language Naruto couldn't understand

The Uzumaki's eyes widened as a giant glowing purple rune, appeared on the floor and cracks began to form on the walls, Naruto jumped in shock and held onto the couch now, the entire apartment was shaking

"S-So this! Naruto-kun! This is the Headmaster's last resort!" Ruby yelled out as the terrified blond Shinobi grew pale

"Y-Yeah, I got it! Now stop it! Please! Now!" Naruto screeched, looking up Naruto could only gape in awe as the ceiling was beginning to crumble and only a blank white sky awaited them

Ruby's smile fell as she waved her wand once more and completely ceased the spell, almost in an instant the shaking stopped, it took a few seconds for Naruto to catch his breath as he stood up and pointed his finger at her

"What the hell was that?!"

The Witch only shrugged and pointed at the ground where the rune was still glowing but fading

"Apparently the Headmaster thinks that as a last resort, if you were to be ambushed here and it was all over, this rune here would have reality collapse the apartment on us and we'd be crushed in the ensuing pressure!" Ruby casually spoke with a smile as Naruto gave her a scoff, not even surprised anymore.

"Any other runes I should worry about then?" He asked, the Witch paused and hummed

"There's another rune on the bathroom mirror…it goes to a little pocket realm for training, it's like the one the Headmaster has back in the Academy, it's less of a pain to clean through" Ruby spoke, Naruto raised an eyebrow remembering that damp dark endless forest with those horrific Monsters.

"So I could've been training that whole summer?" He mused, thinking back to his summer vacation before grabbing and finishing his ramen in silence completely beating Ruby as she once again watched on in fascination.

Almost immediately he dug through his pockets for a cigarette while Ruby watched on with slight confusion, the Uzumaki grimaced as he realized it was his last one, lighting it up and excusing himself.

Ruby gave him a flat look and watched him wordlessly throw himself on the couch, continuing to laze around. The Witch paused, understanding what situation she was in being alone with Naruto in his own apartment. A part of her could clearly see how this could work toward her goals of getting somewhere with Naruto.

"I feel a little bad…Naruto-kun's is hurting, I shouldn't be thinking about those things right now." Ruby stirred her ramen.

"Hey, Ruby?" Naruto called out from the living room

She immediately perked up hearing her name from Naruto

"Y-Yeah?"

"Thanks for cleaning around the place…" He trailed off, Ruby had a small grin and was about to wave it off when Naruto spoke again and let out a puff of smoke.

"I'm gonna go run some errands on my own. I'll be back."

Ruby's eyes widened slightly

"D-Do you want me to come with you?" She asked though the Uzumaki just waved her off.

"Nah, I'm gonna take my time to clear my mind, it's okay.." Naruto answered with a grin, Ruby grew a little worried and watched as Naruto left the apartment, reluctantly she let it go.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Yūgao stood in the Headmaster's office organizing several folders, humming a familiar tune to herself, she casually passed Mikogami a few papers about repairs to the Academy's abandoned facilities.

"You think it's worth pouring that much money into fixing all that old stuff?" Mikogami suddenly spoke up as Yūgao blinked at him, the man had been completely silent all day

"Well, I don't know what the Academy's budget is…but since you told me about future plans yesterday, regarding your Academy, it might be worth looking into." Yūgao explained while slipping on a coffee.

The Anbu woman and the Headmaster both suddenly froze, a white light suddenly appeared and screams were heard

*Crash*

"Gah!"

The Headmaster stole a glance at Yūgao who shrugged in return.

"Ow…Shikamaru! You idiot, you absolute idiot, get off me!"

"Team 10?" Yūgao spoke, and Ino quickly stood at attention as both Chouji and Shikamaru slowly got their bearings.

"A-Ah, y-you're Kurenai-sensei's friend! I didn't know you were an Anbu!" Ino started completely flustered and team ten slightly relaxed, they were still Chunin after all.

"More Konoha Shinobi…?" The Headmaster mused, Yūgao blinked before stealing a glance at him

"Right, sorry about the short notice, they're here for Naruto," Yūgao spoke as the Headmaster gave a reluctant nod understanding what she meant, Team Ten upon hearing about Naruto grew slightly anxious.

Shikamaru lazily analyzed his surroundings, outwardly he was completely stoic inside, and he was slightly creeped out by being in this room.

Ino only avoided making eye contact with the headmaster while Chouji.

"Hey! So what's this about Naruto? We just got told this was a secret mission and that was it! We didn't even have time to pack! And some of us just got back from a mission!" Chouji finally spoke out, tired of the tense atmosphere, Mikogami's glowing eyes blinked before he gave an amused grin that sent a cold shiver down Ino's spine and Yūgao smiled seeing that.

"Right, I'm Anbu Uzuki Yūgao, I'm in charge of all Konoha operations here at Yokai Academy well…to make matters very short, you're not in Konoha or anywhere near the Villages, We have a few Konoha Shinobi starting to build relations with the Academy here, this is the Headmaster..." Yūgao motioned to the man who simply continued to creep the Konoha Shinobi, Ino could only nod dumbly

"U-Uh, alright."

Yūgao's eyebrow twitched at the lack of information from Team ten

"Next time Tsunade-sama is making a pamphlet or something I'm not explaining this for everyone they end up sending here."

"Anyway, I'll explain the details later…" Yūgao finished before suddenly

*poof*

Yūgao's clone quickly gave her a salute

"This clone will take you somewhere else and you can proceed with the mission…" Yūgao spoke as Team ten stole glances at each other before giving slow nods.

They were about to leave when Ino suddenly snapped her fingers.

"Oh yeah, Tsunade-sama said she might send a whole team right after us, they should be showing up any second! We don't know who though! We rushed out here just now!" Ino called out before exiting the room, Yūgao blinked then waving her off

"Well…at least your Hokage was nice enough to give me a heads up this time." Mikogami sighed while Yūgao only shrugged.

The Headmaster spun his chair to face and grabbed a small map of Japan before mumbling to himself.

"I'm still not made of endless money and resources you know" The Headmaster joked, finding a good neighborhood for their new visitors close to Naruto's own apartment and Yūgao nodded

"Yes well, Konoha still needs this Technology more than ever now with Jiraiya-sama's passing…and you're still a valued ally to Konoha as our village undergoes some big changes." the Anbu woman suddenly paused before glancing at the Headmaster.

"Are you…alright about that? I know you two were actually friends." Yūgao stated, the Headmaster took a deep breath, strangely Yūgao could see concern in the man's glowing eyes

"...Well, we all have to go someday, right? He went down like a real Shinobi and The Information Tsunade got from Jiraiya's battle with this 'Pain" person…it's valuable…and it just proves how important it is for everyone that Naruto stays hidden…" The headmaster then had a long pause unsure if he should say this, Yūgao looked on with curiosity, the Anbu had never seen the usually cryptic man show this much emotion

"I wouldn't mind trying my own hand in taking out the bastard as payback." Mikogami suddenly spat out before smiling and looking at Yūgao.

"But the Academy needs me here…as does Naruto." the Headmaster said, standing up and organizing some files.

Yūgao's eyes stared off into the distance for a few seconds before another set of glowing lights appeared

Both Mikogami and Yūgao's grew wide-eyed at the new arrivals that had appeared

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Here you are, sir, have a good day!" the store cashier said as a blond man in his early thirties nodded, grabbing his things and quickly leaving, suddenly passing through a dark alleyway, a puff of smoke suddenly engulfed the man as Naruto appeared and continued his walk home with his bag in hand.

He smiled looking at the new pack he managed to get, before getting back onto the sidewalk and on his way home, the nice dusk setting of the City was always a nice change of pace for Naruto when he'd get to come here

Truthfully he didn't know what to really do with his Vacation.

"Kami, I've been so focused on my Shinobi life I never really thought about anything aside from it…" Naruto mused before a flash of Ichiraku ramen flashed in his mind, memories of Ayame and Teuchi giving him free meals when he needed them most.

The Uzumaki took out the packing as he felt his craving for one

"Man, I just had one of these before I left…" Naruto thought to himself, lighting another one and continuing.

His mind began to run off to the events with the Newspaper Club, somehow his walking became a little slower and more passive as he began to lose himself in his own thoughts mostly about her.

"What do I do after Mizore-chan?" was a question on his mind he really didn't want to even think about but it kept assaulting him at every turn, Naruto scoffed to himself, the answer should've been clear! He'll go back to Konoha, defeat Akatsuki and become Hokage!

"So why didn't it feel right?" Naruto took a puff, looking down at his slow-moving feet

Asking anyone for advice would give him different answers, Yūgao and Kakashi would have him drown himself in his Konoha work like them to move on and the Bus driver would be telling him to enjoy life in this world and move on…

Naruto just couldn't seem to enjoy it as any of it felt real to him and then there was Jiraiya's passing.

Finally, Naruto stopped walking, Jiraiya was gone, he knew it for a while but it was just such an insane thought, his godfather was gone and all the questions he had about his parents were probably never going to be answered too.

All those stories were taken to the grave with the Toad Sage himself.

His eyes grew distant as he shook his head and started walking down the street again, the occasional car would grab his attention.

It was then Naruto took a sharp breath as well, the whole world around him seemed to turn dim.

"You know we could run right now, go into hiding and completely go off the grid, this world is big …they'd never find us…"

Naruto laughed at the idea, though he did feel his heartbeat and breathing speed up rapidly, a drop of the Kyuubi's Chakra pulsed through him.

"Let me take control, I can kill the Konoha Shinobi and we can live in peace here…close any link to that world and be free here."

Naruto's smile completely fell into a frown and took a puff from his cigarette, the fact of these thoughts were becoming worse and more often were beginning to bother him.

"Don't you want to be happy?"

Naruto rolled his eyes and instead enjoyed the city life in front of him.

Still wandering around aimlessly.

Eventually, he took a shortcut through an alleyway, night was now setting in, and he continued making turns and taking shortcuts into alleyways until suddenly sensing something was off.

A neon sign suddenly caught his eye as well as some girl standing in front of the door but the energy radiating off from the door and the girl was insane

It felt almost like The Academy, a sense of dread set in with Naruto as he laid his eyes on the sign

"Death & co?" Naruto mused before noticing the girl looked somewhat familiar though he blinked coming to no conclusion.

From what Naruto could see, she was pale and had short black hair in pig-tails, immediately Naruto felt something off about the girl. She finally made eye contact with him as Naruto flinched and flickered his cigarette.

"You got a staring problem?" She spoke in a cold flat tone, Naruto shook his head and noticed her rose-pink eyes that if Naruto had, to be honest, were the most beautiful things he had seen more so than Mizore or Moka's.

"N-No, just wondering what the hell you're doing out here…" Naruto motioned with a light blush to the door as he took a drag of his cigarette.

"Waiting to get in." The Girl's cold tone still had Naruto a little on edge, there was something completely off about her that screamed at him that he should run, on the other hand…

"What is that place?" Naruto asked, the Girl shrugged

"Speakeasy style bar, it's nothing too fancy…" She answered, being dressed in strange black clothing that reminded Naruto a little of what Ling-Ling would wear on their missions..

Now it was time for the real question that was making Naruto feel so uneasy…

"Is it for Monsters…?" He spoke barely above a whisper, the Girl stiffened for a second before smiling at the Shinobi.

"Yes, yes it is" She replied, her rose-pink eyes suddenly began to shift into a blood-red tint and her pupils became slits as Naruto almost immediately recognized those eyes

"V-Vampire?" Naruto asked as the girl nodded and took a step forward, She took a big whiff of the air around her

"What's your name? My name is Akua, nice to meet you…You smell strange…Human…" She smirked, Naruto nervously titled his head and kept eye contact with her, slightly feeling a strange rumble in his mind

"I won't be intimidated…"

As those words echoed with Naruto, he felt the Kyuubi's Chakra pour into his system, the girl gasped and pulled back, seeing his red eyes and fangs grow.

"Naruto…I'm a Yoko." He lied with a completely stoic face, pulling the same lie he had given Mizore's mother, if he pulled it off here, he waged it could work here.

Naruto then felt the Kyuubi's Chakra begin to recede back, the Uzumaki secretly couldn't believe he managed to pull that off as Akua looked impressed but before the conversation could go on

"Sorry for the long wait I had to check your I.D but everything looks fin-" a man in his early thirties with piercing glowing opened the door and noticed Naruto, hell to the Uzumaki, the man had the same exact eyes as the Bus driver

"Uh…"

"He's a friend of mine…" Akua spoke with a grin as Naruto blinked in surprise, the Vampire girl shot him a wink and his curiosity got the better of him.

What's a Monster bar like? And one so…exclusive.

"Y-yeah, here's my I.D" Naruto mused passing said fake I.D over, the man raised an eyebrow, surprisingly not noticing the illusion Naruto managed to pull off before shrugging and opening the door.

"My…Apologies, I had no idea you were bringing friends, Akua-san, come in"

Akua turned over to Naruto and motioned for him to follow her as the Uzumaki hesitated but eventually did so.

It was just an office complex hallway with an elevator at the end now this creeped Naruto out but then there was something stranger once the two entered, standing in front of the Uzumaki, Akua pressed the right button

"You'll love this place." Akua stated with a small grin as she walked over to the bar

It was dim, very dim, and noisy for Naruto, just like any other bar at first glance…

"Sorry if I interrupted you, I just thought you were pretty interesting not being scared of my powers and I haven't met a Yoko, is this your first time here?" Akua asked as she took a seat on a stool.

Naruto let out a stiff laugh before taking a seat as well, he ordered his drink and cautiously eyed it.

he didn't even notice a woman laying down on a grand piano with a microphone and a man in a tuxedo playing said piano while a small band played softly behind them

Suddenly Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the man playing the piano actually had four arms playing the instrument.

It was strange to Naruto, some people here were still in their human form, others didn't bother and some…made an attempt.

"It's just the thought of you, the very thought of you, my love."

Naruto shrugged, hearing the strange music and looking at the various patrons of the establishment.

"Y-Yeah, I just moved here."

"Well it's good that you found the best speakeasy bar for Monsters…this one is more classy than the ones those other weakling degenerates hang around at, it plays good music and there's usually not a fight every night." Akua complemented as a tentacle monster suddenly appeared, Naruto felt a shiver run down his spine as it poured another shot for Akua and himself

The creature reminded Naruto of a now-deceased Gym teacher whom he had butchered not even a month ago.

"By the way, you know that security guy in the front? The scary-looking one." Akua spoke as Naruto gave a slow nod

"He's a Naagloshii from North America, he makes any human that finds this place disappear without a trace, that's how we've been able to keep this place hidden and exclusive."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly and he was still feeling a bit creeped out by his surroundings.

"T-That's great…" Naruto muttered, he took a drag of his cigarette as well, noticing many of the patrons doing the same.

"Hey, so is it true about the heir of the Fumihiko family getting banished?" Akua asked, taking a shot as Naruto played it cool, trying to follow along with his lie

"N-No, I didn't really get involved in our politics." Naruto smoothly said. Akua frowned and hummed

"Damn that's surprising…well, all I know is that he got expelled from some prestigious academy and got disowned," Akua spoke Naruto was taken aback by this, and he began to get a gut feeling about who that was.

"That's what happened to him…" Naruto mused before finally getting a little more comfortable with Akua, though he didn't know if it was just the Alcohol

"So what do you do for work? Or are you going to School?" Naruto asked, Akua blinked, her red eyes glanced at the bartender monster before she spoke

"Well…I work for…"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Tsunade stood in the Hokage's office completely stoic, she had just sent her last batch of Konoha Shinobi to Mikogami for the time being, in the distance, she watched her new Civilian Engineer corp reinforce the walls of the village and even start construction on further defenses on a new wall all together.

Thanks to Yamato and these new advances in architecture it was becoming less expensive to build and maintain them. She even went to work expanding the safety and emergency measures in the village.

She narrowed her eyes, in the distance there was a group of Civilians being led on a company run with all of their Samurai-like armor, they were recruits actually, of her new Civilian militia but they wouldn't be Civilians by the end of their training.

They were designed to hold off the enemy for retreating Shinobis or evacuate Civilians and casualties. These new troops would even take the pressure off the Genin who could be freed up to fight on the frontlines if things were bad...

"Maybe in the future, they'll be led by their own officers instead of Shinobis…" She mused watching them fumble slightly, a few were squared away and were able to pick up the ones slogging behind.

Tsunade seeing this grinned and continued to scan the village, Root Anbu and regular Anbu routinely patrolled the village now along with their new Civilian counterpart.

Freedoms were restricted but the Village was safer now…the Senju woman paused for a second thinking about her future Politics regarding Naruto's future.

"Yes, he would have to break things off with that woman to marry Hinata, She's the most powerful woman in the Village now…those two would have an easy reign for the rest of their lives until someone else steps in." Tsunade's mind began to wander off to retirement again before she snapped out of it

Her Tactics.

Putting a weapon in every person's hand for the sake of the village was a part of her game plan, in fact, she even had plans for Suicidal attacks to make an attack on Konoha that was costly

She had to admit it was a very extreme measure for the threat at hand but now Konoha had suffered their most significant blow.

…Jiraiya.

Tsunade choked back a sob and did her best to get her mind off it, she would mourn at the village-wide funeral.

The Senju woman then continued to wonder what to do with the Nanbai.

"That man killed Jiraiya…he's far more powerful than I could've imagined…Kami, I should've stopped that old pervert from going there…" Tsunade cursed, looking over several files, as of now Fu was just staying with the Aburame clan of all people.

Tsunade thought back to her talk with the girl, to hear that Fu had a good relationship with her Biju completely shocked Tsunade.

"Then there's the Kyuubi and Naruto…Maybe…" The Senju woman's heart skipped a beat thinking about making a deal with such a beast, its power could give them a chance, a trump card against the Masked 'Madara' and Rinnegan Kami.

The Kyuubi was clearly sentient if Fu and the Nanabi were anything to go by.

Tsunade made a mental note to send a letter to Mikogami to look into it.

Then there was the actual aftermath of the mission with Jiraiya…the Mizukage at least completely agreed with making a formal alliance, the Rokubi was lost but Kiri still had Military power and that was worth something.

She took a deep breath, at the very least things seemed cool on the current political front, she closed her eyes and continued to muse about the industrialization of Konoha

"Perhaps it's time we get one of those old…' trains'..." Tsunade grinned, looking at the book about them and the map of the elemental nations, she imagined a future where people from Konoha could reach the capital of Hi no Kuni in hours thanks to these trains.

Her musings were cut short by Shizune

"T-Tsunade-sama!"

Tsunade paused as she was about to go for some Saki

"T-The Fire Temple! It was attacked! And the capital! The capital of Hi no Kuni was destroyed! The Daimyo and his family are dead!" Shizune shrieked in horror, Tsunade's face went completely pale and Her heart stopped as not only was Hi no Kuni leaderless, her plans were completely derailed.

A Nightmare Scenario.

"Anbu!"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Look, it's not weird, just hold on to my hips, don't do anything weird, and remember our deal!" Akua growled out as she and Naruto both left the bar, though Naruto giggled, now starting to sober up, it had already been a hell of a night.

Surprisingly, Naruto didn't have a loose-lips personality and Akua was a little disappointed she didn't get much out of him, though she felt weirdly pulled to him even more due to that.

She never cared much for anyone and that wasn't going to change anytime soon but this strange blond with whisker marks was supposedly a legendary S-rank Monster.

Naruto had that Mystery factor to him, he was living alone, he didn't know any other Yoko other than himself, and he strangely smelled human but that couldn't be right...

"Alright come on, I parked over here." She muttered, leading the stumbling blond to a completely black motorcycle, though it was vintage.

Naruto staggered slightly as Akua sighed

"I'm sober enough for this, don't worry and I have…vampire reflexes, where do you live again?"

"Uh, Outside Osaka city, the suburbs..." Naruto explained as he reluctantly got on and Akua nodded, passing him some spare safety goggles

"W-What are these called again?" feeling the leather seating, the Uzumaki blushed as he grabbed onto Akua's hands and firmly held on.

"Have you never seen a Motorcycle?" Akua spoke in disbelief before seeing Naruto shake his head

"No, I've seen them in movies!" Naruto replied as she shrugged him off

"...well…It's technically illegal to drive one without protection but I'm a vampire who cares, I really just need the goggles for the wind." She spoke, placing the vintage goggles on her eyes and started the engine

It was louder than Naruto expected and in his slightly drunken state slightly increased his grip on Akua

"E-Eh easy." She growled before speeding off.

It was surreal to Naruto, he felt the wind hitting his face and the engine purr, it was liberating but still smooth.

"Man, I need to buy one of these!" Naruto cried out, The Bus ride was fun but this was on another level.

"You're a lucky guy, Naruto, I never do this for anyone!" Akua replied with a small fanged grin and even went as far as to run a red light.

The skyscraper, the neon lights, it was one then when you were walking but for Naruto to be feeling the harsh wind on his face.

The Adrenaline rush hit him as several cars flew by Akua as she skillfully maneuvered between them all

"I get messages from the stars."

The words and strange music came out of the small radio that was barely audible but somehow it still set the mood as Akua slowed down to get off the highway.

"You must be from another galaxy."

Akua finally stopped at another red light, and the two were completely alone, surprisingly this part of the city was empty, and most people were asleep except for the occasional car.

"You saved me from a certain tragedy."

The Vampiress had a lazy look as she finally sobered up but was somewhat tired from so much driving all day, she glanced next to her to see a blond woman in her own motorcycle.

Akua saw the streetlight illuminate a smug smirk on the woman's face through her helmet.

Eventually, even Naruto noticed and the blond woman revved her engine a few times.

Akua's eyes widened, a street race? Right now? While she had a passenger? And in the city of freaking Osaka?

"What's she doing?" Naruto asked as the light turned green

"She wants to race…what do you say? I got all night to kill so It's up to you, …" Akua offered, Somehow Naruto couldn't believe his luck, he actually had a fun night completely by chance and it was about to get better

"Go for it, make her eat our dust!" Naruto shouted as Akua revved her engine

"Just a heads up! This is also super illegal!"

*skrrr*

The two now street racers sped off as Naruto cheered.

The wind noise and buffeting were immense once they had taken off but they soon just stayed neck and neck speeding down several streets.

Akua hummed to herself before perking up and feeling Naruto increase his grip again.

"H-Hey! What did I say!?"

"Sorry!"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"That's my place." Naruto pointed out as Akua nodded and quickly parked, Naruto felt a bit strange getting off and Akua only took a deep breath, she still deflated slightly, realizing how much gas she had burned out racing that woman

It was strange how she just managed to disappear like that, Akua was certain that lady was human.

"What do you think happened to that lady?"

Naruto shrugged, though it was strange how the race was neck and neck one second and the next turn, the woman was just gone.

"Alright, Naruto, I guess this is goodbye for now." the vampiress spoke in a completely flat tone, Naruto blinked at her change of demeanor

"Oh yeah, you're leaving for your job." Naruto felt a tad disappointed his new friend had to leave so soon, Akua only shrugged in response before smirking

"Hey, I gave you a ride and you even got to race, you hold up your end now," Akua spoke, her now normal hot pink eyes sparkled and flashed into their red vampire counterpart, she quickly got off her motorcycle and onto the sidewalk with Naruto

The Uzumaki gave a nervous grin and he hesitated at first, thinking about Moka for a brief second, but soon he titled his neck

Akua hissed before pouncing on the blond's neck and sinking her fangs into him, Naruto gasped and held on to her arms

Akua moaned and leaned into him.

"Kami, how does Tsukune do this…"

The Vampiress was in pure bliss, this blood it was certainly human but there was something else, sharp, it was energizing far more than any normal human, She took a big gulp of blood as Naruto winced and she sucked harder.

Her eyes widened as she felt a euphoric sensation now, pure bliss.

"A-Ah. Alright!" Naruto finally shook her off as Akua was still in slight shock.

"W-Wow that's the first time I've ever had a Yoko's blood." she gasped

"It's angelic…almost Human-like…but…more." She muttered, Naruto cringed, holding onto his neck.

Akua intensely stared at Naruto as if debating something in her head before finally she shook her head and hopped back on her bike

"Well…Goodbye, Naruto." Akua spoke with a small grin and Naruto gave a sad grin

Akua sped off and the Uzumaki waved goodbye.

Naruto felt the Kyuubi's chakra go in to heal the blood wound before he realized something…

He completely forgot about Ruby.

"Shit" he cursed before quietly going up the stairs, it was already late in the night, Ruby was fast asleep on the couch, the Uzumaki silently nudged her

"Mhmm…Naruto…" She muttered as Naruto blushed before he nudged her again, the Witch slowly opened her eyes and suddenly shot up

"Ah! Sorry! Wait!" Ruby shouted before pointing her finger at the blond

"You! You made me so worried! You left to go to the store seven hours ago! It's two in the morning now!" Ruby scolded, and Naruto gave her a sheepish grin.

"Y-Yeah, so how about I take the couch and you take my room, I'm deadbeat tired…" Naruto spoke with a huff as Ruby gave him a flat look before an idea flashed in her mind.

"W-What if we s-shared your bed!" Ruby blurted out completely red, Naruto's eyes widened and he blinked at her for a few seconds

"Oh that's a great idea!" Naruto spoke as Ruby went slightly pale

"T-That worked! I was just straightforward and it worked!" the Witch was now steaming with ideas that she was now sharing a bed with Naruto.

The Uzumaki walked over to his room while Ruby hesitated but her excitement got the better of her and she went after him

Ruby could barely contain herself as Naruto got in bed with her. She took a few good deep breaths while Naruto simply closed his eyes and pretended to fall asleep.

"N-Naruto-kun?" Ruby whispered over as Naruto took a deep breath

"Hm?

"Is this weird? I mean do you think this is weird…"

The Uzumaki shrugged

"It's just sleeping together in the same bed, I've had to share a Foxhole with Kakashi-sensei once and that was worse," Naruto spoke with a yawn

Ruby looked a little amused and eventually peacefully fell asleep, it was then Naruto actually opened one eye, making sure the Witch was actually asleep.

Quietly he managed to perform a substitution Jutsu with a newly made clone and slipped out of Ruby's grasp, closing the door behind him, Naruto began to make his way down the dark hallway.

It didn't feel right to sleep in the same bed with someone that wasn't Mizore, it just wasn't…Naruto passed the mirror and briefly saw his eyebags

He let out an exhausted sigh and threw himself on the couch again, another one of the cancer sticks appeared in his hand as he lit it up and went over to grab his cassette player.

Naruto couldn't lie to himself, he missed Mizore but right now sleeping alone was just easier than being reminded of her.

The Uzumaki's eyes grew heavy as the moonlight peaked through the curtains, the music finally played, and again Naruto didn't even know what tape it was.

"I heard pretty love songs…coming from an open window, today"

Naruto took a puff, wondering what was going on in Konoha as well now that Jiraiya had passed

"And I can't tell you why…pretty love songs always make me cry… "

The soft melody was almost like a lullaby as Naruto put the last one out and he slowly fell asleep on the couch.

"Today…I was crying in the sunshine."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Naruto groaned as the sunlight struck his face, he was confused for a second and stood up from the couch, surprisingly, he only had a light hangover, still…his face felt raw and his stomach still hurt.

Finally, the Uzumaki got a hold of himself and went to get water

Eventually, Naruto heard his phone ring and he jumped. The blond was still a mess, so he went over to the coffee table and checked it.

"Tsukune is doing alright in his training, he got his first clone jutsu down - Yūgao"

Naruto grinned slightly and glanced at the clock in his living room, seeing it was about time for everyone at the Academy to be getting to their first class and shrugged it off.

The morning went on with a lazy atmosphere, Naruto showered and made another cup of ramen, the Uzumaki waited eventually as Ruby even woke up as well

"Ahhh…" the Witch looked completely satisfied with herself, still not believing she had cuddled with Naruto the entire night.

"O-Oh, Naruto-kun! Y-you're eating Ramen again?" Ruby asked, the Uzumaki raised an eyebrow and nodded

"Always do."

"I-I could make you something!" She offered as Naruto shook his head and turned on the tv

"Nah, I'm good but thanks!" Naruto rejected, the Witch deflated slightly though Naruto went over to the kitchen to pour himself alcohol in his little metal flask. The Uzumaki recalled Anko's gift, it was just a little steel flask with a Konoha seal

"I-it's seven am…" Ruby spoke in disbelief, no one was this bad right? And he was younger than her by a few years…though Naruto only nodded and took a swig.

The Uzumaki wordlessly went back to eating his ramen in the living room while Ruby stood there in slight shock

"Naruto-kun…" Ruby spoke in a low voice

"I don't like seeing you like this…"

The room fell silent while Naruto took that in and he stared at the metal flask. She was right, it was early in the morning. What the hell was he doing?

"Y-Yeah, Rub-"

Naruto suddenly stiffened completely when the door knocked, his eyes twitched as he felt who could be outside.

"No fucking way…"

Ruby looked confused as Naruto went over to the door's peephole and stared into it, She only saw him pale and lock the door.

"N-Naruto-kun?" Though the Uzumaki ignored her completely and grabbed her hand, quickly the hid behind the couch

*Knock*

*knock*

The Knocking began to get even louder

"N-Naruto-kun, w-what's happening?" Ruby spoke, though Naruto only narrowed his eyes as the front door flung open with a hard kick, immediately two seals on Naruto's wrists flared up and a puff of smoke appeared in front of Naruto

Ruby had screamed, as Naruto loaded a rifle and pointed it at the open door, getting into his shooting stance and preparing to fire, he still skillfully kept his finger off the trigger well.

The Uzumaki even made sure to be aware of his surroundings and civilians.

"S-Sasuke-teme and I-Itachi?"" Naruto spoke with slight fear and confusion, though still held the weapon up.

"Dope, sorry about the door. Sasuke greeted, slightly weirded out by such a strange weapon.

the Uchiha was looking at Naruto with a wide array of emotions as Naruto finally noticed a third person with them, his familiar pink-haired teammate

"Hey…Naruto…it's been a couple of years hasn't it!" The girl smiled as Ruby looked confused and slight jealousy as Naruto slightly lowered the weapon and looked excited.

"S-Sakura?"

The green-eyed girl nodded and looked a little ecstatic to have team seven back together even if it was in a strange world and under even stranger circumstances.

"What was all that ruckus?!" The entire group minus Itachi jumped as Naruto cursed, removing the source of feed from the rifle and throwing it behind the couch.

"That's the landlady! Hurry! Get in!" Naruto urged as the three Konoha Shinobi quickly rushed inside.

An old woman with crazed glasses walked up the stairs and growled

"Uzumaki! Uzuki! I know you're in there! Keep it down, it's eight in the morning!" She screamed, banging on the door with a broom.

The old lady peered into the window only to see a completely normal living room and an empty kitchen

She once more growled before storming off.

Itachi mused, looking at Naruto crossing his fingers as the woman left.

"Dabbing in Genjutsu now Naruto-kun?" the former Anbu asked, though Naruto only snarled at the two Uchiha and even Sakura.

Naruto blinked however for a second, seeing Sasuke, Itachi, and Sakura in casual human clothes just didn't sit right with him.

"Okay what the hell is going on here, Sakura, how did you guys find this place and how are they here?!" He spoke with venom dripping in his tone.

Itachi and Sasuke glanced at each other as the older Uchiha nodded, though the two then glanced at Ruby

"It is very sensitive information, Naruto-kun…" Itachi spoke

Naruto noticed this and folded his arms

"I don't care, She can stay if she wants…" Naruto declared before motioning for them to sit down, Sakura took the offer and Sasuke reluctantly did so.

Ruby anxiously looked at the three Shinobi and back at Naruto, there was clearly a lot of history between them all.

Slowly the Witch bit her lower lip, glancing at Sasuke and Naruto, the two only glared at each other. For some reason Ruby just simply felt like it wasn't her right to be there, she felt extremely uncomfortable and suddenly cleared her throat.

"A-Ah…Naruto-kun…I think I'll go outside for a bit! Ya know…feed the crows for a bit!" Ruby spoke, suddenly grabbing a spare key from the table, Naruto watched her leave.

Sakura looked curiously at Ruby before the pinkette gave a sly grin at Naruto

"Aw, so you finally did get over your crush?" She teased as Naruto gave a stiff laugh before nervously looking at Itachi and Sasuke, still, he kept up his stoic face.

To have this reunion suddenly dumped on him, at a time like this…it certainly didn't help

"Where to begin…" Sakura muttered, though she did take a liking to Naruto's apartment, it sure was cleaner than the one he had back in Konoha, showing he did mature a lot.

"Now Naruto-kun about the massacre and how I'm here, we'll get into that later and…I know things look strange but I never actually worked for Akatsuki, I actually worked for Jiraiya-sama." Itachi started as Naruto's eyes widened slightly

"I was recalled back to Konoha to assist with Tsunade-sama's internal issues in Konoha, I know Konoha took a big hit because of Jiraiya-sama's passing but you're still out of Akatsuki's reach…which is frankly the only thing that matters right now…" The older Uchiha spoke in a low voice before Naruto suddenly held a finger up

"How strong is the leader of Akatsuki?" Naruto asked, leveling his gaze at the black eyes of Itachi

"He took on an entire company of Kiri Shinobi, a platoon of Konoha Anbu, the Mizukage herself, her Honor Guard, and Jiraiya-sama…" Itachi stated Naruto felt a pit form in his stomach.

"He wasn't even trying from what the survivors said, his abilities…were so strange and just seemed invincible they said…people were just being sent to the meat grinder…" Sakura interjected, looking off into the distance, Haruno Jounin mentally recalled, immediately reading the said aftermath casualty report.

"He calls himself Pain, the 'Kami of Ame' the Guy has an ego." Sasuke snorted with a scoff and folded his arms as Naruto gave the Uchiha a flat look before he rolled his eyes

"So…why are you here?" Naruto asked the Uchiha, finally Sasuke flinched and looked unsure of what to say next.

The younger Uchiha stole a glance at Itachi and Sakura, his former female teammate only gave him a sympathetic small grin and nodded.

"There was more to the Uchiha massacre…" Sasuke could only trail off before narrowing his eyes at Naruto.

"My clan was planning to rebel against the village…I…won't get into specifics, but Konoha ordered the death of my clan to prevent a civil war, I just found this out so my life's ambition has been rendered pointless." Sasuke took a deep breath seeing the troubled look on Naruto's face

"Wait the Old man…Kami, did he really?" Naruto thought before Itachi raised his hand

"It's alright, the matter is dead as well as the people who ordered it." Itachi informed Naruto was still in disbelief, the Hokage had a hand in the Uchiha clan's death

"I can't serve Konoha, I hate them for it " Sasuke suddenly spoke up catching Naruto's attention, the Uchiha's voice was ice cold, it reminded Naruto of how Sasuke used to talk about his brother.

"But I won't take revenge on them either, I understand why they did it…and going down that path of revenge got me nowhere with Itachi. That's why I'm here. I cut a deal with the Hokage to start a new life away from Konoha…" Sasuke explained himself, Naruto was taken aback by this but was suddenly struck with a memory from his training with Yūgao

"Being The Hokage means you'll have to make some hard choices too, choices you won't agree with"

Naruto then gave a slow nod as Yūgao's words echoed

Hearing this a few months ago from Sasuke, would've made Naruto give out an angry outburst about how good Konoha was and why he needed to come home but given his own mixed feelings towards the village…

Naruto didn't even know what to think anymore, though Sakura simply took a sip of some tea before noticing the time

"Oh crap!" Sakura spoke up

"Itachi! Your appointment!" She called out as the older Uchiha's eyes widened

"Finally time to see Kakashi-senpai and Yūgao-san on good terms again." Itachi unexpectedly grinned before standing up and heading for the door, Sakura pointed at him

"H-Hey! Remember to tell that creepy bus driver guy to come back for us!" She shouted out the door before Sasuke actually turned over to Naruto

"Naruto, are you gonna be busy today? …" Sasuke awkwardly asked as Sakura began to giggle in excitement

"We're having a small Team Seven reunion tonight to catch up, even if Sasuke isn't a Konoha Shinobi anymore…" Sakura added.

Naruto's eyes lit up and he grinned

"Sure, sure!"

"One more thing, there's someone else we also want you to meet." the Uchiha spoke up, Naruto blinked and tilted his head, Sakura's eyes widened realizing who Sasuke was talking about.

"Oh, Karin!" Sakura sighed with slight frustration, remembering her first encounter with the girl Naruto raised an eyebrow

"Who?"

Sasuke finally smiled

"She's an Uzumaki!"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Another day goes by…and where was I?"

Mizore played with her lollipop as she looked at her ceiling, completely and utterly alone.

"Didn't think I'd still be here"

The Yuki-onna was startled when her window was tapped by a long claw from Kurumu in her monster form

"Hey, Mizore-chan!" The Succubus cheerfully greeted, Mizore blankly stared at the Succubus before she went over to open it

"You know it's still totally against the rules to be out of your human form," Mizore said in a flat tone as she turned off her record player. Kurumu stepped inside as soon as she did her wings and claws both receded

"It's also against the rules to be ditching Class too." Kurumu pointed out as the Yuki-onna rolled her eyes and grabbed her homework scattered on her desk, the succubus leaned against the wall

"I'm not gonna let you flunk out of the Academy because of one breakup." Kurumu proclaimed, her face completely serious, the Yuki-onna didn't even face her, she only continued to gather her things for class and the later session in the Newspaper Club

Mizore stared at her mirror and looked at her messy hair, she lightly blushed, being a little grateful to have friends like these.

"Thank you…" She muttered, Kurumu did suddenly look troubled though as she was debating on if to say something

"Ah…Mizore-chan…"

"Yeah?"

"Tsukune-kun said he's been seeing a lot more of those Konoha Shinobis around and that they told him to prepare for something big," Kurumu spoke with a low voice as Mizore paused and a tense feeling filled the room.

Mizore hated to think about anything Shinobi related and since Naruto left, she had sorta been disconnected from it all.

Except for Tsukune who was still being trained by the Konoha Shinobi

"It's what he had to sign up for so he could stay right?…" the Yuki-onna coldly said, grabbing her bag and proceeding to leave.

Kurumu blinked at the sudden attitude change but shrugged it off

"Y-Yeah sure but I just wish he could spend more time with us in the Club…" The Succubus mumbled before eventually following her out to the living room

"I'm just worried about him, that's all…" Kurumu added, finally able to glance at Mizore's living room It was still an absolute mess just as how the last time she was here.

The Succubus could vaguely recall how her dorm was so much cleaner when Naruto was around, how much happier Mizore was then as well…but there was nothing Kurumu could really do and that's what was hurting her the most.

"Hey…you promised Yukari-chan that you'd at least clean up around here." Kurumu reminded in a soft-spoken caring voice, Mizore took a deep breath and went over to the kitchen

"Yeah, I know…" She muttered, going to make iced coffee.

Mizore grabbed a few lollipops for the rest of the day and set them on the counter, it was still a completely tense and awkward silence, Kurumu noticed an open letter on the table, it had dried-out tear stains.

"Mizore-chan…?"

the Yuki-onna came back with an iced coffee and went over to grab her things for class

"Is everything okay, back home?" Kurumu asked, handing her the letter, though Mizore surprisingly handed it back to the Succubus

"See for yourself." She muttered before taking a sip of her coffee and leaving her dorm with Kurumu behind her.

Kurumu's eyes scanned the letter as She and Mizore continued to walk in silence down the stairs.

It took several seconds for Kurumu to properly process what she was reading before she grit her teeth but just as she was about to speak Mizore shook her head.

"Keep it between us." She suddenly whispered Kurumu gave a hesitant nod understanding the sensitivity of the situation.

"There has to be something you can do, they can't just do that so…fast what about Graduation?" Kurumu asked, re-reading the letter over and over, it made her feel sick that this is what Mizore was going to have to suffer through.

It was degrading.

Surprisingly Mizore waved it off though her stoic and cold demeanor nearly broke upon thinking about the letter.

"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it." the Yuki-onna swallowed hard and composed herself slightly before the two continued their way to class

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Cars stuck in traffic of Osaka once more as the sun setting hit the city's skyscrapers, the honking of vehicles, the endless amount of people, the clothes they wore, once more a Konoha Shinobi had their worlds rocked

"Kami…" Sakura stared in awe, she had never in all her life thought Humans could make buildings that touch the clouds like that.

"It's like a metal…glass…jungle it just doesn't end," Sasuke muttered, looking at the endless buildings, Naruto gave a nervous chuckle

"Was I like this when I got here?" He thought to himself, briefly remembering his first trip in the human world with the Newspaper Club and the empty feeling suddenly hit him a little bit again.

Now it hurts to think about the shopping spree with Kurumu and Mizore or seeing a Movie with Tsukune. Memories like that were non-existence up to that point and now they felt outreach to experience again.

"A-Ah, Naruto-kun, are you sure it's a good idea to take them to a Yokai bar?" Ruby whispered over and the Uzumaki nodded, snapping himself out of his sad thoughts.

"Yeah, I know this place…" Naruto mused, Ruby then gave Naruto a small pout

"You promise not to drink though? You did say it's a bar…they sell food too right?" Ruby spoke in barely a whisper as she was getting tired of having to deal with Naruto's drunken state

"I don't like seeing you like this."

Those words flashed by Naruto and he flashed her a smile.

"Yeah they do and I won't drink promise."

Sasuke and Sakura were still completely hypnotized by the city life once again they didn't overheat the conversation instead

The Uchiha nudged Sakura and pointed to the sky, eyes completely widened

"The hell is that?"

A civilian passing by gave the two Shinobis weirded-out looks

"It's a freaking airplane, what about it?"

The random Civilian gave the group strange looks as Naruto and Ruby nudged them away from the civilian

"What a weirdo…"

Finally making the right turn, Naruto found himself glancing over to the same street where he hopped on Akua's Motorcycle

The night before with Akua suddenly flashed by his eyes, riding that Motorcycle with her was the most surreal feeling ever and he did have the extra money from other missions…

"I gotta get my hands on one of those and learn how to use it…" Naruto silently obsessed about it, a clone appeared in a nearby alley just as the group passed by

The Uzumaki narrowed his eyes at his creation and give it a nod

The Clone then nodded before becoming transparent and running up the wall to proceed with its mission, somehow the others didn't even seem to notice.

Finally, the four found themselves in the same alleyway Naruto did the night before, this time the same security guard stood there, arms folded and leaned against the wall.

"Ah! Uzumaki! You made quite the scene before we closed up yesterday…" the man gave him a creepy grin as the group collectively flinched before Naruto started sweating bullets as the memories flooded back

"What was that you who spilled that?" a green-skinned troll that reminded Naruto of a less muscular Saizou stood up and quickly got inches away from Naruto's face, he could feel the troll's hot breath.

"Do you even know who I am?!" he roared through Naruto only glaring at the troll, his left eye twitched as the Uzumaki felt his anger surge.

"Look, I already told you it was an accident, I'm sorry ma-"

Naruto's shirt was suddenly grabbed as he stared into the half-transformed face of a troll, bringing him closer.

"Now that's just disrespectful, come on Naruto are you going to take that?"

Akua's blood-red eyes flared, and she sat there with her arms folded watching the scene with an amused grin. Naruto suddenly took a sharp breath as the Kyuubi's Chakra was suddenly pumped into him.

Her amusement was replaced with amazement when the red-eyed Uzumaki headbutted the troll and managed to knock it out the troll.

Naruto turned back to Akua with a smug smirk as she sat there in surprise before a chair slammed into the Uzumaki's head and all hell broke loose in the bar.

After that, the Uzumaki could only remember skipping away with Akua out of the alleyway and on her motorcycle.

Naruto blinked, bringing himself back to the present, the man laughed seeing their collective fearful looks before opening the door.

"Go on in and don't worry about it, She already took care of it yesterday." He whispered, before motioning for the other employees to let them in, Naruto looked completely confused as did the group before he shrugged them off and smiled

"So Kakashi-sensei and everyone else are gonna show up later?" Naruto spoke up as Sakura nodded, the group had already entered the bar though Sakura slightly hesitated

"Y-Yeah, once they're done dropping off Itachi at the hospital to get checked, they're gonna meet up with us back at your safehouse" Sakura replied, Naruto was surprised to hear this and frowned

"Hospital? What for?" the Uzumaki asked

"I don't know what Itachi-nii-san is suffering from but it's killing him…part of the deal of coming here was to see if the medical world was advanced enough to save him," Sasuke answered with some hope dripping in his voice

It was completely surreal to Naruto to see the former brooding Uchiha like this, it wasn't a complete reversal, Naruto could still see traces of the old arrogant and cold Sasuke there but the Uzumaki noticed Sasuke being more mindful of how he was talking to Sakura and himself.

He was changing.

"Then I'm gonna meet this Karin girl right?" Naruto asked as both Sasuke and Sakura nodded

"Yeah, she came with us but…uh…She's a special case, so they separated her and had another escort team for her." Sakura answered, Naruto raised an eyebrow, and Ruby felt a little left out of the conversation but remained silent watching the Konoha Shinobi converse together.

The Uchiha then suddenly actually tapped Naruto's shoulder.

"Hey, could I actually talk to you, privately?" Sasuke asked awkwardly, looking over to Sakura and Ruby, the Witch blinked at the two as they went over to sit by the bar itself though Sakura knew what they were going to talk about and frowned

"So…Ruby-san, How did you meet my blond knuck-head teammate?" Sakura asked as Sasuke raised an eyebrow wanting to hear this.

Ruby smiled, stealing a small glance at him, Naruto actually caught her eye and returned her smile, the Witch began to recall the events

It really didn't feel that long ago but at the same time so much had really happened between then and now.

"There was this place called Witch knoll hill…"

Not far, Naruto spun slightly on the barstool as the Uchiha quietly sat next to him, and looked around. He had never actually been to a place like this.

Truth be told, It was nerve-racking for him, people that looked human but weren't…they were just casually walking around the establishment, and some of them were partially transformed still.

It reminded him somewhat of Orochimaru's cursed experiments but these guys were alive and well.

Sasuke repressed the urge to shiver when a woman with snakes for hair blushed and smiled at him with those slit eyes of hers.

"Kami, She'd be a perfect match for Orochimaru…" Sasuke turned back to Naruto

"I want to apologize." Sasuke suddenly started as Naruto paused, casually waiting for his order.

"For trying to kill you…for betraying the village and leaving Team Seven." he continued and was about to speak again if Naruto didn't finally get his order of miso Ramen and interrupted his former best friend

"Haha, It's fine, I already had a few people here try to kill me and they ended up being good friends in the end." Naruto tried to laugh it off with his old usual goofy grin though Sasuke only kept a stoic face not really feeling the same.

"Yeah…It still wasn't right." Sasuke ended off, musing while Naruto enjoyed his ramen, behind the two Ruby and Sakura casually continued their conversation

"What changed? How come you suddenly didn't just go after Konoha?" Naruto asked, thinking what he would've done in Sasuke's shoes, the Uzumaki was now finally taking this conversation as seriously as it should be.

Sasuke stared off into the distance as he recalled meeting Itachi again in the ruins of Naruto's former clan.

"The idea was floating around, I won't lie but as I said, it got me nowhere with Itachi, and honestly I have no idea what to do….but I realized you were right, Naruto… I don't know what to do now. I never really planned this far ahead but I'm trying to figure that out now." Sasuke truthfully spoke, the raven-haired Uchiha's Sharingan suddenly flared as he scanned the entire bar now with his Dojutsu.

"There's no Chakra network…" He mused before Naruto's face finally broke out into a grin

"H-Hey, honestly man…I forgive you as long as you're getting help and trying to be better!" Naruto replied as Sasuke couldn't actually resist the urge to smile, thanking the Uzumaki silently.

"Yeah, Itachi-niisan said once we're on our feet we should also start a business or something to distract ourselves. He wants to make a library and I want to start a self-defense school." Sasuke snorted, thinking about the idea of a peaceful life, though Naruto blinked hearing this

"Wait, are you gonna keep training?" He asked while Sasuke gave him a smug smirk

"Of course, I am, dope, I still gotta keep my skills in line, plus…Ino-san said it's good therapy to do physical training…" Sasuke answered, recalling his conversation with her in Konoha.

Naruto gave a slow nod, he closed his eyes, finishing up the last bit of ramen and thinking about how Sasuke could potentially still be a sparring partner.

"Hey, dope, the Hokage did tell us about this Newspaper Club stuff you were in, what's up with that?"

Naruto paused, blinked and looked at the empty bowl being taken away by the tentacle bartender monster, he grinned slightly recalling his first few days in the Academy.

"So it all started when I met Tsukune and Moka…"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

End

Story Content word count: like 15kish

Okay, okay back from hell aka Sandhill, I got Sasuke here and a lot of Konoha shit just got dumped here, think of it like setting up an embassy in the Academy because that's what it is, now Naruto's depression is an up and down thing, it looks like he's getting out of it but it's a process not a fix all situation, I hope this is fine, I was stuck in the swamps of the American south for six months so I don't know if I rusted or screwed anything with the story so easy on the flames, bros.

Now do you think I should give Tsukune a Bat Summoning contract and have him zooming around in a mist of bats? I like that from Skyrim and it could really work well with Tsukune fighting. also Akua, I hope I did her well because yeah she is the final girl in that harem for Naruto and I want her as close to canon as possible with the consequences of this Chapter's interactions with Naruto happening so I know she was out of it here.

For reviews: Harem friend, I didn't trust myself with harems till now.

Now for Sasuke and Itachi I will get into that deeper next chapter about the fight, because I want to try my hand at a Naruto and Sasuke spar but this chapter is just getting way too long and I haven't updated for almost 10 months

Lastly, I know there's a lot of Konoha people in the Rosario Vampire world and there's gonna be a few more next Chapter and there's a good reason for it mostly for Jiraiya, it's like a surge of deployment and you will see it.

P.s Animes/Shows that oddly work well with Rosario+Vampire: Vampire the Masquerade bloodline and Wizards of Waverly place, I know, strange.

Anyway here you go : Part 2/3: soonish