Chapter Five: The Calm

Sasuke awoke to a metallic knocking sound. "Sasuke-san, Orochimaru-sama has arrived and is requesting your presence in training room delta," he heard the stranger through his steel door.

Looking over to the alarm clock, he saw that it was almost noon. He had been sleeping in later and later since he wasn't really able to train. "I'll be right there!" he shouted to the door, unsure if the man that had delivered the message to him was waiting for a response or not.

Quickly getting dressed, Sasuke left the room. It was about time the snake sannin showed up. The days had started to blur together in his head, but he was pretty sure it had been over a week since he defected from Konoha. He had already questioned his decision before, and with every day that he was effectively held prisoner here, his doubts only grew.

Making his way down the concrete hallways of the eastern wing, Sasuke approached the training room he had claimed as his own. The urge to move had taken him over a few days ago and he had begun training solo. With nothing else to do, he worked until he could work no more, falling to exhaustion every night.

Sasuke entered through the open door to training room delta, inside he spotted 3 figures. He recognized Orochimaru, and Kabuto who stood beside him, but the snake sannin looked different than Sasuke remembered him: he was slightly shorter, and his hips were slightly wider as well. To the side though, stood a girl he didn't recognize. She appeared to be about his age, with long pinkish-red hair, a pair of black glasses, and eyes that matched her hair color almost perfectly.

"Sasuke-kun!" Orochimaru smiled, noticing the young Uchiha and greeting him in an uncannily warm manner. "It's so good to see you. I apologize for my tardiness: I was preoccupied with some village matters in Otogakure when you arrived, and I wanted to make sure you were kept somewhere safe. Konoha has not taken your defection lightly, and although they are moving to infiltrate Oto with their spies, Base 33 is new and does not exist on paper. You will be safe here, for the foreseeable future."

Sasuke remained expressionless, pondering the new information. "Of course, Orochimaru-sama. You had other duties to attend to, I understand. I eagerly await our future training now that you are available," he said, a small chill running up his spine as he added the -sama suffix to Orochimaru's name. This man wanted to steal his body, but he had to maintain the facade of politeness no matter how upset he was about Orochimaru's end-goals or his tardiness.

"Who's she?" Sasuke asked directly and bluntly, gesturing to the red-headed girl with his head. There was something about her that felt familiar somehow.

"This is Uzumaki Karin," Orochimaru began, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I will be teaching you directly whenever available. However if I am called away on more village business, Karin will serve as your training partner. You are technically her superior, but she knows much, and can be a useful aid if you require assistance with anything while I'm unavailable."

"I see." Sasuke's eyes widened slightly as he swallowed hard. She was an Uzumaki? The hair and eyes were completely different, but her face? There was definitely a resemblance to Naruto. She could have claimed to be Naruto's long-lost sister and he would have believed her.

"You've already met Kabuto," Orochimaru continued. "He is one of my most trusted operatives. However, today he is here because of his medical expertise. I was hoping you could activate your Sharingan and allow him to run some diagnostics on you. Merely as a precaution, I assure you."

Sasuke did as he was told, activating his Sharingan. Immediately the subtleties of the world unveiled themselves to him. He could see every heartbeat in the slight staccato vibrations of the clothing on their chests. He could see the dust motes in the air rush to fill Karin's lungs when she gasped. Kabuto hands, raising to the sides of his head with their pale green glow, moved agonizingly slowly.

Orochimaru's mouth drew into a smile, and Sasuke could detect the minute contractions of each muscle fiber like a tsunami across the skin of the man's face. "I see the rumor was accurate, and you have awoken the Mangekyo Sharingan."

"What do you know about the Mangekyo?" Sasuke asked as Kabuto's chakra infused hands rested against his temples.

"Only that it is the ultimate evolution of the Sharingan, and that it's continued use will cause blindness in the wielder. I know also that it gives you access to the Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, and your Susanoo."

"Not Tsukuyomi," Sasuke corrected as Kabuto took his hands away. "Each Mangekyo is unique. I can create unquenchable flames with Amaterasu, like Itachi, but I can also extinguish them with Kagutsuchi."

"I see, so the name Amaterasu refers to the technique used to create the flames, not the flames themselves? Interesting." Orochimaru spoke ponderously as Sasuke deactivated his eyes. "You know much about your new abilities even though I received no news of you using them yet. How is that?"

"This knowledge comes intrinsically with the activation of the Mangekyo," Sasuke spoke and noted that Kabuto was taking an awful lot of notes for someone that was just doing a precautionary analysis.

"Fascinating. Do you believe you could break Itachi's Tsukuyomi with your new eyes?" Orochimaru asked, the faintest hint of excitement crossing into his voice.

"I know it's possible now, but whether or not I currently have the strength to do so I can't say."

"Then it appears as though you were destined to avenge your clan, Sasuke. You can counter not one, but both of Itachi's Mangekyo techniques with your own. I'm sure with time, your Susanoo will grow beyond his as well." Orochimaru said, stroking Sasuke's ego. "Tell me though, I never learned how the Mangekyo is awakened. How did you do it?"

Sasuke stiffened slightly. He hadn't realized his abilities were so perfectly matched against Itachi's. "That's a clan secret, I'm afraid."

Orochimaru's uncanny smile didn't budge. "Understandable, Sasuke-kun, but you can't blame an old scientist for being curious. Hehehe." Orchimaru's smile dropped as he turned to Kabuto. "Well, what did you learn?"

"Sasuke-kun is in great condition," Kabuto answered. "and, there is no degradation detected in his eyes. He's a perfectly healthy ninja in every sense."

Orochimaru's smile returned, although this time its uncanny nature was increased ten-fold. "Good. Well then, Sasuke-kun, before we begin your training, let's assess where you currently stand. Attack me with everything you have. Although, I'll have to ask you to refrain from using your Mangekyo techniques. They ares to be used only as a last resort in a life-threatening situation, understood? Karin, you will observe Sasuke-kun's combat style and think of ways you can mold your own around it, understood?"

"Y-yes, Orochimaru-sama." The girl said with a deep bow and a nervous adjustment of her glasses, speaking for the first time since Sasuke came into the room.

"Very well, Sasuke, you may begin whenev-" Orochimaru suddenly had to jump aside to avoid a fireball that was hurtling towards him. He chuckled to himself. He couldn't wait until he could transfer bodies again.

UN:PoA

"I'm rich!" Naruto shouted into the air as he received his payment. A full 8,000 ryo, just for him! Hige smiled at the boy's reaction and shook his head. That was double what he got yesterday. Although, admittedly, he hadn't started working until halfway through the day yesterday.

"You work your ass off, Haku-san," Hige started "You carried almost as much as some of my best workers. I swear, you ninja are a different breed. Almost makes me wish my parents had trained me to kill since birth, ha!"

Naruto just smiled at the man. "Thanks, Hige-san! I try my best. Say, what time should I show up tomorrow? There weren't any hours posted on the board like yesterday."

Hige frowned a little. "About that, with your help we finished earlier than we thought. We don't need to stay in port any longer, we're heading out to Kiri to buy some more fish while they're still in season. The demand for sea trout has gone way up recently and I can't sit on my laurels doing nothing. Something big is brewing in Kiri and I need to get as much business done before they start to rip each other apart."

"Oh… so you're leaving?" Naruto asked, trying not to sound hurt. He had already begun to consider Hige a friend. He was a little sad to see the large man go.

Hige shrugged. "I mean, unless you want to live on a boat for a month and a half, then yeah. I can't ask a kid to live the sea-life though."

"I can go!" Naruto said quickly. "I still need the money, and it's not like I'm sticking around here for any reason in particular. How much will you pay me to go?"

"20,000 ryo a day. We're talking 14 hour days though, Haku." Hige warned.

"I'll be fine! I've gone through worse!" Naruto explained, his eyes seeing nothing but ryo signs. "C'mon, please let me go? Please, please, please!"

Hige just chuckled and shook his head. "Alright, Haku, but if you complain too much we're gonna make you walk the plank! Ha!" He laughed loudly, slapping Naruto on the back. "We'll meet here at 8:45am. Food will be provided, but everything else is on you, ok?"

Naruto nodded, still getting used to his new name. "Yep, I'll be there!" He shouted as he ran off to buy some supplies with his newest paycheck. He was so excited he almost forgot that everyone in Konoha thought he was dead. Almost.

Suddenly, Naruto wasn't feeling as happy as he was a minute ago. He didn't feel particularly bad, but something told him he shouldn't be so happy. Naruto shook his head to clear his thoughts. He needed to get enough equipment to last for a journey to Kiri and back.

Looking down at his clothes he frowned. He liked his orange jacket and pants, but they weren't exactly low profile. He also needed more kunai, shuriken, ninja wire, and other stuff. Naruto walked into the market district and looked around to see if their were any ninja supply stores. They were littered all over Konoha, but he couldn't manage to find one here. Although, he supposed that made sense. Konoha was a village specifically for ninja, while Shiokiri was a port town. He spotted a man wearing a hitai-ate bearing the symbol of Yugakure and decided to ask him for directions.

"Hey, Ninja-san, can I ask you a question?" Naruto asked, waving the man down.

"I'm pretty sure you just did. Haha!" Naruto frowned, and the man simply laughed harder at his reaction before calming down. "Yes, of course, go ahead. Sorry, just a little joke."

"I was wondering if there were any ninja supply stores nearby, even surplus would work!" Naruto asked, trying to appear cute. It totally worked.

"Ninja supply store? What do you need one of those for? You're too old to start training for the academy, and no offense but you're exactly not ninja material." The man asked.

"I'm gonna go help my friend do some work in Kiri." Naruto explained trying not to get upset that the man didn't think he was 'ninja material.' He was Uzumaki Naruto! He was the definition of 'ninja material.' "Even if the odds are against me, I'd rather have a small chance than no chance at all."

The man shook his head and sighed. "I wish you civilians would just stick to safe zones; it's hard to protect you when you insist on running away." He turned and pointed down the street. "See that alley? Walk down there until you see Mizuhana-san's shop. It's got anything military related; not just ninja supplies, but samurai supplies and other stuff as well."

Naruto smiled and shouted, "Thank you Ninja-san!" with a smile as he ran down the alley the man had pointed to. Sure enough, at the very end was a run-down shop with the words 'Ms. Mizuhana's Menagerie of Miscellaneous Materiel!' sloppily painted above the door.

UN:PoA

Sakura wretched as she leaned against a tree. Another spewing stream of her previous meal shot from her mouth and onto the roots. Why was it always carrots? She didn't remember eating carrots. She didn't even like carrots. Her hair stuck to her face, drenched in sweat. After failing to defend the bell from Kakashi he had told her he was going to whip her into shape. He hadn't been kidding. Apparently she had been lacking in all major aspects of being a ninja. Her taijutsu was pathetic, her ninjutsu was non-existent, and while she had potential in genjutsu she didn't actually know any yet.

The absolute thrashing she had received from Kakashi had served as a wake-up call almost as loud as the death of Naruto. Sasuke had mastered an A-rank assassination ninjutsu and several fire techniques. Naruto could create so many shadow clones he could have been considered a literal army of one. Sakura? She was a decent aim with her shuriken and kunai.

With Naruto and Sasuke gone, it was just her and Kakashi during their training sessions, meaning she got his full and undivided attention. This was a bit of a blessing and a curse. She would happily admit that with a dedicated sensei and her new motivation, she was learning much faster than she had before. However, he never let her slack; no breaks, full-steam until you're out. This wasn't the first time he had worked her until she puked.

Opening her eyes she saw a water bottle being held out to her. "Rinse your mouth out and take a sip." Kakashi said with a smile. Sakura nodded in return.

"Y-yes, sensei." She panted after taking her drink. "W-what's the plan now?"

"Now? You go home and rest. You're out of steam and pushing you until you break won't make you any stronger or any faster. Your body will slowly adapt to the new strain we're putting on it. Your chakra control is amazing and you would be a great medi-nin, but I only know the basics of medical jutsu. So, I'm going to teach you some first aid. Later, I'll see if I can convince Kurenai to teach you a little something about genjutsu."

Sakura nodded "Yeah." She muttered. She knew that her response didn't make sense given what Kakashi had said, but she was too tired to figure out why and fix it. She stepped away from her puke and leaned against another nearby tree, breathing deeply with her belly to try and slow her heart rate down.

"Good!" Kakashi smiled and pulled out a book, handing it to Sakura. "I want you to read up to chapter 3 by tomorrow. We can practice more then, ok?"

Sakura nodded. She didn't want to complain, but she was pretty out of it and her head was swimming.

Kakashi placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "I know I'm working you hard. I don't want you to get discouraged. I promise it'll be worth it in the end. Why don't I take you out to lunch; my treat? We can meet up in an hour at that new dango shop? That'll give you time to cool off and clean up."

Sakura smiled at Kakashi. He had become much more sincere in his interactions with her since Naruto's death. She winced subconsciously. Naruto being gone still hurt. Sometimes, she expected him to just waltz into the training ground, apologizing for being late and bugging Kakashi for new ninjutsu.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura brushed her hair out of her face. "Can we get ramen instead, please?"

UN:PoA

Once inside the store, Naruto immediately began to question his life choices. The place smelled like old people and vapor-rub. It had a song playing on loop over the tinny loudspeakers that he could only describe as 'bad elevator music.' The bright florescent lights shone so bright they hurt his eyes, and the grayish white tiles were covered in a dusty grime that indicated the place hadn't been mopped for a while. Turning to his left he saw a little old woman reading what looked like an old magazine that had aged almost as poorly as she had. On the cover it read 'Top 20 Tips to Great Sex With Your Man! You Won't BELIEVE Number 12!'

"Umm, excuse me?" Naruto asked, trying to get her attention while wondering what kind of bizarre hellscape he had entered.

Without a word the woman, whom he assumed was Ms. Mizuhana, pointed a dark wrinkly finger to a sign on her counter that said 'Please Ring Bell for Service.' Naruto squinted at the woman but did as she suggested and rung the bell.

"Whaaaaat?" she asked loudly, drawing out her word as she put her decrepit magazine down to look at Naruto.

"I, uh, I was looking for the kunai?" Naruto asked.

"Whaaaaat?" She asked again

"I was looking for the kunai!" Naruto said loudly for the woman, assuming she was hard of hearing before she hit him on the head with her magazine.

"No need to yell!" She shouted, before going back to reading her magazine. "Ninja gear is aisle one, samurai gear is aisle two, and everything else is aisles three through five."

"Oh, thanks?" Naruto replied, rubbing the top of his head. The woman didn't say anything, simply pointing to the sign again. "Uhh, never mind."

Naruto grabbed a basket and went immediately to aisle one. He needed kunai and ninja wire. He wanted to check out the other aisles, but only if he had enough money leftover. Walking down the aisle he kept an eye open for what he needed while trying to ignore anything he didn't need. He knew he didn't need a chrome-plated fuma shuriken, but he really wanted one.

Finally he found a bin of kunai, they were slightly longer and thinner than what he was used to and they would need to be sharpened, but they would work. They were 800 ryo a piece, a little pricey, but doable. He grabbed 4 of them and placed them in his bag before searching for the ninja wire. Thankfully the price on that was much more reasonable, 100 feet of medium-grade wire for 1,000 ryo. That would be more than enough for now.

So, 4,000 ryo for the kunai, 1,000 for the wire, and the 1,200 he had already spent on food. So he had just under 6,000 ryo for whatever he wanted. That wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. Naruto left the ninja gear aisle and went to look for some clothes in the other aisles. The last thing he wanted to look like right now was a ninja.

Holy shit! Was that a sword with nine blades!

'No, Focus!' Naruto berated himself. He should be used to shopping with thrift. It wasn't like he was rich back in Konoha. It just felt harder than normal for some reason. 'Clothes first, awesome swords later.'

He continued to look for clothes before finally finding them on aisle 5. They were all pretty generic looking. Though, he supposed that's exactly what he should be looking for. He grabbed two dark brown button-up shirts that were made out of a canvas-like material, and a pair of cargo pants that were dark green. Together they came to 4,800 ryo. Damn, he only had 1,000 ryo left. That would probably only be enough for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow. The food here wasn't as expensive as it was in Konoha, but it still wasn't cheap.

Naruto returned to the counter and placed his items on top. The woman pointed to the sign again. Sighing loudly he rang the bell.

"Whaaaat?"

"Can we skip this, and you can just check me out?" Naruto said, cutting the interaction short.

Ms. Mizuhana frowned. "Kids these days, all business, not letting their elders have any fun." She grumbled as she checked him out. After paying, Naruto got out of the shop and out of town as quickly as possible.

Once he arrived at his 'base camp' outside of town he quickly took his jacket off and tossed it aside. He rubbed his chest subconsciously. It didn't hurt, and the weird bendy-rib sensation had gone away, but he still found himself rubbing it occasionally, just to check and make sure it was still there.

His camp consisted of a fire pit, a small pile of squirrel bones, and some wrappers from the food he got the other day. It wasn't much, but he would rather sleep under the trees than on the streets. Changing quickly into his new clothes Naruto lamented to realize he forgot to buy underwear. He would have to manage somehow until he got back from his trip to Kiri however; he couldn't afford breakfast and clean underpants.

UN:PoA

Hinata shook as she around at the Namikaze house. The home had been converted into a sort of miniature museum. The main floor was dedicated to the Yondaime and his wife, while the top floor was filled with information on Naruto. Hinata held great respect for the Fourth Hokage, but she went straight to the top floor. There were several plaques with small snippets of information hanging on the walls. Below them were pictures of Naruto or pieces of something he owned.

Hinata began at the first plaque:

Uzumaki Naruto, son of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, was born October 10th 67KG. On the night of his birth, Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi. The Yondaime, with his advanced fuinjutsu, sealed the beast inside his son to prevent it from harming the village. Naruto the Hero was born carrying the burden of a demon. Marked as a jinchuuriki with a seal on his stomach, Naruto the Hero had become a human sacrifice for the village. The Yondaime and his wife died shortly afterwards, choosing to be buried together secretly. Naruto the Hero was placed into Konoha's war-orphan system with his mother's last name to conceal his parentage.

Below the words was a painting of an artist's rendition of the Kyuubi being sealed into a newborn by the Yondaime. The Kyuubi took up a major portion of the painting, in the lower left-hand corner Naruto and the Fourth were depicted. The Fourth Hokage held his hand out towards the beast and placed another hand on the child's belly. The sickly red chakra flowing into his outstretched hand, through him, and into Naruto. Both Naruto and his father's faces showed pure agony as the sealing took place. The Kyuubi appeared to be letting out a wail of pain as he was sealed. Hinata didn't cry, Kurenai was standing next to her, and she didn't want to cry in front of her teacher so soon after her breakdown. She wanted to be strong. She walked to the second plaque.

The Third Hokage passed a decree that none were to speak of Naruto the Hero's status as jinchuuriki in hopes that he would live a normal life. However, the village did not understand the role of Naruto the Hero, and proceeded to speak ill of him whenever possible. After several cases of neglect, Naruto the Hero left the war-orphan system and began to live on his own at the age of 8 with frequent checkups from ANBU caretakers. Rather than unleash the Kyuubi as punishment for his mistreatment, Naruto the Hero pulled harmless pranks and encouraged his abusers to lighten up and be happier.

Hinata's brow furrowed. She didn't know Naruto left the orphanage due to neglect. She had assumed he just wanted his own place. Below the plaque was a copy of Sarutobi's now-declassified order to make Naruto's jinchuuriki status an S-class secret, Naruto's old apartment key, and a paintbrush with orange paint dried in the bristles. All locked behind a glass box. Hinata moved to go towards the third plaque but a hand was placed on her shoulder. She jumped slightly.

"Hinata-chan, they'll be closing soon. If you want to see Naruto's grave, we should go now." Kurenai spoke softly to the girl. Hinata looked at the rest of the museum and nodded. She could always come back later. In fact, she planned to.

"Y-yes, of course. I was just… let's go." She whispered as she was led by her sensei outside.

Once outside the home-turned-exhibit Hinata walked to the larger of the three gravestones. Apparently it was decided to keep Minato and Kushina's original, modest gravestones. Tsunade had spared no expense with the creation of Naruto's gravestone however. It was beautiful.

Hinata stopped just shy of the grave. Sod had been laid over the bare earth, and Naruto's hitai-ate was laid in front of the stone. Hinata kneeled on the grass and bowed to the stone.

"H-hello, Naruto-kun." She spoke softly. "I came to visit, a-and to talk about some things."

"I'll leave you be, so speak your mind. I promise not to eavesdrop." Kurenai whispered as she patted Hinata on the shoulder, walking off a ways. They had decided to come just before closing, guessing there would be a higher chance that Hinata could be alone with Naruto. Luckily, they were correct.

"I know we didn't talk that much, and that's my fault. I just...I came to tell you something I should have told you a long time ago." Hinata paused, even in death the thought of Naruto knowing about her love for him scared her. She hadn't been good enough for Naruto the 'dead last,' she would never be good enough for Naruto the Hero.

"If you want to know, things have been doing ok for me. I've been training a lot harder, so I could be good enough to-" Hinata paused, good enough to what? She didn't know what she wanted, but she knew she wasn't good enough to get it. "It's hard though, with you gone. I used to follow you around, did you know that? I'd watch you pull your pranks, I'd watch you laugh off all your mistakes, and it made me happy. It made me happy to know that, even though someone was in a bad situation, they could choose to be happy. I always wanted to be like that, to be like you."

"I..." Hinata froze, no more wasting time, she had stalled in the museum and she was stalling now, she had to tell him. "I love you, Naruto. Even though you're gone now, I still do. I think about you all the time. I know you thought no one loved you, but I did. I loved you more than was normal. I know-" She paused again, she hoped Kurenai had been honest and was out of earshot. "I know I'm not normal. Normal people don't stalk their crush. I'm not just in love with you, Naruto. I don't just have love for you. I am love for you. Somehow, somewhere, I broke, and I filled the cracks with you. I put the pieces back together with glue made out of Naruto keeping it from falling apart. I should have told you Naruto, I would have done anything for you. I could have made your life easier. I could have made the pain more bearable. I'm sorry."

Hinata wiped tears out of her eyes. Naruto wouldn't have wanted her to cry. She reached out and took his hitai-ate. Holding it in her hands she looked down at it. She held it to her face and inhaled. It still smelled like him. Like ramen, sweat, sunshine, and smiles.

Wait, wasn't Naruto buried with his hitai-ate? How did it get here? Why was it out here and not in the exhibit? It was his, right? Quickly pulling it away from her nose she looked between the cloth and the metal plate. Yeah, an Ichiraku Ramen coupon. She had watched him use it multiple times. This was his, but how did it end up here?

A whisper of a thought crossed Hinata's mind. What if? She had to check, she didn't want to. It was wrong. She wanted to remember Naruto as the smiling boy, not a decaying corpse. She had to check though. She had to.

Hinata activated her Byakugan. It couldn't see as far into the earth as it could normally, but it could see far enough. To her left she saw the bones of Minato and Kushina, although she noted that Minato's skeleton was missing a few bones. Directly beneath her however.

"K-Kurenai-sensei! He's gone!" Hinata shouted with evident panic in her voice.

"What? Hinata-chan, what are you-" Kurenai ran back to her student before she recognized the Byakugan's signature bulging of the veins around Hinata's eyes. Hinata looked like she had gone mad. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her face was distorted into a mixed reaction of shock, despair, and an intense rage.

"Naruto-kun... his body is gone!" The girl repeated, fingers digging into the soil.

UN:PoA

Get ready for one heck of an author's notes

Well, here we are. We are officially past the "prologue" faze of the story. Things will actually start happening now. How are you guys liking the story so far? This is probably my least favorite chapter so far, just because so much of it was set up for what will happen in the next chapters. My beta is concerned that I'm taking things too slowly. Do you agree? I'm going to keep on my current course for a few chapters, but if you have any advice or whatnot just say so. I've been running relatively close to canon so far, but things are about to go sideways fast. Things like "lore" are about to get thrown out, and "canon" will be a dirty word.

Also, shout-out to the reviewer who totally called that Hinata would realize Naruto's body was gone. You're either a psychic or my foreshadowing was not as subtle as I thought it was.

I bet some of you are wondering wtf "KJ" is. Since there is no proper calendar system in Naruto (that I could find) I made one up. KJ stands for "Kakurezato no jidai" which roughly translates to "the age of hidden-villages." If that's all you cared about, cool, sit back and wait for the next chapter. If you want to hear the ramblings of a madman, Please continue.

For anyone wondering what music was playing in Mizuhana's Menagerie of Miscellaneous Materiel it was "Summer Samba" by Walter Wanderley. Also note that it's materiEL, not materiAL. MateriEL is used only when referring specifically to military equipment. MateriAL is anything made of, y'know, matter.

In case anyone cares (you shouldn't) for the purposes of this fic: 1 ryo = 1 cent or 100 ryo = 1 US dollar. So Naruto would be making $200 dollars a day on the ship, but with 14 hour days that only comes out as around $14.30 an hour, so he's making decent money, but nothing extreme. That being said it's basically double what he made on the dock.

And before anyone asks, no, Hinata isn't going crazy. She's always been crazy. She is CANONICALLY a stalker, and I'm just expanding on that. Note: this is NOT me bashing Hinata. She is actually one of my favorite characters, but she's definitely nuts. I always felt Kishimoto didn't go into enough depth on the whole "I like to follow Naruto around and am also madly in love with him" thing. Hinata was willing to die for Naruto in the Pein arc, even though he only knew her as "that weird but nice" girl. Those aren't the actions of someone who's entirely together. She's an inherently sensitive person who had an absolute trash family and home life. And if that didn't break her enough, now the one thing she thought was good in the world is dead.

This is the part where I rant about calendars, turn back now for dead men tell no tales.

SO! Konoha was the first hidden-village to be founded. We know that Sarutobi was 69 when he died. I'm going to assume that he was born in Konoha. That means that Konoha is at LEAST 69 years old at the end of Sarutobi's life. I added another 10 years, because I thought it unlikely that Sarutobi would be born on the exact date of Konoha's founding and wanted to add some wiggle room. So that means Konoha is approximately 79 years old. Naruto was 12 when Sarutobi died, so that means he was born 67 years after the village was founded. Ergo, Naruto was born Oct. 10th 67KJ

I decided to just guesstimate how old Konoha was. Then claim that everyone agreed to call the creation of the village system a new era, and start counting years from then. Yes, this is a giant tweaking of canon but screw it, I need a decent calendar system.

THANKFULLY Kishimoto uses dates from the Christian/Gregorian calendar like "October 10th" as Naruto's birthday. So I don't have to work dates around some kind of lunar cycle or something. I suppose it could be worse, I could be stuck with the decimalized calendar that the French came up with during the French Revolution because they were triggered by anything related to Chrstianity. Ugh, how would you like to have 10 hours in a day, 100 minutes in an hour, and 100 seconds in a minute. Also there are 12 months in a year, 30 days in a month, 3 weeks in a month, and 10 days in a week, with a grand total of 360 days a year. Did mention that New Years starts on September 22nd? Except for when it starts on the 23rd or 24th. Also everything is named after plants and weather. So you don't actually have "September" or "October" you have "Grape Harvest" and "Mist." Yeah... figure that shit out.