Original Publish Date: 11th-November-2015

Edited Date: 10th-February-2016

A/N: This is dedicated to my favourite reviewer, javi30. His first couple of reviews was posted as a guest, then he started posting with a regular account; I like to think that my story had a hand in him joining the site full time! So buddy, this one is for you!

Chapter 8 – Cast No Shadow

Here's a thought for every man who tries to understand what is in his hands

He walks along the open road of Love & Life surviving if he can

.

Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say

Chained to all the places that he never wished to stay

Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say

And as he faced the sun he cast no shadow

- Cast No Shadow, Oasis

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

The vast emptiness extended as far as the senses could stretch.

The infinite blackness was only interrupted by minor pinpricks of light; light that burned cold against the blackness. The burning lights were minor in number, but they burned with a vengeful intensity that threatened to consume anything that came near. The dust and debris floating near was sucked into the intense burning and consumed as fuel to further their intensity.

There was only blackness and burning, there was no life and no death. There was only the infinite cosmos that awaited beyond.

…No. There was no life. But didn't the absence of life mean the presence of death? Were they not faces of the same coin? One had to be present; it was the nature of the two opposing forces. Wasn't it?

Awareness spread through the infinite blackness, searching for one or the other. It spread, looking for signs that life had once been present so that it could justify the presence of death. Because if there was no life and no death, what was there?

The awareness found nothing. Every tiny burning pinprick brought nothing but a desire to consume and be consumed. The infinite blackness didn't care one way or another. It was merely the tapestry that held the picture in place. But without life and death, what was the picture about?

THERE! There was something! The awareness moved toward what it had detected, blinded by its excitement at the discovery. As it drew closer, crossing thousands of burning pinpricks and infinite dust and debris, the awareness started to realize that the being it had detected was already cognizant of it. Once it was close enough the awareness stopped and stretched out towards the being.

It recoiled at the pain.

While it was struggling to understand this new concept of pain, the being turned to survey the awareness. The awareness knew it was being analyzed by the being, but it didn't know what to do next. The vast infinite blackness was empty, and this was the only thing it had detected. But then the awareness realized that the being was looking straight at it.

And smiling.

Covers were thrown back as consciousness was regained. Huge shuddering gasps escaped the mouth and water was sought to quench an exceedingly dry mouth. Terror-fueled adrenaline engulfed the veins as the dreamer tried to calm themselves down. 'Was that really a dream?'

There was no more sleep to be had that night, only a silent vigil for the warmth of the sun; broken by the occasional tremor.

4465617468

The intermittent beeping was the first thing I heard.

A sense of déjà vu overtook me as I regained consciousness. I'd been waking up from nightmares frequently enough since I came back in time, but this was the first time I had heard the sounds of the hospital. It took me a few minutes to remember what had happened. 'That's right; we were fighting against that Kumo kunoichi. Looks like someone finished her off.' Just as I was about to open my eyes I remembered what had happened last time. I extended my senses and detected three people in the room, to my surprise. But the one I had expected was there.

I opened my eyes and looked straight at the Sandaime Hokage, who looked disappointed. "Hoping to scare me again?"

He sniffed, "What kind of brat spoils an old man's fun?"

I grinned, but then remembered that the last time we had spoken and looked away in shame. That was when my gaze fell upon the other two visitors in my room; Naruto and Anko. Specifically, to my growing amusement, Naruto and Anko who were both asleep and drooling on each other. I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face. "How did that happen?"

"As I understand it, somehow Naruto got word that his savior was in the hospital and came to visit. Anko-chan was here looking up all of you, and they ran into each other here. They bonded over a…spirited discussion as to whether ramen or dango was the better dish."

My grin grew wider. I could completely imagine how that conversation had gone. "I'm sorry I missed it."

Sarutobi smiled as well, "The hospital staff was not happy. The two of them were asked to leave, but I believe that they sneaked back in. Anko-chan can be very persistent."

I snorted, "I really can't see Anko being anyone's –chan." The Sandaime rolled his eyes as I continued, "So what happened? On the mission I mean?"

Sarutobi nodded, "I only have a preliminary word-of-mouth report from Anko, but as she puts it, you did something that really 'fucked her shit up' " he was obviously quoting Anko. "Apparently she couldn't move, and Anko used the opportunity to kill your opponent. Once that was done, you had more visitors."

I raised my eyebrows, "More? How many people did Kumo send for that damn scroll? For that matter how did Anko survive? She was in pretty bad shape when I left her."

Sarutobi smirked, "I never said that the visitors were enemies."

I waited, but Sarutobi had his trollface back on. Clearly he would make me ask; stupid old geezer and his penchant for mischief. I sighed, "Who was it, Hokage-sama?" I said in a voice that made it clear that I was humoring him.

He smirked and leaned forward, clearly anticipating my reaction. "Tsunade of the Senju clan."

I blinked in surprise. "Baa-chan!?" Even I heard the note of incredulity in my voice.

He nodded, satisfied and amused by my reaction, "Apparently she was passing through the area on her way to a nearby casino. The presence of a chakra thunderstorm was enough to draw her attention. She stabilized Anko and performed first aid on all four of you." He studied me thoughtfully before asking continuing, "Apparently she wasn't very happy with the seals on your arms."

I shrugged, "It was a dangerous untested ritual when we did it the first time. Sakura-chan nagged me for months, urging me to reconsider. But between her medical knowledge and my Fūinjutsu know-how we managed to cobble it together. It could have gone badly wrong, but it didn't. I'm not surprised Baa-chan was pissed."

Sarutobi gazed at me, and once more I wanted to fidget. This was as good a time as any to apologize, "Err…about the last time we spoke…"

"We'll talk" he interrupted coolly. I flinched. He was pissed, but I had been pretty harsh with him. Maybe he had needed to hear it, but I might not have been the best person to tell him.

Thankfully the moment of awkwardness passed when Naruto lost his balance and his head slipped on to Anko's lap. The movement caused both of them to regain consciousness, both of them blearily blinking sleep away from their eyes. Naruto used his fists to clear his eyes while Anko yawned, stretching. The moment when they both grew aware of the other's presence was obvious; they both stiffened before glancing at each other and springing apart with a yell.

"Eww! You drooled on me! Yuck!" Naruto yelled, wiping the drool from his hair.

"What are you complaining about gaki (brat)? I have to get my trench coat dry-cleaned! Otherwise it will be stained forever with your stupid ramen broth drool!"

"Grr. I'll have to use an entire bottle of shampoo to get your stupid red bean paste drool out of my hair!"

"Why you little…" Anko was advancing towards a suddenly frightened looking Naruto with her hands curled into claws when a sudden polite cough from the Hokage broke the tension. Both of them started to sheepishly (and simultaneously) rub the back of their heads.

"Ehehehe…sorry." They both said simultaneously. Then they realized they were doing the exact same thing and started glaring at each other, sparks flying between their eyes.

"Finally picking on someone your own size, Anko-san?" I asked, smirking. The look she shot me could have curdled milk.

"Maybe you should keep the noise level low if you don't want the nurses to throw you out again," a smiling Sarutobi gently reprimanded the two.

"Sorry, oji-chan" Naruto whispered loudly. He then looked at me and spoke bashfully, scratching the back of his head in a very familiar manner, "Err… I heard that you were in the hospital, so I wanted to come by and thank you for saving me, Nanashi-san!"

'This is so surreal. And trippy. Does this count as narcissism?' "No problem kid." I spoke outwardly. I gave a mental sigh, lamenting the fact that my time cowardly hiding from him was officially over. "We ramen lovers have to stick together."

"EEHHH! You like ramen too!" he spoke with his normal loud voice, causing me to smile and nod. "When you get released, I'll treat you to get-out-of-hospital-ramen!"

I blinked. I couldn't even remember the last time I had get-out-of-hospital-ramen. Mostly because there hadn't been any friendly hospitals left. Maybe the ones that Hinata had cooked for me counted… But this was huge. I couldn't remember actually treating anyone else to ramen when I was a kid. Maybe it was to do with the fact that nobody I knew loved ramen as much as me, but mostly because I had nobody to share it with. For Naruto to offer someone a ramen treat…

"You're on kid!" I couldn't stop the warmth spreading to my voice as I smiled.

Anko scoffed, "I don't even know what you see in that filthy slop. I'm surprised you can taste anything through all the salt."

"Don't deride the ramen." All warmth had left my voice as I glared at Anko. Naruto was doing the exact same thing, crossing his arms and nodding imperiously. Then he got a slightly confused look, and whispered to the Hokage, "Ne, oji-chan, what does 'deride' mean?"

Anko rolled her eyes as the Hokage explained the meaning of the word to an increasingly agitated Naruto. "It's your stupid ramen that I blame for this stain on my beautiful trenchcoat."

Naruto pointed to a smug looking Anko, mouth working soundlessly as he was unable to find the words to express his outrage when I decided to come to his rescue. "Hey kid, atleast you can say that you slept with a woman before any of your classmates." The reaction from both parties was immediate; Naruto immediately broke out into a blush and Anko snarled as she immediately threw a kunai right at my face. I managed to tilt my head enough so that it didn't scratch me, but it managed to gouge out a clump of my hair. She was about to jump on me when-

The Sandaime Hokage raised an eyebrow.

It was impressive how quickly the room quieted down at that. It was even more impressive when I realized that none of us had been looking at him when he raised his eyebrow, yet somehow all of us had taken notice when he did. That was an amazing use of his presence; he had imposed himself on the madness threatening to engulf the room with nothing more than a raised eyebrow. I had to ask him how he did that; I would needle him like my 10 year old self if I had to.

Just then, though, the door opened and a nurse came through. Upon spying Anko and Naruto she started to scowl, before her attention was caught by me. "You're awake! Why didn't anyone tell me!? Everyone out, OUT!" she shooed everyone out with a well-practiced bustling manner, including an amused Sandaime Hokage. Once she had successfully repelled all interlopers, she closed the door and then turned around with a creepy smile. "Now then," her manner was eerily similar to a satisfied cat that had cornered a mouse, "does it hurt anywhere?"

2 days later

"Log-damned hospitals." I muttered to myself as I left the hospital, once I was sure that I was out of hearing range. "Why do all doctors and nurses have to be so creepy? I swear that T&I has people with a better bedside manner." Of course, that led to the thought of prisoners crying as they were told that they had to go to the hospital instead of the holding cells, begging for mercy and utterly breaking. I shook my head at the ridiculous thought. There was no way that would happen… right?

Atleast the doctors I had faced so far were of the happy variety. Log only knew what would happen if I ever faced one of the disgruntled ones; in all likelihood, there would be a reckoning.

In any case, I enjoyed breathing the fresh air again. Hospital air always had that stale smell of phenyl and various cleaning agents mixed in, so it was a relief to breathe the untainted air right from the forest. Not to mention I had been bored out of my mind for the last two days. I didn't even qualify for the good drugs since all that was really wrong with me was a case of chakra exhaustion. The damage that Enrai had caused me was taken care of by a combination of Tsunade (what had she been doing there?) and the medic nin back in the village.

I needed to get stronger; that much was obvious. I had been beaten when I was pretty much going all out, technique wise. Maybe I could have used a Rasengan variant, but the problem hadn't been the techniques I was using. I had run out of chakra far too easily, overestimating myself by an order of several magnitudes. I had thought that having an Uzumaki heritage would mean that I still had vast reserves; apparently this was no longer the case. This was a serious worry, while I knew that I was no longer a chakra powerhouse, I never thought that 3 or so S-rank techniques would cause me to reach my limit. That was quite pathetic. I had to figure out a way to increase my chakra capacity.

I reached my apartment through the familiar dingy hallway, my feet almost drawing me to my old…Naruto's apartment by default. I sighed again. Dealing with Naruto was going to be troublesome, to quote a certain Nara. But maybe it would be worth it. I smiled as I thought about his offer of ramen. If there was ever an indication that you were in his…my… ugh, our good books, it was if we offered to share ramen. Ramen was sacred.

I created a Kage Bunshin as soon as I entered my place and it immediately set about dusting and cleaning the place. I on the other hand went straight to the shower and turned on the hot water. I stood underneath the scalding liquid and moaned in satisfaction. Washing away the stench of the hospital was satisfying in the extreme. I let myself soak for the longest time; once I was red all over from the heat I finally, reluctantly, turned the shower off. I had to go to the Hokage tower for a debriefing on our mission; otherwise I might have considered showering longer. I toweled and dried my hair off first and tied it up in its usual ponytail (it was my tribute to Ero-Sennin).

Once I was dressed I tied on my hitai-ate and made my way outside via the window. It was far more convenient to use than a door, but subsequently it was a weak point as well. I had put up a few basic security seals, but nothing major. At this point, I was sure I didn't have any enemies but that didn't mean I could let my guard down. To do so would be the very antithesis of being a ninja.

I ran into Hayate near the entrance to the tower this time and we made our way up together, making small talk. Anko was already at the reception when we reached there and exchanged greetings, which consisted of me grunting at her and her smiling one of her creepy-as-fuck smiles at me. Just as the secretary was about to buzz us in Genma showed up, looking decidedly pleased at his perfect timing. Anko rolled her eyes and I grinned at him, while Hayate just coughed. I wasn't versed enough in his nonverbal language to decipher what it meant, and all of us trooped inside.

Seeing Sarutobi back in the seat of the Hokage was a huge relief. A tiny part of me unclenched as soon as I saw that sight; I had been deathly afraid that Danzō had somehow masterminded a coup right under my nose. But for the moment, it seemed that all was well.

Sarutobi returned our greetings with a nod as he unfurled the mission report. "A-rank mission number K95A7296 undertaken by Shiranui Genma, Gekkō Hayate and Nanashi under the leadership of Mitarashi Anko. For the rest of the debriefing this mission will be referred to as…" he blinked as he re-read the line, before he continued with no inflection in his tone, "The Bunny Mission."

Anko snickered. Hayate politely coughed. Genma tried to hide a grin and failed spectacularly. I twitched. Then I scowled. Clearly this was not going to be fun for me.

"Anko, please describe your squad's movements during the Bunny Mission." Genma was barely holding a snort in, while Hayate had raised his hand to his mouth and was coughing continuously into it, while I was sure he was hiding a smile. Anko was standing at attention but her voice was laced with amusement as she replied to the Hokage's query.

"We left the village 4 days ago at 1000 hours. According to the intel, our target was heading west towards Earth Country, and the Analysis Department concluded that there was a 60% chance that they would use a particular part of the forest for infiltrating Taki no Kuni (Waterfall Country). We reached the target area approximately 2 hours before our target, so we set about laying traps. I summoned a few snakes to act as lookouts to let us know if we were in the right area. Once we were hidden in the forest and I received word from my summons that the target was on its way, I tried to communicate the same to the squad. That was where we ran into a minor…hiccup." The tone of amusement, which had steadily disappeared from her voice as she narrated the mission, returned with a vengeance. "Apparently someone had mistakenly declared themselves mission ready while they had forgotten to memorize the latest set of non-verbal hand-signals." She wasn't even bothering to hide her delight at my misfortune.

Steel-grey eyes gave me a once-over, the face in which they were buried could have been carved from stone. "No doubt they will hop over to the Cryptanalysis Department to correct this oversight."

Anko looked like the Sandaime had told her that Christmas had come early. Hayate had given up all pretenses of coughing, while Genma was openly laughing. I was sure I had a tic mark on my head as I scowled.

Once everyone had indulged in making fun of me we got back to business. Genma took up the debriefing at this point. "I followed the Iwa spy once he had made his appearance; I almost took him out at the start but he managed to block me. He was exceptionally quick but after a few minutes I took him out with a Doton jutsu. I'm not sure he appreciated the irony, but once he lost his footing I caught him with some of my poisoned senbon. It was a matter of time after that. Once the poison affected his movement enough I dispatched him with a kunai."

Anko and Hayate gave their reports after that, following which I gave an abbreviated version of my own. Of course, I didn't tell them that I used the Hiraishin, but implied that I used a technique to speed up my movement to catch the kunoichi off guard. Once we had covered the initial skirmish we all paused and looked at each other awkwardly, not knowing how to explain that four Jonin had been caught off guard. Quite frankly it was an embarrassment. To my surprise though, Anko stepped up.

"It was my mistake that allowed Enrai to sneak up on us. I had dismissed my spotter snakes, thinking that we had taken care of all the perpetrators. I apologize, and I am ready to accept the consequences."

I couldn't disguise my surprise as I looked at her. Genma and Hayate were less surprised, but looked contrite. "We all let our guard down, Hokage-sama. We're all share the blame equally." Genma said. Hayate nodded, and I followed suit. Teams stuck together.

The Hokage's expression, however, was inscrutable. "How did the enemy get the drop on you?"

"She walked right up to us. Something she said during the fight made me think that she could sense the electrical signals in our bodies. She put her hands on their shoulders and took them out right at the start" I said, tilting my head in the direction of Genma and Hayate. Since I had been present till right at the end of the duel, I took over the re-telling of the mission. Until the end, I accurately reported the moves and countermoves I had taken against Enrai. "Right at the end I used the same speed technique I had against the other Kumo kunoichi. I knocked her out, but she had used a Raiton Kage Bunshin and tricked me. She had effectively taken me out, but she made a crucial error: she came over to gloat. I managed to nail her with a Raiton technique that messed with her nervous electrical signals. Since she took me out with my favourite technique, a Kage Bunshin, I returned the favor." I let out a nasty smile at that. "I passed out after that."

Anko took up the re-telling. "I took her out with the kunai she had stabbed me with. As soon as I confirmed the kill Tsunade of the Sannin landed behind me. She didn't even look in my direction as she started asking questions. Her assistant came over and started healing me as I told Tsunade what had happened, then she went over to the nameless wonder here" she jerked her head towards me. The tone in her voice changed to one of curiosity as she continued, still looking at me. "She ran a diagnostic before swearing up a storm at the 'recklessly moronic ritual' that he had performed upon himself." She waited a moment to see if I offered any rebuttal; upon my continued silence she continued, "It was weird, she didn't look at me once. She was never that way with me earlier, even after the Snake's betrayal."

"She's hemophobic" I supplied.

Anko scoffed, "She's the greatest iryo-nin (medical ninja) in the history of the Elemental Nations. She's used to the sight of blood. Don't be an idiot."

I shrugged. There was no way she would believe me so I didn't even try to convince her. It was an absurd accusation to make, and if I hadn't known it for a fact then even I wouldn't believe it.

She continued, "Once everyone was patched up her assistant did a quick perimeter sweep, and found one more body. It looked like a native of Konoha, but nobody recognized him. He too bore signs of being killed by Enrai."

My eyes widened briefly before I controlled my facial expression. I couldn't control my dampening underarms or my racing heart however. Fuck. I had completely forgotten about the Root agent. And I had used the Hiraishin without needing to. If Enrai hadn't killed him I would be firmly in Danzō's sights, if I wasn't already. Of course, he might have managed to send across some information (Sai's ink animals came to mind) so I would have to be careful. More than that, I would have to warn Sarutobi, if he hadn't already known.

Anko blathered on about reaching one of the designated safe spots with us in tow, but my mind was racing. I had thought I had enough time, but I wasn't strong enough; Sarutobi had been right about that as well. Not to mention I only had less than two months before the originally planned mission to Kiri. I would have to find my edge before then.

Sarutobi suddenly spoke, startling me out of my thoughts. "Very well. Mitarashi Anko and Nanashi will receive the bounty for A-ranked Kumo kunoichi Enrai Setsuka, once our agent claims it."

"Agent?" I queried. This was not something I was versed with.

Sarutobi's gaze came back to me. "Konoha shinobi cannot simply waltz in to a bounty station with the corpse of another nation's prized ninja. It would cause a diplomatic incident at best and a war at worst. Therefore we, and other nations, employ agents with no ties to any village and who are sworn to keep their secrets. For a percentage of the bounty they take care of delivering the body and retrieving the money from the bounty stations."

It made sense. If one of us had simply walked into the bounty station with Enrai's corpse, not only would we piss Kumo off, but also reliably inform them that we had a spy in their village. Also, Iwa would be brassed off that we had stolen their stolen scroll, and killed their spy to boot. All things considered, it was a reasonable precaution to take.

Sarutobi put his hand on the tip of his hat. "All things considered, I will mark this A-rank as completed successfully. This does not, however, mean that you should pat yourselves on the back. All of you are Jōnin level ninjas. To allow a single opponent to give you this much trouble is, quite frankly, embarrassing. In the end, you were very lucky to survive. Improve yourselves, and make sure that this doesn't happen again."

His stern rebuke left us all feeling abashed. Everyone nodded, not quite meeting his eyes, and the remaining three started to leave as the Sandaime dismissed us. I, however, stayed where I was standing, and from the way that Sarutobi was sternly looking at me I knew that the dismissal had not been meant for me. The others filed out with curiosity upon their faces.

Once the door was closed I performed the handseals for the privacy technique, protecting us against eavesdroppers. There would be enough time for apologies later, more important matters were at hand. "Danzō is sniffing around. The extra body found was doubtless one of his Root agents. I'm certain he sent me on that mission so that he could figure out my capabilities in battle to guard against them."

"Given how the mission went I would say he had nothing to worry about."

I winced at the harsh words, but didn't dispute them. My performance in the field hadn't exactly been stellar; but Sarutobi wasn't done.

"Your focus is on the wrong objective. Our spy will make contact with us in less than two months regarding the Kiri situation, and whether it is beneficial for us to take place in their civil war. As of right now I have serious reservations regarding your suitability for that mission; both from a diplomatic perspective and from your level of strength in combat. You have until the spy makes contact to change my mind, otherwise I will send someone more suitable."

Holy shit. He didn't hold back did he? Suddenly I was no longer the shinobi who had survived the Ninja apocalypse and a trip through time, but the academy student who had caused the academy to shut down because I had put smoke powder mixed with pepper in the vents, causing everyone to end up in the hospital to get their eyes checked. The chewing out I had received after that event still made me quake in my sandals. Sarutobi had that effect on a lot of people I'm sure, but with me it was just that bit more personal, since he had been the first authority figure in my life.

I only noticed that I was ashamedly staring at my sandals when I heard him put a scroll in front of me. "This contains some advanced chakra control exercises for you. Perhaps if you don't waste as much you can be of more use to your teammates." I picked it up abashedly, not dating to meet his eyes. "Tomorrow, at noon, you are to locate the secret training grounds behind the Hokage monument and wait for the Ninja I have arranged to spar with you, no holds barred. This will be a recurring theme every week until you are deemed strong enough. Do you have any objections?"

"No, Hokage-sama" I answered crisply.

He continued staring at me unblinkingly, his fingers forming a steeple in front of his face. "Focus on building up your strength; leave Danzō and his cohorts up to me. I will deal with him as I deem fit. Do you have any other concerns to bring up?"

"No, Hokage-sama" I repeated, feeling extremely small.

"Dismissed."

I turned and walked quickly away from the room, allowing the privacy technique to dissipate with my exit. In less than 5 minutes, the Sandaime Hokage had torn me a new proverbial asshole, and I was reeling. As I exited the tower my feet started guiding me towards Ichiraku, and I didn't even try to change my path. I deserved some comfort food after being brutally savaged.

In what was surely a sign, as soon as I walked up to the stand I ran into Naruto. He blinked and then gave a blinding smile in my direction. "Ahh! You're out of the hospital!" he cried dramatically, pointing a finger at me. I tried to smile (not that it would be visible underneath the mask), but gave it up as a bad job.

"Yeah, I was released this morning. I just came back from the Hokage tower." Hell, even my voice sounded subdued. Even Naruto picked up on my mood. As we took seats next to each other at the stand he looked up at me with a curious expression on his face.

"Are you all right? Do you still hurt? Should you go back to the hospital?"

I looked down at him at thought about giving him an inconsequential answer, but then I reconsidered. If anyone knew what it was like to have the Hokage yell at you, it was Naruto. "No, I'm fine physically. Hokage-ji-chan just yelled at me, so I'm feeling a little sad right now."

Naruto winced in sympathy, "Yeah, he can get really scary when he yells at you" he muttered. He perked up instantly as soon as Ayame came to take our orders. "Ayame-nee-chan! Look! This is the guy who saved me! I'm treating him to ramen today!"

Oh, right, Naruto had said he would treat me. Well, atleast this day had a silver lining. Ayame smiled at me and performed a small bow with a light dusting of pink across her cheeks, "Thank you for saving our favourite customer, shinobi-san." That's weird; I remembered her voice being slightly higher than that.

"I was just doing my job, but you're quite welcome. And please, my name is Nanashi."

She nodded and asked me in that lower tone, "So what will you have today?"

"One miso ramen please." She nodded and switched her gaze to Naruto, and asked in her usual perky voice (?) "And what about you, Naruto-kun?"

"Tonkotsu!"

"Coming right up!" She flashed me a dazzling smile and retreated to the kitchen to prepare our meals.

"Ne, ne, why is your name Nanashi? Doesn't it mean no-name?" Naruto asked.

I took a moment to consider my answer; I wasn't entirely sure how to satisfy his curiosity without bringing up potentially sensitive information. I decided to mix fact with a white lie, "Well, I'm an orphan. I never knew my parents or what they had named me, so they never knew what to call me at the orphanage. Somehow they started calling me Nanashi, and the name stuck."

His eyes widened. "You're an orphan too?" At my affirmative nod, he scrunched up his face in thought, evidently mulling over something.

In the meantime, Teuchi came out with our ramen and placed them in front of us; he put down mine slightly harder than absolutely necessary. "Please enjoy your meal" he said, giving me a slightly strained smile. I blinked in confusion, what was the hostility for? In fact, shouldn't Ayame be serving us? I looked over to see her glowering at her father; but the moment she saw me she smiled her dimply smile, and her cheeks pinked as she shyly slid from view. It took me a few moments to connect the dots between her behavior and Teuchi's.

Holy shit. Was Ayame-nee-chan flirting with me!?

Teuchi had grumpily retreated to the kitchen by the time I made my realization. This was way beyond weird. Ayame had always been my kind older sister-figure, comforting me and helping me with my problems, and sneaking me the occasional free bowl of ramen. For her to be crushing on me was a mystifying experience. Not to mention, she was barely 16! I was on my way to my 24th birthday.

A loud slurping sound brought me back to reality. Naruto was noisily devouring his ramen, having completely missed the by-play. I quirked my lips; maybe he had the right of it. I set about polishing off my own bowl, and leaning back with a satisfied sigh when I was finished. Naruto and I both looked at each other and shared a grin; a belly full of hot ramen was peerless when it came to warm fuzzy feelings.

I could go for another bowl, though. "Ayame-san" I called out and the waitress turned around from her chores. Her smile slowly dropped away as she noticed a suddenly nervous looking Naruto. Why was…Oh. It was his treat. He probably couldn't afford any more bowls. He may have been an orphan, but he did have some pride, and there was no way I was going to wound that. I slid my gaze back to Ayame. "Thank you for a delicious meal."

"You're very welcome" she said in that low flirty tone, this time with a full blush and twinkling eyes. Great, now I had to deal with hero worship. Evidently she had realized what I had done, and just as evidently Naruto had not; he was too busy giving a sigh of relief.

"Hey kid," Naruto looked up at me, "thanks for the treat!" He blinked in surprise, then started to smile. I spied a single noodle sticking to the side of my bowl, and I picked up my chopsticks and freed it from its prison, intent on reuniting it with its delicious brethren. As I brought it closer to my mouth, Naruto replied. "No problem, Nanashi-nii-chan!"

SPLAT!

The chopsticks slipped in my fingers and the noodle was now stuck to my forehead, causing Ayame to giggle. But I didn't pay attention; my eyes were wide with shock. I slowly turned to the kid who had just called me his older brother (!). "Nii-chan?" I asked slowly.

He looked skittish, like a cornered animal, but answered anyway, his voice an octave lower than before. "You said you're an orphan too, right? So you must have been really lonely, with nobody to care for you. So I was thinking that maybe I could, you know…" he trailed off uncertainly. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Ayame's eyes glimmering with tears; even Teuchi seemed to be unmoving. Naruto had dropped his head and was mumbling something under his breath. Poor kid thought that he was being subtle, saying that I was the one who was lonely. It was as adorable as it was heartbreaking. I instantly made up mind, and put my hand on his head and ruffled his hair. "Sure thing kid, you can be my little brother if you want. You're right, I get pretty lonely around here; I could use your company."

The unrestrained delight that bloomed on his face was a thing of beauty, it caused me to get caught up in the emotion of the moment and smile as widely as I could. Naruto's teeth were on full display and he was smiling so widely that his eyes were squinting. I'm pretty sure I had a goofy expression on my face as well, as I continued to ruffle his hair.

Both of us were broken from our reverie when two new bowls of ramen were suddenly plonked down in front of us. "On the house!" exclaimed a beaming Teuchi, all traces of his earlier hostility towards me gone.

"WHOA! Free ramen! You're the best, Teuchi-oji-san!" Naruto gave his own exclamation.

"Thanks, oyaji (pops)!" Mine followed immediately after. Teuchi's smile got wider at my term of endearment for him, as I bowed my thanks for the free meal. I reached for my chopsticks the same moment Naruto did, and we spoke in unison, "Itadakimasu!" Both of us reached for the bowl at the same time.

And then both our hands stopped six inches away from our respective bowls.

I felt a slight breeze ruffle my hair as I looked over at Naruto from the corner of my eye. The wind was ruffling his hair too as he squinted at me from the corner of his eye. And both of us knew. It's on.

In the same moment we both grabbed the bowl and started the impromptu ramen eating competition, slurping down the noodles as fast as we possibly could. As I shoveled the noodles into my mouth I vaguely realized that another noodle had joined the one on already my forehead, but I couldn't afford to be distracted. Naruto was wearing the broth as much as eating it, but he wasn't slowing down either. I avoided chewing as much as possible and simply swallowed the noodles; Naruto was doing the same. The moment I didn't feel any more noodles through my chopsticks I lifted the bowl and drained the broth in a single long gulp and slammed the bowl down on the counter. "First!"

I blinked. I wasn't the only one who had spoken. Naruto looked as surprised as me that we had finished at the same time. Then we caught each other's eye and grinned. "Good contest" I said. He nodded, and was about to reply when he caught sight of Ayame. His mouth shut with an audible click as he started paling. I turned to see Ayame with a twitching eyelid glaring at Naruto as she purposefully grabbed a box of tissues and marched towards him.

"Naruto!" she growled, and I winced internally. I had heard that tone a few times in my youth and it was right up there with the Hokage's yelling, in my opinion. "What have I told you about eating with manners!? Have you forgotten everything I taught you!?" She yanked on his ear and attacked his face with the tissues, ignoring his panicked yelps. "If you don't use table manners I'm going to make sure you can never eat here again". Once he was cleaned up she took out a fresh tissue and turned to me; she came to a complete stop as she realized that I wasn't a rowdy 10 year old. "Err…"

I defused the potentially awkward situation by taking the tissue box from her hand. "My apologies, I got carried away and forgot my manners" I said diplomatically, wiping my face clean and discreetly checking to see if Teuchi was looking. The threat of a ban on ramen had hit home, and I wanted to make sure that it was the last thing on her mind when we left. "I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble" I said, before winking at her.

Poor Ayame stood no chance. Her blush returned in full as she started stammering her acceptance of my apology, but I wasn't done. I lightly rapped my knuckles against Naruto's head, "It's your treat right? Make the payment and leave a nice tip for your nee-chan. She takes care of you, so show your appreciation." He grumbled a bit as he pulled out Gama-chan, our trusty wallet, causing me to feel a wave of nostalgia as I lamented the loss of my own; and as I instructed he left her a tip. "Thank you for taking care of us!" Entirely red-faced by this point, the teenage girl could only nod in embarrassment as she accepted our bill and went to deposit it in their money box. I breathed a sigh of relief. 'Oh ramen, the things I do for you'.

Naruto however had scrunched up his face in thought again. I felt the atmosphere shift again before he started speaking. "Ne, nii-chan?"

"Hm?"

"Why did that guy try to poison me?"

The mood sank like a stone. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Teuchi still completely, and not for the first time this afternoon. Ayame was out of my sight, but I was sure she was listening intently as well.

I sighed. I didn't want to lie to the kid…my little brother, but I had no other choice right now. He was not ready to hear the truth about the Kyūbi, he was still an immature child at this point. I didn't like lying; it left a bad taste in my mouth. The only time it was acceptable to lie, under my rules, was when I was playing a prank. That way the lie had an expiry date and it could always be smoothed over. But there was no way I could play a prank on my younger self. Right?

.

.

How many people get a chance to play a prank on themselves anyway?

I stiffened my back and assumed a dramatic tone of voice. "There is a secret, little brother, which you are not aware of."

Naruto immediately perked up, "A secret? What? What is it?"

Teuchi had whipped his head around in horror and was frantically gesturing at me to stop; but that wasn't the secret I had in mind. "Yes, a secret… about the hidden war between the different noodle chefs."

Teuchi stopped gesturing, and stood with an incredulous expression on his face. Even Ayame peeked out and surveyed me with surprise.

Naruto, on the other hand, was lapping it up. "A war between noodle chefs?"

I gave a deep, grandiose nod, "Yes, a secret war. You see, all the different noodle chefs in the Elemental Nations are convinced that their noodle dish is the best."

"But that's a lie! Ramen is the best!"

I nodded again, "Yes. You know that, I know that and they know that" I said, pointing to the Ichiraku's. "But other people are not as enlightened as us. They think that other noodles can be as good as ours." I scoffed in disdain. "They may be foolish, but they are persistent." Naruto was looking at me as if I was spouting the secret to life, all wide-eyed innocence, and I felt bad about pranking him…for all of two seconds. Ayame was beginning to smile, and Teuchi was beginning to shake his head in disbelief. "The worst of them are…the Soba Noodle Guild." A fire rose in Naruto's eyes at the revealed enemy, and I could see them rise to the very top of his shit-list. "They have a special hatred for ramen and those who love it, believing that it is their biggest competition. They believe in being aggressive with the competition. And they find someone who loves ramen unconditionally…" I gave a dramatic pause, and Naruto was almost literally hanging off my words, "they poison them!"

"Those jerks!" Naruto could not suppress his outrage anymore. He slammed a fist against his palm, "People like that piss me off! Who do they think they are!? Er…" he squinted uncertainly at the Ichiraku's, "you guys don't poison your rivals do you?"

"Of course not! The Way of Ramen preaches peace and love through a full stomach!" I exclaimed, causing Ayame to slap both her hands on her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud. Teuchi was rubbing his head in exasperation; but Naruto was brimming with fury again.

"Grr. When I find the Soba Noodle Guild I will kick their butts! I'll make them see that the Way of Ramen is the right way!" he squinted at Ayame, who was silently shaking with her hands pressed tightly against her mouth. "Nee-chan, its ok, don't be scared, if the Soba Noodle Guild attacks you, nii-chan will protect you!" Evidently he had mistaken her mirth for horror.

This was too much for poor Ayame as she darted from the stand, holding her breath as long as she could before exploding into muffled giggles. Naruto's fury drained as he mistakenly believed her to be sobbing. "Err…"

"It's ok, little brother, just don't bring up the Soba Noodle Guild around her. It upsets her."

Naruto nodded uncertainly, looking at Teuchi, who sighed, shaking his head in defeat, "Just go."

Naruto hopped from his stool and I got up as well. "Later, oyaji." Teuchi was still shaking his head, but I swear I saw him smile as he turned away. Hehe, a prank well executed was its own reward, but it was nice to get some outside recognition as well.

If only I had known what that prank would lead to, and how it would shape the future to come, maybe I would not have been as amused.

The Next Day, Noon, Hokage Monument: Secret Training Grounds

I had left my apartment at 9, knowing that it would take me quite some time to figure out the secret entrance to the training grounds. If I still had access to Sage Mode it would have been done in seconds, but this required old-fashioned detective work. For the first couple of hours I trawled through the higher levels of the monument, feeling sure that it would be in a place where very few people managed to reach, even during emergencies. After a couple of hours of scouring the place with Kage Bunshin I was forced to revise my theory. Ultimately, I found it 30 minutes before the deadline, in the very first stone corridor. It wasn't even hidden; the rock face simply curved in a way to hide the corner where the entrance was. It appeared to be a single wall, but there was an entrance right in the corner.

I made my way in to find a massive cavern. There were rock formations everywhere and a pool of water large enough to qualify as a small lake, and there were even a few plants. I wasn't sure where the lighting was coming from, but there was enough light to see without squinting. I made a quick circuit of the terrain to familiarize myself with it, staying on guard at all times; the Hokage had warned me to be there by noon, he hadn't said that my opponent couldn't attack me earlier. Once I was reasonably familiar with the environment I extended my senses, trying to find my opponent. I idly wondered who it could be. Kakashi? No, I had beaten him at the tournament. A rematch would probably not end the same way, but it was still unlikely at this point. Gai? That would be a challenge. It would be hard, but I was reasonably confident I could beat him. Or maybe he would get someone from left field? Tenzō maybe? Suddenly I wasn't feeling as confident; his bloodline was a tough one to beat. Bloodline chakra elements like Hyoton (Ice Release) and Mokuton (Wood Release) were notoriously hard to fight against.

10 minutes before the deadline, I felt a slight shift in the atmosphere. I narrowed my eyes. My opponent was here. I kept my eyes open as I scanned my surroundings, looking for the telltale tug on my neck informing me that a genjutsu was present. I slowly turned in a circle, widening my senses, looking for the slightest disturbance. There.

The moment I had identified it, my opponent jumped out and landed a short distance away from me in a defensive stance. I blinked in surprise. "You!?" My opponent didn't react verbally, simply extended his arm with his palm facing inwards. Then his fingers gestured towards himself twice in quick succession. The universal gesture for 'bring it on'.

I grinned as I charged my right hand with raw Raiton chakra. 'This should be fun'.

One Hour Later

It wasn't fun.

Getting beaten up never was.

I gazed up at the ceiling, seemingly lying relaxed on my back, hands at my sides; but a quick look at the rest of my body dispelled that notion.

My shirt was all but ripped apart, and my jacket had been torn at the left shoulder. A large gash covered my left shoulder and arm, and my right arm probably had a hairline fracture, if what I was feeling was anything to go by. Burn marks and dirt blackened my shinobi pants, and one of my shinobi sandals was practically nonexistent. Breathing hurt, which meant that I had a few broken ribs, if not a punctured lung. My face was a single large bruise, the center of which seemed to be at my left cheek. But all this did not take into account my most severe injury; the thing that had been hurt the most today, and would take the longest to heal.

My pride.

"You fought well. However, your Taijutsu stances are not solid enough. You tend to switch between different Taijutsu styles when you think you're being overwhelmed physically; this is acceptable against most shinobi, but a master of any single style will overcome that barrier."

I gave no indication that I had heard my opponent's analysis of my fighting style. I continued staring at the ceiling, feeling completely and utterly spent. To add insult to injury, my opponent still had chakra to spare, and was using it to heal me enough to make sure I made it to the hospital.

"Your offensive ninjutsu range is impressive. However, you waste too much chakra on using too many techniques too quickly to gain an edge. Again, against most shinobi, such a strategy will probably serve you well, but if your opponent is too quick to avoid your jutsu, it won't matter. You will simply be wasting chakra and your opponent will engage you in a battle of attrition. And you will not be the winner in that battle."

I still gave no indication that I had heard anything. I continued staring at the ceiling, idly wondering how my life had become so fucked up. My opponent had tossed me around like a rag doll; I felt like a chew toy after a dog was done mangling it.

"The fact that you do not use genjutsu is a shame. It is truly the most underrated of the shinobi arts, and potentially the most deadly. At the same time, the seal that you have grafted on to yourself to avoid genjutsu's is a magnificent piece of art. None of the techniques I used even caused you blink."

The Sandaime Hokage frowned as he ran his hands in a diagnostic technique over me. "Why did you stop fighting? You still have half your chakra. More, even."

I finally reacted. "Have you finally gone senile, you old coot? I can barely move!"

He gave me his patented dead-eye stare. "Excuse me? You've got chakra if I say you do. Now get up and perform a technique."

My body ached, but I pushed myself up into a sitting position, instinctively cradling my right hand. "Ugh" I groaned in pain. "I don't know what you're talking about. I can't even create a Kage Bunshin right now."

He scoffed, "Then try the regular Bunshin."

I rolled my eyes, "I've never been able to do the regular bunshin. My chakra control was never good enough; a side effect of having the Kyūbi."

He hadn't blinked as he kept staring at me. "I've seen you perform a lot of techniques that use far greater control than that. Attempt it. Now."

I sighed, but I prepared myself. I couldn't remember the handseals from my academy days, but I most likely had the most knowledge in the world about Fūinjutsu, and that included hand-seals. Creating a technique or coming up with the handseals for one was child's play for me now.

Requirements: illusionary technique, meaning Yin manipulation, with the result being a simple reflection of the user, capable of movement by chakra manipulation by the user. Handseals for such a technique: Ram – Snake – Tiger.

I performed the handseals and said in a resigned voice, fully expecting it to fail, "Bunshin no Jutsu."

To my complete and utter surprise, a perfect Bunshin wavered into view.

While I picked my jaw up off the floor, Sarutobi contented himself by looking extremely smug. "But that's never happened before!" I started thinking frantically, before I realized, "Oh! I don't have the Kyūbi anymore! I don't have an excessive amount of chakra running through my system!"

"Wrong!"

I snapped my vision to Sarutobi, as did my clone. Before it could get distracting, I dismissed it. "What do you mean?"

"Senju Hashirama was an extremely powerful shinobi with very potent chakra and a very large well of it to boot. And yet, he could perform pinpoint medical techniques. Your control is not due to the amount of chakra you possess. There is some other fundamental mistake you are making. What is it?"

I blinked in surprise, but before I could protest my brain had gone into student mode and already arrived at another conclusion. "Yang half of the Kyūbi…" I whispered instead, with dawning comprehension.

The Sandaime tilted his head, "Explain."

The images and explanations flickered through my head at warp speed, and I took a few moments to put it in words. "My dad sealed just the Yang half of the Kyūbi in me. He sealed the other half in himself before he was taken as sacrifice. That's why I could always perform ninjutsu flawlessly, while I sucked at genjutsu! Not because I had a lot of chakra, but because I was overflowing with Yang chakra. Even now, if what you're saying is right, I'm still drawing all of my Yang chakra while leaving the Yin chakra untouched!" My mind was whirling with the implications. Holy shit. Did this mean I could learn genjutsu? And iryo-jutsu (medical techniques)?

The Sandaime frowned, "I do not know too much about chakra theory, but what I do know is that Yin chakra is supposed to provide the form, and Yang chakra is supposed to provide the essence. Together they are supposed to form a technique."

"Yes. That is effectively true. There are a few nuances, but it's an effective overview of chakra techniques."

He tilted his head questioningly, "But you're telling me that you provided the form and the essence using Yang chakra alone?" I started to agree, and then I froze as I processed the implications. Sarutobi smiled, "Perhaps your chakra control is better than you think."

I nodded faintly. Crap. My entire life I had been fighting with one hand effectively tied behind my back and I never even knew it. I had to experiment! I needed to use handseals and re-learn how to use the entirety of my chakra instead of just pulling on the Yang half. No wonder I got exhausted so easily. The Yang was essentially the physical half of my chakra, and it came from my body. To exhaust my Yang chakra meant that it wreaked havoc on my stamina. I needed to train!

I started to smile, but then winced at the giant bruise on my face gave a painful twinge. I touched it gingerly, glaring at Sarutobi, "You bitch-slapped me!"

He snorted, "You deserved it for talking down to your betters." I continued to glare at him, but didn't make any more smartass comments. I wanted to, but maybe when I could land a few more blows I would let my mouth run, and then put my money behind it. Atleast he forgave me for that outburst before I had left to go to the Hot Springs village, so something good came out of the humiliating beating I had endured.

After a few moments though, Sarutobi broke the silence. "I have an offer for you." I tilted my head questioningly. "I would like you to sign the Monkey summoning contract."

My eyes widened. Summoning contracts were extremely rare, and for someone to offer to let you sign theirs was effectively announcing that they wanted you to carry on their legacy. That was not an offer made lightly; in fact, it spoke volumes about the kind of esteem the Sandaime Hokage held me in. Sure I had used the Toad contract before, but I was Jiraiya's apprentice then. This time around, it might not be so bad being Sarutobi's.

I smiled, and my voice was thick with emotion as I rasped out, "I would be honored, ji-chan."

Sarutobi too smiled a genuine smile as he swiped some blood from a cut on his arm and began the handseals for the Kuchiyose. With a giant puff of smoke the Monkey King Enma appeared before us.

Enma looked around, taking note of the destruction and passing his eyes over me like I was a part of the scenery. "Why have you summoned me after a fight? Do you wish for help with disposing the corpse?"

I scowled, "I don't look that bad."

Enma started violently and grabbed Sarutobi before jumping away, putting himself between Sarutobi and me. "What is that?" he hissed.

Sarutobi spoke slowly, in that tone used for people who are on a hair trigger about to do something stupid, "That is Nanashi, a shinobi of Konoha. I wish for him to sign the contract."

Enma glared at me, "That is not a shinobi. That is not a human being; that is a moving corpse. I don't know what game you're playing, Sarutobi, but that thing lacks life."

The bottom fell out of my stomach. I started to get up; Enma took that as a threat and immediately jumped to attack me. There was no way I was going to survive; I fell back on my ass and tried to backtrack as he came closer. As he was about to strike me while I was defenseless he suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke. Even though it slowly cleared away I stared at the place where Enma had been about to kill me.

Summons were animals from a neighboring dimension. Because they were animals, and because they lived in a dimension which was untouched by man, their senses were not the same as ours. They were trained since birth to detect Senchakra, and therefore life.

And Enma said that I lacked life.

"What am I?" I whispered despondently, suddenly feeling the weight of the world pressing down on me. Lost as I was in thought, I didn't realize that the Sandaime had rejoined me.

"You are a shinobi of Konohagakure."

My eyes snapped up to see the soft gaze of the Hokage. He smiled at me and continued in that soft tone, "You are a precious subordinate to me. I know for a fact that you will sacrifice yourself for your comrades, and means your value is incalculable." He put an arm on my shoulder. "Above all, know this: you can trust in me, and in turn, I will put my trust in you. Trust in your heart, it will never let you down. Trust in your training, it will lead you down the right path. Never forget this: I believe in you."

I had no words to say in response to that. I couldn't even stop the tears that started flowing. Trust him? I could do that. I could live with that.

EDIT 10-Feb-2016: I've got a lot of reviews saying that Nanashi is underpowered. While I do take your point, even if I had him throw around a few more S-rank techniques, the outcome of the battle would be the same. I needed to show that he had grown over-reliant on Sage Mode and Kyuubi Chakra Mode, and he needed a reality check to get him used to his new power level.

Author's Note: Happy Diwali to you! And here's my gift: more than 10k words in this chapter! We're finally getting a few answers about Nanashi's capabilities, and his unique identity crisis. I'm getting more and more excited about this story the more I write it.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! This story has broken the 100 review mark after the last chapter, and it's all thanks to you guys. I love everyone who reviews, even those people who flamed; because at the root of all hate lies love.

Right, we had some light fluffy brotherly bonding between Naruto and Nanashi, and some heavy duty stuff right at the end between the Sandaime and Nanashi. I envisaged their relationship evolving like Denny Crane and Alan Shore in Boston Legal, so let me know if I succeeded or failed. So, what did you think? Let me know down below!