Change in my life is coming soon, and I don't know if I'll be able to post many more chapters in the future. I don't want to go into details too much, but my housing situation is going to be sketchy, and my roommate and I are desperately looking for a house or apartment we can afford by the tenth of December. Things are pretty financially tight at the moment, but hopefully we'll pull through soon. Other than that, there's not a whole lot to report.

I have a plan of action for the future of this story, though. Up until last chapter, I had basically been making it up as I go along, but now I have a clear mental image of where the story is going, and I'm genuinely excited to write it all down. Even if I don't post very often, I'll keep writing, and with any luck, I might be able to drop longer chapters that have more condensed plot. I'm one of those writers that can take a while to get going, but if I have some momentum, things get rolling real quickly. If you've made it to this chapter, and you've stuck with me so far, from the bottom of my heart I want to thank you.

Chapter 7

I spent the next hour or so thinking about my conversation with Kurenai, and the implications that went with it. I'd set into motion one of the most powerful forces in the world: the rumor mill. I knew that within the next few days that word would spread about a lot of things, and to be honest that frightened me a bit. But it also excited me. Change would be coming. I could feel it in the air. Something big was about to happen, but I didn't know what, or from where, or how or anything else. I'd gotten good at predicting these kinds of things in the past several years.

But that was for future me to worry about. Right now, I had to see a man about a house.

I got a quick lunch at Ichiraku, then hightailed it for the Hyuuga place. I'd been there several times before for one reason or another, and saw plenty of friendly faces along the way. I kept quiet about my reasons for my presence- if I was going to move to this area, I wanted it kept quiet for my own reasons. If it didn't pan out, no reason to have word spread that I was looking, right? More than once have people in high places tried to influence me into living near them as a sign of position, whatever that meant.

Sakura was waiting for me at the front doors of the compound, holding a conversation with Hinata and the guard on duty at the door, a younger man that I recognized as a new Chuunin. I'd seen him compete in the previous tournament held in Iwa; in fact, he had taken the top spot overall, and did so with extreme efficiency. I took notice of him specifically because he had been one of the first of his generation to be born into the branch family but not have the branch seal affixed to his forehead.

Neji's journey had changed much of the inner workings of his clan. I mourned his loss, but his legacy meant that the barbaric traditions of his family's past would not be continued.

"Sup, ladies? Hey, Hikaru! How's it going? That vest looks good on you?"

Hikaru stiffened a bit when I called out, but when he recognized me he broke into a grin. I'd run into him a few times around town and I had sparred with him once, and the kid reminded me a whole lot of Neji. Not in his attitude, but his fighting style was damn near machine precision. Out of combat, though, and only his eyes screamed "Hyuuga." He wore an easy smile with a casual slouch, and his hair was more on the ashy side of gray, short and spiky. "Naruto-san!" he called out to me. "Welcome!"

"They got you on door duty today, huh?" I asked.

Hikaru smiled and gave a casual shrug. "Yeah, no biggie. I didn't have anything else planned for the day anyway."

"What he really means," Sakura interrupted, "is that he got called out for insubordination and is out here on watch because he can't keep his mouth shut."

"Hey, way to throw me under the cart, Sakura-san!" Hikaru exclaimed. "You call one old fogey a reactionary, and suddenly you're the bad guy."

"That 'old fogey' in question happens to be my uncle," a voice from the other side of the door intoned. I don't think I've ever seen somebody go from a slouch to full attention quick enough to break the sound barrier, but damn if Hikaru didn't make a good run of it.

The door opened and Hyuuga Hiashi walked right on through. He was alone, for once, and though his eyes were as impassive as usual, his lips had a tiny quirk of a smile. Just the barest hint, honestly. "And I hope that you take this as a lesson to keep your words to yourself when in the presence of those who are your superiors and betters."

"I- Uh- Um- I uh-" Hikaru's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish, and with a gulp born of fear, he finally managed to say, "Yes, Hiashi-dono!"

Hiashi towered over the young man and glared down his nose at him for a long, painful moment. He then leaned down a little and whispered into his ear, just loud enough that I, Sakura, and Hinata could hear as well. "I do not disagree with what you said in the slightest, my young friend," he said. "Just learn to pick your battles a little bit better, okay? One day it will be your time to guide the clan toward a different path. Don't let your youthful enthusiasm get in the way of your decorum toward your own family, all right?"

Hikaru blinked rapidly, but nodded. "Yes, Hiashi-dono!" he said. "I will keep that in mind!"

Hiashi leaned back up and let out a genuinely warm smile. The man had changed so much over the past several years, though I could hardly wonder why. I knew the dark history of his family more than most, and my friendship with Negi and Hinata had brought me into the fold a little. I knew he still mourned Neji; it was rare, but sometimes, I could see a pallor fall over him that I had seen in others. The memory of those lost to time... I'd had it as well. When you start to think about those closest to you that couldn't see the sunrise with you, or share a cup of tea ever again, it hits you hard in places that you don't expect.

Hiashi had gone through as much loss as any of us. I couldn't just look at him as "Hinata's father" or "Neji's uncle" anymore. He wasn't simply the head of his clan. He was a complex, thoughtful man with more layers than I think even he realized, and he was one of the many of his generation who accepted me for who I was... given time, anyway.

To be fair, I did prank him a couple times, and I think he was waiting for the day to make me pay for it in his own unique way.

But I could see the warmth within him. I am sorry to say that I have never met his wife, but the more I know the man, the more I am sure that a lot of the goodness that Hinata has comes from both of her parents. His gentle chastising of Hikaru was good evidence of that, in fact.

"And now to our guests," Hiashi continued. He turned to me and dipped his head. "Sakura, Naruto. It is a pleasure to welcome you to our home. Hinata has informed me that you have some business to discuss with me concerning a property that has been warded to the Hyuuga clan for some time now."

I bowed, then rose. "Yes, sir," I said. "I've been told that the estate to the north is vacant, and I was wondering what it would take for me to take it off your hands."

Hiashi nodded. "Interesting." He waved a hand to guide us through the threshold. "Shall we discuss this over some tea? Negotiations are always best done around a table."

"Yes, thank you," I said. Sakura and I followed Hinata into the manor proper with Hiashi bringing up the tail. Over my shoulder, I heard him tell Hikaru that his relief would be by soon and to stay out of trouble in the meantime. I snorted at that, and Sakura gave me a nudge with a reluctant smile.

I'd been in the tea room of the place a couple times before, but it was always unsettling how barren it was. The Hyuugas were fairly wealthy, but as a general rule they didn't put in much for the glitz that others might expect. The table was low to the floor, one of those traditional kind, and we took our places on our knees while awaiting the tea. Hiashi and Hinata sat side by side; I was across from Hiashi, and Sakura was to my left. We made general small talk while waiting, but about five minutes later the door slid open, Hanabi, Hinata's little sister, carrying a tray of cups and a pot of what smelled like very expensive oolong tea.

"Oh, Hanabi-chan!" I exclaimed. "Didn't expect to have you on tea duty today."

Hanabi smiled warmly at me. While she and I weren't nearly as close as Hinata and I were, she was often with Konohamaru and his friends, and we ran into each other around town enough that we had a very polite relationship. As always, her casual clothes were more flamboyant than the rest of her clan tended to wear, today's being a loose green kimono that had orange flames rippling inward from the seams. The color scheme didn't look like it should make sense, but somehow Hanabi managed to pull it off. "Like father could talk me out of it," she quipped. "Heard you were going to be coming over to talk business and I got curious."

Hiashi rolled his eyes, looking every inch the father who had too many hotheaded children under his roof to deal with. "Don't mind her, Naruto," he said.

I raised a hand to stop his protests. "Hey, I'm not getting in the middle of this one," I said.

"You better not," Hanabi said. "Hinata and I grew this tea ourselves." She had set the tray down already, but made as if to pick it up. "If you want, father, I can have somebody else make the green tea that you picked up from the market, and I could-"

"Don't you dare!" Hiashi said with mock anger. "I will not risk a perfect cup of tea over your ire." He glanced at me and smiled. "The joys of parenthood, Naruto-san. May you be so cursed one day."

Hanabi giggled, then set about pouring for everybody, counterclockwise from Hiashi. I noticed that she had brought placements enough for herself. "You don't actually mind if I join you, do you, father?"

Hiashi shook his head. "We both know I couldn't stop you anyway," he begrudgingly said. "Naruto? Sakura?"

"The more, the merrier," Sakura said, patting the conveniently spare pillow beside her. It was good to see Hiashi being a parent in his home; outside these walls, I knew he put on a mask of stone when dealing with anybody that wasn't a close friend of his. Seeing him let his guard down with us gave me hope that things could go more smoothly than I had hoped.

Tea served, Hanabi took her place at the table, and it was time to settle down to business. "So, Naruto," Hiashi began with cup in hand. "I understand that you wish to inquire about taking over the home and lands that previously were the property of a business magnate that no longer resides there."

"Kinda," I said. "I've been thinking about moving out of shinobi housing, now that I've got a decent pile of money saved up. I'm not set on any one place yet, though, and I don't even know if I want this one in particular. But Hinata brought it up in conversation that the land was open and that your family had control over it because you guys are the nearest neighbors, and it was easier to have it as an unofficial extended part of your property than to have the village itself take care of it." I paused to sip the tea; oh, it was good.

"Not bad, huh?" Hanabi said with a smile.

"You two really cultivated this? I'll have to get some tips, I like horticulture but I could never get tea to grow right, and-"

"Naruto, you're getting distracted again," Sakura said.

"Put a pin in that," I told Hanabi. "Right, sorry, Hiashi-san. Anyway, yes, I'd like to take a look around and see if it's for me. But seeing as it is all under your care at the moment, and you being the current head of the clan, coming to discuss the situation directly seemed like a better idea than wandering in on my own to look around."

"Mmm. I appreciate that you are, for once, following protocol," Hiashi said with a small smile.

"Agreed," said Sakura.

"Whose side are you on, again?" I asked her.

"Whatever side gets you a house," she replied.

I cast my eyes upward in silent prayer, and yet no answer was to come. "I'm doing my best, chief," I said. "The question is, would you be willing to hand it over in the first place? I know my reputation, and having me as a neighbor might not be in every Hyuuga's shopping list."

Hiashi shrugged. "If it were up to me- and honestly, it is- I don't see why not. While your escapades as a youth will never be forgotten by some of our elder clan members, most of us have put them aside as what they were, the activities of a young man who didn't have a strong parental figure to reign him in." He held a hand up to halt any protest at that statement. "Calm down, I will not push that narrative any further than I have to. I would not say that I was friends with Jiraiya, but I witnessed firsthand how much his mentorship of you helped focus your attention, and I held a very deep respect for him, as do all of my people. You have obviously mellowed out over the years in regard to your bouts of your... shall we say, misadventures?"

"Heh. You mean my legendary pranks."

Hiashi's lips twisted at that. "If by 'legendary' you mean the time when you put scent markers on one of the clan elder's sandals, then roped Inuzuka Kiba into releasing the hounds so that they followed him into a local bathhouse, then yes."

Hanabi blinked at that. "Wait, that was you?"

"Er, yeah," I said, scratching the back of my head in a little bit of embarrassment. "I didn't think anybody knew that I pulled that one off."

Hiashi looked pointedly at Hinata. "Kiba told her a year after they were assigned to Kurenai. Kurenai overheard the conversation, and told me over drinks. To my knowledge, the information has stayed between us since then."

"I'm so sorry, Naruto!" Hinata said, a blush creeping up her cheeks.

"This is too good," Hanabi laughed. "But, er, your secret is safe with me. For a price."

I facepalmed in exasperation. "Hiashi, remind me not to come to you for parenting advice. Like, ever."

"Agreed," he said with a sigh. "That said, what is it about this home in particular that interests you?"

I shrugged. "Nothing, really. Listen, it's not like I'm looking at any place specifically right now. I'm just getting cramped up in the barracks and want a little room to move. There are a few other places that might interest me, too, but Hinata suggested this homestead, and I figured, why not make that my first option and see how the others compare to that?"

"I see," he said. "I do have some questions about that. The property isn't small by any means. There are two main buildings, one main house large enough for at least ten adults, and a smaller home nearby that could comfortably house about half of that. It isn't as large as the Hyuuga land, but there are still other places that could be far more manageable for one man to maintain on his own. Is there any reason for you to think that you would need a home that large in the near future? Or is this simply a whim that you are following up on at the behest of my daughter?"

I could see some of the wheels turning in Hiashi's brain already. Ugh, I had to get political real quick. "If you are pondering what I think you are, Hiashi-san, let me cut you off at the pass here. You know my... my family's history about as well as I do. More so, maybe. The Uzumaki clan is dead an gone, and what is left of my bloodline is scattered to the wind. I don't have any intention of restoring the status of my clan here in the village."

I looked down for a moment; this was something that I had thought about a lot over the years as I had learned more and more of my family's history. There was still so much that I didn't know about them; chief among them, who was even left? The vast majority had perished before I was born, done away with during the old wars that had plagued the entire continent as the villages struggled to consolidate power and influence during and after the wars. I'd only met a few who could trace lineage to Uzushigakure, not counting Tsunade who was the granddaughter of the first host of Kurama, but I'd never felt any familial connection with any of them. Nagato had been a bent piece of work, and Karin... well, the less said about her in that regard, the better. To her, she and I just happened to have some common ancestors, nothing more.

For me to try to reconstruct the clan after all this time would be a fool's errand. Not that I wasn't known for those, but it would be a vanity project at best. And even if I tried, would I be the right one to bring them all together? Maybe one day when I was Hokage, when I had the leadership experience to make a go of it, I might have a shot.

But I was still young and inexperienced at the political game, and guys like me didn't make great politicians. And that's the crux of it: if I tried to restore the Uzumaki clan, I wouldn't just be responsible for me anymore. I'd have a bunch of people who I didn't even know be under my wing, in my home. Strangers in a strange land, so to speak. I wasn't ready for that kind of responsibility yet.

I felt Sakura grab my hand, and the empathy I saw in her eyes made my heart melt. She knew better than anybody what I had gone through. She had seen me at my worst and stuck by me through it all. I nodded at her, then continued. "If I get a home, I don't want it to just be a house to live in. I want a place to make my own. One day, maybe not too far off from now, I do really want a family. I need a place that I can go to and call my own. Four walls and a roof just isn't going to cut it for me anymore. I know it's vain of me to ask this, but I would like the opportunity to see what's on the other side of the stream and decide for myself if it is the kind of place where I can belong."

It was only then that I realized that Hanabi was starting to tear up a little. "Hanabi? Are you okay?" Sakura asked, noticing just as soon as I had.

Hanabi dabbed at her eyes with a kerchief. "Y-yes," she said. "It's just so s-sad. Father! You have to let him have the house!"

"I didn't come here to bring a sob story!" I said. "Don't be sad, Hanabi-chan, the past is the past and I'm not going to dwell on it too much, and you shouldn't either!" I used a moment to sip at the tea to collect my thoughts, and give Hanabi a period to compose herself. "All in all, I'm one of the lucky ones. My mother left the village before it was attacked, which allowed me to eventually be born. I went through my own struggles, but at least I had the village, and all of Konoha, to keep me company. I can't hold a grudge over something that happened nearly forty years ago, and I won't let it be a point of contention. Hell, anybody who even participated in that attack would be well into their sixties, a full decade older than you, Hiashi-san." I set my cup down and shook my head. "I won't let the past define me. It's time for me to move on."

Hiashi took in my words and pondered them for several long moments. The ladies seemed like they all wanted to add to the conversation, but I think they realized that this wasn't the time. Ultimately, this was a discussion between myself and him, and they wondered how it would go. "Be that as it may, Naruto," he finally said, "there are still Uzumaki out there in the world, if not by name, then by blood. What would you do, hypothetically, if you found them, or vice versa, and they decided that they wanted to join you here in Konoha?"

I didn't have to even think about my reply. "If that happened, then I would welcome them with open arms, but I wouldn't try to force the issue. I cannot go around dictating peoples' lives just because of a tangential blood relationship. That wouldn't be right. I may be the jinchuuriki for Kurama at the moment, and I might be a big shot around here, but that doesn't give me the authority to tell others how to live their lives, either. No more so than they would be able to hold me under the authority of whatever Uzumaki laws that they had held onto from before Uzushigakure fell."

I had no idea whether that was the right answer to the question; Hiashi's face remained impassive as a brick wall. His eyes never flickered as they gazed into mine, and it was a struggle to maintain eye contact. Say what you want about the Hyuuga, but they never lose a staring contest. "You would bring them into your home, but you would not attempt to revive the Uzumaki clan. Why is that? Of all people that I could think of, if you put out the call for any Uzumaki or their descendants to gather around, you might be the best option."

What was Hiashi getting at here? "I figured you would know that better than me, Hiashi-san," I said.

"Oh?"

I nodded. "Yeah. What good is having a clan if you don't consider them family beforehand?"

Ah. There it was. A crack in the facade. It was a dirty jab, but I hit him in a tender spot right there. Judging by Hinata and Hanabi's expressions, I thought that I might have gone a little bit too far, but amazingly, Hiashi recovered with a small smile. "What good, indeed?" he mused. He closed his eyes and sipped at his tea; I think the girls suddenly remembered that they had cups, too, and joined him. I left mine alone, though. If we were going to play the game, I didn't want him to think I was falling into his pace.

"An interesting response," Hiashi said over his steaming cup. "I wonder..." He looked lost in thought for another moment, and I let him drift off until he was ready to continue. I had all the time in the world. "Naruto. Let me make you an offer."

I raised a brow. Oh, this was about to get interesting. "What kind of offer?" I asked.

He drank the last of his brew and set his cup aside. "While I am not sure what I can provide in the way of concrete information, my connections to various intelligence networks is not modest. If you wish- and only at your behest- I can make inquiries as to the locations of Uzumaki, so far as I can find. It is not outside the realm of possibility that there could be some that have hidden away from the influence of the military shinobi powers, or have integrated into other villages under assumed names. If, and only if, they are amicable to meeting, might you entertain them with an offer of sanctuary?"

"You couldn't possibly be serious," I said in disbelief. "Why would they- no, why would I even try that?"

Hiashi looked at me like the dumb kid in the classroom. Which, I guess, in all fairness, I had been. "I tend not to busy myself with the private affairs of those outside of my family, Naruto, but I had thought that maybe you would like one of your own." He waved a hand around himself. "I will admit that my clan is not perfect by any means, but they are family. I think I would be lost without them. I..." He got that wistful, sad look in his eyes again. "... I remember what it was like when I realized that Neji was lost, and there was nobody there to guide him back to the light. Not until you helped him. And in doing so, you both helped me." He cleared his throat, the continued. "Can you imagine what it is like? To be someone like you, out in the world, cast aside and adrift in a world that declared with extreme prejudice that your kind should not be allowed to exist? How many of the Uzumaki descendants alive today, those who are allowed to know anything of their clan's history, still live in fear of what may come if their identities are exposed?"

I... I had not thought of that.

"What you have, Naruto, is a rare opportunity to bring the remnants of a once-great clan together, perhaps for the first time in decades." He laced his fingers together and looked me in the eyes once more. "How many of them from the original clan might be left? How many of them have children that they hide in the shadows, hide who they are, what they are, just for the hope of surviving another day? And while you ponder moving into a big, empty house in the middle of the woods, perhaps you may consider what it was like when you were a child, and all you saw in so many peoples' eyes was the sheer disgust at the entirety of your being."

"Father, that is quite enough." Hinata's words cut through the air like a knife. She did not raise her voice. She didn't scream. She barely moved. But I could see her hands clenched into fists, fingers balled up so tight that her knuckles were turning white from the pressure. She looked straight ahead at, no, through Sakura, and to her side I saw Hanabi with a fearful expression, a counterpoint to Hinata's cold fury. "How dare you."

In one motion, Hinata was on her feet, towering over Hiashi with a righteous anger that I had never seen or felt from her before. "How DARE YOU. The absolute nerve you have to throw his past in his face like that! Do you have no shame at all? Are you without any honor?"

"Hinata!" Sakura cried.

"You of all people know what he has gone through!" Hinata continued as if Sakura hadn't said anything. "That you would throw his past in his face like that is disgraceful!"

"Sister! Please-"

"I cannot believe that you would-"

"Hinata." She froze, mid-sentence, at my word. Literally, every motion, save for her swinging hair, stilled in action. "Hinata, it's okay." She looked at me and blinked, as if she was confused, her emotions pulled in separate directions.

"But Naruto, he-"

"Fair is fair," I said. "Really, it's okay. Isn't it, Hiashi-san?"

Hiashi hadn't taken his eyes off of me while Hinata's ire had been raised. "Is that what you think, Naruto?"

I waved a hand, gesturing for Hinata to take her seat again. She hesitated as if sitting beside her father was akin to sliding into a pile of mud, but she knelt to her knees, though she definitely inched closer towards her sister than she had been before she stood. "Yes, sir." I tilted my head to the side to acknowledge my slight. "Fair is fair. I take a potshot at him with his mistakes with Neji, he reminds me what it was like when I was a nothing and a nobody."

"You were never 'nothing' Naruto," Hinata all but whispered.

I took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Not to you, Hinata. But to everybody else who had survived the day I was born? Yes. Yes, I was. I was less than that." I dug the knuckles of my left hand into my cheek and leaned on the table. "You know, it's been a long time since then. Little over ten years ago, you, me, Sakura and the rest, we graduated from the shinobi academy. I still remember what it was like until about then, when it felt like the whole village wanted nothing but for me to be gone for good. Hmm, except for a few, like Iruka-sensei, old man Ichiraku and Ayame, and some other genuinely good folks that gave me a chance, I was a pariah. A blight. A scar. A constant reminder of the needless bloodshed that had come. I never got a birthday gift until I was eleven years old, and that was from Iruka. Did you know that, Hiashi?"

"...No, I did not, Naruto."

"It's true. Of all things, he gave me a watering can, some soil, a package of seeds, and a few instruction booklets to help me raise a fern. A fern. You know why he did that? He told me that in a world full of plants, when you could go out into the wild and find a million of them laying around, it's always the ones you grow on your own that mean the most to you." I paused my monologue a moment to sip my tea. "You see, up until then, the only thing that I had ever really done constructively was coming up with pranks. Looking back on it, I always had the idea that I was doing it to get revenge on the people who had treated me like trash. But the truth was, I was so starved for attention, even negative attention, that I was desperate to just be acknowledged.

"But the plants that I grew from that little bag of seeds? They didn't desire anything at all. I had to work hard to make them grow. I had to study and focus a lot of my time to bring them to life. Ferns, Hiashi. Barely more than weeds, really. What could be easier?" I shook my head. "It wasn't easy. First few, they didn't really take off too well. They sprouted a bit, but I didn't water them enough. Next couple, watered too much, and that made for poor soil. I did, however, eventually get it right. A few of the seedlings took root, and with a lot of time and patience, they grew wonderfully." My legs were beginning to cramp from my kneeling position; I adjusted myself to cross them and leaned back on my hands. "It wasn't until a little after my twelfth birthday that I really figured out what Iruka's lesson was all about."

"And what was the lesson?" Hiashi asked.

"That the things that mean the most in life are the ones you work for. That good things aren't easy. If you want something valuable, you can't wait for it to come to you." I hadn't planned on telling Hiashi this story, but it flowed from my lips so naturally, especially after Hinata's outburst, that I knew I couldn't stop now. "You have to fight for it if you have to, even. Don't stop fighting. Don't stop believing in what must be done. I guess you could say that a large part of my whole belief system came from that year of growth."

Hiashi definitely saw me glance at Hinata and Sakura just then. Hell, so did Hanabi, though I didn't know whether they understood the significance. But those two certainly had the means to follow my train of thought. "And... just because something doesn't work out the first time around, that doesn't mean you get to stop trying. You have to push harder for it in the face of failure."

Hiashi crossed his arms. I'd seen enough of people to know what defensive body posture looked like. "You've seen enough failure over the years."

I leaned over the table at him. "And yet, I keep on pushing forward."

"That you do." Hiashi closed his eyes and began to think. "May I ask you one thing, Naruto? Whatever happened to those plants?"

I scratched my head. "Well, you remember how Jiraiya took me on the trip to train me for a few years? I asked my friends to take turns watering them for me at their places. I got back and they were all fine, but after I took them home, they were destroyed when Pain attacked the village." Of all things to worry about, my plants had been low on my list... but on the list they were. "If it makes a difference, I had harvested seeds from them over the years, and I did manage to regrow a few plants since then."

"Ah. Through strife and turmoil, they live on."

"Yeah. There's another lesson in there, somewhere."

I spread my hands. "The life of a grade A, certified Sage, my friend."

"Ah. Yes." People often forgot that I was, technically speaking, one with nature. "Naruto, this has been an informative conversation, to be sure, but what exactly is your point?"

"The point, Hiashi-san, is that you never know what will grow until you start trying to put down solid roots in good soil. I had hoped that this house might be a good candidate for a home for myself."

"Hmm. A place to put down roots. I suppose so." He looked over at his daughters for a moment. "Well, I suppose there is no harm in letting you take a tour of the property. As I said before, I am open to signing the deed over to you. I do not suppose there is a particular reason against it, anyway, aside from my... previous misgivings."

I sighed and rubbed at my hair. "You mean about the remnants of my clan, huh?"

"The offer is open, but hardly conditional. And for what it is worth... I apologize for opening old wounds. You are a guest in my home, and I was out of line."

"Water under the bridge, my friend."

Hiashi silently acknowledged me with a nod, then turned to look at his daughters. "Hanabi, Hinata, if you would not mind, could you show Naruto-san to the estate? I am overdue for a meeting with the Hokage about new security protocols at the village border, else I would take care of it myself. Naruto, if the property is to your liking, we can negotiate the details at a later date. Is that an acceptable deal?"

I bowed from my position- not exactly easy to do when you are cross-legged- to honor my host. "That is fine with me, Hiashi-san. Thanks a lot for taking the time to humor me." I looked up as I rose to lock eyes with him. "And if I need humbling again in the future, I hope someone with a gentle touch like yours is the one to do so."

Hiashi smiled at that one. "One is glad to be of service." He smoothly stood, and made his way to the sliding door. "There is no rush. Take your time and enjoy yourself, young ones."

"Thank you, Hiashi-san," Sakura chimed in. "We appreciate that you took the time to speak with us at all."

"Think nothing of it. A quiet afternoon with a young beauty such as yourself beats being cramped in an office and going through another two-hour meeting. Farewell, until next time."

Hiashi exited the room and closed the door, and the four of us all visibly relaxed. Hanabi twisted her legs and began working out a cramp of her own, while Hinata and Sakura began talking details. Though our conversation had been relatively short, Hiashi had given me a lot to think about. His offer of intelligence gathering was a damn tempting one, I'll admit. For a guy like him, even taking this meeting put me in his debt; his time was pretty valuable, after all, and no matter what the estate would cost, I'd still be in his debt for a while.

Wait a second... had I been played? I wouldn't put it past Hiashi to let me put myself into all kinds of corners for his benefit, especially if I was the one to ask for it. That sly son of a... Heh. I guess I still had a long way to go to get on his politico level.

Maybe I should have more one on one sessions with the man in the future. If I was going to be his neighbor, then that might be unavoidable.

Until then, though, I'd be enjoying the company of good friends, warm sunshine, a house tour, and a quiet week.

And there is never a reason to turn down a cup of tea grown with love.

A/N: I'll be honest, I'm not super happy with the way I ended this chapter, I think I could have paced it a little better, but I'm exhausted as of writing this and decided to throw in the towel. The next chapter will have a perspective shift so that we can see things from a fresh pair of eyes.

If you fill yourself with love, there's no room for others to sneak in any hate.

Just in case I don't see you soon, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

~DeadWitch