Almost done, almost done, almost done! Only about one or two chapters after this one and we'll be at the end of this. I hope y'all enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I own Magic: the Gathering
"No."
"Oh come on, you can't just-"
"Can and will, Naruto!" Tsunade glared at the young blonde in front of her. Having been nearly a year since she'd seen him last, her first instinct was to pull the boy into a crushing hug. Her second had been to put him through a wall. Now he stood before her desk, defiance in his eyes as he held fast to the hand of a young Red-head who Tsunade had been informed set fire – accidentally of course, but still – to several buildings in the shopping district, utilizing fire jutsu so hot it couldn't be doused. Shizune, Shikaku Nara and Kakashi Hatake stood to the side, flanking a second newcomer, one Gideon Jura, who at the very least was being compliant and rational. "You've been gone for a year. An entire year. It took every bit of political clout I have to convince the people of this village not to consider you a Missing Ninja. Now you show up, out of the blue, spouting stories of magic and other worlds, you bring two unknowns into the village, one of whom I remind you lit herself on fire, along with several shops and restaurants. And now you're asking me to allow her to stay in the village, on only your word that it won't happen again?"
"It won't!" insisted Naruto, shooting his own glare back at the Hokage, nearly making her flinch back. It had been a while since she'd seen the blonde look at her with anger in his gaze. "And she has nowhere else to go. The government of her home plane, a tyrannical government, has just banished her, and I made a promise to her father that I will protect her!" He felt Chandra squeeze his hand, and he looked back to the girl and gave her a determined grin while squeezing back. He'd told her while they were waiting on Gideon to be brought over so they could have this meeting. She hadn't said a word, and he didn't blame her.
"Naruto, if this Multiverse nonsense is true, there are undoubtedly other places she can go," Tsunade sighed. "Look, you brought me back to this village to be the Hokage. So now I am being the Hokage. If she can travel the Multiverse at will, what's to stop her popping in and out of the village? What's to keep her from sharing our secrets with Enemies, current and potential? The very idea of 'Planeswalking' is a giant hole in the security of this village, which I am sworn to uphold and maintain."
"Or we can literally help the village by scouring the Multiverse for Magical secrets, powerful artifacts, scrolls, information," Naruto countered. "I'm a Planeswalker too, we could be partners." Tsunade was silent for a moment, contemplating. What Naruto said was true, however, she couldn't see the benefit outweighing the cost of simply bringing in a total unknown like that.
"Be that as it may, Chandra has zero ties to this village, beyond your professed friendship," Tsunade stated firmly, resting her chin on her interlaced fingers, leaning over her desk. "She has no family here, no roots put down. Someone with this sort of power we can't simply trust to be loyal without insurance." She saw Naruto's frown turn into a deep scowl.
"If she's not welcome here, neither am I," he declared, actively shocking the other shinobi in the room and causing Chandra's face to go red. She felt her eyes begin to water again as while Naruto's declaration certainly made something in her chest flutter, she didn't want him to once again have to flee a home because of her. She tried to speak up, but Naruto continued. "I spent a year telling Chandra about how amazing Konoha was. If it can't live up to those stories, than I don't know if I want to live here either."
"If you do that, you won't get the same protection you had, Naruto," Shikaku spoke up. "You're declaring, in front of the Hokage no-less, the intent to go rogue over this." Naruto looked at the others in the room. Tsunade was absolutely livid at hearing what Naruto was saying, while Shizune looked absolutely heartbroken. Kakashi meanwhile was completely unreadable. He had no idea what might have been on his Sensei's mind.
"I put my friends above everything, like you said," Naruto replied with a sad smile. "And I'm not going back on my promise to Kiran. I swore I'd protect Chandra. Where she goes, I go too." Tsunade couldn't believe what she was hearing. Had the blonde lost his mind during his year away. Frustrated, she pounded her fist into her desk, smashing it to pieces as she grit her teeth.
"And your promise to me?" she asked. "You kept going on and on about how you were going to take this hat one day. That you were going to be the Sixth. What happened to that?" Chandra backed away from Naruto as Tsunade stepped forward, lifting Naruto by the front of his tunic.
"If I may, you're both overlooking a rather simple solution to both your problems." Tsunade dropped Naruto and she began – along with Kakashi, Shizune, and Shikaku – looking for where the voice might have come from. Naruto and Gideon meanwhile just sighed, recognizing Jace's telepathy. "You're a rather lucky one, Naruto," he said. "First village we go to, you find a Planeswalker who knows healing magic. Baral attacks, your friend happens to be Planeswalker and escapes. You go looking for Chandra, you find her right in your home village..."
"Jace, where are you?" Naruto groaned, already feeling a headache coming on. Telepathy really didn't agree with him for some reason. Maybe it was just Jace's style of telepathy, or perhaps it was the telepathic magics in general. Either way, he'd much prefer this conversation to be happening in person. Alas, it wasn't to be.
"Outside, hidden under a concealment spell. Honestly, last thing anyone needs is a cloaked stranger who can connect to the minds of others making a scene in the Hokage's office. From what I gather, she's already suspicious of Chandra. I don't exactly want to be accused of espionage at the moment." Tsunade gave a quick signal and three ANBU appeared before her.
"There's someone hiding somewhere nearby outside. Wearing a cloak, and somehow he's using some sort of telepathy or genjutsu to speak to us. Find. Him." The ANBU disappeared as quickly and silently as they had appeared in the first place.
"You were saying something about a simple solution to our problems?" Naruto asked aloud, knowing Jace could hear him. He also actively doubted the telepathic mage was actually outside, but he wasn't attuned enough to Jace's brand of illusion magic to be able to find where he might actually be.
"Yes, I believe Mr. Nara had thought for a moment of something referred to as "Citizen via Wedlock," before dismissing the idea due to your young ages." Naruto and Chandra both turned red, but none the less Naruto once again gripped Chandra's hand in his, while Tsunade shot Shikaku a look.
"I would hope he dismissed the idea," she practically growled out. "I'm not letting two children, Shinobi or not, get married just to gain her citizenship. That law is in place for Political marriages regarding treaties, or for marriages with civilians! A random farm girl, or a sweet shop owner. Chandra here is the walking definition of Fire Power! She may not be a ninja, but she's certainly much more than a 'civilian." Hearing Chandra mumble something for the first time, Tsunade turned her gaze to her. "What was that?"
"We're already betrothed," she stated, a bit more confidently. Naruto's eyes widened for a moment, before realizing what Chandra was doing. "My mother promised me to him."
It wasn't true of course, but it wasn't quite a lie, either. It had always been fairly clear that Pia hadn't been serious about the betrothal, even if it was also clear that she liked the idea of the two of them together. And she had been telling people for months that the two were promised to each other. Memories of just that, while leaving out the joking context, suddenly bombarded the minds of the Hokage, Shizune, Shikaku, and Kakashi, leaving them staring at Naruto and Chandra as if they'd each grown another head. Naruto now wrapped his arm around Chandra's shoulder and pulled her closer.
Exasperated, Tsunade rubbed her temples and moved back through her split desk to slump into her chair. Looking to the blonde boy, she sighed. "Naruto, is this true? You say it, and I'll believe it..." Naruto took only a second, before nodding.
"It's true," he said, making Tsunade sigh again.
"Kakashi, take Naruto and Chandra out to get them something to eat, then go to the Hospital and get Chandra looked at. Most of her wounds look superficial, but better to be safe. Besides, I'm sure Sakura will want to know that Naruto's back. I need time to decide what to do about this. Mr. Jura, you haven't done anything to cause harm or chaos, and properly entered the village through the gate, but your status as one of these 'Planeswalkers' is cause for concern, as I said. However, for now you may walk about the Village so long as you're willing to have Shizune here escort you. It would also go a long way towards proving yourself trustworthy if you would take the time to sign out at the gate when you leave, rather than simply popping out of existence or however Planeswalking works." Gideon and Kakashi both nodded, before Naruto and Chandra both felt Kakashi's hands on their shoulders.
Naruto looked up to the man and saw him flash one of those signature eye-smiles of his. "Come on, Naruto. You've both done all you can, so let's go get some Ramen. It'll even be my treat, while you tell me a little more about what's been happening with you lately." Leading the two out, Shizune and Gideon followed, and with a motion letting him know he was dismissed, Shikaku gave a small nod and exited as well. With Tsunade now alone, sitting at her splintered desk, she turned to the window.
"How much of that did you hear?" she asked, watching impassively as Jiraiya, the old Toad, stood within the open window-frame. He shrugged, and she couldn't determine what he thought from his expression.
"Enough. I think I came in at 'Magical travel between worlds." he replied. "You know this matches up pretty well with what he told us. What we've both learned about that day." It was a statement, not a question, and Tsunade growled in response.
"I stand by what I said. This is a risk I don't know if I can justify taking, even if those two are promised to each other, which I don't believe for a second, by the way." Jiraiya chuckled and received a glare in response. "Don't tell me you do?"
"No, I really don't...at least not entirely. She seems to be extremely important to him, and the Telepath sent me those images too. That said, you have an out now. Can you really pass that up? The kid will leave. You know how he gets with these things, and you know he'll follow through."
"A girl, Jiraiya! The little shit is threatening to leave over a girl!" Tsunade didn't shout. She was practically hissing, but when she turned to her old teammate, she saw only apathy toward her predicament.
"As I recall, Tsunade, you left the village because of a guy." The white-haired sage deftly dodged the furious punch Tsunade threw at his head.
"That's not the same thing, and you know it!" Now she was shouting, but Jiraiya wasn't backing down.
"Maybe," he acknowledged. "But remember how you felt? You didn't just leave because of Dan and your brother. You felt personally betrayed by your grandfather's village, and it didn't feel like home anymore. You became disillusioned...What Naruto just said, about telling that Chandra girl about how great of a place Konoha is, only for you to try and kick her out when she's just been exiled, had her family taken away from her. Do you want that kid to start to feel like you did back then?" Tsunade took a moment to compose herself, but sighed and unclenched her fists.
"What are you saying? That I should have just handed the girl a headband with an eager smile and married them here and now?" she asked, her eyebrow raised, causing Jiraiya to actually chuckle again.
"No. Your concerns were totally reasonable, and I'm sure the brat knows it. It wasn't like you were just being bitchy and obtuse, and what you said about just handing her a headband sounds like glorified wish-fulfillment. Believe me, I've had enough fan-mail for my books to know what that sounds like. But that said, you have a way to address her lack of ties to the village. You don't have to like it. Like you said, they are still kids, regardless of what they've gone through. But that doesn't mean you can't use your sway as Hokage to take the option...under your own terms..." Tsunade perked up at that thought, realizing what Jiraiya was getting at.
The damnable, beautiful man. He was doing what he always somehow managed to do. Give her the kick in the ass she needed when she needed it. She was the Hokage, and her word was law. She had people to advise her, and the village elders, but she made the decisions, not them. And she had the power as well to wheel-and-deal. Sometimes, she forgot that fact while she was being buried under the mountains of paperwork, or when she was involved emotionally in the decisions before her. But Jiraiya was right. Wedlock Citizenship was a contract of sorts, one with terms and conditions. Being Hokage meant that she had the power to tweak those terms in her favor. She just had to be careful in how she did it. All it would take would be one or two of the Elders or Clan heads deciding that she was putting the village at risk, and suddenly there would be questions regarding her ability to lead, insinuations over being too emotionally attached. Of course, they had no power to deny her decisions...but bad things happened when shinobi lost confidence in their leaders.
Turning back to Jiraiya, the two old teammates shared a knowing grin with each other. "Jiraiya, I'm gonna need your help." The old sage just gave a slight bow.
"Well, I do live to serve at the Hokage's discretion," he replied. "What do you have in mind, Princess?"
"I need everything your network has gathered regarding Orochimaru's movements, the Akatsuki, and all the notes you've gotten from the Toads over the last year. I want our defense of this to be ironclad." Nodding, Jiraiya vanished, leaving Tsunade sitting much more smugly now.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Kakashi led Naruto and Chandra through the streets, and Chandra shrunk into Naruto a tad at the stares, and in some cases glares, being thrown their way. She wasn't sure that they were all being thrown at her, but she couldn't fathom why anyone would be glaring at the blonde next to her. A few steps behind them, Shizune was engaged in conversation with Gideon. Despite being probably ten years her junior, give or take, the two seemed to converse almost like old friends. Despite having just met, there was an air of understanding between them that Naruto or Chandra couldn't quite put their finger on.
As the lead trio rounded the corner before Ichiraku Ramen, Kakashi almost casually placed his hand onto Chandra's shoulder, rooting her in place. A chill ran down the spines of both children moments before a shadow rapidly moved toward them. A flying tackle later and Chandra was now staring, mouth agape, as a girl about her age with short pink hair had Naruto by the collar of his shirt and was shaking it for all she was worth. Much of what came out of her mouth was a garbled mess, she managed to pick out several words. Namely words like 'Asshole', 'worried sick', and 'foot in your ass.' Releasing her shoulder, Kakashi moved to Sakura now.
"Sakura, it's not Naruto's fault, so since he's alive, it would be best if you not kill him. Also, you're setting a bad example to our new friend here." At his words, Sakura gave a confused look, before finally taking notice of Chandra. More particularly, she took notice of the state the girl was in. She immediately dropped Naruto and began inspecting the red-haired pyromancer. While Chandra wasn't particularly comfortable being poked and prodded, the other girl certainly knew what she was doing, her hands glowing a light teal color as her cuts healed over and her bruises lightened.
Naruto stood from his collapsed position, taking note of how Sakura had changed in his year away. Gone was the red dress she used to wear, replaced with a pair of tan cargo-shorts, a tight red shirt that bared her midriff and showed off her developing body – both her new muscle tone and her growing chest – and she had a tan coat that reminded him of the one he remembered Anko Mitarashi wearing. He didn't get much time to marvel at the changes, as he was suddenly swept up by an entire crowd bearing down on him. Team 8, Team 10, even Team Guy were swarming him now, throwing question after question his way. Confused, tired, and hungry, Naruto looked for anyone to save him. Kakashi was content to simply speak with Sakura, not even paying attention to his plight. Chandra looked like she wanted to do something, but had no idea how. Shizune just shot him an amused look, hiding her mouth behind the hand that wasn't holding Tonton as she giggled.
Gideon, of all people held the most confusing look of all. There was a wistful melancholy there, as if seeing Naruto being hounded by his old friends was something he recognized and recalled fondly in his own time.
"So, Chandra," Sakura said, looking to the girl as she dealt with a particularly nasty bruise on the girl's shoulder. Chandra vaguely recalled Baral throwing her into the cave wall. "How exactly do you know Naruto?" She wasn't sure how to answer that. She could say she and Naruto were to be married – in fact, she felt a warm feeling swell inside her at the thought – but thought better of it. That wasn't set in stone. For all she knew, she might be kicked out of Konoha and have to begin wandering like a Planeswalking vagabond by tomorrow. She looked up to Kakashi for an answer. She knew from Naruto's stories that the man with the gravity-defying silver hair had been Naruto's teacher, and the girl healing her wounds was likewise one of his two teammates. Kakashi just looked down at the two, somehow managing to convey a bright smile despite his right eye being the only visible part of his face.
"Well, Sakura, that's actually a bit complicated," he stated calmly. "All you need to know is that she's trying to become a citizen of Konoha, and she and Naruto have a very...special relationship."
"Oh yeah," a voice said from behind, belonging to Kiba Inuzuka, who was currently holding Naruto in a headlock. "She your girlfriend, Naruto," he teased, laughing as he ruffled the blonde's hair.
"Fiance, actually...should the Hokage validate their betrothal," Kakashi casually replied for Naruto.
It took a moment for his words to sink in, before everything going on ground to a screeching halt as all those who were just now learning this began looking back and forth between Chandra and Naruto, the two blushing so red that one could be forgiven for thinking that Chandra had erupted in flames once again. The silence lasted for but a moment as a host of new questions began swarming Naruto, only to be cut by Kakashi's intervention.
"I'm currently taking these two to get something to eat. I'm sure Naruto will explain everything to you in due time," the cyclops stated, waving off the others as he motioned for Naruto and Chandra to follow.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
"Damn..." Kiba was the first to speak after Naruto and Chandra wove their tale through mouthfuls of noodles and broth. After a year away, Naruto was almost shedding tears of joy having Ichiraku ramen once again. The rest of the large group were equally amazed at the story they had just heard, and had anyone else told them, Naruto would have doubted very much they would have believed it. Chandra sat immediately to the Blonde's right, with Sakura taking position to his left. A couple of the others sat at the stand as well, eating meals of their own while the rest were simply content to stand behind. "So you two can basically go wherever you want? No wonder the Hokage's nervous."
"Kiba," a soft voice admonished from behind, and Chandra turned to a girl with hair of dark blue and pale, pupil-less eyes. For his part, Kiba and even the dog beneath him looked sheepish, and Chandra for a split-second thought that the pale-eyed girl looked at her with an envy and longing, and it made the Pyromancer feel more than a bit uncomfortable.
"Speaking of going anywhere, how did you all know to wait here for me?" Naruto asked, causing everyone present sans Chandra to give the blonde a deadpan stare.
"Because it's literally the first place you were bound to go after meeting the Hokage. When word got out you were back in the village, we all flocked here because we knew it would only be a matter of time," Choji said with a smile as he slurped up noodles of his own.
"Am I really that predictable?" Naruto asked, only getting a host of affirmative answers. As the blonde picked himself back up from under the crushing weight of his friends' words, Shikamaru looked up to ask a question that by the look of him had been on his mind since seeing Naruto again.
"Naruto..." he began as though not truly knowing how to ask the question. "These 'Blind Eternities' that separate worlds...could you tell me what exactly they're like? Did you see anything in them? Hear anything?" Naruto slurped up another mouthful of noodles and took on a thoughtful expression.
"I mean, it's a little more complicated than that," he replied. "I've only got my first good look the last couple planeswalks. But it's weird though. Nothing makes sense there. The rules of normal worlds don't really apply there. There are so many colors. Colors I can't even really describe. But the colors are also directions, and directions are completely random and I just don't really have words to detail it all for you."
Shikamaru looked surprised for a moment, before turning to Neji. "So...looks like he was telling the truth." Neji narrowed his eyes but said nothing. The others descended into a kind of pensive silence, something which made Naruto a tad uncomfortable and more than a bit curious.
"Wait, who was telling the truth about what?" Still that uncomfortable silence as the others around Naruto and Chandra looked between each other, eyes shifting anywhere but the blonde ninja. "What exactly is going on?"
"They're talking about Sasuke, Naruto." The whiskered blonde turned to look at Sakura, who had finally broken the silence. His eyes narrowed at the dark look which now overtook Sakura. "When you...planeswalked during your fight with Sasuke, it did a real number on him. While they were able to repair most of the physical damage done to him, with the exception of his arm, he's been...different since you've been gone."
"Sasuke's here?!" Naruto shouted, leaping up in joyous confusion. "He's alive?" Sakura nodded, but grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him back to his chair.
"He was comatose for about two weeks. When he came to, he was changed. Started spouting what sounded like crazy nonsense about a 'void' of some kind that you and he both got pulled into."
"A void of chaos, where up was sideways and colors were the only thing to see," Shikamaru chimed back in. "From what we can gather, and with your story backing up his, you pulled him into these blind eternities with you."
"So then what happened?" Naruto asked. "From what I know from Jace, only Planeswalkers can survive entering the Eternities, but you say he's still alive. And why did he pop back out here instead of getting pulled to Kaladesh with me?"
"I was getting to that," Shikamaru said, shooting a light glare of annoyance. "Anyway, we think it has something to do with Sasuke's Cursed Seal. The thing has been dormant ever since your fight with him. Could be that its connection to Orochimaru pulled him back. It might have been enough to protect him from the Eternities. Either that or we have another 'Planeswalker' in our midst and he doesn't know...All things considered, maybe it'd be a good idea to have you try to drag him to a different plane. If he dies, well then I guess he isn't a Planeswalker." This only earned him an annoyed glare from Naruto now. "Hey, just an idea. Some of us haven't forgiven the bastard for everything, even if he has changed, like Sakura said."
Naruto turned back to Sakura now and motioned for her to keep talking. "Well, like we already said, his Cursed Seal has been dormant since you guys had your fight last year. He's been...well, I'd say he's been acting like he used to before he was marked, but it's more than that. Something in him has changed. He managed to get off from being thrown in prison since Lady Tsunade couldn't justify sending him away to rot since it was ultimately the Seal's influence warping his mind. After a few months of psychiatric evaluation and probation, he was even allowed to rejoin the Shinobi ranks, but..."
"But he refused," Kakashi finished for her, his tone solemn. That really got Naruto's attention. "Sasuke still wants revenge on his brother, but your fight made him finally look into the abyss, literally in this case, and see what he was becoming. While I see him train occasionally to keep his skills sharp, for the most part, he's settled into a mostly civilian existence. And with him not taking his shinobi rank back, and Sakura training under both the Hokage and Anko-" that gave Naruto pause as he looked to the Pink-haired girl in confirmation, and she simply nodded. Now he thought about it, she certainly looked much more like a serious young lady than the girl he last saw a year before, and it would certainly explain her change in attire. "- and you being off on your unplanned adventure, I rejoined ANBU."
"Where is Sasuke now?" Naruto asked, and Kakashi shrugged.
"Well, while he still holds the Uchiha clan properties, he's since moved out of the compound. He mostly uses it to train now, under supervision of course. He actually used his clan funds to buy up your apartment building, and he's been living in the apartment beneath yours for the better part of four months after renovating the place. He even knocked out a wall for you, so you'll have plenty of room for Chandra should she be allowed to stay." Naruto could only stare at Kakashi for a moment, before he practically jumped to his feet again. He would have made a mad dash to his old building, had several hands not grabbed him and forcibly sat him back down. Kakashi sighed, before speaking again.
"For now, Naruto, let's worry about Chandra's fate, not about Sasuke. I know you want to see him again, but frankly, you have taken responsibility for this girl and I for one am not going to let you go running off without her. Secondly, just because Sasuke appears to have truly changed, I'd rather put off the two of you meeting again until I'm sure you being around each other will not cause Sasuke to revert back to the way he was. Your rivalry was one of the major drives that his cursed seal played on to feed his growing insanity." Naruto swallowed nervously. The thought that seeing Sasuke might cause him to relapse hadn't occurred to him.
"Than how am I supposed to go back to my apartment then?" he asked. "I'm going to have to see Sasuke eventually, if we're staying here." Naruto either didn't notice the visual flinch Sakura and several of the others gave, knowing he had declared his intent to leave again should Chandra not be allowed to stay in Konoha, or he simply didn't care what they thought of his promise.
Chandra blushed deeply and began to get very interested in her bowl of ramen. Much as she hated the thought of Naruto having to leave his home for her, Naruto was all she had now, and she felt that warm feeling swell inside her again at the thought that Naruto cared so much for her. She reached over and clenched his hand in hers and squeezed, silently thanking him for all he was doing for her.
"We'll get that all worked out," Kakashi replied, waving Naruto's concern off. "I was actually thinking of something else we could do to kill time until Lady Hokage summons us back." Standing and putting the money down for the meal – practically emptying his wallet in the process - he clapped both Naruto and Chandra on the backs. "How about a little trip to the training grounds? I've seen some of Chandra's rather impressive abilities, and I've been hearing an awful lot about this magic you claim to have been learning. As your sensei, I'm rather curious to see how you've grown in the last year, Naruto...care to show me?"
For the first time since he'd been back in the village, Naruto shot one of his cheekiest grins at his teacher, and a smile likewise wormed its way onto the face beneath Kakashi's mask. This was the face of the Naruto Uzumaki he remembered. And he was looking forward to seeing what the boy had learned. Naruto wrapped his arm over Chandra's shoulder and pulled her close.
"We'll show you a thing or two, Kakashi-sensei," he announced brashly, and even Chandra, who'd been rather depressed and quiet up to that point began developing a smile of her own, as though one of Naruto's smiles was infectious and just being near him had lightened her spirit. Kakashi could have sworn he saw a flash of fire in her very eyes as she looked up at him and the Jonin nodded his approval.
"Well then...shall we?"
Chapter End
So, as I said before, just one or two chapters left of this 'book.' Which is really good for me, because while I have a much wider story planned for the next one, my brain has such difficulty focusing, especially with everything going on in general and in my own life personally. I've been working on so many things, and I have to apologize, because I know how frustrated you all are with me over it, but believe me when I say I find myself incapable of simply 'not writing' new ideas out. To that point, I've finally gone and done my first 'non-Naruto' story, which I hope to share with you all in the next few days. A RWBY crossover with Jackie Chan Adventures, for anyone interested. I'm also working out the next chapter of 'I Will Keep Watch' and a couple other stories.
Peace to all my Fans
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