Pre-word: I wanted to get this update out quickly for the sake of properly sorting out what happened in the last chapter, so a bit of a faster chapter again.

Thanks to everyone for the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response to the last one. I expected more mixed opinions like from a couple chapters before that one, so it was a pleasant surprise this time around. Of course, not all ideas will be universally popular and I know that, but it still feels nice to receive those praises. Of course, don't be afraid to shy away from the criticism either, as that's how I grow. Anyways, just wanted to again make my appreciation known. You all are amazing.

With that, here's the conclusion to the last chapter and a peek at what's to come going forward.


Heart Under Shadow

Endings and Beginnings


In the final moments before his death, Itachi had smiled.

As he was turned into a gravitational core and pieces of the village began slamming into him from all sides, he smiled. What he smiled for, Naruto couldn't help but wonder. It was a mystery to him even now. The only thing he did know now; Why Kaguya had warned him against using this Jutsu before.

The power of Chibaku Tensei far exceeded Naruto's expectations.

It wasn't just the village, but the entire surrounding area that got dragged into its effects. The forests, Hokage monument, and the whole mountain that it was built into, everything for leagues in every direction had been torn up and used to create the massive orb that now floated in the sky.

According to Kaguya, it was because he used a human core for the Jutsu and hadn't just created a small mass of chakra like he could otherwise do. The technical aspects of it aside didn't make his awe any less. Awe at something he had produced with his own power.

Naruto and Kaguya stood at the edge of a new crater that had once been Konohagakure no Sato and the surrounding area. No, calling something of this scale a crater didn't accurately describe what they were dealing with. It would be more accurate to describe it as hollowed out earth that sloped down like an inverse mountain. Floating above it was an object comparable to the moon, although only a fraction of the size.

"How long is it going to float there?" Naruto asked, looking at the ball of compact rock. The village, buildings, and people had been the first thing to get sucked in. Naruto had watched from safety as he negated the effects of the swirling gravity around his immediate vicinity. Watched as every single other person was helpless to do anything.

Some of the Ninja attempted to blast at it with Jutsu and the elements. Ordinary people could only scream and cry. Some of them prayed, others struggled by clinging to nearby objects. All of it was made pointless. They had been made the bottom layer of the rock. The surrounding area built upon them until they were no doubt crushed beneath. Not a single other person had been able to escape the gravitational pull.

Konohagakure no Sato was gone in the truest sense of the word.

"It will remain until the chakra sustaining it subsides. That could be days… or it could take years. Even we cannot say." Kaguya answered Naruto's earlier question, scanning the surrounding forest behind them with her Byakugan. Just because they hadn't seen anyone get away, didn't mean some hadn't.

On top of that, there was no doubt the new terrestrial object floating in the sky would attract attention. Curious onlookers would be flooding in by the droves to the sight before long. Including any Konohagakure Shinobi that had been away from the village on missions.

To their luck, Danzo had recalled most of them. However, that had only been a week ago. Not all of the Ninja would have necessarily returned in time. And when they did, they would be looking for answers.

When this news got out, it wouldn't just be Konoha's remaining forces that wanted answers either. Every single nation would be trying to figure out what the cause of this was. Which meant they couldn't stay here for long… but Kaguya supposed they did have some time before things got to that point. For now, the only thing near them was a crow circling the skies overhead.

Naruto needed to come to grips with what he had done first. Until he did that, she couldn't push him to move no matter how much she wanted to. Not that she had any idea where they would go yet in the first place.

"You think the Hokage got caught up in that?" Naruto asked, his line of thought not anywhere near where Kaguya had expected him to be. Silent tears ran down his cheeks, but she couldn't tell for what purpose. She thought he would be devastated… but it didn't look like that was the case at all.

Naruto was laughing.

Not loudly, just chuckling quietly to himself as the tears still continued to roll down his cheeks. His emotions were completely jumbled together, unable to determine guilt from humor. Perhaps this was the expected response for someone that just committed genocide on a scale until now unheard of.

Kaguya had no idea, because she had long parted with such emotions herself. Naruto was on his way to becoming just like her. If she was being honest, she didn't entirely like the idea of that. There were a lot of things about Naruto she had wanted to change, such as his naive nature, but she also had grown to enjoy his company as he had been. So if it could be preserved somehow, she would desire it.

"We do not see how the Hokage could have escaped… but nothing is impossible." Kaguya wouldn't say it, but if anyone had gotten out of that, Danzo had been the most likely to. He had all kinds of devoted followers that would have sacrificed themselves for him, after all. "Having said as much… even if he did escape, his time is limited."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, although he seemed pleased by her answer. Of course, it only made sense. Danzo was the one Naruto had really wanted to kill. So if that man, out of everyone, had been the one to escape… that would have just been like a bad joke.

"Hi no Kuni has just lost its military force." Kaguya answered. Even the few survivors that did pop up wouldn't change the truth that they had no army anymore. "Once the other four great nations learn of this… there will be war. They will invade with the full might of their armies to take as much land as possible. It is highly likely that Hi no Kuni will cease to exist and will be split up among the victors of this war."

"...Oh." Naruto said as if it wasn't his business. His action just now hadn't ended with that one Jutsu. The direct next event of what he had done would result in a war. Thousands more would die. Many would be run out from their homes. Pillaging, rape, and all kinds of other atrocities were about to start occuring all throughout Hi no Kuni. All for a move he made in the heat of the moment. "...Am I like some kind of super villain or something now?"

"We do not understand the meaning of that question." In the first place, Kaguya had no idea what constituted a 'super villain' as Naruto put it. "Everyone is the hero of their own story, Aruji-sama. And every hero needs a villain to make their actions just. Those men that beat thou that night thought themselves heroes seeking revenge against the demon fox. Our sons, who sealed us in the moon, thought themselves heroes saving the world from their demon mother. The ones who will invade this country will think themselves heroes liberating the people from the evil Hi no Kuni. That is simply the nature of humans."

"I guess… that makes the whole world the villain of my story then." Naruto whispered, as if just talking to himself.

"Perhaps not the whole world." Kaguya responded, reaching up and taking one of Naruto's hands in hers. "We will be with thou, no matter what happens. Not because we are bound to thy shadow. But because we bear the same sin on our shoulders. In the first place, had we not come out from thy shadow, this would not have happened."

"That's…" Naruto opened his mouth to deny that. However, he couldn't bring himself to say it. He didn't know the future, after all. Had Kaguya really not come out of his shadow, would the village still be there? Even if it was, what would have happened to Naruto?

He would have graduated the dead-last, if he had graduated at all. His treatment never would have improved. Everyone would have continued to beat him and curse his existence. If Danzo had his way, Naruto would have one day been turned into a weapon after his hatred transformed him into some monster. Kakashi would have just hidden him away, and who knew what he would have done after he had accomplished his mission to dethrone the Hokage.

No matter what future Naruto saw, he would have been more miserable than he felt in this moment. Didn't that mean… this had been the right choice? It was as Kaguya said, he had done what the hero of his story would have done and saved himself from the villains that would only seek to make his life miserable.

All because Kaguya had come to save him.

"Thank you, Kaguya-chan." He said simply, squeezing her hand back. "So... what the heck are we supposed to do now?" Now that his emotions were as sorted as they could possibly be for the moment, he could start thinking about their next step. Just as she had hoped.

"The most practical thing would be to join a new Hidden Ninja village." Kaguya answered, predicting the sour look that Naruto made as soon as she said it. "Think about it, Aruji-sama. A new village is a fresh start. No one will know about thy past. It is a rare opportunity to easily create new bonds. Not to mention, thy training is far from complete. Thou need a place to safely gather strength."

"What's even the point? So I can turn everyone into another giant rock?" Naruto asked bitterly, gesturing up at the orb in front of them. "Isn't it just going to end like this everytime?"

Kaguya shook her head, rejecting his attempt to cut himself off from the rest of the world. "Their downfall was inevitable for the pain they caused thou. Next time, we shall give them a chance to do it properly. We can create a place that thou will not wish to destroy, but instead protect. It will be our castle, our strong-hold from the rest of the world. And all those inside will be our precious family." She remembered once when she had something like that. Before she had lost sight of herself.

"Alright…" Naruto relented, but his reluctance was still obvious. It couldn't be helped, after what had only just now happened. "So then? We need to pick a hidden village to join, right?"

Kaguya nodded and looked over Naruto's current attire. He was shirtless, a dark burn mark over his left chest, shoulder and upper arm from the Amaterasu. A burn that would never fully heal, leaving him with a permanent scar. The white shorts too big for him were his only real article of clothing. That and the Konoha Hitai-ate wrapped around his forehead. That was going to be the most important thing.

"We do not suppose thou remember which villages are in an alliance with Konohagakure no Sato?" Kaguya asked, although it would have been more accurate to put that question in the past tense. A former allied village was the most likely to take them in without suspicion.

"Actually, I think I do…" Naruto crossed his arms and grunted as he struggled to remember. He and Sakura had studied this too during their library sessions. Although the thought of Sakura suddenly brought the image of her burnt corpse to his mind. He put it to the side for now, focusing instead on the content they had studied.

"Sunagakure, Amegakure, Kusagakure, and Takigakure." Naruto said each one slowly as he recalled them in order. "...I think that was about it? At the very least, they're the villages we have joint Chunin Exams with." Kaguya nodded and placed a finger and thumb on her chin as she thought about their options.

"We should forget about Sunagakure no Sato." Kaguya decided to mark that one out first. It was the biggest of the listed villages, but it was also a part of Kaze no Kuni, one of the five great nations. That meant it was going to be involved very deeply in the war that was about to break out. If they could help it, Kaguya wanted to distance herself and her master from that war as much as possible. At least for the first act of it.

"Yeah, I don't really like sand all that much either." Naruto agreed, albeit for completely different reasons than what she had been thinking about. She would just ignore his comment for the time being.

"Amegakure and Kusagakure are certainly directly in the path between Tsuchi no Kuni and Hi no Kuni. As such, their futures are uncertain." Kaguya wasn't even sure those two villages and their countries would exist much longer. It was entirely possible they got absorbed as Iwagakure no Sato would no doubt attempt to trample through them to get into Hi no Kuni.

"That just leaves Takigakure no Sato, right?" Naruto asked to which Kaguya could only nod. If she recalled correctly, that village was in the middle of Sawa no Kuni. A country that had to this point in time never been successfully invaded. The country shared borders with both Tsuchi no Kuni and Hi no Kuni, but the path was more roundabout then the previously mentioned two villages and their reputation for impregnability would make Iwagakure think twice before trying to push through there.

"We suppose that is the best choice for now." Kaguya eventually said, not seeing much else in the way of options. "In the first place, Takigakure and Konohagakure have close ties at present. So they should have no reason to reject thou and we will have valuable knowledge about the state of Konoha that they will desire." If it was possible, Kaguya would like Naruto to make friends again and try to reclaim some of his old self.

It was still too early to say how much of himself he had lost to begin with. He was acting fine now… but it had to be the shock. It was only a matter of time before the reality settled in and when that happened, Naruto was likely to completely shut down emotionally. Kaguya had to keep her eyes out for the start of such developments in his psych.

"What about you, Kaguya-chan?" Naruto asked. As she had been thinking about him, he was worried about what would happen with her when they went to a new village. Would she hide again, killing anyone that discovered her or…

"We will introduce ourselves as before: A moon rabbit. Perhaps it would be best to describe us then as a Kuchiyose Keiyaku. A stipulation of our contract is to be bound to thy shadow. If we present such a story, it might be believable." At least, Kaguya hoped so. Her Byakugan was going to be the biggest hurdle to explain, but maybe that was explainable as a summoning contract unique to Konoha? It was their best bet, as just hiding her like before was only going to lead down a similar road.

"The Rinnegan then?" Naruto predictably was concerned about that next. Asking him to hide such eyes had been the only course of action in Konoha, where it would only raise too many questions why he suddenly awakened such power. However, in a village that didn't know him, that wasn't an issue.

"It shall not be a problem." Kaguya decided aloud. "However, calling them Rinnegan might be." Someone might still recognize the name of the Rikudo Sennin, after all. Even if she had disappeared completely from history, her son was still a known legend. Not one many people believed, but it would be problematic if they started asking questions.

"How about the Uzugan?" Naruto asked, appearing quite proud of himself for his naming sense. Kaguya couldn't say she shared in his enthusiasm for the name, but what he called them in the end didn't really matter. So long as no one knew what they really were, it was good enough. So she nodded, giving him permission to name them as he pleased.

More importantly than that now, the crow above them was circling lower than before. The whole time they had been talking, it continued to fly only in the area directly above them. Now it was nearly at the treeline of the forest behind them. In other words… it had been guiding someone to this location.

It wasn't hard to guess who. Kaguya remembered how Itachi's shadow clone had been composed of crows. So it stood to reason this was one of his, guiding Itachi's former allies to the ones that had defeated him. Just as Kaguya reasoned this out, someone entered into the range of her Byakugan.

"Aruji-sama, someone is coming." Kaguya warned him. "...It would appear just one." For a moment, she wasn't sure what she was seeing. This person… had five hearts. More than that, his body was composed entirely of wires that connected all his organs together and kept his body stitched into one piece. From what she could see, he was practically less human than Kaguya herself was.

"What should we do?" Naruto asked, raising his right hand and pointing a Rinnegan eye into the forest where the intruder was coming from. "I'm running kind of low on chakra to be honest… and this burn is really starting to hurt." Like it or not, another battle was the last thing they needed at the moment.

"Our opponent does not appear to be aggressive…" Kaguya noted that the man was coming towards them rather leisurely at the moment. It seemed to be as fast as he could go, dragging behind him some kind of quickly thrown together sled that had two heartless corpses riding on it. "Perhaps we shall hear him out?"

If he truly was an ally of Itachi, there was a high chance he was an enemy. However… Itachi himself had potentially allowed them to win. If that was really the case, then it stood to reason this man already knew about that. There was only one way to find out. Just in case, Kaguya prepared her bone bullets, although she had no idea how effective they would even be against such an opponent.

"Finally found you." The man came into view after several minutes, continuing to drag the sled with him the whole way. Despite the fact that it would have been easier to discard such a thing.

"That is far enough!" Kaguya called out, more than fifteen meters still between them now. She would not allow him to get closer than that for the moment. Something the man seemed to find agreeable, as he dropped the rope he had been using to drag the sled along and held up both hands as if to show he surrendered.

At the same time, the crow that had been circling overhead came down to land on Naruto's shoulder. He let out a startled cry, but the crow didn't budge, just continuing to sit silently on its new perch. It was hard to say when, but Itachi had somehow marked Naruto as its new owner just before his death.

"State your business and relationship to Uchiha Itachi!" Kaguya continued to call out instructions, while Naruto studied this new intruder with his own eyes. He was also shirtless, his entire torso covered in numerous stitches that made it look like his whole body was just barely being held together. Most of his face was covered by a mask and cowl, but his eyes were an odd combination of green and red.

"My name is Kakuzu." The man introduced himself, continuing to keep his distance with both arms raised. "I'm a Nukenin turned bounty hunter. Uchiha Itachi was a partner of mine. I attempted to collect his bounty several years ago, but he bested me in combat and spared my life. Ever since then, we had been traveling together. As for my business… it's that crow on your shoulder. Rather, its eye."

Kaguya turned her attention once more to the crow. She hadn't thought it was anything special, but looking at it again she could see now that there was a Sharingan implanted into its left eye. Not just any Sharingan, she recognized the chakra signature. It was the same type of chakra Danzo had been emitting when he attempted to manipulate Naruto.

"That is the eye of Shunshin no Shisui." Kakuzu explained. "It's worth more money than you can possibly imagine. Before we parted ways, Itachi and I made a contract: I'll protect you, the current owner of that crow, as far as somewhere safe. When we get there, you will hand that crow over to me so I can sell it."

Kaguya would admit it, she had newfound respect for Itachi. At the very least his ability to plan ahead. Going by the headband with a cross slashed through it, this man used to be a member of Takigakure. The very village that Itachi knew they were going to end up picking to retreat to, as it was the best viable option. This confirmed her theory that he had been thinking of revenge on the village, more so than revenge on Naruto or herself.

"What the hell is going on?" Naruto asked, loudly enough for Kakuzu to hear. "Didn't Itachi want to kill us?" Unlike Kaguya, he hadn't yet figured out all the nuances of the situation yet. In combat, he had shown incredible out of the box thinking and strategy, but it appeared that hadn't yet fit into his negotiating skills.

"Uchiha Itachi once loved Konohagakure no Sato." Kakuzu seemed to have been predicting this question, answering immediately before Kaguya could. "However, he had grown to resent what it was becoming under Danzo's rule. The only reason he didn't act before now was because his brother was still there. Once he was gone, Itachi decided the village wasn't worth protecting."

"Why me then?" Naruto didn't understand how Itachi could possibly give the crow to the person that had been the one to kill his brother. Let alone the person that would turn him into the core that ended up destroying the village.

"Itachi apparently felt sympathy for you as another victim of the village." Kakuzu could only shrug. "I can't say I understand too much what he was thinking, but I got the feeling Itachi wasn't long for this world to begin with. So he figured it was better you than him." These kind of excuses didn't make sense to Naruto, but Kaguya finally felt like she was beginning to understand the whole picture.

Itachi onced loved the village, more-so than even his own clan and would wipe them out if it meant protecting it. However, there was existence he loved even more than the village: His brother. This made Naruto and Itachi exactly the same, mistreated and cast aside by the village they had loved, leaving them with only one person to place their love back into. When Itachi lost that, he fell into despair.

However, he found out that the one to throw him into such despair was simply another byproduct of the hatred that Danzo sought to fester and use as a weapon. So Itachi looked past Naruto as the person, but saw him as the result of a broken system. He then used Naruto to tear down that system, baiting him into a battle that he was fated to lose. For even if he won, there wasn't a future for him anymore.

That was why Naruto was alive… and Itachi became the vehicle for which to destroy the village he came to hate. He used that hate Danzo had been purposefully creating and turned it into the downfall of everything he built.

In a way, it seemed that Itachi was thankful to Naruto. That was why he left him this crow. It was as if to say he was betting on Naruto's future by giving him an opportunity to be able to live and see it. A chance Kaguya wasn't about to waste.

"Should we really trust this guy?" Naruto whispered, speaking just to Kaguya now. Despite Kakuzu's assurances, it would appear he was unable to so easily believe the words of another at the moment. A fault she couldn't blame him for.

"His motivation certainly seems to be purely profit." Kaguya glanced once more at the crow that hadn't gone anywhere, continuing to sit perched on Naruto's shoulder. "So long as we keep control of the crow, it should be fine. It stands to reason he understands the Chibaku Tensei was our doing. So he is unlikely to provoke us. Having an adult companion while we travel will also make us less suspicious. All in all, there are more benefits to putting our trust in him than there are risks. At least, for now."

Naruto nodded, absorbing everything Kaguya said. If he was being honest, he didn't like either of her proposed ideas at the moment. Trusting this guy and going to a new village. He knew all he had to do was tell her he didn't want to do that and she would support his decision. However, he couldn't argue with the logic and wisdom she always used when giving him reasons for why they should do these things. So the only thing he could do was continue to trust in her.

In the first place, maybe she was right? A new village where no one knew what he was might not be a bad thing. Unlike everyone in Konoha, they hadn't hit him, berated him, or ever denied his existence. These were people in a completely different country, completely free from the sins of those that had lived here. So perhaps there was merit in giving these new people a chance. At least, he wanted to be optimistic and believe so.

Reaching his conclusion, Naruto turned back to Kakuzu and shouted, "Alright! Here's how it's gonna be. You'll take us to Takigakure no Sato… and we'll give you the crow once we're safely inside the village."

"Tch, figures." Kakuzu grumbled in displeasure before then nodding. "I've got a rough past with that place, but if that's what it takes, then I'll accept. We're going to have to make a stop on the way though. I can't exactly be seen lugging these corpses all across Hi no Kuni."

"How did you even get out of the gravity field while carrying corpses?" Naruto asked, he and Kaguya beginning to make their way over to Kakuzu. The identity of the bodies were still a mystery to him, but as he got closer and their forms came into view, he immediately recognized them both.

"I didn't." Kakuzu admitted, letting out a laugh. "Let's just say I sent in my masks to do it for me. My true body never even entered the village." He turned around, pointing at several masks on his back. Kaguya then realized this was where all the separate hearts were being stored. "Two of them bit it while in the village, so I had to replace their hearts with these guys. Honestly, I wanted more bodies but after that gravity field went up, this was all I had time to collect for the Bingo Book. Still… they'll fetch me a high price.

"The Copy Ninja, Hatake Kakashi, and son of the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Asuma." Kakuzu pulled out a small book, flipping through its pages to find the worth of their corpses.

Naruto wasn't listening to Kakuzu anymore, having dropped to his knees next to his former Sensei. "So he really did die…" Naruto realized aloud. There was a big gaping hole, right where his heart should have been. Same with Asuma, a man Naruto had only seen once before. "Was it you that killed them?"

"Hmm? Yeah, in a way." Kakuzu shrugged, apparently not thinking much of it. "Itachi is actually the one that put them both down with a Genjutsu. I just took their hearts afterwards to replace the ones that I lost. I would have liked to bring them in alive, if I'm being honest. They would have been worth more that way. Can't be helped now. They were strong too… having been able to severely wound that Itachi. I was impressed."

"This guy…" Naruto asked, pointing at Asuma as he finally realized where he had seen him. "Did he have three kids with him? About my age?" He had to know… to free him from his last shackle of guilt. Shikamaru was the only one left in the village that Naruto felt guilty about possibly killing; Everyone else he cared about having been killed by someone else.

"Now that I think about it, yeah." Kakuzu snapped his book shut, having gotten the information he wanted from it already. "Things got pretty chaotic in there for a bit and sometimes it's hard to accurately verify the information my masks are receiving… but I'm pretty sure they got caught up in one of my attacks. That's not going to be a problem, is it?" He looked at Naruto, but was surprised to see the blond smiling.

It was a twisted, warped, and broken smile. The grin of someone on the verge of losing it completely.

"No… no problem at all." Naruto whispered. With that, he was free. The only people that got caught and killed in his Chibaku Tensei were people that had never tried to help him. Shikamaru, Hinata, Sakura, Kakashi, Ayame and her father. They were the only good ones, so he could be happy knowing he hadn't personally pulled the trigger on their deaths.

Kaguya placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. She too looked at the two corpses for a moment, focusing on Kakashi. "The Copy Ninja's Sharingan eye?" She asked.

"I'll sell it to ya, if you want it." Kakuzu reached into a pouch to put the bingo book away, producing a vial filled with some greenish liquid and a single eye. Upon looking at it, Kaguya found herself scratching at her forehead; exactly where her third eye used to be. She hadn't been able to restore that eye, but perhaps putting a Sharingan in its place would help her regain some of her past power.

"We do not have money, but perhaps information could be of value?" She folded her arms, looking up at Kakuzu as if trying to appear intimidating. Something which was impossible, considering her size.

"I don't think you have any idea how much this eye is worth, little lady." Kakuzu chuckled, throwing the vial in the air and catching it. "Your information would have to be a literal treasure trove for me to give you this."

"What if we told thou that we know the whereabouts of the corpse of Uchiha Madara?" She asked. Her shadow had taken great lengths to hide and preserve it. She had no idea what purpose it might one day serve, but it seemed like it was finally about to pay off. "His corpse will be missing the eyes, but thou will find the rest in good condition."

Kakuzu nearly dropped the vial he had just been juggling. "Are you serious…?" He asked. His surprise brought a sense of satisfaction welling up inside her and as she nodded she couldn't fight down a rising smirk. "Lady, if that corpse is the real genuine article, I'll trade you more than just this eye."

"It is real. We can guarantee that." Kaguya assured him. " In addition to the Copy Ninja's Sharingan, we would also need someone that can implant it for us." She pulled back the skin in the middle of her forehead, revealing an empty eye-socket.

"You're asking the right guy." Kakuzu bent down, extending his hand. "I know a little about medical Ninjutsu. First, I'll send one of my masks to verify the corpse. Once it's confirmed, I can implant the eye that same day."

"It is agreed then." Kaguya took Kakuzu's large hand in her little one and they shook on it.

"That just leaves you, kid." Kakuzu turned to Naruto, extending his hand towards him now.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, finally turning away from the corpses he had been staring at until now. The whole time he hadn't been able to take his eyes away from them, unable to even hear the conversation happening just next to him.

"We made an agreement." Kakuzu clarified. "I take you and the little lady here to Takigakure no Sato. In exchange, you give me that crow on your shoulder. We don't have any paperwork to sign, but this is a verbally binding contract. If you shake my hand, that's it. You and I are in business together. At least until the end of our trip."

Naruto stared at the extended hand, his brain whirling as he took in Kakuzu's words. This was really it. If he took that hand, he was starting off on a new journey. To a new home with new people. He was scared, if he was being honest. However, it felt like everything that happened before now was in preparation for this. So he nodded, rising to his feat and turning to face his new business partner properly.

"We got a deal." Naruto said, taking Kakuzu's hand in his.


Chapter End


Post-word: This chapter pretty much served as both the end of part one and the beginning to part two.

Things are about to move to Takigakure no Sato, The Hidden Waterfall Village, now. I have a couple personal reasons for picking that village in particular. Primarily it's because I wanted to focus on a smaller village, but I also still wanted one with another Jinchuriki in it. Taki just happens to be the village in canon that hit both those check marks. More than that, it was important that the characters also had a desire to pick that village to go to over becoming Nukenin or going to any of the other villages. There just happened to be enough viable reasons to make it the most desirable option for them. So that's how I got to picking that one in particular. Many of you should be able to guess the identity of the girl I was debating about including as a secondary pairing option now too.

Just another part of my thinking process that I felt like sharing.

One final note, but while this update was really fast, I think from here on out it's going to slow down for me. I've been fortunate to be in a transitional period of my life and as such have had a lot of time. However, that is about to end and I'm going to have a lot of real-world obligations taking up my time. So updates may slow down, but I am going to continue writing whenever I have free time. So don't be too worried about a decrease in updates is all I want to say, it's just reality catching up with me for a time is all.