Naruto explored the dungeons beneath Konoha, he still didn't know the name of the supposedly lost civilization that predated the Sengoku Jidai, and that it predated the Sengoku Jidai was all he knew. Why there were weapons that looked as recent as the Sengoku Jidai despite that was not too weird, he clearly was not the first person down there since they became monster filled ruins.
The ruins had been there when the Shodai Hokage had laid the foundations of Konohagakure no Sato, and some Anbu variant seemed to guard the entrace. Not that guarding an entrance could stop a boy who could teleport directly into a bloody operating theater behind their defenses and among the beasts.
The blonde genin hadn't found much writing, what little he could find seemed similar to kanji so it was useless to him until he got better at literacy. Naruto was more of a practical shinobi, he had gotten better at navigating the depths too.
The blonde ninja stalked silently along the ceiling over a trap before he dropped down on a desiccated humanoid with a cleaver and a torch, Nokogiribocho snapped open as Naruto fell and he swung the cleaving edge of the blade into the left shoulder of his prey before he landed.
The blonde was dressed in one of his spare jackets and had left his hitai-ate in his apartment on the surface, he knew how much the blood flowed in the depths.
With a crack of bones the sharp blade went halfway through the torso of the desiccated humanoid, Naruto ignored the spray of blood and listened for anything that had been alerted. Hearing nothing he carefully extracted his weapon, folded it as the corpse dropped, then crouched to check the body.
A single blood stone could be harvested, the blonde wiped it on his pants before he put it in his tool pouch. Then he continued into the room beyond, there was a gate on the next door he saw after that but also two sets of stairs going up on either side of the room to two elevated floors.
Naruto saw a chest on the first elevated floor and looked around, he didn't see any traps so he moved carefully and silently to the bottom of the stairs closest to him. He tried to get a glimpse of the top layer but it was hard to see, he heard heavy breathing up there though.
Beasts did not sleep either, something was waiting. Naruto focused his chakra to his feet and walked up the wall to get a better look.
It was a pale fat thing, easily four times Naruto's size and with a massive cleaver, dirty grey rags mercifully covered some of it. The blonde decided the cleaver was still actually a bit smaller than Kubikiribocho. Of course, the thing was guarding a bigger, far more ornate chest.
Naruto looked at the first chest he saw, it was dark so even for him it was hard to see if there was a pressure plate or some kind of mechanism on the chest. He needed a distraction, and he had the perfect ninjutsu.
Crossing his first two fingers Naruto created four kage bunshin, one of which went straight for the smaller chest as the other three made to distract the big fat humanoid. The original blonde watched carefully, no trap on the first chest and once it was open he simply glanced inside then rushed up to help the other kage bunshin.
Naruto guessed whatever was there must not be too interesting or shocking and found three scraps of paper with red resin on them, he could hear the fat humanoid above trying and failing to kill his kage bunshin but before he could go help the metal gate opened below.
Naruto had not considered the possibility of one of the beasts opening the gates like that, another one of those desiccated pale humanoids, the smaller and thinner kind he was more used to. He made a running leap at it, his blade snapped out as he swung his weapon.
The humanoid thing turned in time to receive an inward curved cleaver blade to the skull, it died without a sound and Naruto kicked the corpse off his weapon as he turned to glance down the hallway beyond the now open gate. There was a hallway that let to a stone elevator and more desiccated husks of humanoid beasts.
The impression of a kage bunshin being dispelling reminded him of the battle happening above and he ran up the side of the wall, across the ceiling briefly, before he leaped and swung his extended Nokogiribocho at the back of the skull of the fat monstrosity.
It fell without even a gurgle, Naruto didn't get used to how anticlimactic a death could be since he had seen some death throes be rather vicious. It seemed to depend on where and how he hit the beasts, he stepped back as his bunshin checked the bigger chest for traps and searched the grisly bloated corpse.
"Holy crap a blood gem!"
Naruto's attention snapped to the gem in the hands of the kage bunshin, retrieved from the bloated corpse, "Nice!" he agreed happily as he took it and inspected it. It was radial, but aside from that he had no idea what it did.
The blonde joined his bunshin at the larger chest to see what else there was, and frowned in confusion. It looked like corked bottles of blood, "Do we even want these?" one of the bunshin asked.
"Maybe we can store it in the dream? Maybe the doll knows what they're for." Naruto guessed, "She'll know what to do with the paper too." he added as he picked up and put the two bottles in his tool pouch, they barely fit and he decided he would probably need fuinjutsu at some point.
Naruto decided to hunt the remaining creatures in front of that elevator before he returned to the dream, he needed more blood stones to actually unlock the radial blood gem imprint in Nokogiribocho and more echoes would help him in the long run.
They were no trouble to the young genin.
Naruto had learned he needed Chi no Isshi for everything in the dream, so he saved upgrading himself for after he finally upgraded his weapon. He had found enough stones to upgrade Nokogiribocho with two left over, he inspected the sharp edge of the inner blade and the vicious looking saw teeth.
Next the blonde attempted to slot his blood gem in, which the blonde had thought would be easy enough. He could not make it fit though, and after an hour of frustration he finally learned he was missing an entire tool that compressed the gem into place.
Naruto had no idea how that worked but he holstered his weapon and left the gem there for now as he checked the other work bench, he still wasn't entirely sure how to use it or what it was for yet. So he supposed he was missing another tool as he went out the other entrance to the shack and down the stairs towards his tombstones.
Small white humanoids, the doll called them little ones, journal entries referred to them as shisha, emerged from the large stone chalice beneath the stairs, "They'll sell you useful things for Chi no Isshi." the doll explained at his confused look.
Naruto approached and they held up offered items, vials with sharp needles filled with blood, bottles with rags wrapped around the necks, bullets, and round pebbles for some reason. He supposed they were very round pebbles, but he stepped away from them for now.
"Actually, do you know what this is?" Naruto asked as he pulled out one of the corked bottles.
"Pungent blood cocktail, matured blood that releases a strong smell." The doll answered, "You are too young to drink it." she added.
"Why would I drink it?" Naruto asked.
The doll shook her head, "Do not worry, it is merely something some ryoshi did to unwind." she answered, "If opened and left somewhere it will attract yaju." she added.
Naruto wasn't sure why the doll thought he was too young for anything, he'd already died and killed, in that order no less. Either way he put the blood cocktail away, "What about these?" he asked as he pulled out one of the scraps of paper.
"Swipe the resin side across the blade of your weapon to ignite it."
Naruto thought that explanation explained little, but it sounded cool so he would try it out next time. For now he stashed the paper in his tool pouch and stepped closer to the doll, he focused on his arcane as he closed his eyes.
Naruto wanted to test out his new and improved weapon, but he had a career as a shinobi to keep up so he met with his team early and joined them in waiting for Kakashi. Technically he was barely on time, but the jonin never seemed to be on time.
It was irritating enough that Naruto considered sending a kage bunshin, but when Kakashi did finally show up it was for either training or D ranks. If it was D ranks then it'd be fine but if it was training the kage bunshin wouldn't last, actually even D ranks wasn't a certainty with that damned cat.
So with the idea that he'd get caught anyway Naruto reluctantly went to team meetings personally, "Did you polish your blade?" Sasuke asked him with a raised eyebrow.
Naruto nodded, "Yeah." he answered simply, it was not all he had done but they did no need to know that.
"It still looks kind of blood stained." Sakura pointed out.
"That's because he honed the edge of the blade rather than just cleaning it." Sasuke noticed, Naruto was not aware the Uchiha was so observant.
"Lazy." Sakura scolded, but the blonde couldn't bring up how much effort it was to make sure he himself didn't show up to the meeting with blood in his hair or clothes so he couldn't exactly defend himself.
Finally Kakashi did indeed show up, long after the conversation had died down and the three genin were bored, "I was sexually assaulted on my way to work." he excused far too smoothly for it to be true.
"What is wrong with you?" Sakura asked, her eyes narrowed at that excuse.
"I'm a jonin," Kakashi answered plainly, "anyway are my adorable genin ready for D ranks?" he asked and the genin of cell seven sighed in unified exasperation.
"Okay, how are you doing that?" Sakura asked as she watched her blonde teammate casually hold the leash of the largest dog they needed to walk, it was trying to drag the boy but his feet held firmly to the ground as his body only tensed with strain when the dog tried to pull him away.
Given the size and weight of the dog and boy, Sakura knew damn well Naruto should be getting dragged around, "What? Kakashi-sensei taught us how to stick to stuff with chakra remember? It works on more than just trees y'know." he answered dryly with a raised eyebrow.
Sasuke was still pretty sure the blonde was displaying way more strength than his body should reasonably have, "I think Sakura wants to know why your arm isn't being ripped out of it's socket." he pointed out.
"Because I'm tough." Naruto answered with a huff, "I dunno, Uzumaki are just built different I guess?" he excused with a shrug.
Naruto sighed as he finished putting his money in his wallet and left the Hokage tower, he was glad D ranks at least paid because he hated them. They were boring chores that villagers paid genin to do, he didn't fully get the purpose. The blonde genin was sure there were better uses of his abilities, but he couldn't exactly give away too much about his abilities.
That first C rank mission had nearly completely blown his cover as it was, and on top of that he'd almost spilled everything to someone who was basically a stranger. Haku seemed to understand better than anyone though.
The blonde decided to try catching up on his shinobi studies, he'd barely passed and he was starting to better appreciate knowing what he was up against. So Naruto went to Konoha's public library and wandered around aimlessly, he had no idea what he should be trying to read up on first.
Eventually the genin found books on fuinjutsu that were in hiragana, but he could barely understand the words in any of them so he put them back and continued his search. Finally Naruto found a scroll on basic chakra theory and a book about the founding of the Shinobi Godaikoku, he had some difficulty checking them out but the chunin librarian eventually accepted that his hitai-ate was legitimate.
Naruto spent the next week studying, albeit poorly since he was still not very good at it, before Kakashi seemed to spontaneously decide to take them on another C rank mission. This one was another escort mission, but the client was another ninja.
The shinobi cell seven was protecting was a plain looking young man from Takigakure no Sato, allies with Konoha. The man was apparently their Shinobigashira despite being only a chunin, plus he seemed younger than Iruka.
Naruto glanced at Shibuki as the Taki shinobi was startled by a bird, the man was also a coward, more than once he'd flinched when he lost sight of the blonde genin in the cell. The blonde wondered if he had seemed like that when he had first been jumpy and traumatized but everyone else seemed exasperated with the chunin while with him they had seemed worried.
The blonde genin concluded that Shibuki was a bit of a wuss and a flake, which was why he needed a protection detail from Konoha. The fact that a cell of genin was doing such a mission and the short travel distance for a group of shinobi indicated that it was probably more of a diplomatic mission than anything.
Despite having spent a week studying Naruto couldn't recall anything that made Taki stand out, but he hadn't really looked into them much. He'd been more focused on Hi no Kuni, Mizu no Kuni, and the now gone Uzu no Kuni which had once been the home of the Uzumaki clan.
Naruto was pulled from morose thoughts of his dead clan by movement, his head snapped in the direction to see a pair of small kids running towards their group, "Shibuki-sama!" the children greeted in unison, the blonde was surprised the chunin was so well regarded.
Shibuki smiled at the small boy and girl as they approached, "Sorry, Shizuku-chan, Himatsu-kun, I can't play right now." he said apologetically as greeting.
The two children pouted at that, "Aw, we weren't gonna ask to play, we just wanted to say hello to Shibuki-sama!" the young boy insisted, apparently named Himatsu, a boy with spiky black hair wearing a long-sleeved blue jacket and tan pants.
The little girl, apparently Shizuku, with neck-length brown hair in pigtails, a pink zip-up dress with a yellow hem, and knee-length black tights, pouted, "Yeah, we're supposed to clean the water before we play." she confessed sadly.
Shibuki grinned, "Well, lucky for you I brought these ninja from Konohagakure no Sato, they can help." he informed the children to cheer them up.
Naruto's eye twitched, "So this mission was chores all along." he grumbled, glaring at Kakashi who was smiling under his mask.
"This wasn't in the mission parameters." Sasuke denied quickly, he had no desire to do chores either.
"I think we can accept a simple D rank mission from the Shinobigashira no Takigakure no Sato." Kakashi said in a formal tone before he slouched, "Get to work, my adorable genin." he ordered with a dismissive wave.
Naruto looked at the rubbish in the water and debated faking his own death, he decided against it ultimately as his team began to help the kids clean up. He took some solace that he'd still get C rank pay and this was all that had gone wrong.
"What's with that weird weapon?"
"It doesn't look like a shinobi weapon."
Naruto looked up at the two kids then down at his weapon, "It's my Nokogiribocho," he answered, "it works." he added with a shrug, he did not feel like explaining it further than that.
"Why not just use a sword though?" Himatsu asked with a raised eyebrow.
Because a sword isn't big enough, not wide enough, it doesn't rend enough, "I just like this weapon." Naruto answered, "It does what I need it to do."
"It's creepy." Shizuku said blandly, the blonde couldn't help but laugh at the deadpan delivery.
Shibuki was startled by another bird, this one carrying a message to Kakashi, who read it and let the bird go, "I'll be back soon, something came up." he told the Taki chunin before he disappeared with shunshin.
Sasuke wondered what had pulled the jonin away, but he didn't expect it to become an issue until they were all done and their sensei was still missing.
"Alright," Shibuki said dismissively as the sun set, "I need to get these kids back to the village. You guys should head home." he decided.
Sakura frowned, "But, Kakashi-sensei isn't back yet." she pointed out, "Can we at least stick around to wait for him?" she asked.
"No." Shibuki denied, "Your mission is over, so you're dismissed." he insisted.
"I'm fine with that." Sasuke said, he didn't want to stick around much longer anyway.
"Huh? Sasuke-kun, why?" Sakura asked, confused at how easily he'd agreed. The kunoichi was pretty sure they should wait for their jonin commander.
"Kakashi is usually late anyway." Sasuke said bluntly, "Besides, I'm guessing the entrance to their village is around here. I guess they don't want allies to know where it is either." he guessed with a sharp look at the chunin.
"Just because we're allies now doesn't mean we always will be," Shibuki pointed out coldly, "besides what if one of you gives the information away by accident?" he pointed out.
Naruto scoffed since he'd been keeping a much more serious secret than that, "We're ninja, but whatever, I want to go home too." he agreed with the Uchiha.
"Shibuki-sama!" The strained voice caught the attention of everyone present, seeing an old woman hobbling towards them looking distressed, "They attacked out of nowhere!" she cried out as she started to collapse forward.
Shibuki's eyes widened as he rushed to catch the falling woman, Sakura who was still close by rushed to help as well as the others approached with curiosity. There was a kunai in the back of the woman, confirming some kind of shinobi attack.
"It's not too deep," Sakura noted with a sigh of relief, reaching into her tool pouch for first aid supplies, "but what could have happened?" she wondered.
Naruto frowned and stepped back from the old woman, the echoes were clinging to her so she was still alive, still fine, he let Sakura handle it. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the way the blonde shied away from injured people, "Obviously, an enemy ninja attacked." he said instead of commenting on his teammates reaction, "So was she out of the village when attacked?"
"No." Shibuki confessed, "This woman is no shinobi, she wouldn't have been out of the village, she left to come get me." he realized.
"So, guess there's not much point hiding your home from us." Naruto said lightly, "Where to?" he asked.
"What?" Shibuki asked incredulously, "Why should you come help?" he asked defensively.
"We were hired to escort you home, our villages are allies, and your home is under attack." Naruto listed off, "Why wouldn't we help?" he asked in return.
Before the blonde could receive an answer his pupils constricted and he crouched as Sasuke tackled Shibuki, interrupting whatever the chunin might say as shuriken flew over them and Sakura dragged the kids further into cover with the wounded old lady.
A group of six enemy shinobi, some appeared to be either dressed identically in concealing black clothes or they were making use of some kind of bunshin. Sasuke leaped high and flipped as he reached into his bag, withdrawing an unfolding fuuma shuriken.
The Uchiha threw his oversized weapon and tugged on ninja wires to redirect it from one shinobi into the second as they burst into water, thus confirming at least one opponent could use mizu bunshin. Sasuke caught sight of their hitai-ate as the other four retreat back the way they came.
"Amegakure nukenin figured out where your home was before your allies." Sasuke informed Shibuki dryly before he decided to take charge, "Sakura keep an eye on the old lady and those kids, protect them if needed. Naruto come with me, Shibuki show us the way."
The Taki chunin sighed, "Alright, fine." he relented, if the enemy really had found his home, on a day when all their jonin were out on missions no less, then he would need all the help he could get.
Shibuki lead the two genin through the waterways into his village, Naruto was surprised at the glass encased light sources and lanterns that kept the hidden village lit up even hidden from the sun and the sky. It seemed much more comfortable and peaceful than the depths he was used to not seeing the sky from, smelled nicer too.
Unfortunately the distracted genin missed Shibuki disappearing into the water until they spotted the ripples when they checked, then they were surrounded by Ame ninja. More accurately one Ame ninja using some kind of bunshin, Sasuke assumed mizu bunshin and tossed a shuriken but it went right through without dispelling.
"I don't think this guy wants to risk mizu bunshin if he knows we can take them, so he's being a bit trickier." Sasuke assumed, "I'll handle it, you go find Shibuki." he ordered, the blonde hesitated for a moment but with a nod he went after the Taki chunin.
"Do you brats actually think you'd stand a chance without working together?" A bunshin questioned, "How arrogant." another piped up, "Annoying." another spat, "Conceited."
"If you need tricks like this that just tells me you're a weakling, and as soon as I beat your genjutsu victory will be mine." Sasuke shot back, his eyes darting around to try figuring out which one was real. He dodged a kunai and palmed one of his own as the bunshin started throwing.
The Uchiha dived into a roll as he swung his arm, his kunai clashed with a real one and he saw which one. Sasuke rushed the Ame ninja it had come from and tossed his kunai, but to his surprise it went right through and into the bushes behind it.
The genin slid to a stop but a moment later a length of water wrapped him up as if it was a rope, he guessed it was another kind of ninjutsu and looked back to the woman who caught him. A slim woman with unkempt brown hair kept out of her eyes by a white headband, with azure earrings, pink lipstick, dressed in a pink tube top under an open blue shirt, navy blue pants, and ninja sandals, "The more hostages the better I say, Kirisame-san already got their pink haired teammate outside." the woman said as she stepped out of the water with a smirk.
Then electricity crackled down the water, into Sasuke, and the Uchiha saw white before he blacked out.
"There you are." Naruto grumbled as he approached Shibuki, the man jolted as the young blonde approached, "What the hell are you doing hiding here now?" he asked before he noticed a strange glass gourd full of water, corked, "What is that?" he added.
Shibuki frowned as he looked down at it, "This..." he hesitated, "This is the Eiyu no Mizu." he began, "This water is tapped from a sacred tree once every hundred years." he explained, "It's said to increase the power of those who drink it tenfold or more, at a terrible price. The lifespan of whoever drinks it is decreased by as much as their power is increased." he said sadly.
Naruto looked down at the water, "So that's what they're after?" he assumed.
Shibuki nodded, "Many died from drinking it, including my own father." he explained, "It is the duty of the leader of Takigakure no Sato to protect this water, I can't let Suien get it."
"Shibuki!" A voice echoed from far away, startling the chunin, "Bring the Eiyu no Mizu, or I will start killing hostages, I have already captured half of the Konohagakure shinobi present." the voice demanded.
"Suien!" Shibuki spat, "He must be using Kodama no Jutsu to make his voice carry all this way, he must not know for certain where I am." he pondered, "I have to keep this water safe."
Naruto turned on the chunin with sudden fire in his eyes, "You're just going to sit here like a coward? You'll let your people die!?" he snapped, his shock giving way to anger he struggled to control.
"I can't let them have the Eiyu no Mizu!" Shibuki defended himself frantically, clearly terrified and not denying the accusations of being a coward.
Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Fine," he muttered before he crouched and dropped a chop into the older ninja's neck, "I'll do it myself." he grumbled as the chunin fell unconscious and the genin took the water.
The blonde eyed the supposedly mystical water, it wouldn't kill him, probably, but there was no telling what it would do. He took out the cork, took a mouthful, put the cork back, and put the gourd back in the knocked out chunin's lap before he grabbed his weapon and turned to go find Suien.
"Shibuki I am losing patience!" Suien called out, his voice echoing. The man had long spiky hair, small dark eyes, and a goatee. He wore a dark blue jacket, grey pants, sandals, and a bandanna that held his hair out of his face.
Sasuke was infuriated he had been captured, true to their words Sakura had been captured and tied up as well. Kakashi would not know where the village was hidden either, so the Uchiha had to hope Shibuki and Naruto could deal with the situation.
As Sasuke was lamenting there was a sudden sound of an explosion and a streak of orange flew from a distant tunnel before the blonde crashed into Suien with a spray of blood, Naruto rolled off the jonin into a crouch as he yanked Nokogiribocho out of the shocked and dying nukenin's chest.
The Uzumaki was glowing with chakra, yellow wisps of it lifting off his body as his aura visibly glowed with power, "I meant to do that," he lied with a gesture to Suien, "yep, full control of my chakra y'know." he added as his body seemed to vibrate with energy.
"What-?" One of the Ame nukenin began to ask, a muscular man with chin length grey hair that was spiked at the top, a teal line across his nose, dressed in grey pants, ninja sandals, a black sleeveless shirt, and brown arm warmers. Unfortunately he made an aggressive movement as he spoke.
The ground where Naruto had been standing cracked under the pressure as the blonde pounced, his weapon tore his cleaving blade down into the shinobi's left shoulder, "Just leave, I am very on edge right now." he said to the last two, "I feel like I could explode."
The kunoichi and shinobi exchanged a look, then the brown haired woman disappeared as the man, a man with messy chin length brown hair coming out from under his light grey hat with his hitai-ate on it, in a skin tight black suit that covered his mouth and nose as well, a light grey scarf around his neck, and a light grey shirt underneath a strapped blue suit of overalls, leaped to the water while weaving hand signs.
The shinobi touched the surface of the water, stood there, touched his fingers to the water, and threw a long whip of chakra infused water at the young blonde. Naruto's chakra aura flared and the water destabilized before it could touch him, then the ground cracked as he pounced again.
Naruto's aura seemed to flicker red in the spray of blood as he demonstrated an inability to stand on the surface of the water, forcing the dying nukenin under to drown as he bled out. Sasuke and Sakura were surprised to note that their teammate actually seemed breathless after that, he was panting and sweating with exertion even though they'd never seen him get tired.
The captured Taki citizens and genin of cell seven watched as the blonde slowly caught his breath, dragged himself out of the water, and approached the tied up people as his aura faded. Naruto holstered his weapon and began to untie the people, there was an awkward silence at first.
The people of Takigakure no Sato could tell the boy had drank their Eiyu no Mizu, they worried about Shibuki, but they were also grateful that the blonde genin of Konoha had saved them with that power. As an added benefit despite the explosive power he'd demonstrated, the boy didn't seem to be dying.
They could have done without Naruto letting one of the nukenin go, but they weren't exactly in a position to complain.
Shibuki had returned, and seemed unsure what to do about the events that had unfolded. Then Naruto said some words to him, "Thanks for letting me drank that water, Shibuki." a lie, a convenient excuse for the young chunin and genin to save face.
Shibuki went along with it, he let his people think he had rather let the blonde be their hero than risk his own life, he would not take away their new young blonde hero by revealing the situation had been taken out of his hands.
Sasuke was annoyed that yet another C rank mission had resulted in Naruto revealing incredible power and killing most of the enemies, he knew that it was thanks to magic water this time but still. Actually that the blonde had drank the water despite the risk to his life was admirable, even the Uchiha had to admit that privately.
Sakura was coming to terms with the fact that Naruto actually could be reliable, when their backs were to the wall he fought like a cornered animal and risked his life without hesitation. Even the Haruno had to admit that was kind of cool.
Kakashi was worried about Naruto, the blonde was alive at least but far too reckless. He took some solace that Shibuki seemed ashamed of letting the young genin drink the water, but it had still happened. The jonin wondered how long the chunin would remain shinobigashira after a stunt like that, but at least ties between their villages had been strengthened some by Naruto's heroics.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had similar concerns to Kakashi, but his were a bit more localized, "Naruto-kun," he began hesitantly, "why did you drink the water?" he asked.
Naruto considered saying Shibuki asked him to, but he knew that would be bad, "Shibuki was too scared to drink it, he said it could kill the person who drank it," he confessed, he knew hiding that he knew that would just make the chunin look bad and he didn't want to do that, "so I just told him to let me drink it." he lied, "I basically forced him." he added with a shrug, that part was more truthful.
"Why did you think you should drink it?" Hiruzen asked curiously.
Naruto shrugged again, "I already have a lot of chakra right? I figured the power boost and the drain after would be fine for an Uzumaki like me." he bluffed, it was a good enough explanation for why he hadn't died.
The Sandaime Hokage frowned, "It worked out, but that was reckless." he said after a moment, "In future, do not assume you will be fine because of circumstances that are not fully understood." he ordered.
Naruto nodded in agreement but even that felt like a lie considering he barely understood the circumstances of his own life anymore.
Naruto wondered what need anyone had for other vices when ramen existed, as the name of his favorite food stand implied ramen was life's greatest pleasure. In the mind of the blonde the only thing that could compare was red bean jam, but even that came a distant second.
So Iruka found Naruto enjoying his fifth bowl of ramen after his second successful C rank mission, "Well, celebrating or just working hard?" the chunin asked mirthfully.
Naruto swallowed his current mouthful with a gulp, "A bit of both," he confessed, "I'm a hero." he added with a genuinely happy smile.
Iruka raised an eyebrow as he sat down next to the blonde, "Oh? I don't know if I'd say getting a bounty for killing a shipping magnate is all that heroic." he retorted dryly.
Naruto's hand halted on its way to bring his chopsticks to his bowl, "I have a bounty now?" he asked.
Iruka realized that the blonde had been talking about something else, but figured he should tell the boy before he steered the conversation back, "Well yeah, you killed Gato, the current figure is at a clean seventy thousand ryo." he explained, "What were you talking about?" he asked.
Naruto blinked at the price, it wasn't all that much more than a C rank considering how much money Gato was said to have, "Uh, I drank the Eiyu no Mizu and protected Takigakure no Sato from these nukenin who wanted to steal it." he answered before turning back to his ramen.
"You drank the what!?" Iruka snapped, startled by that part in particular, "Where was your jonin commander?" he asked quickly.
Naruto frowned, "Hey, I'm the one the drank it because, uh, no one else was in position to." he decided. "Kakashi-sensei got pulled away before the mission even went wrong and didn't come back until everything was over." he explained.
Iruka sighed, "Still, that's worrying." he said after a moment, Teuchi and Ayame were silently sympathetic, "The Eiyu no Mizu is said to kill people, I guess it didn't this time but, are you okay?" the man finished with a question he only just seemed to think of.
"Yeah." Naruto answered automatically without even thinking of whether or not it would be a lie, he felt physically fine at the moment at least which was as good as could be expected.
Teuchi laughed, "He comes here to eat so often, and I think we're the first place he comes after getting paid for a mission, so I'm sure we'll know if anything is wrong." he assured the chunin placidly, Naruto felt a bit guilty at the last words but at least it meant he was hiding things well enough.
Naruto returned to his apartment and took in the state of it, the place was a bit messy but no worse than before he'd graduated. His eyes picked out blood stains he hadn't fully cleaned and his nose smelled the coppery tang among his belongings, even cleaned out of his clothes there was no longer an escape from the smell of blood.
The blonde had a shower and got changed into pants that were a darker orange than he usually liked, a mesh undershirt and one of his spare jackets, he left his hitai-ate on the pillow with all methods he knew of for looking into his apartment blocked off.
"Why do I even have pajamas anymore?" Naruto asked no one in particular as he geared up as if going out for a mission, then he rang his silver bell and fell into the dream again.
Note: Chakra was originally yellow in the manga, it got changed to blue for the anime. Normally I just stick with the blue, but for this story I want to do something else with blue energy. I'm sure most of you can guess what was with his chakra flashing red during that little episode with the magic water though.