Alright guys, I just realized something and it's really messing with me. Throughout all of Naruto, parts 1 and 2, I don't think any character but Jiraiya laughs, ever. I mean, maybe Hidan, but that's more maniacal than a humored laugh.

Well, this will be a chapter divided between two of the current plotlines: Watts and Naruto. Enjoy.

Chapter 23: Nowhere

"So, where do you live, anyway? You said your dad was the chief or something, right?" Naruto asked, following behind Blake as she made her way through the streets. There was a certain hesitation in her steps, like she wasn't looking forward to what Naruto understood would be an awkward reunion with her parents. It made sense, of course.

In Blake's mind, however, she was running through all the different reactions her parents might have to Naruto. More specifically, all the reactions they might have to her bringing a boy home with her. Inwardly, she wished that he at least had dressed formally. As it ws, she was bringing with her a well-built young man who coincidentally didn't wear a shirt. So yeah, she felt it might be a little awkward. Of course, there was also that little… display… she had put on last time she had seen them, complete with unjustified anger on her part. All in all, she was both looking forward to and dreading seeing her parents again.

They stood at the top of a large hill, with a single, main road leading down into the valley below, ending at an impressive house. The road was lined with all sorts of buildings from every range of grandeur and pricing. Naruto looked back and forth between them all, soaking it all in. To him, with the trees and the buildings mixing together, it looked a lot like Konoha used to. He smiled, remembering once more all the good times he had had. Blake waved her hand in front of his face, "Naruto? Focus."

He blinked once and turned to face her, "Sorry, what?"

"You had this far-away look in your eyes all of a sudden," Blake answered, turning back to face the road before them. "So… ready to go?" Naruto nodded, grin back on his face. Blake took a deep breath of trepidation, and began the long descent into the valley, towards the grand house at the end of the road. With how far it was, it took them almost a half hour to reach it.

Naruto stared at the door, as Blake hesitated at the knocker. He walked up next to her, "Everything alright, Blake?"

"Yeah, just… well, it's like I told you. We didn't really part on the best terms."

"Ah, come on, Blake. They're your family. You've got nothing to worry about." Naruto reached up and grabbed the knocker, slamming it once. A huge boom echoed throughout the inside of the house, and Naruto stepped back. "Wow, that was… loud. Why was it-"

Before he could finish, the door on the left pulled open, and a woman's head poked out from behind it. Much like Blake, black cat ears adorned her head, but hers were pierced with gold earrings. Furthermore, the purple marks over her eyes were far more noticeable. She stared for a moment before he mouth dropped, and the door was pushed fully open, "Blake?" Without a moment's hesitation, she rushed forward and embraced her daughter, which Blake reciprocated after a moment of surprise.

Naruto heard another voice echo from within the household, "Kali? Who's there?" He looked inside, seeing the approaching form of a man. A very large man, at that, with black hair and a beard framing his face, and a tuft of hair visible on his chest through the regal purple cloak he wore. He paused for a moment before he realized that his daughter had come home. "Blake?" he asked in disbelief.

"Hey, dad," she answered awkwardly, raising a hand. He seemed to glance at Naruto out of the corner of his eye, but only for a moment before he ushered them inside.

"Come in, have tea," he said. As Naruto passed him, he could practically feel the man's eyes on the back of his neck. Naruto followed Blake and her mother to a spacious, circular room with a table in the middle, and four blue seats around it on the floor.

Kali Belladonna directed them to sit while she got the tea, whilst Blake's father sat across from his daughter, leaving Naruto to sit between them, feeling a little awkward now that he was here. "So… uh… Nice to meet you. My name is Naruto," he began awkwardly. The large man gave him a disapproving look. "I… well, I'm a friend of Blake's."

"Yes, I assumed so. And how exactly do you know my daughter?" he asked, seeming to barely keep a growl out of his tone.

"Dad!" Blake objected. Her dad frowned.

"Sorry, Blake." Kali reentered with tea, complete with four cups.

"Alright, here you are," she said as she put a cup in front of each of them. She sat down across from Naruto. She looked him up and down for a moment, getting a sly grin and leaning over to her daughter, "Blake, I never thought you were a dog person."

Blake's ears curled up on themselves, "Mom!" Kali laughed, sitting back up. Blake shook her head just a little. "So… did you guys hear what happened to Beacon?" Immediately, both of her parent's faces fell. "Oh."

"We got the news almost a month ago," her dad answered. "Were you ok?" Blake nodded.

"I had Naruto to back me up," she answered, gesturing to the blond. He grinned, rubbing the back of his head. "Besides, there wasn't anything we couldn't handle." None of them noticed Naruto's grin disappearing, his hand returning to his side.

"I see…" Ghira, Blake's dad, turned to face Naruto. "So, you helped my daughter?"

"Uh, yes, sir," Naruto answered, almost feeling like he should salute or something. "There was a guy, Adam or something, who I helped her fight."

"Adam?" Ghira repeated, turning back to Blake. "What was Taurus doing there, and why were you fighting against him?" Blake frowned.

"Because he attacked Beacon along with all of the others."

"All of what others?" he asked with a dangerous tone. Blake glanced at Naruto.

"All of-" Suddenly, the loud knocker on the front door sounded again, cutting off Blake.

Ghira shook his head, "Damn it, I forgot about the meeting." He shook his head again, standing up. "I'll be back." He left the room, while Naruto looked back and forth from him to Kali, wondering what he was talking about.

"Is everything alright?" Blake asked. Kali nodded.

"It's just been hard dealing with them lately."

"Dealing with who?" Blake asked. Naruto glanced back towards the door, not liking the sound of whatever this was.

Kali answered as though it ws obvious, "The White Fang."

Blake shot to her feet, while Naruto was out of the room in an instant, "What?!" Blake followed behind Naruto a moment later.

Naruto leapt over Ghira, landing between him and the two Faunus who seemed to be in some sort of uniform. "What are you people doing here?!" he questioned angrily. Something about how the Fang had made Blake feel had sparked an intense dislike of them in Naruto's mind. He felt a firm hand on his shoulder, and Ghira pulled him away from them.

"What do you think you're doing, boy?" he growled. The two White Fang Faunus gave him an interested look. Naruto pulled Ghira's hand off of his shoulder.

"I want to know why the White Fang is at your house," he answered, calmer now than a moment ago. "Especially after what happened at Beacon." Blake ran up behind him, a scowl on her face directed towards the two at the door. They bowed to her.

"Ms. Belladonna," one began. "We had no idea you'd returned." Ghira held up his hand.

"Quiet. Boy, what do you mean?" Ghira asked.

Blake answered for him, "The White Fang was at the Fall of Beacon. They attacked innocent people and released Grimm into the school." The four who hadn't been there studied her for a moment, before Ghira turned to face the two White Fang members.

"Is this true?" his voice once gain had a dangerous edge to it. The two bowed as though in remorse.

"Sadly, Your Grace, it is" the one with the wolf tail, Corsac, answered.

Blake scowled again, but Naruto cut her off before she could speak, "Don't try to-"

Ghira held up his arm, almost yelling, "That's ENOUGH!" He scowled at the blond, who ignored him and fixed on the Albain brothers with a glare. Ghira turned back to face them. "Explain yourselves."

"Though it pains us to admit, it has become apparent that the Vale Branch of the White Fang is no longer operating under orders of High Leader Khan," Corsac explained. "Rather, they've elected to follow the rule of one Adam Taurus. I believe you're all familiar with the young adept and his… extreme philosophies."

Blake growled again, while Naruto held his silence this time. Ghira spoke, "And this is completely confined to the Vale branch, is it?"

Corsac answered, "We understand is you bear any skepticism towards these claims. The White Fang's tactics are admittedly more… aggressive, since you stepped down as High Leader, and became chieftain of Menagerie.

"But this… this is no way to make our message heard."

Fennec took over, "We have ample documentation from the council meeting, as well as several strategies to apprehend and punish these strays if you would care to review them."

"I will," Ghira replied. "But another day. I'd like some time to reconnect with my daughter." He gestured to the girl.

"But of course, Your Grace," Corsac said.

"We completely understand," Fennec added, before facing Blake. "It was a pleasure to see you again, young Blake, as well as your… friend." He eyed Naruto. Naruto studied him. These guys were… off. Something about them. And yet, they were only lying about something, not everything. Even so, he couldn't guess what. Only two kinds of people could lie this well: Shinobi and Diplomats. And they were no ninja. Naruto guessed that they were probably quite practiced.

The conversation ended just as Naruto exited his thoughts, with Ghira stepping in front of the door, "Goodbye, gentlemen." He slammed the door shut, and turned to face the two students behind him. "I don't know who you think you are, boy," he addressed Naruto. "But I recommend you not do something like that again."

"Of course not…" Naruto answered, much calmer now that they were gone. "Sorry, I just don't like murderers."

Ghira scowled again, "Now, Blake, what happened with Taurus at Beacon?" The only reason I'm still allowing this boy to stay is because you said he helped you. How did he do that?"

Blake took a breath, "I came across Adam while we were chasing an Alpha. Just as Adam was about to attack, Naruto crashed through the roof while he killed the Alpha, landing between me and Adam." Ghira raised an eyebrow at Naruto. "After that, he had a quick exchange with Adam. We took off afterwards."

"So, you may have well saved my daughter's life?" Ghira summed up. "I don't think she'll argue against me when I say that she is certainly no match for Taurus." Blake looked away, but nodded anyway. "I'm grateful to you. But that doesn't mean I have to like you, young man."

Neither of the men heard Kali lean over to Blake and say, "He's a little odd, isn't he?"

Watts shook his head again, this time throwing the book at the wall. He had been studying this map for three days- THREE DAYS- now, and he still felt no closer to finding this boy's home. There were simply too many villages from throughout history called Konohagakure. But even still, the boy couldn't be from any of them. Even still, he wanted to know why the boy said he was from one of them, as well as which one he said he was from. He once again distracted himself by reading the book that had been translated from a language that the machine had called 'Ancient'. Apparently, it was the basis for the Old Mistrali language.

The book itself was fascinating, if a little fairytale. It was about a ninja who wanted to bring peace to his entire world. The main theme seemed to be that the hero never gave up on his goals, no matter how many people told him it was impossible. Watts scoffed at that, but he read on anyways. His hope was that somewhere in this book, it would tell him why the hell it was written in a language that had died out before civilization had even begun.

This was his second time through, however. In the back of the book, there had been a drawing of who Watts assumed was the author, a white haired man with a big smile and red marks on his face. The man was named 'Jiraiya', according to the translation machine. According to his little author's note at the end of the book, the entire thing was based on his own experiences as a 'Shinobi', which seemed to be what he called a Huntsman.

And the oddest thing about the book? It was the name of the main character, which matched Watts' quarry. For some reason, the main character was named Naruto, just like the boy he was hunting. The only answer he could think of was that the boy was named after the character.

In the end, Watts could only boil down the book to two things, neither of which were terrifically likely: The boy had the book simply because the main character shared his name, or he was given it by his parents, or something to that effect. The other possibility, which was even less likely, was that the boy could read it, despite how ol the text was. Watts was curious who this 'Jiraiya' was, that he would write a book that no one could read.

But there was one thing about it that really stuck in Watts' mind. Despite everything that disproved it, the boy had to be able to read the book. Either that, or… well, Watts wasn't sure. But why did he have to be able to read it? Because the author, Jiraiya, had listed his hometown as a village named Konohagakure, just like the boy. And he had given Watts a clue right alongside it, which he only noticed this time around. Next to the word Konohagakure, there was a slash. And on the other side of the slash, it said Konoha.

Which would mean that Watts might be able to drastically narrow down where he needed to look to find this village. If he marked the villages named Konohagakure from throughout history on a map of Remnant, then marked the villages named Konoha on that same map… well, only the ones that had had both names would be marked twice, wouldn't they?

Watts gave a massive sigh of relief, as he leaned back and stared at the ceiling. It seemed as though his search would soon be over.

Naruto sat cross-legged in the middle of the desert, not moving an inch. It had been two days since they had arrived here, and Blake seemed to be enjoying the company of her family. Well, he mother anyway. Her dad had been working the whole time, though Kali had told Blake several times to go and talk to him anyway.

But Naruto wasn't worried about her, not now that she was with family. So now, he could focus on his own form of work. And that 'work' was training himself in Sage Mode. He wanted to be able to enter and exit Sage Mode at will, and at the drop of a hat. He was close, of that there was no doubt. It only took him about four seconds to gather the right amount of Natural Energy. He wanted it to take less than two.

That was step one of his training. Step one of three. Step two was staying in Sage Mode for longer. He was up to about ten minutes by now, but he wanted to get it to twenty, at least. As for step three… well, he'd get to it eventually.

He stood, back in Sage Mode. He extended his arm, staring down at it. In his palm, he began to form a Rasenshuriken, finding it was incredibly easy after the Fall of Beacon. He remembered how he had accidentally created one, desperately throwing it to try and save Pyrrha. He scowled at himself, angry that he had been too weak to save a friend. Never again, he had decided long ago, when Sasuke had fallen on the bridge. But he had failed himself.

The Rasenshuriken finished forming, and he held it over his head. He roared, throwing it at the cliff about a hundred yards away, carving into it nearly thirty feet. He closed his eyes, dropping his Sage Mode and sitting back down. A moment later, he stood again, wanting to try something that he had thought up a long time ago, back one day in Port's class. He made an Ōdama Rasengan in his right hand, and began to make normal Rasengans one by one in his left. He tried to get the normal one to orbit around the larger orb. After nearly ten minutes, he finally got it, just as his Sage chakra ran out, and he dropped back to his base form, causing the Ōdama Rasengan to collapse in on itself.

He sat back down, regathering Natural Energy. Just then, he heard a voice behind himself, "That was an interesting usage of Aura, I must say." He scowled, recognizing the voice. He stood, turning to face one Fennec Albain.

"What do you want, and where's your comrade?" Naruto questioned.

"My brother? He has other business to attend to, which he may take care of on his own. I came to greet you. I feel that you may have misunderstood our intentions the other day when we came to the Belladonna household."

"And what were your intentions?"

"We merely came to inform His Grace that the Vale Branch was operating outside of our sanctions. We are a peaceful group, you must know."

"And why are you here now?"

"As I said, I came simply to greet you, as well as ask your name."

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

"Indeed? I have one, final piece of business to discuss with you, Mr. Uzumaki," Fennec paused, his ears twitched atop his head. "I have been authorized to offer you a place amongst the White Fang's ranks here on Menagerie."

Naruto stopped. The offer wasn't one he would ever even consider, not after everything that had happened, but it was odd that it would be given. "Why? Why am I getting this offer?"

"Make no mistake, it does not take an offer to be allow to join the White Fang. All Faunus are welcome. But we have specifically requested you to join us."

"Sorry, but no."

Fennec bowed his head, "I see. I am saddened to hear that. It would have been most welcoming to have another friend of Ms. Belladonna's among our ranks. She was one of our best, before young Taurus corrupted her to his cause. Though, it is delightful to see she has realized the error of his ways."

"Goodbye," Naruto said, sitting back down. He reentered Sage Mode, feeling Fennec leave, headed towards another nearby Aura, which he assumed was just his brother. Creepy guys.

Still, though… an invitation to the Fang.

"Don't be fooled, brat. You know as well as I do that they're lying."

'Yeah, I know. Still, it would've been a good way to spy on them.

"After all this time, now you start thinking like a shinobi?"

'Yeah.'

So, I noticed that a lot of people were looking forward to Naruto meeting Blake's parents, though I have no idea why. But to all of you, do bear in mind that this isn't the only time you'll see him interact with them.

Until Chapter 24!