Author's Note: Interestingly, Noriko will begin working on some creations to introduce real war to the Elemental Nations. Granted, when I say that, I don't demean the fact that by their standards, the first, second, and third wars were certainly bloody and violent. But by the standards of our own world they could barely be counted as a serious engagement, much less a war. So we'll be seeing just what methods of modern conflict Noriko is bringing with her.

Other than that, we'll find out what was in the black scroll that was sealed in with the dragon contract, and I'll admit here and now that it is blatantly inspired by/copied from Iryo-nin Kasa, which is a far superior piece of writing compared to my own works. So go read it after this chapter.

The last thing we'll see is Noriko's new hobby/occupation.

More than a year had passed since I had signed the Dragon contract. In a way things had changed significantly and they had also stayed the same. For instance, my interactions with the village of Konoha were still exactly the way they had been before, only there were fewer instances during which civilians attempted violence against me. On the opposite side though, my private studies and my growth behind my outer facade had been phenomenal. My physical abilities were close at mid-chunin level if not high chunin already due to all the help from Kurama and the effects of the Dragon contract. My jutsu abilities had to be solid jounin level by now as well. I had mastered twelve A rank jutsus and nearly a hundred more in the D to B rank categories.

I was quite satisfied with that progress, but if there was any real point of pride for me, it was and is my skill in fuinjutsu. With nearly two hundred clones cranking away at various projects and the guide book my parents had left me, I had reached a point where I was certain of my mastery. I wasn't sure if I was a match for Orochimaru's cursed seal yet, but I was able to pull apart large sections of my father's Hiraishin seal to analyze. I couldn't use it yet, but I was close, extremely so.

The subject of seals brought another set of all-too vivid memories to mind as I looked down and scowled at my bandaged arms. My limbs weren't really injured and any damage they had had would have been taken care of in short order, but they were now marked, and with my current position in the world I was taking no chances in someone coming after me for what was inked across my skin.

The marks still burned like when I first got them when I made use of them, but it was fading. Soon they would be fully adjusted to my body and the pain would go away all together, at least according to the damn things themselves.

-Flashback Start-

"Alright. Summons are contracted, jutsu study is underway, seal study is underway, and my physical training is ahead of schedule. So what's next, Tou-san?" I asked Kurama, speaking out loud in the sealed privacy of my apartment.

'Well there are a couple things you could do Kit, but if I had to pick one it would be opening and using that black scroll that came with the contract.'

"That thing scares the shit out of me, Kurama, and you know it." I groused, "It's like I'm looking at a massive graveyard whenever I see it."

'Well it's a Saturday and early morning, grab the thing and head to the base. You might as well get this over with, it's been three months Kit, and that feeling won't go away on its own.'

"Why are you so insistent? This isn't like you Tou-san." I asked softly as I removed my inheritance scroll from a storage seal just beneath my sternum.

'I'm insistent because it's unnatural and I want it dealt with, not sitting around in our home, Noriko.'

Ah, he used my name. That was the sign that I should just shut up and listen. I had eventually taken notice after the last few months of the...affection that had entered our relationship and partnership during our conversations.

It was enough that I finally caved to his demands.

"Fine, you win." I replied, taking the black scroll and sealing it into my palm before putting the main scroll away. A Kage Bushin and a quick shunshin served to get me unnoticed out if my apartment and to my warehouse base whereupon I unsealed the rather...significant hole in the floor my clones had made which had turned into a tunnel dropping straight down into the earth with lighting seals every ten feet in rings of eight around the tunnel's circumference.

Making a control exercise of this little trip, I tilted over the edge and stuck to the wall before walking straight down after resealing the entrance behind me. While I had never properly measured the depth of the shaft, I was fairly certain it was close to a full mile give e time it took to reach the bottom.

The end of the shaft, as it were, was a completely bare room six feet high by twelve feet on either side. A single door on one wall lead into a thirty foot passage that then needed in another door which opened into my main training hall.

As I opened that second door and took in the sight of hundreds of my clones studying, practicing, and improving, a little chuckle escaped me. Yes this room was a 'hall', but while accurate that word was sadly lacking in intensity.

The main hall was a circular cavern, which had originally been more than a dozen natural caves before my clones took to work. Now it was a circular room with a ceiling about five hundred feet above the center and and a diameter of a thousand feet.

This one room had taken weeks of work the part of literally thousands of my clones and nearly seventy overloaded and worn out storage scrolls to make. But now, now it was finished, and dozens of rooms ringed the outer edge of the chamber, providing quieter and more protected environments in which sensitive experiments and tests could occur.

It was one of these rooms that I made a beeline to, accompanied by a dozen freshly created clones that were ready to try out my new iryojutsus if anything went wrong. So as I knelt down in the middle of the classroom sized practice room, I slit my finger on a tooth and swiped it across the scarlet seal on the black scroll before unrolling it. With a few seconds to look it over, I noted how the entire scroll was an inky black. Where most scrolls had vellum or parchment for a writing surface, this scroll just as a sheet of solid black interrupted by two rather plain circular seals in white that were helpfully labeled 'left' and 'right'.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the lack of proper instruction but I followed my gut and put my hands on the respective circles before I pushed chakra out of my palms and into the scroll.

There was a noticeable pause where nothing happened before my entire body lit up with pain, the spasming, burning sensation reminding my distinctly of a short training session I had had with the lightning dragon by the name of Donnerschlag, only far more painful.

My voice rose and rose in pitch and volume before it finally became too much for my stressed vocal chords to continue with in their already damaged state. I could feel something that I could only mentally compare to boiling water, only hundreds of times worse climbing across my fingers and onto my hands. The pain slid across my palms and the back of my hands slowly before eventually reaching my wrists and making its way up my forearms towards my elbows. There were noises all around me, unfamiliar voices, strange scents like brine and tasty foods. Were it not so fucking painful I would have said the experience was almost surreal.

I only lasted a little longer before passing out, though going by the memories of my clones I kept thrashing and trying to scream long after that until the process finally finished a hour after starting.

In my clone's memories after the fact, I could see how the skin of my arms, all the way up to almost reach my shoulders and collarbones, was heavily inflame. There were thin tracks of vivid red irritation running between and around thousands of black scribbles that now covered my limbs starting just past my wrists. As I woke with a pained grunt I could only whimper as my clones tended to my arms before I looked to my injured limbs to take in just had happened.

The black swirls and symbols were completely baffling with how much pain I was in when I woke up so I settled for turning my attention to the scroll that was the source of the issue only to gape in surprise.

The previously white seal circles on the scroll were deep black now and the previously onyx writing surface of the scroll was bone white now. It didn't strike me that the scroll was used up and worthless now -it still felt unnatural- but more like it was waiting to be used again.

With the pain putting tears in my eyes though, I resolved to puzzle that mystery later as I munched on a snack bar a clone shoved in my mouth after I had laid back down.

-Flashback End-

My thoughts were dragged away from my past choices and into the current moment by a defeating -CRACK- which was almost instantly followed by an even louder -BOOM- and then the on rush of memories that belonged to a trio of clones several hundred feet away. Looking up from partially filled notebook I had been writing in, I scowled slightly at the fading cloud of dust, watching as teams of clones moved in on the site and hosed the dust and smoke away with D class Suiton jutsus and C class Doton jutsus to ensure the location was intact.

My concern for the progress of my clones was derailed when my inner demon decided to speak his mind.

'I will state it again, Kit, the fact that your last world left the knowledge of how to create these things out in the open for anyone is idiotic.' Kurama stated in a slightly sour tone.

'I'm well aware of that Tou-san,' I replied with exaggerated tiredness, 'However, they didn't put everything out there on the web so of course there's quite the learning curve. Some mistakes are inevitable, I'm just fortunate I have my Bushins to make them for me.'

'No kidding, I would not be happy if I had to put you back together after that last failure, or any of the other failures, Noriko.'

'Neither would I, Kurama, neither would I. The good news is that they're getting closer to managing to make real Semtex though,' I mused, obviously distracted as I sorted through my new memories.

'Yes, a five foot deep crater is certainly closer.' Sniped Kurama.

'It is! Last time it was eight feet and part of the test room collapsed!' I cried out in mock hurt.

'Yes, well just make sure it doesn't get worse, I don't fancy getting buried alive a mile underground.'

'Neither do I. Now if you don't mind, I've almost figured out the key to the seals on my arms so I'll finally be able to figure out what they are and how to use them properly.'

'Then get to it.' Kurama snorted before I felt him curl up to sleep in the back of my mind.

Damn fox. He just had to go and sleep so I couldn't bitch to him, of course I wouldn't bitch at him, but just knowing someone was around to hear me whine made it so much better when I needed to. I had a task ahead of me though, so after replacing the three lost clones with new ones, I returned to my task of remembering, translating, and subsequently writing out the entirety of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

I wasn't sure how such fantasy stories would sell in a world of ninjas, but Tolkien's work was solid without a doubt so I was hopeful.

After three additional months of training and effort, I finally hit a wall so to speak in my efforts to improve myself, even with the aid of the memory seals across my arms. The issue that was in my way was experience.

I could train and study and practice all I wanted to, but the fact was that if I didn't have experience in real combat then all of my abilities would be severely handicapped. Against foes that thought exactly as I did and had the same capabilities, namely Kage Bushins, I wasn't experiencing any of the danger and unpredictability that created seasoned warriors.

And while not a wall per say, I also had another issue slowing me down, namely money. The tools necessary for training -kunai, shuriken, dummies, scrolls, ink, brushes, etc- all cost money. I could steal some of what I needed, but if I took too much ANBU would become involved rather than the disinterested Uchiha police, and that would be good for no one involved. Some of what I needed could be found in training grounds and the Forest of Death, but blank scrolls and sealing ink were rare finds outside of the proper stores. This I needed money beyond my relatively meager allowance from Hiruzen if I wanted to keep up my efforts.

As such I chose to solve both issues with one act if possible via the course of bounty hunting. So after a brief trip into ANBU headquarters to put glue in their coffee makers, I snagged a freshly printed bingo book before retreating to my apartment so I could read it in peace. As I read, I made sure to pay careful attention to all of the profiles, especially skills and the like before picking out a half a dozen missing ninja in the C-rank range that seemed to prefer hanging out in the Land of Fire rather than outside the borders.

Getting out of the village proved to be embarrassingly easy between a disguise, a plan, and a ChiKage Bushin taking my place to ensure no one noticed my absence. After waiting for the merchant caravan to come to Konoha, I transformed into a simple, unassuming man of about thirty years old, giving myself decent looking, if slightly old clothes and average looks to ensure I was overlooked. From there I paid one of the medium sized merchant carts to hitch a ride to an outlying village near where one of my targets had set up ship with a group of bandits that the caravan would pass through a few hours after leaving Konoha.

Getting out the gates was easy, the Uchiha police there hardly paid attention to the people riding in and on the merchants' carts and carriages, instead merely ensuring that my ride's papers were in order.

What followed was a boring, bumpy, and hot, five hour long ride along one of Hi no Kuni's major roads, trading stories and jokes with some of the people riding along with me. When we reached the village that was my supposed destination, I bid them a fond farewell and headed towards the village inn with the apparent goal of getting a roof for the night.

Once I was out of sight, I disappeared into the surrounding forest via shunshin before changing my appearance, taking on the appearance of a very fit young woman in her early twenties with light gray hair and vivid, yellow-gold eyes similar to a cat's...or Ancalagon's. From there I unsealed my supplies for my foray outside the safety of the village walls. There were two simple, matching katanas -which had come from a dead Kumo-nin in the last Chunin Exams- a supply of kunai, shuriken and exploding tags to fill out my weapon supplies. There was a full set of ANBU armor which over the course of months I had stolen the pieces to out of the worn and damaged armor that was thrown away until I had finally put together a complete, adult sized set of armor.

Of course I had made a number of changes when assembling it to ensure that the source wouldn't be identified, I had absolutely no interest in explaining that to Jiji much less anyone else. That armor went over a black bodysuit that I had reinforced with seals to do everything from keeping me cool and dry to ensuring the suit didn't tear on every scratch and could absorb some kinetic energy from impacts. Once the armor was over my bodysuit -a very of which I made note to get after graduation in my size, it was far too comfortable not to- I strapped on my weapons and returned my scrolls to their seals before pulling a dark gray cloak over everything which a hood to hide my face and hair. The last item, which I was rather proud of, was a helmet like mask similar in shape and appearance to a standard ANBU mask, only with a black, snarling dragon painted onto it with much greater detail than an ANBU mask to ensure it was not confused as such. That mask had been Kurama-tousan's idea, and I freely admitted it was awesome.

With all of that ready though, I had then set out in search of my first target...

...which lead me to the situation I was now in.

Perched in a tree just outside the edges of the camp, I watched with a disgusted grimace beneath my mask as a young woman, probably no older than about sixteen was dragged into the makeshift shack that sat in the center of the bandit camp. They were clearly a mobile group going by the sturdy and well maintained tents meaning that the shack was something they had found so I wouldn't have to worry too much about hidden compartments or serious traps. I needed to act quickly, so after taking a moment to sense the number of presences in the camp -there were twelve not including the teenager I had seen- I created three clones and nodded to them and we all drew our katanas before disappearing with a shunshin-

-and reappearing in the camp.

Two of my clones bashed down the door of the shack where the woman and her aggressor were and set to ensuring her safety while I and my other clone appeared on opposite sides of the cooking fire where five men were seated and eating a meal.

With a broad sweep of both my arms, I successfully decapitated two of the bandits while the third on the far right of my reach attempted to stand, getting high enough out of his seat that my blade, enhanced with wind chakra, didn't separate his head from his shoulder. Instead it carved into the top of his bicep before slicing through the bone with ease as it continued on into his chest before lopping the top inch off of his heart and his left ling before then continuing on to server his spinal cord, his right lung, and then his right arm in a spray of hot blood.

My clone accomplished its job similarly before we each moved to a nearby tent and continued our work, ruthlessly cutting down any bandits we found within. During the...fight...I found two other young women bound, gagged, and crying in a tent by the camp fire. I nodded to them before quickly moving to the next tent and killing the man sleeping inside. There was only one more man in the tens I was checking and he was...indisposed when I found him and subsequently dealt with him.

When there were no more chakra signatures in the area besides my own, my clones, and the three women, I sighed and closed my eyes in a furious mixture of emotions as I fought back the bile climbing up my throat. Before I could start my self recrimination could begin though, I had other things to take care of, namely three traumatized girls.

With a thoughtless motion I created five clones who quickly took away the bodies from around the campfire, looted them, and then burned then with a quick Katon. From there one of the two clones I sent into the shack carried out the teen who had been dragged inside just moments before with her face buried in the clone's shoulder as she sobbed.

'How...how could it be that easy? It...it shouldn't be so easy to kill someone...' I muttered in relative privacy of my mind, blinking away the tears that I felt trying to force their way into my eyes.

'Those men made it easy Noriko. If not mentally than at the very least physically,' was Kurama's unexpected response, 'They were horrible people and quite likely deserved far worse than you gave them. You already knew what they were going to do to those girls, and had likely done to others in the past. Could you really not kill them for attempting to do to those girls that those men did to you?'

I mentally snarled in response, letting my three original clones begin tending to the women while the other five continued looting the camp, leaving the shack to me.

My steps were tense as I passed the threshold, stepping over the splintered remains of the door to see the chunin nuke-nin that was my target laying on the floor minus his head. That was sitting in the corner with a perverse leer on its face that made me want to hurl so I quickly sealed it away into an appropriately prepared scroll before I went to work on looting my target.

I found two knives, a couple ryo, and a rather expensive looking dagger that was hidden in his boot. There was a bit more in the shack which I pocketed and sealed away before I went outside, pausing only to torch the building in disgust before turning my attention to the former prisoners. My clones had done good work tending their various injuries and so I sighed and nodded, watching as they dismissed themselves in clouds of smoke after returning the gesture, leaving me alone with the three girls.

All three of them looked fearful at the sudden disappearance of their rescuers, but they shifted their nervous attention to me as I approached, using my approach to keep them from talking while I sorted through my clones' memories. When I was finished I squatted down opposite the three and finally spoke.

"I'm not going to ask if you three are alright. There's no way you are after this experience so instead let me ask, how bad are you three doing?" I asked softly, mentally enjoying having my voice be undamaged even if it wasn't exactly my voice.

"I-I t-think I'm okay," the teen who had been dragged into the shack whispered, "You...your copies arrived before he could...before he could-" Her voice broke off into sobs as I grimaced and tried to decide what to do to help her. It was with a resigned mental sigh that I reached forwards and rested my hand on her head, lacing my fingers into her hair before I replied.

"I know. I know exactly what you mean. I can't tell you that it will ever get better, but it will fade with time and effort. You need to make an effort to get involved with others and be happy. Dwelling on what almost happened will leave you miserable and hurt those that care about you."

Her sobs slowed after a little bit and she eventually met my eyes with her own red and swollen ones as she stuttered out a question.

"Y-you w-were...you w-were r-raped?"

In other circumstances I probably would have slapped her for that question but at the moment I settled for nodding as I closed my eyes and shared just a little of my pain.

"When I was six" I began, catching a flinch at my age from all three women before I continued, "A group of drunks attacked me and raped me. I was saved and the men killed, but only after several had already had a go at me." It physically hurt to keep my voice from cracking as I dredged up the memories of my sixth birthday, a cautioning huff coming from Kurama as he watched through my own senses.

In an instant things changed though as the girl I had been comforting nodded and reached forwards before pulling me into a tight hug. My finely trained reactions nearly had me throwing her off so I could attack, but a second of hesitation allowed me to squash the automatic response as I gently returned her hug, patting her back and somehow enjoying the contact -apparently misery really does love company- as I said, "It'll be alright now though, I'll take you all back to a nearby village so you can find your families."

The girl holding onto me nodded while the other two nodded when I looked at them. With that acknowledgement, I unwrapped myself from the teen hugging me before I stood and pulled her up with me. Carefully, I took a trio of bundles from my cloak as I said, "It won't be enough to make up for this experience at those people's hands, but this is some of what they had. Go ahead and take it, use it to help yourselves out, alright?"

"A-Alright..." The one who had been hugging me said with a nod before taking one of the bundles before the other two took theirs.

"Good now all three of you take my hand, we'll be traveling back to civilization by a ninja method."

There was hesitation there, but they took my hand fairly quickly and without complaint before we vanished in a shunshin, heading for the town I had started this trip at.

"It's more than enough," I said softly, holding up my right hand to forestall any protests as I tucked away a small pouch of ryo. I was trying desperately not to be greedy and to not insult the village leader as he attempted to reward me for bringing back the girls, the eldest of which was actually his niece.

"But you got rid of-" he began, only for me to interrupt him.

"I did, and I will already receive a reward for killing him. You have already given me a gift, there is no need to give me any more. Knowing that I helped is enough." I said calmly, though I made certain there was a forceful edge to my tone.

He seemed a bit crestfallen at my rejection, but eventually he nodded before asking, "May we at least have your name so we know who it was that helped us?"

'Oh for Fuck's sake...'

'You walked into this one, Kit,' Kurama laughed in my head while I grimaced behind my mask and wracked my brain for something to tell the leader. I hit upon a valid answer fairly quickly and almost grinned. It would hold with my mask, especially if I ever had to use a summoning.

"I go by Ryuukoe (Dragon's Voice). I hope that will be enough." I answered.

There was a raised eyebrow in response, but the old man let it pass with a nod before I thanked him again for the reward and then vanished in a swirl of shunshin.

Returning to the village presented me with a new issue; getting in. On the way out I had the convenient cover of the merchant caravan. Now, not so much.

So after going over a number of possibilities in my head and with Kurama, I settled for just maintaining my identity as Ryuukoe and going in to redeemed the bounty at the ANBU post in the Hokage's tower, which offered me an easy way to change back into myself. Without a gesture, I made and dismissed a shadow clone, instantly relaying my plan to my Chikage Bushin who I knew would quickly be separating from whatever it was doing before setting a leisurely path to the Hokage Tower.

Satisfied with that, I finally approached the gates, nodding to the Uchiha police on duty before coming to a halt at a raised hand from one of them behind a desk.

"Purpose of visiting the village?" He asked in a rather bored tone.

"Claiming a bounty."

"Whose?"

"Ex-chunin Sahashi Midori from Iwa."

Surprisingly, that got looks of interest from the policeman who nodded before he gestured to the form on the table in front if him, "Sign here and head to the Hokage tower, the ANBU post will verify and pay the bounty."

"Thank you," I replied calmly, signing 'Ryuukoe' on the form and taking in the Uchiha's raised eyebrow before I shrugged and headed into the village and towards the tower.

Turning in the bounty was surprisingly easy and clean, simply hand over the proof, let them verify it, then accept a large envelope of cash, in this case fifteen thousand ryo. Nodding my thanks to the ANBU on duty, I then asked directions to the restroom and my way inside to find my clone quickly waiting for me.

Nodding, I disrobed and sealed away my outfit before donning my usual clothes while my Chikage Bushin transformed into an exact copy of Ryuukoe before she left and headed out of the village while I made actual use of the facilities before using Shinshin to return to my apartment. A quick summon and dismissal of a clone let my Chikage Bushin know to dismiss itself as soon as things were safe.

When the rush of memories arrived an hour later I sighed and grabbed a shower before laying down to go over all the information my Bushin had collected over my absence.

Well there's chapter seven! Really going out and becoming a bounty hunter was a spur of the moment thing that will become both a plot point and an entertainment factor in later chapters.

Also, here's a review of Noriko's current skills and potential:

Ninjutsu: 4.5(5)
Taijutsu: 3(3.5)
Genjutsu: 1(1)
Intelligence: 4.5(5)
Strength: 3.5(4)
Speed: 3.5(4)
Stamina: 3.5(4)
Hand Seals: 2.5(3)
Fūinjutsu: 3.5(4.5)

Total: 29.5(34)

As you can see, Noriko's actual capabilities are catching up quickly to what there maximums would be had she been raised with proper attention like a clan child. Genjutsu is going to be her main weakness until she either becomes a genin and gets regular opponents to practice on, or that she finally breaks down and starts trying them out on the villagers for being dicks. Once she has her first tail some of her stats are quite literally going to fly off the charts.