A/N: I am currently contemplating whether or not I should prepare to resubmit an edited version of this story in the future...or if I should allow someone to adopt it to do so. But in any case, I hope to continue writing this story without needing to change anything (I've come too far to make any changes now). Do read and review, would you kindly?

…

[Ichiraku Ramen Stand, three weeks later…]

The taste of the miso soup mixed in with the noodles had been the cornerstone of the night. On that, Meilan could agree with her lover, especially since the three of them had to capture that adorable little cat multiple times in the same day. Aside from the Akimichi-owned restaurants, the Ichiraku family was so far one of the few places to not discriminate against Naruto, who was currently gorging himself on his fifth bowl, no doubt because Kurama was hungry too and had a craving for ramen. "Now this is the food of the gods!" said Naruto, having slurped down all the miso soup, "I'll tell you Ayame, while I like the variety and quality of the Akimichi restaurants, they have not won my heart like your ramen does."

"Well Naruto-kun, I highly doubt it's a surprise," said the ramen chef's daughter, "My dad told me that whatever you want to do, you have to put your whole heart into it. I put my heart into all my cooking."

Oh, she did not like the close proximity that Ayame was to her lover. As a matter of fact, Meilan could not help but wonder as to the intentions of this sister-like figure to Naruto. It's almost as if she wanted to cross the line from sister to lover in a short amount of time, and that she wanted to mix her scent in with the ramen to try and seduce him in order to do it. "He speaks the truth," she said, interrupting the interaction, "My mother, when she was still alive, taught me that too."

"I suppose it's a universal thing," replied Ayame, looking at the young Baihe with a searching look in her eyes, "Perhaps it's something that all parents know and is a lesson destined to be taught to children of all ages."

"On that I can agree," said Naruto, a slightly solemn tone added to his voice, "Assuming of course, I knew how my parents were like."

The two girls looked towards the only boy between them with realization on their faces…how could they have forgotten? Naruto was an orphan…of course he wouldn't know, but before they could comfort him, they noted that he perked up a good deal afterwards. "Then again, I suppose GSD-sensei was kinda like a father to me…and Sarutobi-jiji was like a grandfather. I just wonder what it would be like if my real parents were around for me…"

Before Ayame could say anything about the matter, they noted someone running up to the stand, and panting as he did…it wasn't long until the round form of Akimichi Choji had arrived on the scene. His huffing and puffing had become even heavier the second he arrived. "Naruto! Something bad has just happened!"

Naruto turned to face the Akimichi member with a concerned look crossing his features. "What seems to be the problem?"

In his panic, Choji had to catch his breath as he spoke. "Tonight's Music Night at the bar, and the band that was supposed to show up tonight; their singer, guitarist, and bassist all fell ill on the way over, and the drummer broke her hand in an accident. I need a band fast! Hana was in the bar, she said you and Meilan can play our instruments, so I came to you to ask for help! Please, I'm begging you!"

"Well, it looks like we're going to be playing at Choji's place after all," said Naruto, a bit glibly, "But are you ready Meilan? This is in fact last-minute."

The girl looked to Naruto as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Of course I'm ready. The Baihe family had taught music as a basis for our fighting style. This would be no different. I just hope you're ready Naruto-kun; you haven't touched a guitar since the Uchiha mansion."

At that, Naruto simply grinned. "I'm very sure we'll do well, assuming that I don't have any haters in the crowd. But it's likely they'll be too busy focusing on you to care." He then turned to Choji with a confident look on his features. "We'll do it."

The Akimichi heir was happy. As he jumped for joy, now knew that they could salvage what was left of the night before any customers were lost! "Thanks! I appreciate it! You don't have to worry about a drummer. I've been practicing on them for a while now."

"I'll come too," said Ayame, looking in with curiosity in her eyes, "I'm off for tonight in a few seconds, so I may as well hear how well you play. But can I bring a friend along?"

"Sure, but you're going to have to be fast about it," said Naruto, "This is an emergency after all."

As soon as Naruto and Meilan ran off with Choji towards the bar, a light and giddy squeal had come from Ayame as she ran back into the stand to tell her father where she was going. She had preparations to make and a certain friend in the stall across from her to tell!

…

[Meanwhile, somewhere near the shores of Yu no Kuni…]

Tonight was a very lovely night—the relaxing sounds of the waves crashing against the rocks, the cool breeze blowing past the trees, yes…tonight was a lovely night indeed! GSD sat where he was in order to wait for his contact to arrive…as he waited, he looked back on the past. So many things had changed since he had attained enlightenment and earned his title as a sage—thus granting him eternal life.

It was then that his thoughts went back to the past—to the days when this world was once known as Arad. So many changes had taken place…the Bantu Tribe eventually intermarried with outsiders, and split into two factions that would found Tetsu no Kuni and Yukigakure. Another big change was that Grandis and her church had long disappeared from the face of the world, but their teachings still remain. Before he could think any more on the changes that had happened in the past, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a weight land on the branch above him.

"On time as usual," said the voice from above him, "You never seem to disappoint."

His contact had arrived. "I usually make it a point to show up at meeting places on time…unlike a certain ninja I've heard of. So how have things been going, Minet?"

Upon finishing his sentence, the woman dropped from the branch, and landed on her feet and in front of GSD. She had reddish-bronze skin and white hair; her eyes were a glowing cyan color, and she was wearing black and revealing clothing while carrying what appeared to be a sword in a red sheath. Aside from her generous assets and a figure that most women would kill for, the most distinguishing fact about this woman however was that she had pointed ears. The elves of Arad...it had definitely been a while since he thought about them. Gradually, as time had passed, the elves had gotten themselves united under one banner, and it was in the island nation of New Lorien, unknown to all but a few outsiders, and the neighboring Nadeshiko no Sato.

Since its formation, Sharan had been crowned as queen of the kingdom—as far as he heard, she'd been struggling to keep both her people and what was left the high elves together in the same nation…with a good amount of success; that seemed to be a good improvement, as Sharan's specialty was in the art of magic. Kargon was knighted as Master of the Forge—the boy had a very friendly rivalry with the smith known as Masamune…rumor had it that he even learned a trick or two from the swordsmith in the art of making swords of high quality. Siusha had opened her own bar in the island, and from the canteens that Minet kept on bringing with her, the woman had clearly not lost her touch—even with new ingredients…it was a shame that Grubeck had died off along with many of the other goblins, as he was her most frequent customer; but on the other hand, she had plenty of customers with very interesting stories to tell. And finally, Minet herself was knighted as Chief of the Royal Guard…teaching all prospective guards of the kingdom in the art of guerilla warfare and in her art of necromancy.

"Everything's going well so far," answered Minet with a sigh, "not bad considering how relatively short Sharan's rule is as of now. She's actually considering to put a team or two into these 'exams' she's heard about…sounds interesting come to think about it—maybe it'll help rid me of my boredom." At this, she continued to look at GSD…with a frown creeping upon her delicate features. "I just spoke with Pungjin about a month ago…he heard about what happened to his family."

The old sage let out a grunt and a nod of acknowledgement. "I know of what happened. I was there—I didn't see anything, but I heard everything…as of this moment, the last of his bloodline still flows through the last member of his family." At this point, he let out a small chuckle, and grinned just a little bit. "And it just so happens that said 'last member' is smitten with my apprentice…I suppose Pungjin will be happy for her, as well as knowing that she's in good hands; but all that aside, you're probably here to check up on the prophecy."

"You would be correct old man. How goes the little brat's training anyway?"

"I can tell he looks forward to seeing you again. You have been like a big-sister figure to him the day the two of you met. All in all, he's progressing well. I never expected him to be getting strong this fast, but I suppose that it was his genetics that determined this. I only envy him in that he is likely to gain eternal youth out of this deal, assuming of course his progression goes as it should and he attains enlightenment at a younger age than I."

"I don't blame you for being jealous—if his father was anything to go by, he'd probably be an even bigger lady-killer. Unfortunately for me, his heart belonged only to Kushina. Not that I hate her for it, I'm just jealous that she got that lucky is all. Tell me, is he getting a harem without knowing it as well?"

Upon hearing that, GSD let out a loud laugh. "Trust me Minet, he already has the makings of one taking root. But back to business—what's this I hear about sending some prospective members of the Royal Guard to the Chuunin Exams?"

A light sigh had left her lips when she heard that. Minet had this wish to go home now and take a long nap. "Yes, about that— her majesty felt that it was about time to reveal ourselves to the world of today. She feels we've been isolated long enough. I don't blame her, we need to make exports and import from the world at large if we are to survive economically. Nadeshiko no Sato is a good neighbor, and is a good trading partner, but we still need to open our ports up wider. I advised the queen to open the ports slowly but surely. She felt it was a good idea, so she sent a request to send members of the Royal Guard out to these exams, to re-introduce our kingdom to the world through that."

"You are very wise," said GSD, nodding his head, "You should probably be one of her majesty's advisors."

"Ha! I would be killed in the world of politics…but once in a while, I see something that needs my attention, and I give my opinion. That's about it. It was good seeing you again GSD…tell Naruto that his big-sis said 'hi.'"

GSD nodded in acknowledgement as Minet had left through the branches of the trees. As he got up to leave as well, he smiled to himself at the likely predicament that Naruto was going to find himself in when it concerned women. He only hoped that the poor boy would stay away from girls like that one in Tetsu no Kuni with the robots…that girl sure was violent!

…

[Chouza's Bar and Grill, Kitchen…twenty minutes later…]

The bar was getting anxious—they were promised music with their dinner! Tonight was Music Night in the bar, and there was not even a little melody being played with the sake! Chouza could tell that they were so close to rioting now, and no amount of sake or food was going to appease the crowd now! As he was frantically racing to try and calm down the customers, he heard the door open. "Dad, I've got them!"

With a look of joy, Chouza turned to see his son return with Naruto and his girlfriend Meilan in tow. He seemed to be praying to whatever deity was listening. "Thank Kami! We finally have musicians! My prayers have finally been answered!"

"We've got to hurry," said Meilan, gripping Naruto's hand tighter as she surveyed the tense atmosphere of the establishment, "We've got to play something before the patrons tear this place apart!"

Naruto started grating his teeth as he spoke. "Meilan, I'm not disagreeing with you or anything, but you're kind of breaking my fingers right now!"

Upon hearing that, Meilan looked down at her hand and turned red with a sheepish look on her face as she noticed that she was indeed gripping Naruto's hand a little too tightly. "Sorry!" she said quickly, loosening her grip.

The second relief had crossed his features, Naruto let out a sigh. "That's okay, but all that aside, I have a song in mind; Choji, how well can you play…"

…

[Chouza's Bar and Grill, somewhere in the crowd…]

This was the spot that they were supposed to come to…Ayame wore casual wear consisting of beige slacks, a gunmetal vest, and a form-fitting black t-shirt and her long hair done up in a ponytail. She had brought her friend from the stand across from hers and was currently being guided to her table. The pink hair was clear indication that Sayuri was a member of the Haruno family—it's like their trademark in addition to the physical beauty of their women. With her, the saying 'looks can be deceiving' applied; dainty-looking and civilian she may be, but defenseless she was not—because she just so happened to be a member of the civilian militia and served directly under Higurashi Hiten who was like a second father to her. The only distinguishing feature that separated her from the other Haruno women was that she had a lovely singing voice—even if she was making small talk or even scolding you, you could sit around all day listening to that voice of hers. "Still worried about your cousin?" asked Ayame, knowing that Sayuri cared about her family despite being ostracized and labeled the black sheep.

"You know it," she answered, the concern on her face, "I know Sakura and I haven't gotten along well in recent years, but I still care. I see that there is hope for her one day…I don't want anything bad to happen to her."

At that, Ayame could only nod her head in agreement. Sayuri was a good person inside and out—she even remembered seeing her being nice to Naruto once or twice. She made a point not to tell her that Sakura had been turned into a slave to the Uchiha twins; she didn't know how she was going to handle it. "I suppose you're right. But still, she really needs a wake-up call. If she's going to act like a spoiled brat, then she's likely to get herself killed in five seconds flat. Although from what I've seen, she's getting a little better."

"Yeah, I've heard about that…"

Before the two of them could continue their conversation, they heard the sound of tapping on a microphone, and standing on the stage was Meilan who was clearing her throat and testing her voice, and Choji who was getting onto his drum set. But the part about this that had people booing was the fact that four copies of Naruto were walking onto the stage, and tuning all the plucked string instruments—one was working on the acoustic guitar, another on the bass, the third on the electric guitar, and the last one was putting on the picks for the koto on his fingers. Cries of 'demon slut', 'bitch', and 'whore of the devil' were heard among the crowd until they saw the demon-armed boys pause, and then they felt like something was grabbing them by the throat and slowly starting to squeeze as they turned to glare (if it were possible for blind people to glare) at the audience with angry sneers. They instantly got the message and shut up. Once the audience was silence, Meilan turned to face Naruto with a grateful look in her eyes and then turned her attention back to the audience. "Ladies and gentlemen," she said in the microphone, "I must apologize, but the band that was to be here tonight can't make it due to unforeseen circumstances. And so for tonight, we make our debut as serious musicians!"

Once she said that, Meilan turned to her impromptu band and with a '1, 2, 3, and go!' the Naruto copy at the koto started playing, and Choji followed in synch…before the Naruto with the bass guitar started with the riff and Meilan started singing…

…

Chiriyuku hanabira ga machi wo irodoru kedo
Saigo no toki na noto kaze ga oshiete kureta
Kisetsu wa mawaru kara shinpai wa ira nai to
Ano toki yokogitta tsuki ga terashite kureta

Itsumo onaji namida bakari nagashi tsudukeru
Nakusa nakereba kiduka nai kara

Tada hitotsu negai ga kanau no nara
Kinou no jibun ni "Sayounara"
Kawara nai omoi ga aru no naraba
Itsuka sakura no shita de

Ano hi no yakusoku ga iroase nai you ni
Yubi de nazotte miru asa no mabayui hikari
Hitotsu toshite onaji toki wa otozure nai kara
Mou mayowazu ni saki he susumu no

Taisetsu na inori ga todoku you ni
Kyou mo utai tsudukete yuku
Sagashiteta kotae wa kitto aru to
Sotto oshiete kureru

Tada hitotsu negai ga kanau no nara
Toki wo koete todoketai
Kawara nai omoi ga aru no naraba
Itsuka sakura no shita de

Taisetsu na inori ga todoku you ni
Kyou mo utai tsudukete yuku
Sagashiteta kotae wa kono ni aru to
Sotto oshiete kureru

Kanashimi wo Resetto shite

…

When the song finished with the acoustic guitar solo, Meilan looked out at the crowd to see that many of them had their mouths hanging. This had to be the quietest they'd ever heard of the crowd. Perhaps their skills at music had dulled. One of the Naruto clones was about to walk up and comfort his lover when he heard clapping. At first, it started off with just one person giving applause, then it gradually grew to infect the entire crowd with glee as they clapped. He knew then and there that they would never clap for him as he heard the words 'Meilan' from their mouths, but that was okay so long as they didn't insult her again. Besides, the crowd was calling for an

…

A/N: A bit short, but I decided to compensate with a promise that an arc is coming up next…

…

Confirmed in harem so far:

Hinata

Tenten

Anko

Meilan

Kikyo

Mei

Ayame

Temari

Fem Haku (she'll be considered a Glacial Master-type Mage)

Fem Mechanic

Fem Priest (not sure which subclass yet)

Fem Thief (unlike the Uchiha twins who will be Slayer/Thief hybrids, this will be all-thief…unless you want Minet added, as I plan to have a dark elf in the harem)

Fem Kurama (she will be all the Slayer classes, but mainly a Berserker)

Hanabi

Koyuki

Shizune

Hana

Satsuki

Tsukiko

Fu

…

Unconfirmed in harem so far:

Ino

Sakura (if she does get in, then I plan to convert her gradually) or Sayuri

Isaribi

Shion

Konan

Kurotsuchi

Karui

Samui

Fem Gaara (not sure if I should do this…)

Yugito

Fem Samurai

…

Dungeon Fighter Techniques:

Murderous Wave—Asura

…

Songs Used:

"Dispossession-Strings Version" by Okabe Keiichi from "Nier"—GSD speaks with Minet

"Reset" by Ayaka Hirahara from "Okami"—playing at Choza's Bar and Grill