I do not own Naruto, Dragon Age (minor, not to a degree warranting a crossover status (in my opinion) nor any other element that may arise in this story. I'm fairly sure that has well been established at this point... In any case, this story is for entertainment purposes only. Why else would it be in FanFiction?

Answer me that, I dare you! (Supreme glare (OF DOOM)!)

Of consequences: From it an Empire

Chapter Four: When in Yonzo...

Yonzo Province, fifteen years ago, two months later

He couldn't help but grin as he knelt down and inspect the sprouts shooting out of the tilled soil. Each one a pumpkin waiting for maturity, courtesy of Old Lady Fujiko who kept some seeds as a memento of the previous owner. With a sigh however he stood up and patted at the hand stitched pants, a gift from the villagers amongst other things such as a worn shirt and a bandana.

Given that he had long since cleared the land beforehand there wasn't much for the villagers to teach him other than how to prepare the land, till it, plant seeds and so on. Other than that and watering them every now and then he had nothing else to do other than train in secret to keep his skills sharp and to at least try to expand his repertoire of skills. Try being the keyword of course; it was a full week before he could taste food normally again after attempting to recreate Sasuke's fireball technique. If training became too dull for him, which frankly surprised him, he would put his skills to the test by hunting the local game if he could find them or else follow the occasional patrol of soldiers he found on the roads, occasionally messing with them where he could for his own amusement. But if all else failed, and he's been finding himself doing this more and more as of late when his exercises were done, he visited the village and essentially spent the rest of his day there mingling with the others, playing with the children and helping out when they, the village in general, wanted it...

And this day would not be so different from his burgeoning routine.

Double checking the bandana he had received from the villagers to keep the majority of his hair hidden, he henged himself into 'Jiraiya' whom was dressed as he was now in his farmers clothes before setting off through the trees. A moment later he came back, grumbling to himself as he dug out some canvas from under the house. Soon the sprouts were covered by the collective amount of cloth as a precaution should a patrol wander by and actually bother to notice someone was living there.

XVX

Yama outskirts

Being something of a local celebrity for saving their stock for the taxes to come, it felt much like the time he came back after defeating Pain... before he was he expelled from the ranks. Unlike in Konoha however the people here were a bit less... reserved. People often were greeting him heartily in the streets, often in a shout that drew both attention on himself as well as people out of whatever they were doing, napping included, to either greet him or else attempt to crush him in a bear hug. More often than not people would give him a gift of some kind when they were able to be it in the form of knickknacks or snacks, or even sometimes a marriage proposal to their available daughters...

Needless to say he had to politely decline those offers. The snacks he took without argument however.

Sadly however there was at least one distinct problem whenever he visited the village that only grew worse as time wore on and the story of his 'raid' on the bandit camp grew more preposterous despite the utter truth, baring a few facts here and there involving his jutsu of course... In the end though he ended up looking over his shoulder more so than he would've liked for a danger which was becoming worse than the time he spent on the run— his stalkers. Compromised virtually half of the village's star-struck eligible daughters and almost the entirety of their widows, some of whom were more... dangerous than others than he would've cared to learn. But unfortunately there was ultimately nothing he could do without feeling guilty in the least... On the bright side though it helped him better identify who's who in the village. Namely anyone who held some sort of authority to repel them should things become truly dire for him.

Unfortunately that didn't always work out as well as he would've liked.

Still, at any rate, in their own way they provided a different sort of training for him... namely how well he could discern a trap lying in wait or else how fast he can escape without resorting to an overly obvious use of chakra. Not that it always worked though, especially when they ambushed him; they were surprisingly crafty, much less sneaky for civilians. Especially the older women... more so the ones who he learned had a fetish for bondage, amongst other thing...

Within the forest bordering the village Naruto came to an abrupt halt as a mix of a disapproving frown and a grimace. "Pervy-Sage would love it here were he in my shoes," he groaned. He shuddered and rubbed his arms to dispel the feeling of his flesh crawling...

It didn't really help much.

Rustle!

"Oh please no..."

"Charge!"

Rare though it was, they did ambush him in the forest time and again. Immediately he breathed out a sigh of relief however as the figures lying in wait came at him with exaggerated war cries. Instead of being ambushed by his more stalkers once more, it was the kids from the village, or at least a fraction of them coming at him with tree branches and old worn balls.

In a sense however they were his other 'stalkers' too. Ultimately disorganized and as whimsical as children ought to be, they were the another consequence of the story of his recovery of their crops. Unfortunately though, for him at least, they only came after him in hopes of proving a rumor he had learned to have been passing about the village borne from the cynics and speculators, one that, much to his chagrin, helped explain why he refused to move into the village proper: even if unguarded, who better to sneak off with stolen grains than a shinobi? No one chased him after all. No tracks were left behind even when he entered the village with his clones. And surely it would've taken a normal person much longer than himself to get there and come back! It was not confirmed however, for them at least. It would seem Old Lady Fujiko was the only one to actually deduce who, or rather what he was and seemed content with keeping the information to herself. For what it's worth she at least guided others train of thought this way and that in her own way, tossing in reasonable doubt, but the rumor grew nevertheless. If nothing else it gave him all the more incentive to better hide his abilities where and when he could.

On the other hand, since they came to suspect as much of him, there was wiggle room for him to say... leap onto a branch without much effort. A low one to be sure, a feat an agile person would be capable of, not necessarily shinobi. All he had to do was avoid using overt abilities dependant of chakra after all! Hell! It made escaping his stalkers all the easier if he kept the charade up that he was simply physically fit!

With a grin he leapt to the nearest branch and crouched. Immediately he shuffled towards the end of the branch where the shoots of other branches became more numerous, joined in by other branches from other trees, delighting himself with the disappointed "aaaugh"s and "dang it!"s from below as the poorly aimed balls missed him by a mile to begin with. With his inadvertent barrier of leaves even the more accurate shots couldn't even graze him.

"That's cheating!" one of them cried out as he stomped his foot.

"Since when do," he stuck his hands out from the canopy to utilize air quotes, "shinobi" play fair?"

A second later a successfully thrown ball bopped itself against the palm of his hand.

"Got him!"

"Ah come on!" he groaned just as the children below cheered. "Right, right... I'm heading to the village guys!" he grumbled a moment later.

"Aw... but we want to play Samurai some more!" one of them whined.

'Jiraiya' rolled his eyes and jumped down. "Let me see if anyone needs any help in the village and then I'll come find you guys, okay?"

"Yay!" they cheered once more.

Shaking his head, the disguised shinobi jumped down with a quiet grunt and brushed off what leaves he had cluttered upon himself. Once satisfied, and the children began to explore the woods once more, he turned away and headed for the village with a slight smirk on his face as he again shook his head just as the invigorated shouts of the kids began to echo through the trees.

XVX

Yama Proper

His brow twitched.

It was like a scene out of a ronin movie where the hero walked into what appears to be a ghost town at first glance. Soon enough, not even a minute later, he would find himself surrounded by thugs often armed with wakizashi or clubs if nothing else. Unfortunately as far as this village was concerned the only reason it would be 'abandoned' this early in the day was that everyone who was able to was either in the fields or plying their own particular trades within the surrounding forest. As for the 'thugs,' it was three of his more... persistent stalkers. At the utter best the only 'back up' he would receive would be in the elderly who were most likely milling about the center of the village as usual. Even then at the most they would simply yell at them from their benches if they couldn't find the energy to stand, not that they could give much of a chase to begin with.

Still, as usual, it looked like he would have to get himself out of this mess. Again.

Taking a moment he looked about, noting their positioning around him in a triangle formation as well as who each woman was from hard earned experience: In front of him was Arisu, one of the his more prominent stalkers. Other than her pale skin, just about everything about her was black, almost including her very personality, from careful cultivation of procured garments from the trader that visited the village over the years as well as the far more rare beauty products to help sustain her beatific appearance. But what made her stand out head and shoulders over most was not only did she almost always carry a whip with her, a constant reminder of her whip fetish as well as the dominatrix personality waiting to subdue him at long last, she had more than enough skill to have caught him more than once with that same whip in her grasp.

It did not really help matters that even he could recognize her as gorgeous for a middle aged woman, especially when she purposely pulled her kimono apart to reveal an ample amount of her pale cleavage.

Asumi, a widow just a few years younger than Arisu, was by far more conservative than her counterpart. Dressed in earthly tones much like the rest of the village, she was rather average save for the occasional grope and even rarer chase she accosted him with. In fact by far she was one of the least serious cases he had to worry about. This was a first for her, ambushing him that is. The only thing he really had to worry about her however was her unusually strong grip— if the whip didn't subdue him then her clumsy but successful grappling would.

Last but not least was Miyako... Not even half their age, and quite possibly a few years younger than himself, which was kind of disturbing for him, she was one of his more eager pursuers. Probably because of her youth, she was one of the few capable of almost matching him speed for speed when it came to outrunning his stalkers on foot.

Now that he thought about it, wasn't she supposed to be married in a couple of weeks to one of the other children in the village? Or was it a neighboring village? Either way...

He fought off a grin on his face as he turned to give her a sideways look with a concerned frown. "Aren't you supposed to be married soon?"

Immediately afterwards she stomped her foot on the ground as hard as she could, crossed her arms and looked away with a pout. "It was my father's idea that I'd marry some lame—"

"MIYAKO!" Arisu bellowed out much too late as 'Jiraiya' darted passed the weakest link with an unrepentant cackle.

"DAMN IT!"

"BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME!" he cried as he rounded the corner and ran towards the depths of the village, taking a few twists and turns to throw them off his trail.

Boomf!

Only to be tackle four turns in by another one of his stalkers lying in wait.

"Looks like I got lucky this time," one Kameko cooed. Whereas Asumi was unusual in her strength, Kameko was more explained. Tanned from years of hard work in the fields and muscles to prove it, she was a tomboy compared to most of the women in the village, especially since she dressed more as a man rather than a woman. She was also one of the few who have yet to married seeing as most men from neighboring villages were unwittingly intimidated by her. Or made uncomfortable, not that there was much of a difference since there were no single men within the village. It didn't help matters that she was quite aggressive at times either. Case and point being right now as she squeezed him to ensure he didn't escape her grapple.

"So shall we go inside then, handsome?" she purred as she picked him up, squeezing him all the tighter as if to suggest what was to come. It wasn't a second later that Miyako came careening around the corner and launched herself at the much larger woman.

"HE'S MINE!" CHOMP!

"WHAT THE HELL?!" With care most others wouldn't afford him she set the disguised shinobi free, letting him get on his feet before turning to pry off the much younger girl's teeth from her now injured thigh. During which, much to his dismay, Asumi and Arisu rounded the corner and spotted both him and the impromptu grapplers fighting one another.

Needless to say he fled the scene at top speed, his remaining stalkers chasing after him without being delayed in the least.

Unlike before he found himself running through the few alleys of the most clustered portion of the village without interruption this time. It was only a matter of moments that he made it out onto the main street of the village, just a few feet from the 'square.' Looking to it and elsewhere, he groaned as he found himself alone with nothing but a motley gathering of the elderly, he booked towards them with one objective in mind: Fujiko's home atop the hill, the one and only assured safety he had within the entirety of the village.

Thanks to his shinobi training he was able to clear at least halfway through the village 'square' by the time two of his pursuers rounded the corner after him as if they already knew where he was going. What greetings he received from the elderly he buzzed passed were half answered at best, or utterly ignored without intending to as they quickly realized what was going on, promptly goading them into glaring at berating the two women as they rushed passed them as well in a desperate attempt to catch him.

"Have you know shame! You're grown women at this point!"

"Arisu! Asumi! Cease this at once!"

"You shame both of your families!"

"Go young man, go! I got money on you!"

Of course not while a good many within the village were greatly concerned with decency and public morality, not all were necessarily 'helping' him out of the goodness of their hearts.

Regardless, even if Miyako suddenly joined the chase at this point, even if she was lobbed at him by one of his powerhouse stalkers like before, he was too far ahead to be caught now!

In a matter of moments he ran up the hill, reaching the crest at a speed matched only by his once comrades back in Konoha. When he looked back he couldn't help but smugly smirk at the two as they ambled to the foot of the hill, Arisu glaring up at him as the two fought to catch their breath. Despite how uncharacteristically mean spirited it was, he couldn't help but plant both feet on the ground, plant his fists into the sides of his hips and boldly cackle from atop the hill.

Bonk!

Up until the Village Chief conked him on the head from behind, appearing as if she came out of nowhere as far as he knew.

"Ow!" Immediately he clutched at the knot growing out of his head with tears in his eyes.

"One of these days you're going to have to learn how to resolve this issue, young man!" she chided. "I'm old enough as it is to not need to worry about an undue ruckus," she stated with a tempered but withering glare. In response 'Jiraiya' looked to the side, lips puckered in a pout.

"Not my fault half of them are scary."

Bonk!

"Stop that!"

Without so much as further acknowledging the fact that she whapped him once more on the head with her cane, the elder began to shuffle away to her door. Before she reached it however it slid open to reveal a woman, a teenager really roughly Naruto's own age, of blue eyes, brown hair tied into a bun in the back, and dressed in a short kimono skirt to match her kimono top. On her back was backpack made of straw.

"Ah, Akiko, leaving already?"

With a smile she nodded and hummed her answer with a pleasant smile, nodding all the while. Looking past her grandmother, she smiled a more friendly smile and waved at the disguised shinobi which he returned with matching enthusiasm.

With a frown however the elder looked over her shoulder at him.

"Of course considering you've been raising a ruckus again, I can only assume that you have nothing better to do. Am I correct?"

With a small, bashful chuckle 'Jiraiya' rubbed the back of his head. "Y-yeah..."

She sighed and hobbled to her abode, passing by and being passed by her granddaughter in return who soon came to stand next to Naruto. "Just keep your antics to a minimum. You're old enough not to act like a child after all." A moment later the paper door slide to a close behind her once she entered the safety of her home.

Grinning mischievously, the rogue shinobi brought a hand to his mouth. "It's not my fault that they think I'm sexy!" he called out. At what he thought was the barest hint of an annoyed groan he began to chuckle to himself.

"OOOH!"

It didn't last long however as someone pinched him from behind! He turned to glare at Akiko who, while giggling to herself, began to prance towards the nearby woods.

"You too?!" he squawked indignantly.

"That's what you get for being sexy!" she returned with a chortle of her own.

Sighing to himself and shaking his head, rolling his eyes as he was at it, he sauntered after her before she disappeared behind the tree line.

XVX

Woods

"So what are you getting exactly?" 'Jiraiya' asked her in a bored fashion, both hands behind his head as he followed her.

"Just fresh herbs and such for her medicines and my training," she answered with a hum as she carefully peered out at the forest to spot such herbs lurking in the shade.

"Ah. Anything in particular you need me to find then?"

"Hmmm..." She stopped and brought a finger to her lip in thought. "Well, considering you're great at climbing trees, can you gather the nuts for me?"

"Nuts?"

She turned and nodded at him with a smile as he blinked at her.

"What kind of nuts?" he asked with a slight frown.

With her smile still in place she reached into a leather pouch tied to her waist and, after some effort, withdrew what appeared to be walnuts at first glance. Upon closer inspection however they were oblong in comparison, narrower too. The natural divide between the shells was darkened as well into an almost obvious line to further divide it in half.

"Tai," she introduced, causing Naruto to blink in uncertainty.

"... What's so special about it?"

Still smiling she placed it back within the pouch. "Have you ever heard the adage 'that which can heal can also kill?'" she asked once she gave him her undivided attention.

"Not really..." he admitted as his frown deepened.

Unabated, she continued. "Well the other side has another side as well: Normally toxic to humans upon ingestion, when carefully prepared in concoctions with other herbs to neutralize its undesirable affects or else carefully diluted, it can be used as an excellent painkiller. Or a numbing agent if nothing else."

"Ah... Where can I find them then?" he asked, his arms coming to cross over his chest.

"The fully ripened ones would be found on the ground just about anywhere. Otherwise you'll find them here and there in some of the trees. Either one would do really."

"Alright then. Need me to get anything else then?"

She shook her head, humming as well to emphasis the decline. "No offense but I'd doubt you'd be able to tell the finer difference between some of the herbs and plants, which to pick and such. The nuts are the easiest task I can offer..." She smiled a bit sheepishly while scratching her chin. "Well, short of climbing the trees that is." She cringed a little. "Admittedly I have to get my little sister out here to search the trees for me when I can't find any on the ground."

"I get it, I get it," he waved off, both literally and figurate. "So how many you need?"

Her eyes widened ever so slightly and with a slightly sheepish smile she reached for the pouch, untying it from her waist before giving it to him. Hefting it in his hand and by looking at it, he soon came to realize that it was bigger than he assumed.

"That's quite a lot," he noted, gaining a nod from her.

"True. But even when dried, nuts tend to last longer than most of the herbs we collect. Plus, like I said, it's a bit of problem collecting them when you can't find them on the ground so..." she trailed off with a smile as her point was made.

"Alright, alright," he sighed. Not even a moment later he began to do some squats, 'limbering up' as he called it to help avoid suspicion. Once he was 'ready' he leapt into a tree with a low hanging branch and promptly vanished from view within the shade and the ensuing foliage. It wasn't long however that he began to find Tai Nuts growing here and there, particularly on the ends of the larger branches. Subsequently he soon began to fill the bag with them as soon as he reached them...

Within minutes he was already bored out of his mind.

"Hey Akiko, how's your sister and her overgrown fur ball doing?" he called out. If she heard him or answered him then it was lost to him as he soon found his complete attention set on a growling patch of leaves on another branch. Narrowing his eyes and opening the quarter full sack, he pulled the leaves back enough to reveal a pair of beady pair of eyes he had became familiar with throughout the past two months as far as Fujiko's granddaughters were concerned...

Mushi, temperamental guard tanuki of Haruko, Akiko's little sister... The nastiest, meanest, ill-tempered tanuki he had ever had the misfortune of seeing, knowing and encountering; the bane of his existence if there ever was one.

The Akatsuki not withstanding of course.

As soon as their eyes met the demon-rodent lunged at him, teeth bared and ready to snap down on whatever happened to come close enough at the time. Moving faster more so from experience rather than training, he managed to catch the belligerent raccoon within the sack, though only the front half if not more so, and tied it around its waist, leaving it to screech in muffled fury as it attempted to wriggle itself out, legs kicking wildly in the air as it did so.

"Uh-hem!"

What victory he felt at the moment was squashed however as he slowly, almost jerkingly looked behind him to spot the black haired younger sister of Akiko, Haruko, who was glaring daggers into him.

Roughly the same age as the other village children, the only real distinction she held over them other than a brown headband she wore on her forehead were the two bangs on both sides of her head that dangled close to her face. That and Mushi was typically with her most hours of both the day and night.

"You do realize he attacked me first, right?"

She continued to glare at him.

"Fine!" He shuffled in place till he fully faced her and squatted down as he held the tanuki away from him. "If he comes at me again though, I will punt him!"

She remained silent as he set the critter down on its legs but kept his hold on the bag as he drew a breath to steady himself, especially upon hearing a very audible growl coming from the sack. Bracing himself, he ripped the sack off of the tanuki and leapt back, all the while barely registering the fact that a good number of his collected nuts spilled out in the process his retreat. It wasn't even a full second that the demonic thing whirled around to snarl at him once more.

"Don't you dare!" he growled back as it hunched onto the branch, preparing to rush at him once more.

"Mushi!"

Immediately its rage quelled down, its ears flattening on its head as it scurried away to hide behind its master. However it did peek out to glare at him, going so far as to, much to both his surprise and apprehension, make the Slicing Neck motion while glaring at him.

He couldn't help but openly gawk as he tried to comprehend what had happened.

Regardless, after shaking himself free of the disturbance of seeing that thing somehow having enough intelligence to not only know what that meant but threaten him as well, his attention was brought back to the younger sister of Akiko as she stomped away from him to the tree trunk. Before long she took a hold of some of the branches and hefted herself down to another branch, her demonic pet following her shortly after, leaving him alone with a bag and only a couple of the nuts to his name.

"Oh! Haruko! There you are! ... Has Mushi been causing problems again? I couldn't help but overhear about earlier!"

"Caught him before he caught me!" Naruto yelled with a grin on his face. It only got wider as he caught onto both a faint sigh and a more audible, irritated groan.

As the sisters began to argue with one another, or rather Akiko was lecturing her sister to keep Mushi from attacking other people while the other kept silent, he busied himself with the previous task of collecting the nuts once more by bounding from branch to branch now that they were distracted.

XVX

Yama, five hours later

It was something of a painstaking process but only a few herbs that seemingly escaped Akiko's hunt diligent hunt for her ingredients, making it a successful trip in the end as they brought back an abundance of what they needed. The only real detriment however was the time it took her to go over each herb and potential ingredient with a fine tooth comb in the figurative sense of the word. He wouldn't have really doubted she would have literally done so either given how thorough she was from sight to touch. In some cases she even tasted them, albeit cautiously... with good reason. What wasn't essentially poison under raw circumstances had euphoric properties. Or both. Luckily she came prepared for that, though he had to feed her her very own remedies most of the time.

Still, after some evident meandering they managed to find their way back to the outskirts of the village just as everyone else was coming back from the fields. A few of them heartily waved at them, some calling out to them in greeting as they came within earshot. They, for the most part at least, waved and called back here and there as well as they both entered and passed through the village in the relative safety that was Akiko's presence now that his stalkers were eying him from afar again. That didn't stop the more bolder ones from 'accidentally' brushing up against him for this or that.

Likewise from the men for the most part, what few that didn't make a good natured, teasing pass at Akiko, had also came to assault him with overly friendly hugs or else almost always clapping him on the shoulder with a hearty offer to come drink with them and their own friends...

In the end though they all leisurely sauntered up the hill. It wasn't long that they, Naruto, Akiko, Haruko and her pet entered their grandmother's abode and from there they ventured to a basement. An underground storehouse rather for their medicines, premade, dried or otherwise, all of which only lit by the light of a single candle brought down by Akiko. Soon enough under her supervision the ingredients were stored in various locations, clay pots and old wicker baskets while those of the plant variety were hanged upside down to dry out, all of which made a tad tedious upon the reliance of a single source of light. At the end however they collected a decent share of the already prepared herbs and other ingredients alongside utensils of her trade, all of which they brought up to house proper, to the first largest table they could find to set them down.

"Thank you for your help!" Akiko chirped the moment she turned to him with a bright smile. "Normally it would be dusk by the time I get back!"

"Given what happened I can understand why," he replied with a chuckle which she shared with him, though an embarrassed shade of red tinged her cheeks. "At any rate, I'm going to see if anyone else needs me for anything."

"Alright then!" she happily chirped as she walked away to retrieve a battered pillow for herself to use as a chair. "I'll be here if you need me for anything!"

"Just try not to get high this time!" he replied with a cheeky grin. It only got wider at her retort of an indignant "hey!" and the mild snort from her sister. As he left he couldn't help but shake his head in amusement as he couldn't help but overhear some agitated grumbling from Akiko as he neared, opened and finally crossed the doorway to their house.

"Ah, Jiraiya—"

"AAH!"

Only to almost run directly into Fujiko the moment he did so. Were the door not open he would've crashed through it in surprise upon failing to notice the village chief before him. Though she seemed annoyed, he could've seen the flicker of amusement flash through her eyes. "One would think you of all people would be more aware of your surroundings."

"Yeah, well... old people are sneaky?" he offered lamely. With a sigh the older woman shook her head with her eyes closed, though he couldn't help but see a flicker of amusement in them before they disappeared.

"I suppose for someone as inexperienced as you it is easy for someone as old as myself to 'sneak up' on you."

"Hey!" he moaned indignantly much to her sudden smirk.

"Regardless," she turned to him, "have you two collected everything she went out to gather?"

"Most of it," he admitted as he reached up and scratched the back of his head. "From what she said though we haven't found everything she wanted."

She hummed softly and shuffled back into the house, passing gthe shinobi who soon vacated to her previous spot. "It's always been a great pain to find them all; I could swear they didn't exist at all at times when I was younger even though I knew where to find them." Before long and closed the door behind herself.

With a sigh he walked up to the shoji and knocked on the door frame. "Is there anything else you need me to do?" he called out. The door opened a full moment later to reveal the elderly woman.

"I believe everyone else had finished with their tasks for the day," she replied as she evenly stared up at him.

"Ah... Alright then. I'm just going to head home then," he rumbled before turning to leave.

"Just make sure you don't cause a racket like this morning!" she called out before closing the door.

"Get them to leave me alone then!" he cried back, turning his head for a brief moment to do so in the direction of the house. Sighing to himself, he began to descend the hill, arms crossed as he tried to think of something to do: With everyone back there was obviously no work to be done at the fields. The children of the village, in general, were most likely back in the village at this point as well, probably tuckered out much like their adult counterparts if not more so. Since the village didn't hold much in the way of shops or stores, especially since demand for anything always seemed to boil down to that elderly trader he encountered before, the only place that would need a helping hand would be the one and only blacksmith within the entire village. Even then he didn't get much demand for work outside of hammering out crooked shovels and sharpening woodcutting axes, a feat which most of the few woodcutters do themselves to begin with most of the time. With nothing else to do the day at this point would be spent conversing with everyone else, sharing stories, drinking, or cloud watching. That or sleep.

All three of them, technically four, were bad ideas.

Simply talking to anyone at length about any subject involving, even by proxy, history, politics or plain old geography would easily reveal him sorely lacking knowledge about anything. Case and point being that since he was an 'immigrant,' upon carelessly claiming he was from the west he was sked one simple question: how did he survive? Kanta, as he learned later through Fujiko, was Yonzo's estranged neighbor with half of its northern territory embroiled in a four-way war between the clan which made its home there and three different armies of rival powers, none of whom friendly with each other; not even the very ground beneath their feet was safe from their wrath as three of the four armies sought to utterly destroy one another.

After convincing everyone he spent many a day and night carefully avoiding the fighting and lurking in the forests and slipping away he did his best to avoid extended conversations that would ask him of his personal history.

As for drinking and cloud watching... both were ruined by his opportunist stalkers... Incidentally enough that was how he came to learn the names of his more prominent stalkers, amongst other things.

With nothing better to do and spotting Kameko eying him hungrily as she tore off a piece of jerky at the base of the hill with a grin on her face, he promptly turned around and walked back to the forest.

XVX

Home, four hours later

If he were able to use his older means to get about quickly, where rooftops and tree branches were equal opportunity, he reckoned it would take roughly twenty minutes to get to one place or the other. Walking, it was easily doubled or at least felt like it. With a detour, all the while making sure he wasn't followed again? He didn't bother even trying to judge it. All he knew was that the evening was turning into dusk by the time he got back. Soon enough he would be in his patchwork futon after he removed his canvas for the pumpkins and had a dinner of millet of course.

He couldn't help but sigh about that.

Looking around to make sure no one is looking, he brought his hands up to perform a jutsu before pausing himself. As a precaution he carefully crept towards his darkened home and, rather than step close to the door, pressed his ear to the wall as he pumped as much chakra as he could into it in hopes of brute forcing a method to hear better. Upon hearing nothing he cautiously crept to the door and meticulously opened it so as to not make any overt sounds. Like with his ear, he pumped as much chakra as he could safely manage into his eyes as he peered out into the darkness of his abode, easily enough making out the empty space before. With a sigh of relief he at last left the threshold in favor of his small field.

By the time he came to the canvas tarp he had managed to patch together and bent down, he was glad that he hadn't dispelled his disguise just yet.

"JIRAIYA!"

Taro, covered in scratches from the foliage, barreled out from the surrounding brush as if his life depended on it. In fact it seemed there was nothing to warrant any sense of concern for his wellbeing or for anything else however as he dashed over Naruto's covered field, stumbling over the cloth and crushing whatever he didn't see in a straight line to the confused and tensed shinobi. For a moment it looked like he just might crash into him at full tilt in his panic but came to an uneasy, hard stop as the rogue shinobi straightened himself to brace himself. In the same moment it took him to blink in confusion, the older man grabbed the shinobi by the shoulders and immediately began to drag him away in the same rush that still had him trampling the shinobi's field.

"Come on! Come on!" he cried as he dragged the still disguised shinobi away.

"Wait, what's going on?" he managed to ask as he barely remember to let go of his tarp. Whether or not it still covered a good part of his field, or what was left of it between the two of them, was another story.

"Chief Fujiko was kidnapped!"

"HUH?!"

XVX

Dirt Paths, Forest, forty minutes later

No one was quite sure what had happened. The only one who were able to confirm anything was Akiko who was returning home from running an errand at the time to find a hooded stranger with her grandmother on their back running into the woods. The storeroom beneath their house was also raided though it didn't seem like much was taken. Regardless, after giving chase, not only did this person outrun Akiko but seemed to have a horse at the ready within the woods...

Already entire teams were out scouring the forests in hope of finding a trail left behind by the kidnapper long before anyone thought to get the Village Hero. Only a few elected to stay behind and guard the storehouse lest it was something of a diversion by vengeful bandits.

In the end though they weren't him. All it took was to slip out of everyone's sight and take to the trees to already be leaps and bounds ahead of even the furthest of teams muddling their way through the brush by torchlight. As such, unlike anyone else, he already found himself along the edge of a dirt road. One which the thundering hooves of a rider was heard to his right.

Smirking to himself he immediately jumped from branch to branch as he gave chase to the sound. With the aid of the moonlight lighting the darkness of the land he was quick to make out the figure of a rider along the road. As he swiftly drew closer, his speed evidently greater than the horse the rider rode on, he began to make out a second rider, an older one hunched over and sitting in from of the primary rider. Soon enough however as he became more and more convinced that this was the kidnapper they were looking for, the man seemed to have spotted something and drove the horse into an opening to the woods to his left.

It didn't take much effort for the shinobi to follow him. But unfortunately he didn't gain as much ground as he would've liked.

Had it not been the glint of metal he would've reacted too late to a kunai darting out from the dark which was followed closely by an arrow of equal speed. Had he not dodged right and went crashing through the trees to the ground he would've been pierced by both of them. Already though from the darkness of the forest at night a battle cry of a hooded man screeched through as he charged the disguised shinobi with a sword in hand. From his own sleeve Naruto produced one of the few kunai he kept left on his person, let alone his entire 'armory' and blocked the sword strike before instinctively punching the man in the face, causing him to stagger back in time for an arrow to pierce through the night. Again it was dodged, more out of luck and poor aim than anything else as the rogue leapt back.

"Come on, don't say I wasn't doing anything!" he muttered to himself as he made a claw with one hand as if her were holding onto an orb and with the other he madly pawed at it as best he could without disarming himself. He had no idea who these people were but even he knew that the longer he wasted his time with them then the more likely the rider was going to get away. With luck then no one was able to get a clear look of his face given the current circumstances since he had some trouble tracking the very man before him, if not then... well, he'd cross that bridge when he got to it...

Already the chakra he pumped into his hand began to coalesce and from it a bright blue orb of chakra began to form, molding and being molded by the hand that swiped at it in all haste. Thankfully it was this very act that put the man before him on the defensive the moment he regained his balance and footing as made evident of him holding himself at a distance, sword at the ready. As for his friend, Naruto couldn't say... Or rather he had nothing to say in regards to him. "Rasengan!"

Faster than the other man realized, the disguised blonde charged him with both a grin and a perfect orb of chakra in hand. The man managed to react in time to block the orb but, despite his attempt, the moment the blade met the swirling mass of chakra it broke apart as it tore through it to his chest. It wasn't even a full second later that the man was thrust back with the force of a tsunami, launching into parts unknown in the darkness with nothing more than a strangled groan to mark his departure.

As soon as he was gone the shinobi, rather than wait for the second one to recover and take aim at him, already dashed through the forest, taking to the trees once more in the direction he hoped was the rider's course.

By sheer luck of course it indeed was despite the rider going full tilt on the horse.

Like earlier a kunai lashed out from the darkness, this time coming from his own hand rather than an assailant's. Instead of it being aimed at anyone in particular however it streaked out in front of the horse, causing it to come to an abrupt halt as it reared back and whinnied in shock, nearly tossing both of its occupants to fall out as a result while it bought him enough time to jump out and land in front of them. Quickly enough he retrieved the kunai he had tossed and braced himself for a fight.

"Jiraiya?!"

"How dare you!" Already the horseman drew out a katana. From the shadows more hooded men emerged from the shadows with both swords and kunai at the ready—

"HOLD IT!"

Everyone stopped. Some, including Naruto, looked to Fujiko as she, with reluctant assistance from the men in hoods on foot, climbed off the horse and hobbled over to him. "What are you doing out here?" she intoned as she drew close enough.

"Uh..." He cautiously looked to his surroundings. "This isn't a kidnapping...?"

She remained silent for a moment before tilting her head forward as she sighed in mild exasperation, her eyes closed. "I see. I knew I should've taken the time to write a note..." She bowed to him. "I apologize. Since it was an emergency I didn't allow myself enough time to think properly despite having help packing what I needed." As she straightened herself the surrounding men seemed to relax if only slightly. "Had I bothered to think properly I should've known someone would've come to you given what I should've expected to occur to begin with."

She then turned on her heel and made her way back to the horse. "Now let us get going before her condition worsens." With an audible 'humph' the rider ushered the horse to her and had it present her side while one of the men approached to help her up.

"HE'S A DEMON!" someone cried out from the shadows. Once more everyone tensed, weapons held at the ready albeit weighted in mild confusion. "HE USED THE DEMON MAGIC OF THE EAST TO DEFEAT YASHIMARU WITH ONE BLOW!"

"Easterner!"

"He's a Shinobi!"

With a groan Naruto squeezed his eyes shut as a scowl split his face. Already he brought his hands together to form his shadow clone technique as the men prepared themselves to charge—

"I would rather not treat half of what remains of the Banten Clan along with their ill charge from picking a needless fight!" Fujiko barked as she feebly attempted to heft herself back onto the horse to no avail. Perturbed, everyone minus Naruto came to an uneasy halt whereas the shinobi in question glance about in obvious curiosity.

"The Banten?"

Ignoring him, the elder was finally hoisted back onto the horse with the unsure help of the man closest to her. "If anything, a bar of soap is more dangerous to him than any of you combined to begin with."

"Hey!" one indignantly roar, unwittingly joining a simultaneous shout by Naruto made at the exact same time. Unlike the clansman, Naruto continued to speak. "You know well enough I was being chased again at that time!"

"Are we leaving for the fort or not?" Fujiko loudly grumbled, again ignoring him.

"Fort?"

As if an idea had struck, she soon bore a contemplative frown as she looked to 'Jiraiya.' "It would probably be best if you came along with us should—"

"Lady Fujiko!" the rider finally spoke up in a bark. Meanwhile the men around Naruto again prepared themselves, though with a look of grimmer determination in their eyes than before. "It is one thing to... advocate peace, but—!"

"He may be clumsy and dimwitted at times—"

"Hey!" Naruto groaned.

"—my village would've suffered from the taxes much like everyone else without having been asked or even asking for a reward in the first place," she continued after a brief pause. "And though he obviously comes from a land of ill refute, on that merit alone, despite all the trouble he has caused—"

"They're the ones who keep chasing me!"

"Despite all the trouble he is causing," she corrected herself, "he has my trust with private matters that concerns us all." She turned a stern eye to the man she sat in front of. "Or would you rather have my believe I keep being kidnapped and keep sending him after you on suspicion alone?"

"... Fine..." With a small kick the horse began to saunter forth at a leisurely pace. As it drew closer to the disguised shinobi the rider leaned toward him and glared. "We will be watching you," he growled just before having the horse trot through the line of departing clansmen. The moment he was clear of them he had the horse breakout in a full gallop down the unseen path through the woods.

Not entirely sure of what to do, 'Jiraiya' once more glance about at his current company for some cue among them as to what to do. Like himself, they seemed as unsure as well though some of them kept a keen, scrutinizing glare upon him as they reluctantly put away their swords. Some of them didn't put away their kunai however... Biting back a sigh and erring on the side of caution lest he get an earful from the elderly woman later on, he put away his own kunai.

It wasn't out of reach on short notice however.