A Game of Shogi between the Gods

by Amidamaru88

We are nothing but playthings to the gods, but with perseverance, luck and time even gods may die. I got the idea for this fic after reading Destiny is a Hazy thing by Calanor.

11. Chapter 11 : Year Two part I

I do not own Naruto.

Talk now – normal talk
What now – normal thoughts
Speak – biju, higher being talk
Listen – biju, higher being thoughts

Chapter 11 : Year Two part I

Tenten calmed herself down and steadied her breath, even if she knew what to expect she still felt nervous to a degree. Her eyes traveled to the people around her, there were children mostly her own physical age, very few were a year younger or older, some with parents there smiling at them, talking and joking. Her fists tightened as she lowered her head, she briefly felt a hand on each of her shoulders squeezing in an encouraging manner, she smiled knowing the feeling and who they were, even if they weren't there in the flesh Yukimura and Sayaka had found a way to be there for her for a brief moment.

Tenten unclenched her fists, she rubbed her eyes and raised her head looking back towards the people there, her eyes lingered for a few moments on a group as she spotted a few of the children from the orphanage. She shook her head before her eyes trailed of towards the other children present there, she raised an eyebrow at some of them, one of the children there, a boy with brown hair had an even weirder hair style then her brother, it was spiked on the lower end towards his neck on one side and on the other side formed and even bigger spike.

She looked towards someone else. Does that guy have blue hair? She looked closer at the boy. He does! There really are all kinds of hair color. Her eyes moved to small boy a few feet in front of the blue haired boy. Why is that kid wearing an orange shirt? Wow his hair is almost as spiky as brothers, his bangs aren't as big but they are definitely spiky.

Tenten looked at her brother who noticing her gaze gave her an encouraging smile before turning his head towards the teachers and from what she spotted the girl in front of him. She decided to take a closer looked at the girl in front of him, the girl had lightly tanned skin, short orange hair, Tenten stopped as if unable to understand what she was seeing before she shook her head moment later to recover. There really are all kinds of hair colors out there, first blue then orange, what's next pink and green? Ha like that would ever happen.

The girl was looking around as well and Tenten saw that she had beautiful maroon colored eyes, a yellow shirt, Tenten cringed at that, not stealthy at all, red gloves, blue pants and a blue cap. Well perhaps the cap is supposed to act like a helmet, I'll have to ask about that in the future.

Tenten looked farther behind Naruto and her eyes widened at what she saw, Tenten took a second look at the person and then a third one, is that girl wearing all pink clothing? Damn it brother this is like that time when you mixed up those mushrooms. She rubbed her eyes before looking again, she really is wearing pink clothing, I'm not sure what to make of that, is she some kind of genius and is making the people doubt her skills by wearing something like that or does she just like the color pink? Best to keep an eye on her for the future.

She shifted her focus back to the teachers, the head master had finished his speech and now the teachers were calling each student to their designated classroom. Tenten noticed a stone faced Katsue amongst the teachers, she narrowed her eyebrows in confusion, she knew that the woman already had a class, seeing her amongst the teachers that would take a new one was odd.

While she didn't fully trust the woman she had started to like her and even if her brother didn't say it outright she knew that he liked her as well, a bond had formed between the three of them; their meetings had helped, the one after New Year's Eve especially. The woman had taught her a few things and even if she knew most of those things from Yukimura and Sayaka she was still grateful to Katsue for teaching her. A small voice at the back of her mind still whispered that the woman must have an ulterior reason for doing such a thing and that she should keep her guard up.

Katsue's voice rang out. "Tenten Sanada."

Tenten smiled at hearing her full name and began making her way towards the gathering of students that represented her future class. Is my other teacher sick and she decided to fill in for that person or did she actually decide to abandon her old class, she briefly tightened her fists, and take a new one?

She decided to ask about the matter later when they were both back home, as her group began making it's way into the academy she looked towards her brother whose group was still forming, he was standing a few feet away from the group. Her fists clenched again even if she knew the plan and that Naruto was in agreement with it she still didn't like it, at the very least from what she could see his group didn't have any children from the orphanage and the teachers didn't look at her brother with hatred, in fact they seemed to ignore him.

As she walked into the academy and towards her classroom the memory of how she got her name and the plan Naruto had came rushing back to her.

Flashback

After finishing a training session and changing cloths both Naruto and Tenten went to the living room where Yukimura and Sayaka were waiting for them. After they each took a seat Yukimura approached the matter of the academy. "You probably figured out what this is about."

Naruto nodded. "The plans for the upcoming academy year."

Yukimura nodded.

"You have been asking about the matter Naruto-kun and we know you have your own ideas."

She looked at them confused. "What's going to happen? Aren't we going graduate from the academy?"

Naruto shook his head. "I'm going to have to fail this year as well."

She all but jumped out her chair hearing that. "What? But why? We could be on the same team if we both graduate!"

Yukimura let out a long sigh. "That is correct, and we considered that as well, however think about how Naruto was treated last time when he was at the academy, the chances of it repeating this year exist as well."

She bit her lip at that, she had heard about how he had been treated and had seen the test papers he had saved from last year to show how harshly he had been graded compared to others, it was one of the main reasons she still didn't trust Katsue.

Sayaka sent her an understanding look. "Likewise given Naruto-kun's situation it would be for the best if he managed to befriend the clan heirs that will most likely enroll in the next academy cycle."

She could see the point of that, given his condition having friends in high places could make his life easier in the future. "I guess I can see why but..."

"We did consider asking you to do something similar and for the both of you to be in the same year and with your skills eventually in the same class."

She narrowed her eyes at the two. "So why didn't you then?"

"While Naruto-kun can be allowed to enroll in the academy again if he flunks out, the chances of you managing the same thing are sadly much lower."

Of course, the village would still want their weapon to get another chance by they wouldn't care about a nameless orphan.

Sayaka sent her a sad smile. "I take it you are getting close to understanding the reason for it?"

She nodded.

"Fabricating a reason for you to repeat the academy year also has its challenges, with Naruto we have already established a person that we can use, with you it would be more difficult. Faking and injury or a sickness has its own risks as well and could be easily discovered. Once Naruto befriends the clan heirs you will naturally meet them as well, likewise it would be best for you to keep and eye on your future colleagues and their potential, all the while gauging their reactions to Naruto."

She nodded again.

"So I'll just have to reach a good point academically and then fail like last time then?"

Yukimura nodded. "Unless a situation arises to change that yes, keep in mind that Katsue may question your choice and investigate the matter."

"Uh" a bit of disgust crept into his voice "great I have to deal with dear sensei as well, it shouldn't be too difficult."

Sayaka smile turned into that of a predator as she looked at Naruto. "You certainly didn't mind when she played the guitar for you and brought you back in her arms because you fell asleep there."

Naruto blushed and looked away, both Yukimura and Sayaka laughed at his reaction with Yukimura sending a wink to her as she was trying to hide her own giggles before she remembered an issue she wanted to address and looked towards Yukimura. "I wanted to ask about the last name on the registration form."

He sent her a quizzical look. "What about it?"

She fiddled in the chair for a moment and took a deep breath before speaking again. "Well I wanted to ask if I could one day take Naruto's last name as my own?"

Both Sayaka and Yukimura looked surprised for once.

Naruto on the other hand had a huge smiled on his face. "I'd like that, it would be awesome!"

Yukimura coughed and attracted their attention. "The problem is that making such a connection at this point isn't feasible and you may end up paying more because of it."

Both of she and Naruto lowered their head in unison. "Oh."

Yukimura rubbed his chin in a thoughtful manner before speaking again. "Still if you want a last name there's nothing wrong with that and we do have one in mind for you."

She felt her heart skip a beat. "You do?"

"Hm, yes, I bore the name a long time ago," he smiled at her "I think it would fit you well. Sanada."

"Sanada" the name seemed to roll of the tongue. "I love it!"

Sayaka smiled at her.

She didn't notice the look of sadness that passed over Naruto's face as he fidgeted in his chair. "Ano, can I take the name up as well in future?" The three turned to look at him, Naruto seemed to flinch and then rubbed the back of his head before continuing. "Well I would want us to share to last name to make it official that are siblings, and I don't really care about the Uzumaki name, I don't even know who gave it to name."

She turned towards the two. "Can we?"

Yukimura and Sayaka seemed to carry an entire conversation with the look they shared, before Yukimura responded. "We don't see a problem with it later on when you're both older."

Even if it was a small victory she went and hugged her brother, taking note at how strong his grip was. As they broke the hug a stray thought crossed her mind. "Won't that cause problems with your stated goal of creating a new clan?"

Naruto nodded and rubbed his chin in a similar manner to Yukimura before a goofy smile was plastered on his face. "Well I never said it would be Uzumaki clan now did I? I can lie and say that you are the first clan member or that I still want to create the clan just with a different name."

"Now that this matter is dealt with we can move onto the other matters related to the academy."

"What am I supposed to do while she's at the academy? When I bail out again I'm going to have a lot of free time on my hands."

Yukimura shrugged his shoulders. "Enjoy life."

Sayaka gave Naruto a smile that made them both shiver, she knew that smile it was the same one they would receive before some new insane training. The most recent one was where she had her arms and legs tied with rope and thrown into a large pool of water, Sayaka mentioned how the pool was filled with large snakes right before throwing her inside. "We will find something for you to do Naruto-kun have no fear."

Flashback end.

Tenten felt another shiver run down her spine when she remembered that smile that Sayaka gave her brother, she felt sorry for him, well almost he did bring it upon himself.

Once the group entered the classroom each member began to take a seat, she stopped briefly towards the middle of the classroom and took in her future classmates, one of Yukimura's teaching reverberated through her mind.

The warrior is born with his goals and strategy to achieve those goals, now one must study their surroundings. On the one hand one wishes to understand the rules of society that have appeared to them as laws for so long. To understand this, you must first realize that social interaction is a game and not a reality. We were or are all young; we know that every school class has the greatest boy and the prettiest girl, we notice the hierarchy of this, we are forced to take our place as dictated by the group, depending on how well we befit their demands of a certain physical appearance and a certain social behavior concerning a striving towards given goals.

We watch the hierarchy of girls, ruled by looks, by being the girlfriend of a certain guy with a certain rank in the social subculture. How much money she has, what kind of clothing she wares. But when you listen to what they speak of, you will notice that they talk about all kinds of topics, but never does anyone ask: Who are we? What is there to know? What exists behind that which we perceive as reality? Not only to achieve power to control our surroundings and to change our stand in this subculture, but especially to search for knowledge in the plain desire of wishing to know and to understand.

When we look at the boys, it is usually the one with the strongest muscles or the best looks rules. Usually they make rank by behaving stupidly in class, by having a good looking girlfriend, by bragging of their of so great accomplishments, by carrying on about how they are going to "get" someone for something. But do they ever speak of true values? Of honor, of having real principles that don't change as soon as someone decides that something new is now cool? Do they ever appear as if they would die for something they truly believe…We all know the answer. And this is the reality we are caught in.

Where the mass suffers on account of pseudo rule making, we see no way to change these things for we perceive it as reality. Yet that is a mistake. A true warrior must look into the face of truth. One must look at themselves and decide why one has the ranking they do. One must decide what they desire, and must find out how to achieve this with the subtlety of a mastermind. And here begins the study of our society. What rules exist, what happens if I do this? Which reaction will result from it? What interactions exist? What rules? And then you begin to construct your theories on this subculture.

Be hard to yourself, be ruthless towards yourself, be mindful, and always seek the face of truth no matter how uncomfortable it is. For this is the path of the strong. When the warrior has built and tested their theories, when one has reconstructed and tuned them, will one have an instrument of mundane power. And with this power can one achieve the social peace needed to turn towards other studies. But always keep in mind, that mundane power is the first of armor. It is the offensive part of the mask you carry towards the countenance of the world. And all weapons are to be collected, sharpened, and used when it helps you to achieve your goal.

When examining a certain sheep, you will notice the mask that they carry around with them. The mask is what a human wishes another human to see. It is to secure our privacy and to make sure that no one comes closer to you than you would prefer at any moment. It is to hide the fear of the sheep. And the sheep carry these masks towards the inside, meaning that they hardly ever have knowledge of it. Granted, they know to a slight degree if they are making small talk or if they are talking about something truly important to them. Yet, the mask is also what protects them from thinking about mystical aspects, what protects them against feeling afraid. It is what would make them not believe you if you told them you had mystical power or knowledge. And it is what holds them a spiritual prisoner. It is what allows or forces them to live their little lives and to never think of anything truly greater than themselves.

The warrior, by aiming towards self recognition and balance, destroys this inner mask. One frees themselves from it allowing one to perceive reality on a broader scale. Yet there is one aspect of the mask that shows value. The aspect of hiding that which is behind it. A warrior caries an outward mask, meaning that he, in full recognition of the functionality of a mask, tunes his behavior towards outsiders that have no right to his personal thoughts.

It is the acting in everyday life to allow the sheep to believe that you are one of them, for the truth would make the heard nervous and cause aggression against you. And while the sheep are weak, there are many of them. The greater your understanding of society, the better your acting will be. The more perfect your mask is the easier can you implement your will under the usage of your understanding of society; until you easily fit into any subculture, leading the sheep to fulfill your desires.

Together they meld to the armor of the warrior; to hold off all that is unappreciated and to help shield him from his opponents.

Man has seen a millennium of religion and belief, decorating civilization during his evolution throughout the halls of time. What is true? What is false? What exists within the universe and what is merely an illusion constructed by our own fears of insignificance? Gods have appeared and faded throughout the balance of mystical belief and the epoch of physics.

Yet when we are alone and when we gaze towards the sky we feel a slight breeze chill our soul at the indescribable premonition of there being more to the universe as can simply be described by the cold vacuum of mathematics and geometry. And while we know of the attempt of man's logical tools to describe a past of phenomena, we all realize as an absolute truth, that these tools lack the dimension needed to truly grasp the rules behind the mist.

As our ancestors, so do we strive towards the mystical heritage of man and search the depth of our souls for the answers that will lead us to understanding, freedom, strength, power and enlightenment. We have come to recognize that different paths can lead to the same goal. Each of these paths shows advantages and disadvantages, but none is greater than the other on an objective scale of thought.

What allows us to decide for one of the three defined paths of Light, Darkness, and the Shadows, lies in the substance of our ghost and soul. It is the aspect of self that decides on a subjective scale of view, which path to choose. We are all the same, yet we are different. And thus the first step to hearing the whispers of the universe lies within our capability to hear the whispering of our own souls.

We are born as children. Children are given a set of moral and ethical views with which they are to view their surrounding. These views are the sum of experiences of our race and are given to use to be able to interact with our society. The important detail is to see these views as a guideline but not as an absolute truth.

Many of our parents have taught us views towards society and religion that they no longer believe on account of their personal experience. And yet they teach us what is commonly appreciated as to assure our integration with humanity. The process of life allows us to gather new experiences and thus our views are changed. Yet, the question is to what degree can these views that were given to us be wrong?

Assuming that there would be a general right and wrong to a view or truth. As for an example, I am sure that there are many people who would easily describe our community as flawed by misconception. Yet if the person working at your local bank sees your views as wrong, would you be inclined to regret and refocus your perspective? Probably not.

Yet man has taken a course of logic and neglected his focus on the mystical. He has turned away from intuition and instincts and decided to use his mathematical tools to understand his environment. Thus alone our presence shows us to have strayed away from a common view of the universe. And this is the first obstacle on the path of self balance. The bank employee does not impress you to reconsider your path, yet what if it was a friend? What if it was your partner? What if most of your friends cling to their predefined view of reality? What if almost all mankind does so?

We have all made the experience that we lack the ability to broadly communicate with our surroundings on this matter. Most people don't believe in an alternative view, since it is much easier for them to cope with their fears when they believe to have a maximum of control over their environment. To belief in the mystical means to add new variables. It means to admit‚ in the end, "I know less than I dreamed to know." And this frightens man. And thus they will not consider this aspect of possibility, since it would make them feel more insecure than before.

This is the reason they will explain to you why you should see things the way they do, for it will reassure their views to be stated as "correct." while you were simply "wrong." A wanderer on the path of enlightenment, determined to go an uncertain path bearing an uncertain reward must decide in favor of his courage and serenity when following his path. Lest he only follow the desire for additional knowledge, but decline the price to be paid.

Most people who hesitate in the moment of mystical consideration stop at this point. They decide that the price of spiritual loneliness, of misunderstanding when interacting with their surroundings is too much to bear. It allows their fear and insecurity to rise and at this point, the person unconsciously decides if he is of the sheep or of the wolf.

The sheep have an easy life. They exist on a field of grass and live together in herds. They might wander a mile in one direction or the other, yet they are contempt at having one another and only secondarily discovering their surroundings. Thus being the price for the security of a community. On the other side we recognize the wolf in this example. I will speak of the first wolf to understand his own existence as to befit my example.

The wolf is born of a different substance. The wolf feels his urge to wander and so he passes through the land, discovering his environment and searching for others of his kind. The wolf wanders to the top of a hill and sees a herd of sheep in the valley. He gazes towards the sheep, noticing how they live in herds and watches them move. He sees how they wander a mile in one direction or the other and how they eat the grass, always looking down and only seldom gazing towards each other and thus understands their nature.

He decides that they are something different and wanders closer to investigate them further. After slowly moving closer, he hesitates once more. For he sees the heard near a pond. He is unsure if it was merely a light reflection, yet he believes to have seen something strange. He recognizes another wolf within the depth of the heard. Slightly confused, yet glad to see a member of his kind he wanders over to the wolf. The sheep grow restless as the wolf comes closer and the heard opens to reveal the second wolf. The first wolf walks up to the second and watches the second with his tail between his legs eat the grass as do the sheep.

"Greetings, brother." speaks the first of wolves.

The second gazes up, slightly confused and takes a step back, noticing that a wolf has neared him.

"Why do you step back from me, brother?" asks the first of wolves.

The second wolf looks slightly confused and speaks, "Why do you call me brother, wolf? I am not like you; I am a sheep like the others."

The first of wolves, with his tail high grows further in his confusion, "What do you mean, brother? You are a wolf. How can you think to be of the sheep?"

"I was born within the heard, wolf. I have always been a sheep, as my parents before me," speaks the cowardly wolf.

The first of wolves ponders the situation and his gaze wanders towards the pond, "Look into the water, brother. Then you will see that you are of my kind and not of the sheep."

The second lowers his head again to continue his meal of grass, "I do not need to look into the water, for I would only see my reflection. The same face I see in the sheep around me. I do not need to look. I am of the sheep."

"And what of the grass you eat, brother? Wouldn't a sheep be more to your liking?" says the first wolf in vain.

The second gazes towards him in fear and speaks with a quavering voice "No," he lied, "I have always eaten grass and I know no other. To desire a sheep is against the law."

The first of wolves watches the second as he nervously looks around. The other sheep are seemingly oblivious to what matters are being discussed here. "Yet you have considered eating one of the sheep, haven't you?" spoke the first.

The second dropped his tail further with a look of great guilt on his soul, "No, I would never think such a thing. And it would be appreciated if you leave us, for you are making the heard nervous."

The first of wolves is engulfed by a silent moment of loneliness. Knowing that he is not of the sheep and has no heard. And knowing that his brother is also not of his kind. The first of wolves slowly turns, leaving his brother behind, hearing the second of wolves trying himself in a accord of bah. The other sheep acknowledge this sound, yet the first of wolves knows, that the second can not communicate with them, no matter how hard he tries.

Only the wolf that acknowledges his existence can understand the self. Lest he be blinded by his surroundings.

The shinobi have deluded themselves and believe that the use of chakra means to be the wolf, or rather, to be born with a magical gift allowing this interaction. A man without this gift can study chakra, as he can study any human knowledge. He can argue within the boundaries of logic, but he is excluded from the true depth of understanding. While many have the theoretical potential use chakra not all succeed in getting past the initial training, finding a truly gifted person is rare.

Yet, those of the wolf that have the courage and serenity to face the truth of their existence are even rarer. Those between are born with a gift allowing them to feel different; to view differently towards their surroundings, and to know within the depth of their person that there is a truth behind the view of mystics. Yet they lack the courage to pay the price of serenity and therefore live with the sheep. These loses can be traced to the given moral and ethical views of our surroundings during childhood from our parents and given to us by our surroundings themselves. Thus a seeker must battle victorious against his own fear to follow the path of truth, regardless of the personal aspect.

When this first step has been taken and the warrior has cut the thread between himself and others, can they commence to study themselves as the greatest potential for understanding they have at that time. They must now start to remove all the clamps chaining their body and must rediscover what they truly and personally believe. Some views will be kept, for the view they were taught and the view they believe are identical. Yet many people will discover that what they are truly inclined to believe differs greatly from what society expects them to see, to believe, and to feel.

Many people, while discovering their souls, instincts, and emotions, come to realize that they are darker than they had admitted towards themselves up this point. There is a desire to enjoy. There is an enjoyment in things shunned by society and unmoral behavior. There is a desire to raise the self before others. There is a lust for revenge. A hatred towards those of the sheep who trap our brothers and sisters and who rule our world, in which they state there is no place for us.

There is the wish for conflict. To prove those who are weak and commend those who are strong. And then we ponder over these inner desires, if this is what we are, in a viewed moment of truth. Is this not the path we should follow? Granted, that we must control our desires for every society has its ways of punishing those who think differently. We must be mindful, for the farther we wander off from what this society would consider "normal," the greater the chance of being discovered will be.

To be discovered might only mean to lose your influence over your surrounding. To be discovered might also mean to be corrected under the usage of government power. At the beginning of this path should an apprentice warrior learn to hide this mental metamorphosis behind a mask of normality. You may feel free to test otherwise, but you will quickly note that you only harvest disadvantages from it. Try to be as you were before you made your first step towards others. Yet your thoughts are free and your own. With no one given any right to punish you for them.

Thus, the warrior turns away from society, one no longer cares if one is wearing the correct clothing or likes the same things as his friends or as he is pressured to. While discovering the self, the warrior notices the growing desire for power and knowledge. And based on these reasons for revenge, lust for power or on account of what they see when they gaze into their soul.

First we will gaze towards the warrior, the heart and the soul of this divine will. The warrior must face every truth, must gaze into the depth of the self and discover who they are. They must do this to achieve a balance of self. If there is no balance there is no knowledge and no power. Do not try to be what you are not, be what you are, and be it gladly. Stand before humanity and proclaim your might before them.

Proclaim your serenity and dive into the Dark waters of emotion. Scan the depth of your Darkness and allow it to flow through you. Never underestimate an opponent, no matter how simple he appears. To underestimate an opponent is a strategic failure and can not be tolerated. See yourself as your central weapon. Sharpen your mind and fill it with knowledge to aid you in your battle. Study strategy and tactics. Ponder over the phrases and elaborate on the scriptures of other great warriors, consider what they say you should do and what you do in everyday life.

Find your mistakes and correct your views. Be ruthless towards yourself. This is the first of enemies: the mortal flesh and spirit. Mortals are weak; they quickly suffice when they have done half the job. Throw off the chains of imperfection and demand the ultimate functionality of every theory and construct; of every idea and strategy. Work on yourself until you have done all that you can at this time and then turn towards the world.

Tenten looked towards her classmates one final time before going to take a seat at a nearby desk, she had already found the prettiest girl in her class as well as what looked like the most popular boy, she smiled. Let the games begin!

---

The perfect word to describe how Naruto felt would be bored, he was sitting in class going through the same routine as last time albeit this time his teachers didn't mock his dreams when he had stated them and they only appeared to ignore him for the most part.

His new class seemed to be free of so called tuff guys from what he could see, tough it was still early for that, related his classmates, they looked much more promising than the last bunch, a lot more had from what he observed a shinobi relative in some form or another. Though none were clan children, he had at least seen a Hyuuga clan member in another class; he resolved to keep an eye on him while he still attended the academy.

Which brought him back to the matter at hand, he was bored, he knew that Yukimura and Sayaka had plans made for the year but he himself hadn't that many to keep busy, Tenten would have the academy, even Katsue would be more busy then before, that left him with little to do, there was only so much one could tend to their garden in one day.

I guess I can try making friends outside of the academy, if their worthy enough. He lowered his head on his arms to the bench, the smell of soap Katsue had given him and his sister for New Year's eve filled his nostrils, he brushed it aside as he looked at his two new teachers. A part of my own plans have been accomplished with sister meeting the Hokage. He smiled. Heh, the old man did catch us by surprise that time, I'll admit that was well played. He closed his eyes remembering that day.

Both Naruto and Tenten were playing cards to pass the time with the New Year approaching Naruto had gone to the Hokage's office to meet with the man to hopefully give him reassurances of being well and fill up the much dreaded timely meeting with him. Sadly the man had been busy and unable to meet with him, now the two were expecting the Hogake to either drop by Naruto's place or to finally accept meeting him, either way Tenten couldn't stay longer at the apartment as they didn't want her to meet the man yet. Even if he was aware of her presence, they had acted out a theatre performance when Naruto had felt the Hokage watching him with the seals a few times.

Naruto was getting ready to draw another card when a knock at the apartment door drew both of their attention. He sent her a questioning look. It can't be the Hokage it's too late.

Tenten bit her lip and shrugged. You never know.

Not good, not good at all. Naruto nodded and got off the bed heading towards the door as the knocking began again. Please don't be the Hokage, please don't be the Hokage!. "Who is it?"

The Hokage's warm grandfatherly voice rang out from behind the door. "It's me Naruto-kun."

Well shit. He turned his head and could see the flash of panic cross Tenten's face. Double shit.

His bit his own lip. Maybe she can hide in the bathroom or under the bed, I can hide her shoes.

His thoughts were cut short as the Hokage's voice rang out again. "I do hope you and your

little friend aren't up to something bad in there Naruto-kun."

Well fuck he knows she's here, I guess he sensed us in here or had people watching the building, I didn't feel him use the seals, tsk no choice then. He nodded towards Tenten who got up and quickly came next to him nodding as well. He reached for the handle and opened the door. Here goes nothing.

The Hokage looked mostly like the last time he had seen the man, perhaps with another wrinkle or two on his face, he was wearing the kage hat and the robes, from what he could see the robes looked to be made for colder weather. Does he wear them even when off duty?

The man still radiated a grandfatherly aura that made you want to trust in him without bating an eye.

Naruto scratched the back of his head in an embarrassed manner and chuckled. "Hey old man we weren't doing anything bad in here" he lowered his voice, "maybe just a prank or two."

The Hokage laughed and shook his head. "Good evening Naruto-kun" his eyes shifted to Tenten who was close to trembling, "and you little one."

"Hokage-sama!" Tenten bowed her head low placing both palms on her knees.

The Hokage waved his hand. "Now that's enough of that, no need to be so formal."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, see he's nice old man."

Tenten sent Naruto a bewildered look. "You can't talk that way to Hokage-sama, Naru." She grabbed his head and forcibly lowered it. "And bow your head when greeting him."

Naruto struggled a bit under her grip. Good acting sister. "Ah that hurts let go."

The Hokage laughed again. "Well your friend certainly has manners Naruto-kun."

"Yeap." He could see the calculating look in the Hokage's eyes, sizing Tenten up, it was far better concealed then Yukimura and Sayaka's who would do the same thing during training, carefully analyzing them.

The Hokage gently padded her on the head while smiling. "Now now my dear, a simple nod is acceptable if you want to be formal, I know Naruto doesn't mean any offence by the way he addresses me."

Tenten nodded keeping her head down. "Hai Hokage-sama."

The Hokage began to slowly move his hands towards Tenten's chin. Naruto froze for a brief moment. Crap he probably wants to look her in the eyes. A warning from Sayaka flashed through his mind. The eyes give away a lot more about the person that one initially assumes.

Naruto grabbed the Hokage's hand before he could reach Tenten and pulled towards him. "Hey old man why don't come inside? I remember that it's rude to keep someone at the door like this."

Naruto let go of his hand after the Hokage turned his attention towards him, the aged kage smiled. "Ah quite so Naruto-kun."

Well I may have put out a small fire and now I may have started a blaze. He cast a look towards Tenten who seemed to have composed herself.

"Well now Naruto-kun I haven't seen in a while so I decided make some time to visit you and with the New Year approaching I thought about inviting you and your friend to ramen to celebrate the occasion as well, my treat of course."

"Really old man? That's great! Come one Ten-chan lets go change cloths!" He grabbed Tenten by an arm and headed towards the cloths drawer where Tenten picked out a few cloths and went to the bathroom to change while Naruto went to the small hall between the bathroom and the rest of the room and changed cloths, the aged kage waited at the entrance of the apartment for the two.

After getting dressed the three made their way towards the ramen stand, during their trip the people they encountered gave the Hokage various forms of acknowledgement, from head nods to bowing, the people spared little glances to him and his sister, a few seemed more interested in figuring out who she was, luckily she kept her head down and had it covered with her hood and scarf. The walk to the stall was spent in mostly silence, occasionally Naruto would ask something of the Hokage and the man would answer in his warm grandfatherly tone.

The warm air inside of ramen stand hit Naruto like a wave once he entered, he unzipped his winter jacket with Tenten following suit. He spotted the owner of the stand Teuchi, the man was wearing the same white cloths as he usually did and had small beads of sweat on his forehead. Was this rehearsed or is it just from the heat inside of this place? He cast another look around and saw that there was none else inside of the shop. Odd why aren't there any other people here?

The man smiled and nodded at them. "Ah good evening Hokage-sama, I see you brought Naruto with you as well."

The Hokage nodded in turn and padded Naruto on the head. "Yes, I've brought Naruto-kun and his friend here for a small celebration."

Naruto smiled. "Your treat old man."

The age kage nodded. "Of course."

A moment later Ayame entered the stand from behind her father with a bowl of vegetables in her hands, her long chestnut brown hair seemed to shine in the humid atmosphere inside of the place, she gave the Hokage a courteous bow and handed the bowl to her father before she looked towards him and Tenten. "What's this I hear about Naruto-chan bringing a friend?"

Naruto noticed his sister giving the group a polite bow, carefully staying near him as to hide her face from the Hokage as well as she could. "Good evening mam, mister, my name is Tenten."

Ayame giggled and brought a hand to her mouth. "Wah she's so polite!"

Teuchi smiled as well. "A few could learn from that."

Ayame pouted before responding. "My manners are fine."

"Ano can we eat now? I'm hungry."

The next moments past easily enough with the three of them eating in relative silence with the occasional noise coming from the act that the two put on with Naruto who slurped the ramen down and Tenten elbowing him in the ribs to get him to behave and the amused giggles of the other three people.

It was Ayame who interrupted the relative quite after placing another bowl of ramen in front of him. "So how did you two meet?"

"Ano, we've know each other since I was at the orphanage, but I didn't see her for a while after leaving the place and only met her again in the summer."

Tenten nodded in agreement. "Yep, a while after that Naru-chan asked me to move in with him."

Ayame feigned shock, even if it would have been normally lost on the children their age. "Such a daring move Naruto-chan! But what about your friends at the orphanage?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't really have any there."

Tenten nodded. "There weren't that many there, I still see a few of them when I help out around the market."

"So that was you I saw the last time the trade caravans where here!"

"Hai! Since we live together I try to help Naru-chan with what little money I can make."

Ayame gave her a quizzical look. "Doesn't the orphanage help?"

"It would if I was older and had to leave the place, right now they can't really help with anything."

"Still leaving it behind to move in with Naruto-chan."

"I usually had to sleep with one eye open to make sure some of the kids there didn't try and steal my money when I had any. With Naru I just have to be careful that he doesn't wrap himself in the whole blanket at night."

"I do not!" He pouted "Well maybe a little, from time to time."

"It's so cute how close you two are! You know Naruto-chan you could have brought Tenten to the shop earlier and visited more often."

He rubbed the back of his head in an embarrassed manner. "Yeah, Ten-chan and I have been busy getting ready for the academy."

"Oh, it sounds like someone's excited."

"Yeah, both Ten-chan and I are going to be kick ass shinobi in no time flat."

At this the Hokage seemed to perk up. "Oh so you want to become shinobi as well my dear?"

"Hai!" Tenten cast a quickly look to the Hokage before continued in an excited voice "I want to become someone strong like Toka Senju, Tsunade of the Sannin or Kaede Nagase and Kōsaka Shigure."

Naruto cut in. "Yeah they were awesome especially Kōsaka Shigure and that guy Sakumo Hatake."

The Hokage nodded gently stroking his beard. "Well you've certainly chose good role models, all of them were wonderful shinobi."

Naruto knew the other part of the message that wasn't spoken. Who all just happen to be from Konoha.

Ayame pouted. "You know that's no real reasons to not stop by from time to time Naruto-chan."

"Ah, I'm sorry I'll be sure to visit more often from now."

Ayame smiled and nodded.

Naruto turned towards the Hokage. "Hey that reminds me old man, you actually trained that Sannin lady right?"

"Ah Tsunade, yes I did." The Hokage gained a far away look in his eyes. "It was a long time ago."

"What was she like?"

The old kage smiled and his voice carrying more warmth in it then before. "She was head strong even back then as a child, she had a bright mind and a will of iron that I once believed her teammates lacked. It is thanks to her that many people are still alive today and why a few villagers have names based on hers."

Tenten looked at the Hokage. "She sounds amazing!"

The first time Naruto actually thought the Hokage looked his age, usually he had an aura of command around him, now however it was gone and he actually looked his age, more so he appeared to be carrying far to many regrets that weighed heavily on him. "Um old man, where is she? Is she like on some super top secret ninja mission?"

The Hokage's voice became somber. "Life has dealt her many blows and she bears the scars in her own way, whether others agree with it or not."

He tilted his head and looked at him confused. "Huh?"

The Hokage patted him on the head. "Don't worry about it to much, perhaps one day you two will meet her."

The rest of the meal was spent in the same relative silence as before, Naruto noted that the Hokage seemed lost in old memories and hadn't been inclined to talk anymore. Once the meal was done the group left the stand with Naruto promising again to visit the place more often, it wasn't until after their arrival at the apartment that the Hokage spoke again after he pulled out two scrolls from his robes.

"What that old man?"

"Just a small something for the two of you."

He tilted his head. "Um toilet paper?"

"Naru! I'm sure it's great toilet paper if it's from the Hokage!"

The Hokage smiled again and Naruto noticed that he had composed himself again. "It's not toilet paper children, here let me show you." He placed the two scrolls on the floor and opened them revealing the writing on the inside. Seals! "Now pay attention." With a quick move of his hand, and from what they believed was also chakra the seals glowed and a moment later smoke was visible above the scrolls that quickly disappeared and revealed two wrapped boxes.

"Is that a cool ninja trick? Can you teach me? Can you? What are those?"

"These are seals children, only a few ninja learn the art, if you are interested in such learning this art you're going to need a steady hand and a good hand writing, just practice this for now and once you become a shinobi you can talk more. As to these, well they are for you two."

"Like presents?" Naruto asked hopefully.

The Hokage nodded.

Naruto wiped his eyes to feign tears. "Thanks old man."

While Tenten unwrapped her present with care, he personally just digged into it ripping the package open. Inside they found new cloths and supplies that would be need for the new academy year.

"Wha these are great old man! This jacket looks amazing." And I bet it even has those tracking seals on them as well! With you very gift is edged

Tenten bowed her head and Naruto seeing her followed suit quickly enough. "Arrigato Hokage-sama." "Yeah thanks old man!"

"It's quite alright children, now I have to be going however I look forward to hearing from the two of you, don't be afraid about interrupting me when you visit, I have time I will gladly receive you."

"Hai!"

Heh, the old man did play the kind grandfather card very well back then, he showed his soft caring side the way he acted, he showed the respect he commands with how the various people greeted him through out the village and peeked our interests with the seals as ninja tricks. Of course the cloths did have the tracking seals on them, makes the old saying that every gift is edged seem so true. Still if I look at the other side of the coin, the excuse that he is trying to keep me safe could have some ground to stand on. Tsk still the old man has made it clear the he knows that sister is living with me and doesn't appear to have a problem with it, he must have made some plans for her as well.

At least we managed to score some points with mentioning our new role models; he probably thinks it's a victory for him on that front. Heck I think Raelag is a damn hero compared to someone of the people that Konoha was spewed out. His thoughts returned briefly to Yukimura and Sayaka who encouraged him to enjoy life after finishing the part of the plan involving the academy. So they want to start enjoying life huh? Fine. He smiled. I'll enjoy it alright; I'll enjoy life until it collapses from exhaustion.

"Pay attention brat."

Naruto looked and noticed a new teacher that had entered the room and had delivered a note of sorts to his teachers; he nodded then gently lowered his head back to the bench. And you'll be the first I start with!

---

Katsue cursed silently as she made her way back to her apartment, things had not gone as she had hoped, first it was that she hadn't been assigned to Naruto's class and later when she had hoped to meet with the two children and discus their first day at the academy she and others had been called to give character testimony for an old classmate of hers. Katsue shook her head as she gained more speed jumping over rooftops, she hadn't known the man that well and had barely spoken two or three words with him.

She found out that during and undercover mission her old classmate, Tetsunori Endo, and his partner had asked a civilian how the two of them could buy drugs, when the man refused, some sort of struggle occurred and Tetsunori killed the unarmed civilian. The mission was a flop as the city watch had stumbled onto the crime scene and had identified the two shinobi. What many saw as the problem was the fact that the person that Tetsunori murdered was an unarmed teenage civilian and that Tetsunori had blabbed some of the information Konoha had on the person, with him being marked as a drug dealer and involved in other small crimes.

Now Konoha had launched an investigation on the matter, the city in which it occurred had made a fuss over how Konoha had handled the matter, the boy's family wasn't happy about the information about him being released so casually to everyone. Konoha was interested in solving the matter quickly and seeing who to side with, Tetsunori claimed that the boy was being uncooperative; that he appeared to be on drugs and had attacked them first so they only defended themselves and things got out of control from there. The city authorities were more interested in how two fully trained shinobi couldn't subdue one teenager, on drugs as they claimed.

I heard from the others that Tetsunori had a bit of a temper however it wasn't anything that he couldn't control. Well it's up to the higher ups to decide his fate, given that he blabbed sensitive information on the boy and that he killed someone he should face some consequences. He may yet face jail time or at least suspended be suspended and have to visit a psychiatrist alongside other consequences.

She shivered for a moment. Well at least things aren't going to involve a meeting with the people from Torture and Interrogation, from what I've heard Orochimaru's former apprentice made quite the impression there. I know her fame's grown as of late, I wonder if she's risen in rank as well?

Katsue stopped as she landed on the rooftop of the building where her apartment was located; she cast a quick look and noticed how Naruto had added more floor pots to the rooftop. It's good that now he has free reign to plant these. She could already imagine how the place would look during spring and summer time, their own little green corner.

I just need to brag a bite to eat and to change cloths then I can see the two little rascals, perhaps I should make them something as well.

---

Both Naruto and Tenten were sitting at the table eating dinner; they had talked about how their first day at the academy had been.

Tenten looked curiously at her soup as she slowly moved her spoon through it look at its content or rather lack there off. "Um, listen brother. You said this was beef and vegetables soup. Well there's seems to be missing the beef part so you shouldn't call it beef and vegetables now should you?"

Naruto looked at her with a dead pan expression. "Yes, I would actually."

Tenten sent him a small glare. "Well, it's not!"

Naruto let out a long sigh. "It is when you're broke!"

"But we're not broke yet!"

"No, but we've had to make a few cutbacks, we couldn't sell the stuff we made at the trade caravans however we still had to buy more food and I needed money to send out other books after I didn't get a response about the first books sent. On the bright side I do have a plan to help deal with the situation."

Tenten raised an eyebrow and she crossed her hand over her chest. "Does it involve you stealing more things?"

"Um, maybe."

Her next words were cut short as a knock was heard from the door. Naruto smiled and went to open it glad to have been rescued from what would have been a difficult conversation.

---

Katsue smiled as Naruto all but glommed her legs after opening the door, the two children appeared too had been having dinner when she arrived, she padded Naruto on the head. As Naruto removed his head from her legs and she got a look at his eyes she couldn't help but think that those blue eyes of him had more depth to them that she had thought, they reminded her of the ocean, it was only a momentary thing however as it quickly disappeared.

"Wha sensei what are you doing here?"

"I came to ask you two how your first day at the academy was and to bring you some dinner." She handed the package with the few sandwiches she had made to Naruto, she noticed how Tenten seemed to brighten at the mention of food, she cast a quick glance at the dinner plates.

The girl must be happy to eat some solid food rather then soup.

"Arrigato sensei!" Naruto gave her a small bowed as he said this.

She quirked an eyebrow at his gesture. "Well Tenten has certainly taught you some manners."

Naruto placed the package on the table and after unwrapping it they both began to eat.

"Yeah" he touched his head, "the hard way."

Katsue chuckled when she noticed Tenten smiling and nodding to herself. "It's the only way you'll learn quickly." Naruto pouted in response as he bit into his sandwich, she let them finish the first one before approaching the subject she was interested in.

"Ah yea, the first was great sensei, there so many new people there, and the classroom looks a lot better then our old one!"

Katsue nodded. "Did you have any problems with the new class?"

"Huh? Not really, I didn't get to talk to a lot of them."

Katsue bit her own lip. "Oh, did they ask you about dreams for the future or ambitions?" After the fiasco of his first time around she hoped that things had gone better the second time around.

"Yep, they shrugged and moved on with the role call."

She let out a relived breath. "Ah well it happens, don't worry about it."

"Ano, I wanted to ask, are you really one of my new classroom teachers or did you fill in for somebody today?"

"Yes actually I assigned to your class."

She noticed the sharp look Tenten sent her. "Oh, I thought you had Naru's old class."

"No, that class was disbanded" noticing the confused looks she continued, "the classes are shuffled around from time to time, with the students being moved to other classes, in some cases the better students get grouped into a single class, depending on the circumstances a class or two could be disbanded. It happens if a lot of students drop out or fail to pass the year, if there are too few students in one class then the they get moved around to the other existing classes. This is what happened to Naruto's old class."

"How could that happen? You're awesome teacher Katsue-sensei!"

She laughed awkwardly knowing that she hadn't done as much in the beginning. "Well not everyone applies themselves as hard as you do. I had hoped to get assigned to your class, if the two of you were in the same class then it would have teaching you a lot easier."

"Yeah, that would have been awesome!"

"It would have been better if I could have had the opportunity to form our own study group."

Both of them looked at her puzzled. "Huh?"

"Well the with the study group I could have taught you a lot more then usual, at it would have helped to create stronger bonds with some of the other students."

"Can't it still be done?"

It's hard getting it done in one class, involving students from other classes would be even more difficult."

Naruto tilted his head to the side and looked at with wide innocent blue eyes. "Couldn't you still do it with just Ten-chan's class though?"

Well crap! If I say no then I'll look like the bad guy here, best to try and diffuse this somehow. "Yes I could try."

"Yata! See."

"However it would cut into the time I would have to teach the both of you, the study group will take up time from my own schedule, adding the fact that I already have a busy one with the academy it would make it much more difficult to train you."

"Ah, that's ok sensei; we already had a lot of training before right? So I should be good to go, and Ten-chan and the others would need it more then me."

Well he does have a point, he actually made a good argument, he should be able to graduate the first year without any problems if his teachers don't try and sabotage him. "I'll look into the matter; we'll still need some time to see who's more serious about their studies before we begin."

"Hai sensei" Naruto responded between bites "these are really good."

"Naru don't speak with your mouth full."

"Ha! You did as well."

"Now you have me doing it as well, this just means more training for good manners."

Katsue could help but laugh at the look of horror on Naruto's face. I have a feeling this year is going to be good.

---

Kaguya looked at the two people in front of her, the first was a girl roughly the same age as her and who has taller then her, she had an inverted triangle face, blue eyes, a small nose and bright red hair that was spiked up. The girl was wearing what looked like a modified grey shinobi outfit that she had seen a few months ago on some of her family's bodyguards. The girls name was Kalen, and she would become her future bodyguard, confidant and constant companion, her origin was that of mixed blood or so she had heard, something about her father being of high rank and her mother a commoner, somehow she had ended up becoming an apprentice to an actual shinobi and would become her eventual bodyguard.

The other person was a woman, her name was Ryosei Miyasaki, she had grey hair a round face, brown eyes and thin lips, she looked to be at most in her early twenties. The woman would be her new acting bodyguard and would train Kalen for the job as well, from what she had been told Ryosei had been trained from a very young age to become a shinobi, however she had not been trained in Konoha rather she had been trained in a temple who's task it was to train such people to become future bodyguards for the daimyo's family, their numbers were kept relatively small which made their use only in case of important situations.

She nodded to the two as they left the room, she wasn't even bothered by the sharp looks Kalen had sent her, she still felt numb on the inside after what had happened. It had been a mistake she knew that much, at the time she had been angry and had run her mouth off, the price was that her friend Kazutoshi was dead now and it was all her fault.

The two had been playing in secret and he had ripped one her dolls while playing, angry and in tears at this she had shouted that she wished he was dead. Her wish had come true as one of the guards had stumbled onto them and seeing the scene had stabbed Kazutoshi through the chest with his spear. The rest seemed a blur to her, she couldn't remember what came after that except for some of her caretakers fussing over her with Urano at the head of the group.

She had hoped that the guard had been punished for what he had done, it didn't happen much to her surprise, the man had actually been commended for his so called noble deed, likewise the Kazutoshi's parents had been sent away from her family's estate because of what had occurred.

This was the reason after all that the two were here, her father had told her how he had gotten her two bodyguards to protect her from the common filth in the future, the two would be loyal to her beyond all measure. It didn't matter that much to her, her first real friend was dead because of her and his killer was still free and unpunished.

---

Tenten forced her opponent back with another jab; she raised her left arm and feigned a fist strike to the right side of her opponent, barely reacting the boy raised one arm to guard while preparing to attack with the other one. Everything seemed so slow to her during these practice fights, after fighting higher level opponents her classmates were pale in significance. She smiled and stopped mid attack surprising the boy before she unleashed a round house kick to boy's head throwing him out of the training circle. She made the sign for the end of the fight while the teachers checked over her opponent. As she was leaving she gently uttered two words looking back at the boy. "Road house."

Her class mates gave her a wide berth as she headed towards a tree. Hah and they called that kid the best of the class even with shinobi parents that wasn't much skill. She sat down under a tree and began to meditate. I still have to be careful and pull my punches; I could have broken his neck back there if there had been more force behind it. Sayaka's word rumbled through her head and she struggled to get her breathing under control. Through regular meditation one examines their motivations, and are certain that they are not allowing emotion, ignorance, or passion to intrude upon them. Meditation can be used by a person to improve their mindfulness, focus, or patience.

Her thoughts turned to a lesson of Yukimura's concerning emotions.

To control emotions efficiently you can't try to clamp down on them, you can't try to extinguish them; if you do, you will fail more often than not. You have to try to guide them. Over exertion has often led to problems for me in attempting to control my emotions, as it may have already led you to.

Each emotion has its advantages as well as its disadvantages, however it is my opinion that we can better overcome the disadvantages and put the advantages to use for a maximum of benefit, be it for yourself or others. I think mindful awareness of the self is key to productively utilizing one's emotions, and from personal experience I would advise you to gain a decent understanding of yourself before you choose to begin toying with your emotions and passions.

To give a few short examples anger, its advantages would constitute increased physical strength, increased mental focus on a specific person, event or feeling and increased self-control. It's disadvantages, if anger is not properly controlled would constitute a sort of tunnel vision, where you become so focused that you only see what you wish to see an not the whole picture, your judgment is clouded, if you believe you have more control over anger than you really do, you will become over-confident, it can lead to poor health when used excessively, you also develop and increased willingness to do things you couldn't otherwise bring yourself to do.

Another example if fear, if kept in check it can give you a heightened awareness and a burning desire to be safe, for lack of a better word however ff fear is not kept in check it can lead to paranoia loss of focus and to become physically shaky.

Understand, my short discourse on the pros and cons of these emotions are meant only to illustrate a point, point being that no emotion can be considered a negative emotion. Any and all emotions are positive. The problem is that certain emotions can be perceived as negative if your perception of them is blurred.

Remember this above all else a person's emotions are what define him, and control is the hallmark of true strength. To lack feeling is to be dead, but to act on every feeling is to be a child.

She let out a small breath as she opened her eyes she saw Katsue in front of her looking somewhere between upset and worried.

She fidgeted for a moment before biting her lip. "Is he alright?"

"He will be."

None of them said anything for a few moments with Tenten keeping her head down.

"You know what you did wrong?"

She nodded.

"You can't be this aggressive with the rest of your classmates."

Well this is mingled with the truth, it can sadly for you sensei be used to manipulate as well. "It's just that I'm afraid that if don't shine enough I won't get into a better class next year, I don't want to get left behind."

A brief look of regret flashed across Katsue's face, her own aggressiveness could also be linked to what Katsue had told them. "Your doing great as it is so don't worry, you just managed to defeat what your classmates thought was the best student of the class with ease so relax. We will work on the other parts later on, just try and be more careful alright?"

She nodded.

"Come on let's go and try to look sad like I just punished you."

I wonder what brother is doing now that he's started to skip class again.

---

Naruto smiled as stuffed more items into his small backpack, the past few months he had taken to enjoying life in his own way. The academy teacher that called him brat got pranked hard, getting painted orange at the academy and need to go home to wash up, becoming a bit of a joke after the incident. Of course he added a bit more by sneaking into the man's home and planted some adult reading material that was a bit more exotic by people's standards, to make things stick he had used the henge to look like the man when he bought the books.

A quick visit to the hospital had him getting back at the nurse who insulted him when he was hospitalized. A gentle mix up of the woman's charts had a man receive an unwanted and unneeded enema.

His latest activity and passion was stealing, and doing it heavily, he would steal food from restaurants, shops and people's homes, as well as money he found lying around the places.

He had stolen other goods as well, rings, circlets and necklaces of gold, silver, copper and a few unique ones with a sapphire and onyx, however those kinds of theft were much rarer, he would place them in a bag and bury them in stashes around Konoha's forests, a few he had actually managed to leave the village and bury them around the forests outside. For his own amusement he had actually planted stolen goods in other people's homes just to see how they would react. He knew he would have to stop before things got more serious however right now this was just his way of having fun.

At the moment he has currently robbing a mail clerk who had given him the stink eye last time he had visited the place even with his henge on. He smiled as he placed a roll of money into his backpack. Almost done, usually people have another secret place where they hide more things. He looked around the room again before his eyes fell on the bed; he quickly got down on the floor and slid underneath the bed. Ha! Found it. It has a small wooded compartment added to bed, he checked for any possible traps then using some metal wire managed to carefully open it, what the found surprised however.

Naruto looked through the ledger he found in the wooden compartment and help but ask. What's going here? He turned a few more pages of the ledger as he peered through it; he realized that it was written in a code of sort. Why would a mail clerk have a ledger written in code? His eyes widened and he closed the ledger. He tapped into Yukimura's magic and used it to have him read the ledger for later, after that he quickly but back the ledger as well as everything he had stolen.

Before leaving he double checked that everything was still in it's place, he had to hurry as he was cutting short as it was, he cast one last look around the place before leaving. How did I manage to stumble on a spy operation?

---

Both Yukimura and Sayaka were near the portal exiting the god realm, each sitting in a meditative position. Yukimura looked towards Sayaka who nodded and raised her hands that quickly became engulfed in golden flames. "It's time." Her voice was strained; they both knew that the following moments were crucial in helping to shape the events in their favor.

"Everything is in place." Sayaka brought her hands in a circle, the flames spread from them forward reaching the portal leading out of the god realm, the sounds of rattled chains filled the air and the portal became clearer, the other side of it now visible like a clear lake.

He gave her and encouraging smile and winked. "Well then let's go save the life of a future recruit." He brought his hands together and closed his eyes; another Yukimura appeared in front of the original whose body was quickly engulfed in golden flames that spread towards the new one who looked to drink in the flames into his body before they stopped spreading towards him.

A moment later the new Yukimura walked through the portal leaving the other two behind, once outside the godrealm he halted for a small moment feeling the cool air on his skin. The problem with the opening was that it allowed only a small part of himself to exist outside the seal and he was severally limited in his power while being out and about, he needed to create a special avatar to move outside in the real world.

He breathed in the fresh air and smiled before taking of up towards the sky, he looked to be kicking the air as he flew higher and higher, he glanced downwards as Konoha lay sprawled out before him in its entirety. The cold wind blew against his face and in the distance he could spot the light from the fires that interested him. He smiled.

Ah the real world after so long, after so many years of imprisonment, I wonder what would my old form have done with this freedom? He chuckled darkly. Knowing my old Kurama persona he would have destroyed Konoha in the blink of an eye and never doubt such an action. He looked at the buildings around the centre of Konoha. It would be so simple, a bijudama at full power from up high and Konoha would be a crater.

He sighed. Perhaps in the future if the corruption of this place passes any level, it hasn't reached the level of any of the Rome's I've seen, though it certainly looks to be walking down the path or ruin. He shook his head dismissing the thoughts, he had wasted enough time, he took a deep breath then headed towards his destination at full speed.

When Yukimura arrived at his destination he stopped and looked at the ground below him where the fire raged, he could hear a creature's scream coming from the place, he doubted anyone else could hear the screams, he needed to deal with it quickly, the creature's scream could potentially awaken creatures that were best left sleeping, something that he didn't want, Naruto's meeting with Ami was bad enough.

The blazing fire was consuming the compound, the few people there were trying to put out the fire anyway they could. A few water jutsu would certainly help. He closed his eyes for a moment feeling the life inside of the place using his magic; they felt like small flames to him, a few people were still alive inside the compound while a majority were dead. He noted how strange a few of the survivors were acting and how not all of the flames had a feeling of magic to them, he knew the flames would spread to engulf the compound and yet now seeing it he realized something was off about the matter. He dismissed it he had come here to save someone and that was what he was going to do, he made his way towards the room that presented an interest for him and the sooner he finished his business here the better.

He passed through the flaming rooms of the compound letting his eyes travel around the place as he passed through it, noting oddities about the bodies and how the flames spread through out the place. Yukimura smiled finally reaching the underground where the room was located; it had an old stone altar in the middle of it with magical seals spread through the place.

A move of his hand banished the flames in the room, he gave the girl's uncle a glance and sent a small flame towards the man's chest that engulfed his body, the man's breathing stabilized, he was still needed for a time, after that the man would pass on, his presence held to much influence that wasn't needed or desired. He noticed two clan's members dead not far from the altar that had horrified looks on their faces, a third member was further away from the uncle and had asphyxiated.

Young Yakumo was sitting on the altar eyes closed and unconscious with the seals covering her body, above her a shadow presence raged as its screams sent shockwaves through the room and beyond it. The girl possessed long brown hair, it was braided in a pony tail at the back, sweat ran down the girl's face, she wore a pink kimono held closed by a pink sash with two pockets on the front, she also wore violet baggy pants and red mesh amour underneath her kimono and legs along with sandals that were orange in color, she wore Yukimura remarked colorful mismatched socks.

Yukimura raised an eyebrow at her choice in colors; well Naruto may have liked it had we not intervened before. He looked at the seals and he realized that the seals mingled together contained both chakra seals as well as magic ones, the more he looked at them the more confused he became, the seals looked like they were intentionally made to malfunction, everything looked badly patched together beyond an acceptable degree. Yakumo's ritual seems destined to fail or perhaps it is rigged to be so? Perhaps it is simply the incompetence of the clan when dealing with such matters.

The ritual was most likely done to aid with the clans abilities, he moved closer to the girl and brought his hands over her body, the creature hissed and tried to lash out at him. Yukimura looked at the creature silencing it. Quite beast. A move of his hand and spectral silver chains appeared and wrapped around the creature, it howled and thrashed before the chains tightened around it and wrapped around its head silencing it.

A golden fire spread from Yukimura's hand that covered Yakumo's body as closed his eyes. He had an idea of what to expect when he would have to face the situation, now coming face to face with it, things were different then what he expected.

Before he guessed that the ritual was done to either increase or stabilize the girl's kekkei genkai, who seemed to manifest to a much higher degree in her. Both he and Sayaka had theorized that the clan's kekkei genkai had an origin in magic and involved it as their illusions were simple far to powerful to be used with only chakra.

The nature of the illusion bordered on yin yang release, while some jutsu used aspect of either yin or yang release, none of them had the sheer potency that the clan's illusion used to posses. Mostly likely the clan initial used magic but as it was slowly being replaced by chakra that spread through out the world with Rikudo Sennin's teachings after his victory over the Juubi, for whatever reasons the clan made the move to it as well but at some level still kept vestiges of magic within them.

Yukimura sighed as he began to work on fixing the girl's body, the clan members were always slightly weaker then other shinobi regarding the physical aspect, after inspecting the Yakumo's body he realized that was because of the move from chakra to magic had cost them more then they knew at the time. To help keep the strength of the illusion their bodies were drained of more chakra and because of this were under far more pressure.

If the change had been done more carefully the effects could have been greatly diminished and better handled, had the clan accepted a bigger loss to their abilities they may have not incurred any loss at all.

The girl moved slightly as Yukimura worked on her body. Some things sadly needed to be sacrificed, your blood as it was until now is at an end, though I am not cruel enough as to take everything from you. Her body would be stronger then before, her bloodline had indeed been more powerful in her but the cost was that her physical body would much weaker; to a degree that even attempting to become a shinobi would have been a great risk to her.

He raised an eyebrow picking up something about the girl's body. Now this can't be right and yet here it is, what could have drove them to….thinking back on the fire his eyes widened, oh I see…they are in luck as I can't waist time repairing that damage, still in the future should she desire it I will gladly heal that damage.

Yukimura could feel sweat pouring down his forehead, he cursed the fact that his power was so limited in this form, healing the girl was taking longer then he anticipated. The girls mind had been broken to a degree because of the ritual and lead to the birth of the so called demon Ido. He pressed onwards the girl still wasn't fully healed and time was growing short, the fires still raged outside destroying the compound. Yukimura felt a final click lock into place and smiled, what followed was a domino effect; he could fell the changes taking root into the girl's body. Ido trashed in its chains attempting to howl and break free only to fail and die fading away into oblivion.

As the fires stopped engulfing the girl's body and retreated back onto Yukimura's hands, he looked over his work and his smile grew larger. Another work I can be proud of. Her body and mind were now healed, and in time she could surpass the old physical limits of her clan, it would still need plenty of time and hard work but now that old dam was broken, she would never posses the same powers as before, her illusions wouldn't come close to ying yang release, their potency would still be far greater then others and she would have a natural affinity towards them.

The girl's strength with illusions will be even greater once she learns that art of magic, with a clear line drawn in the sand and proper teachings she won't make the same mistakes as her clan.

Yukimura brought his hands together and conjured a golden globe that went through the ceiling and through the house until it reached the outside, it hung above the compound showing how the flames had spread and a safe heaven represented by a small garden with a pound not far from the altar room in a part of the compound that the flames hadn't reached.

He nodded to himself and created bubbles around the two survivors and made his way towards the place leaving small clues behind to hint of the man's desperate struggle to save the girl through the chaos of the fire. Once outside he left the two near the pound, he shifted his gaze to the golden globe that still hanged above the compound invisible to the other people, a moment later it cracked into hundreds of small pieces that formed into smaller globes; each went back into the compound. It doesn't have much power left but I still need to investigate this.

A few of the globes died out while in the compound and he had other flicker out of existence giving their power to other ones, the globes traveled through out the compound, he directed a part of them and helped to temper the flames near the survivors ensuring their intensity died down and would stay that way until Yakumo and her uncle were found and rescued. A few globes were sent back to the altar room and helped to weaken the ceiling there collapsing it and destroying the room there helping to wipe out evidence of its existence and true purpose. Some knowledge is better of lost forever.

More of the globes died out from the lack of power, he realized that sadly quite a few places had been consumed by the flames, the clan's library and offices looked to have been lost as well, the clan as it was until now was at end. The few remaining globes found something that made him widen his eyes in shock and clenched his fist, they were just bread crumbs he realized, but a good trail and with some of the other pieces from the fire formed a disturbing puzzle to him.

He looked towards Yakumo and shook his head, in the end it was done, her future would be filled with hardships and difficult decisions as well. She was a long term project as well and would require a different approach then first envisioned, the girl's will would need to be stronger, adopting some of Naruto's values would help, he realized that with the change the option to reveal themselves to her had been wiped of the board.

The children's training will be kicked up a notch, illusions will have to start coming into play faster then anticipated, it's good that I have just the thing for that, they'll love that training.

He glanced towards the girl again and shook his head, a myriad of possibility laid sprawled out before him, still he chose the longer road, free will still mattered to him and she had great potential, Yukimura left when he felt more people approaching the location. At least the girl will have a much more open mind regarding Naruto, for a short time, and a small nudge to get to know him. Yukimura looked to the south of his location. Now to investigate that other matter.

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Review away

Constructive criticism or pointing out possible errors/issues within the story is always welcomed.

Completion date 17 VII 2014 – publication date, mostly likely 5 X 2014

- The wolf part is something that I got of a site a long time ago it originally refers to the Sith. Sadly I don't remember what site it was to reference it, still it needs to be mentioned that that part is not my work and I do not claim it as such.

- Why yes I did get that dialogue from somewhere else, congrats on spotting it

- Scrapped a plot line in which Naruto caused the death of one of his teachers that had asthma and framed the an Uchiha police officer for the deed, who would have been in part of responsible as he would have refused to aid the teacher.

- The emotion part is taken from somewhere else as well all credits go to the original author.

- A lot of scenes got dropped from this chapter sadly, includes one where they celebrated New Year's eve with Katsue and a few family ones for Naruto and Tenten.

- I wanted to get year two arc done in three chapters however it looks like it may yet grow another chapter or two.