I do not own Naruto

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

Chapter 13 : Year Two part III

After arriving in the godrealm both Naruto and Tenten went through the house, now finding either Yukimura or Sayaka the changed cloths and went to the dojo, most of the time if the two weren't there to greet them it meant that they had something planned for them. Entering the dojo they found the two in the centre of the room, sitting in a meditative position wither their eyes closed, waiting for them.

Sayaka opened her eyes and smiled seeing the two. "Excellent you have arrived" her smiled turned predatory "we have some new training exercises for you to enjoy children."

Tenten answered in a dry tone. "Ah, how wonderful."

Sayaka's predatory smiled grew larger. "Oh I knew you'd love it my dear."

Naruto looked between the two he thought he saw lighting sparks flying between them, he knew Tenten was actually eager to rise to whatever challenge Sayaka had for them, he shifted his head towards Yukimura who had a small amused smirk on his face. "Um, what about that man I sent here?"

Yukimura opened his eyes. "Ah yes" his voice took a dismissive tone "that person, don't worry about him."

Tenten looked towards him with an arched eyebrow and a curious expression on her face. "Who?"

Naruto sent her a quick look. "The pervy cat I told you about."

Tenten's expression didn't change. "Who?"

"Naruto-kun stumbled upon the sealed soul of a person and unknowingly released him," Sayaka sent a glare at him and he flinched, he knew he was going to pay for that mistake "that person you saw, the pervy cat, was just that, a person's soul."

Tenten looked between Sayaka and Naruto. "What?"

He pushed the notion of his imminent punishment to the back of his mind his curiosity taking precedence. "Someone managed to seal a soul?" He never considered that a possibility, now that he thought about it, the notion wasn't that spectacular, if small items such as cloths and weapons could be sealed and biju could be sealed, then he couldn't find a reason why a human soul's couldn't be sealed somehow.

Tenten inclined her head to the right looking at Sayaka, the confused expression replaced now by a curious one. "Wait, how do you seal a soul and how did he see one?"

"Good questions, seeing one isn't as far fetched as you might think, in time of the gods it did occur, as for the sealing, well if biju can be sealed why not human souls?"

Yukimura nodded and got up to his feet. "I myself am curious about the process, it may just be magical in nature, whether the person who used it knows this or not is still unknown at the current time."

Naruto watched as Yukimura gave Sayaka his hand to help her rise up, they both kept their smiles on their faces. "Who was he?"

Yukimura smirked eyeing him. "An ANBU member who had been working on investigating the possibility of spies in the village."

Both he and Tenten chuckled hearing that. "Considering I stumbled on that person in the post office, he wasn't very good at his assignment, was he now?"

Tenten looked around the room. "Is he still here?"

Sayaka shook her head. "No, he has passed on to the great unknown."

"He did however leave behind a lot of knowledge about many interesting topics, one of which was about the person who sealed him."

He raised an eyebrow at that information. "That was generous of him."

Yukimura's face also took a predatory smile. "Oh, yes, and you two are going to help capture that person."

Both he and Tenten blinked surprised and uttered simultaneously. "We are?"

Yukimura nodded at the two. "Yes you are, oh don't worry, its time we slowly put our plans into motion, this will tie to quite a few other things, that little spy at the post office amongst them."

He couldn't help but smile hearing that information. "Finally we get things going, so how are you going to do that?"

"Well for starters, we're going to show you a new trick, one we have been working on for quite some time."

"What is it?"

Yukimura and Sayaka each raised an arm to their sides causing the air around it to ripple. "We're going to show you how to send people to the god realm."

Yukimura and Sayaka were sitting at a table drinking tea in a white room with floating panels around, the few glimpses from them revealed maps of the country, the continent and the human body with the chakra network outlined.

Sayaka poured herself more tea. "It is interesting this change of pace."

Yukimura nodded staring into his tea cup. "Yes and also very unexpected."

"Indeed" she added two spoons of sugar to her tea and a slice of lemon "this event did not always occur in fact it was on the low end of the spectrum, and even when it did occur, it was much later in his life."

Yukimura smiled seeing her adding the slice of lemon; she had quite a sweet tooth, and getting her to accept something that could potentially ruin the sweet taste had been harder that pushing a boulder up a mountain after a heavy rain. His smiled faded and a concerned scowl replaced it. "Perhaps my vision is clouded somehow; the point of origin I chose could be tainted."

"Or perhaps it because of the involvement of another god."

"Its beginning to look more and more like it, the plan will need to have even more flexibility built into it then before. We can only hope the major events stay somewhat similar."

"Similar is a good word for it, doubtlessly they will have something changed about them, whether for better or worse remains to be seen." She chuckled. "Considering whose luck we're talking about it will most likely be both."

Yukimura chuckled and nodded. "Well at least now we have more knowledge on chakra and can begin to take properly adapt our teaching methods, not to mention not having to rely on second hand words for the children's training."

She gave him an amused smile. "I thought you liked experimenting with it."

"I do however after a while the exploding avatars tend to get on my nerves."

She smirked. "No matter how amusing that may be."

Yukimura rolled his eyes. "Even so."

"Still, I had expected more from the so called elite; he seemed rather lacking in strength."

"Compared to others that we know of, yes, never the less we can make good use of what we knew and go work from there. I will confess that he seemed rather lacking in the traps department, even if his skills were valued highly in that regard."

"We will soon have the man who bested him to compare notes, that soul binding seal is of particular interest."

"True, I'm curious of its capabilities as well." She paused for a moment. "Will you tell the children on what we did with the man's soul, and what we will do with the other one?"

"I believe that at some level, they know something more occurred then and will take place after we capture that man."

"Hmm. A shame we won't be able to keep him here until we access the temple, it would have made things so much easier."

"If we can make more progress on the pocket dimension, then perhaps we can use it in the future alongside the other contingencies."

"Yes, the ones will the training programs are coming along nicely, a few more wont hurt."

"At least this way we will still teach them even if we are indisposed."

And that takes care of that. Naruto smiled as he closed to the door to his new apartment and slowly started towards the building's rooftop. Earlier he had met and signed a book deal with a publisher, who had also given him a small bonus for signing the contract, true he had stolen more money, however this money was clean.

Now he had a new apartment that was conveniently located in the same building as his first apartment. Which the mysterious author can use while in Konoha to meet his publisher and work on his projects in peace and quite. He hand to give himself a pat on the back, he had sold the reclusive author persona well enough, his current landlord was thrilled to have a new tenant and had hardly asked any questions.

Naruto pumped magic through his arm and spread it around his surroundings making sure no one was nearby before he dropped his henge and entered the apartment he shared with his sister. He smiled seeing her on the bed fidgeting, she was worried the deal would fall thorough for some reasons or another, a small glance to the table showed she had prepared several salads while waiting. When did she start cooking when worried?

"Well?" she asked in a worried tone getting up from the bed.

"Let's go water the flowers sister." Lets go somewhere were we wont be spied upon.

She nodded and followed him swiftly out the door, it wouldn't do for the Hokage to interrupt their discussion, they were always nervous in the apartment because of the eventual spying the Hokage performed. Soon enough they entered another apartment on their floor that had the window covered with wooden boards.

"Well?" she repeated in the same tone.

"Well what?" he asked smiling and tilting his head at her.

A scowl marred her face though now she was visibly more relaxed. "Don't be a jerk Naru."

"Heh" he pulled out a roll of cash from a pocket of his pant, "success sister!"

"Yes!" she hugged him squeezing hard.

He scratched the back of his head. "Heh I told you it wouldn't be a problem!"

Tenten gave him a mocking smile and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Sure Naru, is that why you asked Yukimura and Sayaka to run even more scenarios for the meeting then they suggested."

He chuckled nervously. "Um…. That was just to…err give you peace of mind sister."

She raised an eyebrow looking at him, making it clear that she didn't believe a word he was saying.

"Heh, well maybe I was a tad nervous, nothing too much."

Tenten's expression didn't change.

He relented. "Well ok a lot."

Tenten smiled. "Better."

"Now I have a request." He wiggled the money in his hand. "Please slap me in the face with this wad of cash."

Tenten shrugged her shoulders taking the money from his hand. "Sure why not."

"Just not too hard." barely had the words left his mouth that he has knocked off his feet, he had a brief moment when he saw the smile on Tenten's face.

Chouji walked through his clan's garden under the moonlight, he was in the part his grandfather on his father's side owned, the last time he had been here something had caught his eye as he was leaving with his father however he hadn't said anything back then. Now he was searching for the place again it would be his own adventure, passing by the small pound with the odd twin fish statue in the middle of it he spotted the wooden plackets.

Here it is! He got down on one knee looking at the old wooden plankets; he could see a metal handle covered by grass. Chouji gathered his strength and pulled on the handle, going to his right side he gently sat it down on the ground. Looking back he now saw revealed a square shaped hole with a pillar in the middle of it, on the pillar he saw a rusted small metal box.

He could see that it was out of arms reach, looking inside the whole again he could see that the inside walls were made of earth but there was something else about them, curiously he placed a hand on one. It's dry! Running a hand over it he realized what had caught his attention. There are no bumps on them! The walls in my room are the same; my old bed mattress had bumps in it before it was changed. So how come these don't have anything?

Chouji took a deep breath it didn't look like he was going to get an answer so he decided to try something else, his hands dug into the earth near the hole and he left his shoes near him, slowly his feet touched the earth one nearest to him. His plan was to hang on with one hand to the ground while getting grabbing the box with the other one.

As soon as let go of the earth with one hand he realized another problem, his couldn't hang on to the wall with his feet and worse still he has slipping, he tried to grab on to the earth with his free hand as he realized that he would fall down to late as the ground gave way from his other hand, he closed his eyes before a hand caches him.

"Chouji! Its ok I got you!"

His eyes quickly snapped open. "Grandpa!" A smile forms on his face seeing his grandfather, the man had short cut grey hair, a large diamond shaped face and forehead, thick lips and numeras lines from old age that marred his face.

"I was...I was trying to get to this..."

"It's alright, just hold on tight." Gently he was pulled and he hugged him, his breath calmed down while his grandfather held him.

"Come on lets get you to your room and I'll explain what's in the old box if your so curious about it."

"But how will you get it?"

His grandfather chuckled and smiled down at him.

Chouji watched as his grandfather used one of their clan techniques to enlarge his right arm and grab the box that looked more like a pebble in the giant arm.

"I may be old but I can still do these even in my sleep." He lifted him with one and placed him on his left shoulder. "Come on kiddo, he rattled the box once, I'll tell you this little beauties story."

It was only after Chouji had changed and gotten into bed that his grandfather showed him what was inside the metal box.

"What is it grandpa?" His grandfather was sitting on left side of his bed and handed him a dark red shoulder pad, it looked like those that his family wore.

"That there? That's a hundred percent genuine amour piece of Mountain Breaker's amour."

Chouji turned the piece on each side looking over carefully, it had scratches in several places, he looked at his grandfather quizzically. "Mountain Breaker, whos that?"

His grandfather made an exaggerated surprised expression. "Who's that?! Only the hero who helped Konoha win the first shinobi world war!"

"You mean the Hokage?"

"Pfft! You watch your mouth little boy! The mountain breaker was handing what's what to every other village when the third was stilling learning what chakra is. They did team up plenty of times, though, fighting Konoha's enemies. They even took on a kage or two together." The man rubbed his chin. "Least I think they did..."

Chouji handed the piece back to his grandfather. "So how come I never heard of him?"

"Well, I guess your father isn't teaching you right. The mountain breaker never really cared for getting attention or getting in the history books. He was just trying to inspire others around him...to teach them that they didn't have anything to be afraid of." Seeing the confused look he continued.

"See, my boy, if its one thing I learned anything in this life, its that this world is what you make it out to be. If you run around believing that everything is terrible, thinking the worst of everyone around you, well...that's what you get. You see the world that way and it starts to make you afraid. And when people get afraid that when they do wrong. That's when they start wanting to control things, that's when they stop caring for their neighbor. Most bad people are people who let that fear take over. Does it make any sense?"

"I think so." Chouji felt his eyes slowly closing and struggled to stay awake.

"And most of the good on this dust ball comes from the people who can see what's great about it, and see the good in the man next to them. The people who know, when the chips are down, there isn't nothing we can't do. That's what the mountain breaker stood for. Believing in that."

"He sounds pretty cool."

His grandfather ruffled his hair. "That right?"

"Yeah grandpa." Chouji felt his eyes closing again and knew he wouldn't win the struggle. "But how come you have a piece of his amour?"

"That's a story for another time kiddo."

After leaving the room the man saw his son standing a few feet away from the door smiling. "That was a nice speech dad, reminded me of the you gave me years ago."

They both started walking away from the room.

"I still mean every word of it."

A sour looked crossed his face. "And yet you don't see the irony of that and your attitude towards his friend?"

His arms started shaking and the veins on his neck became visible. "THAT THING ISN'T HUMAN!" He let out and exasperated sigh. "He doesn't qualify at such! the Hokage should have let my old bastard of a teammate have him."

"Oh? You weren't so happy to see him last when he came by wanting to recruit from our clan."

"Danzo will only get our clan members over my dead body!"

"And yet you would give him another child?"

"IT ISN'T HUMAN!"

He shook his head. "I was hoping you'd give the boy a chance."

"I gave him more then a chance, I gave him my bloody leg when it attacked!" he gestured to his own left leg. "It should have died then and there, we should have... "

"Enough! I've seen the boy and he is no threat!"

"That's worse then, at least he should have been a killing machine by now."

"Can you even hear yourself talk anymore? Just a few moments ago you were talking about having faith in people and now this?"

"Yes, trust the other clan members, fellow Konoha shinobi, not that" he struggled to find his words "...that...thing."

"I am disappointed; however I will follow what you preached and not what you do now. I've the boy a chance and he has show that he is no threat, you will not poison my sons mind on the matter."

He turned facing the man. "Understood?"

"Yes clan leader."

He crossed his arms looking at the man. "So it's come to this. Good, remember just who is in charge of this clan and why you stepped down, you entrusted me with this responsibility believing I could make the decisions needed to lead our clan. This right now is my decision and I ask you to follow, if not as a father trusting his son then as a loyal clan member."

"YES clan leader!"

Naruto rubbed his cheek as made his way through the market place. Damn sister can sure hit. He stopped at several shops to look over their merchandise, in truth he cast several quick glances towards the priests who were, even with the harsher weather still preaching with the same vigor as during the summer.

Sister was right the Uchiha's are keeping a strict eye on them; they most likely spy on the priests even when out of the market place. I guess the question is can they trust the priests to be just that and not spies, if any shinobi joins their religion and becomes a more loyal to them then Konoha their lips may just open to a few secrets that Konoha would rather keep quiet.

Huh, a religious order could be the perfect way to run a spy operation; they could convert their new members and slowly over time shift their loyalties from one place to another.

Considering what a shinobi's life consists off I'm not to surprised. If the priests sell the whole we can save your soul part well enough they could get a good chunk of people to join up.

What exactly happened that Konoha allowed these priests here, there isn't a temple in Konoha, that either I or sister have ever seen. Did the Hokage compromise on something with them; could he have gotten something in return? I doubt the Kyuubi attack could have had such an impact on Konoha as to break something that appears to be an unwritten rule. Maybe when no one took them seriously the priests that came before simply left and these more recent simply haven't given up yet.

He stopped in his tracks a moment before continuing. That actually makes some sense, if no one took them seriously and Konoha was strict on giving them any land to build a temple the priests could have given up and left. With the Kyuubi, a lot of people died and emotions running high, it looked like the right time to try again. For the shinobi this must look like someone striking at them when they perceived weakness. Not that it isn't they are taking advantage of a tragedy to try and gain new members, or maybe they see it as saving the peoples souls? How any religion can accept people who are active shinobi into their ranks is beyond me.

"Are you going to buy something or what kid?"

Naruto looked to the merchant; he could see the small amount of fear in the man's eyes. "Huh, sorry mister!" I was rambling again; I really need to stop doing that. "Bye." The man reluctantly acknowledged the gesture.

Ever since he had orchestrated the fall of one of the so called big merchants of Konoha, the other ones had fallen in line for the most part, while the prices in some places were still a bit higher the quality of the products was the same as for the rest of the people. However he still preferred to shop in a few selected places, namely Takenao Toma and his friends, he enjoyed remembering the look of fear in their eyes when he met the group.

Usually his sister would shop at various stores while he stayed closer to the circle he had built, though from time to time he still enjoyed visiting the other shops just to see the look in the people's eyes. Oddly in recent years while the scorn had remained and the cold glares were still a constant companion, things seemed to have diminished in their intensity, people were much more willing to just ignore his presence for the most part not even bothering with the cold glares on a few occasions. Only a few still exchanged harsh comments when he walked by them, more and more treated him like he simply didn't exist.

Ah so wonderful, first emotional abuse from the glares, words and actions, now for the second part they treat like I'm not even worth their scorn and hatred, truly the will of fire is as great as before. He cast a look at the Hokage Monument. What would you say to what your village has become, would any of you agree with this? He looked at the monument for several moments. No answer, I doubt any of you will ever speak up about it. He cast one glance at the monument before leaving. Silence does speak more that a thousand words you know?

Maybe time heals all wounds or perhaps because of my supposed failure at the academy that the gracious people have decided to change their attitude towards me.

"Ano don't you have any fresh fish Onishi-san?"

"No" the man shook his head. "I doubt that you'll find any in Konoha either."

He used his most innocent voice. "Huh, why?"

The man shrugged. "Some scandal about the tuna and fish coming into the country from the favorite supplier."

Interesting. "What?"

The man reconsidered his words. "Someone was selling some bad fish, and they had to take most of it off the market."

So what was left had a question mark over its head, the small trusted suppliers probably had a field day with this. "Is bad fish that bad for you?"

The man rolled his eyes. "Yep, people can get really sick, some already have."

"Here in Konoha?" he asked surprised, he wasn't faking it either.

"No yet, but outside of it, we heard about the trouble and got around to taking some safety measure, so we're safe here, thank the spirits for that."

A religious man huh? Heh who would want to get people who can slice your throat while you blink sick? If its one thing about the number of shinobi spread out the country it's that they can send word back in case something like this ever happens.

"Ah thanks then mister." He smiled and waved at the man as he left the shop. Even the civilians are brainwashed, he thinks that just because this is a ninja village that people are safer here? Do they really think that everything is sunshine and daisies here? The Kyuubi attack happened only a few years ago, do they really think that nothing similar will occur in the future?

Onishi watched the boy exist his shop and wiped his forehead, the meeting had gone as well as it could have given the circumstances. Takeno was right about the kid, innocent and a bit on the stupid side, but with political ties that could hurt you.

He shook his head and looked after the boy through his store window. The kid doesn't even know that the helped to crack the market here in Konoha thanks to the fall he inadvertently caused. The fall of Kobo has opened the way for others to rise, ah heck I'm sure that at least three families should be giving you discounts at their new shops now, not to mention all the other people who were more then happy to be free of that man. All for the better that the kid doesn't know what he's actually done, now where did I put that recipe for cabbage?

Katsue bit her lip as she finished grading the last papers from her class; even since her conversation with Umino Iruka she had felt conflicted with herself. Her own motivation for becoming a teacher was not as noble as his far from it actually, even after finding a new resolve to become a better teacher she thought that it would be hard to stack the two up against each other.

Her nails gripped into the surface of her desk. It's because at my heart, Im still a coward, I can't go back out into the field that would destroy me.

She thought about Morikawa's words. Even if I won't inspire them, I will teach them how to survive in the world, I'll do what I can to make sure they aren't cowards. A thought struck her like lighting. I'll have to teach them about killing. I'll have to teach Naruto about killing as well. She felt like someone stabbed her in the chest when she thought of Naruto's smile fading away when he learned about killing. Even so he'll survive when the time comes to face out in the field, he won't be a coward.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of the headmaster's secretary. "Katsue-san, the headmaster would like to see you in his office."

She nodded, and placed the papers on her desk in a neat pile before making her way towards the man's office. What could he want to speak to me about? Did Aya-san approach him about our conversation? I haven't even filled out my request to take another class next year; that would have been a possible reason, but now?

She stopped in front of the man's office and knocked twice before receiving permission to enter, the head master was sitting behind his desk looking through several files. The man in front of her was plump but still in good shape and had an aura of strength despite his old age, he had thick arms and a neck like a tree trunk a scar was noticeable on the left side. From what she knew that man had thought in both the second and third great shinobi wars, receiving commendations for both his actions. During the third war he had retired from active duty and taken up teaching helping to train the next generation, chances were that some of present jounins had been his students while in the academy.

"Ah Miwa-san please have a seat."

"Thank you sir." She sat down one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"It says here" he raised the file he was reading slightly higher "you've doing a good job with your current class, a very good job."

She caught the accent he had placed on the last words. Is he suspicious of something? I don't have any clan children in my current class, so I can't be seen as favoring them to gain some sort of future support. "I'm only doing my job sir."

"That doesn't include creating that study group you currently have."

Is this what it's about? I had thought I had jumped through all the burning hops already. During war time a lot of the students were spat out quickly and everyone had to be taught equally. I only joined the academy when the war was coming to a close so I didn't get the full brunt of the treatment. He could be resentful that I'm teaching a group more then the rest of the class. She kept her tone respectful when she answered. "Well sir the children wanted to learn, who was I to deny them?"

"Are you saying the others aren't willing?"

"Not everybody has the same desire sir."

"True, that is important;" the man looked through the file again before returning his gaze to her "won't they be too far ahead of their peers, won't it look like favoritism?"

Was I right? Is this what he thinks? "While they are more skilled than their piers, it is only because of their hard work, I haven't taught them anything advanced. I worked on what they already knew and helped to refine it, only then did I aid them in branching out all the while keeping a careful eye on what they were studying."

"I see." The man placed the file down and tapped his fingers on the desk while looking at her, she felt like she being studied, like someone was trying to find some crack in a wall. "I don't thing you actually understand what this meeting is about."

What is this about? "Sir?"

"I looked through your file" here he tapped one the files "your inclusion into the program wasn't exactly normal, you haven't been a teacher for very long now, it says here that you've taught classes, from the first year to the last but you've never taken a class from the start to finish, rather normal results in regards to your teaching, still all that changed this year. What exactly happened?" The man's eyes now felt like they were burrowing into her.

A small bead of sweat ran down the back of her neck, she could say her actual reason for her change it needed to be something else. Think of something, think of something, damn it. "It happened after teaching my last class."

"Oh?" the man relaxed into his chair, his gaze lost some of its fierce intensity and took on a curious one instead.

Time to make it good, I'm playing by the skin of my teeth. "A lot of those children were better off not being shinobi, they wouldn't have lasted long on the field and they treated their training like a joke." She bowed her head down for a moment hoping to help convince the headmaster. "I've seen people die out on the field because they didn't take their training seriously, and I remembered how some former students didn't make it back home." She wasn't aware of it but a fire had crept into her voice. "I want to change that, I want to make sure these children are ready for the world when they leave the academy. When I saw how hard the children worked I wanted to do more with them, I know they'll make great shinobi but I want to make that they'll stay great shinobi for more many years to come." What she had said wasn't a complete lie she knew, the truth had merely been stretched.

"Hmm." The headmaster rubbed his chin and looked thoughtful. "A lot will depend on their jounin sensei."

"I've seen the basics save a persons life more often than not."

"True, very true, still don't you think you're being unfair to the rest of your students?"

Still going on that angle? Ok I can deal with it. "It's not a guarantee that they will all become shinobi; we've seen that before, my last class is a good example of this, all I'm doing is focusing on those with higher chance of becoming shinobi. I will not slack off with the others as well, just because I'm helping the children in the study group that doesn't mean that I'll sacrifice the rest."

"Hmm. Well that's good, the reason I called you here is regarding your class for next year."

"Sir?" What does he mean?

"You see the children in your little study have some of the best grades in the current academy cycle, even those outside of it are doing marginally better then the rest, it's very impressive. After having this little conversation, I'm convinced I've made the right choice; I want to be one of the teachers for the second year's elite class."

Her mouth opened and closed several times before she spoke. "What?"

"Yes you heard me right; look at it this way now you will be able to teach all of the students with potential."

She recomposed herself and tried to find a reason to turn down the offer. "I'm honored sir, but I don't think I've earned the right, you yourself have stated that I am rather young, I haven't been a teacher for very long either. Surely there must be others more qualified then myself." I won't be able to teach Naruto next year if you do this.

"Older, certainly, more qualified, perhaps, but with the same desire? No, there aren't many like that."

"I…sir…I don't know what to say."

"Thank you is sufficed."

She could almost hear the unspoken words. I'm taking a risk so don't disappointment me.

Best to see if I can get something while I'm still here. "Sir, I have heard rumors going around the academy, its about the elite class for the new academic cycle."

"Ah that class, yes, considering the number of clan children, new faces will taking on that class."

"New faces sir?"

"A yes" the pulled out another file from a stack on his desk "here Umino Iruka."

What?! She was silent for a moment letting the words sinking. "I…sir he's even younger that I am."

The headmaster nodded. "The Hokage wanted some new faces, and Iruka seems like the right man for the job." Judging by his expression it looked like he wanted to say much more. My hand may have been forced on the matter.

It makes sense they know each, the Hokage must trust him a lot for this. Iruka talked about the Will of Fire maybe the Hokage thinks that Iruka will be able to instill the Will into the younger generation.

"I do believe some fresh blood needs to be pumped into the system, and I'm doing just that. Dismissed."

She walked in a sort of trance out of the headmaster's office not even realizing when she had sat down at her desk. Realization of another matter altogether struck her soon enough. Huh I went from making the group as a way to help Naruto then accidentally to Tenten to being more or less promoted because of it.

Katsue felt that there was something more then what she had just been told. Why do I feel like I'm being used as a piece on a shogi board? The tone used by the headmaster, is he in some sort of battle with the Hokage? If the Hokage is pushing certain people into positions or favoring them is the headmaster using me and others as his own pawns to match the Hokage's movements?

Maybe it's my imagination, still there maybe something else there. Damn it, now I won't be able to teach Naruto next year, worse Iruka may end up teaching him and with the loss of his parents Iruka may discriminate him. Or oh! She could see the shogi board in front of her with the pieces moving of their own volition.

The Hokage could actually be working to have Iruka befriend Naruto and create more bonds, he knows Iruka quit well and knows Naruto as well; the both of them are similar to a small degree. And and and oh, the headmaster is getting on with his age, if Iruka can safely guide the class then he would gain quite a lot of prestige and pull in the future, enough perhaps to gain the position himself. With Iruka's beliefs the Hokage can trust him with the position. Her breath hitched up, she leaned towards her desk and grabbed her chest.

This …. Did the Hokage plan this? Could this just be an accident? The question comes down to why would I be against this? The Hokage would be doing the right thing for the village, wouldn't he? Why don't I like this idea? And why would the headmaster think I would make a good pawn in his game with the Hokage?

Her vision had gotten blurry now, her head felt swollen and she wobbled as she walked taking one slow step after the other. Her red hair now had a brown shine to it, it clung to her head and face, she couldn't remember when she had last washed.

The last year had been a never ending nightmare for her; she had hoped to follow her family to the grave after their death however life would not leave her. The villagers had ostracized her fearing that she could still be carrying the disease that took her family, some thought that she was an ill omen and that no one should help her lest they attract misfortune upon themselves.

Either way most people had refused to have anything to do with her, people that had smiled and treated her kindly would turn their backs upon seeing her. She still wasn't sure how she survived on her own for the last year, with her family dead, she scrapped by as best she could. A very few people had turned a blind eye to her going through their garbage to find something to eat and stealing bits of their crops to feed herself, others had been less then accepting of such a thing.

The last ounces of strength finally left her as she collapsed her body hitting the ground, red hot searing pain filled every inch of her body, she let out a pathetic cough as her vision darkened. No one was going to help her, they would move her corps with sticks and burn miles away if not on the spot where she fell in the village. Why? This isn't fair! Why won't someone help me? She could feel tears streaming down her face. At least I'll be able to see everybody now.

She was ready to be swallowed by the darkness before something caught her attention slowly but steadily she felt new warmth as it spread through her body making the pain disappear. I guess I'm really dyeing. She could feel the warmth spreading from above her chest and stomach. Why do I still feel that? Painstakingly she opened her eyes, her vision was still blurred but she could make out a woman. Is she helping me? One word echoed in her mind. Why?

Even with her blurry vision she could make out the woman's features, shoulder length black hair with bangs that covered her ears and framed her face, black eyes, fair skin. The woman wore a long bluish-black kimono with white trimmings, held closed by a white obi, and open-toed sandals with low heels.

The woman gave a smile filled with warmth, one that she hadn't received since her own mother died. "Don't worry you'll be fine." After all the hardships she had been through in the last year and accepting that she would die to find herself now rescued she did the only thing she could and burst into tears.

Eiji dipped a slice of lemon into his tea cup before taking another sip, he never could understand how some people drank coffee in the morning, personally he preferred tea, black especially, once the Land of Sea if firmly under Tea's boot we will see about their exports of coffee, he cast his gaze into the flames of the fire place. The morning mist had not risen yet and the entire city was covered with it, the guards were running about, patrolling the streets to ensure order was kept; this was the perfect time for something illegal to take place.

His own meeting was of a similar nature, while not illegal in of itself; the subject involved was most illegal and could get him hanged if discovered.

And things are going so well, all that's needed is for this piece to fall into place. He was sure that fate was on his side; the small successes he had obtained were building a chain that would lead to his ultimate victory. A more recent occurrence was that a ninja clan had joined him, even better they had done so in secret, and he now had power over them.

The clan can aid in vetting the other ninja in the future and can help in training others, Tea should have its own born and breed shinobi, even if it takes generations for such a thing, slowly the outsiders will be absorbed into the greater force. A shame that I need to rely on such people, however they can be useful, and in my hands I shall mold them into the force Tea needs to win an empire.

His friend and fellow conspirator Taido Kida had helped to arrange a series of meetings between himself and his target, subtly using various social occasions as a way to aid in building the image needed to a future influential man and an eventual a future ruler.

Enko is starting to take notice of me, my own reputation is good, and Taido is making sure that my image is growing. I wonder how many can guess of his role as my spy master? A friendly attitude as his own, the servants are too eager to spill to secrets of their masters, a party there, and here, a small gossip. All that is taken into account, investigated, turned over a thousand times before deciding if it can be used in the greater plan. His attitude my hide it however the man has a keen mind as very few others.

A distinctive knock at the door interrupted his thoughts, briefly his hands went to the knives hidden on his person. "Enter."

The figure was dressed in a dark coat obscuring their features, though after such a long time together he recognized the woman.

"Well Anzu?"

The woman revealed her feminine facial features, her brown shoulder-length hair was wet and looked unkempt, beads of sweat ran down her forehead. "The deal is done, Red Hand has agreed to every condition."

"Good." Now for the price of a few merchant ships as sacrifices, the pirate shall strike at my opponents slowly bleeding them dry. With my own resources and Taido's web of informants we will be able to make the most of this deal. Just a bit longer until the country is mine.

A man with spiky light blue hair and a blue eyes wearing the standard shinobi outfit of Konoha with his sleeves rolled up flak jacket and a forehead protector on a long band tapered off was walking across the full lenght of his room, walking on the ceiling he jumped down and took a seat at his desk.

Sabiru chewed on his hair tip as his eyes wandered over the note he had found in his apartment telling him that they had to meet. This isn't the way we get into contact.

The letter said that they had admired his work in disposing of the ANBU agent he had defeated and of the man's family. They mentioned how they knew he already worked for someone and wanted him to work for them as well; the letter had a small map of a meeting place where he would receive another letter from an all too familiar face.

It can't be someone from Konoha if they even suspected I was behind that disappearance, never mind my own project and position I would be down in the Torture and Interrogation division getting my skin peeled off while a Yamaka reduced me to a vegetable going through my mind, even with Konoha's more forgiving attitude there's no way I'd make it out in one piece.

He swallowed heavily, his stomach felt filled with ice. There's a small chance that it could be a test from lord Orochimaru, even that is far fetched I'm important because of my project, and if he thought that I would endanger things I'd be dead as well. No this must be another party that has operations in Konoha.

Given the nature of the ninja world it isn't that surprising, we managed to get a few agents into Kiri during the first great war and they stayed there until the second, I heard rumors that Suna managed to sneak a few into Konoha during the second war. Iwa exposed our spies in Kumo during the third great war and we did the same thing to them, we knew from our people in Kiri that Kumo failed to get someone in there during the second great war.

Now the question is who the other factions is? I doubt its Kumo, everything even related to them has come under heavy scrutiny in the last years. Suna is our ally, for how much that maters in the ninja world, and they have their own problems near the border with Iwa.

Sabiru felt like spiting at even thinking the name of that place. No that faction and Konoha has to much bad blood to manage to sneak a spy inside, Kiri is apparently nearing a tipping so their agents should be looking to lock things down rather then expand. It could be none of the other big villages or it could be either one of them. He looked at a map of the continent in his room. I'm being foolish if I don't consider the minor villages.

Rain is in lock down and I haven't heard much about them having a lot of spies, perhaps Taki or Kusa, the other villages would be far beneath me, on the other hand if they managed to sneak someone inside maybe they have some talent in their ranks, and in the end their money is just as good as anyone else.

Fine then, I'll go to this meeting and if it doesn't pan out I'll just kill them all right there, they assaulted trying to get the new security measures I was working on and I managed to fight them off, heh perfect, maybe I'll still go with this plan.

Sabiru felt a chill from the night wind. Damn, when the heck will he get here? He was looking at the meeting point hidden in a tree a few paces away waiting for the person he was supposed to meet to appear. What does a familiar face even mean? Is it someone I know? Could someone else be a spy? Worst case this is all some sort of set up, how amusing would it be for the freaking Hokage to show up for the meeting. Heh, I wonder if I could take a single step before I would get caught if he showed up.

A rustle of twigs interrupted his thoughts, look towards the source of the noise he wa a small child walking into the clearing holding a sealed envelope. Is this kid the contact, is this a joke? He checked thoroughly for a henge in several failing each time. Blond hair, tanned skin, blue eyes, how is this supposed to be familiar? Wait, whisker marks? His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. That can't be, the jinjuriki! Did someone actually manage to turn him or are they just using him? Of course it makes sense to use him, the people from Konoha know what he carries; if I slit his throat Id make myself a target for every damn shinobi in the village, not to mention I could end up staring right into the Kyuubi's face.

So should I just walk up to him and hope he doesn't recognize me later? Tsk if I used this information on the jinjuriki being used by other groups I'd get a good pat on the back, that would push me into a dark cell when the question arises of how I knew about it. He checked his surroundings again to see if anyone else had followed the boy to the meeting place, he prided himself on his skills; after all he had spotted an ANBU agent and defeated him.

Best to keep the kid under observation for now. In the following three hours Sabiru watched as the boy moved around, examined the envelope and finally went to sleep near a tree in the clearing. Well this is as good a time as any, I'll just sneak up and grab the envelope while his sleeping. Heh best I do it wearing Kisuke's face, just in case he wakes up.

He stealthily made his way to the sleeping boy and carefully touched the letter sliding it out of the sleeper's hand; he didn't feel the ripples in the air around him nor the other energy being released all around him. Sabiru smiled when he had the envelope in his hand, a moment later the boys eyes snapped open, he could have sworn that he was looking at the ocean staring into the boys eyes who gave him a predatory smile that sent a shiver down his spine, a feeling of dread built up in his stomach faster then he could have believed possible.

"Bye bye mister, say hello to the two of them for me, thanks. Heh, sister didn't even have to do anything."

Both Yukimura and Sayaka were back in the white room drinking tea.

Sayaka placed her cup on the table. "Odd, that both men knew the Shadow Clone Technique."

"True, I would have thought that it would be kept a stricter secret."

"Indeed, at least we have what he desired from him."

"Yes, the seal used to seal a soul is based on a magic after all, to think he received it as part of an inheritance from a deceased relative." Yukimura shook his part at the end, a great deal of precious knowledge had been lost over time and while some survived it was treated as unimportant.

"People must have dismissed it before as something foolish and only kept it around as an item from the old days. Perhaps they hoped to obtain power from it eventually."

"Most likely it traded hands quite a few times before arriving at a more stable owner. I have to give the man props for actually managing to discover how to use the seal."

"Indeed, he actually had an above average intellect, even a small spark there that helped him in the beginning. Sad that he let things go to his head, his skills could have been so much more had he not let them slip thinking himself some sort of genius."

Yukimura grinned. "Another Yondaime?"

"Bah, considering that ones origin he shouldn't even count."

"With this we now have more to train the children with, whether he was worthy of holding the rank of jounin or not, his mind held enough useful information."

"And the flesh?" she sent a quick glance to the drooling man on his knees in the room with them.

"I will dispose of it after this."

She hummed in agreement. "Now to see how we will change the children's training. I have so many new ideas."

Both Naruto and Tenten shivered at the same time knowing that something unpleasant lay in store for them in the future.

Shuichi Tao took another bottle from the shelf and drank from it, the liquid flowing down his throat leaving a pleasant burning sensation, he loved the feeling. The only joy and pleasure he had nowadays was drinking, worse were the approaching days that were filled with meaning for him. His retreat into the bottles were always his salvation, they had helped in the past, were doing it now and would do so in the future.

The money he had from his business was slowly drying up, and he has beginning to feel the sting of things more acutely these days, even with his recent new tenant it paled in comparison to better times.

Damn it, the place flourished after the Kyuubi attack, it got out unscaved, if only the kid wasn't sent here, people would still be renting. If I kick him out or make his life hard the Hokage will turn his eyes on me and that's the last thing I need. I barely dodged the Hokage the first time around.

He looked at the picture he had place face down on the shelf; attentively he picked up the photo and gazed at it, tears running down his face. Why did you have to be so stupid?

He felt nails digging into the flesh of his face, a suave voice spoke from behind him, he couldn't tell whether it was from a man or a woman. "Don't worry; your pain is at an end."

Nobody heard his screams.

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Kaguya watched as her parents bodies burned in the large funeral pyre. The earth is unworthy of housing the bodies of our bloodline, no worms shall feed on their corpses make to mistake of it. Her uncle had spoken those exact words to her a day after her mother and father had died, everything had felt like passing moments since then, she couldn't remember eating much in those days even with old Nishida pleading, had it been days or weeks? She wasn't sure, everything had been happening so fast, seeing so many of her relatives, all of them with somber faces and dressed in black.

She had overheard her family members fighting about her, on what would become of her and her lands now that her parents were dead. What would become of her? Kalen had told her something that she overheard while making her way through the house and talking to the servants. Her family's lands would be broken up into smaller pieces and would be managed by other family members while she herself would be sent off to live with a relative of her mothers. There was talk of some sort or arranged marriage, but no one could settle on who she would wed, everyone seemed to have someone they were putting forth. She still didn't know if the idea was discarded or just kept for a later date.

Besides her Ryosei looked like a statue, unmoving, unflinching, in the months following their meeting she had come to enjoy the feeling of having her nearby, a constant guardian.

Kalen squeezed her hand as they both looked at the flames from the pyre, now that relationship had been different, Kalen looked like she could barely stomach being around her at first, she had shown her discomfort but had never spoken it out loud, always biting her tongue on the matter. Now the girl looked worried for her, Is it pity? Did she lose her family as well? She was thankful for their presence now when everything felt so cold.

She shivered for a moment when a wind blew lifting the fallen leaves off the ground, for a brief moment it gave the appearance of a rain of leaves. In the autumn it is said that the reason why leaves fall down from the branch is to make way for new leaves to grow. No matter how sad the fallen leaves look, there will always be new sprouts in the spring. Perhaps, emptiness in the heart is something similar to that.

Ah, I'm getting to old for this. The day had started out as usual, he had shave in the mirror that he had hanged in the living room, his wife had made breakfast while he washed up. The woman was just as bright and happy at the crack of dawn as she was in the middle of the night. They would open the windows of their home small breathing in the fresh morning air, and hear the how everything started to come to life.

They had bought the apartment next to their own and were working to merge the two into a single one. He had kissed his wife and left for work like always, everything had been normal until noon when everything went down the drain and drowned in a sea of shit. "Well."

The woman wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead, the hallway were the crime scene was located had been partially sealed off with larger pieces of material. "It's just as the information said sir, looking at the close stairwell, there's a body there and preliminary analysis matches the information in the letter."

"Wonderful, alright continue I'll report to Hokage-sama."

The woman sent him a sorrowful look and he gave her a brisk nod before leaving. Yes it was never good when you had to report bad news to Hokage. All the mess had started because of a man who had hanged himself, that in of itself wasn't a big deal he had however left a lengthy letter that had caused quite a stir because of its contents.

The trip to the Hokage tower felt like he was walking to the deepest pits of the afterlife, the night air was cold and Konoha has a dark atmosphere around itself, the buildings looked ominous. He felt like something would leap out of the shadows at any moment, was he being paranoid?

Probably, but just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't someone in the shadows ready to kill you, that was something you understood as a shinobi. This was different though, he tried to shrug it off however he simply couldn't succeed; he had grown up in Konoha and knew the locations however something just felt wrong now. He realized that it was concerning the report he would give in a few short minutes that caused his fear.

Upon reaching the Hokage tower he looked up at the building, it seemed to go on endlessly into the sky; he took a deep breath before he entered the place. The guards let him pass after a brief look; he knocked once at the door to the Hokage's office before being allowed to enter.

Seeing the look on the Hokage's face made him shiver, while he normally had a grandfatherly aura people forgot that this was the man who had rained death upon his enemies, who had lead the village through the three great shinobi wars.

"Report!"

The voice made him stand even straighter if it was possible. "The information regarding the body appears to be accurate my lord, further analyses will be needed to be completely positive."

"I see."

He was sure that if he jumped in frozen lake it would have still been warmer that the Hokage's tone.

"Start with the beginning."

"Yesterday" he tried to keep his face as neutral as possible at the name, "Naruto Uzumaki approached his landlords room concerning the lack of hot water, after knocking at the door for several minutes he left, he noted however a strange smell coming from the apartment. After several attempts in which he was unsuccessful he approached another Katsue Miwa, who is renting an apartment on the same floor as Uzumaki."

He cleared his throat before continuing. "The woman after knocking and detecting the smell approached the proper authorities fearing the worst case scenario. Once the door was opened, one Shuichi Tao was found dead within the premise, he had hanged himself. While that in of itself was of no seemingly great importance, the letter he left behind is what has caused great concern and the case was passed further up. I must state that so far no Yamanaka clan member was been successful in obtaining any information from the man's head, the brain damage caused by the hanging was to severe."

"We have compiled a file on Shuichi Tao after reading the letter, he was born in Konoha a few years before the start of the second great shinobi war; his parents fled the Land of Honey after a regime change and came here."

"Yes I do remember his father, go on."

So this could be personal for him. "Both of his parents were merchants who used their savings to open a new shop here, later his father bought a parchment of land where he built the apartment complex. The shop was sold once the wife died during a Kumo raid on a merchant caravan, Shuichi inherited the complex once his father passed away. Our records show that he met his wife, Mikazuki Tani, who was a refugee that fled from Claw country and arrived in Konoha. One year into their marriage their daughter Amari was born, sons Kenkichi and Takamuku were born two years apart after that respectively. A year later the couple separated when Shuichi accused Mikazuki of infidelity. She moved away from the house, taking her sons but leaving the daughter behind whom according to the letter soon became the victim of an incestuous relationship with her father."

While he himself was scowling with disgust the Hokage's face betrayed no visible emotion. I wonder if he's seen anything like this before.

"The woman later moved away to the Land of Forests with her new lover a traveling merchant, out of the two sons Takamuku went with her, while the other one Kenichi died shortly after becoming a genin."

"The man remarried with Yoshike Yamada, a married woman with two children, son Shizue and daughter Yori, he seduced the woman, who according to her then-husband, eloped with Shuichi. She also left him and moved to another country with all of their children a few years later taking a sizable part of the man's money with her. At least that is what we believed until we read the letter and verified things again."

"The disappearances began first with wife, the truth is that the man in what he described a fit of good luck managed to kill his son, ex-wife and her new lover, the exact circumstances of why the three remained in Konoha while their own caravan joined the trade caravans leaving Konoha are unclear. We know that it was attacked and most of the people in it died, many of the bodies were never identified. Who exactly Shuichi knew about the three remaining in Konoha, their location and the attack on the caravan is unknown, he described it as hearing rumors about the attack and hearing about them remaining behind when he spied on them."

"A similar fate befell the second wife, who discovered the man's incestuous relationship with his daughter, the woman and her children were killed by Shuichi and his first daughter. Shuichi claimed that Amari killed her step mother by herself while he killed the two children. A year later Amari wanted to confess their crimes and Shuichi killed her burying her body in the apartment building staircase."

"The modus operandi presented by him was, in two cases, murder with an axe, and head trauma caused by a heavy blunt object. The corpses were then dismembered, partly dissolved in acid in the basement, and partly taken to a local abattoir, who went out of the business years ago after the owner died, his daughter perished in the third war."

"The only people to discover this according to the letter where enemy spies who latter blackmailed the man into acting as an agent, using his building as a meeting place and to swap letters. He mentioned how he was afraid of the person who approached him a few months ago and forced him to be a spy for someone else. The only agent of this person he ever met was Sabiru Fujimura, the other person he mentioned as a spy he was informed about is Tatsuya Nakao, a mail clerk who is being currently interrogated by Ibiki Morino."

"Shuichi confessed that that Sabiru Fujimura was uncovered as a spy by an ANBU member, the now deceased, Kisuke Maboroshi, who stopped him from meeting and unidentified contact who he was supposed to deliver and important package. Maboroshi battled Sabiru however he was defeated, by thanks of his superior skills, or at least that is what Sabiru claimed. Shuichi aided Sabiru in later killing Maboroshi's wife and burning down their house. Sabiru himself killed Maboroshi, who was left comatose after the battle. Shuichi mentioned how Sabiru had gotten increasingly paranoid and was afraid of his employer's reaction when word finally reached him of the incident with Maboroshi."

"The exact identity of the employer is unknown; Sabiru only mentioned that there were worse fates than death if the man was displeased. Over the years the guilt, Shuichi confessed had eaten away at him and had resorted to alcohol to help continue with his life. The added stress of everything alongside the approaching what he called anniversary of his family's murder, finally drove Shuichi over the edge and he decided to commit suicide."

"In his will Tao left everything to Naruto Uzumaki, who after seeing the boy he described as innocent and not a monster like he himself was and that perhaps this will aid him in building a better future for himself."

"We know that Sabiru was working on a new security system for Konoha and disappeared recently, we had no exact information on what could have happened to him, he appeared to have been swallowed by the earth itself, now we believe he was killed by his employer who discovered the incident with the Maboroshi. Sabiru's new system wasn't finished and thus not even the basics parts where put into place, we still don't know what documents and plans we looked over." He felt his throat parched after speaking for so long and uninterrupted.

The Hokage seemed to contemplate matters for only the briefest of moments before making a decision. "I see, Sabiru's name shall be wiped from the funerary stone, he is unworthy of such and honor. What of the building?"

"It is in good condition, it currently has only three tenants, Katsue Miwa, Naruto Uzumaki and Tsuramatsu Machida, a recent tenant. When questioned Miwa stated that she moved there because the rent was far cheaper then her old apartment, according to her was filled of memories she wished to leave behind. The other tenant is a farmer who recently obtained a book deal and wanted an apartment in Konoha for meetings with the publisher and another place to work on his writings. The crime scenes is currently sealed off, once the body is removed we will…"

The Hokage cut in. "Contact someone to open the stairway."

He nodded. "Of course Hokage-sama."

"And ensure that the people know to keep silent on the issue."

He bowed slightly. "Yes my lord, what of the ownership of the building?"

The Hokage waved him off. "I will handle that issue."

"Just a bit more and" she cut off the last bit of hair she has holding "done!" Tenten placed the scissors on the table near her.

"Thanks, let's finish you as well."

Tenten took Naruto's place on the chair and had the small blanket wrapped around her, making sure to cover her body.

"The usual?" Naruto asked running a hand through her hair and taking hold of the scissors.

"Yep." The two had started cutting each others hair a short time after they started living together, at first they practiced in the god realm before finally attempting the feat in the real world as well. "So another year has passed."

"Yeah." Naruto let out and exasperated breath as he worked cutting her hair.

"Things are going to be different from now on."

Naruto stopped for a moment and chuckled before resuming his work. "I'm actually going to take the academy serious this time around."

"Katsue will be glad to hear that."

Naruto rolled his eyes as he cut more of his sister's hair. "Uh, don't remind me, she was so upset when I flunked out the second time around."

"At least your excuse of being lonely worked on her."

"Guilt trip always seems to work on her."

"Best not to use that too often."

"Oh fine, I wasn't going to either. Besides do we really need her now that they have more knowledge on chakra?

"Knowledge yes, but experience using it, not so much, they still need time to see how some of the other skills they know will work with chakra."

"Those chakra exercises worked well enough."

"True." She hesitated for a moment. "Does it bother you on how they got the knowledge?"

"No, the guy was scum, he was a spy, he killed at least one innocent person, I don't care what they did to him. Why do you care?"

She fiddled for a moment. "No, actually I don't care, it's just… shouldn't I care?"

"Beats me, all done, come one, we should wash up."

"And get ready to go up the rooftop."

"Meh, I was hoping to skip that and go right to bed."

"We promised Naru!"

"I rather spend it with our real family then her."

She crossed her arms looking and leveled a steel gaze at him. "We're going and that's the end of it."

I can't really win when she's like this. "Fine!"

An hour later after the two had washed up and gotten dressed came the expected knock at the door.

Katsue was in casual cloths with a thick black jacket over her. "Are you two ready?"

"Hai sensei!"

"Great, I have snacks; make sure to take a blanket with you."

The three left the apartment quick enough making their way to the rooftop, the cold air felt like needles hitting their faces, the cold felt like it was trying to burrow into their bodies.

Katsue smiled as she laid down a blanket for them. "This feels like a tradition now."

Naruto looked at her confused for a moment. "Huh, oh because of last year right?"

"Yes, are you alright Naruto? You don't sound like your normal self."

"I'm just a bit sleepy that's all." He yawned and rubbed his eyes to emphasize the point.

"We could go back if you want."

Tenten cut in send her brother a look. "No its fine, Naru is just being a baby, he'll go to bed after the show."

Naruto nodded. "Hey it's already started!"

"Not yet, its still ten minutes away, this is just people acting a little bit too early." She opened a thermos taking a quick of its contents. The three sat in relative silence for the next minutes until the fireworks began in full force. "And there it is!"

The light show was probably impressive by other standards, there were streaks and flashes of blue, red, green and a host of other coolers as well followed by an explosion, for Naruto it seemed dull, after seeing the one Yukimura and Sayaka recreated last year it just looked sub par to him.

"Happy new year children."

"Happy new year sensei!"

Naruto smiled as he lifted a fist towards the moon. "I think this year is going to be kick ass!

Katsue chuckled. Well I guess the night air invigorated him. "Oh? Sounds like someone's excited."

Naruto widened his smile as he looked at the sky. "You bet sensei, what could possibly go wrong?"

Its hoved feet tapped against the stones as it made its way through the forests, the creature forced its own small pudgy body to move with all the speed and stealth it could muster. Since hearing the sound the creature had made haste to make its way to the source of it, even with the beautiful sound still ringing in its head, there was a needed to be careful, humans were everywhere now a day, avoiding them was in of itself a challenge.

The roads the humans had built were swarming with them, if it was seen by humans, warriors would relentlessly pursue after it until what little life was left in its body would be extinguished. So it stuck to the shadows, the forests, and moved at night under the cover of darkness.

When it first heard the noise the creature had been asleep in its burrow buried deep in a forest under a destroyed shrine, the slumber that held it was broken when the sound reached it, the sound was like a song that continuously repeated itself.

It was the song that only one being could create, a demon lord, something that all the demon remnants thought were extinct, now they knew different, one had survived the wars, wheter it was sleeping or sealed hardly mattered they would find their ruler.

Already others had begun to stir as well, all making their way in secret towards the source of the song, they would have someone to lead them again, someone who would wage war to reclaim lost land, to slay the humans who had cut their numbers down and forced them into hiding. A new dawn was fast approaching for the demon kin and the cold night awaited the humans.

I personally like the Katsue part; it however didn't originally have the Iruka part. Still wasn't the Hokage ever so slightly manipulating things?

- Added an extra scene to chapter 5 with Naruto

- Made revisions to chapter 6 – specifically the dialogue at the Hokage Monument.

- Added an extra scene to chapter 7

- Made changes to the end of chapter 11