-AN-

Naruto gets to play with time, not so much space, yet. Let's get a move on shall we.

-Story Start-

Uzushiogakure was finding that today was going to be a bit on the sluggish side. News of the next generation of Uzumaki had spread like wildfire and much as Tsunami had told Naruto long ago, it had set the populous buzzing. News that the family line would continue had set many of the older generation at ease. The Uzumaki were beloved by everyone within Uzushio and Wave, and they had no doubts that Naruto and his wives would pass their altruistic values along. That said, partying late into the night for nearly a week straight did have its consequences.

Naruto was finding this out himself, jacket off as he stood on the observation floor with both all of Fox Den and the combined groups of Suna and the Konoha ninja. Tsunami and Tazuna were both in attendance as today they were supposed to receive the first Spring airship to visit their tower. Tazuna had done good work, a portion of the observation floor had been modified so that the large ceiling to floor windows at one section could open into wide doors instead, where there was now a large deck jutting out from the side of the tower. It was occupied by a half dozen engineers from Spring at the moment, but Karin and Honoka were working on a contraption next to the doors inside. Karin said it was a radio, something the Spring engineers had been working on that would allow them to talk to each other over long distances. Naruto didn't understand it yet, but he'd dedicate some time to it later.

In the distance and breaking through the fog bank, a sleek silver and blue construction broke through, six fans propelled it forward with three on each side, while towards its bottom a large boxy carriage carrying the flight crew was affixed to its keel. The front was tapered to a point, while the rear was a squared off flat surface that had flight controls jutting out to the sides and up above to a point. All in all, this version seemed less sexy and more functional. A proof of concept Naruto figured. Karin gave an excited shout that drew everyone's attention as the panel in front of her glowed to life. Picking up the transmitting microphone in one hand, she pressed a button on its side and spoke into it.

"This is Uzumaki tower to approaching airship. Do you hear us?" There was a moment of silence before with a little static, a voice responded through a speaker built into the panel.

"This is the airship Fujikaze and we hear you Uzumaki tower, it has been a long journey to reach you, over." A male voice responded to her as professionally is he could. Though everyone could hear excited voices in the background.

Karin grinned and high fived Honoka, "Well you're welcome to dock and take a breather Fujikaze. Over." Turning to everyone assembled, Karin gave them a happy thumbs up, "Radio works."

Naruto turned to Koyuki who had all but welded herself to his side, "So we have a few new things from Spring this time?"

Koyuki nodded, "With the creation of the airships we knew we would need some way of communicating over long distances. Summons or seals just aren't practical. So instead we've been working with something else instead. Hence, the radio. Most of the work has been on making them smaller and more portable." The engineers had been excited to explain it all to her, but most of the techno jargon went completely over her head. It worked, that was all she needed to know.

Naruto however was considering other applications, "Think they could make it small enough for a person to carry?"

Karin was walking up as the Suna and Konoha groups had taken to the windows, watching the airship make its way through the air towards the tower, "We're working on it already. We should have some prototypes available to try out within a month or two. We're also adding a radio room to the fortress." Next to her Honoka has a clipboard out and is taking notes.

"Good to hear." Naruto turned to watch the ship make its way in, "Guess if people didn't know we were going public before, they certainly would be curious about us now." He wondered how many people had looked up into the sky and seen this airship? Looking over between Koyuki on his right side and Kotohime on his left, he smiled softly and wiggled his arms, "I do need to move a bit girls."

Kotohime shook her head, "Nonsense my Lord. Your place is right here."

Koyuki nodded, "Agreed. You said we would be pampered. Commence with the pampering."

Rolling his eyes, Naruto made a clone that wandered off towards Gaara. "Guess I'm going to be getting a lot of practice with this."

Gaara was at the window watching the approaching ship with interest. It was now turning to approach the tower backwards, where they could all see crew members standing on an external deck at the rear while another was talking into a radio. Next to him Naruto walked up, grinning with hands on his hips, "Amazing isn't it?"

Gaara nodded, "It's an impressive piece of engineering. What was the travel time between here and Spring again?"

Naruto tried to remember what the engineers had said when they visited to explain how the airship would approach. "All full speed it is a 7 or 8 hour travel time. Pleasurably the travel is about double that, so a full day with no stops. This first trip however made a few stops in order to perform inspections and tests. So the next one will be a full speed test back to Spring."

Humming and considering the distance, Gaara made the mental calculations himself and smiled, "So a little shorter between here and Suna. That would make for an impressive travel option. How much cargo can they hold?"

"Don't know that one. Remember this is just the test prototype. I'm sure the engineers will have a few different variants planned out after testing is complete." Naruto and the rest watched as the ship finally came within a few meters of the docking platform. Two of the engineers who had been waiting on the docking platform were waiting for large docking ropes to be tossed their way, which much like an ocean bound ship they were tied to waiting anchor points while two ninja did the same between an upper portion of the ship and the walls just above the observation level. Anchored and only swaying a bit, the rear doors opened to lower a ramp down onto the waiting landing deck. From there engineers and flight crew filed out to be met by the waiting engineer team. Naruto's eyebrows only raised a bit as Sandayu himself filed out with an older man by his side, making for the doors to the tower.

The real Naruto turned to Koyuki who finally sighed, "Did you know he was coming?"

"No, but I should have guessed. He's been hounding me about something recently but I've only half payed attention." Koyuki had the decency to blush and look chagrined.

Rolling his eyes as he and the girls wander forward, the doors open to a light gust of wind as Sandayu bows to Koyuki and Naruto, "Lord Uzumaki, it's good to see you again."

Naruto bows lightly in return, "Been a while huh? Sorry, been pretty busy. I've been meaning to come and visit more."

"So I've heard." Sandayu couldn't help but grin, having heard the news from the engineers, "You've certainly have been a busy little birdy."

"Ooooh Sandayu no teasing!" Koyuki wanted to smack him, but her blush and embarrassment held her back. It was nice that everyone was doting on her but she could do without the teasing.

Laughing and shaking his head, Sandayu turned back to look up at the airship they had built, "Guess it's time to start making waves huh?"

Naruto nods, looking back as his clone talks to Gaara while Temari and Kankuro listen in and the Leaf ninja had all walked out to inspect the airship. "Yup, no more hiding from this point on." Feeling memories shunt themselves into his head, Naruto turned as Gaara walked up to him.

"Now that we've seen it is possible, we'll be returning to Suna to announce our alliance and possible build space for airships in the future." Gaara had reached out to shake hands with Naruto, who firmly returned the gesture.

Naruto hooked a thumb over his shoulder, "I'm sure the engineers or Karin would be happy to send you along with specifications and designs for landing pads and working radios. You'll need them."

Karin was quick to jump into the conversation, a scroll puffing into existence in her hand to be held out to Gaara. "I have just what you're looking for. Landing pads, docking decks like this one, radios and frequencies are all written down in this scroll."

Temari accepted the scroll while Kankuro went to round up the Konoha group. Gaara himself bowed to Naruto lightly, "You'll have to come visit Suna soon. I'm sure we'll have much to talk about."

Naruto can't help but grin and nod, "Yeah. I'm sure we will." Things were going to start moving very fast from here on. Progress would not and could no be slowed. "Maybe we can finally have that spar next time I come by."

Gaara finally let a grin spread on his face, "I'm sure my people will just love that."

-b-

Lunch time was rolling around, but Naruto found himself in his office with several people standing before him. Now that Gaara had left with his group, Uzushio was back to normal operations. Which meant normal missions were back on the menu. This also included their planned raids on the Sound. What better way to make a name for themselves than crushing a different small time ninja village. So, before him stood the now named Riptide Squad One consisting of Jugo, Sasame, and Kin, and Riptide Squad Two which was Hinata, Ino, and Tayuya.

Naruto was leveling eyes on Jugo first, "You say you know where the base in the east is located right?" Jugo nods, and Naruto grins, "Good. I think I can have a clone drop you off in the Land of Hot Waters as a jump start. Head straight there and remember the plan. Use your seal, call me right away and we'll demolish the place and rescue everyone that we can. Tsunami and the aid station are on standby."

Jugo salutes, "Of course Lord Naruto, we shall not let you down."

"I believe in you." Naruto then turned to the others, Tayuya bouncing on her feet, "And you know where the base in Wind is located?"

"Abso-fucking-lutely." That brought a chuckle out of everyone as Tayuya was beyond excited. She was ready to bash some sound heads in.

"Okay. We'll cheat a little and I'll send you to Suna with a clone via hiraishin. From there you can make your way. Keep to the plan please."

Hinata nods, "We'll keep her from causing too much trouble. Hopefully we'll finish before Jirobu makes it to Orochimaru."

Naruto nods, "You better, or you'll miss out on the fun."

Panicking a bit at that, Tayuya points towards him dramatically, "You better not exclude me! Come and get me if Jirobu makes it there first, you got it?"

Sighing but relenting, Naruto nods, "Sure thing. I'll come get you if that happens." Personally he really wanted to keep her out of it, but it didn't look like that was going to happen. His gaze swept over both teams, internally hoping nothing crazy would happen. Normally they all went together, but he had to trust that they were strong enough to complete missions without him. He wouldn't be able to be absolutely everywhere after all. "Then let's get to it." Naruto made a pair of hardened clones who walked around to grab hold of a team. "Be safe, don't do anything I would do."

Ino grinned as Jugo's team flashed away, "So no explosions or saving princesses from evil bad guys, got it." Saluting, team two flashed away as well, leaving Naruto alone for the moment. Turning to look back over the village, the shadow of the airship over the buildings in front of him, he wondered if he was making the right call. He wanted to smash Orochimaru's shit in something fierce, but he didn't want to put those he loved in danger because of that desire. Grunting and deciding he needed to focus, he set about working through paperwork that had piled up a bit.

Of course, within minutes of deciding to work he was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Come in!" He looked up as a grinning trio of Koyuki, Karin and Honoka walked into his office, Karin had a bundle of large rolled up blueprints and scrolls in her arms.

Karin was quick to place all of her papers on his desk, grabbing the largest and spreading out the blueprint over his desk, "Do I have news for you!" Naruto could tell she was excited and full of energy and set aside his work almost immediately to give her his full attention.

"Lay it on me then."

Karin pointed down to the large blueprint, a new airship design on display, "First, the Spring engineers claim that they will have three variants to go for now. A passenger type that can carry up to two hundred people. A cargo type that can carry roughly fifteen tons, and a military variant, which is what I helped design."

Naruto looked over the design, seeing the airship shape for what it was before shrugging and looking up to one of the women who had wormed her way into his heart. "I'm sure hoping you'll explain what you've all designed then. Cause this is way over my head."

Karin giggled but nods, pointing at several sections on the paper. "The military variant can hold a crew of one hundred and fifty along with supplies to support them. With that, there's also a bomb bay which can hold a couple tons worth of explosives." Karin locked eyes with him, "Imagine a few dozen of your major scroll bombs primed and ready to be dropped from the air."

Thinking it over, Naruto wanted to say almost immediately that it was an amazing idea. But he paused and thought about it. He had been truthful that he wanted to build a nation that desired peace. That meant of course, that they would never be the first to strike if they could help it. Would having something like this be necessary? One of his bombs could level cities. Did they need an airship capable of dropping dozens of them? He'd have to think on it for now. Though having a troop transport itself wasn't a bad idea. "Looks good, though we might hold off on mass producing my bombs for now. Let's focus on the civilian and shipping models and build a couple of the military units as a just in case." He accepted Koyuki coming around to settle in on the arm of his chair easily. She was in stage 5 clingy at the moment and he knew better than to complain.

Nodding and almost immediately coming to understand where he was coming from, Karin smiled softly, "Of course. Just wanted to show what options were available." Moving the papers around, she pulled another large sheet to the top of the pile, sporting what looked like a tower of some short. "For Wave, they don't have the same natural defenses that Uzushio does. And also to the north the whirlpools weaken considerably. So me and Honoka were thinking about building guard towers."

Naruto looks the design over, this one making a little more sense to him. It was a basic thing, the structure resembled a lighthouse for the most part both inside and out. Through instead of a light there was what looked like a giant cannon in its place. "Think we'll need something this overkill?"

Karin shrugged, "Guard towers posted along our borders and linked together with radios won't hurt. And while the only water fairing nations we need to worry about really would be Water, they did mention that pirates are a thing. Plus, Lightning is always a concern."

Nodding Naruto gave her a thumbs up, "Go for it, I'm guessing you'll need Ino when she gets back then?" Both Karin and Ino had been working their earth affinities to the max and they would certainly make construction go a lot faster.

Karin had a smile on her face as she rolled up the blueprints and stood back, "I'm going to see how much I can get done alone first. Though I'll have to borrow Isaribi for a while."

"Haha, Gosu's gonna be bummed about that." Naruto had heard the rumors that the Chinoike co-leader had the hots for the reformed water monster. "But if you need her feel free to take her."

"Will do."

Honoka stepped forward now, "Beyond that, border seals have picked up three larger than normal chakra signatures near the border. They are following the road with no attempts at sneaking in."

Pondering that for a minute, Naruto certainly wasn't waiting on anyone coming to visit them. A team of three? "Do we have eyes on any of them yet?"

Honoka nodded, "I personally took control of a golem to have a look, the one in the lead matches the description you gave of the woman named Konan. Blue hair with an origami rose pinned in place."

Ah, maybe she had convinced her leader to meet with him then? "Okay, just monitor them for now and keep me posted. They do anything fishy I want to know about it right away."

Honoka again nodded, "Understood." Karin was already turning to leave, their updates taken care of, "I have, one more thing to bring up, I'll catch up with you later Karin."

Karin smirked but nodded, "Sure thing. I'll probably be at the cafe across the street, Isaribi should be there by now." Waving as she left, the door closed with a click, leaving Honoka, Koyuki and Naruto alone. Koyuki however saw that Honoka had something of her own to bring up and smiled, kissing Naruto on the cheek.

"I should make my way out as well. I just wanted to see you."

"I'll come track you down later okay?"

"You better." Giving him a wink, the still deliriously happy woman walked out to leave the two alone to talk.

Naruto raised a single eyebrow as Honoka walked around the desk, "Everything alright?"

Honoka nodded and she pulled his chair out so she could settle herself into his lap, "For now."

"I'm not getting anymore work done, am I?"

"You are. I just wanted to get a promise from you." Arms snaking around his shoulders, Honoka smiled gently as he nodded, "Can I…have some time with you later?"

"Of course. You know I'll never say no to that." Naruto's answer was near instant. He never wanted any of the girls to feel left out or unloved after all. That wasn't his way. "Wanna get dinner together or something?"

Honoka giggled but shook her head, "I was thinking something more, intimate."

Now Naruto understood, "Ah. Yeah. Guess you wanna get away for the night?"

"Absolutely."

"Okay, just grab me later." He accepted the kiss from her with a smile as he ran his hands up and down her sides. Though at the end of it Honoka was up and bouncing towards the door, "Sure sure, get me all worked up and then leave."

Honoka blushed but shook her head, "Sorry, I'm not as bold as Karin. Maybe you'll get some desk service another day." Winking at him and mission accomplished, the older woman was out the door with another giggle as Naruto gave out a frustrated groan.

Leaning back into his chair, Naruto considered what his life had turned into. Then promptly decided there was nothing to complain about. He was however thinking about some of the memories that the clone in Konoha had sent him. Danzo was an old conniving bastard. But to help orchestrate the fall of the Uchiha? Stealing their eyes and sending Itachi undercover into Akatsuki? It was all a lot, and he was only a little annoyed that the clone was going to have all the fun with the old hawk. At least it wouldn't kill him, yet. Naruto wanted to break the old man first. But he'd need to send a letter to Sasuke soon, clue him in to the news. Konoha hadn't just screwed over the Uzumaki, the Uchiha had been wronged in the end as well. Having that thought in mind, Naruto pulled free some paper and began writing. Might as well get that done now, a clone might even be able to catch up with the Uchiha he considered a brother. After this he'd leave a clone in the office and go track down Koyuki and Kotohime. Sure they had told him it was very early in their pregnancy and there was nothing for him to really do, but it never hurt to get some pampering practice in.

-b-

A few days pass, and Naruto can say for certain that things seemed to be going well. Leaving behind a few clones to take care of his business and admin duties, he was checking over his equipment while Riptide Squad Two were looking down on a small oasis that housed a rocky formation in the middle of a small lake. Hinata had said that the sound facility extended quite the ways down, but there were very little guards. Ino was checking over her senbon while Tayuya was twirling her flute between her fingers. Naruto idly noted the grinning red head and voiced a question to her.

"How's the seal been lately?" Naruto hadn't felt the need to check it in a while, and Tayuya hadn't complained of it either.

Tayuya shrugged, "It's been stable, better than ever really. Why?"

"I've been wondering. After my training with the toads, maybe I can figure out how to perfect it." It was an idea he had been stewing over for a long while now. But he wanted a better understanding of nature chakra before attempting to build a new seal of his own for everyone. Might as well give them all every advantage he could. "I've been thinking that everyone could use something similar. As sort of an emergency measure."

Ino looked at him from over her shoulder, "Oh, and calling you by your hiraishin seal isn't like, THE, ultimate backup plan?"

Chuckling Naruto finally stood and walked to join them, "Sure it is." Here he smiled softly and made eye contact with them all, "But I won't always be there. Something might happen to me. I might have to fight someone super powerful. You're all super strong on your own. I'm just thinking on the worst case that you need an extra boost until you can regroup or something."

Hinata could see where he was coming from, "I wouldn't be against it."

"Yeah, your idea isn't a bad one." Ino crossed her arms as she thought about it. Naruto would never leave them in the lurch. But that didn't mean something couldn't happen. "So, wanna get things started?"

Hinata unsealed and donned a blue Hannya mask while activating her dojutsu, "Rechecking prisoner count now."

Tayuya nodded and unsealed her own favorite mask, the red Hannya. "It's been a while, think you can let us lead the way whiskers?"

Naruto nodded slowly as Ino put on a brown Oni mask. "Sure, though the clones are going to keep pretty close to you just in case."

Tayuya shrugged, "That's fine, but we all feel like we need to stretch a bit, you get it?"

"Yeah, I got it."

Hinata turned back to him, "roughly two thousand people below us, I'd say at least a hundred of that are ninja, probably less. But, there's only one way in or out and the path is singular, so there will be no splitting up until we reach the prison area."

Naruto nods, "Sounds like making clones will be useless until we make it to the prison then." All of the girls nod and Naruto holds up his hands in surrender, "Fine fine. Lead the way. I'll be backup." He had a feeling that they were just as frustrated as he was. They hadn't been able to get out and have a good fight in a long while, everyone stuck being diplomats for the last month or so. Hinata took off first, flanked by Ino and Tayuya. Naruto brought up the rear, still making six hardened clones to bring up the rear. Fast steps carried them across the calm waters of the oasis before they were soon diving into the cave and down into its depths.

Hinata was the first to speak up, "The path curves and spirals downward, but there are no enemies for a few hundred meters."

True to her words the dim path in fact took the course she described, the cave lit by dim torches but otherwise looked like a completely natural formation. They carried on in silence, senses alert as they came to an area in the path that began to widen out, though it was still one way in or out. Hinata held up two fingers, pointing to either side of herself. Ino and Tayuya nodded and when they entered the opened space, both trailing girls acted quickly. Ino dove to the left, two senbon leaving a hand to impale the surprised ninja waiting there in the heart. On the right, Tayuya had transformed without a word, a fist driving deep into the solar plexus of the ninja waiting on that end. Both ninja dropping silently, Hinata stopped to recheck their surroundings while Naruto whistled as he came in behind them.

"Good work girls."

Ino smirked and held up a fist, "We've been practicing and training together a lot."

Walking back to thump forearms with Ino, Tayuya turned to the only male of the group, "Gotta be fast with us."

Hinata is turning back to them, "We've still got the element of surprise. Past here is the prison area. Another large hollowed out space much like that island prison we found. Naruto you can sprint to the center and spam clones. We'll go about and take out the guards."

Cracking his knuckles, Naruto is all grins, "Sounds good to me. This is your mission, so I'll follow your lead." So saying, he began to well up his chakra as they again began sprinting down the hallway. Though the path was wider, it was no brighter than before. As Hinata said, the path eventually emptied out onto a deck of sorts that overlooked a massive cavern that was ringed with prison cells on multiple floors. The girls of Riptide all dove left, taking different floors and beginning to clear out the guards as Naruto raced ahead, jumping out over the empty space before he was enveloped with smoke. Thousands of clones exploded outward, their jobs were to find and extract prisoners, leaving the fighting to Naruto himself and Riptide.

Hinata had adapted her style some, realizing that she was much too flexible to be limited by the traditional juken and as well, she had added some seal work into her style now. Bending at the waist to avoid a kunai slash from a guard, a kick to his jaw as she completed a flip staggered him. From there she dashed forward with a glowing palm, connecting with his midsection and sending him back into a pair of waiting guards behind him. He was smirking at the light hit, never realizing the explosive etched into his clothes until it was too late. The fireball that consumed him and his squad rattled the walkway Hinata was on, but she was quick to continue on. She would have to work on the timing for that. The delay was still to long.

Above her Ino was stepping over paralyzed and groaning ninja, many with senbon sticking haphazardly from their bodies. Not only had she been working up her own poison resistance but had as well been refining her own special poisons and paralysis blends. Ahead of her a terrified squad backed away while trying to maintain moral. Ino could see their obvious fear though and smirked behind her mask, "Aw, are the big bad ninja scared of little ol me?"

The leader brandished a short sword and motioned to his comrades, "Don't let her get to you! She's just one girl! Who ever puts her down can have her first!" Turning back to look at the girl, he didn't miss the ground cracking under her heel as she was suddenly within striking distance. "So fast…"

Ino put her all into her punch, connected with his center mass and launching him up and away. She watched him bounce off the wall before hitting the rail and being sent over the side screaming. Cracking her knuckles she dashed forward again to continue the fight. They really needed to figure out why Sound ninja were so quick to assume women couldn't beat the shit out of them.

Tayuya wanted to go to town with her doki, but there simply wasn't enough room. So instead she was working with a weapon that was more inline with the enhanced strength of her seal. A five foot long kanabo with heavy metal spikes arced out, clearing the path ahead of her and sending fodder ninja to their deaths over the sides of the rails. It was almost therapeutic with how easy it was to clear the path ahead of her, and the wide grin that spread on her face had the fun effect of terrifying her opponents. Idly watching as a flood of Naruto clones began freeing and flashing away with prisoners, Tayuya settled into annihilating Sound ninja. Forever grateful that Naruto had saved her from that shitty place.

A hundred meters below the girls and settling onto the ground, Naruto grinned as he watched the proceedings around him. They had this now to a science, and Orochimaru sure didn't seem to care about his various bases anymore. Maybe by now he just knew Naruto would come blow them to bits? He'd have to ask the next time they saw each other. Tracking among the crowd and keeping an eye out, it was easy to pick out a well outfitted man walking casually towards him from another hallway. Naruto had thought it went to more cells, but maybe not. The sound ninja was done up in their usual camo, though he was bare chested and heavily muscled. The most notable equipment on him was a face mask that looked a lot like a hazmat unit. The clones were ignoring him as ordered, focusing on saving prisoners. That left Naruto to shrug and turn his attention to who was most likely the leader. "Hope you don't mind, but I think Orochimaru wouldn't care about me making off with a few of his slaves."

Mukura was a lot of things, patient however was not one of them. While this attack had been sudden and fierce, he had been warned that someone was going around attacking their bases. At the least, he would take out this kid and offer his head to Lord Orochimaru after he escaped. "You know kid, you've got some real brass to come in here." A fuma shuriken in hand, Mukura was planning on making this quick.

Naruto didn't think this would be worth putting on a mask, and so instead pulled out a seal tag that was colored black, something experimental he had wanted to try out. "I've been told that a few times. I think it's just that Sound ninja are so weak I don't even consider them a challenge anymore."

A vein pulsed in his forehead as Mukura continued forward with a snarl on his face, "Is that right? Well. Let me remind you just how terrifying Sound ninja can be." Dashing forward, he watched as the kid threw the seal down on the ground, which did nothing. "Bluffing me isn't going to do anything you brat!"

Naruto smirked and waited, "If you say so." He felt the trio of girls alight onto the ground behind him, each most likely ready to defend him if needed. It wasn't necessary, as the seal activated as Mukura jumped over it.

Bluff or not, Mukura knew better than to just run over an unknown seal, so had leapt into the air for a better throwing position. So he missed the seal glowing an ominous purple color, but he felt some unknown force pull him harshly back towards the ground. Caught off balance, Mukura found himself trapped in a purple and black sphere where he was stuck floating off of the ground. "What…what the hell is this? You think trapping me will do anything?"

Naruto shrugged, "Now's the fun part. Hope you don't mind, but I'm gonna play with time a little bit. Well, your time to be specific." Well the seal was at any rate. Semantics.

"What the fuck do you meeaaaaaaahhhh!"

All of the Uzushio ninja watched as the seal did its work. Screaming, Mukura aged rapidly before their eyes. Strong lean muscle wasted away, hair turned grey and skin sagged on bones. Screams becoming weak groans, the process was soon reversed. Liver spots and yellowed nails reversing to their healthy and youthful states, Mukura was returned just as rapidly back to his twenties. Then he blew past that, screaming as he was becoming a teen, and then a toddler, and then an infant. It was jarring for the four to witness an adult intelligence behind those eyes, before with just as rapid a change, Mukura was sent screaming back the other way a final time before he was reduced to bones and dust. Seal no longer having a living captive, the barrier dropped and the seal burned away into nothing itself.

Blinking quietly and daring not to say a word, the three women of the group slowly turned wide eyes to Naruto who steadfastly refused to look at them. Deciding to be brave, Hinata stepped forward to gently lay a hand onto Naruto's shoulder. "You're never using that seal again. Our word is law. Never again."

As if on rusty hinges, Naruto nodded slowly, "Yeah. Uh. I think I'll happily seal those notes away forever in a new forbidden scroll. Our first entry at that."

Hinata came around to face him, "Never again." Watching him nod quickly, Hinata sighed and turned back to the others, "Let's… go help the evacuation."

Ino nodded without a word, while Tayuya shivered and followed along, "He just….dust…turned from a baby to dust. How…what the fuck…" She was going to have a nightmare or two about that one. She just knew it.

Left alone, Naruto mentally slid that particular group of seals over into the 'never again unless in an extreme emergency pile.' Sure it did what he wanted and confirmed some things, but he agreed with the girls. It was horrifying.

Kurama was chuckling about it, 'Just imagine if you could catch Orochimaru in that?'

'I have no interest in seeing Orochimaru as a baby.'

'Yeah yeah, but seeing him turn to dust would be cool.'

'I'm surprised you don't have more to say about me having a seal that plays with time.'

'Oh no, that part absolutely horrifies me as well. But I'm hopeful that since I'm stuck in you, that means I'm safe.'

'Yeah. Can't imagine using that on myself.'

'Isn't this technically a fountain of youth seal?'

'Uhhh, not really. Turning him backwards shaved years off of his life. Sure he would have been a kid again, for like a month. The energy has to come from somewhere.'

Kurama nods at that and lays back down behind the seal, 'Well whatever. Wrap this up so we can go back home.'

Mentally Naruto nods and looks around to monitor their progress. This was looking to be a busy afternoon. Hopefully Tsunami wasn't too overwhelmed.

-b-

A few hours later Naruto ended up flashing back to his office with a happy but tired group, groaning as he dropped himself into his chair. The Riptide girls all stretched and congratulated themselves on a job well done. Though now they would go and find Tsunami and help her out in their downtime. Two days off after all now that their mission was complete.

Ino turned back to Naruto with a grin, "Well whiskers, we've got two days off, so we'll be home lots."

Tayuya was also grinned as she slung an arm over Ino's shoulder, "We are going to celebrate first, and then help refugees."

Pointing towards him firmly, Hinata's face was stern, "Seal that abomination. On the double." Seeing Naruto nod, the girls all smiled and wandered out of his office. They would canoodle later in the bath.

Left alone to get back to his work, he idly made a clone to check in on Kotohime and Koyuki. Then with that thought in mind he made a few more clones. One to check on the airship, another to go find Karin and Honoka, and one more to go find Tazuna. Satisfied, he took a few minutes to organize himself and ready for a few hours of paperwork and reading reports. At least, that was what he was supposed to be doing. Not long after the girls had left, there was a new knock on his door. "Come in!"

Neji and his team were walking in, Neji in the lead as his team came to attention before his desk. "We have a report for you Lord Naruto."

Rolling his eyes, Naruto pointed at the pale eyed teen, "C'mon Neji, how many times do we need to do this?"

"Until it sticks that you are Lord Naruto. Our report?" Naruto relaxed back and waved a hand for him to continue, earning a giggle from Kana. "Border patrol shows everything mostly normal. We followed up with the larger than normal chakra signatures nearing our border. Three people confirmed, one blue haired woman of thin build, a black haired man who looks perpetually tired, and a very loud blonde with a ponytail and strange markings on his hands. All three are dressed as commoners, wearing some combination of blue and white or blue and orange. They will make it to Wave by tomorrow morning at their current rate."

Naruto nods and thinks it over. Riptide Squad One would probably be making the next base within a few days, so hopefully if Konan was looking for him she wouldn't mind waiting if things ended up overlapping. "Okay. Just keep an eye on them while they're in the city. As long as they follow the rules and register they shouldn't be a problem."

Neji nodded and bowed, "Will you need anything else of us Lord Naruto?"

"For you to just call me Naruto would be great."

Shaking his head and turning to leave, Neji motioned for his team to follow him. "Maybe next time."

"Later Lord Uzumaki!"

"Good day Lord Uzumaki." And just like that Naruto was left alone again. Pouting as he considered his options.

"I hate this formal crap." Deciding that he was not going to put up with cheeky subordinates, Naruto made a single clone with the intention of going and getting ramen. He was met with a female him, smiling and twirling hair around a finger, "I've really gotta look into why you show up from time to time."

Naruko just grinned, "Oh maybe it's just your repressed feminine side trying to come out."

Naruto gave his doppelganger a dead look, "I'd like to say I don't have a feminine side, but your existence kinda makes that a lie. Can I trust you to do a good job?"

Naruko shook her head, "You're trying to leave to go have fun with Ayame? No way, take me with you." Her eyes began to glow, blue and purple matching his own, "C'mon, it'll be fuuuun."

Naruto shook his head and dispelled this clone, making a new pair who thankfully were perfect copies of himself. Huh, was his jacket really that short on him now? Guess it was time for a wardrobe change. "I can trust you two with the office for a bit right?"

"Of course boss!"

"That one showed up before us, didn't it?" They both shuddered as Naruto nodded. "God that one is so creepy."

"Inner feminine side my ass."

The actual Naruto stood to make his way to the door as one of the clones took his place, "Pop if something happens. I won't be far away."

"Got it!" Watching the original walk away, door closing behind him, one clone turned to the other. "Think we should tell him?"

"Nah, he'll figure it out. Eventually."

"Probably around the time he figures out nature chakra and his widened connection with Kurama."

"Maybe."

-AN-

Had a bit of a harder time with this chapter, but here we are. Don't worry, I'm not killing Danzo off camera. We'll get that one in full glory eventually.