Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

It wasn't Konoha.

"It's still very beautiful from up here though." Naruto spoke to himself as he looked down at the village from up high. He was sitting on the tallest branch of the tallest tree in the village itself, in the middle of the night when most of the shinobi were asleep. The yokai, close to 3,000 of them, had moved into the village through a magical gate, and took up homes that were unused.

In the middle of the night though, the before dead village was slowly filling with lights.

He needed to get away from it all and see the fruits of his work.

Naruto frowned.

'... I can't apologize to the Gokage for what I did, because I did the right thing... and I really think Yasaka and her people deserve to have a home with us after what we did...' Naruto had seen, of course, distrust building. The yokai were mostly asleep during the day, and much more active in the later hours of the day, and in the middle of the night. He wanted them to feel at home, and he wanted his fellow ninja to feel like the yokai belonged with them.

He wanted, from the bottom of his heart, for everyone to get along.

Tomorrow, the Devil Students and Exorcist Students would arrive into the village and begin their education. He had so many problems on his mind that he needed solutions for, but he just didn't have the answers coming to him easily.

He felt drained.

"... I don't think I'm being too hard on myself... but nobody else can handle this responsibility the same as me... I'm the strongest... that means I can handle the greatest burdens." Naruto couldn't allow the others who couldn't handle the same levels of struggles to suffer the way he did or worse. It was up to him as the one with the strength to pursue peace to take responsibility for it all. It was half his fault his people lost their home.

He had to balance what he knew was the right thing to do, with what was the smart thing to do, which was why he was letting the Gokage take charge and lead things. If he had his way, then all the non-shinobi would be brought to the new world as well. That was the right thing to do, but where as the shinobi brought over was a small number in only the tens of thousands, if everyone else was brought over too then that number would go into the millions or even more.

That would cause a lot of problems for everyone.

He knew that his arranged marriage to Kurotsuchi was wrong on a moral level, but he knew that the Leaf and Stone had a lot of bad blood. It wasn't the right thing to do, but it was the smart thing to do. As much as he didn't like it, he agreed that it was something that would help everyone make peace with each other. It was another case where he didn't agree with the Kage, but he understood that they were making the right judgement call.

He didn't LIKE that the Kage were accepting students into the academy to do research on possible strengths and weaknesses of potential enemies, but it was the only way for the peace process to start. He had to be willing to let them play their underhanded game, in order for peace treaties to have some real impact behind them.

He didn't agree with the ulterior motives, but the outcome was still in favor of what he did want, so he relented.

"I understand welcoming the yokai isn't the best idea... but it was the right and moral thing to do. I know there will be problems... but it is my fault that this happened. I had to do something." Naruto talked to himself.

Well, maybe not himself.

Naruto glanced behind him at the young girl who was standing there.

Kunou, Yasaka's daughter.

"Thank you... I know your leaders were against this, and you fought for us."

"Shouldn't you be getting to bed, it's really late?" Naruto asked her, but his actions weren't the same as his words. He gestured for him to sit down next to him. She had been bowing out of respect for him, and thanks for his efforts to help her people. So she did end up joining him as she sat down and looked down at the village. "... a lot time ago, I used to look down at my home village from the top of a mountain... the village is so different now, but looking down on it brings me some peace."

Kunou was silent.

"I..." Kunou tried to speak up, but went silent again when she found her words were caught in her throat. "... I... when mother was dying... I was afraid... are you afraid... that the shinobi and yokai won't get along?" Kunou asked him.

Her mother was now hard-locked to the village.

Naruto had forcefully connected Yasaka to the leylines of the village, in such a way that Yasaka had absolutely no way to disconnect herself willingly from them. He had done it to save her life, but the fact remained that she was now bound to stay in the village. If she left for long periods of time, both she and the leylines would become disturbed. She wasn't angry at Naruto for saving her life, but she was afraid that something would happen that would cause her and her mother to be banished from the village.

"No, I'm not afraid. I'm going to give it my best to make sure everyone can live together. We've all got our part to play... I'm thinking of a way to excite everyone, to make them want to bond..." Naruto didn't have the answer.

He hoped talking it out would give him some insight to the problem.

"The yokai are nervous... many of us have long abandoned human society... but your society is different. It's a mix of modern humanity, and traditional Japan... a lot of us feel at home here." Kunou admitted.

This place felt just like home to many of them.

Naruto hummed in thought.

"This shouldn't just feel like home... this is your home now. See that... that the Hyuga clan estate... and those are the Ino-Shika-Cho estates... and... yeah?" Naruto asked when he saw Kunou was staring at him with her eyes filled with an intense emotion.

Her tails were wagging.

"It is our home now... and we want everyone to feel comfortable with us! I was thinking about a way to help everyone out! Is there anything the Yokai can do to help the Shinobi get more comfortable with us?" Kunou was excited, very excited. She looked towards Naruto for some kind of answer.

She really wanted to help.

"... I don't know."

"You don't... but you saved my Mom... don't you know everything?" Kunou had come to Naruto hoping for some kind of answer, and to thank him. Naruto reached out and rubbed her head, right between her fox ears.

He smiled.

"I'm not all-knowing. I'm not perfect. I'm just a guy who happens to be really strong that wants people to get along with each other. I've made mistakes, all my life I've made them. So, if you have any ideas, I want to hear them... do you have any ideas?" Naruto shook her head around.

"... But you saved Mom?"

"I was only able to do that because I looked into her heart, and I was lucky that I'm good at Senjutsu. I didn't save your mother by myself... yeah, I fixed her problem, but I couldn't have done it without her." Naruto didn't want to take all the credit.

Kunou did NOT agree.

"It doesn't matter how you got the knowledge! It was you who used that knowledge to come up with a solution! I mean, it isn't like we can just hold a meet and greet between the ninja and yokai... you have to have some kind of solution." Kunou couldn't believe that the man who saved her mother couldn't create some kind of idea that would allow the two different peoples to come together and bond.

Naruto reached out to pat her head again, but he stopped.

He looked down at the village, and his hand went up to his mouth.

"That... well... maybe not that that... but that." Naruto felt an idea slowly forming in his head.

Kunou was very confused.

"Huh?"

"A big meet and greet... maybe not that... but what about a big festival. A fun way for everyone to get to know each other... the yokai and shinobi can put on their own performances to break the ice with each other. Yeah... YEAH... that could work!" Naruto jumped to his feet with a sparkle of life in his eyes. He grinned at Kunou, who was confused, super confused, about why Naruto was so excited.

Then she digested his words.

"... See! You did come up with an idea!" Kunou stated as it clicked with her.

She was right!

He DID have the solution!

"I'm going to get to work... damn, I have to teach at the school tomorrow." Naruto couldn't put all of his effort into the plan hatching in his head. He had students who needed the original, not a clone, to teach them. He also didn't trust that his clones wouldn't change the plans on him and make some kind of mistake that he wouldn't make

"School?" Kunou asked, and she looked when Naruto pointed at the school.

Naruto grinned.

"I've got a lot of work to do... well... you've got a lot to look forward too very soon." Naruto gave her a thumbs up. Naruto jumped off of the tree and fell down towards the village, and Kunou rushed to stop him, but marvelled as he vanished. They were so high up that he wasn't even a dot in her vision by the time he landed in the village.

Kunou scratched her head.

"I don't get it... I didn't do anything to help him... so why did he seem like he wanted to thank me?" Kunou had no clue what was going on anymore. She originally tracked down Naruto to thank him, and get his advice.

Apparently, she had been the one who gave him the push he needed?

Now did that work?

Chapter End!
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