Hello again!

The breaks between chapters are getting longer and longer, so I apologise about that. It has been quite busy, which makes it quite difficult to keep consistent updates. Either way, people have been asking for a ship change, and I have been mulling it over for the past week. After all that, I am not going to change the ship. I made that mistake in both the past fics and ended up having to draft up new plans which really took more time than I expected. Either way, disclaimer is in the first chapter, and I hope you enjoy!

"Hello there Gaki!" The voice of the Toad Sage still held that same comforting rumble that Naruto so fondly remembered. "Good to see ya. Looks like you've been having fun." He spoke with a smile.

"Good to see you too, Pervy Sage." Naruto responded with a smile. He put away the gun and sat down next to Jiraiya. "You got here quickly. I take it you didn't use our method?"

Jiraya waved his hand with a good-natured smile. "Nah! I just asked Pa to get me here. Work quite well you see. Speaking of, why didn't you just use your Hiraishin?"

Naruto shrugged and pointed at the others. "Because I didn't want them puking all over my house." His teammates heavily protested, but he held his ground.

Jiraiya just laughed at the interaction before letting his features soften into a solemn smile. "You know, that was the exact same excuse Minato would use when your mother asked him why he wouldn't just use the Hiraishin to take her to the Land of Spring. He said that she'd puke all over the place if he did."

The atmosphere became solemn at them mention of his parents, but Naruto found comfort in Jiraiya's warmth. Years of isolation caused him to keep his cards close to his chest and his secrets to himself.

Kurama was the first to break him out of that shell, followed by his adopted brother Kakashi and in return, Naruto vowed to establish himself as a true friend of the Nine-Tailed Fox and a person that the Copy Ninja would be proud to call a brother. Unfortunately, the reveal that he had befriended his burden had gone… less than well, which is what got him out of Team 7 in the first place. Either way, that's a story for some other time.

Naruto scooted closer to Jiraiya and leaned his head on his shoulder. The sage smiled, and ran his hand through Naruto's hair. Bee and Fuu smiled at the sight while Gaara just stayed indifferent, though a closer look would reveal a tiny smile on his lips.

The rest of the night passed peacefully, with Jiraiya deciding to save the reason for his presence for later. They talked into the night about their first mission, with Fuu eventually asking why he felt the need to scare the poor mercenaries and show off.

"It's a simple tactic to stop them from guessing my identity." Naruto answered with a hint of smugness in his voice. "When you think about it, no one can be in two places at once without a clone justu, so I just put Naruto and Fox in the same place with some obvious differences. That way, they won't think that Naruto is Fox."

Jiraiya nodded his head. "That was a good move Naruto. Let's hope your disguise lasts for as long as we need."

Naruto gave him a confident smile. "Don't worry Pervy Sage! For as long as we are here, they won't know my identity."

A tick mark appeared on Jiraiya's forehead. "You damn Brat! How many times have I told you to call me Sensei! It is not that hard! Say it! Se-n-sei! Come on, say it!" Naruto burst out laughing, followed by the rest of his team and eventually Jiraiya. That night, he went to sleep with a light heart.

The next day, Naruto woke up especially early and went down to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. With a quick stretch, he began his familiar routine and before long, he had lost himself in the process, leaving him blind to Fuu. Said girl crept up to him slowly and threw herself onto his shoulders with a cry of "Morning!", making Naruto almost lose his balance and throw his face into the frying pan.

Luckily, he stopped himself just short of the pan and breathed a sigh of relief. "Fuu. Good morning to you too, but could you please get off my back? At this point I'll end up frying my face before making us anything to eat."

Fuu blushed in embarrassment when she realised what she had done and quickly climbed off his back while murmuring apologies. Naruto sighed again and wiped his face before checking on the food. Both of them were relived to discover that the food was still in good condition and the mint haired girl was even happier to find that Naruto didn't hold a grudge.

Being Jinchuriki, all of them (except for Bee) were used to everyone just holding a grudge on them for every little thing that they did. It was a sad fact, but this ostracization had been what pushed them to somehow connect through their mindscapes and form an alliance. Later, this little Jinchuriki club had paved the way for Heiwagakure to be formed. In this new arrangement, the hidden villages were converted into 'sectors' and the 5 Kage council made major decisions like who was let into the alliance, trade routes between sectors and things that could pose threats to anything surrounding the alliance. Whenever he thought about it, it always brought a smile to his face. The union of nine people with similar burdens had brough the world to an era of peace. It really did sound like something out of a one of a shounen manga.

Naruto shook his head to clear it and looked at Fuu with a smile. "Hey, the food's almost done, so could you prep the table? It'd be a great help."

Fuu nodded with the same smile mirrored on her face and went off to do as asked. Meanwhile, neither seemed to notice Jiraiya, who had crawled on to the ceiling, scribbling away on a scroll with a maniacal smile on his face. 'Oh this is gold! Tsunade will be so happy to hear this! Maybe she'll finally let me take her on a date! Maybe she'll-' His thoughts were cut in half when the Chakra he used to stay stuck to the roof stopped flowing, making him faceplant straight on the floor.

"Good morning to you too, Pervy Sage." Naruto's light-hearted greeting was answered by a groan from the sage, making him laugh.

Eventually, everyone came down and sat around the table to enjoy Naruto's breakfast. "Hey guys?" Naruto asked quietly. "Do you think we could ever build up some kind of trust with New Eridu?"

Jiraiya swallowed his food and looked at him with a confused expression. "What do you mean Naruto?"

Naruto sighed. "I mean is there a way we can find some allies in here? I know the Proxy Phaethon, and if we gain their favour, we'd be in a very good spot."

Jiraiya hummed curiously. "What are you thinking Naruto?"

The blond smiled. "I'm saying we strike a deal with them. My identity and our support for theirs."

-Meanwhile-

On this beautiful morning, Wise woke up early, stretched his body and popped his joints with a satisfying crack. He sighed in relief as he got out of bed and walked over to the bathroom to begin his, somewhat lengthy, morning routine. After spending around ten minutes in there, he finally walked out, that familiar feeling of cleanliness bringing a smile to his face. He stopped by Belle's room and, being the protective brother he is, opened the door to see how she was doing.

The habit stemmed from Belle, being the hyperactive girl she is, tending to roll off her bed when she was younger. This happened so often, that the girl ended up completely unaware that she was on the floor after the first year.

Sure enough, when he opened the door, his sister was lightly snoring on the floor, blissfully unaware that she was almost under the bed. Wise contemplated just throwing a blanket on top of her and leaving it at that, but in the end, he decided to just put her back on her bed and get the store opened for the day.

With a sigh, he walked inside with the stealth of a tiger and carefully put his arms under his sister to lift her into a bridal carry and place her on the bed before covering her up with her blanket. With a smile, he left the room, closing the door behind him, and walked downstairs to open up the door.

When he got there, he saw that their promoter, Heddy, was already in the store. He gave her a good-natured wave and went into the staff room to restock their shelves. He picked out some movies for the day and passed them to Bangboo 18 at the counter and dusted the shelves a bit before nodding to Heddy. He promoter gave him a thumbs-up, and he moved to open up the store. He checked the time on his watch and he was happy to report that they were ready to open the store a full 20 minutes before the opening time.

He peeped outside and didn't see any queue, so he assumed it was safe to change his plans to do some professional procrastinating before opening the store. He headed into the staff room and sat on the couch, taking out his phone and going through his list of contacts. He noticed a few messages, including the usual of Nicole asking for a discount and all sorts of news outlets reporting on the whole incident, but some messages from their information broker, Shepard, stood out. A knock on the door alerted him to Heddy, looking at him through the little slot in the door.

Wise motioned for Bangboo No.6 t let her through, and the promoter walked in and took a seat by him. She stretched on the cushion with a relieved sigh and looked at him with a smile. "So, manager. How was your sleep." Heddy asked in an attempt to strike up some conversation.

The grey haired proxy put away his phone and gave the promoter a smile. "It was good. I guess I was quite tired last night after that dinner. *sigh* It's good that Naruto's back. Things will be much more lively with him around." The Proxy's smile almost dissolved at the mention of last night, but, for innocent Heddy's sake, he made it go unnoticed.

Speaking of the promoter, she perked up when she heard who was back in town. "Wait. He's back?" Heddy asked with a smile. "Will he still be interning here again? He's so fun to be around."

Wise chuckled. "I sure hope so. He's a friend and a good kid." Just as he finished, his phone rang and the smile on his face became a tad more genuine when he saw it was a video call from Naruto. He answered his phone and raised it up so that is showed both him and Heddy. "Hello Naruto. Good morning."

"Good morning, Big Brother Wise!" Naruto's voice drifted through the speaker as his whiskered face came into view. He was only two years younger than Belle, but still insisted that he called them big brother/sis; something they hoped he'd drop because it made them feel somewhat old. "Oh! Big Sis Heddy is there too! Good morning!" Heddy waved at him with a small smile. "I called to ask if I can still intern here. I still need to make some money and we both know Big Sis Nicole won't spare me an extra Denny. She's very supportive but mot when it comes to sharing her Dennies."

For the sake of professionalism, Wise held in his laugh, opting for a cough instead. "Of course. It's always a pleasure to have you here. Feel free to come in straight after school if you need. If you don't feel like it, then take a few days off. You just got back after all."

On the phone, Naruto laughed. "Thanks for the offer but I think I'll pass. I think I fit in better with people like you. The guys at school just like to swoon at girls, especially at Ellen. Poor girl looks like she's been through a week's worth of work in one shift. What does she do anyway?" Before he could say anything more, the sound of a bell interrupted him. "Oh! That's the bell. I have to go. Bye!"

Wise waved as the call cut off and pocketed his phone. He checked the time and, sure enough, it looked like it was time to open their store. He stood up and instinctively held out his hand for Heddy. Normally, he did this for Belle because the little girl could be very clingy outside of being a Proxy.

The promoter stared at it for a few seconds before shaking her head and grabbing it to pull herself up. After straightening their clothes, they walked out and Wise looked through the window. There were a few people around and some of them had some rented tapes in their hands. He nodded at Heddy and Bangboo 18, who gave him a thumbs up and an "Eh-Nah!" respectively, and unlocked the door. With a calming breath, he opened the door. "Welcome to Random Play! What movie would you like to see today?"

Meanwhile, Naruto hung up and started walking towards the school. 'Fuu and Gaara are going to be joining different schools, so I have some free reign here. I still need to set up my accommodation away from the safehouse. Pervy Sage said that we need to prepare to go into Hollow Zero to shut down any fissures leading home, so I might need to send a Kage Bunshin to the store or just call it off today. Calling off might be easier, so I might do that.'

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice where he was until his muscle memory got him to his class and almost knocked his face on the door. Before that could happen, someone grabbed him by the collar, making him turn around with a conscious effort to supress his instinct to knock the teeth out of whoever grabbed him.

Something he was glad for when he finally caught sight of who grabbed him. "Hello Ellen! You look as tired as ever." He said with a smile. The tired shark thiren was followed by her friends who also gave him a small wave.

Ellen sighed, shifting her lollipop to the other side of her mouth. "And you're as blunt as ever." She said with a small smile. "Anyway, good to have you back Naruto. We couldn't reach you during the holidays. We tried to find you everywhere and you weren't there." She droned on in almost a monotone.

Naruto tilted his head. "I went out of town for the holidays. There was no reception there, so yeah." He scratched his head sheepishly. "Anyway, why did you want to find me? Did we get more homework? Anything but that please."

Ellen shook her head. "No, none of that. Actually, your favourite band was playing a few weeks ago and they were running tickets at low prices. I was planning on getting you one because you helped me get those karaoke coupons for us." Her friends nodded behind her.

Hearing that, Naruto's eyes went wide and his body went unresponsive. Ellen noticed the change and tapped his shoulder but the blond just fell backwards and hit his head on the door, which somehow made him rebound and fall on the ground face first with swirls in his eyes, mumbling the names of all the possible songs he'd missed. Ellen just sighed with her friends. They were happy he was back in town but it was clear that it was going to be a long day.

-Timeskip-

Naruto cracked his neck as he made his way to his accommodation. It was almost night time and the lights were turned on inside, so he assumed his roommate was inside. With that in mind, he knocked on the door and heard the sound of footsteps shuffling before it was opened by a pink haired girl with green eyes in a black hoodie. She also had a small pin in her hair that looked like a rain cloud. Naruto smiled. "Hey Rain!"

Rain smiled. "Hello Naruto. Does Nicole know you're back?" She asked while letting him in and showing him back to his room. Nicole had thought up this idea when Naruto was kicked out by his previous landlord for 'not being able to use the house effectively', (which he later learned was just a fancy way of saying he wasn't bringing in enough money because it was put back up in less than a day for a higher price). After learning about it, the leader of the Cunning Hares contacted her hacker friend and asked if Naruto could room with her. After some negotiations, they reached an agreement where Naruto kept the house neat and tidy and occasionally made the meals while he lived there. To him, it was a win-win; he gets a place to live and he can save his money.

Ignoring all of that, Naruto walked into his room and pulled off his backpack. He started putting away everything into the cupboards so that he could start cleaning soon. He had a mission tonight afterall.

After making sure Rain was asleep, Naruto made a Shadow Clone with extra Chakra and put a seal on its wrist. Just to be sure, he gave the clone a punch which threw it towards an empty wall, making Naruto once again thankful for installing those silencing and durability seals. He gave his clone a nod and watched as it got into his bed before Hiraishining to the safe house. When he got there, he made his way to the dining room and saw his team and Jiraiya sitting around the dining table. He walked by his mentor and tossed him a pair of red tinted contact lenses, floating in a bottle with a liquid.

He caught it and looked at Naruto with a questionable expression on his face. "Mind telling me why you tossed me a pair of lenses Gaki? I might be old but I'm not that old."

Naruto sighed but his lips curved into a fox-like smirk. "One, you are almost 60, so you are old. Two, those glasses are infused with Kurama's Chakra. You said you wanted to be part of the briefing, so you have to do things our way."

He walked up the head of the table and looked at everyone. "Listen up! A few days ago, Pervy Sage over here *cue indignant 'Hey!' from said man* received word that there have been rouge-nin using a fissure in the Hollows near the Taki sector to get into Hollow Zero. Keep in mind that our intel says there is only one fissure but it's better being safe than sorry, so be prepared for multiple fissures and a lot of rouges. We begin the first phase of the operation tonight. Our objective is to confirm or dispel the rumours. If we find more than 10 rouge nin, then we find out where they like to hang out and begin phase 2 tomorrow afternoon. For that phase, we need to quickly and quietly eliminate the rouges. If you meet anyone else, let me know. I'll give clearance on who and who not to kill. Phase 3 and phase 4 will be carried out together with forces from Heiwagakure. Are we clear?" Everyone nodded and Naruto smiled. "Good. Now get suited up."

The 178 of Team 1789 all nodded and walked towards their rooms, but Jiraiya stopped Naruto. When the blond turned to look at him, the Toad Sage gave him a proud smile. "I know you never got to see your parents, and I'm not the best person to say this, but just know, as your father's mentor, if he- hell if both of them ever saw you as the person you are now, they'd be proud." He spoke gently, almost like he wanted to let it down slowly.

Naruto smiled. "Thank you… Jiraiya Sensei"

(A/N: Just like with my other fics, Naruto is perfectly fine with killing. Idk if I mentioned this before, but he was trained by Kakashi long before he joined the academy, so he's perfectly used to being as ruthless as he needs)

It was night, and our Jinchuriki team and a certain pervert slip into Scott Outpost unnoticed and unauthorised. They crept past the security and knocked out anyone that noticed them before they could do anything. Once they were in, Naruto put the only remaining worker to sleep and signalled his team to keep watch while he and Jiraiya inserted a simple virus into the outpost's computer network. After double checking that it was in, he went to meet up with his team, but before he got there, a spotlight shined on them.

"Intruders! Stand down!" The team froze when they heard a clam female voice and Naruto looked at Jiraiya. He made some hand-signs and disappeared on the spot while Naruto and the others were left standing. The blond spared the new commers a single glance and walked towards his team. "I said stand down."

Naruto sighed. "Hollow Special Operations Section 6." The mask heavily altered his voice, making sure that no one could recognised him. The members of Section 6 weren't fazed but everyone except the leader held out their weapons. Naruto just ignored it and flashed his Fox Eyes, making his team disappear somewhere, leaving him to confront the section and the personnel they brought.

"Stand down. You are surrounded." Spoke the leader, a fox thiren with a sword and a little spirit. "Surrender, or I will not show you mercy." Her voice was calm, but it held that edge that made you want to grovel before your leader and beg for mercy (Naruto called it the Baa-chan mode, but Tsunade didn't need to know that).

Unfortunately for her, Naruto had never been one to follow direct order to the letter, so all she got instead, was a dark chuckle from the man in the fox mask. "Hoshimi Miyabi. Leader of Section 6." He slowly walked towards her as his mask started to turn black. "Heir to the Hoshimi family, quite renowned for their martial arts and traditional practices." Her hand moved to her sword and she took a quick-draw stance as red eyes with black slits peeked out from the eyes of the mask, the sinister grin engrave on the mask, dripping blood down the man's clothes. "Do you hear them, Void Hunter? With those ears, it should be easy to hear them." Miyabi faltered for just a second, and one of her ears spun around, trying to pinpoint any sound. "Then again, I suppose we're too advanced for that." His eyes drifted behind her. "I'll say this once." He said a bit louder. "Stand down and surrender. You and your team have… five seconds to live, rouge-nin. Choose wisely if you want to live past that."

Miyabi kept her eyes on the masked man while the soldiers behind her looked back at where he was looking, hoping to discern if it was just a lie. For five seconds, nothing happened. Then, the man sighed and right before her eyes, he disappeared. All hell broke loose but Miyabi's eyes picked up the dull thud of footsteps behind her and her body instinctively whirled around. Red slitted eyes shone in the darkness as a scream pierced through the air.

The next second, the masked man kicked down a body that fell face first on the ground, prompting another grunt before the man went still and silent. A soldier carefully lowered his gun and slowly approached the man lying on the ground. The armband on his shoulder with a red cross gave away his position as a medic and he kneeled down next to the body and took its pulse before shaking his head to indicate that it that the person was dead. "Anyone else want to experience the same fate?" The masked man asked to no one. "*sigh* Why can it never be easy." In the next two seconds, four people were thrown in the air and all were shot in the heart before any of them touched the floor.

"I got what I need, so until next time." Miyabi could've sworn she heard her neck and arm snap at the speed she turned her head and drew her blade. "Hoshimi Miyabi, Tsukishiro Yanagi, Harumasa and Soukaku." With an exaggerated bow, the man disappeared. Miyabi remained on alert and closed her eyes, turning to her ears to listen out for anything. Sure enough, her ears picked up something. "Yes yes. We've confirmed the rumours. Five rouge-nin sent to the Shinigami without a single jutsu. *haha* What a catch. I assume you found the strong holds. … Good, good. We can deal with it tomorrow. Meet up at the east side of Hollow Zero tomorrow morning. … See you tomorrow my love."

The conversation left Miyabi reeling. 'That tongue… that's our tongue!' She was broken out of her thoughts when one of her soldiers screamed. She quickly sheathed her sword and ran up to where she heard the scream, only to see a soldier hunched over the trashcan while Yanagi was rubbing his back. The others were looking away, and when she looked, she understood why. The murdered were all missing their heads.

Naruto used the Hiraishin to appear beside Jiraiya and gave his team a once-over. "We've confirmed the rumours, so let's head back. I stalled them by faking a conversation. I'll explain further tomorrow."

"Wait!" Fuu asked. "You only killed five, and you said we need at least ten. How is that confirmation?"

"Because they were all from different villages." Naruto said without missing a beat. "And they held feelings of scorn for each other, but also fear. They feared something that wasn't me, so there has to be someone stronger at play."

He stretched with a yawn. "Let's go. We can continue tomorrow."

4100 words. Not too shabby.

Again, sorry for the late upload. Things have been busy and I haven't been the most interested I have been when it comes to writing. I wanted this chapter to have more of a domestic touch, hence the daily activities before the other scenes. Moving on, what should I do with Wise's ship? I want to leave him in a love triangle (or hexagon) but since I didn't change Naruto's ship, I'll let you pick one as compensation. However, I will not be including Ellen (age), Jane Doe (she makes me uncomfortable, and she has good chemistry with Seth), and Belle (I say that because AO3 is crazy and I do not want to be traumatised by tags again). Anyhow, that's about it and if you have any questions, feel free to PM me. Please leave a review if you enjoyed and Peace out!