From ninja to shinigami

by jacke44

Returning to Wave after being snubbed by his sensei for his teammate, Naruto explores a secret structure he found on the way to the bridge confrontation, opening the door to a new world of possibilities for his future, gaining something once lost, and many allies in the wake of revelations a forgotten past, enemies close than you think, and the teaching owed to him from the beginng

42. What makes a good Leader

From Ninja to Shinigami

Chapter 42: What makes a good Leader

By: jacke44

Beta'd by: Scheffinator

[Kumo]

As the group were leaving the hospital and making their way to the next stop, all three of the girls could not stop laughing and giggling as they remembered Naruto sitting in a chair with one of the little girls on his lap while reading a story to their group while wearing a pink plastic princess tiara on his head. They had also taken a group photo that would now be at their reception desk on that floor along with a copy in Naruto's office.

Yugito, after getting her giggles out of her, looks at Naruto and says "I was curious about that technique you used last night. We only saw two of the drums light up. What happens when all of them light up?"

Naruto, with his foxlike grin on his face, looks at her and says "I would be careful if I were you. Due to your affiliation with Matatabi, I think you should be more careful. Because you know what they say about curiosity and cats."

Yugito, with a bright red face, does her best to ignore Matatabi, who is roaring with laughter inside the seal at her host. Yugito turns her head and looks at him saying "you are so lucky you are acting as a foreign dignitary or I would scratch out your eyes."

Before he could reply, he suddenly has three fists bonk him on the top of his head, sending him to the ground with the three girls standing above him, each have a smirk on their face as they look at the taller blonde.

Sakura's face goes red when she realizes that she just hit Naruto in front of Ino, despite what she said to her previously about staying away from Naruto.

Ino can see this out of the corner of her eye and says "don't worry about it, billboard brow. This time he deserved it so I'll will let it slide this time."

Ino then shakes her head and says "now don't worry I know just how to punish him. I have given him plenty of warnings time and time again about making stupid puns and now it looks like I am going to have to resort to drastic measures, so we are going to have lunch at a ramen stand and you my baka," as she looks down at Naruto and says "are not going to get a single bowl. You will have to sit there and watch as I eat it all."

Ino had a sadistic smile on her face as everybody else around them began to laugh at the look on his face. Naruto quickly wraps his arms around her legs as he says "please no, no, I promise I'll be good. I won't do any more bad cat puns, I promise. Just don't do that to me again."

By now the group had a large group of civilians watching them as most of the women were giggling into their hands. Ino looks down at Naruto and says "okay, I'll give you one of two options Naruto-kun. Option one, we go out and you have to watch as I eat a bowl of ramen and you cannot have a single one and option two is when we get back to the Hidden Leaf Village you have to have dinner with me and my parents and I'm pretty sure the subject that we slept together will be coming up with my dad sitting at the table."

Naruto has a look of absolute horror on his face and asks "wouldn't it just be easier to kill me yourself?" Upon hearing this, all of the women in the crowd begin to laugh, while a few of the men, who had wives were calling out to him to take option one as it would be the lesser of two evils, only to get smacked on the back of their heads by their wives. One of the wives actually grabbed her husband by the ear and dragged him off.

Asuma lets out a laugh and looks at Kurenai then says "I place 50 ryo that Inoichi tries to arrange a katana wedding by the end of the week when he finds out."

Kurenai adds her own laugh and says "no bet, I can almost guarantee you he will drag them to the temple the same night."

Ino, who managed to hear them, says "that is so not going to happen. My mom has been wanting to plan my wedding since I was playing dress up. She says that she wants it to be the biggest event in the history of the Leaf Village. Even bigger than the First Hokage's wedding."

Ino then looks down at Naruto and says "so what is it going to be Naruto-kun? The option one or two?" Slowly getting back up to his feet, Naruto looks down and says "I will take option number two. I might as well get it out of the way." Then with his foxlike grin, he says "as for your father, that won't be a problem. I'm pretty sure your mom will protect me as she loves me and I'm the one who's going to give her all her grandbabies to spoil."

Ino could only nod her head as she knew that all of the moms in the group tended to flock around Naruto, as if he was one of their own. Ino had once asked her mother why they tended to do that.

[Flashback]

7-year-old Ino had just climbed into her bed as her mother began to tuck her in as she looks at her and asks "Mommy why do all you and my aunties always seem to want to mother Naruto-kun?"

Inoiki put on a soft smile and says "when you become a mommy one day and you see a lonely and injured child, with no one to help them, something in you will click. This is known as mothers' instinct, it's something that lives inside each of us. That calls to us to help children. It is the same reason that your daddy and the other men are always willing to invite Naruto for male bonding time with both Shikamaru and Choji."

Ino let out a giggle and asks "you mean like when they have their yucky burping contest?" Inoiki smiles and tickles her stomach and asks "this coming from the little girl who holds the record for the loudest burp?" While squirming underneath her mother's tickles, Ino begins to laugh.

[End of flashback]

As the group then heads in the direction of the orphanage, Asuma manages to see Naruto walking with his head slightly down while rubbing his forehead. Walking up next to him, he asks "are you okay?" With Naruto replying "yeah, I'll be okay. I just forgot rule number 15 of women, never irritate your girlfriend whose parents are still alive until after you are married."

Asuma lets out a chuckle and says "you're right. At least I won't have that problem with Kurenai." Naruto looks at him and says "her parents might be gone but you have to remember she still has me as a little brother and Hinata as a little sister, so if you want to get with her you got to get our approval." Then looks back forward as he says "you should consider yourself lucky that I'm not playing the protective little brother by pranking my big sister's boyfriend."

Kurenai looks at him and says "If you switch to being the overprotective little brother, I will go back to being the big sister again and you remember what happened last time I did that."

Once the group stopped laughing at Naruto, Tenten looked at Naruto and said "I noticed when you were packing up all the supplies back at the hospital, you didn't pack up your pet porcupine. Whatever happened to it?" Naruto shrugs his shoulders and says "I have no idea. I'm sure he will turn up against sooner or later. He usually does." With a sly smile on his face.

[Random alleyway]

The porcupine that had crawled out of the box looks around before disappearing in a puff of smoke revealing a clone of Naruto. Once the clone sees that he is not being looked at, he uses the Transformation Jutsu again and transforms into a regular looking civilian, while thinking to himself 'now it is time to begin my new life. It's a good thing Mom found that scroll on the Blood Clone Jutsu.' As he makes his way out of the alleyway, disappearing into the crowd. As he walked through the crowd the wind blew up his sleeve revealing a silver bracelet with a blue glowing gem with seals engraved into it.

[Back with the group]

As the group had made their way through the village, they met up with the rest of the group. Naruto looked at Kiba to see that he had a black eye, making him raise an eyebrow along with the rest of the group. Shino pushes up his sunglasses and says in his normal voice "if you are wondering why he has a black eye, it is because he tried to hit on several girls who did not take kindly his style of flirting."

That is also when Naruto noticed that Choji and Karui were both missing. When Naruto asked where they were, it was Shikamaru who said "I believe that Karui had dragged Choji off to buy her lunch."

Ino instantly gets that gleam in her eye at the gossip that this will provide for her when she gets back to the village to tell his parents, as it was rare for her to get any dirt on him.

Samui, seeing the look on Ino's face, leans over to Naruto and asks "should we be worried about this?" Naruto chuckles into his hand and says "no. she will most likely just use it to embarrass him."

As the group began to walk once more towards the orphanage, Sakura looks at Naruto and asks "will you tell us how you got the blueprints for Sasuke's house?" Naruto shrugged his shoulders and says "the same way I got the blueprints for all the other buildings I pranked. I just walked in the Public Records Department and asked for them. The staff there are pretty lazy, I mean seriously, hell one time I walked in and they were all asleep."

Asuma, along with all the other leaf Jonin, ended up face palming themselves. Asuma looks at Kurenai and says "remind me to tell lady Tsunade to have them looked at." None of his fellow Jonin had any sympathy for what was about to befall them.

[Orphanage]

As the group approached the building, Naruto had to admit, it was a nice two-story building in good condition. The group could also see a large group of children playing outside in the yard. Off to the left was a large tree with several children playing in the branches.

Making their way up the sidewalk, the group watches as one of the children in the tree tries to go higher. The moment she steps on a branch, it snaps, sending her plummeting to the ground with a scream, which made all the children in the yard stop and look and watch as she falls through the air.

Naruto was just about to move, when suddenly, Tenten vanishes in a flicker of blue light underneath her feet, performing a Hirenkyaku (A/N Pure Flying Step) as she grabs her from mid-air and reappearing on the ground.

The front door of the orphanage burst open and a man and a woman came running outside. The woman quickly drops to her knees and begins to check on the young girl. Once she was sure that she was okay, she begins to hug the girl.

The woman then begins to hug Tenten saying "thank you, thank you," over and over again. Naruto let's out a small chuckle and says "you know, it's funny, watching it happen to someone else and not to me for a change."

Once the woman let's go of her, she turns and looks at the man and says "I've told you this how many times, that tree was a death trap, even when we were here as kids, it has to go." Which makes the man nod his head and say "I will contact someone soon."

Naruto gets their attention and says "that won't be necessary. This is a pretty easy fix." He then turns his head and looks at Asuma and said "mind giving me a hand? You cut it and I will seal it away." Asuma nods his head and takes out his knuckle blades. Once the two of them see that the area is clear, Naruto takes out a piece of paper and put it on the tree and gives a nod of the head to Asuma, who begins to channel his Wind Style chakra into his blade, making the blades extend with a bluish glow. He then makes one slashing motion, sending a wave of Wind Style chakra at the tree, cutting it at its base, at the same time Naruto activates the seal, making it disappear in a puff of smoke, only leaving a stump behind.

Ino puts on a big smile and steps forward and says "greetings. Allow me to introduce you to Lord Naruto Uzumaki, crown Daimyo of the Land of Whirlpools." The moment she says this, the man and woman standing in front of her, along with all of the children instantly dropped to their knees and bow their heads.

Naruto walks up behind her and smacks her upside the back of the head and says "stop doing that. You know I do not like being referred to it by that title unless it's mandatory." He then turns his attention back to the group on their knees and says "please get up. I am not a big fan of using my title, so please treat me like normal."

Slowly the group gets back up off the ground. With a small smile on her face, the woman says "hello. My name is Mio and this is my husband Jiro and we are the couple that runs the orphanage. We are honored for you to pay us a visit. Won't you please come inside for tea?"

Naruto puts on a smile and says "I will always accept a good cup of tea, thank you." Mio turns her head to look at several of the children and whispers "quickly go clean the table off." The group watches as two of the children run ahead of the group into the house.

As the group makes the way into the house and into the dining room, they can see the house is in total chaos with toys scattered everywhere, along with boots and coats and other knick knacks. Mio picks up a laundry basket off the table and puts it on a counter behind it. She then turns back to the group with a small blush on her face and says to them "I'm so sorry about the mess."

Naruto gave a small laugh and says "don't worry about it. I know how messy children can be. Back in the leaf village, when I came into my inheritance, I adopted all of the orphans from our village's orphanage, so I know how messy children can be. Luckily, I hired a really great staff, who helped to keep the children in line and keep the house clean as best they can. I'm not saying the children have to be absolutely spotless but they know to pick up after themselves now."

Mio and Jiro, both with a small smile on their faces, give a nod of the head. Naruto, with his foxlike grin on his face as he looks around the room, says "besides, this is way cleaner than my big sister Hana's bedroom." He then looks at Kiba and asks "what do you think?"

Kiba looks around and says "yep, definitely cleaner. At least you can see the floor in here." Naruto gave a laugh and says "you know, it's funny. The fact that she's a veterinarian and has to have everything sterilized and clean, but she cannot seem to even clean her own room."

[Inuzuka compound]

Hana was currently laying on the couch, reading a book. She then looks over at her mother with a look of anger on her face and says "remind me to smack my brothers when they get back from their mission. I have a feeling they are talking trash about me."

Tsume looks up from her own book and says "no problem. They are probably making jokes about that pig sty that you call your room. I swear if you don't get it clean by this weekend, I'm going to have Naruto put another pig in it."

Hana crosses her arms and says "my room is not that bad."

Tsume, with her own grin on her face, asks "and what color is the carpet in your room?"

Hana raises an eyebrow and says "I think it's a soft green color."

Tsume, with a disappointed look on her face, looks back at her book and says "you have hardwood flooring in your room. Now get your butt back upstairs and clean your room or I swear I'm going to double your vegetables at dinner tonight and don't even think about shoving everything underneath your bed like you did last time."

Hana stands up from the couch and says "I swear. Sometimes I think you treat me like I am Noriko's age." As she throws her book across the room and hits a bookshelf, making one of the scrolls on top of it fall off, and she then storms off towards her room.

Tsume shakes her head and calls after her daughter "at least Noriko knows how to clean her room." Then stands up, walks across the room, and picks up the old scroll. Raising an eyebrow as she did not recognize it, shrugging her shoulders she opens it to see what it was. Had anybody else been in the room when she did, they would probably have run for their lives because of the evil grin that appeared on her face. Because spread across the top of the scroll written by someone who was clearly drunk was [Marriage contract between Naruto Uzumaki and Hana Inuzuka].

[Kumo]

Once the tea was served, Naruto began to explain what had happened at the last council meeting, telling the couple that they should be expecting a large check to arrive soon to help with anything that the orphanage was in need of. The couple were shocked and thanked him for his generosity, telling him that there were several children who had to share winter coats so that sometimes the kids would have to stay inside while one group would get to go outside to play, because they just did not have enough winter clothes for all the children.

Before Naruto could say anything else, one of the little girls jumped on his lap and asked him "is it true? Am I going to get my own brand-new coat that's going to be all mine?" Naruto looked down at her and gave a small laugh and said "yep, but don't forget, you're going to need a matching hat and gloves." The little girl began to jabber at Naruto at a quick little pace about anything and everything.

Mio look embarrassed and was about to tell her to stop but Ino let out a small chuckle and says "don't worry about it. Naruto is used to this." After a few moments, Mio let out a cough and says "I think that is enough little lady."

Naruto gave a small laugh of his own and pulls out a scroll from his pocket and hands it to Tenten and says "why don't you take the children outside and give them the rest of the toys from inside this scroll. I'm sure they would love it while I finish my meeting here."

Tenten gave her own little laugh and says "okay. Let's go kiddos."

Once all of the children had left the room, Naruto looked at the couple and said "looks like you've got your hands full here." Mio just smiles and says "yes, but we wouldn't change it for anything. Both myself and my husband were both left at the orphanage when we were kids. It was always our dream to one day take it over."

Naruto just replies "well it looks like you are doing an excellent job. The children look happy here."

Mio, who puts down her cup of tea, says "we do try to keep the children happy." With a small smile on her face then says "so, you adopted all the children from your village orphanage?"

Naruto nods his head, while taking out the same photo that he had shown Tsunade and hands it over and says "yes. I grew up without any real brothers or sisters and I always wanted a big family. Once I came into my inheritance and I learned that I had a massive compound, I could not picture myself walking around an empty compound. I mean, can you imagine walking around a massive compound and hearing absolutely no sound, no laughter, no nothing, just dead silence knowing that you're all alone?"

This comment makes everybody in the room slowly look down, realizing what it would be like and that none of them would want that. Naruto then says "so, I decided to adopt all the children to give them all a home and a family. I'm sure both of you are aware most orphans end up not getting adopted. And, while technically I did adopt them legally and on paper, I am legally there adopted father, I have them all call me big brother."

Mio, who upon seeing the photo, had a large smile on her face and said "I can tell by this photo, they are all happy and they look like a really rowdy bunch. I can also tell by this photo it looks like you got a couple troublemakers in your bunch." This comment makes Ino begin to laugh and says "you have no idea, but it's been great. All of the moms of the group are all so happy due to the fact that they are getting to help with the infants, especially my mother, who always wanted more children than just me but was unable to have any more babies."

But before Naruto can make another comment the door to the house slams open and a woman's voice calls out "mom, mom, mom," as a woman runs into the living room. Mio quickly stands up and asks "what is what is wrong dear?" The woman just holds out her left hand, making all the women's eyes instantly lock onto the ring on her finger. Quickly moving, all of the women quickly surround her and begin to look at the ring.

Ino, who was looking at the ring comments and says "it's so beautiful, congratulations." This is followed up by comments by all the others in the room. The woman then looks at the group and spots Naruto. She then looks at her mom and asks "who are these people mom?" Once her mother informed her of who they were, she begins to apologize for interrupting their meeting.

Naruto gave a laugh and says "don't worry about it, and congratulations on your engagement. I have seen enough young women get engaged to know that they can get excited and want to show their parents."

Ino gave a laugh and asks "you thinking about my cousin again and how you almost ruined her wedding?"

Naruto crosses his arms and replies "I did not almost ruin her wedding. It was a small prank, nothing more."

Sakura looks between the two of them and then says "okay, I'm going to go with Ino here." She then crosses her arms and asks "what did you do?"

Naruto puts on a hurt face and asks "don't you trust me?"

Sakura gave a small laugh and says "I trust you about as far as I can throw the Hokage Monument."

Ino, after coming down from her laughing fit, says "he was invited to the wedding and due to my cousin not having a dad, he was asked to walk her down the aisle because they are close. So, when he walks her down the aisle everything is all normal. When he gets to the wedding altar then the priest asked 'who gives this bride away?' Naruto replied 'I do.' He then looks at the groom then he shoves my cousin towards him and says 'good luck she is your problem now.'"

Everybody who was in the room instantly began to laugh. After managing to catch her breath, Ino then said "but my cousin got the final laugh in the end. As you know, most of the time, the father of the bride always pays for the wedding. So, at reception my cousin walked up to Naruto and handed him the receipt for the entire wedding. Saying that if he was going to be the father of the bride, that it was his responsibility. The look on his face when he saw the tally at the end was priceless."

Naruto, after crossing his arms and pouting for a while, then stands up and says "I believe it's time for my group to leave so that you can celebrate your engagement with your parents. Once again congratulations."

As the group heads towards the door, Naruto opens the door and walks out, only to be smacked in the face by a red rubber ball and sent flying to the floor. Sakura, who upon seeing this, wraps her arms around her stomach and begins to laugh. Managing to say between laughs "behold! The man who can fight S-Rank missing ninjas and fight off invasions but gets taken out by a kickball!" This makes everybody in the group burst out laughing. Naruto slowly sits up with a red indention on his face from where the ball had hit him. He looks over at a group of children and sees a little girl panicking as Tenten was attempting to calm her down.

Naruto shook his head and tosses the ball back to the little girl and said "that was a pretty good shot, but you need to make sure you are watching for people walking around so they don't get hit." He then began to walk across the yard, talking to the children as he did. Making sure that they were all sharing the new toys and that there was no fighting over them. He then came upon two little girls playing Double Dutch with two new jump ropes. With a smile on his face, he asks "mind if I jump in?" Which made both little girls giggle and nod their heads and begin to twirl the ropes. Naruto attempts to jump in but does not even last long enough to get his footing before getting tangled up in the ropes, making the crowd giggle at him.

Ino looks at Sakura and said "come on billboard brow. Let's show him how it's done." Once again, the girls begin to twirl the ropes. Both girls quickly jump in and begin to chant "Mama sent us down the road to get some muffins. How many muffins will we get?" They chanted while they are playing patty cake. After a little bit, both girls jump out of the ropes, turn to face Naruto, stick their tongues out and pull their eyelids down.

Naruto continues to walk through the children and talking to them. He then sees a young boy sitting under a tree, hugging his knees. He could tell the boy was crying. Getting the attention of Mio, who had come out with her daughter, he points the boy out and ask "what's going on with him?" Mio sadly replies "he's the most recent child to come to us. His mother was killed on a mission recently. She bravely sacrificed herself so her team can get home. We've been doing our best to help him but he's pushing everybody away."

Naruto then slowly walks up to the boy, but before he could say anything, the boy says "go away. I don't want to hear it." Naruto replies "I understand. It must be pretty annoying." Making the boy look up at him, Naruto then says "I get it. Everyone always coming up to you, saying how sorry they are. How they wish it had not happened. It must be pretty annoying to you for them not realizing that by saying it that it just brings up the memories again."

The boy nods his head, using his sleeve to wipe away the tears. Naruto then looks up at the sky and says "you know, your mom is not really gone. They say to live forever is to live in the heart of those we have to leave behind. Your mom might not be around anymore but she lives on in memory. She left you behind as a legacy and while you should mourn her death, don't let it consume you. Find the people who knew your mother and let them tell you stories. That's how you keep your mom alive."

Once again, the boy looks down and says "but I miss her so much." Naruto, still looking up at the sky, says "you know, we of the Uzumaki clan have always been close to death. Do you know where you go when you die?" The boy shakes his head no so Naruto then says "when you die, you get to go to the Soul Society."

The boy looks up at Naruto again and asks "the Soul Society? What's that?"

Naruto, with a smile on his face, says "the Soul Society. It's a magical and wondrous place. It is a massive village that stretches out for miles and miles. It's where all the souls who died go to and there is no wars there and at the very heart of the Soul Society is the Seireitei."

By now the group of children had surrounded them and were listening. One of the girls asks "what is the Seireitei?"

Naruto, getting into the flow of the story, says "it is where all of the Soul Reapers who serve Kami live and train. It is the duty of the Soul Reapers to come here and guide the souls of the dead to Soul Society. They are also in charge of keeping the peace. In the Soul Society, another one of their duties is to battle the evil souls." One of the boys off to the side asks "evil souls?"

Naruto replies "yes. You see when a person dies who has too much hatred, anger, or regret, they can be consumed by it and may become creatures of darkness that feed on the souls of the living and dead. It is the duty of the Soul Reapers to cleanse these bad souls."

Once again, the boy looks up at Naruto and asks "how do you become a Soul Reaper?" Naruto replies "you have to be willing to lay down your life." The boy looks at him and asks "do you think my mom will become a Soul Reaper?" Naruto shrugs his shoulders and says "it's possible."

After saying they're goodbyes, the group then begins to leave the orphanage. Ino, with a smile, wraps her arm around Naruto's waist and put her head on his shoulder and says "I guess all that time you spent with my aunt helping at the counseling center finally paid off huh? You know she's going to be really happy that you were able to help that boy." Naruto, with a smile of his own, says "sometimes you need to just stop saying 'I'm sorry'. That's one of the few lessons I learned from her."

He then says "I could tell by the way he was emotionally distancing himself from everybody around him that is what he needed. Now had he been angry or resentful and lashing out at people, I would have handled it differently. I would have bated him, I would have gotten him angry enough so that he would attack me." Sakura with a look of puzzlement on her face asks "why?"

Naruto, speaking in his lecture voice, says "it would have been bad for everybody around him, letting him bottle up that anger and hate. Eventually, it would have blown and could have hurt the people around him, so by making him angry I would have given him an outlet. Something that he could let loose on. It is not ideal but it has been proven to work in the past. And to be honest it's something that should have been done with Sasuke but everybody in the village just wanted to pamper him for something he didn't even do. Big woopy doo, so he survived the killing of his clan, he always goes on and on about how great his clan was and blah blah blah. I mean, how great could the clan really be? They were taken out by one man in the middle of the night without a single alarm being sounded. While my clan took three of the five major villages to wipe out." All of the adults around them nod their heads in agreement.

Sakura says "it's really shocking to me that I never realized that he was this good with children. From what I've seen with all the kids at his compound, my cousin, and those kids at the hospital and orphanage."

Ino turned and looked at her and says "that's just because he's a big kid at heart himself, and has a way of connecting with the children. That's why he's always been so good at helping out the counseling center with the younger children. They just seem to trust him."

Sara, with her own smile, says "he also does it at the hospital as well. Always, he seems to be able to bring out the happiness back into the children stuck there by acting like a goof."

Naruto gave a small laugh and says "I've always found happiness working there with small children, learning how to be a counselor was just one of the things I had to do. Learning how to take care of all the small problems children have and how to handle them, knowing that each case would be different. I mean take Hinata's sister, since I had rescued both of them, she has become attached to me to the point where she wants to be one of my girlfriends. While it is true that she could have feelings for me, I truly believe that she is just suffering from security blanket syndrome."

Sakura looks at Naruto and asks "what is security blanket syndrome?"

Naruto replies "it is when someone gets rescued, and becomes attached to the person that rescued them. They only feel safe around that person and will do almost anything not to be removed from their presence."

Sara looks at Sakura and says "there are a lot of people who would take advantage of something like that. I'm just glad that Naruto isn't one of those people."

Naruto then said "I always wanted to be a good leader and that means being able to connect with all the people, so I took classes on counseling. And I'm glad I did, with all of the kids from the orphanage that I have at my compound, a lot of them needed a lot of work. I'm just glad the kids look up to me along with Hinata, as the big brother and sister. I have to say, she really does have a way of connecting to the children, and I'm sure, one day she will make a fantastic mother. That is if the kids don't drive her crazy first." Which makes the rest of their group laugh as they head to their next destination.

[Uzumaki compound, Konoha]

Hinata was sitting in one of the rooms, having tea with all of the clan heads wives along with Tsunade and Shizune. Right as she lifts the cup of tea to her lips, the door to the room opens by one of the male servants as he gives a bow and says "I'm sorry for interrupting your tea my lady, but there is an emergency that you need to be aware of." Hinata let out a breath and says "don't tell me it is Ashia again." The servant nods his head and says "they were pelting some civilians with water balloons with paint in them." Hinata slowly stands up and walks out to the hall and sees all three girls looking down, then look up at her, then the three of them then dropped to their knees, cup their hands underneath their chins and begin to cry, saying "we are sorry." Hinata, for her part, put on a very stern look on her face, crosses her arms and looks down at them and says "nope. I'm not buying it. All three of you go to your rooms now. I will deal with you all later." The servant then guides the three girls away with a hidden smile on his face as he can hear laughing coming from the mothers.

Hinata walks back into the room, ignoring the moms that are laughing, walks up to the desk, pulled open one of the drawers, pulls out a bottle of cinnamon flavored sake, and begins to drink it. Which only makes the moms, Tsunade, and Shizune laugh even more.

[Kumo, Academy]

After the group had made several more stops at a few of the homeless shelters, their group then approaches what should be their last stop for the day. Standing out in the middle of the courtyard were all the students from the Academy, due to Yugito sending a message ahead.

Their group is welcomed by the head of the Academy and after shaking hands, he turns to all the students and introduces Naruto, making several of the students look at Naruto with looks of curiosity. The head of the Academy then says "he is here to give you all a speech and talk to you."

Naruto, who was now standing in front of the crowd, smiles as he sees the same little boy who he had rescued the balloon for, smiling and waving at him from the crowd. He then puts his hands behind his back and says "hello. As you have already been told, I am Lord Naruto Uzumaki. I've come here today to see how your Academy functions. I intend to test your resolve to see if you are willing to become that which you have been training for. You are here to become ninjas. But here is my question, what is a ninja?"

Naruto smiles as almost all of the children raised their hands. He points to one of the students and asks "okay, tell me what is a ninja?" The boy stands up and says "we are the warriors! We are the defenders of our village!"

Naruto nods his head and says "you are correct but that's only half the answer. While it is true, we are the defenders of our villages. Once we leave the village most people see us as nothing more than mercenaries, cutthroats, and killers or hired thugs. I want each and every one of you to look at your hands." He watches as all the students look at their hands. He then says "if you become a ninja one day, those hands will one day be stained with blood and although you will be able to wash it off you will always be able to feel it. That is a sad fact of life. If you cannot handle that then you need to drop out right now."

Off to the side, his group along with all of the other cloud ninja and teachers of the Academy nods their heads in agreement. They did not think Naruto should be talking about this to the students but they realized that he was only making them realize how dangerous this life would be.

Naruto then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cloud ninja headband and holds it up for the class to see. "Who here can tell me what this is?" Again, all the students raised their hands. This time he points to one of the female students and she stands up and says "that's a headband that we are given when we graduate." Naruto gave a smile and says "come up here for a minute please." Once she was standing next to him, Naruto holds out the headband to her and said "I want you to look at this and tell me, what you feel when you hold it." As he puts it in her hands. All of the other students watch as they can see that she's struggling to hold it up.

Naruto looks at her and asks "is there a problem?" The girl looks at him and asks "why is it so heavy?" Once again, he nods his head and asks "yes, why is it so heavy? Can anybody in this class tell me?" When he sees none of the students raised their hands, he then reaches out and takes the headband from her and says "the reason it is so heavy is when you put this headband on, you are putting the weight of your village on your shoulders. You are putting the lives of everyone in this village in your hands. This is not just a privilege but it's a burden that you will have to wear every day. Putting this on means that you have been entrusted with great power and with all great power comes an even greater responsibility in how to use that power. As you advance in rank you will become leaders one day which will only increase your responsibilities and the burdens you will have to shoulder. If the day comes that you become a leader of a squad, that means that you have been entrusted with the lives of those of your squad mates. Being a leader does not mean you get to boss people around. It's not about barking out orders. Being a leader means being able to accept accountability for your actions. If you goof off on a mission by not taking your mission seriously, your squad mates could die and their deaths would be on your hands."

Naruto can see the look on several of the kids faces and says "I'm not telling you this to make you not want to become ninja. I'm telling you this because it is a fact that you need to know. Becoming a ninja does not always end well for people. You could easily be killed on your first mission out of the village."

Naruto then said "when I had my first mission out of my village, it was supposed to be a simple C-rank mission, escorting a bridge builder to his home village. But the mission ended up becoming an A-rank mission when we had to fight the Demon of the Hidden Mist Village, Zabuza Momochi, one of the Seven Swordsmen. My team and I ended up having to liberate a country that had been taken over by an evil tyrant, who wanted to suppress the country, who had given up all hope. This bridge builder was building a bridge from his island nation to the Land of Fire to bring in trade and break the tyrant's hold on their country." Naruto then explains how he met Haku and he learned a shinobi can only become strong when they have protected that which is truly precious to them.

Naruto then puts on his big smile and says "okay. Now that we've got that out of the way, I will answer any questions you have." As the children begin to call out questions. The group off to the side watch and smile knowing that Naruto had just made an impact on these children.

End of chapter 42

[Omake: Little sisters' first dates]

Naruto was sitting in the dining room, having a meeting with all of the clan heads and their wives, along with Hinata, when there was a small knock at the door. Naruto calls out "come in." The door opens and one of his little sisters is standing there, with a boy. Naruto turns and looks at her and asks "what's going on?" The little girl then introduces the boy and says "he asked me to go to the movies. I really want to go. Can I please go?" All of the parents look at Naruto, realizing that this was the first time when one of his little sisters asked to go on a date, and looking at him to see what his reaction would be.

Naruto calmly stands up, walks up to them, and says "you have my permission to go. Just be home before curfew and behave yourself." He then looks at the boy and says "I'm trusting you with my little sister. You do anything to make her cry and you will not be happy. Do you understand?" The boy quickly nods his head and says "I understand sir."

Once the two of them begin to walk away and had moved out of hearing distance, his smile on his face drops. He then looks at two boys, who was sitting in the courtyard at one of the tables, who had been watching this. He then says "follow them." Making both boys scrambled to get up and run after their sister.

Naruto turns around to walk back into the room and sees all of the parents laughing, along with Hinata, who was giggling in her hand. Once he sat back down and continued the meeting for several minutes before there was a knock on at door. once more as the door opens, it is revealed to be both the boys covered in bruises. And each have a black eye. They look at Naruto and say "sorry big brother. She didn't take kindly to us spying on her." Which only makes the parents burst out laughing once more.