A/N: Here we go! New Chapter!

Now some of you may have noticed a change in Chapter 2 regarding Naruto's apartment fire being arson. Well, a buddy of mine noted that nobody in their right mind would lay a finger on Naruto's head, no matter how much they hated or were afraid of him. To do so was tantamount to treason for depriving the village of their super-weapon, which invited death.

In the words of the great musician that is Rag 'n Bone Man, I'm only Human After All…therefore, that issue was corrected before it became a snarl.

…

[Hokage Tower, Konohamaru's room]

Konohamaru sat cross-legged on his bed, deep in meditation, focusing on trying to do the very thing Naruto had taught him between classes.

It was part of the deal the two of them agreed upon a few days ago: in exchange for Konohamaru helping Naruto with his chakra theory studies, Naruto would give him a primer on magic. Much like how his classmate felt when he started using chakra for the first time, Konohamaru found that he was learning a completely different school of thought with regards to mana and magic.

"This is a pretty basic skill that all mages have to get the hang of. Come find me when you really get the hang of it, and I'll teach you a very easy spell."

"Basic my ass!" Konohamaru growled to himself, trying to regain focus.

According to Naruto, mana was an energy source that was everywhere, much like chakra. There were differences, but he'd refused to elaborate - saying something about still trying to figure out what they were for himself and not wanting to teach him based on guesswork.

There were supposedly different ways of doing so, but one way to get mana, and the most basic way, was to source it from within, much like chakra. Unlike chakra, however, it required the mage (which was a catch-all for any magic-user) to tap into their inner-realm to generate and gather the mana they needed. The catch was that every mage's inner-realm was different, dictating the kind of mana they could use right off the bat, and how much they could use off-hand before tiring out. In Konohamaru's case, Naruto used a special trick to display what mana colors he could use and found that he could use Green and Red Mana.

This led to yet another explanation - just as chakra came in five different elemental affinities, so too did mana came in five colors: White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green. Complicating matters was that the relationship between the five colors wasn't as simple as a big, straight-up game of Jan-Ken-Pon like with chakra, especially since none of the five colors were a hard counter for each other. Add to that, each color was linked to a number of elements by themselves, like Red being linked to fire, lightning, earth, even a few ice spells, and Green having earth, plant, freshwater, and wind spells. It was a lesson that Naruto promised would be covered in more depth later on, after Konohamaru cast his first spell.

From the assessment that Naruto gave of the two mana orbs, Konohamaru's mana affinity leaned a little more towards Red than Green. Evidently, the features and terrains of one's inner-realm determined the colors they could use: White was sourced from plains, Blue from islands, Black from swamps, Red from mountains, and Green from forests. Because of this, Naruto had Konohamaru focus on trying to build the mountain in his mind due to how his mana affinities leaned a little more towards Red.

To that end, meditation was the best way to start accessing a mana color, as it required the mage to build up their inner-realm before sourcing the mana it provided. Add to that, more frequent and deeper meditation continuously built up the features of their inner-realm, and thus as it grew, so too did the amount of mana one could access from within. An endeavor of which Konohamaru had attempted for a few days in a row to no avail.

"I'd start by emptying your head before trying to picture the mountain" was the advice Naruto gave him on day two of his attempt to learn magic.

"Not trying to join the clergy, are we?" asked a wizened voice, startling Konohamaru out of his thoughts. He looked out the door to find his grandfather looking in on him with curiosity.

Konohamaru huffed in frustration, deciding to take the opportunity for a break, "I'm trying to learn how to do magic like Naruto taught me - he said that in order to gather mana to use magic, it's a good idea to start with meditation and an empty head. I mean, the meditation, I get; but how do you empty out your head, anyway?"

The Hokage looked at Konohamaru, his grin of amusement had been replaced with an inscrutable expression on his face. "So you don't want to be a monk?"

Konohamaru's eyes furrowed. "Ojīsan, I am not giving up meat and my hair for anything - I'm just trying to learn something new that they don't teach us in the Academy."

There was a hum of contemplation as the Hokage thought of what to say to his grandson. "I could tell you how to empty your head…but what do I get in return?"

The thought that his grandpa knew the answer to his little conundrum had excited Konohamaru to no end as he excitedly turned to regard him attentively. "Anything! This whole thing is giving me a headache!"

"Here's my up-front pay: after today, when you next see Naruto, I want you to tell him that I want to see him when he has the time," the Hokage said, "Agree to this, and my second condition, and I'll tell you how to solve your little mental clutter problem."

There it was! The tricky side of grandpa that not a lot of people got to see. The "up-front" pay was just to make his real condition seem like the lesser of two evils. Whatever it was, it was worth it so long as he got the solution to his little problem. Still, it was better than crashing his head against a wall with nothing to show for it. "I'll do it. So how do I empty my head?"

"Well, when you're meditating, what are you really thinking about?" asked the Hokage.

"A lot of things!" Konohamaru volunteered, "Like I wanna be Hokage, how Moegi is getting along with Udon, how to get better really fast…"

"And that's where you're doing it wrong," replied the Hokage, getting Konohamaru's attention, "Your head is so full of thoughts that it's distracting you and breaking your concentration. To clear your head, you've got to put all thoughts out of your mind; don't think about anything and just concentrate on what you're trying to do. You do that, and I'm sure you can do what you set out to do."

Konohamaru contemplated what his grandfather had just told him. It was then that a thought had popped up in his mind. "Wait a minute, what was the second thing you wanted?"

"Ah yes, my second condition," said Hiruzen, a mischievous smile on his face, "You have to sweep up at the temple after school for a week!"

His jaw promptly hit the floor. Before he could protest, his grandfather had already shut the door behind him, ending the argument there.

Konohamaru sighed in resignation. "Well, at least I get some peace and quiet to practice what Naruto-nii taught me."

…

[Konoha General Hospital]

Tenten stirred awake to find the white ceiling of the hospital greeting her as her vision came back into focus.

There was a pain in her back that felt like she'd been kicked by a really big foot.

"It was quite a scare, what I'd heard," noted a very familiar voice.

She turned to her side to find Naruto sitting by her bedside, the look of worry on his face as he leaned in. "Naruto-kun? Wh…"

Naruto raised a hand to interrupt. "Your sensei told me you were in the hospital, so I came to check up on you."

"What happened?" she asked, her mind still muddled from waking up.

"What do you remember last?" Naruto asked, leading her.

Tenten looked up thoughtfully, trying to piece together what had happened. "Well, I remember fighting the blonde sand-princess Temari - I had her on the defensive in a close-quarters fight. Then when we both used our signature Jutsu, I charged chakra into your spear; it glowed green, and when I threw it, not only did it dispel the tornado, it hit the ground like a small meteor."

Naruto froze upon hearing what his spear had done before turning to look at Tenten with eyes widened in shock and disbelief. "You're telling me that Ryūsei responded to your chakra?"

"Ryūsei? That's its name?" Tenten asked, awed astonishment giving way to a nod of approval, "Fitting." After a moment, Tenten decided to return to the subject at hand. "Anyway, when I went to retrieve Ryūsei and confirm my kill, I saw Temari pinned to the ground with it…only it wasn't Temari. She replaced herself with a log at the last second, then sent another tornado my way. Last thing I remember, I tried to get away, but I was caught in the tornado, then I blacked out."

"According to the doctors, you're in luck," Naruto told her, "You broke a few ribs in your back, but at least you didn't suffer any serious damage to your organs or spinal column…it's bad, but at least you've got a chance to pop back up. Just rest up and let the doctors do their job, and you'll be back to normal soon."

"Did anything happen while I was out?"

"Hinata clued me in on the details," Naruto began, "Apparently, a lot of the matches were pretty short, including her own, so I guess her teammate and his dog were lucky. Her sister Hanabi however, not so much; especially considering she fought their cousin."

Upon hearing that, Tenten sighed, her question betraying no small modicum of her disappointment in her teammate. "Let me guess: Neji made it personal."

That was not a question, but Naruto still nodded in the affirmative. "I don't know for sure because I wasn't there, and Hinata didn't say; but from how angry she was when she told me about what happened to her sister, I would wager that yeah, he did."

"I guess I should've seen that coming. I really wouldn't be surprised if Neji's in for a butt-whoopin' now…assuming of course he's fighting Hinata in the finals."

An empty chuckle came from Naruto. "Funny you should say that…"

"Oh for heaven's sake, Neji's really fighting Hinata in the finals?" A simple 'hn' from Naruto was all it took for her to know what was going to happen. "Then I take that back, win or lose, Neji's definitely gonna get his butt kicked."

"Something I should know?" Naruto asked, "Like what happened between them?"

"If you really wanna know, you're going to have to ask either Neji or Hinata," Tenten advised, "But if you ask me, even I know better than to get involved in a clan affair…assuming of course, they decide to clue you in on what happened between them in the first place."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "Fair enough. So, onto a lighter subject, let's talk about Ryūsei…"

"I'll be honest with you, Naruto-kun, I wasn't satisfied with it," Tenten said, drinking in his gasp of shock, "I'm in love with it!"

She didn't know why, but seeing that smile on his face put a smile on hers. "Really?"

"Oh yeah!" Tenten said, the sincere praise clear in her voice, "Although, when you said you got a good grade for it, I thought you were just bragging…now I know you earned that grade - and now, going forward, my business. So you'd better make sure you've still got empty pages in that sketchbook of yours, because I'm gonna have a lot of ideas when I commission my new blade from you."

"We'll talk when the doctors clear you." Naruto offered, "Right now, I've got to check up on Hinata; she's waiting for her sister to wake up."

As Naruto turned to leave, Tenten just remembered something she wanted to do. "While you're at it, can you please check up on Lee for me? I promised myself that I'd check up on him once I got out of the match, but as you can see, that's impossible."

Naruto nodded in assent. "Will do, Tenten."

Once he left the room, Tenten looked back up at the ceiling in thought.

So much had happened in the weeks leading up to the Chūnin Exams. Much of it had to do with the training Gai-sensei had put them through to prepare them for it…everybody improved, even Tenten. It was quite a situation they found themselves in when her colleague had accidentally imbibed Gai's saké, and went through an inebriated rampage in the restaurant they were celebrating in. Just one shot, and the restaurant was trashed…it was also not long before she was reunited with Naruto.

Her thoughts had come to a grinding halt as she thought back to her old friend…the boy who was lost and who had returned.

When she'd heard that Naruto's apartment had caught fire, she panicked…making a beeline for the fire. As soon as she got there, apart from the firefighters doing their job, she noted the looks of concern among most of the populace, as well as the jeers of some of the nastier drunks celebrating the fire, screaming things like "he's dead!" or "he's finally dead!" Unbeknownst to everyone, Tenten saw something through the fire; there was a bright flash in Naruto's window and his screams had suddenly silenced.

After the fire died down, and the fire inspectors went to work to find out what happened, she worried that she would find that Naruto had burnt to a crisp…only to react with shock upon learning that there was no body. Not even an iota of burnt tissue was left behind, it was as though Naruto didn't even exist - and Nara Shikaku was assisting the fire investigators, which added to the credibility of the investigation. While there was no corpse left behind, the investigators found evidence that Naruto was still alive when he disappeared, somewhere near the middle of the blaze.

With the revelation that Naruto somehow survived the fire, Tenten was relieved…but her joy was hampered by a singular question: if Naruto was still alive, then where was he?

Since the fire, she'd done her best to live her life with the hope that Naruto was still alive somewhere…but after seven years of waiting, Tenten had given up hope. In that time, she'd tried to forget him as she got into her own team - and in the years since she'd been assigned to Team Gai, she did indeed bond with her teammates. But after coming to know them, she saw both Neji and Rock Lee as brothers; nothing special, it was the same as with Naruto…or so she thought. Add to that, her career as a ninja came first, as she dreamed of becoming a Kunoichi on the level of Senju Tsunade herself, so she didn't put much of a priority on her love life beyond experimentation.

When she found out firsthand that the newcomer to her neighborhood was Naruto, the first thing she did was slug him across the face. In her mind, it was mostly chalked up to the fact that she thought that it was a horrible prank - that someone was taunting her for being his friend. That, and because she didn't want to believe what she was seeing before her, that it was some sort of Genjutsu by some nasty enemy shinobi meant to turn her against Konoha. But there was no Genjutsu, no enemy shinobi…and after gently feeling his cheeks for herself, Tenten found herself teary-eyed at the reality that Naruto had returned. She hugged him, crying into his oddly dressed chest, only for her breath to catch as he reached out to return her embrace.

Since then, she'd learned a lot of things about him…such as his newly-acquired skill in the art of bladesmithing in the time of his absence. According to him, reopening the forge was a temporary measure to support himself financially while he got himself ready for work as a Shinobi…and to do that, he took on appointments with customers who had seemingly forgotten who he was. It was as though he'd gotten a fresh start, and was doing everything he could to do it right.

She would make frequent visits to his forge, watching him work and discussing projects with his customers. In the times she visited him, Tenten noted something different about him; gone was the Naruto who had once declared to anyone who would listen of his ambition to one day become Hokage and gain their respect. In his place was an older, wiser person…as if whatever he'd experienced in the seven years since he'd disappeared had tamed his former nine-year-old energy after having seen so much and matured in that time. And yet, she could still see a twinkle of the young boy she'd protected from bullies in the orphanage; she also saw that while his dream of becoming the Hokage one day had dimmed, it was far from extinguished.

As Tenten slipped into restful slumber, she'd resolved to not press Naruto for the story of what happened while he was gone. She had a feeling that he wasn't telling her everything when he told her the story of the spear she'd just bought from his store, and she quite frankly didn't care - he was back, and he was -at his core!- still the little boy she knew, and that was all that mattered. She trusted him enough to not speak with the Hokage about this, as it was almost certain that he'd done so already. If he was ready to tell her the full story of his journey home through the past seven years, she would listen to his story with an open mind. But for now, she was fully intent upon making good on her promise to advertise to the world that her friend was making and selling superb blades…and she refused to die until she'd commissioned that work from him.

There was no romance about it - she was just going to commission a blade from him, one personalized for her and nobody else. That was all there was to it.

The only problem was, why did the prospect make her heart flutter so?

And more importantly, why did it feel so very right?

…

Naruto walked the halls of the hospital, looking through the rooms.

He quickly found Hinata in one room sitting at her sister Hanabi's bedside in one room, keeping vigil over her slumbering younger sister as a strange machine nearby made a rhythmic beeping sound. From his time in Kaladesh, Naruto recognized it as an advanced version of a machine called the electrocardiogram used to monitor heartbeats. Instead of periodically transcribing data onto a cumbersome roll of paper like the Kaladeshi version did, it displayed real-time data on a sort of television screen not unlike older Kamigawan technology.

"Mind if I take a seat next to you?" Naruto asked, getting her attention.

A simple nod of her head indicating the seat next to her was the answer he needed. "How is Tenten doing?"

"She'll live," Naruto replied, "If she's the way I remember her from the orphanage, a back injury won't stop her from picking herself back up. How's your sister doing?"

"Hanabi's suffered internal bleeding from Neji's strikes, so the doctors put her on sedatives and have her on bed rest," Hinata confided, "He wanted to break and humiliate her, but she didn't go down without a fight…she had the guts to stand back up, knowing she lost anyway, then called Neji out on his bull. And for that, I'm proud of her."

Naruto smiled sincerely at that. "Then it's good news for both of us."

"I take it you've seen damage like this in the multiverse?" Hinata asked, her attention turned back to her sister.

"I've seen worse," he confirmed, "It could've been a straight-up war. And believe me, I know how bad a war can be."

He knew Hinata was skeptical about her sister's claim about him traveling the multiverse, but Naruto had made peace with it - he was there, and that's all he needed.

He'd seen injuries like this during his time as a resistance fighter against the New Phyrexian Invasion of the Multiverse, a conflict he knew as the Second Phyrexian Invasion. It was a fairly short-lived conflict, but the invasion was of such a scale that it was like taking a generations-spanning war on one world, and spreading it out across no less than thirty-six different Planes at the same time within months. All would have been fighting for survival against the biomechanical horrors of New Phyrexia, all would have been fighting to protect their worlds before the eventual counterattack against the Phyrexians on their home turf of New Phyrexia. Compared to what he saw in the war, the injuries inflicted upon the surviving Chūnin hopefuls like Hanabi were tame.

Among the things that kept him sane and alive through the horrors he'd seen in the war was his determination to find his way back home. His resolve was strong, knowing he was legitimately fighting for a noble cause: he refused to allow the Phyrexians to gain an inch so that they could murder and corrupt any more people, and he absolutely refused to let them follow him to Shinobu to do the same.

Naruto sighed as an idea popped up in his head. "What's going to happen to Neji?"

"He's gonna pay for what he did."

Naruto sighed as an idea popped up in his head. "Then you're gonna need a little help."

Hinata looked at Naruto skeptically as he sat up, channeling mana from his internal reserves into his hand as he approached Hanabi. He'd done this so many times in his life that it was second nature, not even requiring meditation beyond using it to grow his inner-realm. As he approached his patient, he called up the White mana from the plains of his inner-realm, coalescing it into a white aura that surrounded his hand before touching Hyūga Hanabi on the head. The electrocardiogram temporarily fizzled as he focused.

Hinata sat up, ready to pull Naruto off of Hanabi until she saw her younger sister's eyes flutter open as she stirred awake.

"Hanabi?" Hinata asked in concern.

"Nee-chan? Where am I?" Hanabi asked back,

"You're in the hospital, Neji hurt you real bad. How're you feeling?"

"Like I just woke up from a good dream," replied the younger Hyūga sister.

Hinata turned to regard Naruto, shock written all over her face. "You know healing Jutsu?"

"I know some, but this isn't one of them," Naruto replied, checking up on the effects of his spell, "I just sped up the doctor's work a bit, so she should recover a little faster. That said, I'd recommend she stay in bed until they clear her." Satisfied with his work, he turned to regard Hinata seriously. "You wanna repay me? Then train hard and train smart; your cousin's gonna be a lot meaner and better-prepared after his match against Hanabi earlier today - and if I'm not wrong, he's probably gonna work even harder in his training so he can crush you. So if he's willing to train five times harder to get an edge over you, then train twenty times harder so you can beat him."

"And Hanabi?"

"I'll come back and check on her from time to time while you're training," Naruto offered, suddenly remembering Tenten's request, "Speaking of which, Tenten asked me to check in on Lee, so I'll pop by his room and check in on him before I leave."

Hinata smiled mischievously. "Before you go…"

Naruto did not see it coming, not with how fast she pulled him in. All thoughts went blank when her lips met his own…the passion that went from her mouth into his own flooded his senses. Hinata did not release him from her embrace until a good minute or two had passed, and the sensation lingered even after she broke it off.

"What? Never been kissed before?" she asked in amusement.

"Pecked on the cheek? Yeah," Naruto admitted, trying to process what just happened, "Full-on kissed? You just took my first."

Hinata chuckled. "Consider it a preview of our date should I make it through the exams. Later!"

Naruto watched Hinata leaving through the door, dumbfounded as to what just happened.

"Oi!" Hanabi exclaimed, "Was that really your first kiss?"

"Yeah, it was," Naruto replied.

"You sure there isn't some girlfriend you left behind in the multiverse with a broken heart?" she asked suspiciously.

"Put it to you this way; I've made a lot of friends in the multiverse, a lot of them girls, but I never made it past the friend zone with them."

Hanabi remained silent as she studied him for any hint of deception before sighing. "I still don't buy your story about being lost in the so-called "multiverse", but I can tell you're not lying. So take good care of my sister if you do decide to go there."

"Will do." Naruto replied with an affirmative nod.

"Oh, and Naruto-kun," she tittered playfully, "If things don't work out with Nee-chan, I'll be waiting."

Unsure of whether it was meant to be playful, flirty, or menacing, Naruto turned to regard her either way, giving her a polite nod. "Fair enough, little miss."

Naruto left Hanabi's hospital room, checking the name assignments under their numbers. Fortunately, this particular wing was dedicated to the survivors of the Chūnin Exams' elimination rounds like Tenten and Hanabi. Some injuries were worse than others, but they were all survivable…though he didn't envy the people that were to take the finals. He took a calming breath, and silently reminded himself that this was not the Invasion, that he was not in New Phyrexia anymore, and thus he was not at war anymore. His nerves sufficiently calmed, he continued his search for Rock Lee's room.

As soon as he found the hospital room with Rock Lee's name on it, Naruto walked in and found, much to his fury, Gaara standing over him, a murderous look in his eyes. Sand flowed from his open gourd in tendrils, slithering towards the evident Rock Lee's neck…the intended victim likely too sedated to notice that he was about to be murdered.

Thinking quickly, Naruto found an appropriate spell to use - specifically, an enchantment he'd learned from the Dwarves of Kaldheim. He'd not used it often enough, and it required the use of magic words and a bit more focus, but he was familiar enough with it to know that it could stop his target nonlethally. With Gaara sighted, his hand raised, and mana collected from within and without, Naruto chanted the magic words for the enchantment under his breath. "Trespassers will be smelted, for they will be Bound in Gold!"

No sooner had he uttered those words than golden chains shot up from interdimensional portals in the ground, restraining Gaara by ankles and wrists with manacles, another length went up around his shoulders and his gourd before they were pulled taut, anchoring him to the ground. Within seconds, liquified gold ran up the chains, painfully covering Gaara's body up to his neck in a thick, steaming layer of solidified, high-purity gold, even covering his gourd. There was a seam in the boy's pale skin at the junction where his shoulders met his neck, which showed a layer of golden sand melding into his skin, cracking like broken pottery.

Naruto was far from done, however, as he summoned a wakizashi in his hand as he approached his target. It wasn't his preferred sword in general, nor was it one of his best works as a bladesmith, but the short, curved blade was easy to use and had just enough length to slash and stab at opponents without being unwieldy for the tight confines of a hospital ward. Add to that, because it was inspired from his time in Kamigawa, he designed it such that he could channel his mana into the blade to enhance its cutting power and extend its reach to catch opponents off-guard.

Tapping the blade of the wakizashi on Gaara's shoulder had gotten his attention - a cursory look at the area over his gold-encrusted shoulder told Naruto exactly what he needed to know. Suddenly being covered in a thick layer of hot, solidified gold conjured by the enchantment had indeed prevented Gaara from escaping. However, it didn't stop him from controlling his sand, shaping it into a pair of hands hovering over Rock Lee's neck, ready to grab his victim by the throat and possibly kill him.

"Well, looks like we're at an impasse," Naruto noted, understanding his opponent's unspoken threat, "So it's only polite for me to tell you that you have two options: you can get your sandy hands away from him so we can talk; or you can follow through on taking his life, but…" he drawled, pressing the edge of the wakizashi against Gaara's sand-encrusted neck, the blade of the short sword within plain view and glowing red hot for emphasis, "…I'll be taking your head in exchange. Whichever option you choose, I am not letting you leave this room for free."

"I appreciate the sentiment, Naruto-kun, but I think he knows better than to trifle with two opponents at once."

Naruto kept the edge of his wakizashi on Gaara's shoulder and looked away to find Maito Gai entering the hospital ward, a stern glare in his eyes. It was clear that he had the Jōnin's support in Lee's defense as he took a stance within plain view of Gaara, the warning clear in his eyes.

"Nevertheless, your choices are very simple," he continued, "You can either end your attempt to murder Lee in his sleep here and now so you can explain yourself, or we will both kill you and be done with it. Naruto-kun has made his price for your departure more than clear, and so how you pay it is up to you; though if I were you, I'd stand down now and talk to him - if I'm reading his body language correctly, he's not bluffing about taking your head."

There was a terse silence between the three of them as Naruto and Gai stared at Gaara. There was no doubt in Naruto's mind that the hot gold covering the Sunagakure Shinobi was heavy enough to disrupt his ability to multitask as he tried to maintain his protective skin of sand while threatening Lee. This on top of the fact that he had two people threatening him, which further stacked the odds against him considering his diminished capabilities. However, this did not mean that Naruto's reflexes weren't ready to kick in, being fully committed to take Gaara down with him if necessary.

Naruto heaved a sigh of relief as the sand hands dissipated; in exchange, Naruto dispelled the enchantment, the gold shell cracking and peeling off of Gaara's body and gourd as he removed his wakizashi from Gaara's shoulder. Even the gourd was freed, allowing the sand to return to its container like a sandstorm - a situation had been averted for now.

"Mother hungers for blood," he uttered, menacingly as the golden shell dissipated into nothingness, "And you have denied her."

"And you have zero impulse control," Naruto fired back, dispelling his wakizashi, "If you wanted blood so badly, you could've just waited until the finals to spill all the blood you wanted. Instead, you decided to sneak around the halls of this hospital like a cowardly little rat just to murder someone that's already badly injured. Do you not have anything better to do?"

"I have no need to explain myself."

"I beg to differ," Naruto countered, "See, if it were just a matter of proving who's stronger, then you have already done that when you beat your opponent in the elimination round. There shouldn't be any reason for you to finish the job and kill him, which begs the question as to the point of this."

"It is simply my purpose to kill all others aside from myself," Gaara admitted, "And when all others have been snuffed out of the world, then I will have served my purpose."

Naruto looked at Gaara, not even intimidated by his response. "Who hurt you?" he asked, momentarily shocking the Sunagakure ninja with the bluntness of his question.

"And what do you know about pain?" Gaara asked back, his voice not even rising over an octave, but still conveying his anger.

"I know enough," Naruto countered, "So tell me, why do you hate the world so much that you're willing to lower yourself to the level of a coward just to kill someone you have already defeated?"

"Everything started the day I was made the Jinchūriki of the Ichibi no Tanuki as a young child by my own father, the Kazekage."

Both Naruto and Gai remained silent at the revelation.

"You must've had a very hard life growing up," Naruto surmised emphatically, knowing of his own troubles in Konoha before his accidental first Planeswalk, "Cold glares, and nobody telling you why?"

"They have had reason to hate me," Gaara explained, "After all, I never had control over my power early in my life. It is for that reason that I've become a monster to my own village; everyone wanted me dead for all the harm I've caused; to the point that my own father had sent assassins for me numerous times…needless to say, very few of them lived long enough to report back. If I know my father, then he'll have allowed me to enter simply because he wants to test my worth to the village - and I will indeed prove my worth. But not so that he can lord my achievements over the village…so that I can prove my reason for living is to be a weapon that slaughters all others, for I am a demon that loves only itself."

Naruto was silent as he looked into the sleep-deprived eyes of Sabaku no Gaara - he didn't see a monster, but a mirror image of himself. He saw in the boy the consequences if he hadn't met the people he did while he was trying to find his way home in the multiverse.

He'd met so many Planeswalkers on his odyssey to find his way back home. The Wanderer and the ninja Kaitō Shizuki of Kamigawa; his Loxodon classmate in Strixhaven University's Lorehold campus, Quintorius Kand of Arcavios; even Will and Rowan Kenrith of Eldraine whom he'd met in Arcavios as students of Prismari. Much later into his journey, Naruto would encounter legendary Planeswalkers like the Leonin warrior Ajani Goldmane of Alara's Naya shard, the hydromancer Mu Yanling of Shenmeng, the Soratami storyteller Tamiyo of Kamigawa, and the dragon shaman Sarkhan Vol of Tarkir. All were friends and mentors Naruto had come across on his odyssey who aided him in his quest to find his way home, and who also ensured he walked a good path as a person and a Planeswalker. If he hadn't met them along the way, if they hadn't taught him what they did, he would not have gotten as far as he did in the multiverse…and he would've died not long after his first Planeswalk.

"That can't be your reason for living," Naruto finally said, hoping to reach out to him, "Surely you're meant for more than just senseless slaughter."

"It is the only reason available to me, and so I have no other choice," Gaara replied with conviction as he turned to leave out the open window, "Only when all others are buried in the sand will I have served my purpose."

"And then what?" Naruto challenged, freezing Gaara in his place, "Once you've killed everyone else, what are you going to do? I beg of you to think about that before it's too late."

Gaara remained silent, standing in his place as if thinking about what was said to him. After a good minute of contemplative silence, dissipated in a miniature sandstorm out the open window, leaving Naruto and Gai alone with the sedated Rock Lee. Satisfied with the fact that their ward was protected, Naruto turned to face Rock Lee, taking note of the injuries that had been inflicted upon him, particularly with his arm and leg in a cast. "How is he?"

"His arm and his leg are in bad condition," Gai admitted, "The doctors say it'll take a long time for him to heal…but it's unlikely for him to get back in action."

Mere mana manipulation wouldn't be able to fix the damage done to Lee's arm and leg; it would've required a spell to at least lay a foundation for his healing. "I'm no cleric, but I think doing this will help."

Gai looked towards Naruto with a quizzical expression on his mind as he drew White mana from within. The spell he intended to cast on his mind as he gathered it onto a finger - like the Bound in Gold enchantment he'd used to restrain Gaara, this sorcery was not used often, and so he needed to recite the magic words as he touched Rock Lee on the head. "The purpose of faith is to heal and protect, and so it shall be. For I grant you the Chaplain's Blessing."

Rock Lee's body glowed with an ethereal white light, much to Gai's shock. Once the light had died down, Naruto broke off contact with Lee's forehead, stepping aside as Gai moved to protectively stand between him and Lee.

"I've sped up his healing," Naruto explained, knowing what Gai was about to ask, "Like I said, I'm not a cleric, so I don't use healing spells often, but most of the damage to his bones should be mended, along with any other internal damage. Considering he's probably under heavy sedation, he still won't get back up for a while - in any case the doctors are still going to have to make sure the mends take…if he wakes up, try to keep him in bed for as long as possible."

With his help administered, Naruto walked around the bed, and made his way to the door.

"Naruto-kun?" Gai called after him, getting his attention, "Thank-you."

Naruto nodded respectfully. "Don't thank me, thank Tenten for being my friend—I don't think I'll ever be able to return the favor for how good she was to me when we were younger."

Nothing more was said as Naruto left the hospital. He was tired, and he had an uninvited guest waiting for him at the forge.

…

He could not believe what he'd seen.

It was one thing for this newcomer to be able to subdue Sabaku no Gaara by covering him in gold, then threaten him to stand down. It was another to see that same stranger heal with a touch; and being a healer himself, he knew what healing Jutsu looked like. The only problem was that this didn't look like any healing Jutsu he'd known of…not even the standard Shōsen Jutsu that formed the basis of his toolkit.

Still, it was interesting to see who this person was if he ever had the chance.

Gaara, on the other hand, acted predictably. Not long after his encounter with the stranger in the white overcoat, the Healer had spotted the Ichibi Jinchūriki satisfying his thirst for blood with Dosu's corpse. It was a shame, however, as that action had destroyed the experimental weapon mounted on his arm, and the bandage-swathed Genin could have been useful as a sacrifice.

Still, at least that was one liability dealt with - and thanks to Baki, their plans to destroy Konoha could go off without a hitch. The proctor Gekkō Hayate had truly displayed a magnificent Kenjutsu technique, but his sickly constitution had truly worked against him against Baki, and his Kaze no Yaiba. And now he was a corpse with an open wound in his chest…no doubt from having his chest ripped open by razor-sharp winds, and his heart and lungs torn apart. In all honesty however, Baki had done him a favor by giving him a rather quick, if messy death.

Either way, he had to await orders, and he needed to move quickly before any Konoha Shinobi found him. After all, Orochimaru-sama had been planning this operation for quite some time now—one way or another, Sarutobi Hiruzen would die by the end of the exams.

…

[Kitsunebi Forge - Living Quarters]

"It's not much, but it's all I've got for now."

Lights flooded the room as Naruto flipped the switch, illuminating the contents of the room, allowing Haku entry. It was reasonably-sized for a main bedroom, but it had plenty of room for the books that lined the shelf against the wall to the side of the bed. Add to that, there was a simple desk for regular work, and a television set that faced the bed. All in all, pretty simple accommodations.

"The good news is that this place is not too far from the forge," Naruto stated, "Just go out the back, and you're at the living quarters. Looks like the boss of this place was so attached that he wanted to be close to the work, so he built this place so he could open and close whenever…not really big, but still pretty comfy. And the whole building's noise-insulated, so the hammers won't bug ya as much when I work."

"And I assume you've already laid claim to this room?" Haku asked.

"I only moved in a couple weeks ago, so still haven't got the rest of the living arrangements set up," Naruto replied, shuffling under the bed, "I'll be honest, I really didn't count on guests staying over this soon…luckily, there's a perfectly good couch in this house, so you get the bed. You can chalk that up to being too busy trying to keep the money flowing, and that's before you consider that I'm attending the Ninja Academy-"

Haku looked at Naruto in disbelief. "You, the one who is at least strong enough to have killed Zabuza-sama, are attending the Ninja Academy? Who did you piss off?"

"It's a long story, one I don't think you're gonna believe," Naruto answered, fishing out a blanket from under the bed and taking a pillow.

There was a sigh of resignation as Haku sat on the bed, regarding him with a serious expression. "Naruto, about my arrangement…"

"We'll continue our talk about it tomorrow after work," Naruto replied, "Right now, I'm tired, so I can't really think straight…and if I'm not mistaken, so are you. Might as well get ourselves rested and refreshed before we speak of it again."

"That's it?" Haku asked, "I tried to kill you -on Zabuza-sama's orders no less!- and you welcome me into your house? Why the hospitality?"

"I know what it's like to be lost for a long time," Naruto explained, "The way I see it, with Zabuza dead, you're gonna be missing some purpose in your life…and without a home to call your own, that makes it all the worse."

Haku folded her arms under her bosom. "Does it have anything to do with that long story you don't think I'm going to believe?"

"A big part of it," Naruto admitted, "Anyway, I'm doing this because I honestly do know what it's like to be lost - with no purpose, and more importantly, no home where you feel you belong. I was thinking that since you're here, and you're obviously in need of lodgings, I might as well let you stay here for now so that you have time to figure out what you want in life. It's not much, it's a start on your journey to find the meaning of home."

Hearing this, Haku was silent in thought. Perhaps Naruto was right; this search for the meaning of home was what she needed - she'd been serving as Zabuza-sama's weapon for so long that she'd been content with living in his shadow for so long that she never sought a purpose of her own. She'd never even considered asking him what home meant, though this was probably what Naruto meant when he told her, through Zabuza, that it was time for her to tell her own story. Perhaps this was the story of her life that she was to unfold: the story of how she found home.

"Bathroom's down the hall, no tub but there is a shower," Naruto said from the doorway, "You can go first; I've still got some work to do in the forge, before I clean up."

Haku pouted, reaching for one of the remaining pillows and throwing it at Naruto's retreating form.

…

[Streets of Konoha]

As dawn broke in the village of Konoha, a bulky form stalked the streets swaddled in form-concealing robes.

The people of the village took little notice of him beyond his height, which was just taller than most men in the neighborhood of 200 centimeters. However, what kept most people away from him was the polearm holstered at his back: the gold and silver double-axe mounted on a short, thick staff. Overall, a very imposing form that earned him a wide berth.

Still, he behaved himself…no need to draw undue attention, especially considering he came to this Plane on a mission of peace.

He'd searched this Plane for the person he was looking for. The only problem was that he had no idea where he went. Add to that, the last time they saw each other, it was on opposite sides of the New Phyrexian Invasion-at the time, he was corrupted by the Phyrexians…compleated, then turned into a weapon of corruption and destruction. So much innocent blood had been spilled by his hands, even if he was not himself at the time- and in all honesty, he would not have blamed his friend should their next encounter turn hostile. What he had done was unforgivable.

With any luck, he may have an ally to call upon should the multiverse be threatened once again.

Either way, he needed to find Uzumaki Naruto, if only to apologize for his actions in the war.

After all, the multiverse may be at peace for now, but that could change in the future.

…

A/N: …and here we go.

As you can see, we have relationship buildups, plot buildups, and a surprise guest at the end. I wonder who it could be?

Hopefully it is to your liking and that this is an acceptable early sacrifice to the gods of Halloween.

…

Vocabulary/Translations/Notes:

Ryūsei—the spear's name literally means "falling star" or "meteor"

Shōsen Jutsu—the standard Healing Palm Jutsu.

"King of Weapons"—in Chinese kung-fu, spears were once known as the "king of weapons" and were considered one of the four weapons any military officer worth their salt had to know how to use, the other three being the jian (double-edged straight sword, also known as the "Gentleman of Weapons"), the dao (the single-edged saber, sometimes known as a broadsword, as well as its title of "General of Weapons"), and the gun (the staff, also known as the "Grandmaster of Weapons")

…

Cards used:

Bound in Gold (2)(White)—Enchantment - Aura

Enchant permanent

Enchanted permanent can't attack, block, or crew Vehicles, and its activated abilities can't be activated unless they're mana abilities.

Chaplain's Blessing (White)—Sorcery

You gain 5 life