Chapter 19: Home Sweet Home
I never believed that I would feel such joy arriving back in Konoha, but a full day of walking coupled with Karin arguing with Tayuya, a quiet Jiraiya and sound four, Shizune fretting over Tonton and Tsunade who seemed more amused by my misery than she was annoyed by everyone else… It had been a long trip.
Just a few more steps and the sound four become someone else's problem and I can finally relax for a bit.
"Halt, state your name and reason for visiting Konoha!" The gate guard Izumo said.
"Damnit Izumo it's me," I snapped, eager to get in.
Izumo peered at me before his gaze locked onto my whisker marks. "Wait… Naruto?"
"No shit," I replied. "Now can we please get a move on?"
"Hold on," Izumo said, "Kotetsu, come out here, I want you to check something for me."
"Damnit Izumo, we agreed it was your turn to sign people in," Kotetsu complained as he moved to stand next to Izumo before he turned to look at me. "Hello sir, please tell us your name and reason for coming to Konoha!"
"That's Naruto," Izumo said, pointing to me.
"What?!" Kotetsu started, his gaze examining me. "Holy shit, you're right, that is Naruto."
I felt my eyebrow begin to twitch. "Do you two only recognize me by my clothes?"
"Well," Izumo rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "In our defense, you've only ever worn bright orange."
"Not to mention that you've put on some muscle since we last saw you," Kotetsu added. "You've changed quite a bit."
I took a breath to calm myself down. "Fine, I can accept that. Now can I please be allowed back into Konoha?"
"Yeah sure, let me just mark you down along with," Izumo looked behind me. "Jiraiya-sama and…" Izumo looked to Tsunade. "Name?"
Tsunade quirked an eyebrow. "Senju Tsunade."
"Yeah right, and I'm her grandmother Mito," Izumo snorted. "Now, what's your name?"
"Um… Izumo… That's actually Tsunade," Kotetsu said nervously.
"Wait, you're serious," Izumo asked. At Kotetsu's nod, he paled before looking back to a sweetly smiling Tsunade who cracked her knuckled. "R-right. Senju Tsunade, I was… I was… I failed history."
"Clearly," Tsunade drawled. "If you failed history then you likely don't know that I'm hailed as one of the greatest medics to ever exist. I know where all of the biggest nerve clusters are in the body and just how hard to poke them to cause the maximum amount of pain without you passing out."
Izumo's legs shook as all the blood drained from his face. "P-P-Puh-Please pass through."
"Thank you," Tsunade smiled as she moved to stand next to me.
"Don't you think that was a little mean?" I asked, exasperated.
"He had it coming," Tsunade smirked. "Plus, even though it was funny seeing you get worked up by all the arguing, it still annoyed me."
I sighed and rolled my eyes.
Izumo quickly filled in the information for Shizune and Karin, before pausing when he saw the sound four. "And who are all of you."
"None of your business shit for brains," Tayuya snapped while Kidomaru sighed.
"Those are our… prisoners?" I explained, not really knowing what to call the sound four. "They worked for Orochimaru, but we killed him."
"Good one," Izumo snorted, having regained his confidence. "Seriously, who are they? They look to be foreign Shinobi."
"He was telling the truth," Tsunade said. "They did work for Orochimaru and we worked together and ended up killing him."
"Wait… Orochimaru's actually dead?" Kotetsu asked.
"Pretty much," I replied. "It's one of the reasons why I don't have any orange clothes left. The fight ended up ruining them." There was no scrubbing Manda's blood and guts out of my clothes
"That's… That's great news," Izumo cheered. "The rest of the village will be happy to hear that we no longer need to worry about that bastard!"
"I'll go fetch the ANBU, but first… why aren't they tied up?" Kotetsu asked.
"Well, we did tie them up initially, but we caught them cutting through the wire… they learned their lesson," I shrugged. "They now know better than to try and start a fight with two Sannin, a Jonin and a Jinchuriki"
"Right," Kotetsu nodded slowly, before leaving to fetch the ANBU.
It didn't take too long before ANBU arrived, secured the sound four with cuffs and whisked them away to a holding cell.
Walking into Konoha I let out a yawn. "Well, it seems like this is as far as I can go. You and Jiraiya are likely going to need to talk about some official stuff that I'm too low ranked to hear, such a pity" I tucked my hands into my pockets. "I guess I'll just have to go and relax while you three are busy!"
"Hold it," Tsunade commanded. "I seem to recall Karin telling me something about how you promised her a date for all that you put her through these past few weeks."
Damnit, Tsunade knew that I didn't really want to do that, but seeing as she was going to be busy, she didn't want me to be relaxing.
"YES, thank you blonde bi… Tsunade-sama," Karin cheered. "I take back everything that I said about you and I said a lot!"
Tsunade's eyebrow twitched, before she forced a smile on her face. "It was my pleasure… Naruto, after I'm settled in, let's have a movie night... again."
"Movie night?" Shizune asked. "There weren't any cinemas in Tanzaku-Gai."
"No there weren't," Tsunade smirked. "Sorry, but I can't tell you more, it's something only for Naruto and myself."
"Wha… No, you cradle robber," Karin accused.
Throughout all of this I just stood back and watched passively. I hadn't expected Tsunade to be so vindictive. She gets to force me into an awkward situation with Karin and once annoyed by Karin gets to piss her off and get a movie out of it… I wasn't even mad, that was kind of impressive to be honest.
"So where is this place that we're going?" Karin asked as I guided through Konoha.
"Just a small restaurant that I've been going to since I was little," I replied as we took a left down a street. "It's been a while since I was last there because I've been so busy." Perhaps now that I'd killed Orochimaru and Kabuto all the while taking care of his minions, I would have a bit more free time.
"So this place really means a lot to you?"
"Yep," I replied.
Karin smiled lightly
One final left and we soon found ourselves standing in front of Ichiraku. It was both a nostalgic and comforting sight to see it. I can't count how many times that I came to this small restaurant when I was feeling down and left feeling better.
Pushing the curtains to the side, I followed Karin into the shop. My stomach grumbled as I was hit with the scent of Ramen. "Hey old man, could I get two bowls of Ramen, one pork and the other…" I turned to Karin, "What do you want?"
"O-oh, I'll just have what you're having," Karin replied nervously.
"Right, two pork ramen please," I finished our order.
"Coming right up, Naruto," Teuchi said, already knowing me by my voice.
I turned to Karin and found her face tinged slightly pink as she fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "S-so, I've never been on a date before, what do we do now?"
Oh, that's why she was so nervous. "You don't have to be nervous, Karin. A date is… well, it's pretty much just getting to know someone in a more intimate manner. You know, like their past and what they plan to do for the future."
Karin nodded in understanding. "Then… can you te-"
"Order up," Teuchi said as he held a pair of bowls in his hands. "Eh, where's Naruto."
Seriously, is wearing orange the only thing that lets people know who I am. "Right here," I said, waving my hand.
"Naruto?!" Teuchi turned to look at me, before his eyes lit up in recognition. "My word, I didn't realize that it was you. You've changed so much since you were last here, you're really growing up."
"You really think so?" I chuckled and rubbed the back of my head. Hearing that was really pleasing for some reason.
"There's no doubt about it," Teuchi replied. He placed both bowls in front of me, before turning to Karin. "I'm sorry if I kept you waiting. Now, what will you be having?"
I slid one of the bowls in front of Karin. "Actually, one of these is for Karin."
Teuchi's eyebrows rose, before he nodded. "I see. Sorry for the misunderstanding, Naruto normally orders several bowls, so I had assumed that both bowls were for him."
"No, it's alright," Karin replied. "I understand. Naruto said that he comes here a lot, so it's only natural that you would think that he ordered both bowls."
"That is true, but it has been a while since Naruto actually sat down and ordered a meal here," Teuchi said.
"Sorry," I winced. "I really didn't have much time. I was initially busy training for the chunin exams and then the invasion happened and finally I had to go on a mission that pretty much lasted a month."
"It's alright, you don't need to explain yourself to me," Teuchi waved me off. "I've lived in this village for over forty years now. I understand that the life of a Shinobi is chaotic and you can never tell when you're going to have free time or when you're going out of the village for several months. The only thing that matters is that you've come back safely."
"Teuchi," I said softly, before grinning. "Don't worry about it, nothing's going to keep me away from this place."
"Good to hear," Teuchi cheered. "Now you two enjoy your meal, I'll just be working in the back by the noodles. Call me if you want another bowl."
And with that Teuchi left us alone, moving to work on the noodles at the back.
"He really seems to care about you," Karin commented idly.
"Yeah," I hummed as I fondly looked down at my ramen. "When I was young, I wasn't well liked. Everyone either hated me or was afraid of me because I'm a Jinchuriki. I didn't know why at the time. I came across this shop a few times, but never entered because I didn't want to be yelled at, there was this day where it was raining. I was cold and wet… Teuchi caught sight of me and gestured for me to enter, handing me a hot bowl of ramen that really warmed me up."
"What happened next?" Karin asked, enraptured by my reminiscence.
I couldn't blame her, I was enraptured too… I got to see these memories as both the holder and an outsider. The longer I live as Naruto, the more I've come to accept that we're just one person now.
"I finished the bowl in a few seconds and tried to pay with what little money I had on me… He refused naturally. He said that it was incentive for me to come back next time… It's funny, now that I think about it, he always offered me some form of discount when he saw that I couldn't fully afford to pay… Even when the whole world seemed to hate me, I still had someone looking out for me… I'm a pretty lucky guy, ya know."
I blinked. That was the first time in a long while that I'd accidentally used that verbal tick.
"Yeah," Karin hummed softly.
I shot a glance to Teuchi at the back and noticed that he was standing stiffly as he shifted the noodles. His shoulders shaking every so often.
"Let's talk about a lighter subject. Now that we're back in Konoha, what are your plans for the future?"
"Plans," Karin said. "I… don't really have any plans. Back in Kusa, I didn't really have any hope for the future, so I never made plans… But here… I'm not sure."
"Well let's look at it this way, you could be a civilian or a Shinobi," I replied. "If you're a civilian, you can either get a job working for someone or you could go to a civilian school first. If you decide to be a Shinobi, you could probably become a medical Shinobi or work for the barrier corps."
"I don't think I want to be a medical Shinobi," Karin muttered, shivering lightly. "Maybe you could tell me about the barrier corps?"
"If you're sure. Just know that you're not going to be forced to use your abilities here like you were in Kusa," I said comfortingly. "Anyway, the barrier corps are a collection of sensors that make sure that there are no unwelcome guests invading Konoha. They couldn't really do much during the chunin exams, but outside of that, they're constantly on alert for any threats."
"I'll have to think about it," Karin replied. "And what about you. Now that we're back in Konoha, what are you planning to do?"
"Train mostly," I shrugged. "I didn't really get to show my skills in the chunin exams so I'm not sure if I'll be promoted. I've still got a lot of things to do, but now that Orochimaru's dead, I can relax for a bit."
Orochimaru's death altered things. Sasuke no longer had to option of going rogue and the chance of Madara being brought back in a condition beyond his prime was completely removed. He could still come back, mind you, but not in a perfect condition.
On the off chance that black Zetsu knows edo tensei, it's incredibly likely that it's an imperfect version, otherwise he would have brought Madara back by himself and sooner. If Madara is brought back through Nagato using the Rinnegan, he'll likely be an old man, which, while extremely dangerous, is nowhere near the threat of him having an immortal body with limitless chakra.
Things were much more manageable now.
"Looks like the ramen has cooled down," I noticed.
"Oh," Karin hummed. Grabbing some noodles with her chopsticks, her eyes widened with delight at her first taste of Ichiraku ramen. "It's good."
I nodded silently as I ate my own ramen. It wasn't long before we both had finished our bowls and ordered more.
"That was really good, I kind of want ano-"
"Here you go," Teuchi said, placing a pair of bowls in front of us, his face slightly red from the heat of his boiling pots. "Let me know if you want to try a different flavor as well. Naruto normally only eats pork ramen, but I've got beef, chicken, veggie and several other flavors."
"I think I want to try chicken ramen after this bowl," Karin replied almost excitedly.
"I'll do the same."
"Coming right up." Teuchi rushed off to make some more ramen.
We continued to make idle small talk as we ate our ramen… I must admit, it was nice to slow down and just enjoy a meal like this. Even when I was on a mock date with Tsunade, I never really got the chance to slow down and just relax, we did have fun together, but at the same time, I was stresses about having to deal with Orochimaru and curing her hemophobia, something that I hadn't been able to fully do. Desensitizing wasn't exactly the same thing as curing after all.
"Thanks for the food Teuchi, it was great," I said as I placed some money down on the table.
"You're very welcome, Naruto," Teuchi smiled, before turning to Karin. "And I hope to see you again as well."
"The food was great, I'm definitely coming back," Karin beamed up at him.
"Glad to hear it," Teuchi laughed
The date ended on a nice note. We continued to make small talk, chatting about anything really as I walked Karin to her apartment.
"Well, it's been fun," I said as I stretched lightly. My body was still feeling the effects of using Kurama mode.
"Yeah," Karin nodded, standing in front of her door. "Naruto… I… I'm going to become a Konoha Shinobi. I don't know about being a medic or a sensor, but I will be a Shinobi."
"That's great, I'll go talk to Tsunade about it when she's declared Hokage."
Karin shook her head. "No, I think… this is something I need to do on my own. You've given me hope for the future… and now I need to act on it." Karin turned towards me, determination burning in her eyes. "And when I'm stronger, I'll help you… I won't need to run away and abandon you when you fight people that are stronger than me."
"Okay," I said, not really knowing what to say. I was expecting her to proclaim some sort of eternal love or ask for another date, not suddenly decide to become a Konoha Kunoichi and become stronger. "I'll look forward to the day that we can fight together."
"Good," Karin nodded, before entering her apartment, closing the door behind her.
I just shook my head in bemusement and left for my apartment.
"Home sweet home," I sighed as I stopped in front of my apartment. Sliding the key into the slot, I found that the door wasn't locked. I hadn't forgotten to lock it before I left with Jiraiya, had I. "I swear if someone broke in and stole my stuff, I'm going to be pissed," I grunted and opened the door.
At first examination, nothing seemed to be missing. The really outdated TV set and old couch was still sitting in my tiny lounge. Nothing seemed to stolen from the kitchen. The door to my bedroom creaked open and a Rasengan spun to life in my hand. "You picked the wrong house, foo… Sasuke?!"
"You're back," Sasuke noted. He looked a mess. There were deep bags under his eyes, his clothes were dusty and his left hand randomly twitched, but his eyes were clear, the madness and anger seemed to have simmered down.
"Yeah," I replied, letting the Rasengan in my hand fade. "What're you doing here?"
"Watering your plants," Sasuke shrugged.
I blinked at that. "I think I'm going to need a bit more of an explanation. Why are you watering my plants?"
"Because they were dying," Sasuke said simply. "I… a few days after our fight, I came here to apologize and found that you weren't here, so I came here every day since and noticed your plants were beginning to die, so I decided to water them until you got back."
That was oddly nice of him. I'd completely forgotten about those plants, normally I just had a clone water them for me while I had breakfast.
"I'm sorry by the way… about the whole trying to kill you thing," Sasuke apologized awkwardly.
I sighed and rubbed my head. I was too tired to deal with this crap. "Just promise me that you won't try and kill me again… or anyone else we both care about, alright."
Sasuke nodded silently.
"Great," I said and fell into my couch. Everything was silent for a moment and I felt myself slowly falling asleep.
"How'd you do it… During our fight, I used the curse mark and you still beat me easily. You didn't even use any of the Kyuubi's chakra, I know, I've seen what it's like when you fought Orochimaru's summon."
"I trained, Sasuke," I replied. "I trained on each and every day of the month long break. I pushed myself beyond my limit, until my body broke, rested for a little bit and then did it again." There was also the fact that Kurama was constantly healing me. I would never have gotten this strong this fast without his help.
"You copied my Chidori, physical training alone couldn't allow you to do that."
"Unless I mastered the use of lightning chakra and simply copied your hand seals," I said tiredly. "Something I also did during the month long break, mastering the five basic elements."
"All five?! That's insane, it took me weeks to master the leaf crinkling exercise and lightning is one of my affinities, is it yours as well?"
"Nope," I shook my head. "My main affinity is wind, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from learning the others… And by the way, I used shadow clones to learn them for me."
"… Do you think I would be able to train using shadow clones as well?"
"You'd probably get better results just using your Sharingan," I sighed as I leaned back into my couch. "I was using hundreds of shadow clones and my chakra was constantly being refilled by the Kyuubi. Your chakra reserves, while good, really wouldn't allow you to train with as many clones as I could for as long as I did."
"So it's pointless then."
"Just ask Kakashi to up your training," I said simply.
"That won't work," Sasuke replied. "Since our… fight, Kakashi hasn't been training me. He said he won't until I calm down."
That got my attention. "Then why do you look like crap?"
"I've been training myself," Sasuke explained.
"Doing what exactly?"
"Using the Chidori on boulders until I'm tired."
That was a lot to unpack, but it did explain why Sasuke looked so tired and twitchy. If Sasuke didn't continue to grow stronger, he wouldn't be ready for when it was time to get rid of Danzo, let alone the Akatsuki.
"You did learn the second step to mastering lightning release, right?" I asked slowly.
"Second step?"
Damnit Kakashi. I know he wanted to teach Sasuke the Chidori before the finals, but this was just ridiculous. The least he could have done was let Sasuke know there was a second step.
"Here, look, this is an example of the first step." I held my fingers in front of me in the peace sign. Lightning crackled between them before quickly dying down. "You build up lightning Chakra and release it in one go. Now, this is the second step." The lightning crackled between my fingers, but instead of dying down, it continued to crackle, not stopping. "I'm constantly releasing a stream of lightning chakra. If you master this you should be able to alter your Chidori. You could probably lengthen it or even coat a weapon in it, increasing its cutting power!"
The steps to mastering elemental chakra was extremely similar to mastering tree and water walking. The first step was always to transform a small amount of the element and collect it in your hand while the second step was to constantly send a stream of the elements chakra.
Sasuke's eyes widened as he attempted to create a stream of lightning chakra like I had and failed. "I need to go practice this." And he rushed off towards my door.
"Take a break first, you'll be no use to anyone if you exhaust your chakra and accidentally kill yourself," I called after him. "Plus you'll get more out of your training if you're well rested."
Sasuke paused by the door and shot a glance at me, before nodding. "I… won't do too much training."
I sighed as Sasuke left. Yeah, I didn't believe that. Sasuke had a bit of a one track mind. The moment he started something, he wouldn't stop until he finished it.
At the very least, I don't think I have to worry about Sasuke dying from Chakra exhaustion. The curse mark should supply him with enough chakra to keep him alive… After all, in the original invasion, Sasuke did force out another Chidori and completely exhaust his Chakra.
Getting up, I stumbled into my room and collapsed on my bed… which was still broken. I was going to need to see about replacing that.
'Hey Kurama… This exhaustion that I'm feeling, would it be worse if you were whole?'
"Using my full chakra as it is now completely overloaded your chakra system. If I was whole, there's a good chance you would currently be unconscious."
Shit, that's not what I wanted to hear. If I was going to kill Obito and stop the Akatsuki, I would need to be able to access Kurama's chakra, whole or not.
'Do you mind if we put off getting your Yin half out of the Shinigami… at least until I'm either capable of using your full chakra without passing out or the Akatsuki is all dead.'
"I had initially assumed that was what we were doing. It would be no use for me to get my Yin half back, only for you to be unable to use my chakra and end up being captured by the Akatsuki. Half of me has been in the Shinigami for 13 years. I can wait a little while longer.
'Any idea on how to speed up my ability to withstand your chakra?'
"Use it more of it more often," Kurama replied. "I've never worked with a Jinchuriki before, so I don't exactly know how all of this will work. Perhaps you'll be able to use it properly once your body matures a bit more."
"Well, I suppose I could try using more of your chakra," I said aloud as I slowly drifted off to sleep.
And that would be chapter 19
A bit of a calmer chapter that's focused more on character interaction.
We're up to chapter 26 on the spooky P word website.
P
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I go by the name of ThatKircguy. Just copy the name and paste it in the Patty Rio On search bar. It'd help me out immensely, but don't worry if that's not your style. I will be uploading weekly, so it's not going to be stuck there permanently.
Also, I post my original stuff there as well. It's nothing much, just two short stories for now, but I'll post more as I write them.
Next chapter will be posted on the 10th of may. See you all then my dudes and dudettes.