Naruto looked at his surroundings. Everything was white in white and he could not make out where he was as he was suddenly hugged and his head pressed into a female bosom. "I.. we are so proud of you dattebane!"

As he managed to get released out of this warm hug he stepped back and saw his mother's beaming face and the rest of her. She was looking very nice. Changed into a short summer dress and her red hair openly fell to her back. Beside her stood his father, wearing a casual attire of a shirt and some pants. Naruto blinked as he waved at him. "Hey son, good work with the Kaguya woman."

It took him another near minute before he started to speak. "Where am I? I know that have not used the Scroll to summon you guys. Not that I am not happy to see you or something…" He started to babble. Kushina looked at Minato and he nodded.

"Well son, you are in the in Between. Your body could not handle the stress of sending an Otsutsuki to the Shinigami and assimilating half her power at the same time." Minato explained.

"Wait. I am dead?" Naruto responded with a shocked look on his face as he now looked at his body and noticed he still had the seal on his stomach and wore his usual battle attire that still bore the results of his battle with Kaguya. His whole body had a white shine to it and he felt no pain or aches.

Minato could feel the rising panic in his son and started to continue his explanation to hopefully prevent him from entering a shock. "Are you dead? I don't think so. Are you currently not alive? Well, yes?" He tried and now his son looked back in pure confusion. "Wait. Let me explain. It is not all black and white here. The moment you sent Kaguya to the Shinigami with your Jutsu, your reserves had not fully integrated with the new resource of the seal you generated. Add to that the Otsutsuki's parasitic chakra nature her chakra tried to transform your seal into a kama seal to enable her revival."

He paused for a moment to see his son still following his every word and nodding.

"All those things pulled your body in many directions and that stress shut down your heart."

"So… I am dead" Naruto replied. "I mean usually humans die after their heart stops working. I may be not on the same level of medical knowledge as Tsunade, Sakura, or Hinata but I know my way around."

Kushina held up her hand as Minato wanted to continue and he listened to the unspoken wish for her to take over. "Listen my sweet child. We Uzumaki are hard to kill. Your heart may have stopped working but you are a phoenix sage too. You were still in your sage mode as you experienced a cardiac arrest. A sage mode that is known to raise your regeneration powers."

Naruto nodded and Kushina explained further. "As such Your sage mode started to revive you but found some problems restarting your heart. Your body was still not ready to handle the power it could awaken inside of it so it started the process of adjustment. Now. With your heart still not able to beat and oxygen missing being transported a normal human body would start to deteriorate. Good thing you are not a normal human and as you entered his domain he can act with his full power."

Naruto blinked. "You mean to tell me that my body needs more time and now I need to wait while that happens and as I am here the Shinigami somehow keeps me alive?"

Kushina nodded. "Yes." She hugged him again. "You know while I would love for you to join us it is not your time to do so yet. You need to make me a grandmother still" She whispered and held him close.

Naruto felt a warmth and a blush rising up. "...Yes. Mom…" he said slowly and Minato patted his shoulder before he joined into the group hug.

"Now, we witnessed your interaction with our clones but they are only a part of us and while we wait for your time to get back let's have a talk and some ramen!" Kushina said.

"RAMEN!" Naruto shouted happily.

In the land of the living, one day had passed. One day they needed to get to the ground zero. Land that once was a lush green now had more resemblance to the dunes of Suna. In the middle of the destroyed ground rested Naruto Uzumaki. As Karin wanted to reach out his body caught flames. The white flames that engulfed his complete body affected all the people around him in some kind of way. All could feel the heat they radiated but at the same time Nauro neither burned to a crisp nor could they touch him.

Karin wanted to do something. Let him bite her so he gets back to an amount of power so he could rest back home but with him burning she was at an end. She looked around for help as she tried to come up with an explanation. Hinata was the first to say something even if it was slow sounding insecure about her findings. "His chakra is still circulating…I don't see any activity around his heart though. It looks like his body entered some kind of stasis while his chakra system is currently in the works to bolster and widen the pathways"

Jiraiya, who had joined them listened in before he summoned a messenger toad. Seconds later a screech of a bird followed by a flame announced the arrival of one of the phoenix summons. Hiero appeared in his human form and took one look at Naruto before he looked at Jiraiya. "You can't do anything at this stage. Whatever happened he entered the rebirth stage of the sage mode. I can take him with me so he may recover faster, but for the time being every non-phoenix sage would get hurt if they even try to touch him. Usually, that process happens in a very short amount of time. In his case not even I can assume how long it would take."

Karin turned toward the elder of the phoenix clan. "If it helps and you can keep him safe. Please do so. He would want me to make sure he can get home to a home." She sniffed at the end. A mixture of the worry falling off her and the unknown time Naruto would take to rejoin them.

Hiero, to the astonishment of everyone around, changed into a two-story big bird with flaming wings. He hovered over Naruto's flaming body. The same color of white flame erupted from his wings before it seemed to merge with Naruto's flaming body. Another screech and both disappeared with a wave of heat leaving back a bit of charred earth.

"Okay, people. You are invited for a get-together back at Uzushio but I would like to note that I would appreciate it if you would accept that we want to excuse us later to prepare for Naruto's return. Also now that the god tree is finally dead, I think many people around the nations need to be helped to come to terms with what happened. Maybe we even need to be ready for some more loss and grief." Karin explained slowly. She only earned approval too much had happened and every person in the active fighting force that had joined in the last moments of the battle accepted that Naruto had saved them. It only was the right thing to do, to give his clan some space as they prepared for their long watch until he returned to them.

Naruto blinked and opened his eyes slowly sitting up he looked around. He took in his surroundings and noticed that he was most likely in the house of Hiero. The air just smelled like books. The heat was also familiar. The young man was still disoriented but not for long as Hiero flamed into the room. "Finally you are back up again."

Naruto looked at the elder of the phoenix clan. "How long was I out?" He tried to sit up and managed that quite nicely. His whole body felt light and it was like chakra was tickling right under his skin.

"A bit more than one year. Your body finally has caught up and assimilated everything." Hiero explained and Naruto looked at the mirror in the room not seeing any changes to his appearance. No horns, which was quite good in his opinion.

Naruto looked back. "Thank you for the hospitality. Do you mind filling me in on what I missed? Why I may want to get back home asap, going in blind would be stupid."

Hiero nodded and took a seat close to the former resting place of his summoner. "So what should be the most important thing to note is that the humans managed to keep the peace you have fought for. Also, your mate pushed for many things but I will let her do that explaining. She visited with the loudmouth and the princess from time to time."

Naruto nodded and had to blush a bit that Karin and the others had visited him as he was not on in this plane of existence. "Again thanks for hosting my body." He closed his eyes for a second before two clones appeared beside him. He looked at them. "You know what to do." The clones nodded once and disappeared in a yellow flash.

Hiero raised a brow. "You mind telling what they are about to do? Or what you want to do next."

Naruto looked at Hiero with a serious expression. "I need to make sure the Biju are still in a safe place. Also, there is still one of the Otsutsuki around that I need to deal with. This time though, I am prepared." His eyes got into the new golden variant of his Rinnegan. Nine truth-seeking Orbs surrounded Naruto and a monk's staff appeared in his right hand. Hiero could feel Naruto's chakra presence and he was shocked at how heavy it was. His Rinnegan pulsated. "I will search the nations and hunt that alien down. After that, I think I will enjoy some peace and quiet. Maybe look for an apprentice with Kurama?"

Hiero nodded. "I understand. So a preemptive strike. I hope you can find some serenity after this hunting but you should first concentrate on reestablishing yourself. I am sure you don't want your mate mad at you for not going back home as soon as you are awake again."

Naruto smiled. "You know. I would never take that risk. Karin can be scary on her own. But with the two others." He sighed playfully. "No, I will go straight home from here and look what changed there. I hope not too much though. Ye Ne." He saluted before he disappeared with another flash.

The elder looked at the point where Naruto had disappeared as Kiezu joined him. "He is back then?" on Hiero's nod she smiled slightly. "Good. I will go and visit Kirika she wanted to ask me about personal summons and I have an idea what she wants to do."

She changed into her bird form and flamed away.

Hiero looked where his daughter left. He shrugged and got back to his books. Finally, he had nobody to look after and could get back to this new story he had found in one of the local shops. There was this one boy who had a monkey tail that got cut off because he would turn into a giant space ape at the full moon. One of his cousins had told him about it so he asked to get one of them sent to him. This protagonist was reminding him of Naruto from time to time. Such a knucklehead. And the name. Son Goku. Like the four tails who also is an ape. what a coincidence, right? Maybe his parents knew Hagoromo? Taking up the Manga he retreated into his reading room enjoying some well-needed peace.

~Slight Lemon Warning~

Naruto flashed right into his bedroom. Usually, a good place to be as it was a night out there. For a moment he stood still and thanked the kami that he instinctively had suppressed his presence. In his kingsize bed lay three bombshells of the female gender. Two redheads and one with dark blue hair. Currently, Naruto had trouble making out where one ended and another started as they were entangled and engaged in a hot battle about who could kiss the other the most sensually.

"Mhm.. Right there. Nata." moaned Karin loudly as the now-identified Hinata kissed her right at the left side of her neck as she had one hand casually playing with the breasts of the same woman. Chakra was visible and seemed to raise the stimulation even more.

Only now Naruto's senses caught up and he could smell the sex in the room. The seals had also been activated to keep the room secure, and warm and the noise in.

While Karin was being stimulated by Hinata, Naruto found the rest of Tayuya's body between the two women's legs. The face seemed to have just disappeared between the Hyuuga's legs. Next, Naruto could see the golden chain moving slightly back and forth as it seemed to twist back and forth. He could barely guess where this chain was being used, but he had an idea.

For a moment, Naruto didn't know what to do. Just the sight of it awakened a longing in him that immediately caused his pants to tighten. He didn't want to stand around and just watch like some perverted peeping tom. After all, his name wasn't Jiraiya. They were in his bedroom. Well, Karin and his bedroom. But what had Karin said last time? He should be more daring, she wasn't made of sugar? He just had an idea that probably fell into the category of being more daring. Still unnoticed, two clones appeared next to him.

Since his rebirth, his chakra had reacted frighteningly intuitively to his wishes. While Karin was probably the best Uzumaki when it came to handling the Uzumaki chains since his mother had held that title, he was simply leagues above her. At the same time as his clones, several chains shot at one of the women at the same time. They were torn apart with a snap, but without hurting them.

Gasping, the three looked around in their agitated state as the chains stretched out their limbs and made any escape impossible. The three Naruto's became visible the moment another chain wrapped around their necks like a collar. "Ladies. In my bedroom without inviting me, how naughty" came from him quite confidently and with authority in his voice.

The surprise was written all over the faces of the three of them, but also joy, and Karin and Hinata quickly turned to pleasure. That's why it was Tayuya who responded, as the two were already preoccupied with other thoughts. "Make sure you don't overdo it ... Na..Ru..to... sama" she whispered with a challenging look.

"Oh. I am sure I can deal with three vixens. I had quite the time to rest you know." Naruto replied before the four of them engaged in a very heated welcome night.

~End of Lemon Warning~

Naruto sat at the table sharing tea with the three others who like him decided to forgo their usual attire and all four wore Yukata. The woman had a slight glow to them as they got out of the bedroom. Now they had made their way to the private kitchen in their home. They had shared the work to make breakfast and now sat down.

"Let me get this straight Hinata you got accepted by Matatabi, so you decided to accept Hinata's offer to be something like an ambassador but not really?"

The Hyuuga Heiress sipped on her tea. "Yes, you got that right. I will need to train with Matatabi for some time to get my system ready to be able to summon her or even enter the Biju mode. With all of that, I asked the Hokage to retire from Konoha's services based on the treaty."

Naruto blinked and looked at Karin. "They accepted the treaty? The Guardians are now independent? How did you manage to get the Rai and Tsuchikage to accept that?

Karin rolled her eyes. "You remember ending the war on your own? Kicking Madara's ass. Having shown complete control over all nine Biju? We got to witness you ending Kaguya someone that is mentioned in folklore and called the rabbit goddess." She sighed. "Yeah, it was such a big problem to get our point across. Did I mention Cousin Nagato has managed to get his third path back? Also, all the Uchiha still alive are now citizens of Uzushio and joined our clan." She smiled. "It was quite easy getting them to understand having us as a neutral faction would be much better for the balance of power and all that fancy-sounding stuff."

Tayuya commented that with a snort. Naruto had the decency to slightly blush. "Yeah right. Good for Nagato. So We are now neutral? Anything else?"

Karin nodded. "Yes, I used your notes and plan. We established the prison island you wanted and built the court building. As per the treaty, the council of the nine will be the judges of the international disputes between villages. Any action that can be considered an act of war from one party against another will enable to get Uzushio involved as a peacekeeping force." Karin explained and took another sip of tea.

"Great work Rin-chan. Did you also establish the new Bingo Book system?" Naruto asked as he took a moment to drink some tea.

Karin looked at Tayuya who looked up and shook her head lightly. "Not as much as we would like. But, with you back I am sure I can convince those suckers that we should handle bounties from now on."

"Yuya…Language." Hinata started but earned a raised eyebrow from Tayuya for her efforts.

"Sure princess like you cared last night for that. Little pottymouth that you are" Tayuya countered and Hinata blushed slightly and hid behind her tea cup.

Karin sighed and looked at Naruto. "So that is mostly everything. Oh, wait. Haku bonded with Isobu a week ago." Naruto looked surprised but when he thought about the peaceful nature of Haku matched quite nicely with Isobu's attitude. So, he nodded after getting over the initial shock. Karin noticed that and continued. "Something tells me you are still on the hunt for something. That partner of Kaguya maybe?"

Naruto smiled. "Can't hide from you can I?" He said before he explained himself. "But yes, this Isshiki person is someone that I need to sniff out. The Uchiha will hunt for Danzo. Those two could hurt us in the future and I want my family safe." He took a short break to calm himself. "I send clones out to establish a search network and will sniff out Isshiki. Meanwhile, I will stay here though and enjoy my break. Repeat a night like yesterday if my fiancee will still share." He mentioned offhandly.

"You know that your fiancee will do so as it is much more fun that way? Also, I want our clan to rebuild fast. Alone, that will be a big pain… literally. So why not share the burden as long as all know where we stand" Karin answered looking at Tayuya and Hinata.

Tayuya held her hands up. "I will do my part and it's fun but I am not the woman for all that family, marriage, and traditions stuff you know that. I am fine with being the cool aunt who teaches all the funny things."

Karin sighed and looked at Hinata. The Hyuuga who earned herself the title of the white-eyed princess the last year looked at Karin and smiled. "I still am responsible for my pink kitten. I think we arranged it quite nicely. The Uzushio branch of the Hyuuga will be part of the big Uzumaki clan and so the lines will get back together. If one of our children seduces one of Tsunades we can rename us…"

"No…" Naruto said slowly. Hinata looked at him a bit shocked. "Don't get me wrong Hina. I look forward to the new Iteration of the Uzumaki. While I like the old sage gramps, I won't ever take on a name that stands for the genocide of whole planets if I got the lesson right. The Uzumaki's standing mission will be to be vigilant and on the lookout, for any Otsutsuki trying to invade these great lands we try to build." He got even more passionate while he explained his vision. Which in turn relaxed Hinata as she got the feeling she said something wrong.

"Maybe someday in the future one of the children will take the position of the chairman of the guardians of my shoulders and I can enjoy my remaining years. Until this day though I will watch for those wannabes and send them to the Shinigami." Naruto put his cup down and looked around.

"How you managed to get from great and passionate sex to the possible defense against chakra parasites from outa space scares me Naruto." Tayuya commented dryly. It took some seconds for all of that to reach everyone. The two other females started to chuckle, and Naruto blushed slightly before he joined.

After some small talk, Naruto got back into gear. Karin and the others decided to go for formal wear. Except Hinata who used the portal to get some time with Matatabi after she had changed into her combat attire. Which now had a strong resemblance to the traditional Shrine Maiden outfits. Naruto's day was followed by Meetings upon meetings but the last one he sat in right now was the most important one. If you would ask him.

Naruto looked at the assembled force. If you would ask him a bit overkill but he understood their intentions. Shisui, Itachi, Mikoto, Sasuke, Nagato, and Konan stood in front of his desk. "I understand you guys but all six of you? I mean I am quite sure it would be enough for only three of you to take out that old Warhawk. Karin?"

Karin looked at her notes and gave Naruto one scroll. "Crime is on an all-time low. Daimyo and Kage each concentrated their efforts on this after they could reduce the forces at their borders as a sign of mutual trust. If you ask me? I don't see any reason to not allow all of them some fun. I mean you slept over one year while we worked here."

Naruto looked at his fiancee with wide eyes. But, he quickly got back to his usual expression and sighed. "Well, after getting so utterly betrayed and stabbed in the back by my fiancee how could I say no…"

"Poor dear. Getting stabbed in the back." Karin said while she got a bit closer to Naruto and whispered something into his ears that even the six in front of them could not understand. Konan and Mikoto had a clue though. Mikoto because her Sharingan could read Karin's lips and Konan had some ideas from the novel she had looked into yesterday.

Naruto looked at Karin. "Really?" He got a nod and his smile got wide before he looked back at the six. Unrolling a wanted poster with Danzo's picture. One of the last of the council meetings he had with Hiruzen. "Don't lose it guys. With the new rules in place, I can only send teams out if we are on bounty hunting business. Ohh. and as Karin said have fun."

Itachi took the poster and all Uchiha's vanished in Synchronized Shunshin. Konan scattered into paper and Nagato hovered over the ground and with a wave of his hand flew out of his office. Naruto activated the seals that locked his office down. A smirk on his face. "So. Will you elaborate on training for the wedding night dear?"

Karin smiled seductively as her Kimono dropped slightly to show her naked left shoulder. "Let's start with undressing…"