For a moment everything felt like it was moving in every direction at once, and then we both hit the dirt. Literally. I groaned, trying not to lose my lunch. Or, breakfast? I guess it was getting to lunch time.

  From the noise slightly behind me, Fu was not as fortunate in keeping down the contents of her stomach. I guess it was just because I had more exposure to it.

  “Oh? Who’s your friend?” I heard Kakashi ask, his tone quite amused.

  As I struggled to my feet, I looked around. Sasuke and Sakura were nearby, having lunch, while the one eyed ninja had been standing nearby the scroll. I did my best not to throw up as I stumbled a bit, catching myself on the fence. “This is… Fu. The Jinchuriki of the seven tails.”

  There was a long drawn out silence before I heard the all too familiar sound of a certain orange book snapping closed. “Okay. This is shaping up to be an interesting explanation.”

  “I… I know… you’ll probably have to… tell the Hokage about this but…” I paused, taking a few deep breaths. “I would prefer you didn’t.”

  His eye narrowed. “I know you have trust issues considering Hokage-sama, but this is a very serious matter.”

  I nodded. “I know. And I know he needs to know. But it’s everyone around him that I trust even less. Danzo has several Root agents in Anbu, and the Hokage’s office is crawling with surveillance, not all of which is under his control.”

  “That is quite the claim,” Kakashi said after a moment.

  “It’s true,” I responded.

  Before I could go into any details, Sasuke and Sakura had come over. “Who’s this?” Sakura asked, or well more demanded.

  “This is Fu,” I said with a smile, helping the poor girl up. “A penpal of mine that was in a bit of trouble, and I had to go rescue.”

  “Why is everything spinning?” Fu asked.

  I pat her on the shoulder. “Just a bit of teleportation sickness. It’ll go away after a bit. Sasuke, Sakura, this is my friend Fu.”

  Sasuke’s eyes narrowed as he studied the two of us, his gaze calculating. He immediately picked up on the fact that I wasn’t saying everything. Always so damn observant. Was that just an Uchiha thing? I felt like Mikoto-san did that a lot.

  “So?” Kakashi prompted. “Going to explain things?” I saw the way he glanced at Jufi when he said that.

  “This is Jufi from the Fox Clan, whom I have a summoning contract with,” I explained, kneeling down to retrieve the anchor scroll. “Before you ask, no they don’t have anything to do with the Kyubi, though they do hold him in high regard and that’s part of the reason I have a contract with them.”

  “Is that why you have the face markings?” Sasuke asked, noticing how the fox had similar facial paint. He had never asked about them before, but I had seen him looking at them.

  I nodded. “They’re clan markings. Something given to those that reach adulthood. They actually didn’t tell me I would be getting them, so I was really surprised to suddenly get them,” I said with a chuckle.

  “And the move you did to disappear like that?” Sakura asked curiously. “That wasn’t a shunshin.”

  I shrugged. “That was Flying Raijin,” I replied nonchalantly.

  There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at me. Well, Fu didn’t stare, she was still trying to regain her balance. Sakura looked skeptical, Sasuke looked annoyed, and it was impossible for me to read Kakashi. “When did you learn it?” the one eyed ninja asked.

  “Years ago.” And that was the only answer he was going to get. I still wasn’t sure if he was reporting things to the Hokage and nothing was being done, or if he was actually keeping my secrets. “Anyways… I need to take Fu somewhere safe, if we’re done with our mission?” I looked back at the field.

  “We’ll finish it tomorrow,” Kakashi decided before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. Shunshin was similar to the untrained eye, it looked like teleportation. He was probably off to have a talk with the Hokage.

  I looked at Fu, who was leaning against one of the posts and taking deep breaths. Seeing her reaction made me feel kind of bad. “I wonder if I could get rid of the nausea…” I mused aloud.

  “Nope!” Jufi said, sitting beside Fu and looking oddly pleased with herself for some reason. “It’s just something that happens with warping space. Even young kits get dizzy.”

  I channeled my inner Shikamaru as I muttered, “Troublesome…”

  “Anbu approaching,” Kurama warned.

  “Oops!” I quickly moved over to Fu. “Welp, no time to chat. We’ve got to go,” I said to Sasuke and Sakura. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Fu looked at me, her eyes widening as I grabbed hold of her arm. “Wait-!”

  She threw up when we arrived in the underground training room. “Sorry. We were about to get caught,” I explained as a clone came over with a bucket to try and prevent her from making anymore of a mess.

  “I think I hate you…” she managed to get out before continuing to throw up.

  “Yeah I get that a lot,” I replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck. A few of the other clones had come over to assist. One rubbed Fu’s back while another grumbled as they cleaned up the vomit.

  It took several minutes before she felt good enough to finally ask, “Where are we?”

  “This is my home,” I said, coming back over. I had started looking over the Raijin kunai that had been retrieved. They had toasted several of them, which was annoying.

  Fu nodded slowly as she looked around at all the clones training. “So. Clones?”

  “Shadow Clones,” I said with a nod. “There’s a neat trick with them, that you retain everything that they learn.”

  Her head suddenly snapped to me. “That’s why you’re so strong?”

  I shrugged and folded my hands behind my back. “Part of it. A big part of it, honestly.”

  “Can I learn that?” she asked, stepping closer to me. There was a certain excited gleam in her eye.

  “I… think so?” I was hesitant to give her a straight answer. Part of why Shadow Clones were so effective for me was thanks to Kurama, but another big part of it was thanks to my Uzumaki heritage. “You wouldn’t be able to use it to my level, but with Chomei supplying chakra you would be able to do several clones.” Chomei was the seven-tails, after all.

  “Great!” She punched her fist into her open palm, a big smile on her face.

  “Yeah, and uh… Sorry but you’re gonna sorta be on house arrest for a bit while I get things sorted,” I explained. I had not planned on any of this, so I had to figure things out.

  That seemed to suck out some of her enthusiasm. “Seriously?”

  I nodded. “You’re in Konoha illegally. Your village might label you as a Missing-nin. But that’s just a worst case scenario,” I added quickly when I saw her expression.

  “I don’t think they will… Or at least, I didn’t think they would but… I don’t know.” She sighed as she slumped onto one of my clones, who grunted in surprise at the sudden weight.

  “Again, sorry. But… We’ll figure something out. I promise,” I said with a big smile. “In the meantime, we’ve thousands of things to learn here, and this training room is damn near indestructible as far as I can tell. I can’t even damage the walls in three tailed mode.”

  That seemed to get her excited again. “Oh yeah? I’ll have to test that myself! Me and Chomei can use five tails.” To demonstrate she suddenly sprouted five insect wings, four of which seemed large and fully developed, while the fifth looked a bit small.

  Kurama scoffed. “Her measly five would not beat your three,” he grumbled.

  “That’s impressive. I’m stuck at three right now,” I said with a grin.

  She returned the grin and was about to say something before her brow furrowed a bit. “Chomei said that even with our five tails, we probably wouldn’t be able to beat you at two…”

  “At least the insect knows his place.”

  “Well, the Kyubi is the strongest of all the tailed beasts. His power is much more potent,” I said with a bit of a shrug.

  “But… That’s also something I don’t understand.” She had quite a puzzled look on her face. “The Ninetails is so full of hate and anger that he’s impossible to control. But you seemed completely fine.”

  “Oh that’s simple,” I said with a grin. “It’s because we’re friends.”

  “We are not friends.”

  “Best friends,” I said with a nod.

  “Not friends.”

  “Why, there’s hardly anyone who are better friends than Kurama and I,” I said, my grin getting bigger and bigger every time Kurama responded.

  “You’re insufferable. I barely tolerate you.”

  “Why, we’re such good friends that he wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice himself to keep me alive.” I nodded sagely, as if what I said was some profound wisdom.

  “I hesitated!” Kurama growled. “I hesitated a lot!”

  I laughed. Fu also looked amused, clearly aware that my biju was talking to me and I was teasing him. “Well, it does seem like you two have a good relationship.”

  “Yup.”

  “We do not.”

  “You know she can’t hear you, right?” I mused aloud.

  All I got was silence, which just made me laugh again.

  “Oops, he’s entered grump mode,” I said with mock sadness as I sagged my shoulders exaggeratedly. “He probably won’t talk to me for the rest of the day now.”

  Fu giggled a bit and nodded. “Well, anyways… You mentioned training?”

  I nodded and waved over to my clones. “They’ll teach you how to use Shadow Clones. Just make sure to start out slow. If you do too many clones at once, it will kill you,” I warned her.

  She jolted slightly, caught off guard by the seriousness of my words but nodded. “Alright. Yeah… I’ll start off slow. Chomei will be able to help me keep it all under control.”

  Again I nodded. “Right. Alright, I have some angry letters to write to some other Jinchuriki,” I said as I gave a wave, heading to the stairs. “Feel free to ask the clones for anything you need.”

  The letter I wrote to Han and Roshi was very simple, but I am fairly certain it got the point across.

  Why did Iwagakure attack Fu’s village and attempt to kidnap her?

  Jufi was very adamant about being the one to deliver this letter, so that she could, “Give them a scornful look while listening to their excuses.”

  I let out a slow breath after that was sent, closing my eyes. There were spare rooms and I made two clones to go and prepare one for Fu. Now was the time to sit and figure out what to do.

  Kakashi most definitely had to tell the Hokage something. What he would tell him I had no idea. I couldn’t even guess. While I trusted my Sensei, I knew that this was extremely sensitive information and could only hope that he took my warning seriously.

  Getting rid of Root agents was such a struggle, even with Danzo gone they continued to operate well into when I was Hokage. And if this Danzo was anything like the Danzo from my last life, there wouldn’t be anything that happened in the Hokage tower that he wouldn’t be aware of.

  I should really figure out how to kill him.

  Preferably before Tsunade becomes Hokage. He made that granny’s life so difficult after Hiruzen died… He got so confident after he died and moved openly against her. Probably because he was super upset about the council - that he thought he had so much control over - turning against him and electing Tsunade to the position over him.

  Honestly funny in retrospect.

  But that was a thought for later. I wasn’t strong enough to kill him right now. Especially because I would have to do so like… thirteen times before he stayed dead.

  Right now I needed to focus on Fu. I didn’t want to confine her here, but that was the only thing I could do right now. Short term solution. What was the long term? She could transform into someone, but she wouldn’t be able to really do anything other than go out occasionally. She could train here, but I would be her own training partner.

  She was too much like me when I was young. Or, too much like I am now? Or the old me was?

  “I hate time travel,” I grumbled at Kurama, even though he was giving me the silent treatment right now.

  Okay, so Fu could transform into one of the random persona’s I had made. Or make her own? Probably should make her own now that I thought about it. That might actually be fun for her. I know I enjoyed it. Making backstories and stuff.

  That was still only a short term solution. Fu was a ninja, and needed further ninja training. And I couldn’t give that to her. Maybe I could teach her some things, but I didn’t even know what her elements were. It had been so long since I had trained anyone, and as I was right now I shouldn’t do something like that. I could guide and help correct, but unless she followed the same path as me I wouldn’t be much help.

  Maybe it was time to put some pressure on the old man.

  I could probably get him to make her a ninja. Maybe? Could I actually get him to recognize her as a ninja in some way? Probably not. But it’s worth a shot.

  Standing up, I made my way back downstairs and found Fu in the kitchen, arguing with a clone. “I know how to prepare fish!” she said, fighting the clone for the knife.

  “So do I! I’m trying to be nice and cook for you!” he said, clearly struggling.

  “So am I! You rescued me, so the least I could do is repay you with a meal!” she yelled back.

  While I didn’t want to interrupt, I had to at least give her a heads up. “Hey, so I’m heading out for a bit. Feel free to stab him,” I suggested.

  Both of them stiffened as they turned to me, Fu with a wide eyed expression and the clone looking utterly betrayed. “Boss!? Don’t encourage her!”

  I just shrugged and flashed away to one of the many miscellaneous kunai scattered about the village, this one was relatively near the Hokage Tower. A couple people were a bit startled when I suddenly exited out an alley. Honestly I was wondering if people were starting to forget who I was. And even those that did would probably take a moment to recognize me.

  Leaping up to a rooftop, I covered the short distance to the tower but didn’t approach very close. I was looking into the room in the Hokage’s office, checking to see if he was there. To my surprise, he was not. Which was probably a good thing.

  That probably meant that he and Kakashi were somewhere having a discussion.

  “Behind you,” came Kurama’s voice.

  “Do you need something?” I asked, not turning around.

  There was a rather long and familiar sigh as Hiruzen came up beside me. “I thought you might come see me, but I understand your concerns about my office.”

  “Was I wrong?” I questioned as I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye.

  “No,” he replied with a shake of his head. “I am aware of many things that Danzo does.”

  “If you’re about to start making excuses and calling him a necessary evil, save it for someone who would actually believe that,” I said rather coldly.

  He lifted his pipe, taking a long drag on it as he looked up at the monuments. “Something happened to you. Something you won’t talk about. Won’t talk about with me, at least.”

  I paused, also looking up at the monument, staring at the stone visage of my father. “More than you can imagine.”

  “Oh? Are you sure? I’ve lived quite a long time, after all,” he replied, stroking his beard.

  “You’re barely seventy,” I scoffed. I had lived more than twice as long as he did, and had given up my position of Hokage long before I reached his age.

  A chuckle escaped him. “You make that sound young.”

  There was silence for a moment as I refused to continue that line of conversation, changing the subject. “I can’t let Danzo get at Fu. And I can’t trust you to care for her properly, considering your track record.”

  He winced. “Fair. I can’t even ask for your forgiveness for all of that…”

  “No. You can’t,” I said with a bit of a sigh. “But someday I will forgive you. That’s just the kind of person I am.”

  “That’s all I can really ask,” he mumbled before taking a drag from his pipe. “I will try and get your friend accepted. It is not uncommon for us to accept foreign-nin under certain circumstances. But it will take time.”

  “How long?” I asked.

  “Months. A year at most,” he said after a moment of thinking.

  That was annoying. The Chunin exams were in five months, which means if things happened the way they did in my last life, he would be dead. That meant I would have to get Tsunade to do it.

  I sighed, rubbing my face. Again I channeled my inner Shikamaru, “Troublesome…”

  The old man laughed, nodding. “Unfortunately things like that move slowly. We have to make sure she can be trusted, and the best way to do that is time. It would happen faster with the Council on our side but…”

  “No way that’s happening,” I said as I sighed again.

  He paused as he puffed on his pipe. “How strong is she?”

  “Low to mid Chunin,” I said immediately. “But by the time she actually gets approved? Probably Jonin.”

  I could feel his eyes on me. “And where do you find yourself?”

  “Chunin. If I went all out, I could fight one on one with a Jonin, and depending on who they were I might win,” I admitted, granting him a sliver of trust.

  “Think you could beat Kakashi?” he asked.

  I paused for a moment as I thought it over. “Current Kakashi? Yes. When he was in his prime? Not a chance.”

  He raised an eyebrow at me. “You think he has slipped that far?”

  “He has,” I said flatly. “The Kakashi that’s in the bingo book, and the Kakashi that is walking around Konoha are very different.” I turned to look at the old man. “He doesn’t train anymore. He hardly takes missions. He spends the majority of his time reading or sulking in front of the Memorial Stone. If you want my most brutal opinion, he is currently at a low Jonin level.”

  A bit of a chuckle escaped him as he shook his head. “He has been rather lax in maintaining himself, hasn’t he?”

  “He’s been coasting on his public appearance. It’s impressive he managed to fall so far considering he was an Anbu captain not too long ago,” I replied with a sigh. “And he needs that eye properly looked at.”

  “His eye?” Hiruzen asked, clearly curious.

  “The fact he can’t turn it off means it was improperly transferred,” I explained. That had been something that I had found out much later, but I never found out the reason he never had it fixed. “He is constantly burning chakra and eventually it will kill him.”

  “How do you-”

  “Danzo has records,” I interrupted. “A lot of records. Some about things he conducted, and others that he kept from some of Orochimaru’s… It’s hard to call it research, but the only other word I can think of is torture, which isn’t the right word either.”

  For the first time he actually looked upset. “How do you know about that?”

  “His little Root Fortress thingy is not beyond my reach, and he had more things that belong to me than anyone else,” I said with a shrug, my tone rather unimpressed.

  He let out a sigh and really seemed to age in front of my eyes. “And you’re not going to tell me how you did all that? I’m still getting complaints that none of the stolen belongings have been located.”

  “Nope. The only hint you’re getting are these,” I said as I pointed to the marks on my face.

  His brow furrowed as he looked at me, as if just now examining me. Eventually he questioned, “Clan markings? You have a contract with a summoning clan?”

  I just smiled a bit at him, refusing to answer.

  There was a moment of silence between us before he just sighed, folding his hands behind his back and looking away. “Your friend has my permission to roam the city. She will be classified as a refugee for now.”

  “Thank you, Hokage-sama,” I replied sincerely with a slight bow.

  “And any other status she has will remain unknown to anyone not already knowing of it,” he tried to assure, but I knew better. It wouldn’t be long before Fu’s status as a Jinchuriki would be revealed. That was just the nature of secrets like that.

  “Thank you. Now, if you will excuse me, I have other matters to attend,” I said as I gave another slight bow.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  He nodded and I immediately flashed away before the nearby Anbu got ideas. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust them, but- no wait that was entirely it. Several Anbu members were part of Root, so any of them could be spies. And all it would take is one tracking thing to slip by unnoticed for a few moments for me to get screwed.

  Appearing in the Uchiha district, I made my way towards the familiar mansion and knocked on the door. After a moment Sasuke answered, already scowling at me. “What do you want?” he asked gruffly, though I knew it wasn’t out of hostility.

  “I wanted to talk to Mikoto-san real quick,” I replied with a large smile.

  As if on que, the woman appeared around the corner. “Sasuke? Who is- oh! Naruto!” She had a rather large smile on her face. She was doing that a lot more lately, much to the relief of Sasuke and myself.

  “Mikoto-san,” I said with a slight bow.

  “Do you want to join us for dinner?” she quickly asked, as she walked over.

  “I’m afraid I can’t tonight. I was just going to ask if a friend of mine could come to dinner this Friday? She’s new in town and I don’t want to really leave her alone too long while she’s still adjusting.” I had a feeling that it was a good idea to introduce Fu to her as soon as possible, and reveal her status. Mikoto was probably the one person in the village who knew more of my secrets than anyone else.

  “Of course!” she said happily. “You should also invite your other squad member. What’s her name again… Sakura?”

  There was a flicker of horror on Sasuke’s face for the briefest of moments before his eyes darted to me, an almost pleading look on his face. I just grinned. “Sure! That sounds fun.”

  “Maybe invite some more of your friends, too?” she mused. “The house is always so empty… it might be nice to have people around.” It was clear she was mostly talking to herself, but Sasuke and I shared a look and nodded.

  “That sounds great, Mikoto-san. We can make a big celebration out of it,” I suggested. I could tell Sasuke didn’t like that idea, but at the same time knew it would be good for his mother. She hardly left the house aside from going shopping. We were starting to get worried about her mental health. Although obviously Sasuke hadn’t noticed anything wrong until I pointed it out. For someone so smart, he is really dumb about some things. But I guess I’m one to talk…

  “Oh! I should go shopping to prepare,” she said suddenly, starting to gather things up for an outing. “Would you like to join me?”

  “Sorry,” I said sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck. “I’ve got to go see to my friend and make sure she’s alright.” I had been getting memories from quite a few clones. Apparently she had taken my ‘just stab him’ suggestion to heart. Specifically my clone's heart.

  I looked down at myself, checking myself over. Being that close to the Hokage made me uncomfortable. Like he would be able to track me just by getting close. But after spending a few minutes, there was nothing that wasn’t supposed to be there. I even checked for a genjutsu.

  Satisfied, I flashed back home.

  “Boss, you gotta do something about her,” one of the clones immediately said upon noticing me.

  I rolled my eyes and tossed my cloak at the clone as I walked upstairs. Surely it wasn’t that bad, right?

  The kitchen was a mess, but at least she hadn’t burned the place down.

  “I thought you said you could cook?” I questioned as I stood in the doorway.

  Her attention immediately snapped to me, scowling. “I can! I’ve just…never used any of these things before…”

  “Well, that’s a fridge,” I said, pointing at it. “And that’s a stove-” I had to duck as a knife flew over my head. I reached back, pulling the knife from the wall. “And below the stove is an oven.”

  “I know what they are, idiot!” she exclaimed, turning back to her attempts at cooking. “I’ve just never used them. I’m used to like…fires and stuff.”

  “Right,” I said, rolling up my sleeves as I properly entered the kitchen. “Well, then lemme teach you how to use them.”

  The next two hours were spent teaching Fu how to use the kitchen. It ended up being fun, even if she got a little stabby when I joked too much about how bad she was at it. Honestly it just kind of made it funnier.

  It did end up that we made far too much food, though.

  As we were sitting down to eat, I decided to explain how things would work. “You have the Hokage’s permission to be in the city. As far as the law is concerned, you’re a refugee. So you won’t be on house arrest, but you’ll need to have a clone with you to get in and out of the house since it’s a secret that anyone is living here.”

  She blinked. “Okay. Can I…. learn that teleport thing?”

  I looked at her for a moment. “Sure. I don’t mind teaching you, but it’s a really difficult technique. One of the hardest that I know.”

  She nodded in response. “Yeah, all the stuff I’ve seen on time space jutsu is insanely complicated, but it’s probably the best movement technique I have ever even heard of.”

  “It is what my dad was known for,” I mused with a smile. “I’ve been slowly modifying it so it takes less chakra and is more stable. You’ve felt how bad it is at long distances.”

  A shudder ran through her. “I’d rather not be reminded of that…”

  “If you can manage to do it, your first time is gonna be worse,” I said, laughing as I remembered how utterly sick I was.

  Her face went through several different emotions before settling on a grimace. “Maybe I shouldn’t learn it.”

  I shrugged. “Your choice. It is extremely useful, and really cool. Like, did you see the way I was moving in that fight?”

  She stared at me for a moment before she started laughing. “Okay, yeah. It was really cool,” she admitted.

  “Exactly,” I said. “All the really cool techniques are really hard.” I paused, my brow furrowing. “Actually, wait, that’s not true. There are some really cool techniques that are easy, but everyone can use them so they don’t seem as cool.”

  We both laughed a bit at that, continuing to discuss techniques. In my last life I had really seen what happens when you keep your techniques a secret. Sure, you can’t go spreading them around to everyone, but it’s fine to teach things to your true allies. It strengthens your side, and the bonds.

  I paused as I was taking my dishes to the sink. “Ah, right. Before I forget, you’re invited to have dinner with Mikoto-san this Friday.” I placed the plate down and turned to look back at her, leaning against the counter. “We’re having a sort of celebration?”

  Her brow furrowed a bit at me. “A celebration for what?”

  “Just in general. Mikoto-san is…” I hesitated, trying to think of the right words. “She’s probably the adult I trust the most. And probably the closest thing to a parental figure that I’ve got.”

  “So… kind of like your mom?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “Not…really? I guess? I’ve never really thought about it,” I muttered, my brow furrowing a bit as I thought about it. She kind of was like my mom? Or maybe an aunt that cared a bunch? I shook my head. “Either way, dinner. This Friday, if you want to go. My friends and team are going to be there as well so I can introduce you to everyone.”

  There was a rather apprehensive look on her face. “And they won’t uh… care about everything?”

  “Nah.” I waved a hand vaguely in the air. “They won’t know about you being a Jinchuriki, but even if they find out it’ll be fine.” I grinned a bit at her as I pointed a thumb at myself. “They all accepted me, after all.”

  She nodded slowly. “Okay.”

  The rest of the evening was rather nice, and Fu joined me in my nightly training. She had to tap out pretty quick though, considering what I was doing was damn near torture to the body. But with how fast I healed, I’d be fine in the morning.

  Fu had asked about the seals I had placed on myself, the gravity and resistance seals, as well as the one syphoning my chakra. It was actually really fun to explain it, although I realized I quickly lost her when I started getting into the intricacies of fuinjutsu. In the end she did ask to have some placed on herself, and I ended my training a bit early to do so.

  The next day found Team Seven out in the field again to finish our work. There wasn’t a lot left to do, so we actually got done pretty early. Of course, Sasuke immediately approached me when we were done, and of course Sakura followed behind him. “Those seals on your body.”

  I blinked and looked at him. “Huh?”

  “Yesterday, you did something and released a bunch of seals on your body. You did the same thing against Kakashi. What are those?” he demanded, though there wasn’t any hostility. That’s just how Sasuke was.

  “Ah, the training seals,” I said with a nod. Out of the corner of my eye I caught Kakashi shift slightly, showing that he was paying attention. “There are three sets, one is a gravity seal that increases the weight across my body. The second is a resistance seal, which makes moving harder and puts more strain on my muscles. Those two work together, making every movement a workout. And the third is a chakra syphon that is slowly stealing my chakra and putting it into a scroll.” As an example I pulled the current chakra scroll out.

  His eyes narrowed slightly. “So that’s why it looks like you’re constantly struggling to do even basic things…”

  I nodded a few times and tucked the scroll away before lifting my arm. “It’s really bad when I increase a level. Every increase feels like starting over from square one.”

  “How many levels are there?” he asked, even though his tone was rather flat, he definitely sounded interested.

  “Ten. Even after doing this for most of my life, I’m still only on level six,” I explained and I saw the way Kakashi’s eye flicked over. “I might have hit ten if I only had one activated, but doing all three makes progress feel slower, but ends up being better in the long run.” I couldn’t really keep the excitement out of my voice. “There’s also an advanced version of the seals that I’m using that goes all the way up to one hundred, but those are super complicated and I wasn’t at the level needed when I first applied them.”

  “You put them on yourself?” Sakura suddenly asked, clearly surprised.

  “Yeah? Not like anyone would put this sort of stuff on a civilian,” I replied with a bit of a laugh.

  Sasuke suddenly looked very serious. “Can you put them on other people?”

  I grinned at him. “Sure can. You want a set?”

  He gave a firm nod. “Yes.”

  My eyes drifted to Sakura. “What about you?”

  She frowned at me and opened her mouth to say something but then stopped. Her eyes shifted to Sasuke before she sighed and nodded. “Yeah.”

  I clapped, grinning more. “Great! We can do it this weekend. Maybe get started on Friday, since we’ll all be together.”

  Sakura’s brow furrowed. “What’s happening Friday?”

  Sasuke grimaced and I looked at him for a moment. “You haven’t asked her yet?”

  He shook his head. “No. We’ve been working.”

  I stared at him for a moment longer before sighing. “You two have been together the entire morning.” I looked back at Sakura. “Mikoto-san wants you to come to dinner this Friday, for a little celebration we’re having.”

  She blinked. “You… you mean at the Uchiha Compound?”

  “Yup!” I looked over at Kakashi. “You can come, too, Sensei.”

  Everyone looked over at him and he shook his head. “No thanks. I’ve other things to do.” Then he suddenly disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

  “Anti-social as ever,” I said with a shake of my head. “Anyways. I’m off to find everyone else to invite them.” I gave a salute before flashing away, not wanting to see what sort of conversation the two of them would have.

  I appeared in an alley inside the city, creating and dismissing a clone to refresh memories, wondering if I had spotted any of my friends. Luckily, it seemed that Team Eight was tracking the devil cat today.

  With a grin, I leapt up onto the roof and began making my way towards Tora’s current location. Since it was around noon, she should be by the nice sushi vendor who always feeds her scraps after the lunch rush.

  Landing in the street I looked around to see if I could spot Hinata or Shino, or even Kiba, but it seemed they hadn’t tracked her down yet. Moving over to the little restaurant, I shifted the curtains to take a peek inside. It seemed I just missed the lunch crowd.

  “Ah, you’re here again?” the shop owner grumbled. There was some clear dislike, but he wasn’t as hostile as most other places.

  “Yup.” I sat down, giving him a big smile. “Can I get two special rolls, and a plate of tuna for Tora?” I requested as I placed several coins on the table.

  He just grunted as he took the money and turned away to prepare.

  As expected, the moment he put the plates down, there was suddenly a cat in my lap. I gave her some light scratches under the chin as I moved the plate of tuna to where she could reach, and began to eat. It wasn’t terribly good sushi, but at least I knew he wouldn’t mess with my food.

  “Naruto?” came a soft voice.

  Tora tensed, but I just began to pet her as I looked over my shoulder. “Hinata,” I replied with a big smile. “Come, sit.” I was starting on my second roll at this point - a cat in the lap makes eating take quite a while for some reason - and since she was a big foody like Choji, she would definitely order something.

  She gave a slight bow as she sat down, ordering a few rather simple rolls. With that done her attention turned to Tora who growled at her. “Are you the reason it’s so much harder to track her down lately?” she asked softly.

  I just laughed a bit. “Maybe.”

  Hinata sighed. “Everyone’s been complaining she’s so much harder to find, and can some even say she’s learned how to use ninjutsu.”

  A snort escaped me. “She’s a talented bit of fluff, and smart. With how often ninja are assigned to chase her, it doesn’t surprise me that she’s learned a thing or two.” I smiled at her. “Anyways, I wanted to ask if you wanted to come to a celebration at Mikoto-san’s this Friday?”

  She blinked at me, her face suddenly going very red as our eyes locked for a second. She quickly looked away. “O-oh. O-okay…”

  “Shino is invited as well, as is Kurenai-Sensei, and so is Team Ten. Do you know where they are?” I watched her out of the corner of my eye as I went back to my food, noticing that Tora had stolen one while I was distracted.

  “Uhm… I think Ino mentioned something about getting archive duty?” she said after a moment of thinking.

  I grimaced. That was definitely one of the worst D-rank missions. “Alright. Well, I’m gonna go ask her and the other two if they want to come to the little party.” I stood up, cradling Tora in my arms.

  “Uhm… Naruto? Team Eight still needs to finish their mission?” Her eyes were darting between me and the cat in my arms.

  I looked down at Tora, as she looked up at me. Both of us looked at Hinata and I gave her a big smile. “Good luck with that,” I said before flashing away, just catching her activating her Byakugon and lunging for me.

  Several blocks away now, I just laughed as I set Tora down. I hadn’t actually gone that far, and was still within Hinata’s Byakugon range. She had previously said that I was really easy to spot, like some kind of beacon. So I knew she was able to see where I’d gone. I gave a wave in her direction before pointing at the cat. Honestly being able to see almost everything within a kilometer and see through things was really cool, but probably really disorientating.

  I watched for a moment as Tora sauntered away without a care, before I leapt back up onto the roofs.

  Making my way towards the archives felt weird. Thinking back to the time years ago when I had snuck in and stolen hidden documents was still vivid in my mind thanks to memory techniques, but it still felt impulsive. I could have just played a prank and then made a big deal about being willing to do anything but archive duty, and Hiruzen would have probably put me there.

  But then I would have been watched, so it wasn’t really a good idea. It might have taken multiple attempts to try and get a moment to steal the technique. And I was too impatient for that.

  Landing on the same roof that I had had a conversation with the Hokage on yesterday, I looked towards the archives. There were guards of course, who were boredly watching the street.

  Dropping down, I decided that the direct approach would be the best to start off with. “Yo,” I said, giving a casual wave. “Team Ten is in the archives, right?”

  The two Chuunin glared at me. “You’re not allowed in the archives, Naruto.”

  I blinked, remembering the little shuffling prank I pulled when I last got punished with archive duty. “Still? That was three years ago, surely I’m not still banned?”

  Both of them just continued to glare at me. “Life long ban, means for life.”

  I scoffed. “Fine, whatever. I’ll just wait.” Without giving them a chance to argue, I walked to the other side of the street and leaned against the wall. This was a good chance to read some stuff anyways, so I pulled out a scroll to study.

  Several hours passed, and I was on my fourth scroll when the door suddenly swung open. “-would have been two hours ago if you two actually did work!” Ino shouted at her team members. “Rather than-” she stopped. “Naruto?”

  “Yo, Ino,” I said with a wave as I made my way over.

  Shikamaru sighed, in relief or exasperation I wasn’t sure, but I had just saved him from several more minutes of being yelled at. Choji seemed completely uninterested, munching on chips as usual. “What are you doing here?”

  “Waiting on you three. They wouldn’t let me in the archives because apparently I’m still banned?” They all gave me questioning looks and I just shrugged. “Anyways. There’s a sort of celebration happening at the Uchiha Compound and Mikoto-san wanted me to invite all my friends, so here I am.”

  “How is Mikoto doing?” Asuma suddenly asked, already lighting a cigarette now that he wasn’t surrounded by old books.

  I frowned at him. “Not good, but better than she was.”

  He coughed into his fist, looking away. “Ah, I see…”

  A lot of adults still kept their distance from Mikoto, especially Shinobi. While Sasuke was touted as the last loyal Uchiha, his mother was practically treated like a pariah. She didn’t get the same sort of hate that I received, but she was still a social outcast. I had seen the way people looked away, refused to make eye contact or engage her in conversation. Kurenai was one of the few that seemed to actually be friends with her.

  “Anyways.” I looked back at the other three. “You’re all invited, it’s on Friday.” I pointed rather accusingly at Asuma. “You’re not.”

  He put up his hands, a bit of a forced smile on his face. “Right, right. I gotcha.”

  Asuma was pretty cool, and it wasn’t like I disliked him. But not only was he the son of the Hokage, but he was one of the ninjas actively avoiding Mikoto. There was also that awkward conundrum of if I should try to save him from dying. It was sort of a defining moment for Shikamaru, and it left Kurenai alone with a child. Probably worth trying.

  Apparently my statement of him not being invited quite confused his team. “Wait, why isn’t Asuma-Sensei invited?” Ino asked as she looked back at the man.

  “You should ask him,” I said with a slight nod towards him. “He knows why.”

  Asuma just awkwardly coughed again. “It’s fine. Anyways, you’re all dismissed for today. See you tomorrow,” he said, changing the subject quickly and walking away.

  All of us watched as he walked away, and Ino immediately spun to face me, glaring slightly and clearly expecting me to explain.

  I sighed, folding my hands behind my head. “He’s been avoiding Mikoto-san, like most Shinobi, after the Uchiha Incident.” The others fell silent, looking over at Asuma as he continued walking away. “Anyways, I’ve got a friend coming, Fu. I think-” I paused, looking them over for a moment. “Well, I think Ino will get along with her?”

  All of them were looking at me. “I don’t think I know any Fu,” Ino said after a moment, her eyes narrowing.

  “You’ll meet her Friday,” I said with a shrug. “I’ll explain her tragic backstory then.”

  Choji snorted and Shikamaru just mumbled, “Troublesome.”

  We talked a bit more and I confirmed what time they should come and the actual location of where it was in the compound. And apparently making the joke that all they have to do is look for the only occupied building. I guess I was just so used to it that it didn’t bother me, but it was definitely in poor taste.

  Appearing back home, I made my way to the study. Fu was out, exploring a bit with one of my disguised clones. I was really grateful towards the Hokage, and not having to force her to stay in one place. Even I got a bit stir crazy with how much time I spent here. Although that might be because it was compounded by the memories of hundreds of clones.

  The next day passed rather uneventfully. Another simple D-Rank. And the same the next day. The difference was that now it was Friday, so when we finished our mission, I went to get Fu.

  “I’m nervous…” she said after she regained her bearings from the teleport. She was just sort of standing there, looking around.

  I pat her back. “Everything’s fine. Mikoto-san is great. You’re gonna have fun, and you’ll get some new friends. Probably.”

  She looked at me a moment before sighing. “Yeah. Okay. I’m just worried about meeting a bunch of people.”

  I nodded as I continued patting her back. “If they’re not nice, kick their ass.”

  That got a snort out of her and she smiled a bit, nodding. “Right, I can do that.”

  “Exactly.” I gave her another firm pat on the back before walking towards the main building. I paused just before actually going up towards the door, turning to Fu. “In all seriousness… You really don’t have anything to worry about. As I said, these are the same people that accepted me. Everything will be fine.”

  She smiled a bit and then nodded.

  The two of us walked up to the door and I knocked. After a moment, Sasuke answered with that signature frown. “What took you so long?”

  “I had to get Fu,” I said with a slight scoff, stepping around him to remove my boots.

  Fu gave a slight bow. “Thank you for having me.”

  He just grunted before talking out back into the house.

  “Don’t mind him, he’s like that with everyone,” I said as I removed my cloak, folding it up.

  “Yeah he seems a bit uh…” She paused, trying to think of the right word.

  “Grumpy? Broody? Emo?” I suggested, a rather large smile on my face.

  She giggle. “Broody sounds right.”

  “He is. Especially since his girlfriend is here.” I glanced around, noting Sakura’s sandals.

  Fu blinked at me. “Girflriend?”

  “Well, she wishes that she was. And I think Ino does, too?” I shrugged. “I dunno, haven’t really been paying attention.”

  Both of us started to make our way down the hall towards the kitchen. “Will that be a problem?” she asked, looking around as if expecting to hear shouting or something.

  “Not for us. Especially if they start getting on Mikoto’san’s nerves,” I said with a bit of a shudder. She is usually quite mellow, but when she got upset… “Well, hopefully there won't be any bloodshed.”

  Before she had a chance to question if I was serious, we got to the kitchen. “Oh, Naruto, there you are.” Mikoto was there, already cooking. Sakura was also helping, though it seemed she had been relegated to watching a pot. “And this must be your friend.” She had a large smile on her face as she came over.

  “Yes, this is Fu,” I said as I gestured to her.

  Fu bowed. “Thank you for having me.”

  “Oh my. This one has manners,” she said as she bowed slightly in return. “It’s a pleasure to have you. I’ve honestly been quite excited to meet all of Naruto and Sasuke’s friends.”

  “Of course, Mikoto-san.” I looked into the kitchen for a moment. “Do you need any help?”

  She smiled. “Oh, I’d love some. Come. Does your friend want to help as well?” she asked, looking back at Fu.

  “Sure,” I said, pulling the girl into the kitchen. “I’m teaching her how to cook, so this would be a great opportunity.”

  All of us began to help. Mostly I was just doing prep work as Fu and Sakura watched Mikoto do the work. Sakura wasn’t a bad cook as far as I could remember, her and Ino tried to win Sasuke over with food at one point but they both failed when they included tomatoes. That boy has such simple tastes. Finding out from Mikoto that his favorite food was onigiri with okaka was hilarious.

  And from the looks of what his mother was preparing, that dish was amongst them. Leaning over to Sakura, I gave her a slight nudge. She glared at me a moment before I pointed at the rice balls. “Mikoto-san said that those are Sasuke’s favorite.”

  She blinked a few times, and immediately asked Mikoto what Sasuke’s favorite food was. To which she explained the onigiri that she always made.

  It wasn’t that I was trying to be a sort of wing man to Sakura… I just liked watching Sasuke squirm.

  Did that make me a bad person? Maybe.

  But it was funny.

  Everyone else showed up all at once, much to Sasuke’s annoyance. He had become the doorman, and we all moved to the backyard to let Mikoto and Kurenai cook. We were near a window to the kitchen so the two could listen in while I introduced them all to Fu.

  “Alright.” I clapped to get everyone’s attention. “This is my friend Fu. She’s a refugee, staying here in Konohakakure, and will be joining us as a Kunoichi next year when she’s exited probation.”

  “A foreign-nin, eh?” Choji commented. “That’s pretty neat.”

  Ino glared at him a moment before looking back, a smile on her face. “I’m Ino Yamanaka, this is Choji, and Shikamaru.” She gestured to the two standing beside her. “That’s Hinata, and Shino.”

  Fu bowed to them, clearly still quite nervous at meeting so many new people. “I’m Fu, a refugee ninja from Takigakure.” Hinata was the only one that actually bowed in return.

  Ino was quick to integrate her with herself and Hinata, clearly excited to have another girl in the friend group. Sakura didn’t count. Which was funny to me as I watched Sakura once again attempting to talk to Sasuke as he just grumpily stared at all the intruders in his home.

  My attention immediately snapped to the conversation Fu was having, “-appeared out of nowhere, and he started demanding they left.”

  Ino whistled. “Not every guy would go against an army for someone else.”

  “I’d fight an army for any of you,” I said proudly, puffing my chest up a bit. “That’s what it means to be my friend. Armies, villages, threats of any sort. Nothing would stop me from protecting the people I care about.” I made sure to look directly at Hinata as I spoke, getting some amusement as my words made her face turn redder and redder.

  “I would say you were just boasting, but after watching you fight…” Fu’s voice trailed off as everyone looked at her, and then at me.

  “Wait, did you actually fight an army?” Choji asked, his brow furrowing.

  I just shrugged, but Fu enthusiastically nodded and excitedly started talking, “Yeah. He used this super cool technique, and was flashing around the entire field dropping ninja like they were nothing! What was that technique, anyways?”

  “Raijin Domain,” I said, smiling a bit. “It’s an advanced use of the Flying Raijin.”

  There was a sudden clatter from the kitchen and I looked over to see Kurenai staring at me. Which was when I realized that she probably didn’t know that I knew that technique. Or maybe she was shocked at hearing I fought an army? Hard to say.

  “It’s not like I beat them, I just forced them to retreat,” I said with a shrug.

  “Yeah!” Fu said, nodding. “It was so cool. Especially fighting that… What's her name?”

  I snorted slightly. “Her name is Kurotsuchi.”

  “The Tsuchikage’s granddaughter?!” Kurenai suddenly shouted. “You fought the Tsuchikage’s granddaughter?! Please tell me you didn’t hurt her.”

  My brow furrowed slightly as I thought about that punch I gave her. “I think I might have cracked one of her ribs? Probably just bruised them.”

  “You also stabbed her twice,” Fu added helpfully.

  I snapped my fingers, pointing at her. “Right. Also stabbed her. That’s why they retreated.”

  “That… Oh Kami you’re going to start another war…” the woman muttered in disbelief.

  I snorted. “Yeah that’s not happening. They’d have to admit that an entire battalion got their butts kicked by a single genin, because they attacked a village unprovoked and were attempting to kidnap a-” I abruptly stopped, looking at Fu who clearly didn’t want me to say it and was shaking her head. I cleared my throat. “Kidnap a foreign ninja.”

  “Why would they do that?” Hinata asked, looking at Fu, who turned away.

  “Doesn’t matter,” I said, waving my hand. “Point is, they won’t do anything. Even if they just wanted reparations, they’re too prideful. And Kurotsuchi would throw a fit if she doesn’t get a rematch.”

  “You sound really sure about that,” Shikamaru suddenly asked. “How sure are you of that?”

  I tilted my head to the side slightly as I thought about it. “I mean, pretty positive. They were grumpy about it, but they retreated pretty easily. Pretty sure I didn’t kill any of them” What I didn’t say was that if they’re going to retaliate against anyone, it’s probably going to be that village. That felt like a bit too much to bring up.

  Everyone was just kind of staring at me.

  “What? We’re ninja. We fight people, and sometimes those people die,” I said, getting a bit defensive.

  “I mean, yeah. But… Naruto, you fought an army,” Ino said, her brow furrowed.

  “And I’d do it again if they were trying to take any of you away.” I felt a bit annoyed at how they were acting. I understood what they were trying to get at, but what they didn’t seem to understand is the consequences of what Iwa was doing, which was partially because of Fu’s status.

  Before anyone else had a chance to speak up, Fu actually spoke, “It’s because I’m a Jinchuriki.” Her voice was rather quiet but it was easily heard.

  There was a moment of silence before Ino nodded. “Okay, yeah that makes sense. Definitely worth potentially starting a war with Iwa to keep them from getting another tailed beast, even if she wasn’t your friend.”

  “Yeah, can’t really fault that,” Choji added, nodding.

  “Troublesome… but worth the risk,” Shikamaru said with an over exaggerated sigh.

  I looked back into the kitchen at the two older women. “Yes, the Hokage knows. And we’re trying to keep as few people as possible from finding out, so I’m going to really have to beg that the two of you say nothing.” I had no doubt Mikoto wouldn’t say anything, but I was only fairly certain Kurenai wouldn’t talk about it.

  “Of course. This is a matter of village security,” the woman in question assured me, smiling a bit. “We don’t want our enemies to find out that we have another Jinchuriki.”

  “I’m more concerned about the village,” I said bluntly. “I was born here, to their own Fourth Hokage, and they treated me like I personally murdered their family. I don’t want to see how they would treat a foreigner.”

  The smile on her face melted away quite quickly at those words. “Right…”

  After dropping that in Kurenai, I went back to focusing on the conversations the others were having. Just like I thought, they immediately accepted Fu. Just as I had thought they would. And dinner was really good. There was quite a lot, even with so many people. I had a feeling that Mikoto had thought there would be more, but her son didn’t actually have any friends. Sakura and I were the closest thing he had, and we were more just teammates.

  We brought quite a bit of food home, and Mikoto had insisted Fu come join us for dinners, as well as everyone else. Ino and Sakura looked like they were about to fight over why the other shouldn’t come to dinner, but out came the classic Mikoto glare and both of them shut up.

  It was a nice evening, and a lot of the stress that Fu had been carrying seemed to have melted away somewhat.

  And I was woken up the next morning by even better news. A certain old bridge builder had just entered Konoha.