Rewards and The Future

The next morning, I left the hospital. I'm not sure how George got in last night, but he also got out too, so that's a plus. Before I left, though, I made sure to visit Kakashi and Jiraiya who were also tenets. Jiraiya was poisoned by Orochimaru but was fine. I am 100% sure he was just hamming it up so that one of Tsunade's apprentice nurses, another cameo, Shizuka Marikawa, would tend to him. I guess I can expect a nurse addition to the Icha Icha series.

I after deciding it was best to let Jiraiya have his moment, so I moved on to Kakashi. He was in much worse shape. Deidara had caught him with an explosive clay blast and nearly took his arm, though Kakashi turned around and snipped off one of Deidara's arms in return with his Kamui. I gave him a Senzu with the whole 'these are my clan treasures' speel to have him keep his mouth shut and he said he would leave the hospital later that day after he finished reading. The only good part about getting my ass kicked was that I got to see Kakashi's face. Turns out it's just a normal face. Sure his lips were a bit chapped and thin, but otherwise, he looked unbelievably average. I was underwhelmed, much to my senior's amusement.

The casualties at the camp weren't bad, since all of our elites were busy tying up the Akatsuki, the normal ninja only had to deal with Sasori, who doesn't kill people instantly but relies on poison. While the number of shinobi who had been poisoned by Sasori wasn't small, Shizune was able to quickly create an antidote once Minato evacuated everyone.

That was another thing to be grateful for. When I was knocked out due to chakra exhaustion, Minato arrived and evacuated everyone. Apparently, when my FTG messages stopped coming, he came back to check on Kushina. She was fine, but he was able to move most of the wounded back to Konoha.

After I was done, Jugo and Haku came to help me check out. Apparently, Minato wanted to talk with me about the incident and have me debrief him, so the moment I stepped out of the building, an anbu appeared with the summons.

'Damn! Don't they have anything better to do than wait around for me? Give me a break, I'm not a videogame character who can go on mission after mission with no time to rest in between.

Now that I think about it, this must be the real reason Kakashi and Jiraiya stayed, even though they were fine.' I think to myself.

...

As I walked into the Hokage's office with Jugo and Haku, I was greeted by Minato who had Honoka at his side. There weren't any shadow clones doing paperwork like the last few times I came by, so I was a little surprised. Itachi also wasn't present, so he must be on a mission.

"Wr have arrived as per your summons, Hokage-sama," I said.

"Good. At ease," Minato said as he smirked a bit before returning to his neutral expression. "Haruka, on your last mission to Hoshigakure, your team was assigned to improve diplomatic relations and increase our ally's fighting strength while fighting off any attacks by our enemy, the Village Hidden in the Stone. Despite the rapidly escalating situation, you and your team performed admirably and were able to subdue a perfect Jinchuriki alongside Fugaku Uchiha before he could transform into his Full Tailed Beast State. You ferried messages quickly an efficiently between Hoshigakure and Konoha and ensuring the safety of not just my son, but the daughter of the Kazekage. You also personally delayed an S Ranked Ninja from causing chaos in our camp during a surprise attack which kept the casualties to a minimum. For your team's actions, I am promoting you to the rank of Jonin of the Hidden Leaf Village. Haku and Jugo will also receive a promotion to the rank of Tokubetsu Jonin, since they have the combat skill of Jonin combatants, but have yet to demonstrate the required tactical planning and leadership abilities you have." He said.

(A/N: For those who don't know, Tokubetsu Jonin, also called Special Jonin, is like a half-rank between Chunin and Jonin, where the person has Jonin-level skill in a certain area but is less overall effective than regular Jonin. It is similar to Waren Officer ranks in modern militaries. Anko, Ibiki Morino (the torture guy), and Ebisu are all this rank.)

I was a little shocked by this sudden development. Sure, I was more skilled than your average jonin and I could run circles around someone like Anko in combat so long as I didn't do anything stupid, but I had assumed it would take more than one mission for my team to be promoted as high as we were. I was expecting Chunin for all of us, but skipping that rank entirely wasn't something I even considered.

Then again, we are on the cusp of a world war, so promotions like these were bound to happen to bolster Konohas forces. In peace times, I probably would have only become a Tokubetsu Jonin, while Haku and Jugo would have become Chunin.

Honoka walked up to us with the green Konoha shinobi Flak Jackets that only chunin and join are allowed to wear in her hands. After she gave them to Haku, Jugo, and me, I was given three scrolls.

"Those scrolls contain your reward for the mission. A deed to a plot of land near the Senju compound for you to build the new Kaguya Clan compound. The ceremonial scroll of the Jonin, which you can use to access more restricted information in the archives, and my own personal thank you gift for protecting my wife. It's my improved version of the [Flying Thunder God], with a much more reduced chakra cost. Additionally, each member of your team will be receiving 500,000 Ryo and three days off to recuperate." Minato said as he smiled softly at me.

"Thank you for your generosity Hokage-sama!" I said, almost yelling in excitement, as I bowed. Haku and Jugo also bowed with a "Thank You" as well.

"Haaa... I know I said you'd be a Jonin by the end of the year, but it's only been a week." Honoka said acting exasperated, but a smile never left her face.

...

When we arrived at the Senju compound in our Konoha Flak Jackets all hell broke loose. The grannies of the clan began hugging us and yelling their congratulations. I couldn't walk more than two steps before I was assaulted by another hug with congratulations and kisses on my cheeks. Moegi, Konohamaru, and Udon were also there, with Konohamaru yelling that he would surpass me, while Udon and Moegi backed him up.

When we finally arrived home, Tsunade and Shizune had set up a whole party waiting for us. Everyone was there, Naruto, Megumin, Sasuke, Shino, Saya, Choji, Ino, etc. So we did what we did best and we partied all night long. Tsunade was getting drunk just before noon and we eventually ended up dancing about merrily in the middle of the hallway, while Shizune and Hikari made the food.

Naruto and Saya were running about throwing confetti everywhere while Sasuke has chased around by Sakura and Megumin who were trying to put cat ears on him. Jugo and Kiba were duking it out in 'Kage Fighter IV' while Amaru was pretending to be an announcer and giving the room a play-by-play. Shikamaru was being forced into pretending to be co-commentator and Choji was munching on some popcorn that had mysteriously appeared somewhere. Haku, Hinata, and Guren were huddled together, listening to gossip from Karin at the table.

It was a weird sensation for me. I had never had such a big party thrown in my honor before. Sure Haku and Jugo were also there, but neither of them were big social butterflies either, so the fact that dozens of people were all happily cheering and singing while partying with us was a nice experience. During my previous life no one had ever shown such an interest in something so seemingly trivial as a promotion, hell there were birthdays when I was a teenager in my previous life when I had to buy my own birthday cakes since no one was there to celebrate with me. For the first time since I came to this world, I laughed whole heartily and swore to myself not just to become strong, but to protect the smiles of everyone in the room.

Tsunade pulled me out of my self-reflections when she dragged me to the table in a hurry. Shizune and Hikari had just begun to lay out the feast and Tsunade wanted to get all of the Edamame before Jugo, who loved the stuff.

We partied all day long, with a number of the grannies from the compound who dropped by with their own little dishes so there was always more food and fun to be had. Even a few Uzumaki members and Hitomi showed up. At the end of it, we were all sprawled out across the house snoozing into the afternoon. George was walking around with a lampshade on his head and Akamaru and Tonton were using Tsunde's breasts as pillows after she passed out.

I sat out on the patio, looking out into the garden, letting the cool breeze flow past me. The warm evening sun illuminated the sky in a deep golden color. For the first time in both of my lives, I was content. I had my family resting lazily behind me, I was rich, and I was now a Jonin in the Hidden Leaf. I looked to my left to see Guren walking towards me before silently sitting beside me and resting her head upon my shoulder.

"Today was fun." She said.

"Yeah, I had a blast. Thanks for doing this."

"Don't be" she said, looking off into the distance. "Thank you, Haruka. For bringing me to a place where I can belong."

"No problem," I say as she reaches for my head and aligns it with hers. She pulls me into a quick kiss that seems to last for a long time, but probably only lasted a few seconds before she breaks it off. Her face is deep crimson, and she puts her head into my chest to hide her embarrassment.

Seeing this, I feel the overwhelming urge to hug her, so I choose to give in this time. We sit there, in the evening sun, not saying a word to one another as we embrace until we drift off to sleep.

...

...

...

It is the next day and Tsunade and I are training together to increase my control over my bone release. When I attacked Hiruko last time, I was aiming for cool points and let my guard down, then I was too stunned by the pain of my fingers breaking to remember that I could just eject the broken bones and grow new ones. It was already a testament to my striking speed and force as well as to the ridiculous defenses of steel release, that my nearly-as-hard-as-steel bones broke upon impact in the first place, but the fact that I allowed the shock to stun me into being in such a vulnerable position is what truly upset me.

Well, that and the fact that I could have won if I didn't leave my [Infernal Nighttime Dragon] because I was weebing out too much.

Tsunade was helping me train my lightning release so that I could apply it to my bone swords and increase penetration power. I already knew that I wanted revenge and that Hiruko wanted my body so he could use his Chimera technique on me, so another confrontation was inevitable. I needed a way to get through his steel release skin and this was the only way.

"I'm not really so good with using weapons, but from what I've seen, you seem to have gotten the hang of it, she says as she looks over my progress. I was practicing the ability to run lightning chakra through the bone spike coming out of my palm. It's effectively a Chidori with increased power, due to the fact that it's backed up with an actual spike rather than a jab. Plus, there is no need for me to put my fingers at risk again since this bone isn't connected to my nervous system and I won't feel pain if it breaks. Finally, if Pokemon has taught me anything, Lightning Types are strong against Metal Types, so this should be able to pierce his defenses.

Normally, I wouldn't have Tsunade help me with this, but I also wanted her to hit my fingers and break them so I could get practice healing from them. She was skeptical at first, but after my cries of pain and rolling around on the floor, she became more eager to help. I think I might have awoken something within her too because she was flushed and breathing heavily while she watched me suffer.

Damn.

...

So after the morning tortur- I mean training session, I surveyed the land I was given the Deed to. I must say that it isn't bad, but being heavily forested, it would be expensive to remove enough trees to create a clan compound, so I decided to just create a mansion in the center and walls to surround the outer edges. I even asked for a small stable for George. This will leave me with several hundred square meters where houses are supposed to sit, as free areas I can use to train.

I hire a firm run by an architect named Takumi Mayama to design the compound. I am not 100% sure, but I swear he is a cameo from somewhere, I just don't remember where. Either way, he agrees to build the mansion, stable, and the walls, but he says that with the war coming, he was limited supplies and manpower, so it will take him about a year before it is complete.

That's fine with me because that just means I will be living with Tsunade and the others for longer, which I don't mind. I also find out a few things about Konoha property laws. Apparently, only Jonin are allowed to buy land and everyone else just rents it from the Civilian Council which is run by a bunch of old and retired Jonin. They bought most of the land in the center of the village decades ago and rented it out. That's why they have so much power despite not being from clans, because they can simply make any non-clan member who is a ninja or civilian homeless if they go against them.

Internal Politics aside, I announced the planned mansion, with its steep 65,000,000 Ryo price tag, to the others and Tsunade became grumpy. She blew out her cheeks and pouted in an anime style which I thought was adorable. Apparently, she didn't like the fact that I would be moving away in a year's time. Even though she could walk to my home in under a minute if she wanted, but I guess she has gone into 'big sister mode', so she can't see reason.

Shizune is a lot more understanding and even went through the paperwork with me to check and make sure I wasn't getting scammed. Hikari even offered to become my official housemaid when it was built if I let her and Karin live their rent-free, to which I agreed. Since Jugo took my clan name, I will let him stay at my home as well and create a house for him in the future.

After that was seen to, I began to study the archives area of the Konoha library. Most of the information I received was of no importance, just files on missing ninja, a few high-level jutsu like the multi-shadow clone jutsu, and even old declassified anbu reports, though they were obviously heavily redacted.

I began to look through everything there is to know about the places from canon and filler. I found research notes on the Hole, Roran, the 'destroyed' Land of the Sky, the Land of Snow, and other such things. I even come up with a plan to collect pieces of technology from around the world before the war starts.

'The flying tech of the land of the Sky, the chakra armor of the Land of Snow, and powered by Stones of Gelel, would be extremely formidable, making even the least capable Genin and making them into almost Jonin-level in terms of stats alone.' I thought as I made my way out of the archieves.

Right now, Iwa, Suna, Konoha, and Kumo are all working at a fevered pace to get the backlog of missions done before the war because they can't be done during it, so we have entered into a "Phony War" that would last for a few weeks. Normally, having a backlog of missions is a good thing, since the Kage can pick and choose missions to get done by which teams. Sometimes, they like to send teams who have a lot of potential on missions that are slightly higher than their given level to test them, or send high-level teams on easy missions as a form of 'light vacation' but now, they began rushing, making sure every mission on the backlog is complete.

Team 7 has taken the Crescent Moon Kingdom Mission, so I assume the events of the movie will be the same, though with Sasuke in Rock Lees place. Team 9 has taken the Kurosuki Family Removal Mission and I asked Haku to go with them. I told her that I had a bad feeling about it, but I remember that one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, Raiga Kurosuki is there with a kid named Ranmaru. While he is weak enough to be defeated by a team of genin in the original filler episodes, in reality, he should be at least an A-Rank Threat, similar to Zabuza, so having Haku back up Yamato is probably a good idea.

After learning all I needed to, I made my way to the Hokage's office. I had a mission together with Team 11 in the Land of Waves. In addition to protecting Tazuna like in the original, I was given the extra mission to eliminate Gato. It was suspected by Konoha's anbu that Gato was hiding a large chakra ore vein somewhere in the country, and that ore would be invaluable to Konoha's War efforts in the future, so Minato wanted me to tag along and search for it while we were on the mission.

'Well, at least I get to replenish my coffers at the expense of a crime boss rather than having to work for a living' I thought to myself.