Chapter 10

One Year Later…

Naruto Uzumaki had changed in the fifteen months since his exile from Konoha. He'd put on some wiry muscle mass, his features had become more slender, his hair longer and was now tied back in a ponytail.

His features hinted at the fox as his ears now had slight points to them, his whisker marks were deeper and his canine teeth were a bit longer.

He'd even allowed Mica to add black highlights to his hair one night when they were bored while Master Kwai was off playing shogi.

Since the day of fighting the bandits, Naruto spent more time training, his mental capacity increased as he learned through meditation and the use of Kage Bunshins. He'd originally planned on having a hundred clones read Master Kwai's library, till Kyu scolded him.

(Flashback)

"Kit, that's not a good idea. Your mind is a mess. Till you clean up in here, I wouldn't do that."

"Well, how the hell do I do that Kyu?" Naruto said. he was once more outside the seal and hooked around the sewer that was his mindscape.

"There are techniques I will teach you. They will help you when I start teaching you the way of the Zate-nin later on." Kyuubi said.

"You ever going to tell me more about that?" Naruto asked as he got comfortable in a lotus position.

"When you're ready. You can't run before you learn to walk kit. Your time with Kwai has done wonders for your ninjutsu and taijutsu. Your work with the dragon hanyou has cleaned up years of neglect on your chakra control."

"Would you stop calling Mica a hanyou? He's not a demon." Naruto said.

"(snort) Kit, he's at least one-fourth demon blood in his veins. He may be several generations down, but it's there, just like that freak that worked for the snake-teme. Kabuto, the one that nearly killed you and your adopted granny."

Naruto remembered that battle. The chakra strike to his heart would have nearly killed him if not for Tsunade's determination and Kyuubi pushing a large amount of chakra into the wound to form a chakra bandage until Tsunade was able to save him.

"Now, once we organize your thoughts, I'm going to teach you an ancient form of protection to shield your mind from nin like that Yamanaka."

"From Ino? Why, other than the obvious." Naruto asked.

"Kit, there are beings out there that are strong psi. they have abilities that make some of the stuff you ninja look like idiots for going about it the hard way." Kyuubi said.

"Now, to clear your mind…"

(End Flashback)

Once his mind had been cleaned and organized, he'd learned how to alter his mental landscape. It no longer was a sewer, instead, it was the streets of Konoha and the surrounding forest.

The Kyuubi's cage was gone as well, instead, the fox was allowed to roam, but the seal was now a collar around the Fox's neck, the seal etched into the metal band.

Naruto's use of Kage Bunshin's to learn was only three at a time and he'd dispel them an hour apart to prevent himself from a mental overload. He would then spend three hours in meditation with Kyuubi organizing them and putting them in mental scrolls in the center of his mind, the Hokage Tower, to which he'd added runes, in case anyone got through the mental maze and traps he'd designed.

And if they get past Kyu on top of that. Naruto thought with a chuckle. Kyuubi agreed to help protect his mind, should someone get past the traps and maze.

Another thing to change was Naruto's wardrobe.

Mica with the help of several of the villagers managed to get Naruto a new look and burn his old clothes. Naruto had to laugh remembering how his friend had done it.

(Flashback)

"Come on 'Ruto, a soak in the springs will ease up those muscles and we can meet Master Kwai in the village before the Harvest Celebration begins."

So Naruto stripped down to his boxers and slipped into the hot spring they'd found on the east side of the mountain. He was relaxing and was just about to put his head back when he saw his clothes floating in the air.

He'd turned and saw Mica smirk before the clothes went flying away and into the arms of several of the village youths.

"HEY!" Naruto cried out, standing up to give chase, only to have a gust of air slam into him and knock him over.

By the time he'd emerged from the air-assisted dunking, the kids were gone with his clothes.

"DAMN IT MICA!" Naruto rounded to find his friend standing away from the spring with a box hovering in the air.

"Enough, is enough, it's time for a change," Mica said.

"Master Kwai can get away wearing orange, he never leaves the mountain. You however stand out like a pervert at an onsen during women's day."

Naruto growled and Mica growled right back. "The villagers got together and made you these." He said putting the clothes down.

Naruto still in the water untied the string around the box and opened it.

There were brand new pants with orange stripes down the sides of the legs. He saw the pants had numerous pockets. There were new shirts, long and short sleeves, and Naruto smiled that while they were black there were orange tiger stripes around the ribs.

There were also new boots and fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back of the knuckles.

"And this is from me," Mica said drawing his attention. Hanging from a branch was a brand-new jacket. It was a rust orange that was dark, and on the back was the symbol for the fox merged with the spiral design of the Uzumaki clan.

Naruto looked at him speechless. He was unsure how to express his thanks and he swallowed the lump in his throat.

"They accept your kit. And those clothes are better than that orange monstrosity you wore." Kyu added his two ryo.

(End Flashback)

Naruto shook his head and looked over his shoulder. Mica too had changed a bit. His hair was longer, and his face was a bit more angular.

Right now he was playing on his dragon bone flute, his eyes closed as the melody washed over him and filled the air with its calming tunes.

Over the past fifteen months, the pair had learned a lot about sword techniques from Master Kwai, and while they couldn't beat him, they could force him back and push to a draw, as long as they worked together.

Naruto felt at peace, and of course, it was when he was at peace, that it seemed Kami liked to shake up his life.

"Naruto-san."

He turned to see Master Kwai coming towards him, a scroll in his hand.

"I need to discuss things with you and Mica-san. First I have found something that will allow Kyu out of the seal so he may begin his teachings…however, it is not without cost."

Naruto looked at the Shaolin and waited.

"It would cost you and Mica-san something."

The melody of the flute stopped and Mica rose from where he'd been sitting under the tree in Master Kwai's garden and he approached.

"What would it cost exactly?" Mica asked.

"For Naruto, it would cost him some chakra." Master Kwai said and both boys exchanged a glance.

"Well, that doesn't sound too bad," Naruto said. "I have a lot of that."

"Indeed, nearly limitless now." Kwai agreed. His wizened eyes then turned towards Mica. "For you, however, the cost would be much greater. You kekkei genkai, the blood fire you got from your father. To use this spell it would be sacrificed as the main payment."

Naruto swallowed and looked at Mica. "Don't. we'll find another way." He said to his silver-haired friend.

"Or we won't," Mica said in thought. "Was that all you were able to find in the book of Ramhu?" he asked their mentor.

"Hai. The only other option would be…(sigh) It would take sacrificing a large group of people to perform a temporal jump. That isn't very precise or described. The author warned that it could result in the user's death."

Naruto shook his head.

"I'll do it," Mica said.

"NANI?" Naruto spun and looked at his friend. "Why?"

Mica looked at him. "Kyuubi has much to teach you, and me. If it costs me a kekkei genkai that I could care less about, then so be it. I still have my bloodline from my mother's side. I'm more comfortable with that." Mica told him, his golden eyes fixing on Naruto, begging him to let him do this to help.

Naruto looked at Kwai. "What will this do to Kyu-san?" he asked the Shaolin monk.

"He will still be in you, but he will be able to be summoned out as a shade," Kwai explained. "While he is out, you will be sharing your chakra with him." Master Kwai explained.

Kyu? What do you think? Naruto asked.

"Kit, if this works…I've seen what shades can do, and I won't need chakra once I'm out, I should be able to use Vunla, so I won't put a drain on you."

And you will explain Zate-nin's and Vunla in better detail, right? Naruto asked.

"Of course kit. To both you and the young dragon you." Kyuubi said.

STOP calling him a hanyou, please.

"Very well kit. Thank…Mica for his sacrifice and tell Kwai we'll do this as soon as he's ready."

"Master Kwai," Naruto said getting the monk's attention. "Kyu says we can begin whenever you're ready."

He then looked at Mica. "And he says thank you for the sacrifice of your kekkai genkai."

Mica shrugged. "It helps us both in the end."

Naruto nodded. "You know, in Konoha, they would throw a fit if they heard about losing a bloodline like that."

"Well, it's a good thing only you and the old man knew about it before I left then," Mica said. he turned back to Master Kwai. "What will we need to do?"

Konoha…

Tsunade sighed as she read over the reports from the border patrol. In the past year, bandit sightings have dropped and reports that small villages have found someone to protect them.

One of the reports sounded like it was Naruto and some kid with silver hair. She thought as she looked over another scroll.

"Shizune." She called out and her brunette apprentice came in with a stack of files. "You have a meeting this morning with the new village council, and your afternoon session with the remaining Hyuga members with Jiraiya in the alteration of the caged bird seal." She said.

"Yes, yes. Where's that report from the hunter nin's? Why haven't they caught Danzo or his ROOT members yet?"

Shizune sighed. "They went to ground. Reports came in that Danzo was seen in Otogakure. We sent in an assassination squad, but they never reported back." Shizune said as she shuffled folders.

Tsunade sighed. "Any sign of Naruto by any of the patrols or teams on missions?" she asked as it had become her daily ritual since the blond exile fifteen months ago.

"Sorry no," Shizune said sadly.

Tsunade looked at the file before her. There were less than twenty members of the Hyuga clan left. Hanabi while recognized as the heir now deferred judgment to a pair of branch members, Cho Hyuga and Li Su Hyuga. The two older women advised the young girl and so far the Hyuga were recovering.

Hinata had removed herself from her clan after that day. The day she rained vengeance down upon her clan for what they'd done. ANBU had waited outside the compound and killed those who tried to escape. The ones that Neji had removed were the only Hyuga left alive after that day.

"The altered seal blocks the theft of the Byakugan, but it can't be used for punishment anymore." Jiraiya had told her after he'd made the alterations to Neji's seal first under the watchful eyes of Hinata that day.

Tsunade shook her head. "Jiraiya's recovered from Hinata's vengeance then?" she asked her assistant and friend.

"Hai. The paralysis wore off and he's able to gather chakra once more."

Tsunade had been furious when she learned about Jiraiya's teaching method. Sadly, Hinata had heard her yelling and once she touched Jiraiya and saw it she'd unloaded on him.

"Where is Hinata this morning?" she asked.

Shizune smirked. "I think…."

A scream from across the village could be heard, and Shizune continued as if nothing had happened, "She's working with a Genin about reading pornography in public."

Tsunade smirked. Over the past year, Hinata had gone out of her way to make Kakashi Hatake's life a living hell.

On top of burning his collection of prized Icha Icha books, Hinata would as the Hokage's apprentice pick a sparing partner. Kakashi had lost the use of his Sharingan in the first spar. Tsunade had been able to replace the damaged eye with a normal brown eye.

Hinata seemed to pick up Naruto's pranking habits as Kakashi would appear around the village after a resulting explosion. One time his hair looked like a rainbow. Another time his clothes were dyed neon pink, and no one would sell clothes to him.

His mask had been taken and Kakashi had spent weeks running away from village women and several shinobi chased after him asking for dates, marriage, or just outright sex.

Someone had spiked Kakshi's food with peanut butter and he'd broken out in a body-wide rash. (Someone (guess who) had checked his medical records and found out he was allergic to peanut butter.)

"Wonder what she's done to him this time," Shizune said as she continued to sort files.

"It's taking her a lot of time to go through his memories. He had a memory block on him for his time as an ANBU and she's slowly chipping away at it." Tsunade said. "And I think she mentioned something about his summons needing a workout."

In the distance, they could hear a lot of dogs barking.

"How does she do that?" Shizune wondered.

"NO, NO, NOT THERE! NOT THERE! PAKKUUUUUUUNNN!!!!"

Tsunade shook her head. "I think she promised Pakkun steak dinner. As for how she deals with the summons, I think that's part of the spirit's domain. I've seen her with my slugs and Jiraiya's toads on several occasions and I didn't summon them, nor show her how. I checked the contract and she isn't listed either."

The pair worked on the pile of paperwork. "You know, if I didn't know better I'd say paperwork is a curse of some kind. It never goes away and it always multiplies." Tsunade said.

Shizune smiled. Since Hinata had become Tsunade's apprentice, the Hokage had become more lighthearted and drank less. She looked out the window and sent a silent prayer.

Kami, please bring Naruto-kun back. If not for Lady Tsunade, then for Hinata. She's becoming more of a beautiful young woman, and she's doing it for him.

"…port?"

"I'm sorry Lady Tsunade, I must have zoned out, what was that?" Shizune asked looking embarrassed.

"I asked for the medical report on Sakura."

Shizune nodded and looked through her stack.

"Inochi says that she's finally responding to treatments, but it's slow going. He will walk her through her life and it will take time as they put her mind back together after Hinata's Penance Stare."

Tsunade sighed. "Tell him to keep on it. We'll see if we can recover her, but she backslides then next time she pisses off Hinata over Naruto I won't be looking for ways to help her."

"She's lucky she was left alive," Shizune said. "Oh, reports also on Sasuke. There was a spike in brain activity recently."

Tsunade glared. "Post a pair of ANBU outside his room. If that little shit wakes up I plan on putting him on trial for abandoning the village stunt he pulled."

Tsunade looked out the window for a moment.

"Are you going to do something about the borders near Oto and Iwa?"

"We'll discuss that in council. Have Shikamaru come up with some tactics."

"And you are meeting with the kunoichi from Suna?" Shizune asked.

Tsunade sighed. "Gaara's sister." She made a note on a scroll herself. "Have her speak with Shikamaru. They seem to get along well."

Tsunade thought as she looked at the stack of paperwork on her desk.

"Did this pile get bigger when I blinked?" she asked Shizune who looked at it and scratched her cheek and wondered the same thing.

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