Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The darkness that surrounded the area was dense, but that wasn't important as the two individuals that were standing there didn't care. Both were standing in front of a shrine, staring menancly at one another.

One of the individuals was a tall and noticeably muscular man with light grayish skin, short spiky black hair, dark brown eyes, and small eyebrows. He was wearing bandages like a mask over the bottom half of his face. He was shirtless, with his chest only covered by a belt, wearing baggy pants with the striped pattern typical of Kirigakure and mimetic wrist-warmers extending up to his elbows, with matching leg-warmers. But the most noticeable thing about the individual was the weapon in his hand, a large broadsword, as tall as a full-grown man, shaped like a butcher knife.

The other individual was a young boy that had his face covered by a porcelain mask which was fashioned to resemble a toad orange markings on the cheeks. He wore black jumpsuit , metal arm guards and gloves, ninja sandals and a black cloak over the outfit. But what really stood out the most about him, was the weapon in his hand, a strange looking sword hilt that mimicked the symbol of the Senju Clan.

The boy wearing the mask held the hilt up and to his opponent's surprise, a strange looking energy blade that glowed bright white and was apparently infused with pure electrical energy emanated from the hilt.

"Come on then." His opponent called out for him as he assumed a combat stance with his own blade.

With that invitation, the boy charged at him and leaped forward, swinging his blade dowards at him. Upon impact, the man was sent sliding backwards as a result of the immense raw strength that came from that attack.

But the man stood tall and delivered an attack of his own, swinging his massive blade horizontally towards his opponent.

Only for the boy to easily dodge by ducking before he performed a spin attack, missing his head by an inch due to him moving his head back to avoid the attack. Using the momentum to attempt a second attack, the masked boy easily blocked the attack with his sword.

Before he delivered a backfist strike to the man's face. "AHHH!" With the impact sending the man to the ground, sliding to a considerable distance.

Wasting no time, the boy held his blade in reverse grip and charged towards him, proceeding to jump into the air in order to stab the man from above with the sword. But the man simply rolled to the left, barely evading the attack. As the strange looking energy sword pierced the ground.

The man stood up and quickly resumed his stance.

"I'm disappointed." The boy commented as he pulled his blade from the ground. "I was expecting more from one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist ." He pointed in clear dissatisfaction. "It looks like that big sword is the only thing even remotely special about you, Zabuza Momochi." The man who he was battling was Zabuza Momochi, also known as, the Demon of the Hidden Mist.

"You know, I thought the exact same thing when I saw you." Zabuza pointed out. "That's the Sword of the Thunder God, isn't it?" He asked the boy, since that peculiar sword was hard to go unnoticed..

"Yes." He bluntly answered.

"That means you are who I think you are." Zabuza spoke as the rain fell over the two.

"Probably." The boy replied, before lifting his left hand up. With Zabuza widening his eyes as he sees the boy performing a single hand seal with a single hand. "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu" A flat hand with all fingers extended except the index finger, which is put under the thumb.

Once he did, he moulds the water from the rain drops into the shape of a dragon, which then he directs at his target. It was clearly shocking to Zabuza since this was a very complicated water Jutsu. The water dragon immediately charged towards Zabuza. With the Demon of the Hidden Mist barely having time to evade it by jumping to the side as the water dragon collided with the shrine.

Unfortunately, he didn't realize that it was simply a distraction and the moment he jumped out of the way. The boy jumped forward and gave him a jumping punch, which sent him flying all the way towards the shrine's door. Passing through it as soon as he collided, practically destroying the sacred place's door.

The boy then charged towards the door and made his way inside where he saw Zabuza standing up. The boy then charged towards him once again, with both starting to trade blows in a very brutal exchange. With Zabuza clearly being in the disadvantage as the boy not only possessed a very unique weapon but his Kenjutsu skills were clearly high-level. With him delivering lightning quick and heavily precise strikes that were accompanied by an immense amount of force that Zabuza was having trouble defending it from. Despite doing a decent job at first, it was clear that the boy had enough stamina to go all night long, while Zabuza was starting to lose speed at each defence. Not only that, but his sword was being damaged by the attacks from the Sword of the Thunder God as several chips were visible each time that their blades connected with one another.

Eventually, that made the difference. As the boy was able to find an opening and deliver a stab into Zabuza's torso, but the blade didn't pierced him, instead it released a strong electrical shock. "AAAAHHH!" Causing Zabuza to stumble backwards and nearly lose his footing, but he fought through and was able to resist it. Unfortunately, it left him open for an additional attack, which came in the form of several kicks in quick succession before finishing with a powerful kick that sent him flying away.

Only for the boy to once again, perform a hand seal with a single hand. " Wood Style: Giant Forest Jutsu." Which changed his arm into big trees with sharp stakes, turning them into countless, sharp, spear-like piercing weapons.

Zabuza saw that he was about to be on the receiving end of it and quickly used his massive blade to counter the attack, though, it only partially worked because some of the stakes actually did hit Zabuza, letting out a considerable amount of blood that fell into his blade, repairing from the damage that was made from the masked boy's attacks.

The boy's arm reversed back to normal and Zabuza landed back on the floor, bleeding considerably from the attack.

"Look," The masked boy decided to speak. "Just hand the Kubikiribōchō over and I'll let you go." In truth, all that the masked boy wanted from the Demon of the Hidden Mist was his sword.

"The only way you're taking this from me, is if you loot it off my corpse." Zabuza stated, clearly showing no intention of giving up the blade.

"If you insist." Yet again, he performed a hand seal with a single hand. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu." With him expelling a giant orb of fire from his mouth afterwards. Launching at the Demon of the Hidden Mist, who simply stood there, bleeding from the wounds that were just inflicted at him.

However, as the orb of fire was about to hit him...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Everything was interrupted by a strange flash of sunlight on his face. "Hmmm..." The boy grunted as it was too bright, covering his face with his arm to keep the sunlight off his eyes.

"Morning." And a voice accompanied the light on his face.

Causing the one who just woke up from the dream to immediately sit up and look around. He was inside of a nice looking room, decorated with well made furniture. Moving his head to the right, he caught the sight of someone familiar. A fair skinned, green eyed, and pink haired girl, wearing a red qipao dress with short sleeves with slits along the sides accompanied by a zipper and white circular designs. She was also wearing tight dark green shorts with blue sandals, and the standard Konoha forehead protector worn as a hairband . "Good morning, Sakura." The girl was Sakura Haruno.

"Sorry to wake you up, but I'm gonna have to leave soon." The pink haired girl informed him in an apologetic tone as she stood in front of the glass door that leads to the terrace outside.

In truth, the two of them were inside Sakura's room. With him sitting down on top of her bed wearing nothing but black boxers. She was nice enough to let him hide there and spend the night.

"Oh, of course." He immediately pulled the covers off and proceeded to leave her bed. "Aaahh..." Only to feel a considerable amount of pain on his torso.

"Hey!" Sakura rushed towards him. "I told you to take it easy." She helped him up gently and placed him on the bed once again. "You really should go to a hospital and have a Medical-nin take a look at that." The pink haired girl was clearly worried.

In truth, the one sitting on the bed had his torso covered in bandages due to an injury that he received. "I will... Later..." He replied while looking away. Honestly, I'm still a little confused, usually, it takes a day at most for my injuries to heal completely, but this one is taking longer than usual for some reason.

"Seiryu..." The one on the bed was called Seiryu . He was a very beautiful boy with waist-length white hair styled in a side parted fringe, dark eyes and fair skin.

"Listen, don't worry about me, I'm fine." Seiryu replied to the worried girl.

Only for her to sigh in clear frustration. "Seriously, going hunting for a Missing-In, what the hell were you even thinking?!" She asked him in visible anger of his very reckless action. "Everyone was worried sick about you!"

"You didn't tell anyone that I was back at the village, right?" Since no one actually knows it yet, despite the fact that the Hokage has clearly placed guards on watch for his return.

"No." She folded her arms. "But maybe I should have." Sakura was visibly just as annoyed as everyone else by the looks of it.

Seiryu just sighed in response before saying. "I knew I should have stayed in Sasuke's house." Despite knowing that he would have probably received an even worse scolding.

"What?!" Sakura clearly took offense over that. "You rather stay with him than with me!?"

"Right now, yes." Despite still feeling pain, Seiyru stood up from the bed and moved towards his clothes that were on the floor. Which were a white short shirt kimono with matching pants, hand guards, a black belt and black sandals. Some bandages that he likes to wrap around his fists, his Konoha forehead protector in the color black that he actually wears on his left wrist, and the First Hokage's Necklace.

Only for Sakura to stand in front of him with her arms folded. Giving him a very serious expression.

...

...

...

...

"Sakura..." Until that expression melted into a sad face.

"I was worried, okay?" The pink haired girl spoke in a low voice before she gently touched his chest and pressed herself against his torso. Seiryu was taller than her, so the height difference honestly made it easy.

"I'm sorry," And Seiryu wasted no time in hugging her. "I didn't mean to make you worried."

In truth, Seiryu wanted to avoid encountering his friends because he felt really bad for making them all worried like that. The only reason he went to stay at Sakura's home was because her parents were out of the village on a business trip and he knew that Sakura wasn't going to tell anyone that he was there.

As the two continued to hug each other tightly, a strange looking shadow appeared in the place where the sunlight was. Causing Seiryu to actually move his head to the right to see what it was. Only for him to widen his dark eyes as he saw someone at the terrace, staring at the two.

"I knew it!" The "someone" opened the door and stepped inside of the room. A fair-skinned girl with light blue eyes and long, platinum blonde hair with bangs framing the right side of her face.

"AH!" Sakura reacted accordingly. "Get the hell out of my house, Ino-Pig!" The one who entered the room was Ino Yamanaka.

"Happily, Forehead Girl!" Suddenly, Ino hugged Seiyru's right arm and said. "Come on, Seiryu?!" She clearly intended on taking Seiryu with her.

"What the hell?!" Sakura wasted no time in hugging Seiryu's other arm. "He isn't going anywhere!"

"Dammit, I knew you were going to get hurt." But Ino ignored Sakura and checked the bandages on his torso. "You should have come to my house instead." Hearing that caused Sakura to give her an even more hateful stare.

"Ummm...Your dad would have delivered me to the Hokage with no mercy." Since Ino's dad detested Seiryu.

"Well, he isn't home now." Ino really wanted to take Seiryu out of Sakura's home.

"Like hell he's going with you, I'm the one nursing him back to health!" Sakura stated as she hugged his arm even tighter. "How the hell did you know that he was here anyway?!" That was something that Seiryu wanted to know as well.

"Kiba said that Akamaru got his scent, and then I just knew it." Ino explained .

Dammit... That means that the others know, so it was just a matter of time before the rest of the village and the Hokage figured it out as well.

"You stupid moron, you probably lead them to him!" Sakura let go of Seiryu's arm and pointed her finger accusingly towards Ino's face.

"Which is why, he should just come with me, because they will be here at any minute!" She folded her arms and gave Sakura a smirk in response to her. "Right, Seiryu?" Only for the two girls to move their heads and realize that Seiyru was nowhere to be seen.

Because as they were arguing, Seiryu simply put his clothes back on and sneaked out through the terrace.

"WHERE DID HE GO?!"

After leaving the home of one of his closest female friends. Seiryu simply decided to just find another place to hide. That place was none other than his best friend's home. So he secretly made his way to the Uchiha Compound.

Letting out a loud sigh as he stepped inside that dreadful place. No doubt, the place looked decent at some point, but now it looked like nothing more than a barely habitable place. With buildings and houses that seemed to be in the blink of collapse. Some people were on the street, either trying to clean up the walls or eating something that didn't look good at all.

They all noticed Seiryu walking by and gave him strange looks. With Seiryu doing his best to avoid eye-contact. Part of me always wondered if they could tell or something like that. The Uchiha Clan didn't exactly have a pleasant story with his own clan.

It only took a short walk for him to arrive at his destination. It was simplistic but well kept home that stuck out like a sore thumb. Mostly because of how clean it was in comparison to the rest.

Is there anyone home? Seiryu asked himself, before he got his answer. "Ouch!" Which came in the form of someone grabbing on his ear.

Moving his head slightly to the left, the white haired boy saw a brown haired woman with bangs framing her face and onyx eyes, with a mole under her right eye. "Seiryu!" She angrily yelled his name.

"H-hi... Izumi." The woman's name was Izumi Uchiha.

"Get your butt inside the house, now!" She ordered as she harshly pulled him by the ear, forcing him to enter the Uchiha household.

"Ow, ow, ow!" With Seiryu whining in pain since his ears were his weak area.

The woman dragged him by the ear into the house, which had a simplistic and minimalist interior with little to no decoration. Seiryu was dragged all the way to the living room, where she pointed at a small table there. Clearly indicating for him to sit down.

"Sit there, they'll be back at any moment." By the looks of it, the two other people that lived in that house weren't home.

"Oh, if that's the case I'l-" He attempted to stand up and suggested that he would come back another time.

"You sit right there and don't move a muscle until they come back." Izumi made it clear that he had no choice in the matter.

"Yes, Ma'am." He placed his head down and complied.

With that Izumi left the room, leaving Seiryu alone in the Uchiha home. Oh boy, Izumi is clearly furious. Which was kind of obvious. I can only imagine how they must have felt when they heard the news.

He could only sit there quietly, waiting for them to return. Thankfully, the quietness didn't last, because Izumi came back to the room.

"Here, you clearly didn't have breakfast." She slowly moved towards the table carrying a cup of milk and some buttered toast.

"Thanks." He thanked her right away since he was indeed starving. He immediately gulped down the milk once she put it on the table.

Izumi then sighed and asked. "Seiryu..." She made a very upset expression. "Do you know how worried we were?"

Seiryu only looked down in shame before he took a small bite from his toast. "How did they react?"

"Both of them wanted to go after you and I wasn't going to stop them." Izumi informed him while folding her arms. "However, the Hokage forbade them."

"Why?" He was actually a little confused about that.

"Do you have any idea how many people wanted to go after you, he knew that if he let one go, he would have to allow everyone else to as well." Izumi informed him, despite the fact that Seiryu knew that she was probably exaggerating.

"Hah!" So he didn't take it seriously. "Come on, be real, like he could stop anyone from disobeying and going anyway."

"He didn't, some of your friends actually tried." Hearing that, caused Seiryu to nearly choke on his toast.

"What?!" He was shocked to hear that.

"Are you seriously surprised?" She asked him in clear disbelief. "Hell, Sasuke didn't try it because we were able to stop him."

Seiryu let out a very loud sigh. This keeps getting worse... He thought in deep annoyance.

"That's what you get for having so many loyal friends." She commented sarcastically in response to his frustration. "When you do something stupid, it affects all of them." She was right about that. "Especially Sasuke."

Seiryu looked down once again.

"Listen, he... We have all already lost a lot since what happened..." Izumi reminded him of it as she affectionately touched his shoulder. "So please, don't put yourself at risk like that." The former Kunoichi practically begged him. "We can't really take anymore lost." She spoke for both herself and the two.

Seiryu opened his mouth to reply. But when he did, another voice was heard.

"We're home." It turns out that the other two that lived in that house have arrived.

So instead of replying to Izumi, he said, "Welcome home."

The moment he said that, he heard steps rushing towards the room that he and Izumi were in.

The first one to enter was a fairly tall man of fair complexion. He had black eyes, jet-black hair that was pulled back in a low ponytail and his face was framed with centre-parted bangs that extended to his chin. He was wearing a black shirt with the Uchiha clan symbol on the back, bandages around his ankles, tan pants and black sandals.

The second one was a boy near the same age as him whose overall appearance was very similar to the tall man standing beside him. He had black eyes and spiky black hair with a blue tint, he was wearing a black, one-piece outfit with many small belts adorning his left arm and similar bands around both legs.

The two reacted with an expression of relief upon seeing him sitting there. However, it was quickly replaced with angry expressions.

"Hi Sasuke," He greeted Sasuke Uchiha first. "Hi Itachi." Then he greeted Itachi Uchiha next.

"Seiryu..." Itachi was the first one to speak. Giving him a very apprehensive look. Causing a large sweet drop to appear at the back of Seiryu's head.

"Seiryu..." Sasuke on the other hand looked furious and clearly wanted to hit Seiryu.

The boy with long white hair could only gulp down his cup of milk as he prepared himself to be scolding.

However, he ended up getting more than he bargained for. Because Sasuke immediately rushed towards him and grabbed him by the collar of his short shirt kimono. "You stupid arrogant moron!" He yelled at Seiryu's face angrily. "What the hell were you even thinking!?"

"That's the third time that I heard that today." Seiryu pointed out with his hands in the air.

"I doubt that it will be the last time." Itachi added as he approached them. "Does the Hokage know that you're back in the village?" Sasuke's brother asked him.

"Well..." Seiryu scratched his cheek in embarrassment.

"You actually think he would come here if it wasn't to hide." Sasuke pointed out angrily.

"Seiryu, I am not going to hide you here, the least you can do is face your-" Itachi was quick to shut off the idea of Seiryu hiding there.

"Alright," Seiryu then pushed Sasuke's hands away with great ease. "See you three some other time then." Before he quickly stood up in order to make his way to the exit.

Only to get death glares from the three in response. "Sit down, Seiryu Senju." Itachi made it clear that he was going nowhere.

Seiryu grunted and rolled his eyes before sitting back down.

Then Itachi sighed and said, "You can stay for a bit, but you will go to the Hokage's office before nightfall, am I being clear?" Those were his terms and it was kind of clear that he was going to drag himself otherwise.

Seeing that he had little choice in the matter. "Fine."

"When did you get back anyway?" Sasuke asked him.

"Yesterday, at noon, I think." The sun was going down when he arrived.

"What?" Sasuke seemed to be confused by that answer. "You didn't go home yesterday, otherwise your cousin would have warned everyone."

"First of all, there's no way that Karin would have warned any of you." Since his cousin would want to keep him to herself for as long as she possibly could. "Second, you're right, I actually went to-" He stopped himself from saying it, because he would probably give some very unfortunate implications about his stay at Sakura's home.

However, him stopping in the middle of it, clearly gave all the answers that Sasuke needed. "You went to the house of one of those dumb girls that keep crawling over you, right?" For some reason, Sasuke sounded considerably angry for some reason.

"I was originally going to come here, but I wanted to avoid a scolding from you guys, so I went to Sakura's home." Unfortunately, he ended up getting what he was trying to avoid, which were looks from the three of them due to the unfortunate implication. "I just slept there, nothing else happened."

"Are you sure?" Sasuke asked in curiosity. "That annoying girl could have tried something while you were asleep."

"Okay, now you're just being paranoid, Sasuke." Izumi pointed out

"It wouldn't be the first time." Sasuke was referring to the time when his cousin sneaked into his bed and pressed her lips into his while he was asleep.

"Ah..." Seiryu simply waved it off . "She was way too worried about my injury to tr-" By pure and complete accident, Seiryu revealed something that he didn't mean to reveal.

Which caused the family that was standing in front of him to immediately shoot him looks of concern. "Show us." Itachi was quick to demand.

"Ehhh... It wasn't-" He tried to argue that it wasn't something serious, but Sasuke wasted no time and opened his kimono shirt. Making the bandages in his torso visible.

"Dammit Seiryu!" Sasuke yelled at him in response.

"How deep was that?!" Izumi asked as she inspected the bandages.

Itachi touched his face in deep frustration. "I'm taking you to the hospital."

"Guys, that's really not-" Seiryu tried to argue but he was interrupted right away. By Itachi literally picking him up like he was a little kid. "Hey! Put me down!" The long haired boy immediately yelled in response.

"You don't have a say in this, moron." Sasuke spoke in clear agreement with his brother.

"Make sure he doesn't run away before the Medical-Nin actually inspects his wound." Izumi advised them as she watched both her husband and brother-in-law leave with the boy that they all considered family.

Seiryu sighed in defeat. In truth, his injury was hurting and he was still very tired from the trip. So he really didn't have the energy to escape Itachi. But he was still quite ashamed of the fact that he was being carried by the older shinobi, but it was better than walking, so he decided to just suck it up and enjoy the trip. "Is it true that you two tried to go after me?" He asked as they all passed through the front door of the house.

"Yes." Sasuke confirmed. "But the Hokage stopped everyone from trying it."

"Strange, knowing him, I'm surprised that he didn't send anyone after me." Seiryu pointed out in a slight confusion since the Hokage is possibly the third person in the whole world that would worry the most about his safety.

"He tried, but the amount of people that wanted to go after you was just way too immense and he knew that sending a single person would make a bunch of people leave on their own as well." Itachi explained to him. "So the council pretty much convinced him to just wait for you to come back despite his deep reluctance."

Seiryu closed his eyes for a second and considered an horrendous possibility. "Do you think he told my mom?" That would have been the worst possible outcome in this mess.

"Your mother would probably murder him for allowing this to happen before she kills you, so I doubt it." Sasuke pointed out, and he wasn't wrong.

"Yeah..." Seiryu could imagine how he and the hokage would suffer his mother's wrath if she found out about this little escapade. Funnily enough, the whole reason why he pulled a stunt like this was because she was on a trip with his aunt Shizune.

Eventually, the trio left the Uchiha compound, and walked through Konohagakure. With Seiryu being considerably embarrassed by the sights that he was receiving due the fact that Itachi was carrying him in his arms. Though, the embarrassment was mixed with annoyance as some of the villagers were giving very hateful glares at the Uchiha brothers. Something every member of the Uchiha clan had to endure since the Uchiha Clan's revolt. Neither Sasuke or Itachi really cared about that, mostly because the villagers were smart enough to not mess with them. Especially considering that Itachi was Head of the Uchiha Clan.

Seiryu decided to close his eyes and enjoy the trip.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" But he was forced to open his eyes once again after he heard someone speaking to them. Then he catched the sight of a familiar face. A young girl with long, dark-brown hair, that reaches down to the middle of her back, with long parted bangs with a single lock of hair falling into her face. She also has large, white eyes with a hint of lilac in them. She was wearing a sleeveless, blue v-neck shirt with mesh armour underneath; blue shorts and sandals. "Put Seiryu down right now!" She ordered the older Uchiha.

"I would like to, but if I do, he's going to run away again." Itachi pointed out the obvious to the girl with a smile.

"What exactly are you doing here, Hanabi?" Sasuke asked the girl with a bored expression.

The girl was Hanabi Hyūga, the heiress of the Hyūga clan. "I'm helping everyone look for Seiryu, but by the looks of it, you were hiding him in your home all this time!" She accused Sasuke with no mercy.

Seiryu had an urge to speak, but he decided to stay quiet to see where this was going.

"What if I was?" Sasuke made no effort to counter her accusation.

Hanabi seemed to be about to reply to Sasuke, but she was interrupted. "Hey, did you find anything!" By someone rushing towards Hanabi. "What the hell! Put Seiryu down right now!" It was a small boy with short spiky brown hair, blue eyes, and a small chip in his tooth. He was wearing grey shorts and a yellow shirt with a red Konoha symbol printed on it.

Itachi just let out a chuckle. "My brother and I are taking him to the hospital because Seiryu was hurt by..." He tried to explain to the two, but then he realized something. "Ummm... Who did this again?"

"Long story, I'll tell you later." Seiryu replied since he wasn't in the mood to talk about it now. I still can't figure out what was that thing that attacked me after my fight with Zabuza. Whatever it was, it was something unique, because I never had an injury like this before.

"Big brother, are you alright?" The little boy rushed towards the white haired boy to inspect him.

"I'm fine, Konohamaru..." The young boy was Konohamaru Sarutobi, the grandson of the third Hokage and Seiyru's honorary brother.

"How could you run off like that?!" Konohamaru asked with a sad expression. "You made everybody worried!"

Seiryu rolled his eyes in deep annoyance. He was really starting to get annoyed over how nearly the entire village is super possessive towards him. "I was only gone for a bit, stop being so dramatic." Saying that clearly angered everyone.

"You were out for a whole month, that's way more than a bit, Seiryu!" Hanabi was quick to rebuff as she approached Seiryu as well.

The moment he heard that, Seiryu had an awful realization. Oh crap, has it really been a whole month already?! He really had no idea. That means that my mom could be back at any second! It was a deeply terrifying thought.

Which caused Seiryu to actually leap off Itachi's arms. "See you guys later." Before he performed the Teleportation Jutsu and disappeared right in front of them.

"Hey!"

"Get back here!"

"Wait, Big Brother!"

"Don't run off again, you jerk!"

The four of them yelled as Seiryu basically ran off again.

After pretty much escaping Itachi, Sasuke, Konohamaru and Hanabi. Seiryu Senju made his way to a spot that he really wanted to visit.

Ramen Ichiraku, because he was starving since he couldn't finish the breakfast that Izumi made for him due to being carried away by Itachi.

Unfortunately, going there attracted a lot of attention as several of the villagers noticed him approaching the place. You know, it's kind of hard to be a Shinobi at times. Because Seiryu was way too easy to spot.

"Excuse me?" Seiryu spiked as he entered the stand.

"Ah," And the owner, who was cleaning up the counter,was quick to notice him. "Seiryu, you're back."

"Yup," He took his favorite seat, which was the last one on the right. "And I'm hungry." The white haired boy leaned forward. "The usual please." The usual was basically Tonkotsu Miso Ramen.

Seiryu noticed that it was only the owner, Teuchi , today and his daughter, Ayame, was nowhere to be seen. He gladly took his order and proceeded to prepare it as he waited.

The young Shinobi then pressed his face on the counter and closed his eyes for a bit, since he was a little tired due to being abruptly awoken by Sakura earlier that day. This is going to be a difficult week, but... It was worth it. That was his opinion about the whole ordeal. Though, now I'm gonna have to deal with my friend's clinginess , my mother's wrath and my- Before Seiryu could finish that thought, he felt a very strange vibration coming from the counter. Which caused him to move his head up. Only for him to realize that someone was standing on top of the counter.

"Hah!" A boy with shiny black hair in a bowl-cut style, round eyes with prominent lower eyelashes, and very thick eyebrows. He was wearing a green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers, and a red forehead protector worn as a belt "I finally found you!" He declared with a big smile on his face while pointing at Seiryu.

Seiryu on the other hand just had a bored expression. "Lee..." The one standing on top of the counter was Rock Lee, his self-proclaimed eternal rival.

"I have awaited your return since our last battle and I'm here to challeng-" Lee spoke in a completely over the top fashion.

Until he was interrupted.

"Teuchi literally just cleaned that counter." The long haired boy informed the boy with a bowl cut of the fact. "Would you kindly get your dirty feet off of it?"

Lee widened his eyes and immediately moved his head to look at Teuchi, who was giving him an angry glare, because he did indeed just clean that counter. "My sincerest apologies." Before he immediately jumped off the counter and bowed respectfully towards the establishment's owner, before apologizing.

Who just scoffed before returning to prepare Seiryu's order.

"How exactly did you find me?" Seiryu asked him in curiosity since Lee isn't exactly a tracker.

"Lucky guess." Lee answered with a smile. "You usually either come here or Yakiniku Q when you're hungry."

"True." He had to admit, that was a smart guess, especially coming from Lee. "What do you want?" Kind of pointless to ask that, since he was perfectly aware of it.

"I would like to challenge you in order to even our scores." By scores, he means the number of times that they competed in some type of challenge that he and Lee have challenged each other. The challenges are usually some dumb competition, like who can eat the most plates of a certain food or who can climb a mountain the fastest. Currently, his score was 37 wins and 36 losses.

"What is the challenge?" Seiryu wasn't really in the mood to do something dumb.

"I choose the last one, so it's your turn to pick." Lee was already enthusiastic and clearly eager to get started.

Well... I'm injured and have a lot on my mind in regards to the consequences of my little escapade. Seiryu pondered that doing anything right now was going to be a bad idea. "Let's have a Taijutsu match." He proposed with a smile. I could use a good fight to get my mind off my problems.

"Yes!" Lee was overjoyed since it was his favorite.

With that, the two eternal rivals made their way outside in order to proceed with the challenge. Taking considerable steps away from the Ramen Ichiraku and standing in the middle of the street with several villagers taking notice of the two boys.

The two stared at one another for a bit with smiles on their faces. Before they both gave serious expressions to one another as they assumed their fighting stances.

With Lee placing his hand behind his back and the other hand forward.

While Seiryu flexed his elbows, knees, hip, and neck, and clenched his hands into tight fists.

It only took a few seconds for Seiryu Senju to charge at Rock Lee. Delivering three haymakers that he was able to dodge with ease. With Lee attempting to deliver a jab at Seiryu's face after dodging the third haymaker, Seiryu easily parried with his forearm, however, that was simply an opening for Lee to use the Leaf Hurricane as a follow up. With him delivering a backwards high kick with his left foot , he clearly expected Seiryu to block in order to make him vulnerable to the second kick.

Which he didn't, Seiryu simply took the first kick which clearly was only meant as a faint since it lacked any real power, which surprised Lee. Unfortunately, that surprise was the opportunity that Seiryu needed, as he took advantage and pushed Lee's leg away after it connected to his face, causing the boy wearing a jumpsuit to spin around and be vulnerable to a spinning backfist from Seiryu.

The moment his fist connected, Rock Lee was sent flying into a nearby wall by the devastating blow that came from Seiryu. With him colliding with the wall, causing a considerable amount of damage as cracks that resembled a spider's web formed on it. With Lee falling on the floor right away but wasting no time in standing up and resuming his fighting stance.

Only for him to widen his eyes and move his head to the right to evade a punch coming from Seiryu by a few inches. With his fist connecting to the wall and causing it to collapse completely.

Once the wall completely fell apart, it revealed an old lady and a little girl on the other side, causing a massive sweat drop to appear on the back of Seiryu's head. "Ummm..." He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Send the bill to the Hokage's office and say that it was Seiryu's fault." The long haired boy instructed the old lady.

"Your monstrous strength never ceases to impress me, my friend." Rock Lee smiled and commented in response to what just happened.

Seiryu just smiled in response.

Before they resumed their serious expressions and proceeded to continue with their friendly match. With Lee attempting a Dynamic Entry at Seiryu. However, the white haired boy simply smiled in response because that move was only good as a surprise attack. Allowing Seiryu to easily parry the upcoming flying kick by pushing his leg down with both of his hands. However, Lee actually grabbed his wrist with the intention of pulling some kind of grapple move, but Seiryu easily trapped his hand and swung a backfist to his face, which he ducked just in time, but it left him open for a right haymaker to the face.

The punch caused Lee to fall on the ground and slide to a considerable distance. But Lee clearly had no intention of quitting and he stood up right away.

Seiryu smirked and prepared to continue.

Seiryu Senju and Rock Lee was a very interesting example of a contrast between Taijutsu styles.

Rock Lee had great proficiency in the Strong Fist fighting style, being trained in several taijutsu techniques and clearly being the more refined of the two.

Seiryu Senju on the other hand, was nothing more than a Styless Brawler. Or at least, he fought like one. In reality, Seiryu had advanced skill in several fighting styles, but he simply preferred a more blunt and straightforward approach to Taijutsu.

Lee smiled at Seiryu and immediately charged to continue their fight.

However, before they could.

"Hey, your order is ready!" Teuchi actually informed Seiryu that his ramen was ready.

"Pause!" With the boy with long hair turning around and making his way back to Ramen Ichiraku.

Lee seemed a little disappointed that they stopped right when it was getting good, but Seiryu was hungry and he didn't want his food to get cold. So he retook his seat in the ramen restaurant and prepared himself to eat. "Thank you very much!" He thanked Teuchi before he grabbed the chopsticks.

"There he is!" Only to drop them right away as he heard a familiar voice coming from outside. It took less than a second for someone to enter the restaurant. "So all this time, you were just here eating Ramen?!" It was a girl with black hair in two buns on her head with short fringe-bangs framing her face and grey eyes. She wears a pink sleeveless qipao-style with red sleeve trimmings and yellow fastening buttons and dark green pants. A pouch is adjusted to her thigh and her forehead protector and sandals are both blue.

"Not exactly..." Seiryu replied with a bored expression. "Shouldn't you be in your father's store, Tenten?" The girl was Rock Lee's teammate and one of Seiryu's many female friends. Tenten.

"Don't even try to change the subject!" She yelled at him angrily. "Seriously, you disappeared for a whole month and now you just act like nothing happened!"

"Yes." He bluntly replied before getting the chopsticks and preparing to taste his delicious ramen. Only for someone to actually grab his food. "Hey!" Moving his head to see who it was, he realized that there was someone besides Tenten.

"Do you have any idea how many sleepless nights you gave my cousins?" A boy with fair skin and long black hair, and featureless white eyes with a slight lavender tint. He wore a beige-coloured shirt, a dull blue shirt beneath that, and mesh armour beneath that. He wore dark brown shorts, blue shinobi sandals, and wrapped bandages around his right arm, chest, and right leg. He tied his hair back in a loose ponytail tied a few inches above the end. He wore a black forehead protector, under which was a smaller headband with two straps that frame the sides of his face.

Seiryu just raises a brow before leaning his head on his hand and replying. "By the looks of it, you also went a few sleepless nights yourself because of me, Neji." The one holding his bowl was none other than Neji Hyūga. "I'm almost flattered." That comment clearly hit a nerve on Neji, who simply frowned in response with a large vein appearing in his forehead.

"That would explain why Neji seemed to be a little tired during trai-" Lee walked into the restaurant to join his friends and seemed to agree with Seiryu's statement despite the fact that it was actually a joke. Causing Neji to move his head to glare at Lee while activating his Byakugan while grinding his teeth in anger. With Lee immediately shutting up and a sweat drop appearing in the back of his head.

However, Seiryu took that opportunity to retrieve his plate of ramen, swiftly grabbing off Neji's hand and placing it back on the top of the counter. However, as he prepared to eat, Neji moved his head to look at Seiryu and realized something.

"There is a massive cut on your torso." Neji pointed out, causing Lee and Tenten to look at him in surprise.

"Neji, didn't you get in trouble enough the last time you used your Byakugan to look under people's clothes?" Seiryu recalled with a smirk, causing Neji to blush as the accident in the Hot Springs still brings him shame.

"Wait a minute!" Rock Lee just realized something. "You were fighting me while you were injured!?"

Neji and Tenten could only look at Lee with dumbfounded expressions in response. Before giving Seiryu apprehensive looks that he was more than tired of receiving.

"What?" Seiryu asked while lifting his shoulders.

"Are you-" Tenten was about to scold Seiryu, while Lee cried tears of disappointment over the realization that he was getting his ass kicked by an injured opponent.

Before she could, however, Neji looked through the wall using his Byakugan. "The others are coming." He warned everyone.

"Great," Tenten was happy to hear that. "You better get ready to get-" She was about to warn Seiryu to prepare himself to get scolded by everyone over the whole disappearing for a whole month and getting into a fight with Lee while injured. Only to realize that he wasn't in his seat anymore. "Where did he go?!" Actually, he was nowhere to be seen.

Lee and Neji noticed as well and immediately searched around for him.

"He left as soon as you moved your head away from him." Teuchi informed them while pointing at the bowl of ramen that Seiryu didn't get to eat.

After evading his friends once again, Seiryu Senju decided to find another place to hide. Fortunately or unfortunately, there was nobody home.

So he decided to take advantage of the situation and have a nice shower. Feeling a bit refreshed as the hot water fell on his face. This day was longer than usual. It was noon and the sun was going down.

After two more minutes, Seiryu turned off the water and got off the shower stall. Drying himself with an orange towel before wrapping around his hip to cover himself and making his way to the sink in order to look at himself in the mirror.

Dammit... Seiryu thought in deep annoyance as he looked at the injury in his torso. This isn't a common injury, otherwise it would have been healed by now. Despite not being as good as his mother, Seiryu had enough knowledge in Medical Ninjutsu to know that there was something off about that injury.

Despite his desire to avoid confronting his family and friends as much as possible, he really needed to have that checked by a Medical-nin. Though, by the looks of it, his mother would be the only one that could have the answer. If I can't figure it out, I highly doubt that a regular Medical-Nin could.

The boy with white hair sighed and rubbed his eyes for a bit. "What the hell is that?!" Only to get startled by a voice coming from behind him. Opening his dark eyes and looking at the mirror, Seiryu saw a girl with yellow-blond hair with two pigtails and blue eyes. She was wearing an orange and blue jacket with a white collar, a white swirl with a tassel on the left side, and a red crest on the back. She also wore orange pants with a shuriken holster on his right knee, blue sandals, and a blue forehead protector.

The boy sighed in relief before turning around. "You scared me." Although, it's kind of silly since it was her home that Seiryu practically broke into.

"You're showering in someone else's home and you're the one getting startled?" She pointed out the silliness of the situation. "Seriously, where did that come from?" The blond girl asked as she poked his wound.

"AH!" With Seiryu reacting accordingly. "Don't touch it!"

"Sorry!" She immediately replied. "But that looks really bad."

"Yeah... But it's nothing my mother can't solve " Seiryu had to agree. Then he turned around to inspect it one more time. I really need to suck it up and go to the hospital, regardless of how annoying it will be to get scolded by my However, while he was in deep thought about his injury, the blond girl hugged him from behind. "H-hey..." With Seiryu blushing a bit since there was only a towel covering him.

"What's that I heard about you sleeping in Sakura's home?" She whispered into his ear in a jovial but somewhat menacing tone while she pressed her front into his back. With Seiryu actually feeling her blossoms pressing against his back.

"Ehhh..." Seiryu knew that it was a bad idea since her parents could be back at any second but he always had a weakness for when she did something like that. "You know, Sasuke had a similar reaction." He decided to joke to try to get out of that situation.

"Oh," She took a note of that. " That's just because he's secretly in love with you."

"What?!" Seiryu didn't know whether to be shocked, astonished, dumbfounded or mortified with what he just heard.

The girl bursted into laughter in response to his reaction, with him realizing he just felt for it.

"Why you..." Seiryu was annoyed that he felt that way. So he turned around and frowned in response.

"Sorry, I couldn't miss that opportunity." She said with a big smile on her face.

"I guess you couldn't." Her smile was so intoxicating that he couldn't help but smile as well.

But then he actually approached her and gently touched her face. "Hey..." She blushed a bit. "Not a good idea."

"Just one..." Seiryu requested as he gently caressed her cheek.

"I thought we agreed to just be friends." The girl reminded him of it as she moved her pretty blue eyes to avoid eye contact with him.

"Actually, we agreed to be just best friends." He corrected her while touching both of cheeks with his hands. "And I just wanna kiss my best friend."

"Then how come you never kissed Sasuke before?" She joked with a smirk as she made eye contact with him once again.

"Because Sasuke Uchiha is my best male friend." He clarified despite knowing that she was joking. "You are my best female friend, Naruko." The girl was Naruko Namikaze, Seiryu's best female friend.

"Damn right I am." She declared proudly with a big smile. Then she closed her eyes and parted her lips forward, clearly accepting his request.

Seiryu smiled and slowly approached his face to press his lips into hers. But before he could, he opened his eyes one last time, because the room suddenly got very hot for some reason. Only to make a very horrified face when he saw someone else standing in the bathroom door. A fair-skinned and slender woman of feminine build with violet eyes, and straight red hair that reached her thighs with shoulder-length strands that framed both sides of her face and a black clip that parts her hair to the left. She was wearing a high-collared, sleeveless blouse under a long, loose-fitting dress with a wristband on her left wrist and standard shinobi sandals.

"Are you gonna kiss me or not?" Naruko was getting impatient, so she opened her eyes, only to completely lose the color of her face when she saw the reflection of the mirror.

A large vein appeared on the woman's head, before her hair began to flow like some type of mystical beast. "So... You make everybody worried for a whole month, and when you finally get back, the first thing you do is try to fool around with my daughter."

"Ahhh..." Both Seiryu and Naruko were paralyzed in fear and they knew if they said anything wrong, it would just make her more angry. "K-k-kushina, I-I can explain..." The woman, of course, was Kushina Namikaze. A very, very distant cousin of his and Naruko's mother.

"Seriously, couldn't you just send a message or something?" Also stepping into the bathroom, was a tall, fair-skinned man with blue eyes and spiky, blond hair, with jaw-length bangs framing either side of his face . He was wearing normal attire consisting of a standard Konoha uniform with two bands on both of his sleeves, a green flak jacket, blue forehead protector, and blue sandals. "You know that I trust your capabilities, but I still worry about you."

"I'm sorry..." Seiryu apologized before he awkwardly removed his hands from Naruko's cheeks. "I was just a little too focused on what I was doing, I really didn't mean to worry anyone." It was true, but the opposite actually happened. "Especially you, Uncle Minato." The man was Minato Namikaze, Kushina's husband , Naruko's father and Seiryu's godfather.

Seiyru stepped away from Naruko and the two noticed something.

"What exactly is that on your chest?" Minato immediately shot a look of concern when he saw the injury on him.

"An accident," He scratched his white hair after saying that. "Small and stupid mistake, but..." Before he could continue however, Kushina approached him.

"You stupid brat," Kushina spoke angrily as she inspected the wound closely. "That is exactly what everyone was worried about!" She was furious, only giving Seiryu a small glimpse of what he will have to deal with when his mother gets back.

Minato sighed and also approached him to check. "I am not a Medical-Nin, but I can tell that doesn't look good at all." His godfather told him.

"Dad, can you just teleport him to the hospital or something?" Naruko requested her father, clearly sharing their concerns over the injury.

"Good idea," Minato spoke. "But..." He signalled the fact that Seiryu was literally wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.

"Sorry, I came here to meet up with you but no one was home, so I went to take a shower." He explained to him. "Then Naruko came into the bathroom while I was inspecting the wound and I didn't have the time to put my clothes back on."

However, saying that only made the two parents give apprehensive looks towards their daughter. With her having a massive sweat drop on the back of her head while giving an angry look towards Seiryu for snitching on her like that. Despite the fact that it was true.

"Come on, let's give him some privacy." Minato told his favorite girls before leading them out of the bathroom.

"Seiryu, I swear that if you try to sneak out, I'm gonna hunt you and that injury on your torso is going to be the least of your worries." Kushina threatened him and it was clear that she was more than willing to follow up on that threat.

"Aaahhh... Yes, ma'am." Besides his mother, Kushina was the only other woman that he had no courage to against it.

Naruko stuck out her tongue to him, clearly still mad at him snitching on her. However, Kushina moved her head towards her daughter, and Naruko widened her eyes in fear. "And you and I need to have a serious talk." She spoke in a calm but downright terrifying voice as she grabbed the back of her daughter's neck.

Minato sighed and touched his face in frustration. "You know, you have blessing, but please try to contain yourself until you two are a little older."

"You should be telling your daughter that, not me." Since Naruko was the aggressive one when it came to this kind of stuff.

"I think Kushina already has that covered." Minato spoke while he left the room.

Leaving Seiryu alone to put his clothes back on.

Once he put his outfit back, his uncle Minato teleported him using the Flying Raijin Jutsu. But instead of taking him to the Konoha Hospital, he took him to Academy at his request.

"Are you sure wanna do this now?" Minato asked his godson.

"I been trying to avoid this all day, but I really just wanna get it over it because I'm tired." Seiryu explained to him, it was already night, and he really just wanted to relax tommorow.

"Good." Minato wrapped his arm around him and walked him towards the entrance. "The soon we get this over with, we can get back and have dinner." He was clearly inviting Seiryu to have dinner with them.

"Yes please, I'm dying for some of Kushina's food." Since her food was beyond delicious.

The two quietly made their way into the academy, entering the place quietly making their way to the Hokage's office. The place was awfully quiet, but it was kind of expected since it was night. In truth, if he had to pick his least favorite place in Konohakagure, that was Academy. He never really knew why though.

After a slow walk, the two arrived at the door of the Hokage's office. However, the moment they reached, they heard some strange shouting coming from inside. Causing the blond man and the white haired boy to look at one another in clear confusion.

"OUT OF MY SIGHT, NOW!" A loud shout that emanated pure fury was heard by the two. It was clear that the voice belonged to the Fourth Hokage. Which clearly surprised the two since he was usually a very calm man.

Eventually, the door opeend, revealing a frail, old man, walking with a cane. He had black, shaggy hair, and his right eye was bandaged. With an x-shaped scar on his chin. He wore a white shirt, with a black or dark grey robe over the top of it covering from his feet, to just over his right shoulder.

The man gave the two a short look before he moved foward, barely acknowledging his presence.

"I hate that guy." Seiryu bluntly told his Minato.

"I don't blame you." Minato clearly wasn't a fan of his either.

"SEIRYU!" Suddenly, someone loudly shouted his name from inside the Hokage's office. Causing the boy to close his eyes for a second before moving his head towards the now open door. "INSIDE NOW!" Accompanied by an order coming from the Hokage.

"Good luck." His godfather patted his back, before Seiryu sighed and entered the Hokage's office.

Once he was inside, he saw the Fourth Hokage standing there with arms crossed in the middle of the large, oval room filled with stacks of unfinished paperwork. "Stand...Right...Here..." He pointed towards the spot on the floor a few steaps away from him.

Seiryu sighed and complied, slowly moving towards the spot where he pointed. Once he reached, he took a good look at the Hokage. He was a tall and handsome man, with hazel eyes and short light-brown hair. He was wearing the official uniform, the customary hat and haori with a red, full-length kimono that is tied using a white sash.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" The Fourth Hokage asked him in a calm voice.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

After a very long pause, Seiryu Senju smiled and finally spoke up. "Hi, uncle Nawaki." He spoke with a smile while waving at him.

Seiryu Senju greeted the Fourth Hokage, who happened to be his uncle, Nawaki Senju.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

His uncle responded by grabbing his ear and pulling hard. Since he knew that it was Seiryu's most sensitive area. "Ah! Not the ear!"

"A WHOLE MONTH!" Nawaki yelled angrily. "YOU BEEN GONE FOR A WHOLE MONTH!" Something that Seiryu was still surprised about, because he didn't know that it had been a month already.

"So what?" Seiryu was quick to respond. "I already spent a month away from the village before."

"DURING A DAMN MISSION WHILE BEING ACCOMPANIED BY A SOMEONE!" The Hokage pointed out in rage as he continued to pull his nephew's ear.

"Ow,ow,ow!" Seiryu yelled in pain. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry!'" Then he apologized in response.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it!" Nawaki let go of his ear and folded his arms in response. "The only reason why I'm not punishing you myself is because I know my sister will be back in two days."

"Two days!?" Seiryu was now terrified as he hoped that he would have a few more days to prepare himself to deal with his mother's wrath.

"That's right, and until further notice, you are prohibited from taking any missions or leaving the village for that matter." His uncle added.

"I could just sneak off again, if you li-" Seiryu tried to speak sarcastically in response. But his uncle just pulled his ear once again. "Alright, alright, alright!" He spoke in defeat in order to make his uncle let go of his ear. "Seriously, you people worry too much, you know I can take care of myself just fine." In truth, Seiryu was deeply annoyed by how everyone has been overreacting to his little adventure.

"JUST FINE!?" His uncle responded by immediately opening his kimono shirt, revealing his bandaged torso. "THEN WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" He asked while pointing at his injury.

"THAT..." He yanked his uncle's hand off his top and stepped back. "Was a stupid accident..." Then he looked down in shame.

"That's the damn problem with you, you always make stupid mistakes!" Nawaki yelled at him in response to what he just said. "You know that you are in danger every single time you leave the village ever since the day you used the Wood Release for the first time!"

"So what?!" Seiryu was quick to respond. "Am I supposed to just holed up in the village forever?!" He was done with his family's paranoia. "You think I don't know that the reason why I wasn't promoted to Jōnin yet is because of you!" In truth, Seiryu was supposed to have been promoted to Jōnin already, but he hasn't for some dumb excuse like Seiryu lacking something, but Seiryu is more than aware that it's because of his uncle holding the promotion from him.

"Oh, it is because of me alright." The Fourth Hokage didn't even try to deny it. "And as long as you keep pulling stunts like that, you can forget about ever becoming a Jōnin!"

"WHY YO-" In truth, that was a subject that infuriated Seiryu, because people that did less than he did became Jōnin and the fact that he hasn't been promoted yet just because of his uncle, really made him angry.

Before Seiryu could yell in response, Minato decided to intervene. "Excuse me, Hokage?" Minato greeted him.

"Just Nawaki, Minato." His uncle doesn't really like when old friends call him Hokage instead of his name.

"Sorry, it's an annoying habit." He explained as he made his way inside. "I apologize for interrupting, but..." Both uncle and nephew had their arms folded as Minato spoke. "I would like to take Seiryu to the hospital to take a look at that injury."

Nawaki gave Seiryu one last frown, which he responded by giving his uncle a scowl. "Go." Seiryu angrily turned his back and walked towards his godfather.

"I would do it myself, but I have a lot of paperwork to finish." Which seemed to be the main function of a Hokage. Doing paperwork.

"Don't worry about it." Minato touched Seiryu's shoulder after he approached. "Come on."

Seiryu sighed.

Nawaki sat down on his chair.

With that, Seiryu and Minato passed through the door and closed behind them. "I really wis-" He tried to speak to him about what just happened, but Seiryu was quick to interrupt him.

"I don't wanna talk about it, let's just go..." He spoke sadly.

"Alright..." Minato affectionately touched Seiryu's shoulder. " Let's have that ugly injury checked." Minato said as he used the Flying Thunder God Jutsu to teleport the two of them to the hospital.

"You're incredibly lucky, you know that?"

"Why is that?"

After his godfather teleported him to Konoha Hospital . He was sitting inside of an examination room being checked by one of the top Medical-nin there. Who was kneeling in front of him, finalizing her diagnosis.

"Because the reason why that injury of yours hasn't healed yet is because there's an incredibly deadly poison floating through your system." The Medical-nin informed him. She was a pretty woman with straight shoulder-length brown hair that framed her face, brown eyes and strange looking rectangular purple markings on either sides of her cheeks. She was wearing a long-sleeved black top, black skirt, she also wore the standard Konoha forehead protector, along with a pair of sandals, red stockings that stopped at her thighs, and a small, red bracelet on her left wrist. Over her outfit, she wore a strange looking lab coat that had a symbol

"I wish I could say that I was surprised, but I kind of suspected already." Seiryu did have a slight suspicion that it was poison, but he wasn't really able to identify it, which indicated that it's some kind of rare poison or something similar.

"Oh, if that's the case." She replied with a smile, before immediately standing up from the floor and to Seiryu's misfortune, she grabbed him by the ear and pulled it.

"OUCH!" With Seiryu reacting accordingly. "WHY IS EVERYONE PULLING MY DAMN EAR TODAY!?" He asked angrily because that was the third time that happened.

"Because you keep acting like a reckless brat!" She was quick to scold him before letting go of his ear. "Do you have any idea how worried Kakashi and I were?!"

"I'm sure you worried enough for the two of you, since uncle Minato told me that he was quite busy reading my dad's new book these last few weeks." Seiryu was quick to defuse the situation.

"What?!" She was clearly not happy with that information.

"Sensei is one of those people that consider my father's books to be works of literary art." Anyone who calls the Icha Icha series has to have some kind of mental problems .

"They're lame and poorly written erotic books." She rebuffed. "The fact that it sells so well is beyond disturbing."

"I agree with that." Minato , who just came back with a cup of water for Seiryu, spoke as he approached the two. "Personally, my favorite book is actually the only non-erotic novel that he ever wrote." He was referring to The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi.

"The one where you and Kushina got Naruko's name from?" The Medical-Nin asked despite already knowing the answer.

His godfather chuckled a bit. "Kushina was so certain that we were going to have a boy that she even refused to come up with any girl's name." Minato smiled as he seemed to have very fond memories of that. "So when a girl came instead, we had to make a slight alteration." So it went from Naruto to Naruko.

"It's a good name." Seiryu had to agree with her, since the name suited Naruko perfectly. "And honestly, I'm very glad that Kushina had a girl." She admitted.

"Why is that?" Seiryu asked in curiosity.

"Because I have enough boys giving me a headache, so I'm more than satisfied with being the godmother of a girl instead of a boy." She admitted in response, since she was Naruko's godmother while Seiryu's father was Naruko's godfather.

"So..." Minato decided to ask. "What's the diagnosis, Rin ?" The Medical-Nin was Rin Nohara, Minato's old student.

"Whoever attacked Seiryu , used a very strong poison and it coursed through his system." Rin explained while preparing to wrap his torso around the bandages. "I'm gonna be very honest, if it was anyone else, you would probably be dead by now." That wasn't really surprising.

"What can we do?" Minato asked in concern.

"Luckily, it can be treated simply by administering controlled doses of a special antidote." Minato seemed relieved after hearing that. "Though, it is quite strong, so he will have to take small dosages for a week, maybe two." Rin clarified as she began wrapping the bandages around his torso as he drank some water. "And take it very easy until then, so no training, fighting or intense physical activity until then, otherwise the time will increase, are we clear?" The medic-nin told him while giving him a look that almost matched the looks that he gets from his mother and Kushina.

"Yes, Ma'am..." Seiryu rolled his eyes in response as she finished wrapping the bandages around his torso.

"The dosage needs to be taken every twelve hours, you cannot forget." Rin explained as she moved towards a shelf to search for it.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that he remembers it." Minato assured her as he grabbed Seiryu's shirt and helped him put it on.

Rin searched for a bit and grabbed a vial, the she grabbed some type of bottle that had no label on it and poured whatever was in the vial into the bottle. Before taking it to Seiryu. "Open up." Then she poured into a spoon and decided to spoon-feed him.

Seiryu decided to comply as he really wanted to get that over with, so he opened his mouth and took the spoonful antidote. "MMRR!" After putting it in his mouth, however, Seiryu had trouble swallowing because the taste was beyond awful. "Bhhh..." But reluctantly , he swallowed before sticking his tongue out in disgust. "It's awful!" He yelled before gulping down the water to get the horrendous taste off his mouth.

"Why do you think it needs to be small dosages?" Rin asked sarcastically with a playful smile.

Minato laughed a bit at his godson's misfortune. "And that's only the first one."

"AAAGGHHHHNNNNN!" Seiryu let out a grunt in response, because he realized that he would have to swallow that awful medicine for a week or two.

Rin giggled a bit in response. "Well, that's what you get for making everyone worried like that." Then she gave him a kiss on the forehead. "Now, go get some rest and let the antidote get rid of poison."

"Thank you for your help again , Rin." Minato thanked her as he took the bottle.

"It was my pleasure, now... excuse me." Rin made his way to the door and left the two of them by themselves.

"She's gonna go after Kakashi to confront him about the Icha Icha book." Minato pointed out.

"Pretty much." Seiryu agreed with his godfather.

"DAMMIT!" Seiryu yelled in deep annoyance. "WHAT IS THIS DAMN OBSESSION THAT YOU PEOPLE HAVE WITH PULLING MY EAR!?"

After getting prescribed an antidote for the poison on his system by Rin. Seiryu and Minato returned to the Namikaze's home for dinner. However, after Minato revealed what Rin told them, Seiryu was forced to deal with yet another scolding.

"YOU WERE POISONED AND PRACTICALLY KNEW ABOUT IT BUT SPENT THE DAY JOKING AROUND INSTEAD OF TAKING YOUR BUTT TO THE HOSPITAL!?" Kushina mercilessly scolded Seiryu in response to that information while pulling his ear, hard.

"Actually, I didn't know about it, I just suspecte- AAAHH!" Seiryu tried to correct the information, but Kushina grinded her teeth in deep rage and pulled his ear even harder. "AAHH! ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, I'M SORRY!" He decided to give up and apologize since his ear already took more than enough damage.

Thankfully, it worked and Kushina let go of his ear. "Sit your butt on the dinner table!" She ordered him before making her way to the kitchen.

"You suspected and still had a fight with Lee anyway?" Naruko, who was standing a few steps away from them, asked him as she approached him .

"Shhh..." Seiryu immediately shushed her in worry. "Please, my ear can't take it anymore." He practically begged her because his ear was already pulled too many times already.

"I ate the ramen that you ordered after you left." She revealed it to him with a smile.

Seiryu sighed. "Of course you did." He was still a little frustrated about not being able to enjoy his food. "Was it good?"

"It was delicious." Naruko confirmed with a grin and thumbs up.

Suddenly, Seiryu's stomach began to growl. "Come on, let's have dinner together." He held Naruko's hand before approaching her ear. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you in trouble earlier." He really didn't.

"Ahh..." She waved off like it was nothing. "I'm used to mom's scolding." That was a big, fat lie.

But Seiryu smiled anyway. "Can I have that kiss later?" He asked her as he squeezed her hand.

Naruko made a goofy face in response before looking up like she was in deep thought. "We'll see." With that Naruko pulled him towards the dinner table, where Minato was already sitting down. Both Seiryu and Naruko sat besides each other on the opposite side of where Minato was sitting. It didn't take long for Kushina to show up with the dinner that she prepared, which turned out to be Braised Pork Belly.

Everyone took a considerable portion of it as Kushina sat on the dinner table besides Minato.

"Thanks for the food." Seiryu and Naruko spoke at the same time before they began to eat.

Kushina still had a bit of an angry face as she watched the two eat. But Minato simply touched her shoulder, which had the desired effect and made her soften up a bit.

"It took me a while to ask this, but..." Minato spoke as Seiryu devoured his food due to not eating anything all day. "How exactly did that happen?" He was referring to his injury.

Seiryu tried to drink a cup of water before responding. "I don't know exactly." He confessed.

"As you wish." Seiryu told Zabuza before charging towards him with his blade. He jumped into the air and attempted a downward attack at the Demon of the Hidden.

"Now!" However, his attack was interrupted by a voice that didn't belong to Zabuza.

"Huh?" While he was still in the air, a strange looking blade descended from the ceiling and charged towards Seiryu. "What the -" It was so sudden that Seiryu had no time to defend himself and the blade sliced his chest. "AHH!" Causing to fall into the ground without any kind of way to break his fall. "AAAAHHH!" He screamed in pain and his chest hurted like hell.

"You bastard, this was my fight!" Zabuza yelled angrily at the ceiling, obviously yelling at someone that was up there but it was dark so Seiryu couldn't see who it was.

"Shut up and end this damn brat before he-" Whoever was speaking rushed Zabuza to kill Seiryu.

But as he was distracted, Seiryu fought through the pain and stood up. Before he used the Healing Jutsu to heal himself. However, he immediately realized that something was off because his injury hadn't healed completely. But he didn't have time to think too deeply about that.

"Should have taken the chance." The voice spoke. "Farewell, Demon of the Hidden ." Before it descended from the ceiling , retrieved the strange looking blade and made his way to the door at a high speed. Seiryu couldn't see who it was as the individual was wearing some type of cloak.

"Who the hell was that?!" Seiryu asked Zabuza angrily as he held Sword of the Thunder God with a single hand.

"Shut up and fight me!" Zabuza yelled as he charged at Seiryu with the Kubikiribōchō.

"You suicidal moron!" Seiryu yelled as he prepared to fight the badly injured Zabuza.

The Missing-nin attempted to cut Seiryu in half with his blade. But Seiryu easily deflected the attack and used his free hand to deliver the final blow. "Fire Style: Great Flame Rasengan" By creating a Rasengan, that turned black and was surrounded by a ring of flames.

"You really have no idea who it was?" Minato asked him.

"Nope, I couldn't see his face and I definitely didn't recognize his voice." Seiryu responded as he continued to eat.

"Did Rin identify the poison?" Kushina asked them.

"If she did, she didn't tell us." Minato answered her question.

"She just said that it was an incredibly deadly poison and nothing else." Seiryu added.

"Okay,okay, okay..." Suddenly, Naruko called their attention. "I have been meaning to ask this since early." She had a question for Seiryu. "What the hell were you even doing anyway?" That was the question. "Because I'm pretty sure everyone is as clueless as me."

"Yeah... I'm curious as well." Minato spoke after his daughter. "What exactly were you doing anyway?"

Seiryu eats another piece of the pork belly before speaking. "I was actuall-" Before Seiryu could actually tell the Namikaze family about what exactly he was doing during this whole month.

The four of them heard a strange noise coming from outside. Moving their head to look at the window where that noise apparently came from.

Kushina was the first one to leave her chair and casually approach the window to see what exactly caused that noise outside of her home.

The moment she opened the window, she became enraged as her hair began floating. "You again!" Only for her to extend her hand outside and out of complete nowhere, pull someone into the house.

"Seriously?" Naruko asked in clear annoyance.

" Do you have a dead wish or something?" Seiryu asked in deep annoyance as well.

Minato touched his face in even more deep annoyance.

"Apologies, I had no intention of interrupting your dinner." The individual had short, straight black hair, and dark eyes which contrast with his translucent-looking pale was wearing a black long sleeve shirt, black shorts and black boots.

Seiryu stood up from his chair and approached him, with Naruko following behind him with a frown.

"Dammit, why the hell are you stalking Seiryu?" Naruko commented.

In truth, a few months ago, this guy began following Seiryu around everywhere he went. At first, Seiryu paid no mind to it as he could easily take the guy down if he wanted to. But then, he began invading Seiryu's personal privacy and that was something that he considered very annoying since his family and friends already do that more than he would like.

"Answer her question." Kushina, who was holding him by the collar, demanded.

"He's one of the Root." Minato pointed out as he approached his family and godson.

"Didn't my uncle disband that group years ago?" In truth, his uncle disbanded the Root, a secret branch of the Anbu under the leadership of Danzō Shimura, after several suspicious incidents that Nawaki suspected their involvement in.

"Not officially." Minato clarified. "He simply removed most of their resources."

"Did Danzo order you to spy on Seiryu?" Kushina questioned the individual.

"Yes and no." The boy confirmed and denied.

"Elaborate before we hurt you." Naruko warned him.

"My original mission was to spy on Seiryu Senju, but after the Root lost a considerable amount of their numbers, I had no other objective other than to carry out my mission." The fool revealed to them.

"So basically... Your last order was to spy on Seiryu and now, you don't have anything else to do other than that?" Kushina asked him as that was the most obvious explanation..

"Yes." The Root spy confirmed.

"Well then, just stop!" Naruko yelled at him. "It's a pain in the ass."

"I'm afraid that I can't." He replied.

"Stop stalking me before I hurt you badly." Seiryu calmly threatened him. But then he realized something. "How long have you been following me anyway?"

"Ever since you returned to the Village." He bluntly responded. "You took refuge in the home of Sakura Haruno, slept for nine hours while she inappropriately touched your body while you were unconscious." Seiryu widened his eyes in response to that, wondering what the hell does he mean inappropriately.

Naruko clearly didn't like what she heard, as she frowned in response.

Kushina and Minato only made neutral expressions in response to that.

"Once you woke up, you made your way to the Uchiha Compound and took refuge in the home of Itachi Uchiha." I call it Sasuke's home but it's kind of the same thing. "Where Itachi Uchiha carried you out of the house in a bridal carry like newlyweds." Hearing that, made Seiryu grind his teeth in anger.

Naruko, Kushina and Minato chuckled at his reaction.

"But then, you left using the Teleportation Jutsu and made your way to the Ramen Ichiraku where you fought Rock Lee using only Taijutsu." Seiryu had a large sweat drop at the back of the head, because Kushina immediately looked at him apprehensively as the information that he had a fight while injured was more than enough to make her want to pull his ear once again.

"Afterwards, you made your way to the Namikaze residence where you took a shower while Naruko Namikaze peeped y-" Before he could finish what he was saying, Naruko charged towards him and kicked incredibly hard to the point of sending him flying through the window. With him following into a bunch of trash cans while a cat screamed loudly.

"Stop following Seiryu around you creepy weirdo!" She yelled angrily at the Root spy after sticking her head out of the window while blushing.

Minato chuckled a bit at what his daughter just did, mostly because she practically did exactly what Kushina would do. Kushina gave him a goofy face in response, because she definitely would do that.

Naruko shut the window after that and made her way to Seiryu. "Come on, let's go back to the dinner table." She practically dragged him away from the window.

I'm gonna pretend that I didn't hear that weirdo say "peeped". Seiryu thought in amusement.

"I'm gonna talk to that old fart to get that little weirdo to stop following you around." Kushina was quick to declare.

"Ummm... I don't think that's a good idea." Minato was even quicker to interject. "Danzõ may do something bad with that kid and he seems harmless."

Kushina seemed to have taken her husband's words.

"Can I have another plate?" Seiryu asked as he sat down on the chair again.

After having an enjoyable dinner with the Namikaze family. Seiryu Senju decided to finally take his leave.

Kushina fell asleep on the dinner table since she had a busy day. So Seiryu simply gave her a kiss on the forehead and Naruko covered her with a blanket as she slept peacefully on the table.

Minato was washing the dishes before calling the day as well. So Seiryu waved him goodbye without making any noise.

Naruko took Seiryu to the door.

"You had quite an interesting day." Naruko told him.

"Tomorrow may qualify as that since I still haven't faced the others." Seiryu really wasn't looking forward to confronting all of his friends.

"It will qualify as that, since everyone literally spent the day searching for you." Naruko pointed out.

Seiryu smiled before approaching her. "You included?"

"Duh." Naruko smiled as well.

The faces of Seiryu Senju and Naruko Namikaze were dangerously close to one another, with the two of them staring deeply into each other's eyes. A bit of a blush appeared on Naruko's face, which highlighted the three whisker markings on her cheeks.

"What exactly are you waiting for?" Naruko asked him in a low and sweet voice.

"For you to make the move." Seiryu answered. "Unless you changed your mind?" That wasn't a serious question, but it had the desired effect.

Because as soon as Seiryu said that, Naruko wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips into his.

Both Seiryu and Naruko were always very close, ever since they were little. They did consider the idea of dating officially, but in the end, they just decided to be best friends.

Despite that, they simply couldn't stop acting like an actual couple from time to time.

Eventually, the two separated from the kiss and smiled at one another. "See you tomorrow." Naruko told him as she unwrapped her arms from his neck.

"Good night, Naruko." Seiryu replied as Naruko made her way inside and closed the door behind her.

Seiryu smiled once again before turning around and leaving. Time to go home... Slowly, the boy with white hair began walking home.

After a slow walk throughout the village. Home sweet home... Seiryu Senju eventually made his way to his home.

The Senju Estate, set on a sprawling compound in the back hills of Konoha, was built during the founding of Konohagakure by Seiryu's great-grandfather, Hashirama Senju. The home was a testament to the budding strength of Konohagakure, constructed by local artisans and entangled with Hashirama's own Wood Release trees. The landscape was widely exceptionally well kept, with carefully manicured lawns and flowerbeds that were lovingly maintained. A small creek that encircled the property with the freshest water in the whole village . The center water feature, across from the grand living space, and Seiryu's favorite studying spot, with the waterfall floating and the souzu standing firm. The building showed similar care. Polish roof tiles, spotless shoji screens, the polished and recently painted amado shutters. Clean tatami mats and wooden floors. Everything was just the way he left.

He took a deep breath and slowly made his way into his home. Particularly in the direction to one of the windows .. I'm just gonna go to my room and sleep, I can face them in the morning. Seiryu thought as he carefully approached his window. Slowly... Opening it very slowly, he made his way inside his dark home .

Once he was inside, Seiryu slowly moved through the corridors in order to avoid waking anyone up. Uncle Nawaki is definitely still in the office, but I'm pretty sure that everyone else is home. Which was the major reason why he was sneaking around in his own house.

Unfortunately, the lights were turned on.

"Oh, you're back." Turning around, Seiryu caught the sight of an average-sized, young woman with a slender frame. She has light brown, pupil-less eyes. Her hair - black with a violet tint styled in a short, spiky, fanned-out ponytail. He widened his eyes when he realized that the woman was only wearing a pair of purple panties. "Give your aunty a hug." Her face was flustered and she smelled like alcohol.

"Wai-" Before Seiryu could react properly, the woman pulled him into a hug, with him unintentionally burying his face on her bare chest. Causing him to blush profoundly in response to it.

"You're a brat... Seiryu..." By the way she was speaking, it was clear that she was drunk.

The blushing boy immediately pulled his face away from her chest and asked. "Why the hell are you drunk, aunt Anko?" The woman was a Anko Senju, formerly known as Anko Mitarashi. She was Nawaki Senju's wife and Seiryu's aunt.

"Ohhh, I'm not drunk... I just a little..." She stopped mid-sentence and made a very goofy smile. Before she grabbed Seiryu's cheeks and gave him a kiss on the lips. Causing the white haired boy to widen his eyes in deep shock. "You are so... cute..." She told him before collapsing, with Seiryu grabbing her before she fell head first into the floor.

"Ummm..." He did by wrapping his arms around her torso, which meant that her breasts were pressing against his chest.

Sadly, it was not over yet. Because he heard steps coming from behind him and a pair of arms wrapping around his neck.

"I am so glad that you have finally returned." A boy with long black hair, pale skin and large, dark-brown eyes, and a slender frame, that was wearing a pink, sleeveless kimono, with pale red edges and decorated with small plum-coloured swirls, that went to his ankles. Around his waist was a simple white obi tied in a bow, and he wore a pair of light brown sandals with dark straps. He also wore a dark-coloured choker around his neck.

Seiryu sighed. "Hi Haku." The boy was named Haku, a descendant of the Yuki clan. He used to be an orphan from the Land of Water, but now, he was kind of Seiryu's servant. "Would you kindly explain to me how the hell did aunt Anko get drunk?" Because the only actual drinker in that house was his mother.

"She drank from a bottle that had no label on it thinking that it was water." Haku responded as he held Seiryu tightly from behind. "In reality, it was your mother's sake."

"How the hell do you confuse Sake with water?" Seiryu asked him in clear disbelief.

"I don't-" Haku was about to respond, but before he could.

More steps were heard by Seiryu, and before he could do anything, someone launched herself at him. "Ahh!" Causing Seiryu, Haku and Anko to fall into the wooden floor.

Seiryu rubbed his head a bit before moving his head to see who it was. Letting out a sight, he sees a girl with crimson eyes, fair skin, and the characteristic red hair of the Uzumaki clan which she was wearing in an unusual hairstyle , which was short and spiky on the right side, while longer and straight on the left side. She was wearing stockings, a purple skirt, a light brown short sleeved jacket with an orange stripe going across the chest, and black sandals.

"I missed you so much..." She spoke as she rubbed her face into his kimono shirt. Before moving her head up to look at him. "You're a bastard, how could you avoid everyone all day?!"

"For this precise reason, Karin." The girl was Karin Uzumaki, Seiryu's possible cousin that he considers as such anyway.

Seiryu then sat up from the floor, while Karin clinged to his chest like a Tree Frog clings to a tree. He moves his head and sees his aunt Anko laying on the floor snoring heavily and Haku touching his face to see if he hurted himself in the fall.

Letting out a loud sigh, Seiryu only had a single thought in his head. Tomorrow is going to be a long day...

Chapter Text

"Ummm... Seiryu..." A soft and gentle voice called his name..

...

...

...

...

...

...

"P-please, could you... wake up..." Suddenly the voice spoke again while touching his face. "I need to... give you something..." A very soft voice cooed him in an attempt to get him to wake up.

Unfortunately. "Hmmm..." Seiryu Senju opened his dark eyes and sat up. However, he was barely conscious and ended up doing what he usually does when he gets woken up abruptly like that. "Five more minutes, mama." Which was grabbing the person that woke him up into a hug and burying his face into the person's chest, assuming that it was his mother.

"Huh!?" Suddenly, the person calling him gasped in response. "S-S-Se-Seiryu..." With someone stuttering desperately as he sniffed her chest, sensing an incredibly sweet smell.

Seiryu then noticed that something was off. "Huh?" Then he touched the chest which he was burying his sleepy face on. "Why is your chest smaller?" His mother has the biggest bosoms in the village, those were quite big but definitely not as big as hers.

Which caused him to actually remove his face from her chest and see who it was. Only to be greeted by a pair of featureless white eyes, who were completely widened due to the fact that Seiryu's hands were touching her breasts.

...

...

...

...

"Tah!" With Seiryu immediately falling backwards and accidentally hitting the back of his head on the floor as he realized that the one whom he just did that wasn't actually his mother.

After a long night that involved him trying to get Karin to let go of him, trying to get Haku to stop checking on him due to his injury and trying to get his drunk aunt to stop trying to force herself on him. Seiryu finally was able to get to his room and go to sleep.

"Ahhh..." Seiryu rubbed his head and sat up. Only to catch the sight of a very flustered girl. A slender girl of fair-complexion with dark blue hair in a hime-cut cut just above her forehead akin to a bowl-cut with chin-length strands framing her face. She wears a cream-coloured hooded-jacket with a fire symbol on the upper sleeves and fur around the cuffs and hem. She also wears navy blue pants and keeps her forehead protector loosely around her neck.

"Hinata?!" Seiryu asked in deep confusion. The girl that was right in front of him was Hinata Hyūga, Hanabi's older sister and Neji's first cousin. ''How did you get in?!" Because he actually planted several traps to make sure no one would come in to disturb his sleep.

Hinata, who's brain probably fried after Seiryu groped her by accident. Didn't seem to be able to make words out of her mouth.

Suddenly, his door busted open, revealing another figure. "There you are, you damn moron!" It was a boy with messy brown hair, sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils, pronounced canine teeth, and nails that he could change into claws. He also has the distinctive red fang markings of the Inuzuka clan on his cheeks. His attire consisted of dark greyish pants reaching to his calves and a grey, hooded fur-lined coat, with the hood placed on his head, with a blue forehead protector and blue sandals.

"Kiba?!" The boy was one of Seiryu's closest friends, Kiba Inuzuka. "What the hell are you doing in my house?!"

"Woof!" Before Kiba could speak, a very happy sound bark was heard by them, before it jumped all the way from Kiba's hoodie and into Seiryu's lap. "Woof!" A small puppy with white and some brown fur on his ears, his eyes are squinted, appearing closed, and he has a brown nose, as well as brown patches on his ears and a brown outline around his mouth. His fur on top of his head is styled to somewhat resemble a mohawk.

"Hey Akamaru, did you miss me?" Seiryu asked with a smile as he picked the dog up. The dog was Kiba's pet, Akamaru.

"Woof! Woof!" He barked happily before licking Seiryu's face in response.

"I must say, those choices of traps were quite peculiar." A third person appeared from behind Kiba. "But it was nothing we couldn't pass by." A tall and fair-skinned boy. He has dark, bushy, brown hair and dark, sharp eyes. He was wearing dark round sunglasses and a light grey colour jacket with a high, upturned collar.

"Hi to you too, Shino" The other boy was Shino Aburame. Hinata and Kiba's teammate.

Seiryu scratched his long hair and moved his head to look at the alarm clock, where he saw that it was nearly midday. Causing Seiryu to sigh because it was time for his medication. And when he moved to look at the still paralyzed Hinata, he saw that she was holding the bottle. She must have heard about it from Naruko and came here to give it to me. The Senju heir quickly understood the situation. Let's get this over with. The boy with long hair quickly snatched the bottle from the paralyzed shy girl and proceeded to gulp it down the specific amount that he was supposed to take. "BAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Before sticking his tongue out in deep disgust due to the awful taste. Two damn weeks of drinking this stuff... Seiryu thought in deep frustration.

Once he got that nuisance over with for the time being, he placed the antidote down and proceeded to place Akamaru on Hinata's lap before standing up. "Thank you..." Then he pressed a very gentle kiss on Hinata's forehead.

Unsurprisingly, doing that made Hinata's face turn unnaturally red, almost matching Kushina's hair. And she fell backwards and nearly hit her head on the floor, but thankfully, Seiryu caught her and gently placed his pillow below her head.

"I think you fried her brain?" Kiba pointed out as he entered Seiryu's room.

"Woof! Woof!" Akamaru moved towards her head and licked her face in an attempt to make her react.

"She'll be fine." He stood up from the floor, he was only wearing his kimono pants, mainly because he was too tired to take them off yesterday.

Without saying a single word, he walked past Kiba and Shino.

"Hey!" Kiba spoke as he watched Seiryu leave.

Seiryu simply ignored them as he stretched himself while walking out of the door of his room.

With Shino and Kiba moving their heads to look at the still unmoving Hinata. Who might be at the risk of dying of overheating due to how flustered she was.

The Senju Heir slowly walked the corridors of the Senju Estate. Hoping that his family is still asleep.

Why do I even bother to hope for anything? Seiryu thought in a slight annoyance.

After he reached the kitchen, he decided to prepare some breakfast for himself, a omurice to be more precise. But doing that was proving to be quite the difficult task.

"Could you please let go of me?" Because his cousin was literally hanging on him with her arms and legs wrapped around his torso.

"No." Karin immediately denied his request. "You planted all of those mean traps while all I wanted was to cuddle with you." She tightened her grip around him, making it even more difficult for him to grab his omurice. "You know how lonely it was without you around?" She whined and Seiryu rolled his eyes in response.

"Will you two shut up..." His aunt Anko was sitting on the dinner table, with her head resting on top of it due to the massive hangover that she was suffering from thanks to his mother's sake. She wears a custom-made outfit that is crafted of thin metal mesh to fit the lines of her body, that covers her from neck to thigh. Over this, she wears a tan overcoat with a purple in-seam and a pocket on each side, a dark orange mini-skirt, a dark blue belt, and pale grey shin guards.

"How the hell did you confuse sake with water anyway?" Seiryu asked as he still couldn't understand it.

"Ahhh... " She grunted and waved his question off.

Seiryu just sighed in response.

"Are you sure that you took the necessary dose of the antidote?" Suddenly, Haku appeared on his side and asked. Thankfully, he grabbed his toast for him.

"Yes, I did, stop asking." Seiryu told the older boy in response because it was the third time he asked. "Where the hell is uncle Nawaki?"

"The Hokage slept in the office." Haku responded to him as he poured some green tea into a cup for Seiryu.

"Good," Seiryu was quick to say in response, actually relieved that his uncle wasn't home. "Him nagging on my ear during breakfast is the last thing I need right now."

"Ahh..." Anko heard that. "Did he scold you yesterday?" She already knew the answer.

"And pulled my ear twice." He was still mad about that because absolutely despises when people pull his ear.

"Well, that's what you get for sneaking off, you damn brat." Anko was quick to reprimand him as well.

"And that's what you get for eating and drinking whatever the hell you see in the fridge." Seiryu was quick to rebuff.

"Shut up... I was thirsty and only realized that it was Sake after I gulped down half of the bottle." Anko was quick to justify herself, not realizing how dumb that sounds.

"Yeah, and instead of stopping after realizing, you decided to gulp the entire bottle down?" Seiryu asked sarcastically, because he could actually see the bottle in question on top of the kitchen counter.

"I didn't gulp the entire bottle down!" She was quick to yell at him, only to hold her head in pain once again.

"Oh, if that's the case." Seiryu moved towards the bottle and forcibly reached out with his left hand.

Before he could indulge himself with his mother's alcohol, Haku immediately took the bottle off his hand. "You are not supposed to mix alcohol with the medication."

"Rin didn't mention anything about that." Seiryu was quick to point out as he tried to grab the bottle off his hands.

"Rin doesn't really know that you drink almost as much as your mother." Haku pointed out as well as he kept the bottle away from him.

"I don't drink that much!" Seiryu yelled in response. Despite wanting to yank the bottle of sake off his hands, he realized that he was probably right. "Fine." He spoke while rolling his eyes. I don't want this to last longer, so it's better to just do everything right. He thought as he turned around. "Karin, I'm serious right now, let go." He spoke calmly with his cousin, who was still clinging on to him. Her response was to simply tighten her grip. Causing Seiryu to frown in response.

"Okay, that's enough." Haku, sensing that Seiryu was about to get mad, pulled Karin off of him.

"Hey!" With the redheaded girl immediately protesting. "Let go of me , Haku!"

"Thank you." Seiryu used his now free arm to grab his cup of tea. Then he grabbed his omurice and made his way to the table and sat beside his aunt. "You can let go of her now." He told Haku, who was still holding the struggling Karin.

Haku complied and let go of her.

Karin simply gave him an angry glare before rushing towards and grabbing on to Seiryu again, wrapping her arms around his neck and rubbing her cheek on his.

Seiryu didn't react to it and just took a bite of his omurice. Karin's clinginess was something that he was used to, despite the fact that he found it considerably annoying at times.

The boy with white hair took a sip of his tea as he thought about what to expect for the rest of the day. No training for a week or more... That was something that deeply frustrated the Senju heir, because he always took his training very seriously and hated to miss even a single day of it.

As Seiryu pondered on what to do for the day, suddenly, the door of the kitchen opened revealing Kiba, Shino, Akamaru and Hinata, thankfully snapped out of her paralysis.

"Hey." Seiryu greeted Hinata as he eat another piece of his omurice

"H-hello..." Hinata shyly greeted Seiryu, no doubt that she was still embarrassed over their early accident.

"So, what the hell was that anyway?" Kiba immediately asked as he approached the table.

"Naruko didn't tell you?" Seiryu asked, while listening to a low but noticeable grunt coming from Karin after the mention of Naruko's name.

"She just said that you were poisoned while you were fighting someone." Kiba revealed to him.

"Yeah, Zabuza Momochi." Seiryu revealed to them.

"The Demon of the Hidden Mist?" Haku was the one that asked him that, since he was originally from Land of Water himself, he probably heard of him before.

"Yes, I bumped into him by complete accident while I was on my way back to the village." Seiryu explained while gently touching the bandages that were wrapped around his torso. "I could have avoided him but I really wanted to test my skills against one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

"I wish you would have taken me with you." Haku said to him while touching his torso. "I could have shielded you from the attack." Saying that earned him strange looks from Team 8, especially Hinata.

"If by "shielding me" you mean tossing yourself in front of it and taking it yourself, then I'm glad that I didn't take you with me." Seiryu was quick to declare that because he knew that would have been exactly what Haku would have done. "I don't want you dying on me, okay?" He took Haku's hands and carefully squeezed, being very careful to not break Haku's hand with his grip.

Haku didn't say anything, he just smiled at Seiryu in response to what he said.

Everyone gave the two boys very strange looks in response to that gesture. Something that didn't actually escape Seiryu's notice, but he simply ignored them before letting go of Haku's hand and drinking some more tea.

"What the hell were you doing anyway?" Kiba asked him in curiosity since everyone was specifically clueless of where exactly Seiryu went. Something that was highlighted by the fact that everyone was looking at him with curiosity in their eyes.

"You see, I was actually trying t-" Seiryu was about to explain everything to them, however , before he could actually speak. "He's here!" He heard someone yelling from behind. Moving his head back, he realized that it was Konohamaru, who was looking at them through the kitchen's window.

Seiryu let out a loud sigh, because he knew exactly what was about to happen, so he took a final bite of his Omurice.

As he chewed his breakfast, Konohamaru tried to enter through the window, only to trip and fall on the floor.

"Not this brat again..." Anku complained while covering her ears.

"Good morning, Konohamaru." Haku greeted him respectfully while helping him stand up.

"Morning." The little boy greeted the older boy back while rubbing his face.

"What did I tell you about entering through the window?" Seiryu reminded him since Konohamaru always entered the Senju Estate uninvited.

"Sorry, I can't help it." He apologized as he approached his chair. "I missed you, big brother!" Then he immediately declared that while wrapping his arms around Seiryu's torso in a very tight hug while rubbing his face on his chest.

"Ehh... Missed you too." Seiryu gently patted his head with left hand. Completely ignoring the fact that Konohamaru was actually squeezing his injury. Mostly because it didn't hurt that much anymore. Which indicated that the antidote was working.

Suddenly, someone else entered through the kitchen window.

"Hanabi?" Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, it was Hinata's sister.

"I knew you'd be here." Hanabi immediately told her sister as she stepped into the kitchen. "But... Did you seriously spend all morning waiting for him to wake up?" Hinata looked away deeply embarrassed after that question.

"What?" More so after Seiryu actually spoke.

"She left the compound when it was still dar-'' Hanabi was about to elaborate, but she was interrupted.

"Hanabi!" Hinata yelled at her, which was surprising since she wasn't the type that raised her voice.

"Okay..." Hanabi rolled her eyes and immediately approached the chair that Seiryu was sitting on. And to everyone's surprise, she climbed on it and sat on Seiryu's lap. "Pat my head too." Before the Hyūga Heiress demanded that from the Senju Heir.

Seiryu sighed before complying and gently patting Hanabi's head with his right hand.

As he did that, Hinata gave her sister a very subtle frown while Hanabi smiled at her in amusement.

Seiryu sighed because he knew his day was just beginning.

"Woah, you actually took his sword!"

After miraculously finishing his breakfast. Seiryu decided to return to his room to get dressed.

Seiryu's room was quite simplistic. The door was located on the left end of the wall opposite to his futon. Besides the door there was a 3-tier shelf that was filled with random stuff on it. On the top shelf was an incense pot and a sculpture of Gamabunta that Seiryu made himself. The middle shelf had three porcelain masks on display, an Toad mask, a Slug mask and a Snake mask. The bottom shelf had a broken Tanegashima. Besides the shelf, there was a wardrobe, where Seiryu kept all of his clothes in. Right next to it, there was a table with a television on top of it alongside a Video Cassette Recorder that was also on top of the television. On it's right, there was a drawer where Seiryu kept his belongings such as his weapons, equipment, scrolls, books and other important stuff. And finally, there was his futon which he used to sleep on located at the wall right below the window that was opposite to the door. In the middle of the room, there was a coffee table where he would eat and study from time to time.

After putting on the exact same outfit from yesterday, Seiryu decided to show something to his friends.

"He didn't actually have a use for it after I was done with him." Seiryu declared.

What Seiryu was referring to, was the fact that he had Kubikiribōchō in his hand. A souvenir from his battle with the Demon of the Hidden Mist.

"Look at the size of that thing!" Kiba, who was impressed by how big it was, said out loud while looking at the blade up close. Seiryu handed the blade to Kiba, who barely managed to keep it off the floor.

"What exactly are you going to do with that?" Hanabi asked him in confusion. "Are you going to replace the Sword of the Thunder God?"

"Hell no!" Seiryu was quick to deny it, since the Sword of the Thunder God was way superior to the Kubikiribōchō. "I was actually planning on giving it to Haku."

Everyone immediately moved their heads to look at Haku, who was standing there motionless. "Me?" He asked surprised.

"I thought it would be fitting since you were originally from the Land of Water, don't question my logic." That was the best explanation he could give. The swords of the Seven Swordsmen have been passed down from generation to generation since the First Mizukage's era. They're considered mystical blades, and together, the Seven Swordsmen are capable of bringing down an entire nation, regarded as being the strongest shinobi in the village behind the Mizukage. "If you don't want it, then..." In Seiryu's opinion, Haku is way stronger than Zabuza, so if someone from the Land of Water deserved to have that sword, it was him.

"I'll happily accept any gift from you." Haku was quick to reply.

"Perfect." He took the Kubikiribocho from Kiba's hand and handed it to Haku. Who managed to hold it up quite nicely, to Kiba's annoyance. "I'm sure you'll put to good use, unlike that scum to be hired out by anyone corrupt." That was his opinion of Zabuza Momochi.

"I promise you that I will." Haku told him as he held the blade up.

"Ahh!" Konohamaru grunted in annoyance. "Why is only Haku getting a cool gift?" He whined.

"Because I didn't actually go shopping for gifts while I was away." Seiryu responded sarcastically. "But don't worry, next time, I'll remember to bring you something." Or at least he was going to try to remember.

"Wait, you're bringing him a gift and not me?" Then Hanabi decided to join in to Seiryu's annoyance.

"I'm never bringing you a gift ever again after what you did to the last one." It was quite difficult to get it and it really annoyed Seiryu that she broke two days later.

"That was Neji's fault!" She immediately yelled in response while folding her arms in annoyance.

"Was it?" Seiryu moved his head to look at Hinata in order to get confirmation from her.

"Ummm..." Hinata blushed as both Seiryu and Hanabi were giving her a look, with everyone moving their heads to look at her as well, making her even more embarrassed. "W-well..." She genuinely didn't know how to answer and she was tapping her fingers anxiously. "Neji did take the gift without her permission but..."

"See!" Hanabi didn't even let her finish.

In truth, Seiryu was perfectly aware that it was partially Neji's fault, but it was Hanabi that ended up breaking it. But he decided to let that slide. "Alright, I'll bring a gift for you too."

"Yes!" Hanabi was very happy to hear that.

Hinata on the other hand, didn't seem as happy as her sister.

After finishing his morning routine, which was practically ruined by his family and friends' presence in his house. Seiryu decided to go out for a straw around the village alongside Team 8, the Hyūga heiress and the Honourable Grandson.

Karin had to leave to train with Kushina and Haku went to grab more of the antidote for Seiryu. His aunt Anku stayed at home battling against her hangover.

"So, basically, you cannot train until that heals?" Kiba asked Seiryu as the group walked behind him as they all traversed through a street.

"Doctor's orders." Seiryu confirmed despite his deep annoyance. "I guess that's what I get for not being aware of my surroundings."

"That was always your major weakness." Suddenly, as they pass through an alley. Seiryu heard a familiar voice, which caused him to look inside, only for him to smile as he saw a familiar face.

Leaning on the wall of the alley, was a man with spiky silver hair oriented to his left-side, dark grey eyes, with a relaxed and lazy expression. He was wearing Konoha's standard infantry clothing composed of a flak jacket, dark blue pants, and a long-sleeve shirt, he was also wearing fingerless gloves with metal plates on the backhand and is seen with a chain necklace underneath. He was wearing a mask that prevents most of his face from being visible, but the visible part shows his damaged left eye with a vertical scar which he covers with his forehead protector.

"Sensei..." The man was, of course, Kakashi Hatake. Seiryu's Sensei. "I hope Rin didn't give you too much grief over..." He highlighted the book that was on Kakashi's hand.

Kakashi's response was to give Seiryu a look, showcasing how annoyed he was by Seiryu telling on him.

"It wasn't on purpose." That was a lie, since Seiryu's loves when Rin gets mad at him over the Icha Icha books.

"Lier." But Kakashi wasn't falling for it. "But that's not important right now, Sensei Minato wants to speak with you." He informed him.

"Huh?" Seiryu was surprised by that. "Uncle Minato wants to speak with me?" That was odd, because he had dinner in his home yesterday and he didn't actually mention anything, so something must have come up. "About what?"

"About what was this little venture of yours all about that is yet to be revealed." Kakashi explained to him. "I'm also a little curious myself, since I still don't exactly get what you were doing this whole month you were away."

"Actually, yeah, what were you doing anyway?" Konohamaru asked him since Seiryu still didn't reveal to anyone what was the purpose of his little escapade.

Everyone actually stared at him in curiosity because they all wanted to know what he was doing.

With Seiryu letting out a loud sigh before looking at his sensei. "Where is uncle Minato?" He decided to ask.

"At his home." He pointed at Konohamaru after saying that, pretty much saying that his uncle Minato was in the Sarutobi residence.

"Alright, let's go." Seiryu told Konohamaru.

"Wait what?!" Kiba asked in annoyance.

"You're just going to leave and not tell us anything about it?!" Hanabi asked angrily as she, alongside everyone else, wanted to know what Seiryu was doing.

The Senju heir rolled his eyes and said, "Look," He folded his arms before continuing. "You guys gather everyone that actually wants to know what I've been doing for the past month and bring them to the Sarutobi residence." The boy with long white hair instructed all of his friends. "I'm gonna tell you all everything, but I'm only gonna tell it once, am I clear?"

"Yes!" Hanabi spoke enthusiastically before she moved towards her sister. "Come on, let's go pick up Neji." She grabbed Hinata's hand and pulled her to get moving.

"Ummm... Okay." Hinata complied and immediately went with her sister.

"We're gonna go grab Shikamaru, Chōji and Ino." Kiba declared.

"Woof! Woof!" With Akamaru barking in agreement.

"You go for Sasuke, Naruko and Sakura." But he instructed Shino before moving out with Akamaru..

Shino simply nodded in response before he himself moved out.

Once they were gone, Seiryu sighed. "Am I going to get a scolding from grandpa too?" That was a question directed at Konohamaru.

"Nah." But he waved off right away. "He knows that your mother is going to probably kill you when she gets here anyway."

Seiryu grunted due to the awful reminder of his fate, which Konohamaru responded by giggling at him. "Come on..." The white haired boy wrapped his arm around Konohamaru before moving. "Are you coming?" He asked his sensei.

"No, I'll meet you there." Kakashi replied while putting his book inside one of the pouches on his vest. "Rin, Gai, Kurenai, Asuma and Kushina will wanna be there as well." Pretty much informing him that he will go grab them all to hear the story as well.

"Alright, see you later, Sensei." Seiryu gently pushed Konohamaru so the two could get moving. "Come on, let's see how grandpa is doing."

"Of every single habit you could have picked from him, did it have to be that one?"

"Don't drag me into that."

After a considerable walk through Konohagakure, Seiryu Senju and Konohamaru Sarutobi made their way to the home of the Sarutobi Clan. It's located in the southern part of the building and is largely made up from wood and not too expensive materials. There is also some more vegetation that 'decorate' the home with a small garden and there is in the middle with a circle of trees planted. In the midst of the tree circle is a large white stone present. This site is one of holy importance to the Sarutobi - where they hold various ceremonies to honour their ancestors and deities.

"Trust me, it's nothing compared to grandpa and uncle Asuma." Konohamaru was quick to point that out.

At that moment, Seiryu was sitting inside a room that seemed to be used for social gatherings. He was sitting down on a table relaxing until everyone else arrived.

"True, but it's still a bad habit." Minato, who was sitting down in front of Seiryu, spoke.

"I picked a bunch of habits from a bunch of different people." Seiryu was quick to reply. "It was bound for some of them to be bad, don't you think?"

"I'm never going to smoke in my life." Konohamaru, who was sitting besides Seiryu, decided to add that to the conversation.

"Good, but if you change your mind, don't blame me for it." Seiryu was quick to tell him that.

The whole reason why they were having that kind of conversation was because Seiryu was smoking using a Kiseru in his mouth that he was using to smoke.

"Though, if you wanna blame someone anyway, blame the oldest smoker in the room." Seiryu added that before exhaling the smoke.

"Don't blame me for your choice of habits, Seiryu." The third person that was sitting on that table and the last person that was keeping Seiryu company. Was a elderly man with below-average stature, light skin, grey hair, a gaunt face, and wrinkles and liver spots of old age. He was wearing a full-length white kimono that is tied using a white sash and he had a nice looking pipe on his mouth.

"You had a role in it, whether you like it or not, Hiruzen." Minato was quick to point that out.

The man was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of Konohagakure and Konohamaru's grandfather.

"Sorry, grandpa Hiruzen." Seiryu apologized before smoking a bit more. "I'll start blaming Asuma for it, if that makes you feel better." Hiruzen wasn't really Seiryu's grandfather, but he was like a father for both of his parents, so that qualified him for the role in Seiryu's eyes since there was nobody to fit that role in his life anyway.

"Uncle Asuma smokes more than grandpa, so that wouldn't be wrong." Konohamaru was quick to point out that fact as well.

"Yes, but if we actually count who he got that habit from..." Minato couldn't help but point that fact out himself.

"Can we please just shut up about that." Seiryu asked as he put the Kiseru down.

"I agree with Seiryu." Hiruzen also put his pipe down.

"Where is everyone?!" Konohamaru spoke with deep impatience since he was dying to hear about Seiryu's adventure.

"Like I said, I'm only gonna tell it once, so they better bring everyone that wants to hear it." Seiryu reminded them of it.

"It must be quite the story, I'm actually curious myself now." Hiruzen couldn't help but say that.

"Originally, I just wanted to discuss that mysterious person that attacked you, but since you're gonna tell everyone what you were doing." Minato clarified the reason why he wanted to speak to him. "We can discuss this later."

"Fine, but uncle Nawaki will not be part of that conversation." Seiryu was quick to add that condition.

Hiruzen sighed. "I assume you two had another argument?"

"Grandpa, about ninety percent of the time uncle Nawaki and I are in the same room, it's basically composed of us yelling at each other." Something that was common knowledge to anyone that knows the two of them.

"Which is something that greatly upsets your mother." Hiruzen reminded him of that.

Seiryu sighed in response to that. "You think I enjoy upsetting her?" That wasn't an actual question. "Listen, if there's one thing that I can assure you, is that every time I argue with uncle Nawaki, it is not intentional on my part." But it always ends up in an argument.

"That, I believe you." Hiruzen knew that Seiryu was telling the truth in that regard.

The Senju heir opened his mouth to say something else, but before the words could come out, he felt an immense chill run down his spine.

"Something wrong?" Konohamaru noticed that something was off with Seiryu.

"Oh no..." Seiryu knew perfectly well what that feeling was.

"I would suggest that you run, but that would only delay the inevitable." Hiruzen spoke while nodding in deep sympathy.

"What?" Konohamaru was deeply confused.

Soon enough, he could feel the ground shake a bit. Uncle Nawaki, you lying bastard... Seiryu was deeply furious with his uncle for giving him false information, that most likely given on purpose.

After a few more seconds, the shaking got worse and they could hear noises of destruction coming their way, which visibly frightened Konohamaru.

"Just make sure every word that comes out of your mouth is an apology and you might be alright." Minato advised his godson in concern.

"What is going on?!" Konohamaru asked in deep worry as the noises just kept getting worse.

"My..." Before Seiryu could answer his question. A very massive crashing sound coming from the door that leads to that room was heard by the four of them, with the door being practically launched into the nearby wall. The boy moved his dark eyes to look back.

Standing in front of the door frame, was a very attractive fair-skinned woman with brown eyes and straight blonde hair that parts above her forehead with shoulder-length bangs that frame her face and the rest reaches her lower back. She was slender with a curvaceous frame, above-average height, and noticeably large breasts. She was wearing a grass-green haori with the kanji for "gamble" on the back, inside a red circle. Underneath she wears a grey, kimono-style blouse with no sleeves, held closed by a broad, dark bluish-grey obi that matches her pants. Her blouse is closed quite low, revealing her sizable cleavage. She wears open-toed, strapped black sandals with high heels. She has red nail polish on both her fingernails and toenails and uses a soft pink lipstick.

All four of them looked at the woman in fear, since she had an expression of fury on her face that could make even a demon cower in fear. Made it worse by the fact that she began to approach them with each step she took damaging the floor with the boards breaking at each step.

Konohamaru hid behind Seiryu in fear, while everyone else just stood there, waiting for what was about to happen.

After several steps and several damages done to the floor, the woman stood in front of the boy, with an unnatural golden aura surrounding her and a large vein on her forehead.

...

...

...

"Sei-Chan!" Only for the woman to completely change her demeanor a second later and cry out. "My baby!" Before enveloping Seiryu into a literal bone breaking hug that would probably kill anyone else and proceed to smother the poor boy with her ample bosom.

"Ehhh..." Hiruzen, alongside Minato and Konohamaru had large sweat drops at the back of their heads as they were quite uncomfortable with what was happening in front of them. "It's good that you are finally back... Tsunade."

Unsurprisingly, the woman that was basically suffocating Seiryu with her ample chest, was none other than Seiryu's mother. Tsunade Senju.

"I'm not out of the damn village for a day and you pull a stunt like that?!" Tsunade Senju yelled loudly as she continued to smother her son.

"S..rr..." Seiryu Senju could only attempt to apologize in a very muffled voice as his mother suffocated him with her breasts.

"And you even got yourself injured!" The distraught woman continued to rant. "Next time Nawaki asks me to do anything, I'll just tell him to shove it!" However, it seems that the rant was about his uncle now.

"S..y..." Seiryu was able to remove his head from her cleavage and look up to meet her gaze. "I didn't mean to make you worried, mama." He really didn't, his mother was the last person in the world that he wanted to upset.

"Oh you..." The woman responded by pulling his face back into her cleavage and tightened the hug even more.

Konohamaru, Minato and Hiruzen had large sweat drops at the back of their heads. Despite the fact that they were all used to a scene like that.

However, their faces change from slightly awkward expressions to horrified ones once Tsunade looks at the trio. "The hell are you three looking at?" The woman asked while giving them her classic look of anger.

"Ehhh... Nothing, we are just glad that you have returned safely!" Hiruzen quickly spoke in response while sweating a bit.

"Y-yeah, I hope that whatever you were doing , went out smoothly." Minato added despite being completely clueless about the purpose of it.

"Hm!" The woman scoffed in response. "A complete waste of time if you ask me." She was quick to say it.

"Ehhh... Remind me again what exactly you were doing?" Hiruzen asked his old student in curiosity since he wasn't really informed of the purpose of her trip.

"Some rich bastard paid an absurd amount of money for me to personally overlook some stupid epidemic that was happening in his mansion." Tsunade revealed to them as he continued to smother her son. "It was nothing more than a simple viral infection, but I got stuck there until everyone was better."

"Wait..." Seiryu removed his head from his mother's chest and asked. "That's it?" He genuinely thought that it was something more serious, like a rare disease or something.

Tsunade just pulled his head back once again and continued. "Not even a particularly strong one." The level of annoyance in her voice was obvious.

"Maybe not, but you are the most sought after Medical-Nin in the world, so you can exactly blame certain people for wanting your help." Hiruzen was quick to point out that fact to his former student.

Tsunade simply scoffed in response. "Well, this was the last time, because I am done wasting my time on something like that again." She had a deep distaste for going on these kinds of missions, especially if they kept her away from home for a considerable amount of time.

Seiryu pulled his head from her chest once again and said, "That's what you said last time." He reminded her.

Tsunade pulled her son's head into her chest again. "This time I mean it!" She yelled in response.

Before anyone else could speak their mind, another individual appeared, running past the destroyed door that Tsunade kicked open. And stopping to apparently regain their breath from all that running.

A fair-skinned woman of average height and slender build with onyx eyes and jet-black hair; her hair is straight and shoulder-length with bangs that cover her ears and frame her face. She was wearing a long bluish-black kimono with white trimmings, held closed by a white obi, and open-toed sandals with low heels "Seiryu!" The woman yelled his name right away.

Seiryu pulled his head from his mother's chest yet again and waved happily at the woman. "Hi, aunt Shizune." The woman was Shizune, Seiryu's godmother.

Before Shizune could do anything else, a strange pink flash ran past her at a pretty high speed and immediately jumped into Seiryu's arms. "Oink! Oink!" A pig that was light pinkish colour, much like any other ordinary pig. Her cheeks blush in a darker shade of the same tint as her skin. She is always seen wearing a pearl collar and a dark red jacket.

"Did you miss me, Tonton?" That pig was none other than his family's pet, Tonton. Whom Seiryu immediately hugged as soon as he had her in his arms.

"Buhi!" Tonton rubbed her head on his chest, answering his question without using words.

Suddenly, Shizune also approached him and opened his top. "Did you take the correct dosage of the antidote, if you forgot and took a minute later it could cause the effects of the poison to return especially with the fact that the wound was inflicted way too close to your heart an-'' His godmother proceed to freak out over his injury, more than most people have, but that was to be expected.

"I drank the dosage as soon as I woke up, don't worry." Seiryu assured her in order to stop her freaking out. However, he actually remembered something that he had forgotten. "Though..." The moment those words escaped his lips, His mother, godmother and pet gave him incredibly apprehensive looks.

"Though... What?" His mother asked him in a very menacing voice while a dark aura surrounded her.

"Ehhh..." He scratched his cheek . "I haven't changed the bandages yet." He was actually planning on doing that after he was done telling everyone about it.

Tsunade grunted before standing up. "Then take off your top, we're changing them right now."

"Ehhh..." Seiryu didn't actually feel comfortable doing that there. But he was too afraid to deny his mother since one wrong word and she might give him the worst ear pull yet.

So the boy with white hair put his pet down, stood up from the floor and removed the top of his outfit.

"Lift your arms up." Shizune instructed him as she gently began to unwrap the bandages that were covering his torso.

"I actually called Seiryu here to discuss the one that attacked him." Minato stood up from the table and approached them. "This was definitely an assassination attempt."

"There hasn't been any of those in a while, so I genuinely don't understand why now." Hiruzen decided to add as he once again lightened his pipe and approached them. "Especially when you add the fact that nobody outside of the village should have known." More so since Seiryu snuck out of the village and was wearing a disguise.

"Do you think he was with the Demon of the Hidden Mist?" Konohamaru asked him as he also approached Seiryu.

"Nah... They clearly knew each other, but I genuinely don't think they were together." Seiryu clarified, since the individual that attacked him left the wounded Zabuza behind.

After a few seconds, Shizune unwrapped the bandages and exposed Seiryu's injury. "Ah..." With a gasp escaping her lips right away. "Seiryu..." Accompanied by a very sad look when she saw.

"Woah!" Konohamaru saw his injury for the first time. "That's a big cut!" And was startled by it.

Tsunade grinded her teeth. "Dammit, Seiryu..." The woman was furious, but was visibly shaken by the sight of the big cut on her son's chest. Causing Seiryu to wrap his arm around his mother's hip and place the side of his head on her chest.

"Mama, I'm fine." He reassured her as he stared deeply into her eyes.

Her response was to simply give him a kiss on the forehead and run her fingers through his white hair while Shizune expected the injury.

"It actually looks better than it did yesterday." Minato decided to add, as he also checked the wound.

"It hurts less as well, meaning that the antidote is working." Seiryu revealed as he enjoys his mother's touches. "But whoever did this wasn't playing around because it was an exceptionally deadly poison according to Rin."

"Once you are done telling us about your journey, maybe we can discuss it further." Minato proposed as he affectionately touched his shoulder, probably because he wanted to look into this mysterious assassin himself.

"Tell everyone?" Tsunade asked in confusion as she gave the two of them a look.

"Everyone wants to know what Seiryu was doing, so he told everyone to meet us here so he can tell the story ." Konohamaru enthusiastically revealed it because he really wanted to know.

"Oh right..." For a second he forgot about that. "Speaking of which, could you please hurry up because I don't want to have this exposed when everyon-" Unfortunately, it was too late, because before he could even finish his request, a loud gasp was heard by him. "Ahhh..." The boy with white hair grunted as he moved his head to look at the entrance.

Where he saw almost everyone that he was expecting to show up standing there stunned, surprised, astonished, horrified, dumbfounded, appalled and dumbstruck at the sight of Seiryu's injury.

"I-I-I didn't know it was that bad." Sakura was the first one to approach him since he didn't actually show her when he slept in her home. She was visibly both shocked and disturbed by the sight of the massive cut on his chest.

"Don't worry about it, it's healing nicely." Seiryu assured her.

"And to think you were able to get the better of me in a Taijutsu battle despite such an injury on you, I must train twice as hard to overcome the shame!" Lee cried in deep shame since the fact that Seiryu was winning their exchange despite the injury was quite shameful for the boy wearing a jumpsuit.

"Lee, you should take Seiryu's example as his enthusiasm and desire to fight you overwhelmed any limitation that was put on him even with such an injury." Right behind Lee, there was a tall and well-muscled man that had fair skin, a strong jawline, a somewhat large nose, and black hair. He is most noticeable for his shiny bowl-style haircut and thick eyebrows. He was wearing a green jumpsuit, orange-striped leg warmers, and the standard Konoha flak jacket that was unzipped. His red forehead protector was worn around his waist like a belt.

"It's not like I was incapacitated or anything, Guy." The man was Might Guy, Lee, Tenten and Neji's Sensei. "Besides, nothing like a good old Taijutsu fight to blow off some steam."

For some reason, tears began to come out of Might Guy's eyes after Seiryu said that. "It warms my heart that my eternal rival's student is overflowing with the Power of Youth."

Seiryu, Tenten and Neji rolled his eyes at the man's eccentric behavior while everyone else just gave him the classic weirded out look.

Sasuke was the next one to approach him. "Let me guess, someone got the drop on you?" He could tell, since Seiryu's greatest weakness was the fact that it was always way easy to sneak up on him.

"In my defense, I was in the middle of a fight." Seiryu confirmed Sasuke's suspicion.

"At least it looks better than it did yesterday." Naruko pointed out, before she poked it once again.

"Don't touch it!" And Seiryu yelled at her over it again.

"Sorry." The blond girl apologized.

"Did you really take the Kubikiribōchō from one of the Seven Swordsmen?!" Tenten enthusiastically asked him, showing no concern about his injury at all.

"I did, I'll show you later." Seiryu promised the weapon enthusiast since the sword was legendary.

"Is that all that you think about it?" Neji asked his teammate sarcastically.

"Ummm..." Hinata approached them next, shyly standing next to the group wanting to say something.

"Is there something you wanna say, Hinata?" Seiryu asked her since he could.

"I... Umm..." But the shy girl was having difficulty spilling it out.

"She wants to know if she can apply some Ointment on you." So Hanabi, who was standing beside her, spilled out for her.

"Hanabi!" With the poor Hinata yelling at her sister with a deep blush on her face as a response. Seiryu could actually see that she was holding the Hyūga Clan Secret Ointment in her hands.

"What?" The Hyūga heiress asked. "It's the truth." She clearly took it from the Hyūga compound after they left them.

"No-no, I was just going to a-ask if he would like to apply some on his wound!" She was quick to clarify that with a deep blush on her face.

"Sure." Seiryu heard what she said and accepted. "Any objections?" He asked both his mother and godmother since they were the ones with the most medical experience there.

"No, actually, applying some ointment would do the wound some good before bandaging it again." Shizune approved as she continued to inspect the wound just to be certain that Rin hasn't missed any more possible damage done to him.

Tsunade , on the other hand, just gave the girl a considerably dark look in response. Which caused poor Hinata to shift uncomfortably at the intense stare that she was receiving from Seiryu's mother. "Fine." But she approved nonetheless.

"Alright then." To everyone's surprise however, Hanabi actually took the ointment off her sister's hands and began to apply some on the lower part of Seiryu's wound.

"Hanabi!" With Hinata acting accordingly.

"What?" She asked her sister in visibly fake confusion. "You said you weren't going to apply for him."

"That little girl is quite crafty..." Hiruzen mumbled in a low voice.

"I was actually planning on applying myself, but thanks anyway." Seiryu was quick to thank the little girl. His words visibly upset Hinata though. "Though, can someone apply on the upper part that she can't reach?"

"Umm..." Hinata seemed willing.

But

"Here we go." Sakura beat her to it and took the ointment off Hanabi's hands and began to apply on the upper part of his injury.

With poor Hinata having a look of deep disappointment in her face while Hanabi gives Sakura an apprehensive look for some reason.

"I'm really sorry, Tsunade." The pink haired girl apologized to his mother. "Had I known that it was that bad, I would have taken him to the hospital myself."

Sasuke scoffed at that. "My brother had to literally carry him in his arms to make sure he wouldn't get away and even then he did." He pointed out that it was stupid that Sakura thought she could take Seiryu to the hospital when Itachi Uchiha failed.

"Did Itachi seriously carry you in a bridal carry?" Naruko asked while giggling, clearly picturing the hilarious scene in her head.

"Actually, it was an honor since I'm pretty sure that was how he swept Izumi off her feet." Seiryu joked in response to her giggling.

"Oh my wish," Suddenly, Izumi herself entered the room. "All Itachi had to do was kneel and say marry me."

"Very anticlimactic if you ask me." Seiryu joked as he watched her approach him. "You should take that as a lesson and be more creative when it's your turn." That was advice for Sasuke.

Sasuke grinded his teeth in response before rebuffing. "Oh, you are one to talk."

Saying that caused both Seiryu and Naruko to blush a bit since that was an obvious jab on Seiryu's own attempt to ask Naruko to be his girlfriend. Though, in his defense, it didn't exactly fail, they just decided that it was best for them to be just friends.

However, the two of them blushing caused everyone to give them a look since only Sasuke actually knows what really happened between them.

"Where is Itachi by the way?" Naruko asked in order to change the subject because Minato and Tsunade seemed to want to interrogate the two about that.

"On his way." Izumi responded right away.

Hanabi and Sakura finish applying the ointment on Seiryu, then Shizune proceeds to wrap bandages on the wound. "There, nice and new."

"Thanks, aunt Shizune." The boy kissed his godmother's forehead in gratitude.

"By the looks of it, the cut was deep but it didn't hit any major arteries or blood vessels.." Shizune informed them despite the fact that it was quite obvious.

"So the damage is mostly related to the poison." Tsunade pointed out as she helped her son put his top back on. "Did Rin identified at least?"

"She only said that it was a very deadly one." Minato responded. "But we could ask her later as it might help us identify the culprit." Although, the chances of it are quite small.

"Woof! Woof!" Suddenly, a familiar bark was heard by everyone. With Akamaru rushing into the room right away. "Woof! Woof!" Then he barked one more time, clearly to call someone before he moved towards Seiryu.

"Buhi!" Only for Tonton to shoo the dog away while clinging to Seiryu's leg rather possessively.

"Rrrrrrr..." Akamaru began to growl at the pig.

"Akamaru!" Kiba was quick to call his dog as soon as he entered the room. With Akamaru quietly running back to Kiba.

"If I missed anything because of you two, you will regret it!" Ino was the next one to enter the room in a visible hurry.

"Sorry, but I ran out of chips..." Right behind her, it was a boy with rotund build and markings on his cheeks in the form of swirls. He has spiky, light brown hair that sticks upward . donned a green, short-sleeved haori with a long, white scarf over a white shirt, with the kanji for "food" on it. He also wore black shorts, hoop earrings, and bandages around his legs and forearms. His blue forehead protector was styled in a manner that allowed two tufts of hair to poke out at each side. He was opening a large bag of potato chips that was probably about to be completely empty.

"For the fourth time today!" Ino angrily slapped the bag of ships off his hand with all the chips falling into the floor.

"Nooo!" With the overweight boy screaming in horror as his snack fell on the floor.

"If you kneel down to grab it, I will literally kill you, Chōji !" The boy was Chōji Akimichi, a member of the Akimichi Clan and Ino's teammate.

"Ahh..." And right after the overweight boy, there was another boy who had narrow brown eyes and an expression suggesting he is irritated. He has shoulder length black hair tied in a spiky ponytail. He wears a short-sleeved grey jacket with green-edged sleeves and the rudimentary Nara clan symbol on the back, under which is a green-lined mesh armour T-shirt. He also wears brown pants, a pair of his clan's traditional silver hoop earrings, and wears his blue forehead protector around his left arm. By the looks of it, he was awoken rather abruptly from a very nice nap which was the reason for his irritation. "Why did you drag me here?" He asked Ino since he clearly didn't really care about Seiryu's story.

"Because Sensei told me to bring you, so stop complaining Shikamaru!" The other boy was Shikamaru Nara, a shinobi of the Nara clan and Ino's other teammate.

"Did we miss anything?" Kiba asked Shino, who was just standing there quietly since he arrived with Sakura, Naruko and Sasuke.

"No, except for the changing of Seiryu's bandages." Shino responded bluntly.

"Oh man!" Kiba seemed annoyed. "I wanted to see it." Since he was clearly curious over what it looked like.

"The size was certainly remarkable and it's quite impressive how he can walk around with such a deep injury on him." Shino continued while showing some odd fascination with Seiryu's durability.

Ino immediately approached the group. With a visibly annoyed look on her face since Seiryu was surrounded by all of his female friends.

"Took your sweet time to arrive, Ino-Pig." Sakura was the first one to greet her, while she was still standing besides Seiryu.

"Mr. Gluttony and Mr. Sloth just love to slow me down, Forehead Girl." Ino rebuffed while giving a frown to her Teammates.

Chōji , despite Ino's threat, was actually grabbing the potato chips that fell on the floor and putting them back on his back. Though, the floor was pretty clean, so it wasn't so bad.

Shikamaru just yawned since he clearly just wanted to take a nap and didn't really want to be there for that troublesome story that Seiryu was gonna tell.

"So... How..." Ino tried to ask in concern while pointing at Seiryu's torso with his index finger.

"Better than it did yesterday." Seiryu assured her. "And I must say, thank you very much because that Ointment is doing wonders." He told Hinata since it hurts even less now thanks to the ointment.

"Ummm..." She blushed in response. "I-I'm happy that y-you..." And she began stuttering in an attempt to reply.

"You should certainly be grateful, that ointment is a special recipe that should be of exclusive use to our clan." Neji decided to speak up in response as Hinata struggled to speak.

"Is there an actual rule saying that or is it just you?" Seiryu asked in curiosity, because he genuinely believes that someone wrote the rules of their clan as a joke but they were stupid enough to take it seriously.

"It's just him." Hanabi answered that for him. "Hinata and I can bring you some more later so you can use it until it's fully healed." She proposed to him.

"If Hinata doesn't mind-" He tried to see if she did.

"Not at all!" But she yelled in response first.

"Well, the-" Seiryu tried to say something else, but before he could finish.

"Give it back." The sound of his Sensei's voice could be heard by him. So Seiryu looked over at his female friends and saw Rin entering the room with a very annoyed look on her face while Kakashi was following her.

"If you ask one more time, I will burn the damn thing." Rin declared while frowning.

"You can use my lighter for it then." Behind the two, there was a a tall man, with brown eyes, olive skin, short black spiky hair, and a beard. His clothing consisted of the standard Konoha ninja uniform with the sleeves rolled up halfway, flak jacket, regular shinobi sandals and forehead protector. He also wore a sash that had the kanji for "Fire" marked on it around his waist, a pair of black bangles, and bandages wrapped around the arms of his sleeves. "I read that thing out of morbid curiosity and now I'm adding that to my list of regrets." He commented as he placed a cigarette in his mouth and lightened with the lighter that he offered.

"Not stepping the hell up and finally asking Kurenai out on a date is on that list, Asuma?" Seiryu asked the man with a sarcastic smirk on his face. The man was Asuma Sarutobi. Ino, Shikamaru and Choji's sensei, Hiruzen's son and Konohamaru's uncle.

"I know right." Ino folded her arms and gave a very apprehensive look to her Sensei. "It's about Sensei time he asked her out."

"Yeah, Kurenai is so pretty, I don't get why uncle Asuma hasn't asked her out yet." Konohamaru ended up joining in.

"Not this again!" The man touched his face, visibly annoyed by everyone's intrusion on his dating life.

"It is not a place to criticize your life choices, but I definitely wouldn't mind another grandchild before my time comes." Made it worse by Hiruzen also joining in.

"Dad!" With poor Asuma blushing at his father's choice of words.

Everyone laughed a bit at Asuma's embarrassment.

Until.

"What is so funny?" A fair-skinned woman of slender build with long black untamed hair reaching her upper back, and very unique eyes that are red in colour, with an additional ring in them. She wears make-up consisting of red lipstick and purple eyeshadow. Her outfit consists of a red mesh armour blouse with only the right sleeve visible. Overall, this is very broad material which resembles bandages with a pattern on it similar to those of rose thorns. Her hands and upper thighs are also wrapped in bandages and she wears the Konoha forehead protector and regular shinobi sandals.

"Ah!" Asuma was startled by her sudden entrance. "Nothing!"

"Hmm..." She was clearly unconvinced, but she waved off and proceeded to approach Seiryu. "It is good to see you in one piece."

"Not totally," The boy slightly opened his kimono to show her the bandage. "But I appreciate it, Kurenai." The woman was Kurenai Yūhi, the jōnin-leader of Team 8.

The beautiful woman gave him a warm smile in response.

"There you are." Suddenly, Izumi spoke and everyone moved to look at the entrance again. Because Itachi just entered the room, accompanied by someone. A fair-skinned woman with long, straight black hair with bangs hanging on either side of her face to roughly frame her cheeks and black eyes. She wore a simple dark purple blouse with a red-plum skirt and a light-yellow apron normally worn over it.

"Oh you came too?" Seiryu asked as she approached the woman. "Please don't pull my ears." He requested as he got close enough.

"Izumi and Kushida already did that for me, but you certainly deserve it for pulling a stunt like that." She quickly replied to him.

"That is kind of the reason why he didn't get one from me as well." Tsunade decided to add, making Seiryu sweat nervously; he really got the impression that an ear pulling from his mother later was a guarantee.

"It is good to see you back at the village, Tsunade." The woman told his mother. "And I must ask, please avoid staying away for a long period of time again or else he might try this again."

"Ohhh..." Tsunade approached her son from behind with a menacing smile on her face and placed her hand on his shoulder. "He will never pull a stunt like this ever again, Mikoto, trust me." The woman was Mikoto Uchiha, Itachi and Sasuke's mother.

Seiryu could feel his mother's crushing grip on his shoulder, indicating that he will face terrible consequences if he ever tries to do something like that again. And mixed with the looks that he was practically getting from everyone, it was obvious that he was better off not even thinking about doing it again.

"I second that." And once again, someone entered the room. This time, it was Kushina with Karin walking beside her and someone else being dragged by her.

"You again!" Naruko angrily yelled as she approached her mother. Because Kushina was actually holding that Root member that has been stalking Seiryu by the back of head.

"He showed up at the spot where Karin and I were having a training session." Kushina explained as Minato also approached her.

"He told us that Seiryu was gathering everyone here to tell about his journey." Karin revealed as she immediately approached him. "You didn't get started without me, did you?" She asked him with big puppy eyes, which garnered her a lot of dark looks from the other girls in the room.

"No, we're actually waiting for..." Seiryu looked around to see if there was anyone missing. "Now the only ones left to arrive are my aunt Anko and Haku."

"We're right here." Speaking of which, Anko was the next one to pass through the entrance of the room. With Haku following right behind her.

"Oh, you have returned, Lady Tsunade." Haku was quick to greet Tsunade.

"Drop the lady thing already." Tsunade told the boy in response since she had a genuine dislike of being called Lady Tsunade. "And you owe me a bottle of Sake!" Before she angrily yelled at Anko.

"Ahhh... Don't remind me." His aunt was quick to rebuff since it was probably a struggle to recover from her hangover caused by his mother's alcohol.

"Mama, please don't yell at auntie." Seiryu requested

Tsunade just grunted in response, since she was really mad about the sake.

Haku took a good look at Seiryu and approached him. "Forgive me, I should have reminded you to change the bandages." The older boy spoke in an apologetic tone as he inspected the new bandages that were covering his torso.

"Not your fault, though, I would be very grateful if you could remind me when it's time to change again because I don't want anything delaying my recovery." Because he really wants to go back to training.

"You can count on me, I shall not forget." He gently touched Seiryu's chest in response.

"Thanks Haku..." Seiryu held his hand in response.

Unsurprisingly, that caused everyone to give the two boys the same kind of looks that they almost always got when they were having a touchy moment.

Which caused Seiryu to let go of Haku's hand and moved towards his stalker in an attempt to change the focus of everyone. "Okay, what is your name?" He decided to ask him.

"I don't possess an official name, but I was given the name Sai for this mission." The strange boy revealed to him.

"Sai, is there anything I can do to make you stop following me around?" He decided to ask, despite the fact that he probably knew the answer. And when he was about to say it, Seiryu spoke first. "Besides killing you?" Sai immediately closed his mouth afterwards, meaning that it was literally what he was going to answer.

"No." Sai bluntly answered.

"Are you going to try to kill me or something?" Seiryu asked him .

"No." He once again answered bluntly.

"So... What are you going to do?" Seiryu asked him in confusion. "Stalk me for the rest of your life?"

"Yes." He bluntly confirmed.

"Like hell you will." Tsunade spoke in response to that. "Who the hell is this kid anyway?" She asked her son.

"I'll explain later, for now, can everyone take a seat so I can get started?" Seiryu really wants to get this over with because he was hungry and really wanted to go take a bite at Yakiniku Q.

"Wait, what about Nawaki?" Shizune asked him.

"What about him?" Seiryu asked.

"Shouldn't he be here as well." Hiruzen decided to join.

"No, I don't think so." Seiryu really didn't want his uncle there. "One of you can tell him later if you wish, but I ain't waiting anymore, especially not for him."

Tsunade sighed as she could tell that something happened. "Did you two fight again?"

"Pretty much, and he admitted right to my face that he is the reason why I wasn't promoted to Jōnin yet." The boy made no effort whatsoever to hide his bitterness over the subject. "So unless you want this to turn into a shouting match, I suggest you don't call him here, mama."

"Seiryu..." The constant bickering between both nephew and uncle was a source of stress for Tsunade.

Everyone remained quiet after Seiryu said that, though everyone was giving a look as a result of it. Not that it wasn't common knowledge that Seiryu and Nawaki weren't really close, but to everyone that knows Seiryu it is kind of hard to see him acting like that towards someone, especially his own uncle.

Seiryu walked towards the middle of the room and sat down in a half-lotus position.

Everyone else took a good look at each other before they all followed his example and took a seat on the floor right in front of him. Except for Tonton, who actually moved to sit on Seiryu's lap.

Taking a deep breath, he patted his pet pig and started to speak. "It all started after I found something interesting in my home..."

Seiryu: It all started on a sunny morning about an hour after mama went on her trip with aunt Shizune.

Seiryu Senju was sitting down in a lotus position right under the waterfall of the Senju Estate, wearing nothing but white swimming trunks. Controlling his breathing as the cold and refreshing water fell on him as he attempted to achieve maximum concentration.

He stayed like that for a few minutes. Until he eventually opened his dark eyes and proceeded to lift both of his hands up.

Performing a Snake hand sealwith his left hand and a Boar hand seal with his right hand.

Seiryu: "I was practicing some of the Ninjutsu combinations that grandpa Hiruzen taught me."

Hiruzen: "With your gift for performing single hand seals, it gives you a very unique edge when combining techniques."

Kakashi: "Alongside the fact that I taught almost all the Jutsus that I know, meaning that you might have a thousand or more combinations at your disposal."

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu" Seiryu performed his favorite Water Release technique, with the water of the small creek moulding into the shape of a dragon. However , as it began to take shape. "Toad Oil Bomb" Seiryu spit it out as a huge mass of extremely sticky oil into the water dragon, mixing the two of them together.

At a rapid speed, Seiryu performed a Tiger hand seal with both hands.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu" With him spitting a powerful flame from his mouth that quickly traveled forward in a straight direction right into the mixture of oil and water that formed the shape of a dragon. The end result was a unique variation of the technique, with a dragon made of flames forming itself in it's place. "Fire Style: Fire Dragon Jutsu"

Konohamaru: Woah! Woah! Woah! You actually did that?!

Naruko : Is that even possible?

Hiruzen: You would be surprised with the unique results that can come when mixing techniques together.

Minato: Still... I'm quite surprised that you were able to use the Toad Oil Bomb.

Seiryu: Gamatatsu taught me.

Naruko: Wait, Gamatatsu taught you?

Seiryu: You were there when he taught me, remember?

Naruko: No, I don't remember.

Sai: It was precisely on the day when you assaulted Chōji Akimichi for eating your plate of ramen.

Naruko: Oh! Now, I remember. (Naruko gives Chōji a furious glare that painfully resembles Kushina's.)

Chōji: (Looks away in fear because Naruko beat him up so bad that he had trouble chewing his food for a whole week.)

Once the dragon made of fire took shape, Seiryu performed a Snake hand seal once again. "Water Style: Water Wall" Where the water surrounding him rose upward to create a wall. Just as the Fire Dragon charged forward right into it, and completely dispersing upon collision.

Not quite what I wanted, but it's close enough. Seiryu thought as he stood up from his sitting spot. Moving away from the waterfall until the spot where he left the towel for him to dry himself. Maybe if I use some Wind Release as well, I could increase the potency of it. As he dried his long hair with the towel, Seiryu picked up his notebook that was identical to the one that his father uses. Though, while his father used to write down ideas for his books, Seiryu uses it to write down techniques.

So he began to write down the details of his Fire Dragon Jutsu, alongside possible improvements or combination ideas for it.

Kakashi: I must say, I actually read that notebook of yours once and I was baffled with the contents of it.

Sasuke: Wait a minute? (Sasuke and everyone moved their heads to look at Kakashi.) He let you read his notebook?

Seiryu: No! (He was surprised as well because he never lets anyone see it.) When the hell did you read my notebook?!

Kakashi: Ummm... Well...

Sai: He took it due to apparently mistaking it for the notebook that belonged to the Toad Sage.

Rin: (Gives Kakashi a very apprehensive look because she was more than aware that he did that to try to get a glimpse of the next Icha Icha book.)

Kakashi: (Sweats a lot in response.)

Naruko: So? So? What did you see in it?

Kakashi: W-well, there was a very interesting technique that resembled the Hyūga Clan's-

Seiryu: (Points at him.) IF YOU SAY ONE MORE WORD, I SWEAR THAT I WILL TELL RIN WHERE YOU HIDE YOUR ICHA ICHA COLLECTION!

Kakashi: Ummm... (Immediately stops talking.)

Rin: Where do you hide your Icha Icha collection? (If it was hidden where she thought it was, he was in serious trouble.)

Guy: Kakashi, you should have more respect for your woman.

Asuma: I literally don't understand the appeal of those damn books.

Hiruzen: Well, there are lots of single man tha-

Asuma: I don't really wanna hear that from you and Kakashi doesn't qualify as a single man anymore.

Sasuke: Can we please go back to the story?

Neji: Wait, what was that about a technique that resembled one from the Hyūga Clan?

Seiryu: Forget about it.

Neji: But-

Seiryu: FORGET IT!

"Hmmm..." Seiryu continued to write down the details of the Fire Dragon Jutsu for almost half an hour. He was sitting down, enjoying the peace and quiet since he was alone at home.

Seiryu: A little off topic, where were you guys that day anyway? (Because he didn't really see anyone that day.)

Haku: I was requested to provide aid to a team that was tasked with an A-Rank mission by the Hokage.

Karin: I was delivering some materials that Tsunade asked me to give Sakura.

Anko: I was having lunch with Kurenai.

As the boy with long hair finished writing down his notes, he moved his head up to look at the waterfall and noticed something strange. "Huh?" There was something on the small creek, right on the spot where he made the water rise in order to put out the dragon made of fire.

Closing his notebook and placing it next to the towel, he decided to go over there and see what it was. It was odd, because Seiryu has been in that spot thousands of times before and he never noticed that. As he got closer, he realized that it seemed to be some kind of scroll holder.

Shizune: A scroll holder?

Tsunade: Inside the creek?

Seiryu: Yeah... I have been in that creek a thousand times and I never saw that there.

Haku: You think someone purposely placed there for you to find?

Seiryu: I don't think so.

Karin: Maybe it was washed up there by the waterfall.

Tsunade: Whatever it was, what exactly was written in it?

"Hmmm..." Seiryu picked up the very old and rusty looking scroll holder and proceeded to bust it open with brute force. What was inside wasn't really a scroll, just a rolled up piece of paper. Upon opening it, he realized that it was some kind of map.

Naruko: A map of what?

Seiryu: I'm getting there.

After finding the mysterious map, Seiryu returned it to his room in order to inspect it better. He was sitting in front of his coffee table sipping a nice cup of iced green tea with honey and lemon. Normally, he would simply dismiss it like it was nothing, but what really caught his attention was the fact that the map was very detailed, visibly the handwork of a very skilled Cartographer. Which begs the question why was that inside of an old scroll holder considering that it was in perfect condition.

"Hmm..." Seiryu drank his iced tea as he observed the map. This is a map of a very specific area, but there is no indication or mention of it in any existing map. That was the detail that peaked his curiosity. But by the coordinates though, I think it is located at... Wait, is this right? Once Seiryu figured out where that map leads to, he realized something. Okay... This is too much of a coincidence, but at the same time, it could be something else entirely.

The boy gulped down his drink and proceeded to think deeply.

Kushina: So instead of actually talking to someone about it first, you simply decided to follow a map that you just randomly found without telling anyone about it?

(Almost all of the adults and some of his friends gave Seiryu very apprehensive looks in response.)

Seiryu: I know that on the surface, it was an incredibly dumb decision but... It actually paid off because I actually got something out of it.

Tsunade: Mind sharing what that is?

Seiryu: Well... It was actually-

Before Seiryu could actually tell everyone what exactly was he found by following that map. He noticed that someone else had entered the room where everyone was listening to his story. It was a man wearing sunglasses, the standard Konoha shinobi outfit, albeit without the flak jacket, and He was also the forehead protector like a bandanna.

"What are you doing here?" Seiryu was quick to speak to him, causing everyone to turn around to look at him. "I didn't invite you."

"Not this perverted loser again..." Naruko was quick to speak as well.

"Go away, Ebisu!" Konohamaru yelled at the man in annoyance.

The man was Ebisu, a Special Jōnin, who specialises in training elite ninja. "My sincerest apologies, but I was ordered to inform both Lady Tsunade Senju and Seiryu Senju that the Hokage is expecting them."

"Is something the matter?" Tsunade asked the man in concern.

"I cannot really say, Lady Tsunade." He was clearly clueless about it.

"Turn around, go back to the Hokage Office and tell my uncle that we are busy right now." Seiryu was really not in the mood to talk to his uncle right now, or ever to be completely honest.

"Umm... Forgive me, but the Hokage said that it was urgent." Ebisu insisted nervously.

"Uncle Nawaki's definition of urgent is the polar opposite of everyone else's, so just leave." Seiryu just shoo the man as he really didn't want to see his uncle.

"Seiryu." Tsunade spoke to her son apprehensively due to his rudeness.

"Didn't he use the word urgent as well when he sent you on that pointless trip?" Seiryu was quick to point that fact out to his mother.

"Ahh... " Tsunade grunted because it was true. "Go back and tell Nawaki that we will meet up with him in an hour."

"Make it two," Seiryu corrected her. "I wanna eat something after finishing up the story."

"Fine, two hours." Tsunade agreed with his request.

"Ehhh... Right away, Lady Tsunade." Ebisu was smart enough not to question his mother's orders and immediately left the room.

"Umm... Are you two certain that you want to keep Nawaki waiting?" Hiruzen spoke right after Ebisu was out of sight. "Maybe it is indeed urgent."

"It's not." Anko was quick to respond to the former Hokage. "Nawaki probably just wanted to chastise Seiryu some more and then complain to Tsunade about it."

"And I can speak for both myself and for mama that neither of us are in the mood for it." Seiryu added as he gently caressed Tonton's head.

"Can we get on with the story?" Hanabi asked.

"Yeah, I wanna know where that map leads to." Konohamaru, who was sitting besides Hanabi, said.

"Okay... But I'm gonna skip ahead a bit because the trip there was very unremarkable." Nothing actually happened during the trip.

Seiryu: Okay, after snuck out of the village, I travelled on foot until I was able to find another means of transportation.

"Hey, kid, wake up." A shirtless man wearing a straw hat spoke to the sleeping boy.

"I wasn't sleeping..." Seiryu spoke in response as he sat up.

Both Seiryu and the man wearing a straw hat were inside of a relatively large rowing boat that belonged to the man. He was roaring the boat from behind while Seiryu laid on the front.

"There it is..." The reason why the man called the boy with white hair was because they were about to arrive at the destination that was located off of the coast of the Land of Fire.

Itachi: You... travelled on a boat?

Izumi: Seiryu, just where exactly were you going?

Seiryu: Just keep listening.

"Leave me in that spot over there..." He pointed into the distance as the man continued rowing towards an island.

"Kid, why exactly are you going to the Land of Whirlpools?" The man asked him.

Kushina: What?!

Karin: You went to the Land of Whirlpools?

Naruko: Oh man! (Naruko was clearly annoyed with that information.) Why didn't you invite me?! I wanted to go there too!

The Land of Whirlpools is where the Uzumaki clan originates from. It no longer exists, having been destroyed by other villages and the rest of the survivors scattered across the world.

Seiryu: The moment I realized where that map led to, I knew that I had to check it out for a very specific reason. (Everyone, except for Shikamaru, looked at him with deep curiosity.) There was a spot marked on the map, and I really wanted to see what it was because of what was written in it.

Tsunade: Seiryu... What exactly was written on the map.

Seiryu: The spot marked on the map said, "Miko Uzumaki's treasure".

(Everyone was immediately surprised by what Seiryu just revealed. Mito Uzumaki was Seiryu's great-grandmother, the wife of Hashirama Senju and the first jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails. The idea that she had a hidden treasure was surprising to say the least.)

"Wow... It's... Ummm... Much larger than I was expecting." Upon arriving at a spot that was basically a beach, Seiryu Senju stepped out of the boat and observed the village where the Uzumaki Clan originated from.

"Everything looks bigger when you're closer to it." The man with the straw hat stated, despite the fact that Seiryu doesn't necessarily agree with it.

"Anyway..." Seiryu reached inside of his pocket and gave the man 5,000 ryō for the trip. "Thank you very much for taking me here."

"Kid..., What exactly are you looking for?" The man asked in curiosity.

"It's a long story, and I'm sure you have better things to do." Seiryu wasn't really in the mood to speak about it, at least not until he got back to the village. "Don't worry about me, I can find my own way back."

"If you say so..." The man adjusted his hat before preparing to turn back.

Seiryu on the other hand , stepped forward and took a good look at the island. All he could see was a considerably small beach and a dense looking forest up ahead. The ruins of Uzushiogakure must be in the center of the island... However, the map is pointed towards an area located on the outskirts of it. Seiryu contemplated where he should go. I mean... I have time so... Why not check the entire place anyway?

That was his decision as he proceeded to step forward in order to explore the Land of Whirlpools.

Kiba : So you basically went on a treasure hunt?

Seiryu: Yeah, but at the same time, I genuinely wanted to explore the ruins of Uzushiogakure .

Karin: Ohh, did you find anything interesting in the ruins?

Seiryu: You could say that... (He scratched his cheek after saying that.)

As soon as Seiryu left the beach and entered the forest, he realized something relatively strange. The air felt relatively strange, it was hot and somewhat dry. Something that didn't make much sense.

"Hmmm..." Causing Seiryu to take a few steps back until he returned to the beach. Being greeted by a nice and fresh breeze from the beach. Before taking the exact amount of steps forward and once again being greeted by the hot air. This heat is definitely coming from somewhere... An unnatural heat that certainly had an unnatural source.

Slowly, Seiryu continued to move forward with his eyes moving around to check his surroundings.

Seiryu: On paper, that island had not been inhabited for a long time, but that didn't exclude the possibility of someone or something living there.

The boy continued to journey through the forest , following the strange heat that was in the air. The forest was considerably dense and the trees were as high as his eyes could see. He contemplated climbing on them, but first, he wanted to see if the path he was taking was going to lead him somewhere.

Unfortunately, he got his answer. "Huh?" As he actually felt a strange tremor, and noticed the trees dropping a considerable amount of leaves.

Lee: Was the island habited by some kind of beast?

Tenten: Uhh... Did you fight it?

Seiryu: Not exactly...
,

Once the tremors began, Seiryu decided to climb on top of one of the high trees, running all the way up using the Tree Climbing Jutsu. As soon as he reached the top, he realized that his suspicion of what was causing that tremor was correct. What is that? From afar, he could see something large moving through the dense forest. But he couldn't take a good look at it. Okay... Normally, I would avoid that but... Seiryu knew that it would probably get in the way of his hunt, so it was better to just confront it right away just in case. I need to take a better look...

Deciding to get a better view of the strange creature, Seiryu decided to jump into another and did it again and again and again until he reached one that was close enough but in a safe distance from it. Luckily, it was just as the mysterious went into an open area that didn't have many trees. "What the hell...?" It was Seiryu's immediate reaction once he saw the thing.

It was a great insect-like creature that resembled a silkworm moth, but it was larger than an elephant. It had saucer-like eyes, a gaping mouth full of sharp teeth, eight legs, enormous wings that seemed to be broken, and a long stinger protruding from the rear of their segmented abdomen.

Shino: You found a Shinchū?!

Seiryu: I was half-expecting for you to actually know what it was.

Shino: It is one of the rarest insects in the world, I cannot believe you actually encountered one.

Seiryu: If it is indeed rare, I'm glad that I didn't actually kill it.

Shino: You did the right thing, while they do have a ferocious appearance, shinchū do not attack humans.

Seiryu: I figured as much, because it actually just moved along and left me alone after it spotted me.

Shino: You said it's wings were broken, it must have been attacked by something.

Seiryu: It was more likely someone, because the wings seemed to have been sliced by some kind of blade.

Shino: Was it still on the island when you left?"

Seiryu: I don't think it could leave even if it wanted to.

Shino: Hmmm... (Seiryu could tell that Shino was probably going to go speak with his clan about it.)

After pretty much getting confirmation that the giant insect wasn't actually dangerous, Seiryu continued his journey through the island. Unfortunately, the night arrived without him even noticing, so he decided to camp and continue in the morning since walking around a forest at night is hardly ever a good idea.

"Wood Style: Four Pillar House Jutsu" So by sending chakra into the ground, converted the roots of the plants into raw materials, allowings him to construct a building by forcing accelerated growth. With a very simplistic house being constructed right in front of him. I better get some rest, then I'll continue searching tomorrow. After entering the empty newly constructed house, Seiryu decided to set up to eat some dinner and go to sleep. Planting several traps around in order to avoid any unnecessary danger.

The next day came quickly enough and Seiryu resumed his search, however, he had just as little success as he did the previous day. Which was considerably odd since that Island wasn't that large, so it was strange that he was having so much difficulty in finding Uzushiogakure.

First, he went to the south, where the beach which he had arrived was located, mostly to check it more closely to make sure that he didn't miss anything.

Second, he went to the east of the island, where he came across the nest of the Shinchū that once again simply ignored him, so simply Seiryu let it be again.

Shino: (Clearly memorized what Seiryu just said.)

Third, he went to the west of the island. There was a strange looking temple that was in ruins that Seiryu spent almost the entire day checking, but found nothing of value there. He did find a few strange trinkets that he decided to keep for himself.

Naruko: What kind of trinkets did you find?

Seiryu: Stuff like talismans but there was nothing really special about them.

Karin: Can I have one then?

Seiryu: Sure, I left them at our home.

Last but certainly not least, Seiryu went to the north of the island. But halfway there, he realized that there was something off. Because as soon as he reached a certain point, the dense and flourished forest changed into a dead and decimated one. "Wow..." Only a few steps of difference, between a fully alive and green forest and a gray and bleak one filled with dead trees. "I guess this is the right path." So he continued to move forward until he actually saw it.

Looking around, Seiryu could tell that an intense fight had occurred there, because that kind of destruction could have only been caused by powerful ninjutsu. More so since each step that he took, the destruction became more and more apparent. Eventually, he reached what appeared to be a landslide.

"There it is..." And right at the end of it, he could see what he was looking for.

The sight was just as bleak and depressing as the dead forest behind him. If this was a lively village once, it was a long time ago. Now all he could see were destroyed buildings, decimated landscapes and an aura of death in that place. The sight bothered Seiryu just as much as the sight of the Uchiha compound. Especially when he remembers that there are few Uzumaki left, even if you include Naruko.

Naruko: Is it really that bad?

Seiryu: Think of the damage that occurred during the Uchiha revolt, plus three.

Mikoto: (Sighed.)

Sasuke: (Held his mother's hand.)

Itachi: (Gently touched his mother's shoulder.)

Izumi: (Gives Seiryu a sad look.)

"Better get started." Seiryu memorized the map, but he really wanted to explore the ruins. So the first thing he did was slide down the landslide to reach the bottom of it.

Upon reaching the ground, Seiryu just looked around, letting his imagination run wild so he could actually imagine what the place looked like before it's total destruction. I wish I could have seen it... Due to Seiryu being connected to the Uzumaki Clan through his great-grandmother, alongside the fact that three very important women in his life were part of that clan.

Karin: (Looked down while blushing at the declaration.)

Naruko: (Scratched her head while trying to hide her own blush.)

Kushina: (Just gave him an affectionate smile.)

Sadly, all that was left were ruins of what was once a beautiful village. But he couldn't help but wonder. Especially when you pay attention to the interesting looking architecture. Konohagakure had a distinctive architecture since most of the village's infrastructure was produced by his great-grandfather's Wood Release, but there are few similarities to the ones he was seeing.

Seiryu walked around the ruins for a few hours, exploring every inch of the village in curiosity. The more he saw, the more unpleasant it became as he considered it a waste. The ninja of Uzushiogakure were famed for their fūinjutsu. In times of war, the power of the village's fūinjutsu earned fear from many, ultimately leading to it being targeted and subsequently destroyed by other villages. A fact that always left a bitter taste in Seiryu's mouth.

Standing in the center of the ruins, Seiryu Senju bowed. Wishing that all of the souls of those whose lives were unjustly ended during the village's destruction rest in peace. After a long silence, the boy decided to continue with his objective, which was to search for his grandmother's treasure.

So he pulled out the map and began his hunt for the treasure. According to the map, which apparently was created when the village was still intact, Seiryu was able to see that the spot that was marked on the map led to a place called, the Room of the Ancient.

Kushina: The Room of the Ancient?

Minato: By your reaction, I can tell you know what that is.

Kushina: It was a secret room where all of the ancient scrolls of Fūinjutsu were kept since the village's foundation.

Naruko: If it was a secret room, how do you know about it?

Kushina: The room's existence was common knowledge, but very few people actually knew it's location.

Tsunade: And apparently my grandmother was one of these few people.

Hiruzen: Mito Uzumaki was exceptional at fūinjutsu, so it isn't really surprising that she is one of the few to know the secret location.

Seiryu: I'm almost certain that she made that map and hid it on the waterfall of the Senju Estate. (Seiryu is almost certain that she hid in a random spot inside of the waterfall and that he finally made the map come out after repeatedly practicing ninjutsu on the waterfall.)

Shizune: But... Why would she hide it?

Seiryu: The location of a secret room that may contain scrolls with more than hundred of years worth of fūinjutsu from a clan that was destroyed because they feared the power of their fūinjutsu.

Hiruzen: I agree, if the location fell on the wrong hands, it might cause a calamity of trouble.

Konohamaru: Why make a map for it then?

Seiryu: Because the room being lost forever would be a shame as well.

It took him a long while to actually find where he was supposed to go. The map was well detailed, but trying to figure out where it was from the map was a real trick due to how damaged and out of place everything was. For example, there was a specific building marked on the map that he found collapsed on the ground and he used it as a frame of reference. Only to later find out that the building was practically four yards away from his original position. Which meant that he practically was searching the wrong spot for several hours. And that continued on for more that he would like to admit.

Sasuke: Are you telling us that the reason why you spend a whole month away is because you couldn't figure out where was what in that map?

Seiryu: Actually, it took me two days.

Hanabi: But, did you actually find it?

Seiryu: Of course I did.

"Okay..." After two long weeks of navigating through the ruins, Seiryu was able to actually make some changes to the map after figuring out where the ruins were. Marking the spots where there was a particular building or street that wasn't there anymore, etc.

Eventually, he was able to read the map clearly and actually follow a proper path towards where it was marked on the map. The destruction was way worse than I thought, I saw ruins before but for this amount of damage to cause the village to become this unrecognizable in comparison to this damn map.

Holding the now altered map, Seiryu decided to follow through in order to finally reach his destination. First, he walked towards a crater that was originally a street, walking at least forty-five steps until he reached a building, a building that was barely visible due to being buried deep into the ground. Jumping over in order to get to the other side, where a pathway that was basically a small pond of dirty water now, that Seiryu walked on using the Walk on Water Technique. After passing through it, he eventually reached a spot that was supposed to be a large wall, but now there was a gigantic gaping hole in it that showed the dark interior of a building that was filled with rocks. Turning to the right, Seiryu walked through an almost intact street, it should be easy enough, but the street was covered with the remains of the people that lived there. Skeletons almost everywhere, some of them were Hanabi and Konohamaru's sizes, which bothered Seiryu beyond belief. After enduring that walk, he eventually reached a stone wall that appeared to be a dead end.

Until Seiryu actually placed his hand one inch away from the wall, and delivered a one inch punch into it, destroying the entire wall completely. Revealing a secret passage right behind the wall.

Seiryu: The map actually had instructions on how to open it but... I kind of ran out of patience at that point.

Right in front of him, it was the entrance that led to the Room of the Ancient. "Alright, let's see what you have for me, great-grandmother." The boy spoke out loud after he stepped inside the room.

Seiryu: I'm gonna be completely honest right now, I was expecting the room to be filled with old scrolls of powerful fūinjutsus, but instead, it was actually filled with... (Seiryu's left eye began to twitch.) WHY DID YOU CAME BACK?!

(Everyone looked back and realized that Ebisu was at the door again.)

Naruko: Go away, you damn pervert!

Kushina: Okay, time out, why do you keep calling him a pervert?

Konohamaru: Because she once caught him spying on her and a few other girls while she was swimming on a lake.

(Kushina and Minato gave the man a death glare in response to what they just heard.)

Ebisu: I-I-I WASN'T SPYING ON HER!

Naruko: But you were definitely spying on the other woman there, so don't play innocent.

Seiryu: Anyway, what the hell do you do?

Ebisu: Fo-forgiveness but... The Hokage insists on speaking with the two of you asap.

Seiryu: The answer is no, go away.

Tsunade: (Sighed) Look, if he is calling us again, then it's probably urgent.

Seiryu: (Sighed) Fine...

Seiryu Senju placed his pet pig down and stood up from the floor.

"Wait, what about the story?!" Naruko was quick to object.

"Yeah, what did you find inside the room?!" Konohamaru was the next one to object.

"Let me just say that it literally took me a whole month to actually reach the room." Seiryu replied while scratching his head.

Everyone immediately looked at Seiryu with dumbfounded expressions.

"Just what exactly did you find after entering through that passage?" His mother was the first one to speak up about that revelation.

"I'm just gonna say, the Uzumaki clan really went overboard with the security of that room." And that was still an understatement.

The facial expression that Seiryu made when he said that really created more questions than answers.

"Can we go, I wanna get this business with uncle Nawaki over and then go grab a bite in Yakiniku Q." Seiryu told his mother, not even trying to hide his discontentment with going to meet up with his uncle.

"You really gonna leave everyone in this cliffhanger?" Sasuke asked, clearly wanting to know just as much as everyone else.

"Blame the Hokage and the pervert over there, not me." Because he was about to tell everyone until Ebisu showed up. "Come on, mama." With that, Seiryu unceremoniously walked towards the exit of the room, leaving everyone curious about what happened next.

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Just kidding..." Before he turned around and smiled at everyone. "I'll finish telling everyone later, now come on, mama." Then he called his mother out again.

"Yeah." Tsunade stood up. "I think I left my luggage at the entrance of the village, could someone pick it up for me?"

"Right away, Lady Tsunade." Haku stood up and bowed to her before moving towards the door.

"And you better get me a new bottle of sake before I get home!" Tsunade was quick to remind Anko that she still owned her.

Anko simply rolled her eyes in response to her sister-in-law's demand.

"Mama, don't yell at auntie. Seiryu was quick to say it. "And can we please just go."

"Fine..." Tsunade finally decided to follow her son, towards the door in order for them to go see what the Fourth Hokage wanted.