The travel back to Konoha was obviously tense.

Nichiren, Hisako and Kakashi were placed on my 'honor guard', making sure that I was in a good place that I didn't suddenly snap and turn into a homicidal maniac on everyone. They were there to calm me down if I remembered something that made me want to start blowing people up.

I noticed that Anko wasn't with the group. Given that she felt very, very bad about taking her frustration about her old abuser skulking around on me because I forgot to tell people, it makes sense. I'll have to talk with her later, make sure she knows there's no hard feelings.

There were hard feelings before, but not anymore given that I understood her frustration.

Eventually, the sand faded away into Grass and then into woods. We were back in the Land of Fire. I recalled that it took a little bit more effort to match the pace of the group last time. Not much effort, but some. Now, it was a lot of struggle to not just jet ahead of them and wait at the next checkpoint.

So, I need to come up with a plan to tell Naruto his heritage without also blowing my friendships to Kingdom Come by divulging a pair of S-class secrets and being branded a traitor. The problem is that inviting him to my apartment and whisking him off to the vault would set off alarm bells in the Hyuuga ANBU that were always tailing him.

I could activate the seals that prevent chakra-signatures from being seen outside but I save those seals when I need to make a trip to the vault and I can't reliably be sure that I can get Naruto to cooperate with it. Besides, asking Naruto to come into my apartment, then to my bathroom where there weren't any windows? That could start a lot of different rumors that I don't want circulating.

There'll be an opportunity when I know more about the ANBU's routes and schedules. The problem is getting Naruto in on the secret plan without him going to the Hokage about 'Daisuke's worrying me'. Because he trusts the Hokage a lot and doing anything under the table like that would be a fundamental change to my behavior and personality that the others have seen.

If I don't bring attention to the fact that I'm even capable of that kind of skullduggery, eventually they'll forget that I did so to obtain a summoning contract. Well, not forget so much as me 'being up to something' won't jump to the forefront of everyone's mind if they see me doing something odd.

The safest bet would be to take Naruto out on a short training trip outside the village, but that relies on having the Hokage's trust, something I simply do not possess at this moment thanks to irrational behavior; sparked by teenage short-sightedness, mental exhaustion and emotional trauma that had been building up for years. It hasn't all gone away, either. I can't promise that my reaction wouldn't be violent or at least somewhat confrontational if I'm called a child, I'm afraid. How many people have I killed or at least tried to kill because they pressed that particular button? Three?

Let's not go down that road right now. We're home.

The gates of Konoha, like everything else that I've seen so far, was far more sharp and clear, like I shifted from 480p to 1080p. The sign, the booth to the side where arrivals were checked in, the walls, everything. So familiar and so new at the same time.

Ahead was an entourage of family and friends, as well as ANBU agents, both in front of the welcome back party as well as surrounding us on the roof tops.

The idea that I'd be taken to T&I for insubordination had occurred to me. If that were to happen, I'd just leave right now and try to make contact with Naruto, Sensei and a few others. But I don't think that's what the intent here is. But I'd be delusional if I didn't believe there weren't others that would want to do exactly that, especially within our own walls.

I need the Whitewash perk. I'll grab that today. Make it so that any and all types of seals, if they aren't simply neutered by the Chakra-Defense network, will be a non-factor as they are swiftly (or not-so-swiftly) erased.

Though I could just FTG out – I know for a fact that Konoha doesn't know how to mess with it or stop it, they just don't have the knowledge base. I mean, I do, but that's because of the game and I'm pretty sure neither the Second or the Fourth were crazy enough to leave notes about how to beat their favorite techniques for the village in case those notes got stolen.

..I just noticed that Naruto wasn't here. Where is he?

"Hokage-sama?" I walked up to him with a frown on my face. "I don't see Naruto here. Do you know where he is?"

"Oh, I believe he's at class," Sarutobi explained, gesturing to the academy in the distance. "He should get out at the end of the day and you'll be able to see him."

"Right," I nodded. It's not that I forgot the Academy was still going on, it's just that I thought Naruto would be let out of class. My mistake. "Thank you, I'll see him when he gets out I guess. Do you need me for anything?"

"No," The Hokage shook his head. "Report to my office tomorrow for your partner to be assigned."

"Understood, Hokage-sama," I replied with a formal bow.

"Dismissed."

With that, I shunshin'd away. Normally, I'd FTG back to my apartment but I want to see the village. You know, in hi-def and need to formulate plans.

First order of business, clear things up with Anko. Second, tell both Hisako and Ino that I've got no interest in dating until I'm sixteen and make it clear that their attentions are flattering, I'm just not ready for them. Possibly apologize for letting them fight the way they did, even though my enjoying their bickering was subconscious at most. Third order of business, clear things up with Kakashi, thank him for his mentoring.

Now if I know Anko, and I do, she'll be at her favorite restaurant after she's spent some time decompressing at home. She'll be decompressing for roughly an hour, and the Academy is going to get out in roughly three hours, so I've got some time to kill.

"Daisuke-kun," Anko blinked, looking at me as I approached, dango-sticks in hand. She was sitting at one of the tables outside the restaurant, the umbrella mounted in the center doing a great job of keeping the sun off of us. She had already finished her meal and dessert and looked as if she were ready to leave; I was lucky to catch her now. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"I came looking for you," I replied with a smile, offering her one of the sticks of dango. "I figured it'd be good for us to talk now since we haven't exchanged two words since the incident."

"Like what about," She started, letting a little apprehension creep into her voice. Apprehension born of guilt, embarrassment and a little bit of fear. I don't like that last one.

..I remembered catching sight of her as we left the site of the battle, on her knees and holding the head of her former sensei that I had casually discarded like refuse, passing it on to the Hokage like a gift a beleaguered parent gives to an endlessly whining child because they won't stop asking for it.

"Well, I wanted to apologize for failing to tell anyone, you specifically, that Orochimaru was running around," I explained, both sincere in my apology and because I wanted to extend the first olive branch if I wanted things to move along smoothly. "I understand that you had history with him and so me not telling you might've felt like a betrayal. So, I'm sorry and I hope we can still be friends."

Anko blinked once. Then again. "No, Daisuke-kun. If anyone owes an apology, it's me."

Well, technically we both owed apologies. I just wanted to take the first step and if she didn't reciprocate, I'd be sad, but I didn't need for her to be my friend. But she did, so we can still be friends and I can keep my self-respect.

"I made the problem overly personal because of the history I had with him," Anko continued. "I got really mad and I couldn't think clearly because of it and I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," I replied with a smile. "But really, I shouldn't have forgotten to report Orochimaru's presence."

If I wanted to be technical, it might've been a bad idea to tell the Hokage about it while the Kazekage was around anyway. But I wasn't thinking about that at the time so offering it as a defense would be disingenuous. I was simply really focused on the Hokage's order to 'go get some rest' so I could actually decompress and might've remembered to tell him at some point during that day if they didn't come to me first.

"Maybe," Anko shrugged. "But you went out of your way to fix your mistake in the most thorough way possible. I should've given you this apology when I was holding his head in my hands."

"Hey, hey. It's okay, everything's fine," I said, still smiling. "Dango?"

"Well.." A smile slowly grew on her face before she snatched the stick. "Okay."

"Awesome," I said.

We both sat there in silence, eating our dango. She finished before I did, surprisingly. Usually, I was an inhumanly fast eater, barely even stopping to taste my food. But now, I don't know. I felt more..relaxed than I usually did. Felt nice. Felt like I could actually stop and take a breath, enjoy my food, all that good stuff.

"So if you don't mind me asking," Anko started carefully.

"Ask away."

"What brought on your resignation?" Anko asked with a pointed curiosity.

A fair question. "When I finally fixed everything, screwed my head on straight, I looked over my life and the person who I had been..I didn't like it. At all. I was almost a psychopath in some areas of my life. Looking at it now, after the fact? I think being a Shinobi was the worst thing in the world for learning patience and self-control, two things I desperately need."

"How so?" Anko asked. "Hey, you want something to drink while we talk? Tea?"

"I'd rather have some Akimichi Elixir, to be honest," I answered. I didn't like tea, it just didn't taste good for me. Didn't like coffee either for the same reason. Elixir, also known as the Akimichi variant of soda, was good. Obviously.

She nodded. "Alright. Hey! Waiter!"

Anko raised a hand and flagged down a waiter since this is an actual sit-down restaurant and got us drinks. Well, she got a refill for herself and a Lemon-Lime Elixir for me. I wonder what the Akimichi would be able to do with the Pineapple's that I've got growing in the Vault's green-house.

That's another thing to put down on my to-do list; introduce the Akimichi to pineapple.

You know what? According to Chouji, the Akimichi don't have any restaurant's outside of Konoha. I wonder what it would take to get them to expand to the outlying towns?

"So, you were saying?" Anko asked.

"Well, being a Shinobi's been terrible for my self-control," I began. "First, I went into the Academy, right? Except for the first mission my bloodline gave me for my first day, I didn't get any missions. My only source of progress was skill-checks."

"Skill checks?" Anko asked with a raised eyebrow.

"So, if I don't have a high enough number in my skills, I can't do certain things," I explained. "There's no trying harder, no coming at it from a new angle, nothing. If I can't do it, I can't do it. Passing these 'checks' used to give me progress. Until Level 5, which I got a few months into my first year at the academy."

"Why did it stop?" Anko asked.

"I don't know," I replied. In the original game where the SPECIAL system came from, skill checks always gave you EXP. No ifs ands or buts. But it's changed now and I don't know what it means. "I don't think it was supposed to stop. But it did. So, I was left with a disability for four years longer than I thought I would be and I nearly went insane."

"I believe it," Anko said with a nod.

"Then I became a Shinobi. Things were good for a bit, but I ended up getting into trouble and being taken off of missions," I shook my head. "That happening..did not do good things to my psyche. I nearly went insane with anger toward my Sensei and the Hokage."

"Because to you, getting to where you're at now was more important their worry for your safety," Anko said, taking a sip of her tea as the waiter brought it out. I grabbed my elixir. "Did you even realize that's why they took you off missions?"

"Their concern was just getting in the way," I replied with a shrug. "I mean, now I get it and I appreciate it, but before when all I saw was an unneeded roadblock to where I needed to go? Yeah, I wished that they didn't care half as much. I was in such a twisted place, that I saw that the Penguin's not really caring if I lived or died as a good thing."

Anko blinked, putting on her best poker face as she took another sip of tea. "That kind of..disregard for your own life isn't as uncommon as you think."

"Oh?" I said with a raised eyebrow.

"Ninja usually get messed up somehow over their careers," Anko replied. "I mean, we're trained to give our lives for the village. The problem is that, from what I heard, you didn't care if you died when you didn't need too."

I was quiet, wondering if I should say what came to mind. Well, I did tell Kakashi and my team already, and Anko is a friend of mine, so. "That's not untrue."

"Things are better now, though, right?" Anko pressed with a frown.

"I still want to retire," I replied with a shrug. "But yeah. The point is that I need get patient and set my priorities straight before I try being a Shinobi again. I don't want to put anyone in danger because I got greedy for power."

That's part of it. If I ever do come back to Konoha to join the Shinobi corps, I want Tsunade in charge. I am not working under Sarutobi anymore. Actually, what are the odds of Tsunade being in charge now that Orochimaru's not around to kill the Old Man?

..crap.

Also, I need to figure out a way to get Naruto to be as tough and developed after Wave Arc..is that still going to happen? Actually, crap. Now that there's no Orochimaru, Mizuki's might not betray Konoha, which means that telling him that he's a Jinchūriki really does fall to me. To be honest, that almost feels like a sacred responsibility.

Best not screw it up.

"Honestly, that's a good thing," Anko nodded. "I'm honestly proud of you for realizing that..but I'm honestly surprised he's going to let you retire."

The corners of my mouth twitched into a smile. "I mean, 'leave the village as long as I want' was already a part of the Special Jounin deal and he wanted to do a trial run, so perhaps I'll leave for a while, come back, do a mission or two, leave again, you know. Besides, I gave Konoha the best showing it's had at the exams in years and I removed the village's most infamous traitor from the world. He does anything to me and the village will riot."

"That's true," Anko agreed with a thoughtful look. "But seriously, I'd be careful. Try not to step on anyone's toes. Let things calm down."

"I agree," I said with a nod. "Actually, that's another reason to take a break, get leave from the village, give everyone some time to settle down."

"I don't think you should leave," Anko argued, taking a sip of her tea. "Part of the problem is that some see you as a dangerous, loose cannon. If you stick around, give them time to see that that isn't true, and then things will calm down. For everyone."

"That makes sense," I replied. Hence the trial run. "So, do you know who my partner is supposed to be?"

"Yup!" She said cheerfully. "It's going to be me."

"Nice," I answered with a smile. "Going on missions with you should actually be stress free."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Anko said, narrowing her eyes with a grin growing on her face. "I'm going to be watching your every move, silently judging you and making sure you're performing up to the high standards of Special Jounin."

"If I thought you could pull off silently, Anko-san, I'd be somewhat intimidated," I replied with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

She stuck her tongue out at me. "Haha, very funny."

"Still, I'm excited to be working with you," I said with a smile, meaning it. Hopefully, going on vacation for a year or two won't end this arrangement, I like this too much.

"Thanks," Anko said with a smile of her own. "I've gotten pretty of fond of you, Daisuke-kun."

Not in the 'let's make out' sense, but in the 'I'm a younger sibling' sense. That's fair, I'm only going on thirteen. Little disappointing, but fair.

So, I'm going to need furniture. I've already got plans, too. Use Solid Release to put together the frames of my couches, wood release to give it that 'home made' feel and the only thing that I'm curious about is if I want to use some kind of poison fruit for the cushions as some kind of security measure. Have it explode or vent its toxicity into the air, knock out the intruders, then I can turn them over to Law Enforcement.

Or I could make normal cushions and have the toxic security system be something else entirely. The idea of someone breaking into my apartment is unlikely given the systems already in place, but it's fun to think about.

There's a knock at my door.

I look through the peep hole and see Naruto..and Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji standing behind him.

"Any one else kind of nervous?" That was Ino.

"A little, yeah," Naruto replied. "But come on, it's Daisuke. He can't be that different."

Let's see, undo the latch lock, unhook the chain, listen as they fall silent at the sound of my unlocking the door, turn the handle. I took a deep breath, because I was going to be seeing everyone a bit earlier than I had planned.

I opened the door. They all turned to look at me and I saw that they were all carrying these sheets of paper on their hands.

First there was silence.

"Hi," I said with a small wave.

Then Ino screamed and jumped on me in a tackle-hug. I returned that after catching my balance and standing there in surprise. "Oh, wow! Daisuke, you look amazing!"

"Thanks, Ino," I said with a small smile of my own. "It's good to see you. All of you. How've things been?"

"Been great!" Naruto said with a massive grin. "We've missed you though."

"I missed you guys too," I said, taking a step back and gesturing inside. "Come in, please. I'll have furniture ready in a second."

They all came in, and after several hand signs, Solid Release created the couch frames. Then Wood release added the upholstery and then another application of wood release to create the soft, fruit-cushions. Non-toxic, I'll probably replace them later if I decide to go down that route. "Alright, have a seat. Make yourselves at home. Can I get you guys anything?"

"You got ramen?" Naruto asked with a grin, as he sat down on the newly formed couch.

Everyone else was looking and prodding at the furniture with interest

"Naruto," Sakura reproved with a chastising glare.

"Always," I replied with a nod, grabbing a cup of instant ramen from the cupboard. "Anyone else want anything? I've got water, elixir, more cups of instant ramen.."

"I'd like some elixir," Chouji said, raising his hand before returning it to his chip bag.

"Same," Shikamaru replied from his spot lounging on my couch. Glad it's comfortable.

"Do you have any tea?" Ino asked from her seat.

"No, I don't," I shrugged with a slight frown. "Sorry."

"That's fine, I'd like some water then," She waved it off with a smile.

Okay, instant ramen for Naruto, elixir for Chouji and Shikamaru, water for Ino. Whose left?

"Sasuke? Sakura? Either of you want anything?" I asked, pulling out cups and grabbing the elixir and pitcher of water from the fridge.

I didn't get a response until I had filled two of the glasses.

"I'd like some water," Sasuke requested diplomatically.

"I guess I'd like some too," Sakura also requested.

"Done," I said, grabbing two more glasses and filling them. I passed the drinks around and almost sat down. Almost, then something occurred to me. "Wait, I just remembered something, I'll be right back."

I walked off to my bedroom and there, sitting in it's pot was the pineapple plant. It was basically ripe, with seals on the pot I had it planted in keeping the thing nourished to perfection. I picked it and rushed back off to my kitchen, grabbed a knife.

"What'cha got there, Daisuke?" Naruto asked curiously from the living room.

"Well, when I first figured out wood release, I got to experimenting," I began, making a consideration of how the fact that I 'figured out' the First Hokage's bloodline still made each of their heads spin. "And I made a fruit. I wanted to get your opinion on it."

I was going to introduce the Akimichi to pineapple. Makes me happy. But first, how did it turn out?

"Oh really?" Chouji asked. "Interesting."

Chop off the top, gut the core out of it, skin it, cut it into small pieces, place those pieces in a bowl, taste one piece, delicious and perfectly captured and bring it out. Wait, what do I call it? Pineapple's an English name and we all speak Japanese or some other Oriental language. Perhaps a portmanteau?

"Here you go, I call it.." I began, taking a second. Let's go for the closest translation I can find – "Painappuru."

"Alright then," Chouji placed the bag of chips to his side and grabbed a piece with his fingers, before plopping it into his mouth.

..there is no way he has a pineapple allergy. If he does, I'm got stimpacks.

He spent a long time, chewing it, mulling it over in his mouth, letting the juices fill every corner of his mouth and into the cracks of his teeth. Eventually, he swallowed. "Interesting. It's very sweet, but with an underlying toughness. Stringy texture, which is why you served it in chunks."

"You like it?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, taking my seat in the chair I just made.

"I do, actually. It's good," He started to nod vigorously. "Can I take some to share with my parents?"

"Definitely," I replied with a smile of my own. "I can give you a storage scroll and a spare bowl and you can let me know if they like it. You think you can make a new flavor of elixir with this?"

Chouji scoffed and waved it off. "Elixir's easy. No, we're looking at new marinades, toppings, maybe even a new flavor of ramen if we can get the sweetness to work with the salt of the broth."

"Good point," I said with a nod. And getting it to work with salt should be easy, pineapple's only true home is on a pizza, which is salty and crunchy and delicious. Anyone that disagrees with this fact is a heretic that should be purged. Speaking of pizza, I need to start making it so I can share.

"Now does this fruit have a seed or did you just grow it with jutsu?" Chouji asked, examining another chunk with a critical eye.

"Well, it does, but growing one from a seed can take a long, long time," I started to explain. "It's got lots of different ways to reproduce, actually. I can put together a file for your parents to go over if they like it and I can answer any questions later."

"I think they'll like it," Chouji said with a grin. "It's good fruit."

"I hope so," I replied with a grin of my own. "Anything exciting happen while I was gone?"

"Shikamaru thinks he's got your bloodline figured out," Naruto piped up before plunging a stick-full of noodles into his mouth.

I blinked. "Eh?"

"Well, we've all been really curious as to how your bloodline works," Ino said with a nervous smile, leaning forward and placing her glass on the table. "So, I asked Shikamaru to try to piece it together. Is that okay? I know I should've asked you first, but I-"

"It's fine. Don't worry about it," I cut her off, leaning back. "Okay. Is that what's on those slips of paper?"

"Yes," Shikamaru said, leaning forward and making a finger-tent right beneath his nose. "Would you like a look at one?"

I was quiet for a second. Part of me was worried that they found something that I didn't want them to find, like the fact that I'm a reincarnate. Another part was intrigued, wanting to see the famous genius of Shikamaru in action. "Sure."

Ino handed me her copy and..and..

What in the world?

On the right was a cup, partially full with numbers on the sides. On the bottom was the number zero, the top one-hundred and to the left was the number sixty-five. Above the cup was the label 'health'. Next to it was a similar bar, labeled chakra. Going further left was a list of my skills. All thirteen of them, sitting at various levels from 1 to 100. On the right was a stick figure, with bars attached to each limb to tell the player if that limb was crippled. On this sheet, the chest was crippled.

I unconsciously found myself cupping my chin as I stared at this sheet, something so close to capturing my entire life, yet so utterly far off. SPECIAL was listed at the top and I noted that Charisma was at 1, while intelligence was at 10. Given some of my decisions in the fast, I wonder if intelligence really is all that effective?

They were quiet as I took it in.

"Daisuke?" Ino hazarded. "Are you okay?"

I was quiet for a bit longer. "Yeah, I'm fine. A little in shock, I guess. This..I wasn't expecting you guys to get this close, that's all."

"Shikamaru's really smart," Sakura said somewhat nervously.

"Would you describe this as some sort of game?" Shikamaru asked.

I laid the sheet on my lap. "Yes. Yes I certainly would. But not one that I've wanted to play for a very long time."

Everyone was quiet.

"We still like you, Daisuke," Naruto finally said. "Seriously. You're my best friend, that hasn't change. It'll never change, alright?"

"Thanks, Naruto," I said with a smile. "So..I guess since you've all figured this out, I should probably share some stuff with you."

"You don't have too," Ino protested. "Really, we just wanted to understand you a bit better, that's all."

I brought my hands together and created a sheet of paper and a pencil. "You're right, I don't have too. But I want too, so gather round."

Everyone knelt around the table.

I started with my health-bar, omni-present in the lower left corner of my sight. "Here's my health, represented by a bar. I always know exactly how much health I have at any given time. It doesn't matter what grievous and horrendous injuries I receive – if this bar is even slightly full, I will survive."

Shikamaru nodded and hummed like I had clarified something that had been bothering or at least confusing him for a long time.

"Over here is my bar of chakra," I said, drawing the bar. "It is constantly filling itself up. It usually takes ten seconds to get from empty to full. That said, most jutsu's that are actually relevant for me take about half my bar, usually. Spamming jutsu relies on me carefully timing it's release so that I always have enough chakra to cast it or it'll fizzle out and waste time."

"I see," Sasuke said, analyzing my drawings with the Sharingan. "I had always assumed you had infinite chakra."

"On paper I kind of do," I agreed, nodding with him before finishing my drawing. "But it wasn't until recently that I functionally had infinite chakra, but that relies on enemy ninja casting jutsu on me and I absorb the chakra. In fact, by my estimation my reserves are actually smaller than another shinobi of equal power by a factor of 10. I just get it back almost instantly by comparison."

"So, it's not infinite, it just regenerates quickly," Sakura summed up. "That extra layer of difficulty is why you didn't really use jutsu much in combat?"

"That's right. I thought it was kind of a pain to use a jutsu, or use a series of jutsu, then have to wait while my chakra regenerates or I couldn't do anything. Going melee, I didn't have that problem," I drew a notification box, directly on the left side of the screen. To be honest, that's the first time I've ever actually been able to put my trouble with jutsu into words. "Over here is where I get notifications. New missions, failed charisma checks, successful ninjutsu checks, they're all here, plain as day. If I get multiple checks, the oldest of three fades away and the new check slides in on top of all the others."

"That must've been terrible," Ino said, shaking her head and looking at me with sad eyes. "Every time you failed it would tell you?"

"It was pretty bad," I agreed with a frown of my own. "I had a few ways of minimizing it, but I didn't start using them until I after I had already graduated the academy. Which reminds me; Naruto, you ready to see what's in my notebook?"

"Wait, you're going to let us see it?" Naruto asked with wide eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah," I said with a nod, withdrawing the notebook out of my back pocket and switching the language from 'English' to 'Elemental Nations'. Oh, yeah. I guess we do speak a dialect of Japanese instead of Japanese proper. First time I thought about it. "I didn't draw anything in this-->>

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