Unknown Encounters

When Deidara, Yagura and Gaara finally departed, reluctantly, from Naruto's mirror realm, Kurama squirmed out of his jinchūriki's hold and bounded across the room to nudge at an unmoving ball of black and silver fluff.

"When are you going to stop playing dead?" Kurama goaded in an attempt to incite the furball's ire.

The fluffy creature remained deathly still, turning a deaf ear to Kurama's mockery.

"They are gone now. It's just us four," Naruto informed, transporting the two fluffy animals across the room and into his arms with but a thought.

Noel belatedly expressed his discontent by pawing aside Kurama, thus shoving the miniature bijū onto the ground with a thump.

"Noe-" Naruto scolded, only for his words to be cut short by a flying fox sailing through the air towards his face.

He dodged Kurama's mad lunge for the cat within his embrace, then halted him in his tracks by stepping on the kitsune's tails.

"Enough, Kurama," Naruto sighed, picking up the bijū none too gently by the scruff of his neck and tossing him into Mitsushi's waiting arms. "You were the one who picked a fight anyway."

It was strange to see names above the head of an animal.

In the familiar scarlet that he remembered was "Cairn", with "九喇嘛" below.

There were no hiragana to clarify the pronunciation of the kanji, but Naruto knew it was read as Kurama.

After all, this was his longtime partner who had been the only constant in his life despite the shift in dimensions.

He finally returned his attention to the cat, who had moved the fluffy tail covering his face aside at some point, and lifted Noel by his forelegs.

It was then that his jaw went slack.

"Noel" now graced the region above the black-tabby's head, with a pair of kanji below it and no lifespan.

Even after he bestowed a name, Naruto was certain that his pet did not have scarlet lettering hovering over his head back in the Shinigami World.

A nagging thought that he inwardly knew to be the truth arose.

In his mistaken miscalling of Noel's name, it seemed he had granted the cat a new name in the kanji that happened to lurk in his subconscious.

"之衛", pronounced as Noe.

Naruto laughed, somewhat hysterically.

Noe mewled softly, ears flattened and eyes downcast in guilt.

Kurama glared at the cat.

"Hey, Noel. You have one too, don't you? A Death Note. Not only that, but you probably also have a human form now. What's it like to become a superior shinigami?" Naruto questioned piercingly, dropping Noe unceremoniously.

With the natural predatory grace of all felines, the Maine Coon -- or the being who still resembled a kitty -- landed on his four feet and looked up at the blond sadly with watery eyes.

Naruto felt his heart waver at the abused front of the now-shinigami.

"It isn't that I didn't want to tell you, Master," Noe said earnestly, tail lowered submissively. "I did not have a chance to attempt to transform yet either. I was not trying to hide it from you."

The cat spoke English perfectly on his first attempt, causing Kurama to grind his teeth jealously.

Naruto had alienated Noe because of his shock at realising that his dear nonhuman friend might have changed irrevocably without his notice.

Upon discovering that it was not some newborn malicious being inhabiting the body of his cat, he lowered his guard and knelt in front of Noe.

"I'll believe you," he said slowly, "but first, I will have you answer one question."

Noe's ears perked up and he voluntarily surrendered a silvery-white notebook that was without any labelling and had black unlined pages.

"Master can safeguard this," Noe assured without hesitation. "I don't need a book that can kill all humans whose names are written in it."

Naruto faltered at the trust that the cat was blatantly displaying.

He shook his head and returned the strange Death Note to its owner.

He had more than enough of those things and, if his suspicions were proven right, it was entirely improper for him to hold on to the original Note of an existent owner.

"I do not need it," he said gently. "That wasn't what I was asking. I want to know why you call me 'Master'."

Noe stared at Naruto weirdly.

"That's all? It's simple. You are Master. That's just who you are to me," Noe replied, tail swishing side-to-side in confusion.

"Is it because I raised you? I might have taken care of you, but that does not automatically make you my servant," Naruto probed, not bothered by the effect of his ignorance on the feline.

Noe averted his gaze as he noticed something imperceptible to others.

Sulkily, he muttered, "But Master has understood by now, right? What a Regulator is to Superior Shinigami?"

Naruto stiffened, his azure eyes dulling as his expression became stony.

"No," he bit out, icily glaring at the feline before him.

Noe made an unintelligible noise of discontent.

"Master, you know it as well as I do. Just admit it," Noe complained.

Naruto closed his eyes, reluctantly letting go of his stubborn denial of what Noe implied.

"Yes," he relented. "I have guessed since Ryūk first mentioned the existence of superiors to their kind. Then Rem's explanation of the link between Superior Shinigami and the higher existences further established these suspicions."

"We, as immortal Superior Shinigami, serve you, the Regulator?" Mitsushi asked in curiosity, unable to refrain from interrupting the ongoing conversation.

Noe grinned up at the black-haired child.

"Superior Shinigami obey the will of Regulators. Those born in nature have no bond to specific individuals but those like us who were bestowed with names by a Regulator only hear the call of the Regulator responsible for us. I call Master "Master", but Mitsushi-dono does not need to do so. I might say that we live in eternal servitude of the Master, but this is only in name. I may willingly submit to Master and obey him unconditionally, even if only by choice. There's a connection that allows us to know Master's needs, though we only feel a faint compulsion to do as he orders. We are not slaves," Noe explained in depth.

Kurama gawked. "So that was why I couldn't resist doing as Es instructed!"

"You only became what you are now upon our arrival in the Shinobi World?" Naruto questioned, ignoring Kurama's exclamation.

"I believe the pull of the artefact in your hands caused me to be momentarily separated from my body. In that instant, the vitality of the unused lifespan that coiled around Master became visible to me and merged with my essence. Master's hypothesis that an animal does not possess a soul was correct. We have something similar, but our natural lack of life energy means that we do not have predetermined lifespans. Although I was unconscious for most of it, I likely evolved during our transportation to this world," Noe recounted dutifully.

"You become stronger the more lifespan you absorb?" Naruto mused thoughtfully.

"Master's trust in me is the only reason why I could access your stockpiled energy. Mitsushi-dono was a human but I believe that the unusual circumstances might have allowed him to become a Superior Shinigami nonetheless," reported Noe, understanding what the blond wanted to know.

"I halted his time, and thus the world did not recognise him as a being for some time. Moreover, L was in contact with the mysterious item that allowed me to cross between worlds. He might've been separated from his body, like you, and absorbed the life force that I did not require. It must have been a combination of factors, including my presence and his own powerful soul, resulting in the unique outcome of a Superior Shinigami who was once a human," Naruto pondered aloud while considering the Mask in his hand. "At the very least, he no longer has his original body."

"On that topic, what do you look like in your other form?" Mitsushi queried, putting the mini-bijū on the ground so that Kurama would cease his struggle.

"If that fox is any indication, I'll have the same hair and eyes as always. I'll also keep my ears and tail, with the addition of coloured nails," Noe theorised before shrugging. "Wouldn't know any of the specifics unless I transform though."

Mitsushi's sparkling eyes prompted Naruto to sigh, "Go ahead."

The Maine Coon closed his eyes in concentration, and a teenager appeared in the place of the cat.

Noe looked like he was thirteen years old, give or take a little, in Japanese standards, possibly younger in American or European contexts. He was more tanned than the others present, with skin the colour of warm honey, and was built lithely, athletic but flexible. His hair was a mix of black and silver, the black highlights in his fluffy silver hair somewhat resembling the markings on his patterned coat from his feline form. His big golden eyes were slanted, clearly catlike even if those vertical pupils were round -- which they were not. His full eyebrows and eyelashes were dark silver. His face was tender, almost childish, and heart-shaped, his lips a smudge of rouge on his smooth complexion -- pink like his nose was as a cat.

He wore a trench coat, the hem just shy of reaching his knees, and it was charcoal black with smooth obsidian buttons. The front was left open, and the silver silken button-up below was displayed. The long-sleeved shirt was similar in style to the everyday clothing that Es had favoured, albeit with a showy silk weave of crêpe-backed satin instead of the less flashy silk jersey fabric of Es' plainer undyed shirts. The glossy side faced out, making the visible neatly-pressed matte collar appear flat in comparison. Plain black cropped trousers, white leather trainers and a white fur scarf completed the outfit.

"I'm a child?" Noe spoke, his voice high with disbelief.

Naruto chuckled at the astonishment on Noe's face.

"You're older than us," he assured, overlooking Noe's despairing but secretive peek in Kurama's direction. "And you should have anticipated this. Your voice is boyish, after all, though it sounds a bit deeper when you are a cat."

Kurama was stirred from his reverie, and he cackled, "Noel, oh Noel. It turns out you were just a pipsqueak!"

Noe ground his teeth and balled his fingers into fists.

"Noe-chan~" Kurama sang, transforming into his human form to ruffle the bicoloured hair of the boy who was a good twenty-five centimetres shorter than him.

This was what tipped the precarious balance too far.

Displaying capoeira skills that he applied spectacularly considering his lack of practice with his new physique and having only watched L and Es practising the art, Noe ducked down to dodge Kurama's attempt to pinch his cheeks. He supported his weight with one arm, swinging his legs out to kick Kurama off his feet. As Kurama fell from the unexpectedly harsh impact to his ribs, Noe nimbly sprang back to his feet and did a cartwheel while delivering two more kicks to his sternum. Kurama fell onto his side, his limbs flailing uncoordinatedly as he struggled futilely to capture the cat-boy with his too-short tails.

"Damn it! You just caught me off-guard!" Kurama growled as he managed to clamber onto his feet, knowing full well that his clumsiness could not compare with the natural agility of his feline opponent.

Noe was unfazed by the Kyūbi's quick recovery, swiftly striking out with a rotating kick Kurama barely managed to block. He successfully dodged Kurama's retaliatory punch, took advantage of his position and his opponent's awkward limbs and landed another spinning kick. He heard the redhead's groan of pain and smirked. The redhead lunged, trying to immobilise Noe by trapping the humanoid cat in his tails. The golden-eyed boy spun out of the way with balletic grace, very conveniently kicking the kitsune in the back.

"If only I could use jutsu, I would crush you in an instant," Kurama grumbled unhappily, glancing at his unimpressed jinchūriki with a wince.

Noe snorted derisively, "You probably don't know any jutsu, to begin with."

Kurama spluttered, his face turning as red as his hair, "What would you know?"

Noe raised one eyebrow in an accurate imitation of his owner. "Of your ineptitude, perhaps?"

In a final effort, Kurama sprinted towards the cat who was now a boy -- he knew his greater size was a boon in a match between humans.

Kurama surmised that there was nothing the other could do against his superior momentum.

He soon discovered that he was dearly mistaken.

Capoeira had been considered to be a lethal sport amongst humans in the Shinigami World for good reason.

Noe grabbed Kurama, spun him in an improvised grappling technique and threw the kitsune on the ground. Noe might have to admit to having slept through the actual grappling lessons that L had been through with his Master, but that did not mean that he could not make do to come up with an effective takedown method for the circumstances. Of course, Kurama's lack of taijutsu training helped -- he had charged in blindly and without regard for circumstances. No one before had thought to teach a massive chakra beast the taijutsu used between humans and, during Es' time in the Shinigami World, the lazy kitsune did not care to accept his jinchūriki's offer to learn martial arts together with him.

Noe kept his knee on Kurama's chest, silver claws held to the kitsune's throat.

"I do not appreciate your contempt. I may be smaller than you, but I'm faster and stronger," Noe hissed darkly.

Kurama rolled his eyes.

"Respect your elders, kitten," he told the feline, haughtily.

Kurama knew that his jinchūriki would stop the enraged cat before Noe went too far...

"I apologise, Kurama, but you deserve this beating," Naruto responded, cruelly dashing all of the redhead's expectations.

"I'm going to die, Naruto! You can't possibly-" Kurama wailed in panic, unable to complete his sentence before the onslaught began.

Mitsushi bowed his head, closing his eyes as he muttered, "Rest in peace, Cairn Kurama. We will remember you forever."

A shrill scream rang through the mirror dimension, and Naruto stood by the side as he watched the ongoing torture without sympathy.

"Cairn... might die at this rate," Mitsushi remarked. "Noe really took after this Master of his."

Naruto's lips quirked upwards at the hilarity of this thought.

"It seems you're looking down on him too much," Naruto replied in amusement.

Mitsushi blinked several times uncomprehendingly, then returned to watching the bloodshed.

After another minute, he asserted, "Noe isn't holding back. Those are lethal blows."

Naruto laughed, "He's a bijū. He would not tolerate this abuse if he felt that his life was under threat. Kurama has been alive for a millennium. Although he may lack self-defence capability, his ability to escape dire situations surpasses mine. Additionally, the vessel he resides in now is not his true form. His body was sealed in me -- it is comprised of pure chakra. Energy cannot be created or destroyed -- only converted from one form to another. To simplify his existence: he is a closed system. When he attacks, his chakra is converted into opposing energies to generate an explosion. This is an attack unique to the bijū known as 'Bijūdama'. After the impact, these energies stabilise and neutralise each other. The reformed chakra thus returns to the bijū. As bijū are entirely chakra, they cannot be killed. The only way that shinobi can get rid of them is to utterly destroy their physical forms, forcing them to reform over years. This would cause their consciousness to dissipate, but they do not truly die. They retain all memories and abilities from before their destruction."

"And not their personality?" Mitsushi grasped this detail without any need for further hinting.

"The previous experiences may have some influence but, otherwise, that is so," Naruto agreed.

Noe only seemed satisfied when Kurama was reduced to a limp pile of bloodied rags, limbs and tails.

"Masochist," Naruto muttered under his breath, kicking the kitsune lightly in the ribs.

Unlike Mitsushi, he knew exactly what kind of body the bijū currently inhabited.

There were no vital points. Although the internal structure imitated a human's now and a fox's before, they did not operate as would a normal lifeform. It was possible because Kurama was a chakra beast -- he did not require internal functions like normal living things. Even having some form of chakra system was often redundant due to his nature.

"You are not to go around picking fights with others, Noe," Naruto admonished belatedly.

The feline peered up innocently with his wide golden eyes and said, "That fox started it."

"You attacked me out of nowhere!" Kurama retorted, able to speak normally despite his battered body.

The kitsune was restored in an instant by the power of Naruto's will.

"And you should stop trying to provoke Noe. You know how prickly he gets wherever you are involved," Naruto rebuked as Kurama rose from the ground with a regal demeanour. "You're the elder here."

The redhead scoffed but backed down, returning to his cuddly fox form and marching off.

Naruto sighed as he went over to flick Noe on the nose, "You don't hate him, do you?"

His ears flattened, yet his tail remained proudly lifted.

"I find that he always thinks himself superior to me," Noe admitted, nearly pouting, and scuffed his shoe on the ground.

Naruto could not hold back the smile that lifted the corners of his lips.

This intelligent and prideful feline, with all of his mannerisms and behaviour, was definitely his Noel.

"Try to sort it out civilly next time," he replied, reaching up to pat the teenager on the head as he would always do after reprimanding the cat.

"I will try my best, Master," Noe conceded, bowing his head.

"You know Japanese too?" Mitsushi inquired, switching the language medium of the conversation.

Noe nodded, his ears perking up. "It's harder to pronounce."

Mitsushi regarded the silver-haired cat-eared boy with intrigue.

"You've learned to read while following Es around too, I presume?" he continued to question.

Noe looked down in embarrassment.

"I don't understand kanji. There are too many readings," he confessed, his tail drooping.

Randomly, Mitsushi noted, "Noe, you are very expressive."

Noe stared at the former detective in confusion, ears twitching.

"Are we still speaking the same language?" Noe inquired hesitantly.

Naruto chuckled. "Noe, you can return to your usual form now."

The teenager shrank back into the form that he was most used to.

The cat deliberated over Mitsushi's words for a very long time thereafter.

He never realised that the black-haired boy had intended for his words to be taken literally.

💣

"It's dangerous here, kids!" came a woman's voice from the distance.

Mitsushi, not yet registering that he was being addressed -- it was so long since he had been a child, failed to respond.

It was only Naruto, whose identities during his stay in the Shinigami World were sufficient to form an army capable of taking over the realm, who turned to look at the person calling out to them.

At first glance, he was floored by the unusual sight that was presented by this woman.

Her voice was mature, but not feeble like that of an elderly person. Her light blonde hair was still lustrous, unlike the brittle and faded locks of an old woman. However, wrinkles were beginning to form on her face and her body was frail.

Naruto saw her name and lifespan, then quickly turned off his mirror-like dōjustu.

"Ah, so this lady is the woman widely regarded as the most beautiful kunoichi in the world," the blond stated, more for Mitsushi's sake than anything. "Senju Tsunade-sama."

He had seen her appearance beneath her unique transformation jutsu, yet it was not hard to see that she must have been stunning in her youth. It was unfortunate -- she had squandered her life away during the previous war with the usage of her incomplete regeneration technique. Her conspicuously voluptuous figure likely left a deeper impression on the hormone-driven men who had the pleasure of meeting her but her facial features were delicate and aesthetic. Her face alone was almost perfectly aligned with the shinobi world's standards of feminine beauty.

Mitsushi tilted his head to the side, a puzzled frown on his face.

He knew about the strong vitality of the Uzumaki lineage from the short run-through that he had been given on the bloodlines that have been replicated by Naruto in the past. He could estimate the blonde's age based on the dates -- she was only in her early forties. An average Uzumaki was able to live to one hundred and fifty before dying a natural death, given that their life force was not consumed by jutsu. The blood of the royal family that Uzumaki Mito and Uzumaki Kushina hailed from had a more potent vitality. It was not unusual for a member of Uzushio royalty to live to the age of two hundred without suffering from age-related ailments.

Tsunade was a direct descendant of the Uzushio royal family through her paternal grandmother.

It was strange that she looked slightly older than her actual age -- by normal standards. With her Uzumaki lineage, it would not have surprised Naruto if she still appeared to be in her twenties. Countless questions raced through Mitsushi's mind, but he was vaguely aware that it was rude for him to voice them in front of the person herself and wisely kept his mouth shut. Tsunade had under a hundred years in her lifespan and it was likely that she was fated to die naturally.

A century would have seemed to be a very long time if this lifetime was observed in an ordinary civilian, but this was a descendant of the vigorous Senju and Uzumaki clans.

Naruto glimpsed the inquisitive stare that his friend was directing at the Slug Sannin and was quick to guess that transformation jutsu that changed one's face was ineffective against the eyes of the Shinigami.

"That's me," Tsunade replied without reservation as treaded through the dust to reach them.

The woman did not seem to have any qualms about revealing her identity to the admittedly suspicious pair of children.

"I don't see anything threatening," Mitsushi professed, looking up at the blonde unblinkingly.

Tsunade sighed, massaging her temples to try to relieve the headache that had been plaguing her over the past few days.

In a parallel universe, this might have been due to her excessive drinking and the subsequent hangovers.

On this plane, however, Tsunade was just mentally and physically exhausted from having combed through the surrounding area for the missing Uzumaki-Namikaze child after hastening back to Konohagakure. Upon the terrible blast that could be perceived from every region on the continent, she had forced herself to return to the village despite the grim memories she knew would surge upon her return. She was panicked when she rushed to return, fearing the Konoha she had grown up in would be no more when she got there. She realised that the village was not harmed when she arrived and learned of the disappearance of Kushina's eldest. Since she could not sleep due to the nightmares that plagued her, she threw herself wholeheartedly into the search.

"An explosion occurred here, and an entire forest was decimated. A boy disappeared, but there were no other casualties. He would be a little younger than you two. It is uncertain whether he is dead or alive -- even the Hokage Monument was damaged by the resulting shockwave," Tsunade recounted wearily.

Naruto scratched his cheek, feeling a little embarrassed for causing such a big incident.

He did not think that the devastation would have been so vast. It was a relief that the Uzumaki Shrine was located deep in the forests and away from human civilisation. It would have been very bad if his carelessness had resulted in the deaths of innocents.

"Was he someone close to you?" Naruto queried, feigning innocence.

Tsunade thought about it briefly before replying, "We were descended from the same clan. He was a child of a friend. I was also named as the godmother of his two siblings, though I only met them for the first time two days ago."

Naruto nodded understandingly. So that was why he never had the chance to meet the woman over his years in Konoha. It seemed that she did not return to the village at all after drifting away at the end of the war, shortly before his kidnapping.

"You know who I am and why I am here now," Tsunade said slowly, scrutinising the boys with her watchful eyes. "Would you kindly tell me what you were doing here, kids?"

Naruto did not respond immediately.

He did not appear to have any logical reason why they were roaming so close to the edge of the ruins...

He deliberated the merits of truthfully admitting that they accidentally ended up back here after visiting Amegakure to check on Konan and Nagato.

"We got lost in the forests of Hi no Kuni," Mitsushi spoke before Naruto could come to a decision. "We didn't notice the explosion or encounter any patrols, so we didn't know this place was out of bounds."

"Just the two of you?" Tsunade asked in disbelief.

"We're orphans," Naruto explained.

He was not keen on being dragged back to Konohagakure.

Tsunade's expression changed, sympathy softening her gaze on the two children.

"If you don't have anywhere to go, you can come with me. I was planning to leave the village at dawn if there is still no progress in the search by then anyway," she offered.

Naruto and Mitsushi made eye contact, and an entire conversation was transmitted between them during the exchange.

"If we follow you, can you teach me how to use chakra?" Mitsushi requested, not bothering with being polite.

"I am a medic. I won't teach you ninjutsu to fight. At most, I will just impart enough knowledge for you to defend yourselves," Tsunade informed, not finding the request unfeasible.

The black-haired boy shook his head firmly.

"I want to learn medical ninjutsu," he stressed.

Tsunade tried to hold it in, but a chuckle nonetheless escaped her.

"That would depend on your aptitude, gaki," she warned in bemusement.

"I believe in my talent," Mitsushi declared, almost arrogant in his demeanour.

The blonde turned to face the blond child who did not interject during the "negotiation".

"And you? What other benefits do you kids want from following me?" she challenged jokingly.

Naruto did not hesitate to shake his head in refusal.

"I'm not interested."

Tsunade paused, her expression distorting slightly as she stared at the blond in sincere astonishment.

"This is a great opportunity you're passing up, brat. You know who I am -- countless shinobi hope to learn from me even if they do not aspire to be medic-nin. I've offered to teach the both of you how to hold your own in the shinobi world, but you claim to be uninterested in my teachings?" Tsunade asked incredulously.

"Mitsushi wishes to learn from you and I will support that, but I have nothing that I wish to receive from you. I am willing to follow you in exchange for food, clothing and shelter. A safe environment is all I'm asking for. Contrarily, if there's anything I can do for you in exchange for your aid, please tell me," Naruto explained plainly, unintimidated by the woman's manner.

He would not benefit from receiving the tutelage of Senju Tsunade -- establishing a master-student relationship so early might conversely limit his growth in future. Considering his identity as the lost child of the reigning Hokage, it would also endanger Tsunade's position in Konohagakure if she was found to have hidden him away and imparted her skills to him. Moreover, he had no interest in medical ninjutsu. If she ever offered to teach him herbalism, however, Naruto would not hesitate to accept.

After all, there was a limit to what he could learn from the Uzumaki-Namikaze library.

Tsunade's expression softened.

"You're unambitious," she muttered under her breath, her tautened brow loosening as she looked at the blond in a new light.

Mitsushi blinked, finding this conclusion incomprehensible.

Naruto wanted to correct her, but he did not know how he should do so without inadvertently exposing the truth...

Hurriedly appending in the hope to resolve that misunderstanding, Naruto spoke, "I would like it if you could teach me about plants and how they work."

Tsunade smiled graciously and reached out to ruffle his hair.

"I will. You can rely on me."

There was a sense of relief in her words.

Naruto was left even more at a loss.

"Tsunade-sama!"

A panting young woman who had onyx eyes and jet black shoulder-length hair rushed over and skidded to a stop.

She took a short breather before looking up, her mouth slightly open with words forming on her tongue when she noticed the two boys who stood together with her blonde master.

She stifled her voice before it could leave her throat, leaving her jaw somewhat comically agape.

She floundered for words before managing to vociferate, "Tsunade-sama, how could you bring a child to this sort of place?! Two, at that!"

"Ah, you two, meet Shizune. She is my apprentice. If you're planning to learn anything from me, she will be your senpai. And Shizune, these two say they are orphans. I found them wandering around these parts before deciding to raise them. I told Kushina that our priority should be to secure the area using a barrier to prevent uninvolved persons from accidentally stumbling in. I understand her concern for her eldest, but panicking like this would solve nothing," explained Tsunade, sighing as she reached the end of her lengthy introduction.

Shizune, whose name could be seen above her head, did not have a surname.

It was unknown if she did not recognise her father's surname as her own or whether she simply never knew it. Either way, neither she nor others seemed to have deemed fit to grant her a first name. Shizune could have taken her master's surname, Senju considering that Tsunade was her legitimate guardian, but she had not done so.

Neither Tsunade nor Shizune found the pair of dusty children suspicious.

Perhaps it was because they were so charming in appearance, or their untainted gaze gave them an unassuming air.

They never questioned why these two boys would have been able to enter this area that teemed with trained search parties undetected.

Shizune's attention was now affixed to the five-year-olds who were older in mind than they were in appearance.

She crouched down, making her stature less intimidating to children, and asked warmly, "You're probably around six years old? What should I call you?"

"We're five. He is Mitsushi and I..." Naruto paused. 'Let me borrow your name for a while.' "I am Kurama."

"Hey!" the bijū's protest rang through his mindscape.

Kurama never had a chance to express his agreement before Naruto acted, leaving him feeling extremely discontent.

"Since when was my opinion redundant?!"  Kurama continued to gripe, giving his jinchūriki a splitting headache.

'I will only be using the pronunciation, written in katakana,' Naruto carelessly brushed the bijū's complaints aside.

"Do you write it like this?" Shizune queried, writing two lines of katakana in her notebook and showing it to the two boys.

"ミツシ" and "クラマ" were written neatly in cutesy handwriting, with a little lightbulb and a treasure chest drawn next to each respectively.

Shizune had interpreted the "光" in Mitsushi's name accurately but seemed to think that the first kanji that symbolised Naruto's borrowed name was "蔵", a character generally used to refer to a storehouse or a treasury.

Naruto found it a bit funny but chose not to correct Shizune's misconception.

After all, the same kanji that Shizune thought to be in his name could also be taken to mean "to conceal" in Chinese. He found that it paired quite poetically with Mitsushi's name. He would let Mitsushi, the precious friend who had followed Es here from the Shinigami World, shed light on the secrets that he keeps concealed.

"Yes," Mitsushi responded while Naruto was dwelling on such thoughts.

"Nice to meet you, Mitsushi-kun and Naruto-kun. My name is Shizune, written like this," Shizune greeted, writing "静音" on the page. "But I usually reserve that for documents, haha. I usually write my name in katakana for simplicity."

She wrote "シズネ" next to the kanji form of her name, with some embarrassment.

Her handwriting was not nearly as neat when writing kanji as it was when she wrote in katakana.

"You write prettily," Naruto complimented, pointing at the drawing.

He might not have attended college normally, but he could imagine a young woman of Shizune's age feeling a bit conscious about her handwriting and pursuing cute things. Shizune was taller than her master and had a narrower, slender build. While she lacked Tsunade's breathtaking beauty, she still had an attractive face and a good figure that appealed to a slightly smaller fraction of the male population. She was not very well-endowed, but she still had a feminine charm that would allow her to become a celebrity in the Shinigami World. It was the first time Naruto found his birthplace too violent -- such a gentle young woman as this was a full-fledged kunoichi. As a jōnin, Shizune was a war veteran whose hands were already stained with blood.

Mitsushi, who had been scrutinising Shizune from head to toe after a brief glance at her lifespan, asked quizzically, "You... should be twenty this year?"

Since the eyes of a Shinigami did not consider the time of birth to be important, this estimate of his was entirely based on his observations.

Not yet old enough to feel sensitive about her age, Shizune nodded.

"What's wrong?" Tsunade asked curiously.

"You look like you won't live as long as Senju-san," Mitsushi said frankly.

Naruto, realising that something had to be unusual for his companion to be so focused on the matter of Shizune's lifespan, took a closer look at the space above the young woman's head.

More specifically, she was due to die eleven years from now.

Naruto did not find this strange -- one did not need to be severely ill to die young in the Shinobi World -- but her lifespan seemed to shift, like a mirage.

He could faintly see intermittent flashes of her natural lifespan. If she did not die in eleven years, she would live a long life. Shizune would still die before Tsunade, but it was not as exaggerated a difference as before. She would live for fifty years after her death date, dying at age eighty-one.

"Eleven?" Naruto whispered to Mitsushi.

He nodded his head briefly, then shook his head. "It's a bit distorted," Mitsushi replied under his breath. "There are natural causes of life extension in this world?"

Naruto was not surprised by how easily Mitsushi had arrived at the truth.

His inferences as L were always accurate, after all.

"There are records of the transference of lifespan, and legends of the Rinnegan cite it to be able to resurrect the dead," Naruto informed lightly, not seeming to take this knowledge seriously.

Naruto looked away from Shizune's lifespan and did not mention how he could see the upper limit on Shizune's lifespan. It seemed that destiny was inescapable in the end. Whatever will choose to lengthen this woman's time in the world of the living, it could not do so indefinitely. She will die, unable to escape the fate of a mortal.

Naruto did not see a need to gather lifespan to give to anyone in this world either.

As such, those who were destined to die in the end will still die.

While Shizune did not mind being asked about her age, she did mind that this child insinuated that she looked older than her master. After all, Tsunade was twenty-three years her senior. No woman would accept being called old right to her face like that. The two boys huddling up and whispering secretively to each other did not help their case.

Naruto sighed. Mitsushi was just too straightforward. How many times has it been that his friend said something that could be misunderstood by others because he did not bother to mince his words? This time, it was because Mitsushi's comment had been too succinct.

"Mitsushi has eyes that can see the fates of humans. He knows when a person will die," Naruto explained, defusing the situation before Shizune could blow up.

"Oh?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow in intrigue.

Naruto turned to Mitsushi, prompting him to speak.

While it was not a big deal to know when someone would die (at most it helped a medic-nin to decide whether it was worth trying to heal someone), it was Mitsushi's call to decide whether he wished to reveal his power to grant instantaneous death.

Mitsushi understood the meaning held in Naruto's glance.

"Yes, and I can kill anyone whose face I have seen before," he disclosed -- it seemed that Naruto had some purpose behind having him reveal this.

"The people who were scared of him and wanted to hurt Mitsushi died. The people who wished to use him are also dead. Senju-san isn't one of those people, right?" Naruto smoothly took over.

As he spoke, he seamlessly crafted a background for his friend just as he had done for countless blood clones in the Shinigami World. He used some of his blood to create a pile of fake corpses and had a shadow clone conscientiously scatter them along a projected route from a town that he made to resemble a ghost town. There were traces of life throughout the town and newly-dug graves in the cemetery alongside older graves containing artificially-aged cremated remains. He made the entire area within his mirror realm and displaced the land that was originally situated in that remote region in Hi no Kuni which was fairly close to Ame no Kuni. Naruto also designed a suitable scene of fresh corpses somewhere along the route between the "birthplace" of Mitsushi and instigated scavengers to prey on the corpses before ageing the remains suitably. He then left a few fresh, unscathed corpses scattered near the edge of the blast radius.

He had planted convincing evidence on them and planned to lead the two ladies there later.

Tsunade's brow furrowed, righteous anger burning in her eyes.

"Those bastards died well!" Shizune exclaimed.

"I can't stand the sight of blood," Tsunade confessed, "so you can rest assured that I won't ask you to kill anyone, Mitsushi."

Mitsushi blinked owlishly.

Not getting her point, he thoughtfully reported, "My ability kills without bloodshed and I can kill from any distance."

Tsunade felt slightly overwhelmed by this revelation.

"To think that such a kekkei-genkai existed..." she murmured, suddenly feeling very grateful that she was the one who found these children.

Otherwise, if someone misused this boy's power, how many would die unknowingly before it is discovered?

Naruto was puzzled by the lack of fear in Tsunade's countenance.

"Why aren't you scared?" he asked curiously.

Humans have always feared that which they did not understand, and the fear reserved by mortal beings for death was undeniable.

How could someone as intelligent as Tsunade not think of the possibility of having this power turn on her? Naruto could not understand how she could trust them so easily. If she did not trust them, then did she long for death? Were there people who have perished whose souls Tsunade wanted to meet again?

Sure enough, Tsunade said, "I am not scared of dying."

Mitsushi frowned, sincerely cautioning her, "Death is not how you imagine it. It's a void. There is nothing left for a soul after death. You won't meet your loved ones again even if you are dead."

Tsunade laughed weakly. "I know. I trust you kids. I understand Mitsushi must have only killed in self-defence. I don't have anyone I want to see dead. You don't have to worry about your friend, Kurama."

This time, Mitsushi wisely did not mention anything that would be troublesome to clarify. He simply had a knack for aggravating others. It was too easy for one of Mitsushi's carelessly uttered phrases to anger someone.

Naruto was not yet accustomed to being referred to by the name of his bijū, but he still reacted in time.

"The last of them are still there. Dead, of course," Naruto did not forget to mention the carefully crafted evidence, his expression full of solemnity.

It would be inappropriate to display glee before the Slug Sannin while speaking of killing, so he did not allow himself to feel smug about his achievement. As an afterthought, he generated a sizable batch of blood clones to act as the orphans and caretakers who had fled from the town as witnesses of Mitsushi's existence. Although L Lawliet lacked presence in the Shinigami World where he was born, some people had known him. There were the orphans of Wammy's, the individuals that L had worked with and the multitude of cases that were solved by the world's number one detective. They did not necessarily know this man personally, but L Lawliet had left marks on the world.

Through these marks, Sirius Es Ebon was able to gradually approach this enigmatic man and befriend him.

There was no need for Naruto to walk that road again, but he would still like to create a background for this person. Even if it was just to feel a sense of assurance -- so that he would never have to fear Mitsushi's nonexistence again, he wanted to do it. Naruto was gratified simply knowing that Mitsushi's past had been shaped by him and that this person had a place in this world all the same.

"Will you bring me there, Kurama-kun? I'd like to check to see if there are more of them hiding in the dark," Shizune told Naruto, pulling on a pair of latex gloves.

"Of course, I can but wasn't there something you needed from Senju-san?" Naruto answered agreeably.

"Ah, that. It wasn't much. I just came to tell Tsunade-sama that all of the masks of the Uzumaki Mask Storage Temple. It is just the Shinigami Mask that remains untraceable. Kushina-sama still strongly believes that Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto will be found and is determined to never give up until the mask is found. Konoha has given up on the search, though they plan to continue looking for their child in private," Shizune reported, straightening up and gesturing for Naruto to lead the way.

The blond led Shizune to the cluster of realistic human corpses, Mitsushi following by his side.

Lying on the ground were five unmoving humans -- three male and two female. They were more travel-worn than the two boys, but there were obvious signs that these people were pursuers of Mitsushi. They had binoculars and modified hunting equipment that was adapted for capturing humans alive. One of them had a conspicuously unzipped pouch on her waist that she had been reaching towards with her other hand before her body ceased movement.

Shizune knelt to check their conditions and was amazed to discover that these corpses had virtually no injuries. Apart from the several scratches left by the terrain on one of the men, they bore no wounds. There was no sign of struggle and Shizune could not find any anomalies that were the telling signs of poisoning. She tried to scan their bodies over with a medical jutsu and found nothing wrong with their internal organs either. If she was not mistaken, these were all perfectly healthy men and women who died abruptly for seemingly no reason at all. It was already a bizarre sight to her despite knowing their cause of death and she could not imagine how she might have reacted to finding such corpses in the middle of a forest. It seemed to her that their hearts stopped for some reason approximately two hours ago, aligning perfectly with the time Tsunade had discovered the two boys.

She knew that her master never suspected these children, but Shizune had long guessed that the blond might be the missing eldest child of the Hokage. Even now, she still thought it was a likely possibility that Naruto just had amnesia. His behaviour was not abnormal, yet this boy's mannerisms were almost like that of a trained shinobi. His steps were light, barely leaving any footprints on the ground. While retracing their previous steps, Shizune could tell that Mitsushi walked normally whereas "Kurama" was much too agile. The children were not heavy, leaving the faintest impressions in the dirt where they trod. After reaching the site of the corpses of the children's pursuers, she finally noticed a small clearing on the side with a mound of dirt from a buried fire. It could be seen through a gap in some shrubbery and the five corpses were hidden in the underbrush, having died without resistance when discovered by the boys.

Shizune felt a shiver run down her spine.

She was unsympathetic to the deaths of vermin such as these who preyed on the young, but she could not help but feel some awe for their perseverance.

While knowing that the boy they chased was the personified god of death, these people dared to continue trying to capture him.

All five of them had died of heart attacks at the same time -- Shizune could not tell if there was an interval between their deaths.

She was not scared of this pure-looking black-haired boy.

She feared the terrible power dwelling within him:

The humbling force of death.