Finally the chapter I have been waiting for is here, where things are less episodic and repetative comes to me!

If you like Inuyasha, I am writing a fun Inuyasha story called Relics and Infections... check it out please.

With nervous hands, Naruto wove his brush over the doorway of the apartment where he and Jiraiya were sleeping. He could hear his clones as they repeated the same motions, twirling and swishing and generally being careful to craft the mystical seals so that it would perfectly work to ensnare Jiraiya. For today was the day, the day they would return to the Leaf, with mom inside, to gather the gifts they needed to better themselves. Six months of hard training, day in and out, literally twenty three hours a day with nearly a thousand clones... it had all come down to this.

They could not fail, not here.

'Your doing wonderfully Narutos!" Kushina's voice echoed in his mind, drifting into his mind with a powerful presence of warmth and affection that had literally taken months to get used to. 'Your Kanji are perfect, you will make it I promise.'

"Thanks mom... I just wish it wouldn't take so long, I mean six clones working in tandem to create one seal is a bit excessive."

'Perhaps a bit, but it is the most effective seal for this sort of thing. Imagine if you had to make it by yourself, without clones? It was used by Waves Version of ANBU to trap S rank people so they could extract DNA, secrets and whatever they had to get. It takes so long to compensate for protections, mental barriers and the raw power of an S rank shinobi... there was a reason we were so feared. Well that... and... well, our worship."

"Worship?"

Sighing, he felt his mother turn away. "Our clan worshipped the Shinigami Naruto, some more then others. It was kind of scary to be honest, the lengths that some went to do appeal to the god. It intimidated other villages. It played a part in why we were wiped out."

"Why would... no, we'll get to that on the way to the village, I need to focus on this seal."

And so she went quiet, as did he, focusing entirely on the seal. It took time, four hours of hard work even with his clones, but eventually it was finished. A flash of chakra was sent through it, dispelling the clones as they funneled all of their powers into the seal.

The Kanji lifted from the walls, crawling like an army of thousands of ants, round and around, focusing in spirals until finally it stopped and glowed a searing read around the door handle. A spiral, like all Uzumaki seals, stood dead center. Around that spiral was a square of print and in each of the four corners were Kanji for bind, seal, restraint, and sleep. The seal was a mastery of the subject, and he was proud of it.

High grade and powerful, the seal would bind and restrain Jiraiya in a full, powerful sleep akin to a mix between a hangover passout and a coma. The power of Jiraiya's own chakra would be used to maintain the seal, holding him fast until he returned from the Leaf.

All he had to do now was wait...

And so that is what he did, taking his first day off in the last six months. It was oddly nice, having time to himself. Naruto sat back and rested, listening to his mother as she recited stories of missions long past and days far gone. He shared his own stories with her, telling her of Haku and Zabuza, and the lessons he learned from them. She was interested in his fight with Haku, amazed to hear about the ice bloodline he wielded.

"So he could really create ice? I tried to make it in my lifetime, I succeeded in some cold water techniques but never managed to create ice. Maybe you can? Your control is already nearing medical level due to the literal years of training you've had over the last six months."

"What about that other one, the mix of Fire and Wind? Scorch sounds like something that I could manage too, since Wind and Fire are more chakra intensive and that's where I excel."

His mom hummed. " That wouldn't be a bad idea... oh and you made dislike this but you should grab Zabuza's sword and the Rajin if you can. We can study then and duplicate the seals for when we craft you a better sword. I mean my sword is amazing but it's no Seven Swordsmen of the Mist amazing. The quality of those blades is incredible, I fought them several times and boy I can tell you how hard they were to work against."

"Maybe... it would be nice to honor Zabuza like that... and maybe I can take some of Haku's blood, study his residual chakra to see how his Ice nature works? I mean I am not a scientist but that is why Hunter Nins hunt people down right? So maybe I can learn from him."

There was a sniffling sound coming from his mother. " I am so proud of you, using your head like that... that is exactly what you should do my love... oh wait, I can sense Jiraiya, get into position!"

Without hesitation due to sheer training for this very scenario, Naruto turned over and started to make fake snoring sounds, all while moving his hands into the seal of confrontation. He focused his chakra to a razor point, feeling the seal binding to him. He knew he could do this, his chakra had been equal to Jiraiya's before he left the Leaf. With his physical training and new diet his physical chakra had doubled. With his meditation and new knowledge his spiritual chakra had multiplied ten times. He was more then Three times as chakra intensive as Jiraiya now and his chakra was magnified by a Kyuubi's. His control had magnified a hundred times, making his actual flow almost perfect.

There was no way he could fail this!

There was a click, and Jiraiya's chakra entered Naruto's smaller range. Powerful and dense, the man was overflowing with power, but Naruto could feel his superiority in this regard. He focused on the seal and on Jiraiya's chakra, waiting for the exact moment that Jiraiya touched the door knob... then pushed ever so slightly. In an instant, he felt the seal lock onto Jiraiya's chakra.

The man walked in, reeking of sex and booze. "Hehe a good night." He said, his steps uneasy and staggered as the alcohol altered his motions. The seal transferred in an instant, masked by Naruto's vast chakra. "Boy I'm beat... ugh, the brat's asleep... time to get to bed." The staggering seemed to increase as the seal amped up Jiraiya's exhaustion, augmenting the effects of the booze. "Wow... I drank more then I realized. Damn this never happened when I was younger. Sigh... ugh. Time for bed, Kami this hangover is going to suck."

There was a plopping sound as Jiraiya' collapsed onto his cot. Seconds later he started snoring, his chakra relaxing entirely as the seal activated in full measure. Jiraiya fell into a near coma, and he would only wake when the seal broke or Naruto released it.

Sitting up, Naruto drew on Kyuubi's power, crafting a clone. "Watch over him, just in case we are attacked."

With that, Naruto turned on heel and shot out of the window, sprinting as fast as he could, using his near perfect control to cover immense distance.

;;;

It took three hours to get to the Leaf and Naruto wasn't even a little tired, the power Kyuubi had agreed to supply him ( a fraction of a fraction) mixed with his natural power made this feat easy. Effortless even. He reached the barrier and quickly went through a few hand seals, slamming his palms together he said. "Ninja Art- Night's Cloak Jutsu!"

In an instant, he felt his chakra wrap around him from the inside, masking his chakra from the rest of the world.

A gift from his mother, it would prevent the Barrier of the Leaf from sensing him. He had six hours to accomplish his tasks...

Quickly summoning ten clones and having each use a transformation, Naruto and the rest shot into the Leaf, using every ounce of pranking experience to dance through the streets and ally ways to get to their targets. They knew their jobs, and so they divided off immediately. The real Naruto had his own target and he listened to his mother's instructions.

Within minutes he was at an abandoned building, worn down and covered in seals.

This was supposed to have been his home...

"Wow... your here." Kushina's voice held a wistfulness that almost hurt Naruto. He pitied his mother, he felt for her. " I never thought I'd see this place again..."

Smiling Naruto put his hand over his seal. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault baby... the seals recognize you, your father brought you in as a baby to protect you so you only need to walk right in."

And so that is what Naruto did, feeling a cobwebby sort of feeling brush against him as the seals recognized him. The insides were protected by seals and so he could see the potential. The walls were white with green trim, there was a picture of his parents on a fireplace. Jiraiya on other, the previous Team Seven in the last. The walls were covered in random pieces of art and seals. In each corner was a Hirashin seal, making Naruto smile as he realized just how much his father had deemed his family worthy of protection.

It was a bitter sweet feeling despite everything.

Knowing where to go, Naruto headed into the back, skipping past his baby room and walking into his parent's bedroom. On the wall, hanging up, was dozens of sets of his father's special Hirashin kunai as well as his mother's beautiful blade. It was a long twenty nine inches, with red tassels dangling from the handle. The sheath was black with the words Beni Hime carved into it.

His mom let out a long sigh. "Benihime… my blade, my work of art. Capable of so much... chakra resistant, chakra channeling, made of powerful metals and covered with seals of my own creation. It actually was inspired by my chakra chains and can seal chakra when it stabs someone. Or it might have had I finished... I died before I could."

"It sounds amazing mom, I will be honored to use it to train my skills until I create a new blade."

"You should be."

Naruto grabbed several copies of his father's kunai, storing them in a seal on his chest. Then, with gentle hands, he took Benihime from the wall and sealed it away over his heart.

He stayed for a moment longer, just taking in the room, the design choices of his parents. The clear marks of his mother... His father's pictures and the map of his Mother's homeland on the opposite wall.

Then he left, swearing to return one day and make this place his home...

:::

Three clones, three special clones, danced their way across the streets meeting up at the Library. They had their own missions, all at the same place... and it was actually rather simple. With great efficiency they broke into the library and separated silently.

They each had to grab something of value...

One would grab all they could on healing jutsu and medical knowledge.

One would grab dozens of general scrolls on the other chakra natures.

One would grab a thesaurus, dictionary and books on random subjects... including metallurgy.

And then they too left... hurrying to Naruto's rendezvous spot.

Never noticing that someone, with wide eyes, saw and followed them the moment they left the library.

""""

"This is the place?" A Naruto clone asked as he found the dilapidated building. He could see the marks of the shrine, from the time when the Uzumaki were alive to worship the Shinigami. " It's so damaged... oh well." Walking into the building, he saw a wall covered in twenty seven masks, three rows of nine masks each.

Without bothering to sense the right Mask, Naruto walked over to the wall and plucked it off of the wall. His mother had been here before, dozens of times, she had known of the true mask for years, since her early teens. She was the last Uzumaki to know of it, it was her duty or so she thought.

Not bothering to wait, Naruto turned and heel and shot away, hurrying back to his true self, mask in tow.

Never really bothering to care about or connect with the legacy of the building itself. He would have time to do that later, but for now he had a mission and he would not fail it.

"""

"Did you get everything?" The real Naruto asked the rest of his clones as they appeared. He had already sealed the books he had stolen, and the Mask, all he had to take was the last six clones.

"We did." Three of the clones said, each carrying various items. Chakra paper, modern explosive tags to copy and a book on genjutsu all from stores that had abused or denied Naruto service in the past. He was pretty pleased with the results.

It was satisfying to seal away the stuff, dismissing the clones.

Then he turned to the last three clones, each looking dour and unhappy. "Did you find anything at the Uchiha compound?"

The clones sighed, the leader of which stepped forward. "Nothing of value at first... it was stripped of everything I think... to prevent theft... but I found something interesting. Under a mat in this one building, I found a tunnel leading to a shrine where I saw a tablet I could barely read. I think you need the sharingan to -"

Each clone and Naruto each whipped to the side, tossing Kunai at the chakra they sensed hiding like a mouse.

Naruto, the real Naruto, pulled out another Kunai and shot over to the spot, quickly grabbing and pinning the sneak to the tree...

Only to recoil in shock as he saw a familiar face looking at him in equal shock and more then a little fear.

"Hinata?"

She squeaked. "Na...nannnaruto!" Before passing out in his hands.

Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.

This was awesome to write and finally I am out of the episodic chapters, I can write more then a training montage...

Love, your Ninja Overlord,

Mika.