Chapter Thirty-Nine: Progenitor
"Bears, bears, bears…" Tobio hummed as he laid out the delicate scroll on the floor of his apartment. "I love bears…"
Though before he pumped chakra into it in order to make the jaunt to his summons, he did spare a glance around his space. Much of it didn't look quite the same, but that was probably because so many of his belongings were packed up. This was going to be the last day he'd be staying in this crappy box of an orphan dorm.
Property in the village wasn't what he'd call cheap, to be honest, but it was certainly lowered in the wake of the Konoha Crush. So many buildings had been destroyed, whether from the massive summoned beasts that had been fighting or just the regular ninja-on-ninja level of violence. While his sense of danger was skewed to the extreme, Tobio could understand the impulse to not wish to risk yourself or your family.
Most people didn't have the same relationship with immense amounts of violence as shinobi did. There was a simple, ingrained fear in most people in civilized societies of it, something that militaries since time immemorial had to find ways of training their soldiers out of. It wasn't to say there weren't outliers like himself, yet the reality was simpler.
Within the last twenty years, Konoha had been attacked directly, with large amounts of infrastructure damage in both times. If he hadn't been a ninja, he would have run for the hills rather than risk trying to stay in the splash zone for the insanity of Konohagakure. The risk to himself, or his loved ones, would have been unreasonable otherwise.
As it was, though, it did mean that their loss was his gain. While it didn't quite leave a good taste in his mouth, the benefit of having a much larger home was enough to make him genuinely excited. The place that he'd be moving into was more of a condo than anything else, and the rent was higher, but at least it'd be his.
There'd be a kitchen and a separate bedroom and all sorts of little things that someone took for granted most of the time until they were stuck in a studio apartment. However, those were things to handle in the future. For now, he had to get ready to get mauled half to death by a bunch of insane berserkers.
A grin was already coming over his face at the idea of it. God, he couldn't wait…
Without further ado, he put a hand on the seal before him and channeled chakra, allowing himself to be reverse summoned. One moment he was in his apartment, and the next Tobio found himself in the middle of a riotous settlement filled with activity and rowdy bears. None of them seemed to notice him at first, but that lasted for as long as someone sniffed the air and turned his way. Along with a way of murmured words, as what passed for whispers ran wild amongst the bears.
"Is that our contractor?" One of them spoke to another, their deep, bass-filled voice too deep and naturally loud to hide much.
The matronly, apron-wearing…female? Yes, the female bear spoke back to him as well. "Looks fiercer than before, doesn't he?"
Another spoke up. "Look at those horns! Think he can use them for ramming attacks?"
"Of course he can. Don't be daft. What's the point of having horns if you can't ram someone with them?"
It was almost like coming home all over again, as Tobio was grinning from ear to ear. So much that it nearly hurt, as he glanced around, feeling an ease that came from being near people who genuinely, wholeheartedly understood him. Of course, the commotion eventually drew the attention of someone else, as a familiar, blonde shape shambled out with their usual slouched gait.
"What's all this ruckus?" Otso grumbled, looking as if he'd just woken up from a nap. Though the moment he looked around and saw Tobio, it was as if the sleepiness was banished from his face. "Tobio? TOBIO!"
"Otso!" The Oni boy yelled back, running up and slamming into him with a hug.
Hard enough that it took the obviously surprised older bear by surprise before he laughed in delight. "What's this? Did you run out and get stronger on me again? I swear, I knew human children could grow quickly, but this just seems unfair!" He hardly seemed that unhappy about the matter, though, given the undercurrent of pleased emotion that Tobio saw in the man.
"That's life, innit?"
"You've got that right, runt…" Otso sighed. "What brings our summoner back? Who hasn't actually summoned any of us yet, I might add!"
It was a rebuke without any real heat to it. That didn't stop him from wincing all the same, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "Yeah, I've been kind of busy. Our village got attacked, and I killed this gigantic snake; it was a whole thing."
"…There was a fight without us? A big one?" A dangerous edge entered Otso's tone.
Even a few of the other bears had turned and stopped what they were doing, ears perking up at the news. Some of them were fixing him with stares that weren't quite angry or disgusted but more like disappointed. As if they were parents who caught their cubs doing something singularly stupid or unwise and didn't know how to punish them for it.
To which Tobio could only glance away, nervously laughing. "Haha, funny story about that, yeah," He swallowed thickly, trying to change the subject. "Uh, I'm here now! For training, and trying to contract to any bears who want to come out and fight with me, though."
Big eyes stared his way as Otso gave him a deeply unimpressed look. "Of course. Well, there's already one bear you have earned the respect of in combat."
"There is?" He blinked in surprise.
"Me, you idiot!" Otso yelled, poking Tobio in the chest.
"Ow, ow, okay!" The boy nodded in agreement, seeing the sense of it. If his fight with Otso hadn't actually qualified, well, he didn't have the faintest idea what would. "So I can summon you. That's… actually great!"
"Well, we've got to get some stuff sorted out on the contract seal, but yes. Are you ready to go see the old hag again for that?" Something like a rueful grin appeared on Otso's face as he bared all sorts of teeth. "She's been mentioning all sorts of things she's been so excited to teach you, but you haven't been around. I'm sure Meng will be understanding though."
A shiver ran down Tobio's spine, and he distantly wondered if he couldn't summon himself back to Konoha. Something in Otso's tone made him seriously doubt the way he was describing Granny Meng. Surely he didn't need summons that badly.
"Perhaps I should go," Tobio answered, taking a slow and purposeful step back. "Surely she's got a busy schedule of napping that she ought to get back to. Yeah, that seems fairer to an old biddie like her."
Turning to leave, he found something big grasping the back of his shirt, dragging him back. Otso's clawed grasp, surprisingly gentle for all that it firmly had him. "Oh no, no, no! It wouldn't do for you to leave empty-handed. Come along, down to the other elders…"
"No… no…!" Tobio thrashed as he was dragged off. "I don't wanna goooooo~!"
His histrionics continued all the way down through the tunnels, much to the chuckles of the bears around them. Could he escape if he really flexed and tried to? Probably, but he wasn't actually trying to hurt Otso, which meant that he was trapped and taken into the dark to await his fate.
There sat a waiting panda, with her sagging fur and rolls of fat, looking at him with a squinting eye in the gloom. In that gaze of hers, Tobio saw nothing good for himself. Resting there, she sipped a mug of mead, as he could smell the sweet, alcoholic scent from where Otso had plopped him down.
The two of them stared at each other for a few moments as he tried to lock his facial muscles from giving away any of his internal anxieties. It didn't stop him from sweating, though, as neither of them wanted to budge first. In the end, it was Granny Meng who said the first word.
"So…" she drawled out, clicking her sharp claws against the stone of her seat. "Too busy to come and see your grandmother for proper bear summoner training, eh?"
Like any boy caught doing something bad, he instantly wanted to defend himself. "Well—"
"Shh!" The panda barked. "I'm talking! And while we're here, we're going to have to run you through your lessons, eh, to get you up to tip-top shape."
Grabbing her cane, she poked him in the chest with it. "You represent us out there, and it's a matter of prestige too, to some degree. Honor too, to show that we support our summoner. So we'll have to be giving you some intensive lessons in these coming days."
Tobio couldn't help but to swallow thickly. "Such as?"
"For starters, signing that palooka onto your summons," she started. "Then, some proper introduction to the arts that we can teach you."
He blinked, getting a little more excited at the prospect of learning new jutsu. Tobio hated to be that predictable, but unfortunately, he really was that predictable and simple. "I'm listening."
"The first is our clan's taijutsu style, the Kuma no Kamae," she explained, getting off of her perch to show off a standing, wide stance. "It's all about lowering your center of gravity, revolving around grappling, ground fighting, and heavy counterattacks."
While Tobio wouldn't say that he was all about taijutsu, the value seemed evident to him. He tended to be a fighter who relied on brutal attacks and violent responses to getting hit. "Sounds badass," he honestly responded.
"It is," Otso rumbled in happy agreement. "Fantastic for wrestling, or getting your enemy nice and in your grasp so you can tear them apart."
"What else is on offer?" Tobio asked, already getting truly excited once again.
"Mostly Doton," she admitted. "But specialized kinds, developed over the years by our kin. Things we'd like to pass to you, if you're strong enough to learn them. Here's what we've got…"
Outside of the Kuma no Kamae, there were other techniques that were being laid out before him. However, Tobio swiftly ran into the worst and best problem to have, and it was that he had some serious case of choice paralysis here. Because everything he was being offered was pretty good when looked at from an objective element.
The first thing they offered him outside of the taijutsu style was a bonafide jutsu-shiki, which had his eyebrows rising pretty high. Named the Kuma no Kugi, the Bear's Nail was essentially a palm applied effect that would effectively allow the user to slap a target and dramatically increase the weight on them. And unlike the Temporary Paralysis genjutsu, it was very much a real weight.
Something he experienced after Granny Meng sent him to the floor with it. The weight wasn't something that he couldn't have adapted to if given enough warning. What made it dangerous was you got what you put into it, so if you flooded your target with chakra and they weren't prepared…
Welp, down they went, making them good for sudden ambushes. Or slowing down speedy enemies who thought they were safe from a slow-moving target. Quickly lashing out with a palm strike to bring them down to your level quickly would disabuse them of that notion.
Not that the others were too shabby, either. Earth Release: Mountain Bear Armor was pretty much what it said on the tin. The clan didn't quite use the same ranking system as the Elemental nations, but Tobio was willing to put it somewhere around a C or B rank jutsu, scaling depending on your personal proficiency with it.
The user effectively drew earth over their body, making a hardened shell that resembled the coat of a bear. It'd slow you down something fierce, as the heavier the protection, the more meandering your pace would get. But it would also allow you to put out just that much more hurt behind your strikes. In theory, he didn't mind it either, even if it'd make him heavier and slower than he normally preferred. Some adjustments to his fighting style would be needed if he sprung for it.
As for the last of the jutsu that they were intent on showing him off, it was probably the least impressive of the bunch to him. At least for the moment, seeing as Tobio already had plenty of ways to actually hurt people from afar. He didn't really need another, though the specifics of Earth Release: Bear's Restraint could be tweaked for some nonviolent ways of restraining a person.
Slapping the ground with a palm, you moved the earth to form bear's claws in a very bootleg version of Maximillian's Earthen Grasp, which could then be used to crush or grip the target in question. But out of the bunch, he tended to leave nonlethal captures to either Hibachi or Ami if they were on a mission together. And if neither of them were around for a mission, well, Tobio likely wasn't being sent in to take people down quietly or gently.
"So? What do you wish to learn?" Granny Meng asked, staring at him intently.
"I'm not sure, still…" He trailed off, rubbing his chin as he gave it some thought.
"The Kuma no Kugi can also be used for weight training," Otso helpfully added.
Which cinched it on the spot for the Oni. "Teach me that."
A chuckle escaped Meng as she nodded at his anxious look. "Very well. Let's begin, and I hope your calligraphy is good. Otherwise this will be a painful process for you."
He grinned, flashing his new fangs at her. "If there's anything I can stand, it's a bit of pain."
Something she seemed to approve of, judging by the glint in her eye. "For your sake, I hope so."
He wouldn't call the training they got into that day complete, but they were starting on the path to translating the jutsu to something that humans could use. It had been a very long time since any bear summoners had been running around, and Granny Meng was more rusty at the practice than she'd admit. But progress was made, bit by bit, before he called it a day and went home with the promise to show up soon for more lessons.
Either way, even with his heightened intelligence, the field of Fūinjutsu still wasn't something he had a breadth of natural talent in like some people. Throwing raw brainpower at it sufficed to allow for staggering progress, though. At the cost of leaving him mentally drained after a long day of practically nothing but working on it.
When he went to sleep, he went to sleep with the happy thoughts of sealing the script and moving into his new place.
In theory, it should have been a relatively simple operation to move into his new apartment. Technically it was a house he was renting, but that was mostly because he hadn't the drive or impetus to really settle down and buy a home yet. That felt like something old men and retirees did in his head, and when he told Tekuno-Sensei that, the guy looked like he'd aged another decade.
Probably because he was trying to buy a house of his own.
Most of what he owned could be shoved into a small handful of storage scrolls, and the rest could be lugged along with relatively little assistance by just himself and a few other people. A bedframe, some few odds and ends too big or awkward for a storage scroll, things of that nature. Yet somehow, as he stood in the far larger confines of his new home, he wondered how it had gotten to this point of so many people in his new space.
Goddamnit, he just wanted help moving…
"The couch should go against that wall," Ami argued from one side of the space, arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed together as she stared at the girl across from her.
"And I think it should go against that one," Karin argued, gesturing to the other side of the living room. "It'll look nicer alongside the lamp."
"Yeah, but then you're not getting as much natural lighting, and you're stuck in the darkness."
"But—"
They'd been arguing for the last fifteen minutes about the couch, and Tobio was trying to wonder how to break it to either of them that he didn't care. Something about how invested they were in the state of his apartment, though, made him cautious about it. As if there was some trap that he was about to step into if he opened his mouth on the matter.
"I think it should go wherever Tobio wants it to go," Fū spoke from between them, glancing between the girls with about as much confusion written large across her features as he felt.
Not that either of them seemed to have noticed the dusky-skinned shinobi's words, as they continued with their cogent arguments for their positions. She shot him an apologetic look before wandering off to continue looking through his cupboards with the simple curiosity of someone naturally nosy. He was stuck there, as so many decisions were made around him.
He was a man; he could put his foot down, couldn't he? "Does it really matter where the couch is in my house? As long as it can see the television, I'm happy."
Both of the girls stopped whatever they were saying and turned to him. It was almost eerie how in unison both of them did it, something he'd attribute to Sworn Brotherhood more than anything else. Or maybe girls were just like that. They were just mystical like this.
Almost coming to some point made through silent woman-to-woman telepathy, they shared a glance whose meaning almost entirely escaped him. Then, they both turned to face each other and continued their conversation, as if he hadn't said anything at all. Apparently, his opinion on furniture placement going as far as "where can I see the television" was not welcome.
"You basically would live like the guys on r/malelivingspaces if you had the chance," his companion spoke in his head. "You know, the guy with a room with a recliner and a television."
Honestly, that didn't sound that bad.
A sigh escaped his sword spirit. "You're such a dude."
He was a dude, in fact, and he'd like to stop getting the third degree from every woman in his life, goddamnit! Tobio was saved from his internal lamenting from another voice coming from outside, where Hibachi was inspecting his backyard.
"You think about growing some camelias out here?"
"I hadn't, until you said something," Tobio admitted, conceding defeat in his living room as he stepped out to glance at the spot where Hibachi was talking about.
His new house was a nice one. It had two bedrooms, one bathroom with a mixed shower and tub, a small backyard, an actual kitchen that might be the part Tobio was the most excited for, a living room, and a few closets spread out throughout the entire space, along with a modest dining room. Altogether, it wasn't going to break his bank account either, though he'd need to pick up some missions soon; otherwise, it was going to dent into his account.
Fū followed after, having given up any interaction or hope of interfering with the debate going on inside. "Flowers would be lovely. Do you grow flowers, Tobio? I've always thought it was something tough to do."
"...Well, I didn't before, but I guess I'm stuck with it now," he sighed, adding the work to his backlog. He really needed to learn the shadow clone jutsu as soon as possible.
She laughed, rubbing the back of her head gently. "Don't feel obligated to take up gardening on my account," Fū reassured him. "But I'll always be happy to come by and see them when I'm here for my lessons."
"You get lessons from this guy?' Hibachi asked, a smirk on his face. "What's he teaching you? How to have a hard head? How to fight like a maniac?"
"Oh, well, mostly it's a lot of physical training," she explained. "He said I'm something like a, 'glass cannon'?"
"Yeah, Tobio says weird stuff like that sometimes," the hat-clad boy waved off. "I'd just ignore him when he gets like that."
"I'm literally right here," Tobio sighed, feeling a bone-deep weariness coming over his features.
He was saved from the inclination toward further violence toward his friends, though, by the arrival of the last guest for his little housewarming and move-in team. Team Eleven's sensei entered the home holding a plant, a cactus. Which was either a nod to the Konoha Crush or because he thought Tobio might be too lazy to care for a plant.
Which wasn't an unfair position to take, granted. But still.
"Hey, hey, there people," Tekuno greeted, smiling at the various kids. "I thought you guys would be more moved in by now."
"We're trying to figure out where to place this couch," Karin stated, gesturing at the furniture in question.
Tekuno's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "Does it matter as long as you can see the television?"
Ami could do nothing but give him the most withering stare in her arsenal. "This is why you're still single, sensei."
No words ever spoken had done as much damage to the man as in that moment, as he staggered back. "Guh! Stabbed through the heart by my own student…"
Setting down the cactus on a nearly window ledge, he glanced over at Tobio, who was peeking his head in from the backyard. "Ah! There's the independent boy!"
"I'm independent too!" Hibachi yelled back as he entered in alongside the others.
"Not while you and Ami live with your parents, you're not."
Neither he nor Ami could argue that point, so they did what they did best and sulked. Tobio could only flash the man a grin. "You're my hero, sensei. Did you know that?"
"Shucks, you're gonna make an old man blush. Now, give me a tour of this place, will ya?"
The rest of the time spent in the company of his friends was a lot less tiresome. Everyone had their own things to say about it and thoughts as to where certain items should be placed into cupboards or shelves. But at a certain point Tobio had put his foot down. He'd be the one living here, and realistically, he'd be the only one who'd have to answer for his choices.
Really, how often could they possibly be in his apartment?
Eventually, there weren't any other excuses for them to actually stick around, so they all began to make their goodbyes one by one. Little gifts had been left in their wake, like Tekuno's cactus.
Hibachi left a packet of seeds and some old, weathered gardening tools, along with express instructions on how to grow them. Ami had stowed away seasonings and other little sauces, while Karin had filled up an entire cabinet with instant ramen. Fū, sweet, goofy Fū, left a bunch of kitschy candles that someone undoubtedly had sold her on, but the thought was appreciated.
Almost the moment everyone was gone from his new home, he ambled over to the couch and slumped against it. Much like a cat could turn into liquid with the right relaxation and angle, he did much the same, bonelessly limp as he stared up at the ceiling. Everyone was gone, and most of his things were tucked away.
Whatever social batteries that he had, though, had been mercilessly drained by having so many different people come over. He'd rest his eyes for a little bit and then go take a nap. Or at least that was the plan, as in a few minutes, Tobio was asleep, passed out like a light from the mental exhaustion of the day.
There were some things that a guy just couldn't run from forever. Taxes was one thing, as Konoha took out a modest chunk of every check he ever received. Death was another, as everyone died eventually, and while Tobio suspected his new lifespan after all of the biological upgrades would be long, he'd die eventually.
Maybe.
It depended on how long Oni could realistically last. Did he even qualify as one of them now, or was it mostly just a massive infusion as a Mixed-Blood to bring him on par with other exemplars? He was getting off track, mostly because he didn't wish to deal with the massive pile of paperwork and forms in front of him.
"You're drifting again," Tekuno-Sensei's voice spoke from beside him, already neatly working away at his own section of this paperwork. Well, technically all of it was Tobio's, but his sensei was just being polite to help him finally finish what he probably should have done ages ago.
In Tobio's defense, it was fucking agonizing.
"This is the dryest stuff imaginable," he lamented, putting down his signature once again. "Why do they make it so hard to make a clan?"
"Because the existing ones normally like the status quo how it is," Tekuno bluntly stated. "Well, the existing noble clans outside of Konoha, run by the daimyo. They're not exactly keen on upstarts upsetting their positions, and that trickles down to the Hokage, as they're given the sanction to operate by the Fire Daimyo."
"I'm surprised they have that much power," Tobio admitted.
"That's because you've never seen masses of fully trained samurai, specifically operating to counter ninja," his teacher mentioned. "Not that a thing like that is very common, nor would it be required much of the time. Most Hidden Villages simply could never be bothered to try and deal with the trouble that comes from having to run a nation on top of running a village."
It was a compounding series of logistical and bureaucratic problems, as Tobio understood it. Also, while S-Rank and A-Rank shinobi could probably clear out armies of normal soldiers in a very short amount of time, they did have limits. For one thing, the nobility were rich and probably wouldn't hesitate to hire other shinobi from elsewhere to solve rogue ninja that tried to do it.
Another element that Tobio suspected came into play was that while most ninja could do superhuman abilities, they were limited by the resource scarcity of chakra. It could take days to refill to your maximum for some people, during which you had access to few of the drastically overpowered abilities that let you take on large amounts of people. After which point you were just a normal, vulnerable guy who could be stuck full of arrows or spears.
Lastly… ruling the world was kind of goddamn boring. There were certainly reasons to do it, but none of those situations applied to the Elemental Nations. And if he did find something he didn't like as he got older, he'd be strong enough to bully the world into bending to his whims so he could get back to living a peaceful life.
"Have you thought about a clan name yet?" Tekuno asked from beside him.
"Can't I just say Kanden?"
"No," Tekuno spoke firmly, despite the fact that his emotions betrayed how flattered and pleased he was at the offer. "This is your clan, and it'll be the name on the paperwork."
"For better or worse."
"For better, I think," the older man smiled. "Knowing you, you'll raise whatever little terrors a poor girl ends up giving you to be just as loyal and forthright. Also as absolute nightmares in a fight."
It was the thought of leaving a legacy that might have scared Tobio the most. Forgetting about all of the other insanity that was part and parcel of running a clan, like the influence or the decisions he'd have to make. Just having a family again, one that was related to him by blood, made his head go to complicated places.
"You've got this wise mentor thing down pat," Tobio sighed. "Makes it hard to have emotional turmoil when you're always there to say something pithy or pregnant with meaning."
"Comes with the years," Tekuno admitted, making the younger boy laugh. "Did you have any other ideas for what to name the clan?"
"Well, I was thinking about something like... Onikuma."
It'd be something that would be a more obvious joke whenever time passed, and his affiliation with the bear clan became more well-known. Especially if the bears took a liking to his future clan, and it became more of a tradition for future members. Granted, it was dependent on him eventually having children. Something that Tobio was studiously trying not to think about anytime soon.
He was in the spring of his youth! Having notions about squealing babies and having to ensure that his kids didn't grow up into assholes. It was easier to just push all of those complicated problems to his future self. Fuck that guy, benefiting off of his hard work.
"That's not a bad name," Tekuno nodded in agreement. "It's strong."
"I thought so too. I think it's what I'm going for." It was the final thing that needed to be put on a lot of the paperwork, really. Once they wrapped that up, it was mostly a matter of bringing it to the existing authorities to be run through the proper channels.
Specifically Tsunade, who'd be the one to interface with the nobility and daimyo to begin with.
During the month, scheduling some time for the new Hokage was something that was easier said than done. Given she had so much on her plate, they only really managed to pencil in a small block where they could discuss the matter. She didn't look tired, though judging by the way her skin buzzed to his senses, he suspected she was wearing a henge.
"You finally finished your clan paperwork, huh?" She hummed, looking it over with a keen, calculating eye. Once she was sure that everything was in order, though, Tsunade gave him a broad smile. "Then allow me to welcome the Onikuma to Konoha."
There was something to be said about how it felt to finally have a name of his own. Nakamura worked well enough when he was an orphan, but now Tobio was a Tokubetsu Jōnin. He craved a different kind of power and influence, especially if it meant he could curtail the practices of the village that he didn't like.
"What practically changes now that I'm a fully-fledged Clan?"
"Of one, technically," Tsunade shrugged. "But the same could be said of the Senju, Hatake, and Uchiha, so it isn't if that's a barrier to entry these days. For one thing, you get a sweeping amount of privileges but also expectations."
Tapping the table, her nails drummed along the wooden surface as she perched her head on her chin. "First off, fairly sweeping military obligations to Konoha's defense. Most of that is something that falls onto you, if we're being honest, though it'll spread along the shoulders of future generations of Onikuma. Though it's important to note that if you have other strategic benefits to bring to the village, that military service can come in different forms than frontline combat."
So Restoring Legends could see his prospective rugrats grow up to do all sorts of other tasks if the village deemed their crafting abilities valuable enough. While Tobio did love fighting, he wasn't such a fool to fail to see that other people might not hold the same regard he did for combat. Nor did he think every descendant of his would become a shinobi.
"Anything else of note?"
"Retainer clans and businesses," she continued. "Which are basically sub-clans that are technically dependents or not always fully-fledged organizations in and of themselves."
Another reminder that they technically lived in a feudal society. Naruto just didn't tend to be that open and out about it for much of the manga and anime. The daimyo and nobility did exist, for all that they were seemingly impotent to punch-wizard problems.
"Outside of that? Access to the clan council, which is a function of influencing policy with relative votes. Though, actually having influence to spend would go a long way," Tsunade pointed out.
"It's not lost on me that the actual amount of weight I've got to swing around is minimal," Tobio grunted.
He was flush with cash right now, but not that much compared to some Clans that had been scrimping and saving for decades longer, if not literal centuries. Most of it was from the Crush and the generous boosts that he'd been getting for his actions during it. That didn't mean it was a regular flow of income that could actually supplement most of his moves, like being a patron to businesses or stuff like that.
As far as clans went, only the Uzumaki were more broke at the moment.
"Other than that? A few odds and ends that you'll likely figure out or discover as time goes on," the blonde woman assured him. "If there's nothing else for me, though, I have to get back to work."
Tsunade cast a singularly disdainful look down at the papers in front of her, working her jaw back and forth. "It never ends…"
Yeah, he wasn't too covetous of being Hokage. It sounded like a lot of work just to have your face carved on the mountain, when all Tobio wanted to do was screw around with his friends and fight people. Naruto was welcome to the ambition.
"We won't take up anymore of your time," Tekuno assured her, as they both nodded her way and left the room.
Ultimately, this mountain of formality was more or less finished with. Now came to actually getting back to the much more exciting and substantive training that he had in store for himself for the rest of this month. First thing on the docket? Actually getting his hands on some tools to get started forging.
Author's Notes
It's good to have Comeback Kid back. I love All-Star Otsutsuki, and appreciate the success it has reached. But there's just something special about Comeback Kid, and I think a lot of people feel that way too, considering we're almost at 8k watchers on QQ. Still insane to think about that this little quest of mine has turned into such a bumper goddamn fic. Anyway, tell me what you liked and what you didn't, and if you haven't read my other stuff, do check out the new fic linked in my profile!