The Shopkeeper of Konoha

"Sorry for the intrusion. I didn't mean to offend you," Kakashi said, his arms raised in a sign of surrender.

"No. You came here to see if I am some kind of spy," Yoruichi didn't beat around the bush at all and said what was on Kakashi's mind. He looked embarrassed for being called out like that. This woman didn't really seem to care about his feelings and had no manners at all.

But after all, she was a cat all this time. He had been seeing the cat since the one with the hat came and hovered around always. Even he used to pet her when he used to come to the shop to buy food for Palicko and talk with Aoto about the new manga.

He was also a bit embarrassed thinking about that.

"I am a shinobi from Konoha. Sometimes this behavior comes by nature," Kakashi said.

"And I am not holding your breath for that," Yoruichi said as she stretched herself a little. There was an awkward silence for some time before Kakashi asked.

"You know of Akatsuki?"

"What about it? Damn if I know. Damn if I don't," Yoruichi said.

"Konoha has been looking for them for quite some time," Kakashi said, as the organization had been heard about a lot since Itachi had joined them after massacring his whole clan. Itachi once was under him in the Anbu, and thus he had a soft side for him. In addition, he was the sensei of Sasuke, thus making it his job to know of the potential enemies of his students.

"I don't know much about them as I don't care about politics. But I do have one piece of information," Yoruichi said.

"Will I get the pleasure of hearing about it?" Kakashi asked.

"If you have some kind of death wish, only then go after them," Yoruichi said as she transformed herself back into a black cat. Kakashi was amazed at how easily she transformed into a cat, and it didn't even look like ninjutsu. She was enigmatic as ever.

"You should go and rest. Your body will fail at any moment," Yoruichi said and walked away.

"What the hell are you?" Kakashi murmured as he too left. He was exhausted and could already sense that his overuse of chakra would render him useless soon. When he returned to his temporary living quarters, he saw Yoruichi was already there and was sleeping.

Kakashi could only shake his head and go to sleep. He didn't need to think of the safety of his students. From what he had seen, Yoruichi was more than enough.

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A few days later.

The bridge was finally built, and Kakashi was back on his feet. Thanks to the rest he had gotten after Yoruichi accepted to be his bodyguard, he didn't even bother to come out of his quarters.

"Yosh... We have completed the mission. We can go back," Naruto said.

"Yoruichi-san, after going back, will you continue teaching us your moves?" Sasuke asked the cat that was now sitting over the bag.

"If you behave, I might," Yoruichi replied. Sasuke was all smiles and made it a point to show Naruto.

"What are you so smug about? Urahara-san teaches me too. He is better," Naruto said.

"I doubt it. I have never seen someone as fast and nimble as Yoruichi-san. She took down Jonins in hand-to-hand combat. Does Urahara-san have that kind of record under him?" Sasuke was not someone to back down and said.

"He... He... Hand-to-hand combat isn't the only denominator of power. I am sure Urahara-san is a great swordsman and is a great kenjutsu specialist," Naruto said.

"I am sure Yoruichi-san has other techniques. Isn't that right?" Sasuke asked. Yoruichi seemed to have closed her eyes, and only when called did she open.

"He is better with swords, and I am better at hand-to-hand combat, but it's not as easy as it looks. Everyone needs to pay a price for higher power. Be it personality, relations, health... Nothing comes for free in the world," Yoruichi said, thus giving them a life lesson. This made both of the headbutting idiots shut up. All three of them didn't know what it exactly meant, but Kakashi became silent.

He knew what she meant because he had faced it. His Sharingan came at a price, a price he would rather not ever pay. Naruto didn't argue more and opened the portal to Konoha. They all stepped inside, and thus they were back 20 meters away from Konoha.

Sasuke and the others were still amazed by this 'ninjutsu' and couldn't help but think how easily they could reach places. Naruto was a bit proud of this move as this move was one of the toughest and took the longest to learn.

Naruto was soon back at home. Aoto, looking at him, could already see that Naruto had changed a bit. There was a fire inside his eyes that wasn't there before. After returning, he went to take a shower while Aoto asked Yoruichi what happened.

"Oh, so he got saved by Sasuke?" Aoto was not expecting that as he thought that Naruto's new knowledge would help him, but real-world situations weren't the same as practice. But Aoto wasn't that concerned about it.

It was good that Naruto was growing up by now because this world would demand that from him soon enough.

"So they know about your real body, and Kisame came?" Aoto asked. Yoruichi, while chomping on an apple, nodded her head. Aoto was a bit confused about Kisame, and though he did give the explanation of Zabuza, he felt like Zabuza wasn't powerful enough to warrant the attention of Akatsuki.

Maybe it was because of Haku. Who knows?

Speaking of them, both of them showed up at their doorstep. Thankfully it was inside the shop; otherwise, it would raise the alarm bells of Konoha's sensory squad, and the system shielding helped in it.

Unohana was called, and Zabuza was now currently stable, albeit missing a limb. Both of them were handed to Konoha. Ibiki personally came to take them away.

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