Chapter 4:woodland area

Now here he was sitting about in some woodland area alone, his memories before that particular instance being a little foggy, something that caused him more than a little concern.

He needed to come up with a plan of action, he may be dead, but he was still the same person he was before that. First he needed food, then he needed to find some proper attire.

There was far too little orange in this kimono for his liking, and a haori like the one the toads made for him would be nice too.

How he was going to get all of this he had no idea, but he would find a way. He was a Shinobi after all.

Six Months Later; Rukongai, Hokutan District

Six months had seen Naruto employing all the tools of his former trade that he was able to. Since chakra was now beyond his reach as a spirit, he'd had to meditate for several long days before finally coming into contact with another energy source, an energy source that felt familiar yet completely different.

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When out amongst the town-folk, he'd heard it referred to as Reiryoku, and he'd immediately set about attempting to harness this energy. It had taken him several weeks before he'd managed to actually access this power and then train a sufficient level of control over what he'd learned to classify as an immense amount of this particular energy.

Over the past six months he'd learned to reduce his reiatsu, or the ambient Reiryoku that flowed from a pair of 'vents' on his wrists, to the point that he was nearly undetectable, as was the way of the Shinobi to strike unseen. He'd used this ability along with others to—ahem—acquire what he would need to survive, before he'd decided to build himself a house outside the village.

That forest clearing sounded like a good place.

And so, there went a good four months of his time in Hokutan, without the use of Kage Bunshin it had taken much longer than it normally would have, but he'd increased his muscle definition a great deal, thinking of it as training. He'd built himself a traditional-style manor house reminiscent of one he'd seen during his genin days that he'd taken a liking to.

It was a single floor surrounded by high walls with a large yard for training, the main building was a good sixty meters long and thirty meters wide, containing several bedrooms and a small kitchen with a large sitting room dominating most of the interior. The sitting room opened out into the yard, with a long deck framing that entire side of the house beneath the roof awning.

All in all, he was pleased with his work.

The next order of business had been learning how to use seals with this new energy as it was a skill he was reluctant to part with given it's usefulness. Which wasn't as difficult as he'd thought it would be.

He'd simply needed to remove some kanji here, and add some kanji there, and the seals worked like they would when he was alive. Of course, he'd had a few close calls when he was trying to get the revised formula's right, but he wasn't a Level Ten Seals Master for nothing.

As soon as he'd been sure of the results, he'd set about covering his body in seals for various purposes, from storage seals, to seals that were designed to absorb the reiatsu he couldn't safely suppress; this made him virtually impossible to detect unless you were looking right at him.

After five months, his new home was finished, the walls ringing what could be considered a small compound were lined with seals of varying effects. It was a veritable fortress, just how he wanted it.

While inside the home, his energy and the energy of anyone inside would be completely undetectable, and the walls themselves would repel anyone who got too close that wasn't keyed into the master seal located inside the house. So unless he let them in, they wouldn't be getting inside no matter how powerful they were or how hard they tried.

He'd been unable to find any orange clothing, which shocked him a great deal, but he had managed to get himself a haori much like the one he'd worn when he was alive. He'd had it specially made by a tailor in the district, and frankly it was the finest piece of clothing he'd ever worn.

It was identical to his sage cloak, crimson red with black flames lining the hem, which he wore open over a simple black hakama and mesh undershirt.

He'd had to fashion the mesh shirt himself, since no one seemed to know what he was talking about when he'd asked about them.

It wasn't orange, but it would suffice.

His hair had grown to shoulder length, and he'd decided not to cut it as his hair style was now more reminiscent of his fathers, just not quite as long. His bangs fell to frame his face, while what remained was pulled back and tied behind his head in a blaze styled tail.

His whiskers, which had defined him in his life had slowly faded until they no longer adorned his cheeks, something he'd attributed to the absence of his long time friend and partner; and his eyes had started getting even narrower than they'd been at the time of his death.

He was eighteen now after all and he finally looked his age; or at least he would have been had he still been alive. He didn't know how they defined a persons age in the after life, but he'd decided to draw up a calendar and count the days as they went by, starting from the day he'd died which had been the Thirteenth of September.

It was now February the Fifteenth, almost six months exactly since he'd arrived in Hokutan, and he'd become known as the Hermit Sage by the people of the village. It was amusing actually, at least it was in the beginning; now he just wanted them to stop calling him Sage-sama whenever he dropped by to see how things were going with the few people he knew in the district.

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