Chapter 5: reiryoku

Another thing he noticed was the rather large amount of traffic. Shinobi traffic that is.

He'd seen them bounding about, looking for something or someone and his paranoia had almost immediately kicked into overdrive.

He'd made doubly sure to completely hide his reiryoku whenever he left his home at the lakeside, and kept to the shadows whenever he sensed them coming. He was an S-Ranked shinobi, so he wasn't too worried that they would find him even on his worst day, but there was no such thing as being too careful.

Like this particular instance; Naruto peeked out from the shadows of the alley he'd hidden himself in as several men and women dressed in black shinobi gear dashed overhead towards the outer districts, some dropping into the street to question the townsfolk, while others simply kept going on their paths and searching the village below with keen eyes.

Not keen enough though if Naruto had been who they were looking for. He'd never once had to speak with one of them, and he didn't much feel like doing so either.

Death had made him rather wary of his old way of life and anything associated with it. He didn't know how things were run here, though he knew if he really wanted he could find out everything there was to know about this place in a couple of months.

He just didn't have that same drive he did while he was alive; he had no precious people here. At least, he didn't think so.

He was certain at least some of his old friends from the Elemental Nations were out and about some place, but from what he'd already gathered from the townsfolk, Soul Society was immense in scale and it would take him hundreds of years to search it all. So he didn't; he already had a reputation in the small town after all, so if anyone from the Elemental Nations really was here then they would be able to find him soon if word traveled far enough.

Checking to see if the coast was clear and not seeing any of the shinobi from earlier, Naruto quietly slipped out of the alleyway and blended with the crowds so that he didn't appear suspicious to any passersby, before heading over to a particular stall he'd had his eye on for a few weeks now.

Why?

Simple; because they had something there that reminded him of someone that was very dear to him. Walking up to the stall, the elderly man manning the small shop offered him a kindly smile before gesturing to his wares.

Lucky for the both of them, Naruto already knew what he wanted. It was a small ornate wooden pipe with an oaken finish, just like the pipe Old Man Sarutobi used regularly before he'd died.

He picked it up, and dropped a small but heavy pouch of kan into the man's waiting hands, before reaching into his haori where a seal was located and discreetly pulling out a small piece of paper with a single line of kanji. "I'll take the pipe and what's on this paper, old man.

"

The aforementioned 'old man' looked at the paper and nodded, kind smile never once leaving his face, before he turned and pulled a tarp off of the cart he had positioned behind him. He double checked how much Naruto had paid before pulling a rather large bag, almost as long as Naruto was tall and probably weighing about as much off of the cart and dragging it over to Naruto.

To the vendor's relief, Naruto took hold of the sack and slung it over his shoulder without much difficulty. He nodded to the vendor and turned on his heel, feeling anxious to get home due to all the shinobi he'd seen rushing about already.

This wasn't even counting the men and women in the black kimono's he'd seen. They were really active today for some reason, and he was in no hurry to find out why.

About half an hour later Naruto found himself back home, using a minute amount of his reiryoku to unlock the seal on his door before entering and sliding it shut behind him. Moving out to the yard, Naruto made his way to a small shed he'd built for storage and opened the small door.

Lining the sides of the shed, there were a number of bags identical to the one he now carried, all full of pipe tobacco and filling the air inside the shed with a gentle cherry fragrance. Seals on the walls kept the contents fresh and prevented the shredded tobacco leaves from drying out.

At the far back end of the shed stacked up to the ceiling, were over a dozen large barrels of sake. Or they would be sake when it was finished; seals on the barrels were doing most of the work, he'd merely prepared them and then stored them away.

It was the recipe for Myuboukuzan Firebrand Sake that he'd remembered from his time training with the toads, as their favourite summoner they'd given it to him as a sign of eternal friendship and to show their loyalty to him and any children he might have in the future. Alas, Summoning contracts were for the living, and it was impossible for Naruto to summon them again.

He only hoped that his children back in the Elemental Nations, who he had never had the chance to meet before he'd died, would sign the contract like he'd asked so that any questions they might have about their father could be answered by those who knew him best.

Tossing the bag into the shed, Naruto moved to one of the other large sacks and untied the ribbon keeping it closed before taking a smaller bag from within his haori and filling it. He then closed the sack and left the shed, closing the door behind him before making his way back into his home.

He'd had time to gather furnishings for the place this last month, and he could finally feel comfortable calling it home.

Sitting down in a pile of cushions that he'd set to one side of the large sitting room, Naruto pulled out his new pipe and filled it before igniting a small.