Naruto sat and ate with the family, smiling as he talked with them. Azuki's and Harumi's eyes had widened as soon as they saw him walk into the kitchen, but their shock had quickly faded. He was nicer than Azuki had expected as well. He was a hero of the fourth shinobi world war, and the savior of Konoha, yet he was shockingly human.
"So," Naruto said, looking at Raiko, "that thing I wanted to talk to you about."
"Is this about the pillar of light?" Azuki asked, "I didn't do it, I promise!"
"It is actually," Naruto said, looking to Azuki, "we know you didn't do that. Thanks to Hiroto's and Kota's reports, we know that there were also no chakra signatures there."
"No chakra signatures?" Harumi asked, "That's strange to say the least, could it possibly be a natural occurrence?"
"We've already ruled that out."
"You want us to investigate that pillar of light," Raiko said, "is that right?"
"Yeah," Naruto smirked, "you did put in a request for a mission a few days back right?"
"I'm surprised lord sixth hasn't already sent people to take care of this."
"He has, but I feel like you might have better luck than the others."
"We'll do it," Raiko said with a smirk, "on one condition."
"And what's that?"
"You teach Azuki to perfect her Rasenshuriken."
"You do know that's a forbidden jutsu right?"
"I'm aware, but she can already do it, and I'd rather it be safe for her to use. You taught me how to do it years ago, and I could teach her myself, but I'd rather her learn from the master of the Rasengan."
"You're kinda twisting my arm here Raiko." Naruto laughed, "Throw in some ramen and I'll do it."
"Deal." Raiko smiled, "I'm going to gather my team."
—•—
Kira hovered over the house unseen, watching, waiting. She had her plans as to how to coerce Raiko into joining Aicon. She sighed, knowing that her plan was inherently evil, but knew that what she did would be for the greater good, and that Aicon's plan would, in the end, save this world from a demon god.
