The Protagonist System

312 Uzumaki Construction

The next day, I wasn't surprised to see the Bear ANBU was waiting near the rundown apartment building. If I had to guess, they were waiting there to see if I actually showed up, since none of them would have seen me leaving the orphanage last night. I was tempted to laugh and point at him as Tsuru and I strolled by and she vocally warned me to never go near that part of town.

Surprisingly, a lot of the people on the streets there, nodded in agreement. That was no place for a child, whether they were a ninja student or not. Although, both Tsuru and I received more than our share of interested looks from the majority of the prostitutes, both male and female. Our honey-blonde wavy hair made us quite attractive and no one questioned if she was really my mother.

We moved on and went to the food market. We had some groceries to buy and we were going to spend the afternoon cooking and enjoying each other's company. On the way back to the Senju Compound, we also stopped to price some of the construction materials I pretended I needed. They were a little expensive, probably because they had to source the lumber from outside the village walls.

Since I was going to use the house that was a ramen stand as proof that I could do it in a short amount of time, I wasn't going to charge them anything. I was also not going to overdo things, even if I was going to cheat. It was okay to add a bit more space without making it cavernous, which would be really hard to hide that the inside was much larger than the outside. Being subtle was the key.

I also had to decide if I was going to do it while in disguise, which wasn't much of a decision, was it? If I started offering construction work as Naruto, the object of their hatred, no one would hire me. If I was just a civilian's son and knew what I was doing, they would assume I had been an apprentice and learned the trade, giving them a huge discount because I was only a student.

Tsuru agreed with me as we chopped vegetables and added them to the large stew pot. I had to work both openly and in secret, or the ploy wouldn't work. Once I had worked enough and gained a reputation, I would be allowed to go anywhere I wanted, whether it was a civilian or a ninja building, since all of them needed work and I could use the excuse that I was surveying them.

It was a sneaky way to gain access to everything and it should work, since a few places really did need someone to go in and fix them up and make them better. I would have to arrange a few fake supply contracts to cover that I didn't really need them, just so no one would ask why I could do the renovations so cheaply.

If they did, they would assume the small amount I bought was for their project and not for all of them, because thy would assume I was only buying for them. It was perfect and I would start working the next day.

Since Teuchi and Ayame didn't want to shut the stand down and lose money, I would close off their access to everything except the downstairs bathroom. I would also discuss what I was going to do after I surveyed the place and asked them what they wanted done if price was no object, that way I could wow them without shocking them.

*

Teuchi was a little nervous about allowing work to be done on the home he had shared with his wife for so many years, until he saw the professional plans his favorite customer had shown him. He wasn't sure how he was gong to pull it off without destroying the upstairs; but, since it wasn't going to cost him anything but providing food for the day, he was willing to let the boy try.

Ayame was much more enthusiastic about it and asked for everything but the moon to be put into her room and made both him and Naruto laugh. The disguised boy said he could probably squeeze in an attached bathroom if he claimed the hallway between the two bedrooms, adding about ten feet or so with the joining walls removed and a screen installed instead.

“We'll lose access to the small balcony there.” Teuchi said and then shrugged. “Eh, we never use it anyway and it's too small to do anything with it.”

“Well, if I take the external door from there, I can extend the balcony out about five feet and then I can bring it over to the master bedroom and replace the window there for the door.” Naruto said and sketched out the addition. “Without the door breaking up that side of the house, you can fit a table and chairs out there, easy.”

“Huh, I guess you could.” Teuchi said and tapped his chin with his finger. “I also have way more closet space than I really need. If you removed about half of that and part of the hallway on the other side, it might be enough for another room.”

Ayame started to nod and stopped. “What about mom's shrine?”

Teuchi caught his breath and nodded. “You're right. We can't do that.”

Naruto looked at the changes and smiled. “I can make the new room a proper space for her.”

Both Teuchi and Ayame sucked in sharp breaths. “We can put all of her things inside and not have to store it all away!”

Naruto smiled and they quickly worked out the best plans for the upstairs, so they were happy with the layout, then they worked on the downstairs that could be handled when they shut down the stand for half a day on Sunday night to clean the place from top to bottom.

With the plans done, Naruto left to arrange for the supplies he would need and would start the next day. He promised to not take too long with the deconstruction, since he knew they still needed a place to sleep at night. Both Ayame and Teuchi said they would use a futon in the living room and Naruto only argued a little before he agreed and told them he would be done by the weekend.

They were surprised to hear that, since there would be extensive renovations to be done and barely a week to do them? That was unheard of.

Naruto helped them set up a place for them to sleep and moved their things and he even put up a partition to give them privacy, which they appreciated, and they would start living there from the next day onward for a week.

Only a few people questioned why there were white sheets hung up to conceal the top level of the house attached to the ramen stand. Teuchi and Ayame were proud to tell them they were the first project being done by Uzumaki Construction as they established themselves.

It was a slightly difficult week for Teuchi and his daughter as they lived in such close quarters. They were used to having more privacy and made it right up until Sunday when they had to shut down in the afternoon to clean the place. When they finally finished and were quite tired, Naruto came out from behind the stairs he had blocked off to keep the dust and dirt from getting out.

“I'm done, just like I promised.” Naruto said and took down the divider. “Come on up and see your new place.”

Ayame smiled at him and gave him a hug. “I think I need to wait until tomorrow for the tour. I'm too tired to enjoy it right now.”

Naruto sighed. “All right, as long as you don't freak out without me here to laugh at you for it.”

Teuchi chuckled. “We promise.” He said and patted the boy's shoulder. “Now get out.”

Naruto laughed and walked out through the back door. Ayame took her father's hand and they went up the stairs that were a little bit wider than they should have been. They didn't notice and reached the top of the stairs, only to gasp at the small foyer that looked like it was from a fancy hotel. Ayame's door had her name on it in fancy lettering and was her favorite color.

“Do you think he really did give me everything I asked for?” Ayame asked, nervously.

“I'm sure he tried.” Teuchi said and gave her a hug. “Goodnight.”

“Night, dad.” Ayame said and walked over to her door. She opened it and the lights came on by themselves. Her mouth dropped open at the sight of her fantasy bedroom before her.

It had everything she had asked for and she had been joking about most of it. There was a large four poster bed, a painted scene of a field of flowers with a life-size unicorn with wings on the far wall, and large throw pillows were everywhere. It was also quite a bit larger than her old room.

“What's that old saying about being careful about getting what you wish for?” Teuchi asked with a laugh and entered his own bedroom. He barely noticed it was the same size as it had been before, even though part of it was supposed to be claimed for his deceased wife's shrine.

He stripped off and climbed into his much larger bed and didn't notice. He also missed there was an attached bathroom and wouldn't find out until the next morning when he wondered what the extra door was for. Luckily, it was practical and not extravagant like Ayame's, which she couldn't shut up about. What the hell was a simulated rain shower anyway?

“At least he didn't squeeze in a hot tub.” Ayame said with a laugh as they started the prep work for a day of ramen sales.

Teuchi pointed to the note taped to the back door and kept working.

“What is that?” Ayame asked and walked over to read it.

“That's his promise to update the kitchen next weekend instead of us having to clean it.” Teuchi said and ignored his daughter shouting about the hot tub being too heavy for the upstairs and was in the backyard. “Yep, definitely have to be careful about what you wish for.”

The only thing neither of them commented on was the very nice room that had been made into an elaborate shrine to Ayame's mother and Teuchi's wife. They had no idea how he had increased the size of her main picture or where he gained all the other pictures that showed off how happy she had been while she was still alive.

“He's a good boy.” Teuchi whispered and started humming his wife's favorite song as he worked. He was very happy about how the renovations turned out and he would tell everyone about it. That was th least he could do for the boy for what he did with the shrine.

*

No one was surprised when Itachi Uchiha resigned from the ANBU special forces. A good portion of the village had heard about how his mother had yelled at him for how he acted, how he had let his strength and abilities go to his head, and he was to never raise his hand against a child ever again, no matter who they were or what they said.

Since Itachi was a full Jonin, he slipped back into the normal hierarchy of the shinobi corps without trouble. He was still quite young for a Jonin, so he was never sent out alone to handle A-Rank missions. It was a little too dangerous with Konoha's enemies targeting their experienced shinobi every time they left the village.

The spy crackdown continued as well and Konoha remained much safer from infiltration than they had been before the Kyuubi's attack. No foreign elements were allowed to enter without proper authorization and proof they were there for what they claimed to be.

As a consequence, Konoha's ninjas were better trained, had longer to become experts, and were not ignorant of the danger when they went outside the village walls on missions. Caution was the game and Konoha's operatives had become very good at it. It wasn't long before they had a near perfect record for completing missions because they were always well prepared.

Sasuke Uchiha was also going through the academy like he was born to it, which he technically was, thanks to his father and mother teaching him everything they thought he could handle. Also, with Itachi staying home more often, his family ties became stronger than ever.

The best part was that his brother Itachi never had one thought that doubted his family's loyalty and he wouldn't go down the path Danzo had tried to set him up on. There would be no slaughter and his best friend Shushi wouldn't sacrifice himself and give Itachi one of his eyes to unlock the Mangekyo Sharingan.

The Uzumaki Construction Company was doing great business and had renovated several homes and businesses as they became more popular. Their results for such a cheap price had even reached the ear of the Fire Country's Daimyo and he commissioned work to be done on his vacation mansion.

Three months later, the mansion had been almost completely transformed into a lavish estate that was worthy of a king. In fact, it looked better than the Daimyo's current residence and he moved into the vacation home after ordering the Uzumaki Construction Company to refurbish where he lived. That took six months and both the Daimyo and his plump wife couldn't have been happier with how it turned out.

Word about the extravagance soon reached the Daimyos of the other countries and discreet visits by ambassadors were arranged and visual proof was returned to them. Jealousy and envy was felt by them all for how both places had turned out and after only so short a time. That had some messengers sent from all over to send inquiries to Konoha about their up-and-coming popular construction business.

This set off an investigation of the business by the Hokage to find out how he could slip in some of his own shinobi, either normal ones or ANBU, to have spies inserted into the many places that the construction company would be doing business.

Hiruzen was shocked to learn it was run by a civilian that lived in the Senju Compound and her only employees were her son, a caretaker that handled the paperwork, and a part-time medic-nin. How had he missed that? The woman had even changed her last name to Uzumaki after moving to Konoha and had lived here for almost eight years by this point and had the business running for two.

After reading the file again, he knew there was no possible way for him to add another worker to the company, not without anyone else knowing there was an addition, and they would need to know construction techniques as well. That severely limited his options on what to do to take advantage of the opportunity this provided for him and the village.

“Snake. I can use the Snake Sannin's old protege.” Hiruzen said and made the right hand signs to his ANBU guards to call for her, Anko of the White Snake, Orochimaru's ex-student.

A few minutes later, an average height woman wearing a trenchcoat, brown skirt, and a chainmail shirt without a bra entered the office. Her medium length black hair was tied into a puffy ponytail at the back of her head, almost making it look like a short squirrel tail.

“You know I have plans to make for the next round of lessons at the academy to prepare the next graduating students for the Chunin exams.” Anko Mitarashi said without saying hello or anything.

Hiruzen nodded. “I wanted to talk to you about that and about an opportunity that's come to my attention.” He said and help up the folder with the information he had received, then he held it out to her.

Anko gave him a flat look, as if asking if he really was gong to give her a mission with how most of their fellow shinobi felt about her being a Special Jonin without actually becoming a Jonin by passing the exams. When he didn't say anything, she mentally shrugged and opened the file. She read the first page and knew what he was going to ask her.

“You know they're going to say no. It's a civilian company.” Anko warned him.

“I need you to convince them.” Hiruzen said and glanced at her shoulder briefly at the cursed seal that her old teacher had given to her. “In any way you can.”

Anko sighed and kept reading, committing the important details to memory, and closed the folder. “Am I tagging along or replacing one of them?”

“That's up to you.” Hiruzen said. “Luckily, their first consultation just so happens to be where the Chunin exams are being held this year.”

Anko tossed the folder onto the desk. “It's at least B-Rank, maybe A.”

“It's B and you'll get a standard A-Rank pay, because of the circumstances.” Hiruzen offered. “Even if you fail at the first part to get in with the construction company, you'll still get paid because you're going to the same destination anyway to do the mission.”

Anko thought about it and nodded, since there was going to be a bit of risk either way. She walked out of the office and missed Hiruzen's smile. She wouldn't know that he was doing it to associate the new company with one of his village's undesirables and they would need to hire some of his other shinobi as guards to travel to their various appointments in other countries.