Chương 52

Few days later New York.

"Leaving so soon?" Tony asked while he looked at the distance in the ranch, watching Naruto and Sasuke having taijutsu fight. Without any shuriken and ninja techniques, just pure taijutsu. Rei had been doing that quite a lot and asked Kakashi for his insights. Both Sasuke and Naruto found it amusing and thus followed this special trend that Rei had started. Since they had a lot of time, they could practice a simple thing again and again, until it was perfect.

"Yeah. Our mission in our place is over. So it's time we head back to the village." Kakashi said. The bridge was finally built and though unlike the canon, the bridge wasn't named Naruto bridge and rather Hope Bridge, it still didn't affect the outcome. Even the kid, who hated heroes, seemed to understand that being heroes was a responsibility, and not a death sentence like he though it was.

"Even after everything I've seen, I still can't fully process the idea that kids here are expected to handle jobs that should be dumped squarely on grown adults. Back home we give teenagers homework and bad cafeteria food—not assassination contracts and military-grade trauma." Tony said.

"That's just how the world works." Kakashi got to see a different world, a different perspective and though he could never speak of this to anyone else, he got to see a world where wars and death weren't that common as his world. Where education was one of the most important aspects of life. And right now he was glad that he had got to stay at this place and continue to visit this place in the future too. Meanwhile Rei came from inside the barn after tending to the horses there.

"Tony, Allied Universal now own 8% of your Stark Industries."

"I was wrong. Child soldiers are more believable than you talking about stocks and commerce." Tony declared.

"I read the reports. How did you even do that?"

"I shorted your company before and then invested all the money profited and more on your company to buy the stocks once it reached the all time low." Rei admitted. Tony should have been angry for shorting his stocks, but he also invested more money on his company. That showed that Rei believed Tony would bounce back. And having Rei sitting as one of the shareholders meant Tony had more leverage than just the 51% of the company.

JARVIS had told him about the investments Allied Universal had done, and it showed how far Rei saw. He was investing in the future.

"You've got a surprisingly unhealthy amount of faith in me to actually reinvest the profits instead of buying something wildly irresponsible and at least partially airborne." Tony couldn't help but smirk. He really believed that Rei was some kind of genius and thus he would talk at almost the same level. Well, almost.

"We will see. Besides have you found the replacement to that?" Rei asked pointing to his arc reactor.

"Why would I replace it? This makes me who I am." Tony said. But somehow his words sounded a bit hollow to both Kakashi and Rei. Rei rolled his eyes and said.

"Tony, I am medical ninja taught by my own mother from the age of 5. I know a sick person when I see one. That thing is killing you." Rei said. This made the smirk on Tony's face vanish.

"You knew?" Tony asked, his voice quivering a slight bit.

"I always knew." Rei said as a matter of fact. Tony was silent for a second and then just said.

"If I can't find a solution myself, I will ask for you." Tony said. Rei nodded. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"So Haku is on a free spree in the city. I am hearing a lot of reports of Harlem deaths. Drug dealers, kidnappers, sex traffickers.. I got to say that Demon is really a full fledged demon." Tony said thinking about Haku. Since the moment, Fury had shown up, Tony had made it a point to legitimize the adoption of Haku either under Pepper or himself. For him, it was seeming a bit unlikely as he was now labeled as heroes, and these adoption agencies and institutes were very aversive to the word heroes.

But Pepper was there and she was fast forwarding the whole process. He didn't like the home invasion at all. And he would make sure that these grownups don't fuck up the life of Haku again. He has had enough of a rough childhood to even be under government scrutiny. Though Haku had admitted to that pirate that he was the one with "ice powers", it didn't mean those people could dangle that in front of him and take advantage.

Haku too had made it clear that day he was here as a bodyguard for Tony and that was the only thing he needed to care about. So in order to free Haku's mind a bit, he also brought Haku too to meet his mentor. Apparently Rei had sent Zabuza to clean the filth of New York city and that was what he had been doing recently, and thus came the whole news about deaths of lowly humans. Rei had ordered him to only kill when one deserved it, and the rest could be thrown to jail after a good beating.

Though the laws would allow them to get bail, but the bone deep scars would remain and that should be enough for the stragglers to be in line. And thus recently Harlem, and in fact all of New York City, were witnessing deaths of some of the horrible criminals that had been roaming freely, and in just one month the crimes had started to go down. And the horrible news was that the Police and the mayor didn't know whom to thank.

The demon did his job in such a stealthy way that even the cameras couldn't catch a glimpse of the person/ people who did it. Most of the times they would just see a flicker and then watch criminals get maimed, from the camera footage. Those who got the beating could only describe a blur moving very fast. Thus soon, the criminals and the bad had a name for him. The Demon of Harlem. Daredvil would probably crying on the corner in the future!

And thus after spending almost more than a month in another universe, Team 7 finally returned back to Konoha. The transition itself always felt strange. One moment there were cars, skyscrapers, internet and at times Tony Stark making terrible jokes. And the next? Forests and bad roads. Though they had been visiting the Land of Waves often, all of them loved spending time in New York. Even Naruto went unusually quiet for a while during the walk back toward the village gates.

Though obviously that lasted only around seven minutes before he started yelling again. Kakashi meanwhile quietly looked toward the gates of Konoha as they finally entered. Home. And yet somehow... after seeing another world, things felt different now. The same village had now started looking smaller in his eyes. Soon afterward Kakashi separated from the team and headed directly toward the Hokage Tower for the mission report.

Inside the office, Hiruzen quietly listened while smoking his pipe as Kakashi gave the detailed summary. Zabuza... Haku. Kakashi had reported that they had escaped from their makeshift prison after they were been beaten down. Nobody saw them after. For the first time Kakashi had to lie in mission reports to such an absurd degree. But this was for the better.

"... Sasuke awakened the two tomoe properly during the mission." Kakashi explained calmly.

"Naruto showed excellent adaptability under pressure and Sakura improved her chakra control significantly." Hiruzen nodded slowly afterward. Honestly, hearing that Team 7 progressed this much during their first real mission pleased him greatly. Especially Naruto. The boy finally experienced the reality of the shinobi world properly now. Still, Hiruzen eventually noticed something slightly different about Kakashi too. The man looked... lighter somehow.

And thus just before Kakashi left the office, Hiruzen finally asked quietly:"... And Rei?" Kakashi paused briefly near the doorway afterward. For a moment he just stood there silently while thinking about everything he had seen during the last month. Another world. Technology beyond imagination. A society where children weren't raised as soldiers. The vastness beyond universes. And the strange boy standing somehow between both worlds while carrying burdens far larger than anyone realized.

Eventually Kakashi spoke softly.

"... Rei is probably the most magical of them all." Kakashi gave a faint smile afterward beneath the mask.

"That kid opened my eyes to things I never imagined could even exist." And with that, the Copy Ninja finally left the office. Meanwhile Hiruzen remained seated silently while smoke slowly rose upward from his pipe. A small smile eventually appeared on the old Hokage's face. In his mind... he believed he understood what Kakashi meant. Rei probably helped fill some of the emptiness Kakashi carried for years after losing so many people. After all, Kakashi had seen nothing but tragedy and war for most of his life.