[Third Person POV]
As Hajime was transported back, he felt the area around him shift from a jungle to a hotel room.
Feeling further, he could sense Tsubaki and Akeno were still in their rooms, in the same position as when he left.
Quickly checking his inventory to see if anything had happened, Hajime brought out the samples of magic beasts from Kinkow to see if there were any changes.
When they were exposed to the air, there were no physical changes, but Hajime could sense that they were passively absorbing the ambient mana of the world.
There was a good chance that these samples, as well as all biological and magical items from the Pair of Kings world, would face similar situations.
Hajime also had the question of whether the reverse would happen, but since he didn't feel any changes himself, he dismissed the possibility. Sure, maybe his powers made it impossible for him to be affected, but he still should have felt some changes if it were possible.
The likeliest reason for this happening was simply that everything from that world gained magic because of ambient mana, so he, who wasn't reliant on that, remained unaffected.
Still, it was only a hypothesis, so he'd need to test that before letting others cross between worlds when he eventually connected them.
There were numerous preparations he'd have to make for such an event, including measures to prevent the spread of disease; otherwise, he might cause an epidemic.
Now that Hajime was back, he felt it was time to start developing his organization. Though it's currently only him, the girls, and their familiars, he was confident in his strength and abilities to fight most threats to them, the amount of which should be at or near zero.
He already had a few ideas for what to do.
The first idea was selling seals.
Jiraiya was one of the best non-Uzumaki seal masters, and he was familiar with numerous useful seals, such as the storage and explosion seals. Though he'd need to make sure those without chakra could use them, it'd be a good way to make money in a way that only he could.
Plus, there was an unknown number of things that fuinjutsu could do, so if he developed a few new seals, he would have a monopoly on a highly useful and expendable product.
He was also able to become the sole provider of several magical creatures. It might not sound impressive, but it was similar to how only devils had access to agreasite, the crystal from which their evil pieces were made.
Despite the value of using it for more evil pieces, occasionally, the devils would sell chunks of agreasite to other factions, with prices for even a small chunk reaching several billions. If he made something valuable with these extradimensional resources, they'd have no choice but to buy from him.
Most of these purchases were from other factions that sought to create their versions of evil pieces, although no one ever reached the same level of intellect as Ajuka's.
Speaking of intellect, David Shield also had access to what would be considered futuristic technology.
While the technology most people used didn't change much, part of that was intentional, as it made the story more relatable. However, the technology that governments had access to was much more advanced, and he helped build some of that tech.
Aside from that, there was also his work making the quirk amplifier to help All Might retain his strength after the fight with All for One. If that technology could be developed here to amplify magic, he would be one of the most dangerous people in the world.
Speaking of dangerous, Hajime was very close to becoming even more powerful.
The time he spent training others through his shadow clones, as well as just general practice, had pushed his template assimilation to 80% for Jiraiya and 19% for Mother Carmel.
Seeing that, he was confident that one good fight would allow him to assimilate another character.
That led to another thought he'd been having recently, which was a visit to Kyoto.
It had been almost half a year since he had left to pursue his goals. Now, he was an ultimate-class fighter, with, at most, high-class combat experience. While it was risky to fight most ultimate-class fighters, he knew someone much stronger who wouldn't kill him.
Besides, now that he had chakra, he wanted to see if he could share some techniques with the only people he called family.
Specifically, he wanted to see if he could share shadow clones with Yasaka.
After all, the clones would have a portion of her full strength and weren't connected to the ley lines.
If she could learn it, she'd be able to leave Kyoto without disconnecting from the ley lines or leaving the city unprotected. Plus, she'd be capable of dealing with the biggest threat all faction leaders face—paperwork, something he planned to avoid at all costs.
After determining his plans for the next few weeks, Hajime left his room to talk to the girls.
Hearing they'd be visiting Urakyoto was as concerning as it was interesting, as their families were against yokai. However, considering the treatment their families gave them, the two girls were much more willing to visit, if only to spite their relatives, than Hajime assumed they'd be.
When they finished talking, they agreed they'd head for Kyoto tomorrow morning.
-----
The day quickly passed, with the trio grabbing food from a nearby restaurant before turning in.
When the sun rose, the three could be found standing at the train station, ready to hop onto the first available train, which was scheduled to arrive in a few minutes.
Hajime was excited to see Yasaka and Kunou after such a long time.
Rolling his gacha while he waited, he was shocked to see today's reward.
{ Monet }
{ A subordinate of the warlord Doflamingo, she was killed by Caesar, thinking he was killing Smoker. }
She was his third One Piece character, but more shocking was that he had already gotten Doflamingo from the gacha.
While assimilating both would be useful, he thought about summoning Monet instead.
If he assimilated Doflamingo, he'd basically be the 'Young Master' that she served up until her death. Though not guaranteed, she'd likely want to serve him if she learned that, either that or she'd want to kill him for possibly 'killing' the original.
Either way, he could deal with the situation.
The train arrived quickly, while the trio boarded. While they waited, Hajime told them about his 'vacation' to Kinkow.
They were plenty aware of his abilities, but hearing he could cross the dimensional gap was shocking. It was commonly believed that only Great Red and Ophis might be able to do that, but they both preferred to sleep in it. So hearing that his abilities casually let him pop through what was like an unbreakable wall, just for vacation, made them rethink everything they knew.
Since it was an American show, they hadn't seen it before, but after hearing about his adventures, the girls grew curious about what it was like.
As crazy as everything he said was, the knowledge of the supernatural changed what 'normal' meant for everyone aware of it.
After all, when you can create a fireball in your hand, your tolerance for 'weird' grows quickly.
Hearing about Kinkow's strange traditions was oddly enjoyable, much like hearing about those isolated tribes in the Amazon. The only difference was that these guys were as modern as they were primitive, creating a strange contrast that could fascinate anyone.
As Hajime talked about Kinkow's history and traditions, which he had memorized from the Great Book, the girls listened raptly.
The Japanese countryside quickly passed outside before the sights of a city started to come into view.
While Tsubaki and Akeno were awed by Japan's cultural capital, Hajime was reminiscing about his time there.
Though he was away for only a few months, he still missed his home.
As the train pulled into the station, the three kids were some of the first people off.
Hajime led the two girls through the familiar streets before arriving at a very familiar house.
He unlocked the door and stepped inside before breaking into a coughing fit. With him not there to clean the place, everything was covered in dust, which was disturbed by his return.
Quickly getting a hold of himself, he summoned some shadow clones to clean the place, while thinking about using his devil fruit powers to pull a Disney and get some living cleaning supplies.
For now, though, Hajime was more focused on making the house livable than going full mouse.
While Hajime's clones moved through the house, cleaning an entire room in minutes, the original led his friends to the living room to wait, while sending out another clone for some food.
Minutes later, there was a knock at the door.
Sending a clone to open it, having a feeling he knew who it was, he was slightly surprised when the clone was dispelled seconds later, getting the memory of a small, fluffy, yellow torpedo slamming into him.
Standing up from the couch, where he had been talking with Akeno and Tsubaki, he moved to the front door to greet his guests.
"What the heck, Hajime! Why'd you disappear?!" The fluffy torpedo, known as Kunou, cried.
"That was a clone, Kunou. It's fragile. It can't handle someone slamming their full body into it," Hajime explained.
"Clone?"
"Like in Naruto," he said succinctly.
The fox girl's eyes sparkled, hearing about one of her favorite shows.
"You said you'd teach me to be a ninja when you returned! You'd better teach me how you did that!"
"I'll try, but that depends on whether it's possible or not."
"What do you mean?"
"Kunou, dear, how about welcoming him back first?" The blonde kitsune's mother spoke.
"Hi, Aunt Yasaka. I'm back," Hajime said somewhat awkwardly.
He was aware of how hasty his departure was, but given the tight timing of his meeting with both his teammates, it wasn't something he was too hung up on. Still, he did feel bad about leaving them so suddenly.
Yasaka merely took a step forward and embraced him.
"Welcome back, Hajime."
-----
Sitting in the living room, Hajime had already introduced Yasaka and Kunou to his teammates and told them about what he'd been doing over the last few months.
Even though he'd kept in touch over the phone, it was different from talking in person, plus his two-week trip to Kinkow wasn't something he'd told them yet.
Kunou's reactions were amusing, with her animated expressions and occasional mimicry of anime expressions.
He also told the two kitsune about his powers.
Both his teammates were already aware of them, so telling his family was nothing in comparison; plus, Yasaka already knew some of his abilities, but he didn't remember telling Kunou.
Needless to say, Kunou was over the moon when she learned that the clone from earlier was a shadow clone, and she clung to him, refusing to let go until he promised to teach her.
Sadly, he wasn't sure how possible teaching her would be since, while they both had chakra, his was specific to Naruto's world, so he could only promise to teach her what he could.
"As glad as I am to see you again, Hajime, I'm curious why you decided to come back now, especially so secretly."
"Well, I came back secretly to surprise you. But you're right, I came back to ask you for a few things."
"That shouldn't be a problem, depending on what it is you're asking for."
"Well, first, I want to fight you. A fight with you should push me to the limit and help me assimilate Jiraiya."
"That's easy enough. It's been a while since I've had the chance to stretch my legs. What else?"
"I want some isolated land where I can set up my organization, and if possible, a seed to try growing spirit fruits."
Yasaka sat in silence for a bit, deep in thought, before she spoke again.
"I have some ideas for land I can give you. It's a small island off the west coast; there shouldn't be any large mage or yokai clans there. While there's a minor leyline connected to it, it's been blocked for centuries after a fight between some gods, and with the leyline blocked, there are no magical resources on the island.
As long as you don't care about that, it should be perfect. There might be some rogue supernaturals on it, but none should pose a real threat. If they've chosen to hide there, they likely aren't confident enough that they'll win against any bounty hunters.
As for the spirit fruits, I'm sorry, but I cannot provide you with any seeds. Other factions have tried to sneak seeds from the spirit trees, but giving them to you would be too risky."
Hajime sighed, understanding her position.
The yokai only had spirit fruits going for them, and their value was already below what it should be. If anyone else could produce them, the price might drop even further.
Seeing him accept her answer, Yasaka nodded, then spoke again.
"Now, Hajime, how about you tell me more about Kinkow? I must admit, they have the most unusual culture I've ever heard of over the centuries."
"Alright," Hajime answered, relieved to be back home.
__________
Author's Note:
Thanks for reading; I'll see you next time!