It was hard to believe, standing in his full Asgardian armor, his dad hold Mjolnir high as he walked up proudly to the throne, that he would be there, in this moment.

Naruto never would have guessed in his wildest dreams that he would be declared crown prince and heir to the throne, or that thanks to his actions his father would become King a little early.

As Minato, he had understood the responsibilities of leadership. He knew far too well the cost of war, and had felt the pain of taking lives.

Thor had been raised to take the throne. He did not agree with some of his "human" actions, but he understood why he acted that way.

As Odin once told him as a child, a wise king never sought out war. But he must always be ready for it.

Thor had matured enough that Odin believed his son ready for the responsibilities of being a king. His brief time as Hokage had only insured that the lessons Odin tried to teach Thor as a child stuck.

Kushina was next to Frigga. As Thor's wife, she would have to act as his Queen. And that meant she had to spend less time with their son. She was dolled up appropriately, and Karin had made sure that her cousin was properly ready to be declared Asgard's Queen. Her hair was put up in the traditional (and heavy) style of the Uzumaki clan head. Unlike Frigga, she wore a formal kimono meant for auspicious occasions.

Personally the Uzumaki couldn't wait for the coronation to be over with. The after party had been planned by them personally, which meant it was going to be epic.

Still, they could handle having to stand on ceremony for Thor to be crowned.

Odin slammed his staff onto the ground, causing instant silence. Thor knelt proudly as Odin began the ritual of passing on the throne.

"Thor Odinson, my heir, my firstborn. So long entrusted with the might hammer Mjolnir, forged in the heart of a dying star, it's power has no equal, as a weapon to destroy or as a tool to build. 'Tis a fit companion for a king. I have defended Asgard and the lives of the innocent across the Nine Realms from the time of the great beginning."

Naruto's attention span began to wane, and he could see from where his mother was that she was having trouble listening as well. Fortunately the ceremony was rather brief. He brought himself back to attention.

"Do you swear to guard the Nine Realms?"

"I swear," said Thor.

"Do you swear to preserve the peace?"

"I swear."

"Do you swear to cast aside all selfish ambition and to pledge yourself only to the good of the Realms?"

"I swear!"

"Then, on this day, I, Odin Allfather, proclaim you king. Rise, King of Asgard!" declared Odin loud enough to echo across the room.

Thor stood, and accepted the crown Odin placed upon his head. He walked up to the throne and took his place. Kushina stood stoically (for her) by his side as Frigga placed the other crown upon her head, declaring her Thor's Queen.

"Behold, the new King and Queen of Asgard!" said Odin proudly. The cheering was enormous and could be heard by the common folk on the streets. Soon they were cheering as well, as the news spread across the Nine Realms.

The party was enormous, and Odin was very relieved to see Thor behaving himself. Of course it didn't help that Kushina kept him on a tight leash.

Seeing his grandfather, Naruto had an idea.

"How about you join us in the Elemental Countries? I'm sure there are plenty of sights you could see, and you could make a vacation of it," said Naruto.

"I have been curious as to what could possibly curtail some of Thor's bad habits. And I do want to visit this...Konoha."

"I'll get the camera to capture that old monkey's face when Grandmother gets through with him," said Naruto grinning evilly.

The first and only thought in Sasuke's mind when he saw Naruto's grandfather was...

"Intimidating."

"Yeah, he does kind of have that vibe, but he's held the throne for years and he's in dire need of a vacation. So I told him to come here with grandmother and enjoy himself while my father learns the hard way what it's like to be king," said Naruto, grinning.

Sasuke gave Naruto an odd look.

"Grandfather? Would have expected you to be as informal as you used to be. You used to call that senile monkey 'Jiji', as I recall."

"Have you seen Odin? What the hell makes you think he's loose enough to let me call him gramps to his face? I mean Grandmother might not mind, but Grandfather..."

Sasuke looked at Odin, listening in, and then at Naruto. He could see the blond's point.

"What about your dad?"

"Let's face it, Uncle Loki is more of a father to me at this point than my actual birth father is. And Thor's cool with being considered the 'Uncle' since he knows he wouldn't understand the first thing about being a parent. He's hoping mom will get knocked up again so he can try again," said Naruto shrugging.

"Which knowing your luck will be soon. Personally I can't wait to see my brother's expression when Kushina's pregnancy hormones hit full swing. Some of the stuffier nobles are already finding places to hide now that she's going to be living in Asgard rather than traveling with us," snickered Loki.

"Oh yeah... Minato had some hilarious expressions while mom was pregnant with me. I think he had THE most amusing one on his face when he thought she was going into labor at only eight months, when it was a false labor pain. I haven't laughed that hard in a while," said Naruto, cackling.

"I remember that! He was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off because he thought you were coming, while we were on the floor cackling like idiots because we knew the due date and he didn't! Even Kushina-nee-san was cracking up, in between throwing the kunai at him!" cackled Karin.

"Didn't she say she'd never let him touch her again, because she hated having to waddle around?" snickered Naruto.

"This coming from someone who beat Fandral the Charming at getting a date for the night?" snorted Karin.

"The dumbass can flirt?" said Sasuke incredulous.

"He's a prince, he takes after his dad in looks, and he's got charisma out the ass. Aside from having trouble in stuffy settings, he's insanely popular in Asgard and has no shortage in offers when it comes to sharing his bed. Good thing contraceptive jutsu are considered standard in all shinobi villages, otherwise he would have gotten someone knocked up by now," said Karin.

"Not exactly. Asgardians might be long lived, but the drawbacks are that we have a low birth rate to compensate. Divinity comes at a price," said Loki.

"I remember. Anyone from a 'pantheon' end up having a low birth rate unless they're with humans, who somehow manage to get pregnant at a higher frequency compared to gods. I wonder if that also includes Uzumaki? Isn't one of the common traits in the clan that we're very long lived and healthy to begin with?"

"Red hair, a penchant for pranks and seals, and we get a long life span to boot. All traits of a main line Uzumaki," said Karin, adjusting her glasses.

"Yes, well I'm sure mother will be thrilled having plenty of grandchildren and great grandchildren to play with," deadpanned Loki.

"Yeah, not happening while we're cleaning up the mess the shinobi made. As much as the idea of having an even bigger family appeals to me, there's no way in Helhiem I'm having kids with a shinobi," said Naruto flatly.

That made Karin snort, as she had realized early on that while Naruto was almost dense in some aspects most people took for granted, he was supernaturally perceptive about the way people reacted around him. Karin suspected he had developed a level of empathy that bordered on psychic ability.

And because of how young he was when they first met, he almost immediately claimed Karin as a sibling, rather than a lover.

A shame, but she could live with having the goofball as a slightly younger brother...even if he did make some fine eye candy and didn't mind walking around without a shirt on.

"So how did Pein react to the Evil Overlord List you let him borrow?"

"Let's just say he's been quietly implementing a few things on the list. Fortunately most of his people agree that the red and black cloaks are not tacky looking."

Karin snickered.

"...Remind me again why we're having drills in how to throw a kunai and shuriken?" asked Sasuke.

"One, because it never kills you to practice the basics. And two, because someone...I'll not bother to name who...gave Pein a list of things people who want to take over the world in a way most won't agree with should and shouldn't do," replied Itachi. "Besides, this gives me the perfect opportunity to have some brotherly bonding time that we missed out on because father was an ass."

"What sort of list?"

"The 'Evil Overlord List'. Case in point one of the rules specifically state 'My Legions of Terror will be trained in basic marksmanship. Any who cannot learn to hit a man-sized target at 10 meters will be used for target practice.' Considering the importance of being able to aim, I think the list is rather self-explanatory," said Itachi shrugging.

Sasuke blinked, thought that rule over, then shrugged as well. Such a rule was pretty self-explanatory, even if it was slightly annoying being forced to prove you knew how to throw and actually hit with your kunai.

"What were the other rules?" asked Sasuke. As much as it irked him, while he did pass the basic training of being considered a satellite Akatsuki member (he had the option of being made a full one if any died...which was a regular occurrence with Kakuzu's partners) he did not place in the top ten.

"'If I find my beautiful consort with access to my fortress has been associating with the hero, I'll have her executed. It's regrettable, but new consorts are easier to get than new fortresses and maybe the next one will pay attention at the orientation meeting.' Some of the rules are rather funny," said Deidara.

Kakuzu smirked. "You mean like the one that states 'If I have children and subsequently grandchildren, I will keep my three-year-old granddaughter near me at all times. When the hero enters to kill me, I will ask him to first explain to her why it is necessary to kill her beloved grandpa. When the hero launches into an explanation of morality way over her head, that will be her cue to pull the lever and send him into the pit of crocodiles. After all, small children like crocodiles almost as much as Evil Overlords and it's important to spend quality time with the grandkids.' I have to admit, whoever came up with that list is a genius."

That set off a debate on the pros and cons of all the items on the "List" as it was now being called, as some of the rules made very little sense while others seemed to be a reminder for the "Evil Overlord" to use his head for once.

The one that bothered Pein the most was the rule stating "I will not set myself up as a god. That perilous position is reserved for my trusted lieutenant."

Mostly because in Amegakure, he was considered "God" (or at least part of the same set that Arashi belonged to, since the blond had cheerfully welcomed him into the family) whereas the actual leader of the Akatsuki was currently acting like a moronic idiot named Tobi.

Pein wasn't exactly comfortable with the revelation that he might be the "trusted lieutenant" and not the one ruling the show. Such people usually ended up dead or unsuccessfully taking over when the one actually calling the shots ended up dead.

"So how are you guys liking the List?" snickered Naruto. Who knew handing something like that to Pein would have such an effect?

"Pein wanted me to say thank you for loaning him a copy. Our village has become far more efficient and even Kakuzu finds it hard to complain about things that should be common sense," said Konan.

"Including the 'five year old adviser'?" snickered Naruto.

"Especially the 'five year old adviser'," said Konan.

Five year old children, even shinobi raised ones, were surprisingly perceptive and quite a few flaws had been found and summarily corrected within the first week of Pein being handed the list. Things like having all their sensors being reliant on the ever present rain. As Naruto had so pointedly demonstrated, rain could be cleared away (though not without some difficulty for normal shinobi) and they'd be left blind to the whereabouts to intruders.

Hence why all their patrols and genin had to memorize the only safe routes to and from the gates. All civilians were escorted through a tunnel that only allowed people with the Uzumaki-special passes to come and go. All others were kept outside via a nasty barrier trap that attacked anyone with more than a chunin's worth of chakra.

If that wasn't enough, Naruto had employed the "shinobi's special entrance".

The short and simple of it was that the main gates were now boobytrapped. Any shinobi trying to enter through them to the fake greeters would get hit with a nasty lightning jutsu that stunned them good, while the Rain shinobi verified they were who they said they were by going in through the above ground entranced that looked like slots for arrows and kunai launchers.

Thanks to a passive genjutsu, it only looked like people were going through and getting lost in the crowd.

Besides, everyone knew that any real shinobi went through the window.

Konan snorted.

"Of course one of his favorite rules was about making convoluted plans against the enemy. Mostly because it made far more sense than the plan our real leader made to bring permanent peace," said Konan.

"You mean 'I will not use any plan in which the final step is horribly complicated, e.g. "Align the 12 Stones of Power on the sacred altar then activate the medallion at the moment of total eclipse." Instead it will be more along the lines of "Push the button." What was the original plan?" asked Naruto.

"Collect the nine bijuu, seal them in one big statue and then resurrect the juubi using someone with an active sharingan to cast a giant genjutsu," said Konan flatly.

Naruto stared at her.

"And you really thought the shinobi would just lie down and allow their jinchuriki to be sealed, and a monster brought back just to force a genjutsu down everyone's throats?"

"Again, I thank you heartily for giving him that list. Not only have you made our village more effective, you've given him a very good reason to doubt the efficacy of Madara's plan. Your plan is simple, straight to the point, and more likely to work because if the shinobi don't like it, they can't exactly stop you without bringing down the people who pay them in force," said Konan.

Blue hair or not, she was extremely pragmatic, and she had had doubts of Madara's plan for years.

Naruto's blue eyes honed in on hers with laser intensity.

"Did you say Madara? As in Madara Uchiha?" he asked slowly, emphasizing the Uchiha part.

"Yes, why?"

"Any chance you tell me when he's in the village again? My entire family (and Kurama) would like to have...words...with him. More than they want to have words with that old monkey," said Naruto.

"What did that idiot do?"

"He's the reason the nine tails had to be resealed and I was raised an orphan," deadpanned Naruto.

Konan winced. Considering how badly the Fourth Hokage took a random shinobi village's attempts to harass Amegakure because it was smack dab in the middle of several territories of other villages, she did not envy Tobi.

Madara, the ass, would get everything he deserved. Tobi, not so much.