Naruto 1. Falling into the clutches of a Madman

I don't own Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin.

"Talk"

'_Think_'

**"Talk"**

**'_Think_'**

Authors Note: See the bottom for why the hell I did this.

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"He will be pleased. I know he will be pleased." A deep, enlightened voice muttered to himself. Quiet as a mouse a heavily muscular man wearing a torn up green haoi combined with a torn white shirt, and baggy white pants hurried out of the infirmary. Wearing fresh white medical tape that covered his hands, arms, legs, and feet, he tightened the white bandanna that covered his bald head.

It took him several long minutes until the muscular man arrived at a decorative mahogany door. He raised his beefy fist and quickly rapped on it three times. While there were a light as he could make them, the man still saw the noticeable dents within the dragon carvings. After a moment of silence the doors slowly swung open.

"What have you brought for me this time Anji?" A raspy voice echoed throughout a pitch black room.

"Something very special, something that I know you can use for your ambitions." The man now known as Anji replied to the raspy speaker.

"What exactly did you find? Cannon fodder, exploding tags, crates of shuriken, or maybe kunai for the volley guns?" The first man questioned.

When the questions flowed into Anji's ears, the moon shown through the windows to reveal a beautiful chestnut-haired woman sleeping in a crimson sheeted queen size bed. But instead of focusing on her, Anji focused his gaze upon the man sitting on a plush chair staring at the moonlight. He wasn't a very tall man; in fact he looked extremely weak. His entire wiry body was completely bandaged from his skull banded head to toe to cover body ruined by burns, and a purple yukata with its right sleeve and shoulder draped around his waist. Placed in his right hand was a still smoking kiseru pipe.

After all the years he served under this man, Anji was still unnerved by his gaze. His eyes, his red eyes held great authority and ambition. They showed the horrors he faced within his past, and the atrocities he committed without batting an eyelash. But most of all they showed power and the will to fulfill any man's dreams should he deem worthy of him, Anji knew this for certain for the man granted him his most inner desires. "Not exactly, my lord I bring you a child." He said to him.

"A child?" The man seethed angrily. "You fool! What on earth would I need a brat for, especially when there is so much more work to be done! Don't tell me you're falling back into your pitiful monkish ways."

"Please hear me out." The monk begged. "It may seem irrational I know but please, I have never failed you, not even once. I promise to you that this find will be utmost beneficial."

"Speak Anji; it may very well save your life."

"Thank you. Now I know you sent me to find anything worthwhile in Fire Country, I spent the last six months combing the major cities, but unfortunately I turned up nothing...until I came to Konohagakure." Before the monk could continue the air seemed to thicken with extreme heat, he felt himself sweating profusely, and even his lover; Yumi Komagata awoke from her peaceful slumber clutching her throat.

It was only thanks to her that the man's brutal killing intent ceased. It was thanks to her bounding out if the bed, naked as the day she was born that his anger didn't set the entire room aflame. "Shishio, my darling. Please calm yourself." She begged him. Yumi placed her hands on his burning shoulders, and with a decent amount of chakra control, the former Oiran courtesan used one of her several pleasure techniques to calm him.

It wasn't for the first time that Anji thanked Acalanatha for Shishio finding that woman. While he never agreed to what she did before she met him, the fallen monk was glad that she was around.

"Anji..." Shishio spoke after a few minutes, "You know how I feel about that place. About what they did to me, to my team. How they fucked so many lives over!"

"Shishio hear him out." Yumi cooed into his ear. "Anji is not the impulsive type, remember love he is the one who has brought morale and much needed supplies. So please, hear the man out."

"Damn it, Yumi...fine. Anji please explain why you thought it necessary to sneak into my old home."

Taking several seconds to compose himself, Anji took a deep breath and told them his reasoning's. "Trust me going there was the last thought on my mind, but it wasn't until I hit Tanzaku that I heard several rumors of Konoha creating a super weapon." When he saw Shishio's eyes fully trained on him the monk continued. "I snuck in nearly two months ago; I observed the various shinobi and learned what I needed to know."

"And what did you learn?" Shishio questioned.

Without any warning Anji's aura darkened, and his dark eyes almost literally shone under the permanent ash underneath them. "I learned that Konoha was filled with demons. The child I told you about, I dug into his files, both medical and confidential. I learned that he was the weapon they were "training", more like taming if you ask me."

"What exactly does that mean?"

"The boy is the Kyuubi's jinchuriki." The monk answered. "From birth he was set up to be the village's pariah. From his medical reports he has been admitted to the hospital more than five-hundred times from broken bones, mutilations, lacerations...burns."

"So you brought me the beat up super weapon of the Leaf. Interesting, very interesting Anji, if we train him now he will become our chosen one. The one who will bring my ambition to life." Shishio congratulated his subordinate.

"That is not all. During my search I found out his exact lineage."

"That shouldn't matter, for all we know his parents abandoned him when he was sealed with that demon." Yumi spoke out her thought on the boy's situation.

"That is where you are wrong Yumi. The boy came from some of the strongest shinobi that village ever produced. That boy is the son of 'The Yellow Flash of Konoha' Minato Namikaze their Yondaime Hokage, and 'The Red Hot-Blooded Habanero' Kushina Uzumaki."

Hearing their names, Shishio reeled back in surprise. His right hand clenched over his chest, his eyes widening, his pulse racing. Yumi and Anji were in complete shock at his unusual behavior. "Their status? Are they alive or-"

"They're both dead." Anji said.

"I see. Leave me...both of you, leave me be for now. I need to think." It was more of a command than anything. And from the look on Shishio's face, he looked absolutely murderous. Both Anji and Yumi (the latter dressing into a white robe) left, it was better to let their leader be by himself for the time being. When they left Shishio let his emotions out.

The murderous look on his face fell, and tears fell from his eyes. The cold personality he built up over the years shattered, his ambition was put on hold for the time being, the only feelings inside him were sadness and relief. How long had it been since he heard their names? How long had it been since he let the memories of them flash through his red eyes?

Not many people knew about his past, and that was the way he like it. But Shishio had the blood of the Uzumaki Clan flowing through his veins on his mother's side of the family. During his childhood he was caught-up in a constant state of war, it was something he relished in his youth, and just the mere thought of seeing the life leave his enemies eyes excited him to no end. When both his parents were killed during a mission at the age of ten, he was sent to Konoha as a bodyguard for a full-blooded Uzumaki named Kushina.

At that time Shishio didn't think much of her. She was a talkative tomboy, but she had a special quality about her. Once they reached Konoha, they were both immediately sent to the academy by the Sandaime. Dear Kami, Shishio hated that place. The brats there were insufferable, especially those who came from civilian families, most of them didn't have a clue what the life of a shinobi was about; but the worst part was they poked fun of his swordsmanship! Well many of them didn't poke again when he broke their bones in a fight.

He made few friends in that place. In fact even to this day he could count exactly who he trusted with his life on one hand. Shibi Aburame was one of them; while he never trusted the silent types, he was one of the few that proved his loyalty. The second was Tsume Inuzuka, like the dogs of her clan she was loyal for life...once you gained her trust that is. The third being Kushina, dear sweet Kushina, she was so innocent in his eyes, completely blind to his horrific actions he did behind her back to keep her safe. And finally was one Minato Namikaze, Kami that man earned his trust and respect ten times over. It was him alone who rescued his charge when he failed to protect her from Kumogakure.

When they all graduated Shishio didn't see much of them at all. By the orders of the Sandaime Hokage he was partnered with with Kushina and another woman named Rei, he was assigned to protect her; the second jinchuriki and nothing else. The latter was expendable, and she died during a skirmish with Hot Springs shinobi. Afterwards they were granted another teammate named Fugaku Uchiha; a man he didn't trust worth his life. And he proved it during one of the most important missions of his entire life.

It was during The Third Great Shinobi War, during an important mission to assassinate 'Onoki of Both Scales', or better known as the Sandaime Tsuchikage. Kushina was left behind with Minato for another mission, leaving him, Fugaku, and several other Leaf shinobi to carry it out...until he was betrayed.

-Nearly ten years ago-

Earth Country, what an inhospitable hellhole. How their enemies could even bare to live where there was nothing but miles of rock was far beyond Shishio's understanding. Currently both he and Fugaku were scouting the area, the situation wasn't even remotely good. The entrance to Iwakagure was more secured than a Daimyo's daughters' virginity; they both saw more men on patrol than normal.

"This is going to be difficult." Shishio muttered to himself.

"Not as difficult as you may believe swordsman. I doubt your inferior mind can comprehend anything other than a suicidal charge, but for us shinobi it will be easy." Fugaku quipped at his companion.

"For your information jackass I am a shinobi. Just because you can't use sense something foul about this entire operation does not make me anything-"

"Shh!" The Uchiha hissed. Pushing his binoculars over to his companion, he urged him to look over to the left.

Slightly grumbling he peered through the glass only to see...nothing? "Fugaku, what the hell-Gah!" he hollered when he felt a sharp pain hit the back of his head before falling unconscious.

Shishio didn't know exactly how long he was unconscious, but when he found himself in the realm of the living he found himself tied to a thick log with a bunch of timber piled around him. He smelled something, his eyes widened in alarm. It was oil, the ones his teammates were using to signal each other for the mission. The swordsman tried to focus his chakra into his limbs to break the ninja wire bounding him. Only to find out to his horror he found that he couldn't feel his chakra, in fact he couldn't feel anything.

"So this is my teammate, how pathetic for you to fall for a simple ruse. Truly, I am disappointed Shishio Makoto." Shishio heard Fugaku's voice sneering at him.

"Fujku." He slurred angrily.

"Relax my old teammate what you're feeling is the special poison I've had cultivated just for you. Don't worry it's not fatal, your entire body will just be numb. But of course that won't really matter in the next few minutes."

"Mum me eh? Soups like a aspbug lik yous!"

Fugaku barely managed to hold in a chuckle, the rest however didn't. And it was to the half-blooded Uzumaki's horror that the entire team was behind this. He was set up right from the beginning, how foolish was he! To let his guard down for a mere second was going to lead to his death. "Wha is you relson, whay? I hated yous, nevr trused yus, but neva provoked you, wha now? Especily on a imotant mission!"

"Foolish Shishio there are two reasons why I'm doing this." Fugaku snarled at his former teammate. "The first: You're the Sandaime's dog. It took a while and a lot of digging, but I now know exactly what you have done _Hitokiri_. I know why you came to Konoha; I know what you've done under the orders of the Sandaime. With you dead the Uchiha will be one step closer to taking over Konoha." Shishio took notice of four members of his group activating their Sharingan eyes, showing him exactly how bad he was set up. "And the second..." Fugaku leaned in to whisper into the swordsman's ear, "With you gone, Kushina's power will finally belong to me."

Fury, pure primal fury surged through Shishio's drugged body. Whatever energy the man had left, he used it all to sharply twist his head towards Fugaku's neck. Unfortunately for him the Uchiha was in the process of removing his head from his teammate's ear. So instead Shishio clamped his teeth onto the Sharingan-user's ear. Fugaku immediately screeched in agony as the swordsman tore his ear off.

In sudden alarm the Uchiha members of Fugaku's squad blurred through seven hand seals, and brought their dominant hands to their mouths. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" four of them bellowed and expelled from their mouths massive orbs of roaring flames. Each of them hit Shishio square on, igniting the lantern oil and setting him on fire.

"Burn in hell Shishio Makoto! I'll make sure to comfort Kushina when I tell her of your noble sacrifice!" Fugaku yelled at the dying man before he ordered his men to move out.

"This is your biggest mistake Fugaku Uchiha!" Shishio furiously roared over the sound of his flesh bubbling, and the crackling of flames. "I will have my revenge! Whether in this life or the next, you and your entire clan will die! Your plans will fail, the power of the Nine-Tails will never fall into your power hungry clan, Kushina will be free! You will never get your hands on her you stupid bastard!" He then went into a maniacal laugh. The burning man fully knew that the woman he was protecting didn't need him anymore, she could take care of himself, and long ago he made those he trusted look out for her should anything ever happen to him.

He died laughing at his murders.

-Present time-

Or he should have died that night. But to his amazement, Shishio found himself alive and kicking. Granted he was extremely limited to his full fighting potential, but he was alive.

From then on he dedicated his life to destroying the Uchiha Clan; one of his many life goals. But before he butchered them he would have thanked them first, after all they taught; no, enforced his beliefs that permanently sunk into his soul. "If you trust, you will be betrayed.", "If you are careless, you will die.", "Kill, or be killed.", and if he was honest with himself "A good man is never far from a woman". That was when he was alone with Yumi of course.

Sighing to himself Shishio exited the master bedroom and headed where Anji brought every recruit. Honestly they man was predictable as he was loyal, he was never worried about the condition of the new recruits, but it honestly didn't matter to him. While he was heading that way the bandaged man couldn't help but fall back into memory lane.

The man thought about the recruits he gathered throughout the years...his Juppongatana (Ten Swords). The first person he recruited was eight year old Seta Soujiro, his now right-hand man. Shishio remembered several weeks after his near death experience he met the boy after he murdered a police officer in Earth Country. He threatened the boy, but seeing his fake smile awoke a small feeling of pity, so he spared the boy as long as he kept his mouth shut. It was during his brief stay that he learned that Seta was a bastard son of his father's mistress, that he was overworked to keep on living, that he was starved, beaten to the point where he killed off his emotions. In gratitude Shishio gave the boy his wakizashi; one of the last possessions that survived the fire as a thank you gift, and on that same stormy night Seta used that same weapon to kill his drunk of a father, his shrewd grandmother and stepmother, his hot-headed half-brother who always claimed that he would kill a man with his katana, his other half-brother who always caused him trouble, and even his six year old half-brother that did nothing for him. From then on he took the boy as his first subordinate, brainwashing the rules he now lived by "In this world, the flesh of the weak is food for the strong. "The strong live, the weak die." That was Soujiro's life's creed.

The second was Hoji Sadojima his second in command. He used to be an official in the Earth Daimyo but lost faith in it during The Third Great Shinobi War when he saw no one in it was worthy of controlling the country after its defeat. He abandoned his position in the Daimyo's court and eventually met Shishio. Hōji envisioned a mighty country lead by Shishio, ruling with the principles of basic animal survival. The man was...unique; although he was not proficient in any fighting style, he was a cunning organizer and possessed formidable leadership qualities. He had skills as a staff officer figure; but most of all the man had connections with many underworld figures to purchase vast weapons of destruction.

The third person (and the only one not of the Juppongatana) was of course Yumi Komagata, an Oiran, a high ranking courtesan. He spent a single night with her in a private room in Yugakure, and during that single passion filled night he learned about the prejudices against her kind. Call it cliché, but she came to love Shishio with an utmost passion, which he returned. Thus, she joined him on his quest to achieve his goals. She was the voice of the courtesans and kept an ear out for any information regarding valuable secrets, and blackmail material. She was also his nurse of all things, always constantly concerned about Shishio's medical state, but then he honestly didn't mind being "treated" by a beautiful, intelligent, dignified, and well-cultured woman.

The fourth and fifth were people that came to his doorstep. Saizuachi, a withered old man from Kumogakure was the first half of the duo, the man held no skill for battle anymore but his proficient use of words were legendary. He was their man who had a tongue of silver, an absolute genius in diplomacy, battle tactics, and world knowledge. The second half was none other than Fuji, a literal giant of a man. From Saizuachi's own mouth he found the gigantic man in Water Country, near death from various wounds thanks to the shinobi who thought he held a bloodline. Those fools practically handed him over to the old imp, who molded and manipulated him into an unbelievable fighter; add to the fact that he now wielded the world's biggest sword, and the Mist's Kubikiribocho made him an almost unstoppable warrior.

The sixth and seventh showed up a day separate from each other. The first was a former samurai from Iron Country named Cho Sawagejo, a fanatic sword collector whose dream was to wield every sword in the world. It was an admirable dream, but that broom-haired idiot was never going to lay his hands upon his Mugenjin (Unlimited Blade), it was the second thing that survived the fire, and the last remembrance of his old life. It was not a challenge for Shishio to defeat the man, but he did show incredible mastery towards several rare swords he had in his possession, so he gave him a choice. Follow him, or die, thankfully Cho chose the latter.

It was the next day that an assassin from Kirigakure tried to kill him, he killed several dozen of his own men and fought with him in a fair head to head fight. In the end Shishio triumphed in the end by blinding the guy and leaving him for dead. But to his surprise a couple of years later the same assassin, who introduced himself as Usui Uonuma, asked to join him on the condition that he could try to kill Shishio anytime he got the chance. So the swordsman humored the blind fool and allowed him to join, so far there were thirty failed assassination attempts on him by the now second strongest member of the Juppongatana.

The eighth was a former Sand Jounin by the name of Henya Kariwa, a man who had the best wind affinity not seen since the age of the Shodaime Kazekage that allowed him to fly without the aid of that annoying jutsu the Tsuchikage used. He was their spy, reconnaissance man, explosives expert, and of course assassin. Unlike the other members that he happened to meet, or came to him, Shishio actually bought the man's loyalty. It was a hefty sum, but if he was honest with himself, completely worth it.

The ninth and his most unnerving member was a former mercenary by the name of Kamatari Honjo. He was a feminine-looking crossdressing homosexual that was deeply in love with him. Now he had absolutely nothing against homosexuals. Sexuality, gender, preferred fighting styles, background, it didn't matter. What Shishio desired was the strongest of the strong, and Kamatari was strong with that heavy scythe of his that seemed to be lighter than a feather to him, he was clearly one of the strongest men he had ever met in his life. But it didn't change that fact that his deal with him was...well as long as he beat the man in their once a year fights, he would be fine with their working relationship.

The tenth was Iwanbo. He was something of a mystery; literally, there were no known facts about him. The pinkish oaf was found by Henya several miles away from their base, he was brought in and examined. The man was, how could he put it? He wasn't all there, it was like he had a half-assed lobotomy where he could still move his limbs, eat and conduct moral hygiene, but the rest like talking or thinking properly was completely out of the question. He was strong though; his skin was so thick that even blades couldn't stab through. So he was kept as Shishio's personal bodyguard.

When the swordsman arrived at the infirmary he saw his final member Anji Yukyuzan. The man was a fallen monk, one of the last followers of the Buddha religion. From what he learned, Anji was a monk from Claw Country, and due to...well he didn't remember exactly the cause, but the Daimyo outlawed his religion and forced both him and a bunch of kids at his temple to leave. At that time the monk was a timid, scrawny young man, and he was going to do it without a fuss. But a member in the Daimyo's court using some underhanded politics logic convinced the man to kill them off. The temple was set aflame, killing the five children under Anji's care, but it turned out fatal for them. Anji returned to the land five years later, but the scrawny man was replaced with a muscular juggernaut that massacred the Daimyo's court, and nearly killed the Daimyo himself. He was unable to accomplish his goal before a squadron of samurai halted his actions, and that lead to the fallen monk to work under him until he accomplished his goal to avenge those dead children.

"Anji, don't you have anything better to do than check on the kid?"

"He was in bad shape Shishio. Really bad shape."Anji gritted his teeth is an absolute show of anger. That wasn't a good sign; whatever happened to this kid must have been bad to even get a spark of anger going through his level-headed subordinate.

"Explain this to me Anji. What exactly happened to the boy, don't you dare hold back on me." The bandaged man demanded.

"When I learned the truth I knew time was of the essence, the Sandaime, while a good man is only human and cannot keep watch on the boy forever. I know how jinchuriki are treated in certain villages, and went to take him away, so he could have a relatively normal life under your rule." The man's hands clenched at his sides, and the primal fury within him slowly pooled out of his body. "Unfortunately I arrived far too late. The boy was surrounded by a mob of ten civilians and five shinobi ranging from Chuunin to Jounin-level behind a place called the Higarashi Weapons Shop. I saw the boy already blooded by several knife wounds from one civilian attacker, I must say though the boy was holding his own...at least until one of the shinobi reached into what I suspect was a scrap dumpster. I saw him pull out a broken katana, and he chucked it at the boy.

"I saw it pierce his shoulder, but instead of screaming in pain, I saw the boy pulled it out and used it to defend himself." Anji stopped for a small moment of time to look his leader right in the eyes. "He was sloppy, but the boy managed to wound the civilian a few times. But like last time one of the shinobi interfered by throwing shuriken at his legs. They laughed as he bled, they cheered when the civilian plunged his kitchen knife into the boys stomach, then they gasped out in horror as the boy speared the civilian through the chest. I saw the boy using whatever strength he had in his body to push the civilian into the scrap dumpster, and like wolves they attacked the boy."

"Let me guess. After they started to maul him you intervened, and brutally destroyed them with the Futae no Kiwami (Double Layer Limit) you recently mastered?" Shishio smirked in response, despite the anger bubbling within him.

"I assure you their deaths were quick, but not that quick." Anji replied with malice. But then his mood switched to something more solemn, almost like he was pitying them. "I don't feel any regret for killing them." Wait he didn't pity their deaths? The swordsman thought that was a little odd. "I feel pity for the boy. After I killed them, I went to finish the civilian within the dumpster off, but alas I already found him dead. The boy killed him, his innocence is no longer his own."

Shishio did not hide his smile. The boy could not have been older than five or six and already he killed his first man. Already he broke his own record by one full year, now all he needed to do was push the boy...no he needed to push Naruto in the right direction to become his ultimate weapon. "I'm going to see the boy. He deserves to know everything that has happened until this point in life."

"He's still in bad condition Shishio. Many of his wounds were so severe that I feared that he died during the many hours it too to bring him here."

"Do not be foolish Anji. The monster inside him would never allow its vessel to die." The bandaged man chided the former monk before he entered the room.

Once he entered Shishio saw that Anji wasn't exaggerating. Naruto was in rough shape, he saw that he was hooked up to two machines, one to support his breathing, and another to allow vital nutrients to flow into his emancipated body. Dear Kami the boy was abused all right, he saw that his wounds were still healing, slowly, but not almost instantaneous like Kushina's had been.

Looking past his rough exterior the half-blooded Uzumaki couldn't help but marvel his appearance. His spiky hair was blond as the sun, it was disappointing that it wasn't the Uzumaki red, but it suited him. Carefully placing his right hand on the boys closed eyelids, Shishio carefully parted them open to see eyes that were as blue as sapphires. The boy definitely gained his father's looks, but he had the shape of both his eyes and face of his mother.

That was good, he knew that bastard Fugaku wouldn't get his hands on Kushina. He was glad that she got with a good man like Minato, and he was glad they both produced a son that had their blood running through his veins. All that was left was for the boy to heal, get a good meal or fifty within him, every vitamin in existence would be used to recover his strength. And then once he fully recovered he would start training him to be the ultimate weapon. Shishio grinned at the thought, finally his revenge would be complete against the Uchiha's, his lifetime goals would come to fruition, and it would be thanks to Naruto, his chosen one.

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Armageddon: Hey everybody today is 5-16-12, this special date commemorates the long overdue piece of literature you all deserve.

Pvt. Killjoy: What brought on the change?

Armageddon: Well to tell you the truth I've _hated_ Naruto of the Ten Swords for a very, very, _very_ long time. I started out in 2008 when I was in nothing but a wet behind the ears high schooler, but now that I have been doing this for several years now, and reading over the old story from chapter one to the present...I felt the need to punch my past self in the face.

Lt. RasenganFin: You hated your earlier chapters? No wait the entire story?

Armageddon: Damn right I did, they were amateurish at best. And I'm anything but that, granted I'm no professional, but I know I'm better than this. So after having a chat with Reign A.G.E, a long time fan who told me to just redo all the chapters in my other story would be easier...well that would take too much work in my opinion. We both agreed that chapters one through six needed to be redone and chapter seven is when the story gets _much_ more interesting. So here I am doing something that's putting me at ease.

Pvt. Superninja: What happens now?

Armageddon: Everyone I assure you This fic will _remain_ the same, except for this it will show the background that shows how Naruto became the man he is today, it will be much more gory, dramatic, and actually not suck for me to write. The later chapters will be more or less the same, except with some major differences that will be easy for me to write out. So please review this, and tell me your _honest_ opinion about this first chapter. I already have several more lined up (Along with chapter eighteen for the original series), but I want to hear from all of you, and dammit please have it ten words or more and that one word review crap. So until the next update, later.


	2. What happens in Hot Springs stays there

I don't own Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin.

"Talk"

'_Think_'

**"Talk"**

**'_Think_'**

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It took around two months for Shishio to see Naruto again. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but it was for the boys own good, it was under his orders that he be place in a medical induced coma so his body could heal and retrieve the nutrients it needed. It was a slow and tedious process with having to continuously keep him unconscious, putting food in his stomach through a feeding tube, continuous sponge baths and waste treatments. Kami the kid was costing him tens of thousands of ryo, but this was an investment that would bare him the sweetest of fruits.

And it showed, last time he saw the kid he was nothing but skin and bones. Now he was more filled out, his skin was no longer pasty white or marred with cuts and bruises, it was a healthy pale color that would become a healthy tan once he got out into the sun. He definitely had more meat on his bones instead of just bones; all he needed now was some good exercise to strengthen them.

Shishio pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed. The boy would soon awaken, now he was not exactly the first thing someone would like see when first thing in the morning. But he felt that it was necessary for his...what exactly was Naruto? He was half Uzumaki like himself, and they were probably distant relatives...well Kushina looked to him being a brother figure, so Shishio guessed he was his 'uncle' of all things. Bah, he didn't need to concern himself of how closely they were related, he needed to finish his training schedule.

A hour later the bandaged man saw the boys eyes flutter open. And like he expected he started to freak out, which was why he bound his hands and feet with leather bindings a few hours prior. Naruto's eyes darted back and forth wildly, the blond tried to scream, but all that came out was a dry wheeze. The pathetic attempt lasted for about five minutes, if anything else he was determined to escape, at least until his energy died down.

"Now that you're done with your fruitless efforts are you going to listen to me?" When Naruto looked over, his eyes widened but he did not have the energy to move again. "Well you have no choice in the matter. Now listen you may be five? Six?" The boy nodded at the last part. "Six then, it may be harsh to hear these words at your age, but they involve you, and why that village of yours treated you until this point. But I will only tell you, but you need to be calm about it, and no damn crying either."

When he saw the blond visibly calm himself, Shishio proceeded to tell him exactly what and who he was. "Kid from the information I've gathered from the man who brought you here, you were born on October tenth, the very night of the Kyuubi attack. Your parents, both who I knew very well died during it. I don't exactly know the cause of their deaths, but in that short amount of time I know they both loved you very much, and that it killed your father to seal the Kyuubi inside you." The swordsman paused for several moments to let that sort of knowledge sink in, and to mentally remind himself to find out exactly how they died.

"From then on your life has been an unholy hell am I right? That was because of the bigoted villagers, and the close-minded shinobi who let their emotions cloud their judgment. Now you're probably wondering why you're here to begin with." Naruto nodded slowly, for a brat he was taking the news quite well. "I will not lie to you. I fully plan on using you and the power inside you to the fullest extent, you will become my sword, you will be the one to help me accomplish my goals, and you will be my chosen one. The goings will be hard, the training you will receive will make you wish you were dead, but you will become strong, you will be treated equally within my ranks, and I will personally see that whatever you desire will come true." Once he finished giving his speech the bandaged man sat back in his chair and waited.

"Anything I desire?" Naruto's raspy voice spoke up after several long minutes.

"Anything within my power. It's a promise of a lifetime."

"I...I want only a few things. I...I nev-er want to be li-ed to, ever."

"Brutal honesty for life, got it.

"I also...I also want to kn-ow..." Naruto's voice hit a high squeak, before he couldn't talk anymore.

Sighing out loud, Shishio barked at one of the nurses to fetch a glass of water. It took a minute to unshackle him before the boy slowly gulped it down, and another two before he could talk again. "Thank you. The second thing is if you want me to follow you I need to know things, I need to know exactly who you are, who follows you, what your plans are, and how they exactly involve me helping you achieve them...and how you knew my parents."

Ah, so the kid wasn't going to run in blind. Good, at least he had street smarts. "I can't tell you everything at once. But in the upcoming weeks and months you will learn everything you desire."

Naruto slowly nodded. Whoever this man was he was smart, the blond knew that this was some sort of ploy, but he really didn't have a choice in the matter at the moment. "Lastly I want your help with something. I want you to help find my family, any Uzumaki out in the world."

"Well consider that already accomplished."

"You found a Uzumaki?"

Shishio pointed at himself. "You're looking at him, and as far as I know we're the last of the Uzumaki Clan boy." He then placed a black gloved hand upon the boys head, and slightly ruffled his blond locks. "We will talk later boy, I need you to rest for now. Once you have regained your strength I will begin your training."

-One week later-

Another week went by before Naruto was able to leave the infirmary. His body was quickly recovering thanks to the fox, but he was told to take it easy for the next two weeks before he could begin his training again. So in the meantime the blond found himself sitting at a desk within an improvised classroom with a book of all things laying in front of him.

He wasn't alone. Sitting at a desk was a very short elderly man who looked like he was in his late eighties to mid-nineties. His alien shaped head was bald with only a brown mustache split into two sections on each side of his upper lip. While old, and probably frail as glass, his black eyes held much knowledge within them. The only piece of clothing he wore was an orange yukata that covered his entire body, and clutched in his right hand was an oddly shaped cane. "Good afternoon boy. I am 'The Destroying Yin' Saizuchi, and I was designated by Shishio-sama to be your teacher until your body gets back to normal."

Shishio? So he was the bandaged man. "What are you going to teach me Saizuchi-sensei?"

Placing his bony fingers in front of his head, the old man crackled before surging through several dozen seals the Naruto didn't recognize. "Everything!" The old crone bellowed as the blond was hit with his own personal jutsu. Focusing his chakra, Saizuchi transferred a small portion of his knowledge into the boy, and after fifteen minutes the old crone cut the flow of chakra and sighed out in satisfaction.

"What the? Ow!" Naruto gripped his head due to a sudden full blown migraine.

"That my boy, was my way of teaching you everything you need to know."

"Your way? What...what reason did you did you have to...wait a second, the proper way to utilize the lightning element?"

"Haha! Now you're getting it boy. Shishio ordered me to teach you the basics of the shinobi world. Each day I'm to impart some of my knowledge into that tiny brain of yours, and afterwards I'm to quiz you until it sticks."

"But if you impart your knowledge in me, won't you forget it-OW!" Naruto grumbled before he rubbed his forehead, which was stinging red thanks to a piece of chalk his teacher threw at him.

"Rule one in my class room boy, absolutely no stupid questions! But since you asked, I will have you know that I have not lost the knowledge. This jutsu temporarily gives you a subject within my mind, and afterwards it comes back to me after fifteen minutes. The drawback however, well it's also temporary for you unless you review the subject until its perfect." Picking up his walking stick Saizuchi clasped the top of it with his right hand, and unsheathed a thin blade about the size of his body. "Now tell me how exactly would you make this thing deadlier with lightning chakra?"

"You flow the lightning nature chakra through the hilt so it increases the potency of the weapon?"

"Why would this be a good idea?"

"Because lightning nature chakra provides a sharpening effect that can pierce almost anything, with the addition of inducing numbness. This is achieved by inducing high-frequency vibrations within the object, granting it even more cutting power than doing it without chakra." Naruto answered with a hint of uncertainty.

"Good. I didn't expect you to get that on your first try, I'm somewhat impressed." When Naruto beamed at his accomplishment, Saizuchi chucked another piece of chalk at his head. "Don't get cocky brat! We still have four hours left to go over this stuff!"

-Two weeks later-

Over the next two weeks Naruto came to hate Saizuchi. The old bastard was an absolute sadist when it came to teaching him, but the six year old did have to give the old man some credit on one thing. He was knowledgeable, apparently when he was younger the man was one of Kumogakure's best spies, he knew many secrets concerning the five main elemental techniques, and several other minor but crucial pieces of information that he would use later in his lifetime. But that still didn't give the jerk the right to beam him over the head with his sword-cane, or those stupid chalk pieces! Damn that old and possibly bipolar man. Now that his torment was done and over with (for now), the blond found himself outside of the hideout, and facing Shishio once again...along with a man with ash underneath his eyes.

"Naruto, Saizuchi has told me of your progress in his lessons. I'm impressed that you're getting the hang of this, usually brats your age would be drooling like complete morons." Shishio congratulated him, or did he insult him? Naruto could never figure the man out.

"Thank you...Shishio-san." Naruto thanked the man showing him a decent amount of respect by adding a suffix after his name. "What do you plan on doing with me now?"

"Now we are going to get your body back to normal. Anji here," The swordsman gestured the monk beside him. "He will be the one to put some muscle on your bones. Afterwards he will instruct you in the basics of taijutsu. I will check on the both of you every three days, if I'm impressed by your progress, I'll tell you how I knew your parents." Without another word the ruthless man left the two alone.

"You look good kid, better than when I brought you in nearly three months ago." Anji said after a minute of silence.

"You're the one who brought me here?" Naruto asked, not even masking the surprise in his voice.

"I did. Shishio tasked me to find him something, or someone of value. But I promise you that the mission was farthest from my mind, a child should not endure what you've been through. I just hope you can forgive me for my rash decision."

Just by the tone of his voice Naruto knew the man was telling the truth. "No, please don't apologize Anji-san. If anything I should be thinking you for rescuing me."

"But I've taken you from the ones who did accept you, like the Ichiraku family, and the Sandaime Hokage."

That caused the blond to stop his train of thought. For the first time he actually thought of the old man, and the Ichiraku's. He knew that the latter was still conducting a search for him...maybe. And the two people within the whole village, he bet they were worried sick about him, plus he did miss their delicious ramen. Despite those thoughts Naruto gave the big man a smile. "One day I will see them again. Whatever Shishio-san is planning, I can only hope that he considers an alliance between the old man and himself."

_'Here's to hoping for that Naruto, for your sake I hope he does consider it.' _Anji thought to himself before actually speaking. "For today we are going to start off easy. I want you to do as many push-ups, sit-ups, and squats as your body can stand before collapsing. After I know what your limit is, I can properly train you. Are you ready?"

"I am, Anji-sensei."

To the fallen monks surprise Naruto's supposedly weak body was more durable than he expected it to be. Currently he could do only twenty push-ups, thirty-five sit-ups, and shockingly one-hundred squats and counting. To him it was pretty baffling to see a boy his age, whose muscles were still developing still going at it. Now this could have been one of three things, it could have been due to the Kyuubi sealed inside him, he was always on the move within the village, or his body was extremely unique.

"I believe I have seen enough." Anji said as an indication to make the boy stop.

"Did I do well?" Naruto asked slightly out of breath.

"I know what to work with now, now follow me it's time for the next part of your training."

"What's the next part?"

"Meditation."

-Six months later-

Compared to learning from Saizuchi Naruto found that training under Anji 'The Enlightened One' was the best six months of his life. The man wasn't overly demanding, his training exercises were erratic, but he pushed Naruto past his previous limits, and with the six hours of meditation a day he found himself calmer than normal. When he asked one day why he was being forced to meditate and do the erratic exercises that involved his torso and arms.

The monk calmly explained that his so-called erratic exercised were to even his body out. He noticed that while he had extraordinary lower body strength, his upper was to be desired, so he did his best to even his body out strength wise so he could properly teach him the beginnings of his taijutsu style. As for the meditation, it was an attempt for him to get in contact with the beast inside him. While a failure it showed that he was possibly too young to contact the fox, but as long as he kept at it they would get in contact with the beast eventually.

Currently the now seven year old found himself within a dojo. Once again Shishio was standing in front of him with thick patches of black hair now sticking out his bandaged head. Next to him was a golden-eyed man wearing a red yukata with purple-black flames licking the bottom and was missing its right sleeve, black cargo pants, black buckled leather gloves, and black buckled combat boots. He had sunny blond hair that stood straight up making him look like a broom with a light purple headband tied around his forehead. On his back were two katana's and around his waist were two more katana's, which made Naruto think the man had a very unhealthy obsession with swords.

"Boy I see you've gotten better in the last six months. I must thank Anji for getting you back into shape instead of a scrawny brat." Shishio once again confused him with a mixture of praise and insults. "Now you're here to witness a duel between Cho and I."

"Afterwards the two of us will train you in the marvelous art of kenjutsu. And boy you will come to love it like me!" Cho said in a singsong voice, showing Naruto that this guy of very wrong in the head.

Shishio beamed the broom-headed man in the head with his katana's scabbard. "Quit being stupid you sword junkie, I swear that phony story about Sengo Muramasa screwed up that pea-brained head of yours."

"Do not say that about Muramasa-sama! _Every single swordsman_ knows the tale about the man who created the perfect killing tools. In fact it is a well-known fact that he created the very blades the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist use today, and that he created several other blades four which I personally own, the one that you carry on your waist, and the one that was said he wielded himself and gave it to a close friend who was of the Uzumaki Clan before his death."

"Don't sprout such nonsense Cho. Before I left Uzushiogakure I saw no proof that Juuchi Yosamu (Ten-thousand Cold Nights) even existed, and if it did I doubt that it's still in the ruins of my old home."

"Can you two please just fight already? Dattebayo!" Naruto childishly exclaimed, his eyes widened dramatically before he covered his mouth with his hands in embarrassment.

Shishio could not hide a smile afterwards, not only did he inherit his mother's face, but her verbal tic whenever she got flustered or angry, except hers was dattebane. "Well you heard the boy Cho, let's get started before Soujiro gets back."

"Wait that little- Hey!" Cho barely jumped away in time to avoid getting cut by the bandaged man's katana.

"Always be on guard Cho, it can and will save your life."

"So Mifune-sensei always used to tell me. Worry not about me Shishio-sama, just worry about my Iaido!" The broom-headed swordsman quickly unsheathed one of the blades on his hips, and swung them both downwards. The technique was so quick that Naruto had to blink several times to make sure what he was real. When Cho unsheathed his katana's, the pure pressure tore through the tatami mats and sliced a clean hole through the walls. Shishio, who simply sidestepped the attack was largely unaffected by the technique except for the few minor cuts on his yukata.

"Not bad, much better than when you first tried it on me. But it's still not enough!" Shishio scraped the tip of his sword at the butt of his scabbard, and to Naruto's amazement the entire blade was engulfed in fire. The blond saw Cho narrow his eyes before he unsheathed the other sword on his hip, and for the first time he saw the hilts of the blades were cut off on the opposite ends of each other; almost like they were meant to combine into one sword with two blades.

He saw the broom-headed man channel his chakra into the blades, a deep blue color engulfed the length of the blades and extended almost an entire foot past the point of his swords. The two swordsmen glared at each other for several seconds before rushing head on towards each other. Their two blades clashed and a shock wave of energy tore the mats from underneath them, and blew Naruto against the wall with a violent slam. The pain in his back caused him to see spots in his eyes for a brief second, but once they cleared he saw one of the most amazing sights in his young life.

He saw two swordsmen in a dance of death. Steel clashed against steel, each strike coming close enough to kill each other, the chakra and flames dissipated after the first two minutes, but they didn't relent at all. For ten minutes the blond saw the two swordsmen exchanging near fatal blows, at least until Shishio elbowed Cho in the face. The former samurai from Iron Country fell to the ground with a loud thud, and the bandaged man pointing his sword at the mans exposed neck.

"Yield." Shishio commanded his subordinate.

"Yea, I yield." Cho grumbled irritably. Once the deadly blade was removed from his neck he got to his feet, and rubbed his nose. "For the love of Kami if you wanted to end the demonstration, you should have just said so."

"That samurai thinking is going to get you killed Cho. You have to always be on guard, you're a good fighter, but a shinobi will do anything to win. Remember this lesson well, and that goes double for you Naruto."

"I will remember Shishio-san." Naruto nodded his head, "But what did your spar have to do with the next part of my training?"

"Don't you remember what I said knuckle-head! That spar was to show you how awesome kenjutsu is, and Shishio-sama has instructed me to teach you everything I know. But you're not going to be alone; he will also join us from time to time, along with that little brat Soujiro." Cho barked at him.

"A little brat am I?" A calm, too calm sounding voice said behind the now paling swordsman. His blue eyes widening Naruto saw a teenager no older than fourteen or fifteen with neatly trimmed brown hair and eyes with a smile that held no emotion at all. He wore a blue kimono combined with a white dress shirt underneath it along with white hand guards; he had an unsheathed wakizashi resting on his shoulder, and held a large white box underneath his left arm. "Cho-san, that hurts my feelings."

"S-o...Soujiro. I we...when did you get back?"

"I was here the entire time, your form still has much to be desired 'Katana Collector'. I'm just glad Shishio-sama took it easy one you like always." Seta smiled at the seething, and weakest member of the Juppongatana. "And Shishio-sama, I got the sweets you desired." He happily said before he flipped the top open to show the bandaged man the contents.

_'Sweets?' _Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion. _'No...That has to be a code. There is no way Shishio-san would send him to get something as simple as something sweet. Saizuchi-sensei taught me better than that.'_

"Well this is an interesting development. Thank you Soujiro, now is Senkaku doing what I ordered him to do?"

"He is awaiting your arrival as we speak."

"Excellent. Go fetch Yumi, Hoji, and Iwanbo; we're going to go on a small trip." Dismissing his first recruit and the weakest member of his group he turned to the blond Uzumaki. "Don't get too comfortable, you're coming with me. After all I did promise to answer any questions you wanted."

"Where are we going?" Naruto questioned him.

-Days later-

"Yugakure? Shishio-san, why are we in Yugakure?" Naruto questioned the bandage man a few days later.

"Kid this was my first conquest before you came along. The Daimyo and I came to a..._Understanding _that allows me access to the information from the village." Shishio pleasantly answered his question.

"But it's just a village that used to be a ninja village, but after getting their butts handed to them they turned into a simple hot spring village."

"You're wrong about that Naruto-chan." A melodious voice said in reply. Turning his head Naruto gazed at Yumi 'Of the Night', a beautiful woman with chestnut-brown hair fashioned into a bun and light brown eyes. She wore an expensive red kimono that showed off her impressive cleavage with a royal purple obi tied around her slim waist, along with comfortable straw-woven sandals that did not hinder her graceful movements. She wore little makeup and accessories, only light blue lipstick that went well with her fair skin and showed off the beauty mark at the right corner of her lip, and sapphire beads adorned the bun in her hair.

"What do you mean by that Miss Yumi?" Naruto innocently asked.

"Yugakure may look like a typical hot springs resort, but it is only a ruse. This village is still a full functioning shinobi village, however unlike the five major villages and several smaller ones, Yugakure resorts to a more sleazy part of the profession."

"Sleazy profession?"

"She means sex boy. While not a shinobi village anymore, many of the people here have been trained in the use of seduction techniques to extract information from visiting dignitaries, Daimyo's, and other important figures without them knowing otherwise." Hoji 'Of the Hundred Senses' scoffed in response to the boys' question. A man of average height he had dark brown hair fashioned like a triangle and impassive black eyes characterized by the long pronounced tear troughs under them. He wore an imported western brown suit with black loafers, along with a tan parka that went to his knees to reject the culture of the Elemental Nations.

"So crude aren't you Hoji-san, he is only seven, and yet you're spouting off about adult pleasures." Seta said with his usual smile.

"Be quiet Soujiro, the boy will have to learn this sooner or later." Hoji argued. "Besides if he's going to join us, then he will have to learn the ins and outs of our operations, especially with this village being a black market goldmine for information."

"That is enough you two." Shishio commanded his subordinates. Raising his right hand he directed his second in command and his right hand towards the largest building. "Now you two head over to the Daimyo's place, tell him to spill the information I require. And if he doesn't, well you all know the routine."

"Your command shall be done my Lord." Hoji bowed in respect before he and Seta went off to _negotiate _with the Daimyo.

After the two disappeared the bandaged man turned towards the biggest of his entourage. "Iwanbo, you are to accompany Yumi and I to the hot springs."

An unusually pink man gave Shishio a ginormous stupid smile in response. 'Round Demon' Iwanbou was several feet taller than Shishio, but fatter than an Akimichi which caused him to hunch over and walk like a gorilla. But despite his weight the man was strong, really strong; seriously the guys' arms were as thick as some trees. His attire consisted of a torn light blue haoi with white trees adorning it and ripped white shorts. His fat head consisted of nothing but black hair tied up like a pineapple, and his most defining trait was the solid black kanji symbol for 'Demon' tattooed on his big stomach.

The fat man tilted his head like a dog and said, "Gufu?"

"Shishio-san what exactly am I supposed to do?" Naruto questioned the bandaged man.

"Oh right. You need to come with us as well; I do have that promise to keep." Shishio replied. Picking the boy up by the scruff of his white yukata he set the boy on Iwanbo's back. "Come on everybody, the hot springs are waiting for us."

-With Hoji and Seta, fifteen minutes later-

Both Hoji and Seta waited patiently in the Daimyo's office, it had been fifteen minutes and the obese man still had not shown up at their request. The office was rather lspacious with a large desk and even larger painting of him behind it. Placed all along the walls were various secret departments that could only been seen by the trained eyes. Yumi's information lead them to know that they were secret compartments that held the information that Yugakure had stolen from its clients in the past resided, and that it was one of many rooms.

"I don't like this one bit. That fat little worm is usually sweating by now." Hoji grumbled in disapproval.

"I'm always on guard Hoji-san, so please don't worry." Seta said in a calm manner.

"I trust your ability Soujiro, what I don't trust is the Daimyo. We have been shaking him down for five years, and frankly I'm surprised he has held up for that long."

"Expecting some sort of surprise attack?"

"Exactly, Shishio-sama expected something to happen today. Or else he would not have sent Senkaku here."

"I will be alert, but now let's get ready. I can hear the sound of ten...no twenty-one footsteps."

After Seta finished his warning, the rich oak doors swung open to reveal a black-bearded average-sized portly man. He wore a rich white and blue kimono, and a ridiculously decorated hat that held the symbol of his village on the front of it. Surrounding the pudgy man were ten men in blue and white armor, each with swords strapped to their hips.

The two members under Shishio's orders regarded the entrance with minor annoyance. This wasn't the first, but it might be the last the Daimyo entered his office with his armed guard.

"It's about time you showed up. You know how I hate to be kept waiting." Hoji angrily grunted at the man.

"I-I apologize Hoji-sama. I had the personally collect some information from the girls." The Spring Daimyo fiercely apologized as he sat at his desk.

"Then out with it, I want to inform Shishio-sama of the location of The Forbidden Scroll of Sealing as soon as I can."

"I'm afraid I don't have that type of information. We haven't had many Leaf shinobi coming through these parts lately."

"You're lying." Hoji bluntly said.

"I beg your pardon?" The Daimyo barely squeaked out.

"I have been involved in politics for fifteen years. And your body movements just gave away the truth, from the flicker of your eyes you've had plenty from the Leaf visit your resort. The small flicker of your eyebrow and pitch of your voice tells me that you have what we want. Do not think of me as a fool."

"Gentlemen, please I honestly don't have the information you desire." The Spring Daimyo pleaded with the two members of the Juppongatana.

"We have been through this every single visit Daimyo-sama. You deny what we desire, we listen to your lies, and then Soujiro unsheathes his sword. After you nearly urinate yourself in fear, I persuade him to not take your head, then you give us what we desire." Hoji drawled out in a sophisticated manner. It was quite tiring to go through these 'negotiations' every single week, so now there were going to be a few...changes that Shishio would appreciate.

"Hoji-sama, please we have been using our courtesans, our masseuses-"

"Your nothing!" Hoji barked at the overweight man. "Those women, your village are the property of Shishio-sama! If you value your life, and give us what we desire, or I will see to it that this village burns to the ground with every last man, woman and child within it!"

"I will not allow it!" The Daimyo screamed. At his order the ten men that he brought with him immediately unsheathed their swords. Before they could even consider attacking all ten froze, their eyes widened in surprise, and their heads simply fell to the ground with a wet splat. Hoji looked to the other side of the room where he saw the teenager flicking is blade free of blood. Quick, painless, and brutal. That was the work of Soujiro 'The Prodigy'.

The Daimyo's bladder immediately emptied onto his chair. He sputtered in a fruitless effort to apologize, only to find a tanto placed at his exposed throat by a passionless Hoji. "Wait! Wait Hoji-sama. I have the information, I will even tell you of the Leaf shinobi planning on killing Shishio-sama!"

"You told Konohagakure about Shishio-sama! Speak, tell me how much you revealed and I will spare your life." Shishio's second in command demanded.

"The information is in my desk. My desk! And the Leaf shinobi...they...they only know that a madman has been threatening me and my village. I'll even tell you where they are! They are in at the VIP section of the hot springs resort, right where Shishio-sama is supposed to be. Four Jounin-level teams, two are Uchiha's! If you hurry you can save him!" The pudgy man cried as he spilled his guts.

"Much appreciated, Daimyo-_sama_." Hoji thanked the man. Then without warning he quickly slid his tanto across the pudgy man's throat. The former politician looked on as the Daimyo's blood stained his once expensive kimono, he saw him gasping for air, his eyes pleading him to explain why he did this, slumped over, and died with a small bubbling gurgle.

Cleaning the blood off his weapon with the deceased man's kimono sleeve, Hoji placed in into the scabbard sewn into his jackets left sleeve, and turned to his companion. "Soujiro, go inform Shishio-sama about what happened. I will bring his sack of flesh's more cooperative brother as his replacement."

"I will, be careful Hoji-san." With a bow Seta disappeared from sight, leaving deep footprints in his wake.

-Shishio's private hot spring at the same time-

After arriving at the expensive villa, Shishio was always pleased with the decorum. The two story building had many windows that looked out onto the beautiful scenery that was Hot Springs Country, and the inside was just as beautiful. Within the building was a natural formed hot spring with the best water in the village, the most comfortable rocks to sit on, and supposed healing properties.

Normally Naruto would find himself embarrassed to be surrounded by people clad in nothing but towels. But after months of meditation with Anji, being in a hot springs for the first time, and generally trusting these people, the blond found himself relaxed. Granted it was a little distracting hearing a pink oaf standing on the other side of the wooden walls, a woman clad in nothing but a towel (it was his first time so sue him), and Shishio's charred brown-black skin.

"Okay kid now that we have some. I believe you have some questions for me, well ask and you shall receive." Shishio sighed out in relaxation several minutes later. Yumi held a small saucer of saki towards him, which he took with gratitude.

Naruto paused to gather his thoughts for a minute before opening his mouth to speak. "Are you really a Uzumaki?"

"I'm actually half Uzumaki on my mother's side just like you." The charred man answered before taking a sip of the alcoholic drink.

"What did you learn from them?"

"Basic swordsmanship from my father, and Fuinjutsu from my mother. Next question."

"Um, okay." Pressing his fingers to his lips the blond thought for a moment. "You said you knew my parents. Who were they? And how well did you know them?"

"Ah a smart question." Shishio mockingly praised him. Yumi handed him his already smoking kiseru pipe, taking it he inhaled the rich flavoring and thanked her. "Well kid I was your mother's bodyguard. The two of us were shipped to Konoha in the middle of a war that Uzushiogakure knew they couldn't win, we were spared from its destruction, but that opened up a whole new can of worms for the both of us."

"What kind of problems?"

"Clan problems. When the council found out about their allies destruction they immediately wanted us in a breeding program. It was only thanks to the Sandaime that the both of us were spared from that fate, he knew though that they would not let it die. So at the age of ten he gave me one specific order: Protect Kushina any cost. I became a Hitokiri, I killed many would-be kidnappers, people who we both deemed dangerous, kid I even killed a civilian member and his entire family and buried them in the Forest of Death to protect her."

"My mother was that special?" Naruto asked in a mixture of awe, and revulsion.

"She had special chakra, and I mean really special chakra. It made her perfect to become Kyuubi's second jinchuriki."

"My...my mom was the? She was?" Naruto couldn't bring himself to say it.

"She was exactly like you. However her condition was kept under lock and key with barely few people knowing about it, in short kid, you got the end of the shit stick." Shishio said to him. It was only him, the Sandaime and his teammates, the late Mito Uzumaki, the Sandaime's students, and later on Minato that knew about it. Though how Fugaku learned about it was still somewhat of a mystery, Shishio had his theories, but they weren't concrete at the moment.

It took several minutes to recover from the initial shock of the awful truth. Naruto didn't think that it was especially fair that horrible things happened to him, but what could he do? He certainly didn't wish it on anyone else, especially his own mother. "What about my dad? How did you know him?"

Expelling smoke from his nostrils Shishio said. "I only knew him in passing. Truth be told I thought he was girly as a kid, and didn't like him all that much. That changed when he saved your mother when Kumogakure kidnapped her, I tell you Naruto your old man followed her strands of red hair better than an Inuzuka Hunter ninja. His accomplishments in The Third Great Shinobi War made him a living legend, enough to make him one of the greatest Hokage's your village ever had."

"Wh-wha-t? Do you mean?-" Before Naruto could even put two and two together, the windows of the building burst inwards. Several pieces of glass scraped against Naruto's skin, but while he was shell shocked Shishio burst into action. Unarmed without his sword the burnt man cocked his right fist back and threw the first punch. He caught the closet man in the face, violently snapping his head backwards with a snap of bone. The remaining eight shinobi landed within the steamy room. Four withdrew kunai while the rest unsheathed ninjato's. To the surprised occupants their attackers were Leaf shinobi...and two had red eyes with three black tome's set in their corneas.

"Well if this isn't a surprise." One of the Uchiha members, a middle-aged man with dull grey hair that defied gravity mused out loud. "The Daimyo said that he was being threatened by a madman, but to think it would be Shishio Makoto, a man I thought was killed a long time ago."

"I'm notoriously hard to kill Uchiha, or have I been so forgotten?" Shishio spat out their name like it was poison.

"Fugaku-sama can never forget you, not after what you did!" The second and clearly hot-head Uchiha spat at him with his Sharingan spinning wildly.

"Oh right, one-ear. Tell me is he still vying for Hokage? Or is he just rightfully oppressed as the rest of you."

The second Uchiha had to be restrained by one of the other Leaf Jounin. "Shishio Makoto." His deep voice echoed throughout the room. "You and your accomplices are under arrest for crimes against humanity. Surrender now and you will be given a fair trial, if not I'm afraid you will have to be put to death."

The Jounin got his answer when the wall behind him burst into timber, and his entire lower body was separated from the rest of him by a Ulu. The teams from Konoha turned to see an extremely muscular eight foot tall, pin-headed, bronze-skinned man. He wore nothing but a dark green spandex suit that was cut off at the middle of his thighs and biceps, along with iron gauntlets and greaves. The man snarled at the shinobi who dared to try and kill his master.

The second Uchiha member immediately lost his bluster. Unfortunately for him he did not have time to consider his fight or flight instinct, for Iwanbo, already stained with the blood of the three shinobi who attacked him outside, speared his thick right arm through his torso. The man coughed in agony as the dimwitted man proceeded to smile at Shishio, and waved with the dying man impaled on said waving arm.

And if that wasn't enough three more Jounin found themselves in the afterlife. One moment they were ready to engage the two intruders, they saw a slight blue blur in front of them, and the next thing they knew all three were clutching their throats to futilely keep their blood from spilling onto the ground. They failed in the end, fell over dead, and watched their life blood fill up the footsteps embedded into the stone as the life left their eyes.

Despite their deaths the three remaining Jounin were cool as ice. The Uchiha member calmly analyzed the situation, they were outnumbered three to one, but they still had the advantage. The pink oaf was all brawn, and obviously knew nothing about using chakra. Threat level: Low. The pinhead, taijutsu fighter, Chuunin-level chakra control. Threat level: Low to medium. The teenager was fast, unnaturally fast, and good with a sword. Threat level: High. Shishio Makoto, former Jounin of Konoha, master swordsman, former Hitokiri, master manipulator, and a man he helped set on fire. Threat level: Extremely dangerous. His whore and a brat, practically civilians. Threat levels: None.

"All right men listen up. If you're thinking what I'm thinking then you know what we need to do. If we pull this off then we may very well get out of this alive. Ready?" He whispered to his two colleagues.

"We're ready Captain." The two remaining Jounin whispered back.

Without any further discussion the three Jounin sped towards the two people that could be used as leverage. The two unremarkable Jounin made their way over to Yumi. Their reasoning were simple, she was the second weakest member of this group, the most vulnerable. Unfortunately for them they underestimated the former Oiran, her light brown eyes turned as sharp as knives; focusing her chakra into her fingertips the woman quickly rose to meet her attackers.

Almost immediately gravity went to work. The woman's towel fell from her body, and shamelessly exposing herself towards the Leaf Jounin. It was a distraction, a small one, but was not complaining when they slightly faltered. Then without mercy or hesitation Yumi plunged her fingers into their chests. The two men immediately coughed out a mouthful of blood, disbelief showed through their eyes as their hearts stopped pumping the blood they needed to live.

But unlike them the Uchiha member captured Naruto in a vice grip. He held the boys surprisingly solid body tightly in one arm, and a kunai held at his neck. "Don't you move! I'll kill the brat!" He bellowed.

"Kill him and your death is guaranteed." Yumi snarled at him as she made herself decent.

"I may die. But if it hinders you I will gladly do it, I heard everything!" The Uchiha chuckled dangerously. "To think the demon was still alive, the brat of the woman he desired, and the Yellow Flash. I would be a fool not to mold the demon into a weapon, or did he not know about that?"

"Don't kid yourself Yashiro," Shishio revealed the Uchiha members name. "He fully knows what I plan on doing with him; he willingly has gone through a good amount of training to serve my goals. But..." His red eyes blazed at him, "Unlike all of you I have never lied to him, he knows why he was hated, he knows everything! And for your information he has a name, it's not boy, kid, brat, or even demon. He is Naruto Uzumaki, my chosen one!"

Yashiro snarled in response. His Sharingan eyes blazing anger the Uchiha was prepared to cut the boys throat wide open, he would be damned if Shishio of all people could turn the boy against them. Then without any sort of warning he felt his groin explode in a fiery shower of pain. Despite years of intense training he recoiled in agony, it gave Naruto a small opening for a chance to escape, and he took it without hesitation.

Without a hostage Senkaku threw both his Ulu's at the Uchiha's legs. The extremely sharp blades easily pierced through the man's thighs, turning his legs into nothing but bloody stumps. Yashiro screamed at the top of his lungs as he hit the ground. He desperately used his hands to try and drag himself away; instead Seta speared him through the belly in order to keep him in place, igniting another stream of agonizing screams.

"Nice kick kid, I believe you broke one of his nuts." Shishio congratulated the blond with an affectionate pat on the head. "Soujiro, kill him."

"Wait! Shishio-san, I'll do it." Naruto piped up, a surprising turn of events in Shishio's opinion. "You told me that the strong live and the weak die. This..." He struggled to spit out the right words, "This piece of_ filth_ dared to kill me, you would kill a man who did this to you. It's only fair that I do it for myself...besides they still owe me a pound of flesh."

Each person suddenly felt the hair on the back of their necks stand on end at that proclamation. It struck a nerve within Shishio, a happy one! Never did he imagine the desired personality he was creating within Naruto's mind would be this successful so soon. Not even eight years old, and yet standing before him was a boy who was slowly, but surely, becoming ruthless, merciless, deadly.

"Go ahead Naruto. Kill him, exact your vengeance." Shishio bade him.

Naruto stiffly nodded in response, clad only in a towel the blond calmly walked over to the incapacitated Uchiha. Grabbing the hilt of the wakizashi he violently yanked the short sword out of the Uchiha's stomach. He ignored the man's screams of pain and without hesitation he swiped the sword at Yashiro's left hand, cleanly severing it, and just to be safe he hacked his remaining hand off so there was absolutely no chance of ninjutsu use. Naruto's stomach lurched bile into his throat and soon his lunch found itself splattered on Yashiro's vest.

The members of the Juppongatana looked on in silence. None of them were strangers to violence, so what Naruto feeling was relatively normal. After he was done vomiting Naruto raised the wakizashi over his head and wildly stabbed into the dying Uchiha Jounin. The man's dying screams were deafening, the sick splatter of blood turning the front of his towel red, the crunch of bone, the tearing of muscle, Yashiro's horrified expression. But Naruto kept of stabbing him, and he didn't stop, even after he was long dead he didn't stop, even after his body was nothing but chunks of meat he didn't stop.

It wasn't until Shishio grabbed his arm that he noticed that his fellow half Uzumaki didn't even blink during his brutal mutilation. He saw that the boys' eyes were as sharp as steel that slowly dulled when he looked upon his burnt skin, Shishio smiled in almost a fatherly fashion seeing that he could properly build this broken boy into the perfect weapon.

"That a boy Naruto. I believe it's time to properly pass on the skills you will need."

* * *

Armageddon: Okay here is the second chapter. And as you all can clearly see I'm pushing this to the darker version it deserves. If you don't like it I dunno what to tell you, just read and enjoy.

Lt. RasenganFin: Got it, you heard the disturbed man you maggots! Read and tell us all how you like it!

Armageddon: Thank you Lieutenant, I would also like to add that I'm glad to see that you guys have positive reviews for the remake. But some of you have voice exactly why you don't like remakes...and I can't agree with you more, I honestly didn't want to do another remake because, well let's face it sometimes they just fall flat on their face, and it's annoying. So I assure you that this story will be my last remake ever, the story will go on, but there won't be a version three or anything like that ever. So without further adieu, I leave you with this chapter.


	3. I hate you Usui, I really do

I don't own Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin

"Talk"

'_Think_'

**"Talk"**

**'_Think_'**

* * *

Two years passed since the incident in Yugakure, and they were possibly the best years of Shishio's life. Before his own eyes was his very own creation...his most perfect weapon. Ever since Naruto turned Yashiro Uchiha into a mess on the floor the boy practically changed over night. Every day he became stronger, faster, smarter, deadlier. The boy was loyal to a fault, and if he was being honest with himself, Shishio saw a younger version of himself within the blond. It wasn't to say he didn't inherit his mothers personality, especially when he was mad, but his was the dominant trait.

Smiling in remembrance Shishio thought of the skills that the boy simply absorbed like a sponge. After Hoji received the information he desired from the dead Daimyo, well more precisely the Daimyo's brother, he sent Usui Uonuma to copy down one specific jutsu from The Forbidden Scroll of Sealing. Now he honestly didn't know how the blind man did it, but the mission was successful. And to his enjoyable surprise the man slaughtered the graduating class of would-be Genin, and no one was any the wiser!

Afterwards Shishio taught Naruto the Shadow Clone Jutsu; the technique he ordered the second strongest member of his faction to retrieve, to increase his skills.

Back then the boy was only able to safely produce six clones a day. It was a disappointing number, but he would make due, after creating them the half Uzumaki ordered five of them to head over to Yumi for beginners lessons in chakra control exercises, and table manners of all things. The remaining clone was sent to Saizuchi to continue his education under the man, while the rest was divided in-between his kenjutsu lessons with Cho, himself, and Soujiro, and his taijutsu lessons with Anji.

When he got older and his chakra matured the creation of clones increased. Currently he could maintain thirty without suffering any migraines, and because of that the boys day was occupied with nothing more than training, training, and even more training. Naruto wasn't a master of anything they taught him, but he was far from being an amateur.

At this moment Shishio watched Naruto clashing with Cho. Gone was the short pipsqueak from two years ago, with the right diet and exercise the boy grew to be around four foot two in height and weighing seventy-five pounds of mostly muscle. His golden hair grew longer to where it resembled his own in his twenties while the the bangs framing both sides of his face went to his jawline like his father.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto crossed both his middle and index fingers together. Ten clouds of smoke later, ten identical versions of their creator burst towards Cho with two wakizashi's held in each hand. The former samurai of Iron Country immediately jumped backwards to get out of range, "For the love of Kami kid, you gotta be faster than that, aren't the lessons Sojiro taught you paying off?"

"It's a slow process broom-head, that guy's a freak of nature!"

"Broom-head! Dammit pipsqueak I will cut you for that!" Cho bellowed.

"Pipsqueak! At least I don't have a freaky sword fetish, Dattebayo!" Naruto practically spat fire at his opponent.

Shishio sweat-dropped at the heated exchange of words between the two. It wasn't the first time the two had a heated exchange of words, but he had to wonder exactly what turned the boy into a smart mouth. He blamed this on Cho, since he was the most obvious suspect.

"You think you're hot shit don't ya?" The swordsman swore at him. Sheathing his two blades the man shed the yukata off his torso to reveal a heavily toned upper body, except his stomach area that was covered by...silver armor? No, Naruto looked on in surprise when Cho grabbed a katana handle from behind his back, and unwrapped it to reveal black leather armor protecting his stomach. "Well lets see how well you dodge my ultimate sword, the Hakujin no Tachi (Thin-Bladed Sword)!"

Whipping his right arm the broom-headed man cracked his sword like a whip, sending the weighted tip of the sword towards his fellow blond. Of course the boy managed to jump away with his unusual leg strength, but with a simple flick of the wrist, the sword changed direction and shooting upwards. The deranged sword-lover watched in glee as the tip of the blade stabbed Naruto in the back of his thigh, he saw the boy clench his teeth in pain, but with a flick of his own wrist the wakizashi from his left hand flew at him.

With another flick of his wrist his thin sword batted away the wakizashi, the clones rushed head on to turn their creators teacher into mincemeat. With several flicks of his wrist Cho destroyed the ten clones with ease into thick clouds of smoke. But through the smoke burst several more Naruto's, dozens, upon dozens more, but each were destroyed by the wicked blade. After he destroyed the last one Cho's eyes widened, he couldn't see a foot in front of his face! The brat set him up.

Gritting his teeth Cho whipped began whipping Hakujin no Tachi in fierce sweeping motions, he had to admit the brat was getting good. Each day his speed increased, his mind matured, his body constantly adapting to the situation around him. It was fascinating as it was irritating, but that wasn't helping him. The brat could have been anywhere, he could have been in front, above, to the left, to the right, underground, even...oh shit.

"Iaido!" Naruto shouted from behind his kenjutsu instructor. Pressure from the swing tore into the tatami mats and struck Cho in the back, the pressure easily sent him fifteen feet away, causing him to awkwardly land on his face several times until he came to a complete stop. Before Naruto thought he won, he was violently sliced across the face by the thin swords heavy tip. He reeled backwards out of shock and pain, but stood his ground in defiance.

Once the smoke cleared Shishio saw Cho getting to his feet. His back shredded with one vicious cut, the leather armor destroyed, and the belt strapped to his waist was resting at his ankles with the two katana's still intact. Idly glancing to the side, the bandaged man was grateful that Cho had the foresight to remove the swords strapped to his back, because while the weakest member of the Juppongatana the man didn't hold back when it came to his blades. If they were destroyed, accidentally, or intentionally, he would lose his mind. It happened once already, and it was something he would not like to repeat anytime soon.

"All right, that's enough." Shishio waved his right hand in gesture, bidding the two to cease their attacks.

"Was the fight to your satisfaction, Shishio-san?" Naruto questioned with a pained bow.

The former Leaf Jounin smirked in response. Even with blood staining his white battle kimono the boy was willing to please even under pain. Granted this wasn't the first time Naruto was wounded under his watch, but he fought through it like a true fighter. "You did very well, both of you did. Now, head to the infirmary, I can't let the two of you bleed all over the floor."

With a painful bow from Cho, he quickly collected his katana's and headed out the door with Naruto in tow.

-The inside of the medical room-

Once inside the room the both of them were all too familiar with, the two let out dissatisfied groans of pain as the doctors and nurses patched up their wounds.

"Gah! dammit doc, watch where your poking that fucking thing!" Cho barked at the man stitching up his back, then he sighed in relaxation when he felt the cooling sensation of the Mystical Palm Technique numbing the pain.

"You're such a baby Cho-sensei. You know the good doctor is just trying to-Gah!" Naruto was cut off when one of the nurses dabbed some disinfectant across his face, and the other took care of the wound on his leg.

"Speak for yourself Blondie. None of us has a gigantic fox sealed inside our gut to heal us." The former samurai from Iron Country grumbled in response.

"He's more of a burden sensei. Granted I have more chakra than any man alive, and a rapid healing ability-" Naruto held in a particularly nasty swearword when the nurse swabbed his face again. "but that brings more trouble than it's worth."

"Please, with the crap you're going through, you're gonna become a powerhouse. And unlike me, you won't have a damn scar in your lifetime."

"Speaking of which, do you have any idea what I will be doing next? More training with Seta? Advanced taijutsu training with Anji? Politics with Hoji? Henya teaching me how to fly?" Naruto didn't hide the glee in his voice with the last question.

"Actually you'll be training in stealth, and going on an assassination mission with Usui."

"Aww man. Not Usui I hate that guy, the man's cruel, unusual, and has a superiority and inferiority complex!"

"That and more kid. He may be an arrogant, but he _is_ one of the best and don't you forget it...just don't try to antagonize him all right?"

"Fine." Naruto drawled out. Minutes soon ticked by, and never one to like the quiet he spoke up once again. "So sensei, the Iaido I used on you was impressive. Does that mean I have mastered it?"

Cho let out a pained laugh when as the doctor finished stitching his back. "I will admit, it was darn impressive, but you have not mastered it yet."

"How can you tell?" The blond questioned.

"I would be dead right now." His fellow blond chuckled in response. "If you mastered that technique I would've been sliced in half."

"Cho-sama, please don't act so casual about it. It's my job to make sure that you live, and the mere thought of anyone dying just revolts me." The doctor working on his back said.

"Kuro I keep telling you the life of a samurai is a hard one. We live by the sword, and we die by the sword, it's completely inevitable."

His words struck a nerve within Naruto. Even through he was the weakest member of the Juppongatana, he certainly wasn't afraid to die; especially for his beliefs for his upbringing and lifestyle. That caused the blond to think back on his life in Konoha. It wasn't the best early years of his life, he was ignored almost all the time, and there was the occasional beating, but it was still his home.

His eyes immediately narrowed in anger. Despite the people who accepted him like the Ichiraku family, the Sandaime, Inu and his protege Tenzo, and oddly enough the Aburame and Inuzuka Clan who sheltered him from time to time. There were still those who desired harm upon him. Now maybe it was the training he was being put through, Shishio's influence, or the fact that he personally killed nineteen people since he butchered that Uchiha that he felt they deserved nothing but death.

Oh well, Naruto guessed he would cross that bridge when it was time to return to the village.

-The very next day-

The next day the blond found himself traveling with the second strongest member of the Juppongatana. Usui 'The Blind Sword' was a man of average height with slicked back black hair and a rat tail mustache. He wore a heavily customized battle kimono that had a tan haoi with long white sleeves and hakama pants that on the ends were decorated with eye symbols. That wasn't all he also decorated his sash, straps of his shinobi-styled sandals, the backs of his purple hand guards, and even the blue tortoise shield on his back held that damn symbol.

The man looked over towards him, showing the purple cloth covering his eyes with the white kanji symbols for 'All Seeing Eye' going across the cloth, and earrings with that same damn symbol dangling from his earlobes. He smirked at the blond, and not too subtly threatening him with his three foot steel spear that had an iron ball at the end of it.

"What are you staring at no-eyes?" Naruto growled at him.

"Your heart is beating rapidly boy." Usui grinned in response. "My Shungun (The Eye of the Heart) is telling me that you're afraid. Afraid to be alone with me."

"Well can you blame me? After all hanging around a man whose hobby is killing those weaker than him is not _exactly_ comforting for me."

"Be grateful that I haven't decided to kill you yet." Usui growled at the blond. "And also be grateful that I'm even _helping_ you train to be an effective killer."

"It does not mean I have to like it."

"Fucking little worm."

It continued like that for the next few weeks. Usui reluctantly taught the blond the where most vital points on the human body were, places where one could easily hide, and a game he like to call "Hide for an hour and I won't kill you". Naruto hadn't won a game yet.

It wasn't until the pair arrived within Fang Country that the blind man stopped him. Even though he couldn't see Usui sensed his surroundings. They were still in the forests surrounding the Daimyou's Compound that was located at the base of the only river that ran through the country right in between the Fang Mountains which gave the country its namesake. The assassin expelled his chakra, and felt the thousands of guards within the Daimyou's residence.

"Tell me boy, before you came crawling to me, what did Shishio train you in?" Usui demanded.

Ignoring his insult, Naruto calmly answered the arrogant man. "Saizuchi-sensei has been teaching me about the history of the Elemental nations, along with all their dirty secrets, diplomacy, and battle tactics. Anji-sensei has been teaching me the Futae no Kiwami and meditation. Cho, Seta, and Shishio-sensei have been teaching me kenjutsu long with advanced chakra control exercises. And Miss Yumi taught me _manners_ of all things."

"Is that all? Come on boy don't hold back on me."

"Well…she also taught me basic chakra control exercises, and two medical ninjutsu. They were the, uh, the Mystical Palm Technique for minor injuries, and the Chakra Scalpel a few months ago."

A borderline manic smirk etched upon the former Mist shinobi's face. "Well…I guess I know what you're going to do now."

-Naruto, later that night-

"I cannot believe he's making me do this." Naruto grumbled to himself later that night. During the late afternoon the blond snuck into a last minute merchant's cart, who by now proved that he was obsessed with cabbage (which he unfortunately had to transform into). The blind bastard said he was going to sneak in behind him to deal with any shinobi that the Daimyo had, while _he_ was going to _kill_ the Daimyo.

What was he insane? He was completely weaponless; his bright hair would stick out worse than his old jumpsuit within the place. If he was spotted it would be game over, if he was captured it would be game over, when he eventually killed the Daimyo it would definitely be game over if there were any witnesses. And once more the asshole told him it had to be a clean kill...how the hell was he supposed to do that?

Now getting out of the cart, _that_ was easy. Prowling through the streets, _that_ was easy. Infiltrating the compound, that was somewhat easy thanks to his black clothing-and yet Usui didn't think of giving him a bandana, the bastard. Getting past the army of armed guards was easy enough when the clock hit midnight, then they changed shifts he used his chakra to quickly scale the walls, and then the ceiling. But gaining entrance to the Daimyo's bedchambers _wasn't _going to be easy at all.

There was only one entrance, and five grizzled-looking men were guarding it with intense awareness. They ranged from their early twenties to late fifties, and varying in different weight classes. All five wore plain cream colored leather armor, steel helmets covering their entire heads to hide their identities, and each held a spear in their dominate hands while swords were belted on their respective hips where their dominate hands could easily reach them.

With him standing on ceiling the blond wondered how to get rid of them all. There was no need for them to die, after all the less causalities proved to be the most successful assassination mission in his opinion. He couldn't wait for the next four hour shift, because by then the Daimyo would be awake. Geez this was much harder than raiding a bandit camp that's for sure, at least he had the advantage in numbers by then.

Wait…numbers, that's it! With a smirk coming to his face, Naruto quietly made his way to one of the windows furthest away from the bedroom, and crossed his middle and index fingers together.

"Son of a bitch, I'm bored." Once of the younger guards yawned out.

"Quiet newbie." A guard that was past middle age furiously whispered at him, "To guard the Daimyo is a great honor."

"Plus the five-thousand Ryo and night is pretty generous in my opinion." A third, plain-looking guard in his late twenties said.

"Five-thousand Ryo a night, good Kami Daimyo-sama is serious about his safety." The fourth guard, who was also in his early twenties gasped out in surprise.

The last guard who looked to nearing his sixtieth year only grunted. "Boy, I have been guarding the Daimyo and his family for nearly thirty years. The last one died peacefully in his sleep at the age of seventy, but his son, he needs all the help he can get."

"Why is that?" The first one asked.

"The fool boy ignited a cold war with Claw Country, and every day we draw closer to an inevitable meltdown. It doesn't matter how much he pays us to protect him while he sleeps, if we go to war protection won't matter at all."

Before any of the other four guards could comment they were met with one of the Daimyo's messengers. He was a young, but out of shape young man with curly brown hair that covered his eyes, dimpled cheeks that showed he smiled too much, and a gut that showed he needed to run more often than eat. He tried to speak, but was interrupted by his hard breathing.

"Easy boy, breathe before you keel over." The eldest guard said to the messenger.

"So-s-Sorry for the…the intrusion." The man panted out. "But we have a situation at the front gates. A…a messenger from Claw Country, and an entourage of soldiers are at the gates. They demand to see the Daimyo!"

"Not so loud you idiot!" The old guard barked at him, "We cannot disturb the Daimyo at this time of night. You of all people know how angry he can get."

"But what are we to do? This could be the peace talks we have been vying for. Please Honda-san, do something!" The young man begged.

Roughly sighing in frustration, the eldest guard now revealed as Honda broke from his position. "Listen boy. Call in a replacement guard, the boys and I will handle this."

"Us?" The two rookies questioned.

"It's about time you boys got your boots dirty. I've handled this kind of situation before, let the Daimyo sleep. Once the replacement guards arrive we'll go."

It took less than a minute for the five replacements to arrive. There was an exchange of words before the two guards were switched, and left to deal with a potentially fatal situation. Ten minutes passed without incident until Naruto landed in front of the guards.

"This went better than expected. Keep watch guys, this shouldn't take more than a minute." Naruto greeted the five.

"Go right ahead boss. We will dispel after they come back." The lead 'guard' said to his creator.

"Go somewhere where you won't be seen and dispel. Can't let anyone know we're here." The blond said before opening the solid oak doors.

Once inside Naruto had to restrain himself from killing the man at that very moment. It wasn't because the room was gaudy as hell with a mash of cream and brown colors, or that the asshole made this harder on him by not having any windows (seriously it was hot in the room), _or_ that he had a naked woman in his bed who was obviously loathing his company (apparently even in her sleep), but it was literally beaten into his head to stay absolutely quiet.

_'Okay Naruto think. You're in the Daimyo's bedroom where he apparently did the deed. Miss Yumi I thank, and curse you for teaching me facts of life. Okay focus…how can you kill this guy?'_ Naruto thought to himself. _'I need to make it clean, so smothering him with a pillow and choking him are out of the question. The Futae no Kiwami is out of the question as well.'_

The nine year old narrowed his blue eyes and took notice how fat the Daimyo was. In fact he was surprised that his heart didn't already give out…wait that's it! Bringing his right hand to his face Naruto focused this chakra into it, and light glowing blue chakra surrounded his hand. He remembered Miss Yumi telling him that this technique was used for highly accurate incisions necessary for surgeries and anatomical dissections. But unlike regular scalpels, the chakra scalpel could actually make cuts inside the body without actually creating an open wound.

Case in point he could use it to stop his targets heart, escape through the doors, and no one would be the wiser. So taking a deep breath the blond quietly walked up the wall with his chakra, calmly walked over to the king sized bed with the sleeping couple, activated the Chakra Scalpel and swooped down like an eagle.

Naruto landed hand first on the Daimyo's chest. The scalpel severing the valves of the man's heart sending him into cardiac arrest. The overweight leader of the country choked and gasped for air, he clawed at his chest, and died several quick seconds later. It was not the intended death the blond desired, only because it woke up the woman sleeping next to him.

She was in her early twenties with long purple hair and dark eyes. She pulled the cream colored sheets to cover her well defined chest, but it didn't hide her womanly curves. Where she was, the woman saw the young man sitting on the corpse of the dead Daimyo, she didn't scream, instead she stayed quiet, she even cracked a smile.

That certainly threw the young shinobi in training for a loop. "Aren't you supposed to scream or something?" He whispered to the woman.

"Of course not." The young woman said with a smile.

"Why the hell not? I killed your husband."

"The _man_ you killed was a slimy pig that blackmailed my father into an arranged marriage. With his death, you've freed me from such a horrid fate. Thank you young man."

"Umm. You're welcome Miss…widow?" Naruto awkwardly accepted the thanks.

"Call me Kayo young one." Kayo politely said to him. "Now you must hurry, I don't know how you got in, but you need to leave before you-" She quieted herself and heard a commotion outside, the sound of ten guards talking.

"Oh no. What Should I do now? Oh man I'm screwed." The blond mumbled to himself, he couldn't panic, not now.

"Easy young one let me handle this."

-Outside the room with Naruto's clones-

"What's the news?" One of the disguised clones asked the returning guards.

"The messenger desired a meeting with the Daimyo, he says it's urgent and won't take no for an answer." Honda answered his fellow guards. "We have but no choice to wake Daimyo-sama from his slumber."

"I would not recommend that." Kayo's voice from behind the door caused the guards to jump in panic, causing a velvet-soft laugh to come from her lips. "I'm sorry gentlemen, but my betrothed has taken ill this evening, and needs his rest."

"Well that's just great. What are we going to do now?" One of the rookie guards complained.

"We w-"

"I will go in his stead." Kayo answered from behind the door.

"My lady I cannot in good conscience allow this." Honda protested.

He got his reply when the oak doors swung open to reveal Lady Kayo in her royal glory. Her pale skin glowed with wisdom and radiance, her long purple hair done up in the "hime" style. And unlike the normal cream colored outfits the Daimyo made everyone within the compound wear, she wore a long-sleeved royal purple kimono that nearly swept against the ground.

"Honda-san," She politely began with a smile as she closed the door. "I know my safety is supposed to be your concern. But you must remember that I'm no stranger to political nightmares."

"But I insist that you have some guards come with you. Those scoundrels refuse to enter the compound, and are in the forests impatiently waiting for an answer." The grizzled old guard, proud and stubborn, stood his ground on the issue.

Kayo only sighed and gave them all a cute pout. "Oh if you insist," She then pointed at the five guarding the bedroom doors. "You five are to accompany me."

"You got it ma'am." The lead 'guard' answered. Almost immediately after his answered the former fiancee of the Fang Daimyo briskly walked away with purpose. Leaving five befuddled guards in their wake.

* * *

After fifteen minutes of torturous walking Kayo deemed it to be safe enough. That brought confused glances from the clones guarding her, at least until Naruto walked out from underneath her kimono. His knees were pressed against his chin, his butt nearly dragging on the ground, and his fingers firmly pressed on the ground to keep balance.

"That was _not_ fun." The blond grumbled as he stood to his full height.

"You know, most men would kill to get a glimpse of what you've seen." Kayo said with a teasing smile.

"I'm not even ten yet!" Naruto exclaimed with a violent blush.

"Oh you're so adorable little one." Kayo continued to tease him; she even went so far to pat him on the head.

"Oh this is too rich!" A mocking voice interrupted their fun.

Looking upwards Naruto narrowed his blue eyes at the only member of the Juppongatana he least cared for. Sitting casually on the nearest tree Usui held his short spear loosely against his chest, his right leg bordly swinging back and forth. Then without warning he slid from the branch, and silently landed on the ground feet first. "Good job killing your first Daimyo kid. Of course I would have done it faster."

"Unlike _you_ I handled it quick and clean just like you told me to. There were no unnecessary deaths, I got out in time, and hopefully there will be peace since the Daimyo is now dead." Naruto argued.

"But you have a _witness_. That is a big no-no kid; you know what you have to do now."

"Yeah, I do." The blond turned to Kayo. His blue eyes were colder than ice for a second before they became warm. He smiled at her and brought his right hand out. "I believe that's a job well done, wouldn't you say our mystery client?"

Taking his hand the woman giggled in response. "Impressive young one, how did you figure it out?"

"I will admit I was stumped at first. Shishio-san deploys his members to various missions for clients who want to get rid of their competitors, husbands, wives, etc. all the time. It wasn't until I later learned from one of my teachers that shinobi are usually hired to kill important individuals…but in doing so this leaves a paper trail that can easily be found in a shinobi village. And Shishio-san, being the master manipulator he is can easily redirect the blame through false paperwork, bribes, and threats so it doesn't come back to him." Naruto said like it was yesterday's lesson.

"But how did you know it was me?" Kayo amusingly asked.

"Other than the Claw Daimyo, I guessed someone within his court would want the man dead. And with your less than shocked behavior, and willingness to help me by sticking me under that long kimono of yours, it kind of became obvious."

"Brat, if you're done talking to the client then I suggest that we both leave. It's been too long already, and those 'guards' of yours still need to escort her back to the compound." Usui barked at his temporary student, as he turned his back and began heading back towards the hideout.

"He is right young one. We must make haste if we are to pull this off, tell your leader that the mission will be paid in full, and that Honey Country will be at his service in the future."

"As long you call me Naruto in return, I'm not _that_ young." Naruto said before he sprinted after the blind assassin.

After the two disappeared the woman's smile turned into a frown. "Why do I get the feeling that I will never see him this way again?" Kayo asked herself.

-One week later-

A week later both Naruto and Usui finally made it back to the hideout. The blond was in high spirits, he completed his very first assassination mission with success, Miss Kayo made it back to Honey Country safe and sound, and all his clones dispelled without being seen giving him detailed information about the compound for future missions. Nothing could possibly go wrong!

At least until both he and Usui saw Shishio's smiling face. Now whenever Shishio smiled it meant one of three things. Either, A: He killed someone who had been a thorn in his side for far too long. B: He had just finished a project, or plan he had been working on for years. Or, C: He had a plan that involved one of them, which was usually painful.

And right now, with his fellow half Uzumaki staring at him. The blond figured it was all the above. When the bandaged man beckoned him to follow, he followed without question. Before they rounded the corner Naruto looked back to see Usui shaking his head, it was almost as if he was pitying him.

"Um, Shishio-san. I can see that you're in a good mood." Naruto broke the silence after several minutes. "May I ask what the cause of it was?"

"Wonderful news. Do you remember the guy you killed in Yugakure?"

"Yea I remember." The blond frowned in remembrance.

"That was Yashiro Uchiha; he used to be part of the now nearly extinct Uchiha Clan."

"You mean?"

"Yes, that clan has nearly been wiped from the face of the earth. It was by their very own prodigy too! What an irony, those fools prided themselves for their precious bloodline, and now all but two of them are gone. Kid you have no idea how happy I am about this." Shishio finished with a maniacal laugh.

"Congratulations?" Naruto uncertainly said. Inwardly though he _did_ know how happy he was, through his many sessions with Miss Yumi the blond learned that the man he looked up to was burned by Konoha; literally burned. And the Uchiha's never made his life any easier when he was still in the village, so that was a major plus for him when he eventually returned to Konoha.

"That's not the only reason why I'm happy boy. Tell me how much do you know about our clans history?"

"As much as anyone. I know they hailed from Whirlpool Country, formed Uzushiogakure and allied themselves with the Senju Clan. We also possess incredible longevity and life force that allow us to potentially live past one-hundred years, and the clan was gifted win the art of fuinjutsu. Am I right Shishio-san?"

"But what you don't know is because of our gift in fuinjutsu was the reason we were destroyed, and scattered to the winds. Now I won't lie boy, my area is of expertise is mainly in kenjutsu and fire-based ninjustu. But your mother taught me enough about fuinjutsu for me to conduct my own research, and finally I completed my greatest work to date."

"A new type of fuinjutsu?"

"Yes, and you're going to be in the middle of it." The bandaged man smirked

* * *

When Shishio said he was going to be in the middle of it, he honestly wasn't kidding. Naruto found himself sitting cross-legged in the middle of a spiraled center with hundreds of odd-number of seals placed on top of hundreds of even-numbered seals clad in nothing but a pair of black knee-length shorts. The blond uncomfortably found himself covered head to toe in black ink that was obviously mixed with blood. Due to his lack of experience in the field of fuinjutsu the blond saw only four large symbols spreading across his chest, he felt there was something akin of spider markings on his back that went around his shoulders, there were various kanji symbols running along his arms and legs, and inked on his forehead was the kanji symbol for 'Accept'.

He sat like that for exactly four hours until Shishio painted the last of the seals on the stone floor. He then spent another hour to make sure that everything was correct, and then with an order for Naruto to stay still he left for an undetermined amount of time.

But when he came back Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion. Seta now seventeen years old was the first to arrive, naked of everything except for his usual light blue hakama pants along with a blue kanji symbol for 'Water' inked over his heart, and 'Agility' inked on his forehead.

Anji was the second one who came in. He was in the same state as Seta, only his kanji symbol was brown. The one over his heart was 'Earth', and the one on his bald forehead was 'Strength'.

Saizuchi was the third one to come in. For an old man he sure kept himself physically fit, but due to his old age it was obvious that his bones couldn't handle the high stress of active duty anymore. A purple yellow kanji for 'Lightning' was inked over his heart, and the word 'Wisdom' was inked on his forehead.

The fourth person who arrived was none other than 'Soaring' Henya. He was above the average height for a man with slicked back dark brown hair that defied gravity except for a strand of hair hanging in front his face and pitch black eyes. He was as pale as a corpse; in fact with his emancipated body he looked like a corpse. Gone was the long flowing black cloak that helped him fly (for the moment at least), what was left were tattered leather tight black pants, and the black bandanna covering the lower half of his face. On his chest was a green kanji symbol for 'Wind' and on his forehead was 'Fearless'.

Shishio was the last to enter the room. Inked over his blackened skin was the red kanji symbol for 'Fire', and on his bare forehead was the word 'Ambition'.

Without anyone speaking all five of them went to their designated parts of the room and sat down in the lotus position. Slapping their hands together each of them focused their chakra until they absolutely glowed with their elemental alignment.

"Are you ready Naruto?" Shishio spoke at last.

"What will you be doing to me?" The blond asked.

"We are going to turn you into the ultimate warrior kid." Hanya's wispy voice answered him.

"Shishio-san explained to us that this fuinjutsu will draw out our greatest strengths, and elemental alignments to transfer over to you." Seta said with a small smile.

"You will be broken down and rebuilt from scratch. I won't lie to you brat, Shishio-sama told us this would cause great pain for all of us. But if you survive you become the greatest warrior in the elemental nations." Saizuchi grinned with his yellow teeth.

"You can walk away from this Naruto, if you do we will understand. But if you go through with this there will be no going back." Anji warned his apprentice.

"So what's it gonna be?" Shishio demanded.

Silence filled the room. No one spoke, no one breathed, and they all waited for Naruto to make his decision. It would not be an easy one; in fact two of them figured he would decline the offer. They saw the blond concentrating with his eyes closed. Then after several long minutes he snapped them over and said two words. "Do it."

A smirk spreading on his face, Shishio slammed his hands on the ground. Four other loud slaps followed shortly afterwards, and their respective chakra natures surged towards the young blond. The various seals and symbols glowed the colors of their elemental affinities until they reached the symbol of his forehead. That was when the pain began, it was small at first, but not too gradually it became overwhelming.

Naruto did his absolute best to not scream, but it was fruitless. He felt his muscles tearing and instantly repairing themselves, his bones breaking, blood spilling onto the ground, his nerves thickening. The other five looked on in absolute horror, they felt the pain tearing into them, but it was certainly nothing to this extent.

"This is too cruel! Shishio we have to stop this now!" Anji hollered over the boy's agony.

"We can't, he would be worse off is we stop now. He could very well die!" Shishio answered with a snarl.

"Better for him to die now than continue with-"

"No! I can do this!" Naruto interrupted the fallen monk with a bloody shout. "I'm not _weak_," The sound of his spine snapping forced an agonizing scream from his throat, "I won't back down, I will survive!" Crimson chakra slowly began to bubble from the seal on his stomach and coursing up the various symbols intensifying his agonized screaming.

Immediately Shishio knew something went awry. The Kyuubi's chakra wasn't supposed to react to this, nothing like this was supposed to happen! The bandaged man looked on in horror when the beast's foul chakra surged into his forehead, and his features began to change. His hair, always wild and untamed, grew even shaggier. His blue eyes were now stained crimson with a vertical slit, the whisker marks grew more pronounces, his teeth and nails slowly elongated.

"Release!" Shishio immediately stopped the jutsu. Once the chakra coming from all participating members of the jutsu, the crimson chakra immediately began to expand, engulfing the blond before it exploded outward, destroying the seal around him and sending Shishio and his four members of the Juppongatana harshly against the stone walls.

Once the five awoke, and once they did they had to blink several dozen times. Most of them expected to be dead; they fully expected to accidentally unleash the Kyuubi due to whatever went wrong. Instead…instead they witnessed one of the greatest tests of will.

Now on his knees, Naruto's fingers were clutching the sides of his head. From his angle Seta saw the nails on his fingers lengthening and receding, Henya focused his eyes on his expanding and contracting muscles, Anji saw his blue chakra at a stalemate with his crimson chakra, Saizuchi saw his whisker birthmarks more pronounced like tattoos, and Shishio saw the boys' eyes bleeding blue and crimson.

"You will not win." The blond snarled to himself. "This is _my _body you stupid fox, not yours! I will not submit to you, not to anyone!" At his proclamation his blue chakra blasted against the beast's foul chakra back into his stomach, and the primal features faded away until he was back to normal.

Slowly, very slowly the five rose to their feet. Each of them felt their bodies screaming at them for doing something against nature itself. But peering at the results they-especially Shishio couldn't help but marvel in the absolute perfection that was created because of it.

Other than gaining two inches in height and wild hair that needed to be cut, the boy's muscles showed a considerable increase, it would take a few years for definition to show, but Naruto's physical strength was now well beyond the average civilians or even kids at the academy, and would continue to grow with proper training of course. Besides his muscles his fellow Uzumaki's bones, tendons, nerves and even his brain were above the average capacity for a child his age and would grow as he got older. But most importantly Naruto now had full control of the five main elements; he would have full access to everything he could afford teach equally.

But there were several downsides that only Shishio knew about. He could never use any of the secondary elements like magma, ice, and boil for example; which was a huge disappointment. His chakra control was completely shot, meaning he would have to go through months if not years of chakra control exercises to get him back to normal again. Those were the two main things that he knew about. He didn't know if the little mishap at the end screwed up his healing factor, shortened his lifespan, or weakened the seal containing the Nine-Tails, _or_ if the creature within his gut somehow screwed with his mind.

"Shishio-san…" Naruto softly spoke up after a minute. "You know I don't ask for much, but after…this I believe I deserve what I'm about to ask."

"Whatever you want kid. I believe I can grant it." The bandaged man replied.

"An epithet, I wish my own epithet like the members of the Juppongatana."

Looking towards the remaining four Shishio judged the reactions of the four that participated in this abomination of a jutsu. Their reactions went to various degrees, but they (painfully) nodded. Naruto wouldn't officially be a member of the Juppongatana, at least until one of the original members died, but he could throw the kid a bone after the torture he went through. "Name yourself then boy."

Naruto then smirked exactly like Shishio. "Call me Naruto the..."

* * *

Armageddon: Well here is where his title known as 'The Chosen One' came into play. But I believe you were all expecting some sort of explanation with the kanji symbol for his epithet in the other story to come up, well here it is and I hope you enjoy it.

Pvt. Liquor: Here, here Sir. So what gonna happen next? I mean a few reviewers have been asking about the pairings and all.

"Lt. RasenganFin: They're right you know, who or whom are you going to pair our favorite blond with?

Armageddon:...Well that depends, do they desire a single pairing? Or like the perverts they are, the harem pairings? Because I can do one or the other...well shit. Folks, my new fans and old-I know you're reading this stuff, what's say you? Yay for single pairings, or nay for it? Yay for the harem pairings, or nay for it? I'll give this five days for you all to figure out and then I'll post the next chapter on Friday with the results. Until then, Rock on.


	4. The downfall of the Juppongatana Part 1

I don't own Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin.

"Talk"

'_Think_'

**"Talk"**

**'_Think_'**

* * *

October tenth, ten years after the Kyuubi attack on Konoha, and one year after the Uchiha Massacre, Naruto considered himself to be fortunate for what he had. He had something as close to a home than he ever had in Konoha; he had some of the most intense training that was turning himself into a force to be reckoned with, but most importantly he had people that he considered to be family.

It was with this motley crew of a family that Naruto had his _first_ actual birthday out in the forest surrounding the hideout.

"Happy birthday you little menace!" Cho congratulated the ten year old with an obnoxious pat on the back, at least until he was beamed upside his head with the butt of a scythe.

Giving the unconscious man a sexy smile, Kamatari 'Of the Great Scythe' was undoubtedly a beautiful woman. She stood at an impressive six feet, had short black hair that curled to the sides of her heart-shaped face and soft brown eyes. She wore a formfitting light blue battle kimono with a dark purple obi and a white rope tied around her waist that turned into a gigantic bow behind her back. Currently in her hands was a ridiculously big scythe that was five feet long, its blade was three feet long and was straight instead of curved, but it had a ball and chain attached to the top of it.

…If only that were the reality. Naruto found out the hard and most embarrassing way the so-called woman was actually a man. It was during a spar that he foolishly said he would not fight a beautiful woman…which gave Kamatari the perfect opening to show _his_ dong, shocking Naruto's young mind to a state of mind numbing stupidity, and blissful unconsciousness after the scythe-boy cracked his skull with his big scythe.

"That wasn't necessary big sis, I can handle his jackassery." Naruto said to the person who _persuaded _him to think of the crossdresser as his big sister.

"I could not in good conscience allow that oaf to tease such a cutie like you." The scythe-wielding weirdo _gushed_ before he also patted the blond on the head.

Good Kami, Kamatari was a decent guy but he creeped him the fuck out!

"Kamatari, for the love of Kami haven't you scarred the boy enough already?" Yumi's familiar voice turned out to be his saving grace.

"Yumi-chan! Oh darling it's been so long!" The scythe-wielding crossdresser exclaimed before he bounded over to the annoyed woman.

After sighing in relief the blond found the scruff of his white yukata being pinched together by something big. With gleeful anticipation Naruto found himself perched on the broad shoulder of Fuji 'The Destroying Yang' a deeply tanned man that was taller than most three story buildings. He wore mismatched pieces of armor that covered his torso, right arm, and his head giving him a menacing appearance that was frightening to those around him. And let's not forget that he wielded the largest zanbato that was only possible for him to wield, a forty foot long curved piece of steel that was almost impossibly formed into the world's largest sword, and a much smaller zanbato that might as well been a tanto to him called the Kubikiribocho (Decapitating Carving Knife).

While he looked fearsome, Naruto knew that Fuji was literally a gentle giant. Usually he wouldn't harm a fly, the animals of the forest always seemed to surround him fondly, and he was polite to his fellow man. But pair him up with Saizuchi…there is a reason they are called the Destructive Army.

Speaking of the old imp, the blond saw him perched on the giant man's other broad shoulder. "Enjoying the night boy?" The elderly man asked.

"Yea, it's one of the better birthdays I've had in a long while."

"Hehehe yea, wasn't your last birthday a little _crappy_?"

Naruto's blond right eyebrow ticked in annoyance. Of course it was crappy; he had to crawl through ten miles of sewage within Iwakagure in order to escape with some valuable information about the Explosion Corps. The mission was a success, but it sucked more than anything else that year. "Well this year won't be bad. All of us are together, and that's enough for me."

"Is it now?" Henya demanded as he flew up next to him.

Not even remotely startled, Naruto looked over to the emancipated man and nodded.

"Well get on down, most of us have something to give you."

Once he was on the ground Naruto found himself facing the members of the Juppongatana. Normally he would never be nervous about facing them all at the same time, but this was the first time that he even remotely celebrated something with either of them-normally it was just business and training, nothing more nothing less.

Saizuchi was the first to approach him. Reaching his old hand into his orange yukata the old crone pulled out a scroll the size of his forearm. Once he handed it to his student he opened his mouth to speak. "Boy…you have been a pain in my ass since day one. But as the years went by faster than I thought it would be, and you showed to be better than I ever thought you would be. So here I give you a scroll containing four powerful lighting ninjutsu to complement the minor ones that I have already taught you, and one taijutsu technique I _loved_ using when I was younger."

"I accept this with great gratitude Saizuchi-sensei. I vow to master them and make you proud of me." Naruto thanked the elderly man with a deep bow.

Cracking a strained smile Saizuchi patted the young man on his side and hobbled over to his former standing spot. Hanya came next, practically flowing over the ground due to his long flowing cloak.

"Naruto…" Reaching into his cloak Hanya produced an old battered scroll, and plopped it into the ten year olds hand. "Like the old man, this scroll contains four powerful wind ninjutsu only known within Sunagakure. Use them well, and remember the exercises I showed you concerning wind based techniques."

Before he could thank him, Hanya retreated back and was immediately replaced by Cho. The broom-headed man reached into his torn robe, and produced another scroll. But unlike the first two he set it to the ground, unrolled it, and in a cloud of smoke he produced a sword that looked to be around five feet in length, completely covered by a black scabbard with a white handle and guard.

"I know what you're thinking kind. 'Why did Cho give me a sword that's bigger than me?' well listen up. Ever since I was forced to train you I learned one critical thing that matters to your sword style. Katana's, ninjato's, wakizashi's, they don't suit you. In fact they hold back your natural flexibility and leg strength; this taichi will serve you until you finally find Muramasa-sama's Juuchi Yosamu."

Naruto had to fight the urge to palm his face at Cho's ridiculous proclamation. That particular sword did not exist, Shishio saw no proof of it, the Sword Fortune book-which Cho forced him to read-didn't have it on record, and it was just a story passed down in Iron Country, and possibly other countries too.

Instead he bit the bullet and happily accepted the weapon. And to his surprise he felt…a sense of completion. The taichi was light, balanced, and perfect in his hands. Dear Kami he couldn't believe he was going to say this. "Cho-sensei, this feels perfect in my hands. Now I don't know if the Juuchi Yosamu exists, but if I do find it, I will wield it in your honor."

"Good to hear munchkin, happy birthday." Cho patted his student on the head one last time before heading back to his spot.

Anji immediately replaced him. The big man gave the blond a sincere smile, and produced a regular sized tanto from his haoi. "Naruto-kun, I present you this tanto."

"Thank you Anji-sensei." Naruto said as he took the small weapon, and secured it to his sash. "Does this mean I'm ready to learn the next step of the Futae no Kiwami?"

"It will be the last thing I will ever teach you my child. What took me ten years to create and master, you have nearly succeeded in doing it less than half that time." Seeing the sadness creeping into the boy's eyes, Anji tussled his spiky blond locks. "Do not be sad. There will always be a time when the master and student must part ways, but they will always have the fond memories of their time together. Never forget that Naruto."

"Thank you Anji-sensei, I will always remember your kind words as long as I shall live." Naruto thanked the retreating monk.

Then to his, and everyone else's surprise Usui came forward. His posture was still filled with arrogance, his usual smirk still plastered on his face; the threatening gesture with his spear was still there as well. He opened his mouth to speak, "Brat open your ears and listen well, because no one will hear any of this ever again." The assassin cleared his throat, "I do not have a gift for you, not what those fools gave. Instead I give you…a congratulation. It's no secret that I don't like you, and if you're as smart as you are, then you know the objectives I set for you have been outrageous."

"Because you're always trying to get me killed." Naruto deadpanned.

"Exactly, but despite all that you still keep on living. But only because you did the unthinkable, like crawling through sewers, hiding for days, if not weeks on end, and my personal favorite; hiding underneath Princess Kayo's kimono." That unknown bit of information caused the members of the Juppongatana to laugh, but Hoji oddly enough stepped behind Shishio...maybe he didn't want anyone to see him laugh. "Keep that current mindset of yours, and you may survive into old age."

It took several long seconds for the Kyuubi jinchuriki to process _exactly _what the assassin said. Did he…did he just get complemented by the worst human being he had ever come across? From the look on his face Usui seemed quite ill; almost like he swallowed poison, dear Kami the man was serious.

"Usui-sensei…thank you. I don't think anything else needs to be said."

Grunting in reply the second strongest of the group departed. Hoji was the next one to offer the blond a gift, his face set into his permanent scowl didn't give away anything until he reached his right hand into his brown suit, and produced a small black book. After forcefully stuffing it into the blond's yukata, be brought his mouth to his ear and whispered, "Since you have proven to be trustworthy, I give you my little black book. This is my only copy, so don't lose it."

"Your only copy? Hoji-sensei I don't understand." Naruto whispered in shock, he then saw Shishio and the others unsheathing their weapons. Cho, Usui, Henya, and Seta bounded off into the forest. Saizuchi and Fuji retreated towards the base, while Shishio and the rest sped over towards him. It was then Naruto felt the wetness, blood seeping into his white clothing. He then saw a small sharp object sticking out where his heart should have been, and blood was coming out of the corners of his mouth.

"Welcome to the Juppongatana boy, serve Shishio-sama well." Hoji breathed out before he slumped over the blond. His body didn't stay prone long as Shishio pulled the dead man off his fellow Uzumaki's shocked form.

"Come on, there's nothing we can do here!" Shishio barked at the ten year old.

"Shishio-san, what's going on?" The blond asked as he stuffed the two scrolls next to Hoji's prized book in his yukata, and he struggled to keep his new taichi from being a hindrance.

"We're being attacked boy. While you were responding to Usui's speech, he took a kunai that was meant for me. I'm not going to lie; Hoji's information was indispensable so you better take care of the fucking book!"

"But who's attacking us?"

"The question is who _isn't_ attacking us?" Kamatari answered for the man he loved. "Naruto-kun we have done so many missions is about every country, I wouldn't be surprised if every village volunteered their services to attack us."

"But that's impossible, isn't it?" Naruto questioned.

-Several miles away-

Unfortunately for Naruto it was a huge possibility. Surrounded by two bodyguards each were the five leaders coordinating the attack.

The first was a man who looked to be in his forties. He was a man of average height that wore a beige flak-jacket that had a scroll pouch over his stomach, and shoulder guards. He wore black cargo pants and a loose black shirt, and bore a Sunagakure hitai-ate strapped across his turban-like head gear. He was Joseki, Sunagakure's top adviser and right hand man of the Kazekage.

The second Hanzo was a rather muscular man of average height, with long blond hair reaching down to his back and a prominent scar on his right cheek. He had unusual eyes that displayed dark sclera with brown irises that were nearly obscured by a dark hat on his head and his lower face was mostly obscured by a helmet-like respirator with two filter cartridges, and held the symbol of Amegakure on his forehead. His attire consisted of a loose wetsuit-like outfit, accented by bandages wrapped around his wrists and lower legs, a slate gray flak jacket, standard shinobi sandals and a dark cloak that reached down below his waist. In his right hand the man held a larger than average kusarigama. He was Hanzo the Salamander, the leader of Amekagure.

The third was a man of above average height with light purple hair that framed the sides of his face until it went to his neck, and a loose ponytail. He wore a blue flak- jacket that had two scroll pouches near the hip and are held together by three straps by the neck-guard that complemented with his light blue pants and long-sleeved shirt, and dark purple haoi vest. He was Akahoshi, the Yondaime Hoshikage.

The fourth was an extremely pale-skinned man with waist-length black hair. He had amber eyes with slits in his pupils and purple markings around his eyes, and blue tomoe-shaped earrings hanging from his earlobes. The man wore plain grey garbs with black pants and a thick purple rope belt tied in a large knot behind his back, along with a black polo neck underneath his robe. He was Orochimaru, the Snake Sannin and leader of Otokagure.

The very last was a very calm-looking but very old man. He had black, shaggy hair, his right eye and forehead was bandaged with white medical tape, and he had an x-shaped scar in the middle of his strong chin. The man wore a very loose white long-sleeved shirt, with a black robe over top of it covering from his feet, to just over his right shoulder. Clutched in his right hand was a sturdy wooden cane. He was Danzo Shimura, the founder and leader of Root.

A figure dressed in nothing but a black cloak and a plain white mask dropped down next to the elderly man. He leaned over and whispered into his ear, and then disappeared as suddenly as he came.

"It seems that we struck the first blow, Hoji Sadojima is dead." Danzo neutrally announced the first causality of their mission.

"Well congratulations, your men killed a civilian. You must be so proud." Akahoshi sarcastically praised the one-eyed man.

"You fool, remember he had vital information on our villages. If any of that dirty laundry got out, it could very well cripple our villages." Joseki snarled at the self-proclaimed Kage.

"Silence you two, my shinobi also told me that four members of the Juppongatana have come to snuff out our operation. Be on guard, and underestimating them will be costly." Danzo chided the two shinobi.

"It does not matter who they send. Shishio and his entire group will fall tonight." Orochimaru turned to Danzo. "Reports say that Shishio has a multitude of soldiers at his disposal, many are mercenaries and a few hundred are Chuunin to Jounin-level shinobi. Do we have enough men do we have to infiltrate their base?"

"Shishio has a little more than five-thousand soldiers, compare that to the ten-thousand at our disposal I believe we have more than enough to wipe them out." The one-eyed man then turned to the one who had been silent throughout the meeting. "You have been quiet Hanzo. I trust that you're planning our next move."

"I can smell blood. They're here." Pulling the kusarigama from his waist, the most powerful shinobi of his generation leaped away gust in time to avoid a powerful shock wave of energy.

Cho was the first to spring out of the woods. A sneer was plastered on his face; both his blades and his clothing were already covered in blood that wasn't his own. He immediately attacked the first man in his path; one of Hanzo's bodyguards, with a swing of his blades the man easily separated the Rain shinobi's head from his shoulders.

Seta was second one to appear. His speed clearly unmatched, and underestimated, a flash of his sword struck, and ended the life of Akahoshi and his bodyguards in one fell swoop. As their shocked heads fell to the forest floor the young man jumped, slammed his feet onto the trunk of the nearest tree, and rebounded towards Danzo. The leader of Root only looked at the fastest member of the Juppongatana like he was an annoyance as he unsheathed the sword from his cane.

Both Henya and Usui came at the same time. Henya swooped down from the sky, his katar wrapped around his skinny right arm sliced the head of one of Joseki's bodyguards in two. Landing on his feet the emancipated man threw his arms back, his black cloak flying backwards to reveal hundreds of exploding tags underneath it. "So we meet again." He sneered at the old man and his bodyguard.

"So we have…my fallen son." Joseki narrowed his eyes.

Unlike the other members who already killed their opponents, Usui stood in front of Orochimaru. The assassin from Mist looked at the Sannin, judging him, and immediately frowned in disgust. "And here I thought I was the twisted one."

Orochimaru stuck his long tongue out in a snake-like fashion, and he gave the blind man a wicked laugh. "Kukuku…Usui-kun that's not very nice of you."

"Just bring it you pathetic snake."

Continuing his wicked chuckle, Orochimaru beckoned his two bodyguards to rid Usui of his presence. Ever so loyal to their master, the poor, foolish shinobi withdrew their kunai knives and rushed to their deaths. With a smirk adorning his face, the blind man lashed out with his spear.

The sharp blade sliced open the femoral artery of the first attacker, when the man let out a sharp cry of pain Usui twirled the spear so the iron ball at the end was facing outwards, pivoted on his heel, and smacked the second shinobi square in the face. When the man bonelessly fell to the ground next to his dying partner, Usui turned to face the Sannin once again. "Don't bother sending out the cannon fodder Snake Sannin, come and face me like a man."

-Meanwhile at Shishio's base-

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Shishio snarled before he launched a great fireball the size of two full grown men out of the entrance of his base. With nowhere to do except forward or backwards, many of the trapped shinobi screamed bloody murder as they were roasted alive. With a satisfied smirk the former Jounin of Konoha pulled a secret lever, and sealed the entrance with heavy iron doors.

"Dear Kami, Shisho-sama how did this happen?"Kamatari questioned his leader.

"We were betrayed. I don't know how, but someone spilled their guts. And when I find out _who_ betrayed me…" He really didn't need to finish that sentence; they all knew he would kill the man.

"Shishio-san it could not have been the mercenaries, or the shinobi who recruited themselves to your cause. You put a seal on their tongues didn't you?" Naruto innocently asked.

"He's right." Yumi piped up, "If I remember correctly the only people you haven't tagged with your seals were the members of the Juppongatana, me, and-"

"Senkaku and the Abukuma Priests." Shishio growled out in anger, but he calmed himself before thinking more rationally. While they weren't members of his faction they were loyal to a fault...maybe, but it could have also been someone else, another ally maybe. His eyes soon snapped open in sudden realization. "Dammit it could have been anyone."

"Anyone? What do you mean Shishio-san?" Naruto questioned.

"That's just it Naruto, it could have been anyone who we've done business with. Anyone from the Gato Corporation to Kanryu Takeda could have blabbed, but that's impossible...none of us gave them any sort of information to even suggest where we resided."

"Shishio-sama pacing back and forth will not accomplish anything." Anji's calm voice of reason echoed within the bandaged man's ears. "Not until we get out of this catastrophe alive, relocate, and find out exactly _who_ or _whom _are responsible for this betrayal."

Before Shishio could respond a large bang echoed through the hallway, and a dent was formed on the iron doors. Shit! One of these guys had a summon, it was one of the very few reasons that explained _how_ a frigging dent that size was made within the twenty feet of iron...unless it was something else entirely. "Shit. Everyone fall back! Men, hold the gates, stall them!"

Picking Naruto up by the scruff of his yukata, Anji quickly shouldered the boy and bounded after his retreating leader. Taking advantage of his bulk, the dozens upon dozens of men clad in black uniforms adorning black half-masks parted down the middle so he could get through. Sadly, in Naruto's opinion those men were going to die. They would be slaughtered mercilessly just so it could buy them several more minutes to either escape, or retaliate.

Naruto did his best to block out the noise of the doors falling, and the sound of people screaming.

-In the forest wit Cho and Henya-

Within the forest Cho found himself at a clear disadvantage. He had already downed three dozen enemy shinobi that consisted of Star; a few hired off shinobi from Stone, the ones completely draped in black cloaks and blank masks, and most recently a Rain shinobi. But then he saw that he was facing Hanzo _the_ Hanzo the Salamander, dear freaking Kami the former samurai from Iron Country was clearly outmatched.

Instead of feeling the sting of the man's kusarigama, the leader of Amegakure only sighed in disappointment. "A swordsman…no a fallen swordsman, is this what I have been reduced to fighting?"

"What was that!"

"I've heard of you Cho Sawagejo. I know that you were a high-level samurai, but you abandoned your teachings, your _life_ to chase after a foolish legend." Hanzo saw the eyebrow of his opponent, and he forced his chakra into his twin blades. "See? Even now just a _slight_ insult of Sengo Muramasa causes your temper to flare. Your delusions have weakened to you, as of now you're nothing compared to your former allies."

His tirade caused something within the sword-loving maniac to snap. Letting out a roar of anger, Cho pumped his chakra into his legs and sped at the powerful shinobi, and with a sigh Hanzo easily jumped over the frontal attack, somersaulted in the air, and lashed out with his kusarigama. It wasn't the sharp end of the blade that hit Cho, instead Hanzo snapped his chain downwards, and had the weighted end slam into the broom-headed man's back. After hearing the telltale snap of bones, the leader of Amegakure sighed out in boredom and began to head towards Shishio's hideout.

"Don't you walk away from me!" Stopping in his tracks, the blond-haired shinobi turned his head to see Cho stand upon his own two feet. Raising an eyebrow Hanzo looked upon the ground to see the two swords that were strapped upon the swordsman's back broken into several pieces…so that was the 'snap of bones' he heard.

Cho gritted his teeth at the Rain shinobi. His prized swords, his beautiful swords were destroyed beyond repair! "You bastard…you bastard!" The broom-headed man screamed. His eyes went completely blank with blind fury, sheathing his two swords; Cho tore off his yukata and brought out the Hakujin no Tachi. Letting out a furious scream, he cracked his arm, and sent the flexible sword towards his opponent.

Jumping into the air Hanzo calmly watched the blade harmlessly swing underneath him. Cho however flicked his wrist, and sent the end of his blade upwards. He grinned wickedly when he saw his favorite blade slice open the thigh if his enemy.

Narrowing his eyes the leader of Amegakure suddenly disappeared in midair. Cho's eyes widened in alarm when he saw his enemy simply disappear, and he reeled back in surprise when the man appeared in front of him. The kusarigama within Hanzo's right hand made a precise slash, cutting through the blonds leather armor like it was wet paper, and sending Cho backwards until he hit the nearest tree.

"Pathetic. Even after all these years the samurai of Iron Country have not improved at all." Hanzo scoffed at his downed opponent.

"Go to hell Salamander." Cho painfully growled out. His left hand was clutching his stomach, trying, and failing to hold in his intestines. Sucking in an agonizing breath, Cho lashed the Hakujin no Tachi out once again. "Iai Beheading!" Performing a quick and powerful slash with his sword, Cho sent a shock wave of erratic energy with his thin sword, wreaking a path of destruction in a last ditch effort to kill Hanzo the Salamander.

When the dust cleared Hanzo stood in the exact spot completely unscathed. Across from him was nothing…absolutely nothing, the fallen samurai had fled like a coward. Hearing a low chuckling he turned to see his remaining bodyguard sitting on top of a tree branch.

The man's name was Aoi Rokusho a Missing-nin from Konohagakure. He stood a little under average height with green hair expanding in wild directions with his hitai-ate covering his forehead and brown eyes. His attire consisted of a white and blue body suit and blue shinobi styled sandals. Strapped to his back were two umbrellas that were snugly inside a tan leather strap.

"You seem awfully content sitting up there Aoi." Hanzo said.

"I apologize Hanzo-sama, but watching the fool struggle against your might was so entertaining. Shall I finish him off?" Aoi asked with a smug grin.

"Leave him be, the fool won't last long with that belly wound and with the shinobi surrounding the area. If he doesn't die of his wound or fall by their hands, then my poison running through his body will finish him off. For now we infiltrate the base."

"Roger that sir." The former Leaf shinobi grinned before he bounded off with his leader.

* * *

Farther away another battle was about to reach its climax. Henya already wounded Joseki's bodyguard several times, and to his credit the man just wouldn't stay down. Diving downwards once again the emancipated man's katar bit into the man's side, the Sand Jounin growled with pain and spat out an orb of wind from his mouth, which he easily dodged with practiced ease.

"Pathetic! Truly pathetic!" Henya roared from sixty feet in the sky. Glaring his cruel black eyes down at his foolish father, and that worthless bodyguard of his, the master of wind stripped a dozen exploding tags from his cloak, and threw them like playing cards at the ground. They detonated not even a second later, reducing that small portion of the forest to splinters.

The sound of the wind changing alerted the flying man that his prey was not alone, and with a simple change of direction the attack aimed for is cloak missed by a mile. To his never ending annoyance Henya saw both Joseki and his body guard were still alive, but now they were surrounded by several dozen other shinobi. "Pests! Nothing but pests!" Henya snarled.

Tearing forty exploding tags from his cloak he chucked them like shuriken at the small opposing force, a sadistic grin formed under his black bandanna when he slapped his hands together in the tiger seal. Earth shaking explosions decimated the forest soon after, everything below him was wiped from existence as the wind flung their remains to the four corners to the earth.

"Wind Sword!"

Henya barely heard the name of the technique over the roar of the wind, and found the lower half of his body falling to the ruined forest floor. The member of the Juppongatana turned to find, to his dying frustration he saw that is was his father. Somehow the old man jumped to meet him head on in the sky, his right middle and index fingers extended to the side with wisps of wind flowing off them.

"Cheap shot…" Henya hacked up a mouth of blood, forcing his bandanna to untangle, and fly off into the wind. "You sacrificed them all…just to kill me."

"I was worth it to take you down." Joseki replied as he descended downwards. "My line will end with you, but at least it won't be tainted by your deeds of betrayal, and deceit!"

When Henya felt his intestines painfully fall out of his belly, he knew that his time was up; already his vision was beginning to grow dark. But despite that he had one last move; he smiled a bloody smile that completely unnerved the man who just committed filicide. "At least I will go out with a bang!" Using the last of his chakra Henya activated the last of his exploding tags, and fell to the earth…right towards his falling father.

And went out with a bang that destroyed five miles of land.

-With Shishio at the time of Hanya's death-

The resulting explosion shook the base, causing many people within the structure to fall off balance. It was then Shishio sadly shook his head fully knowing what happened, that meant another member for his faction had to be replaced. "Damn it, damn you Henya." Shishio sadly whispered.

"He went out the way he wanted to Shishio-sama; at least we can take solace in knowing that he took out the man who killed him, and quite possibly the thousands around him." Anji clasped his hands together to pray for their fallen comrade.

More men surged past them, but neither one took notice. At least until they started screaming again, an explosion rocketed through the hallway, sending chunks of flesh and bone into the air. The one causing this mayhem was a man from Iwagakure. He had spiky, light-brown hair, green eyes, and a prominent jaw-line. He wore the standard brown Iwagakure flak-jacket and black single-sleeved shirt underneath, leaving the entirety of his right arm exposed except for the presence of his hitai-ate, wrapped around the upper portion of his arm.

"Stone shinobi? Damn it all to hell!" Shishio cursed in heated fury, he looked over at the quivering cannon fodder and snarled. "What am I paying you for! Kill him or I will kill you!"

Despite the pants wetting situation they were in, the troops knew that if they were to die; their enemies would show more mercy in killing them than Shishio would if they didn't follow his orders. So after gulping down their saliva the fifteen of them readied their favored weapons, and charged forward with reckless abandon.

"Explosion Style: Landmine Fist!" The Stone Jounin roared out. Pulling his right arm back the man gave the leading man an open handed punch. The poor man felt a pressure on his chest, his eyes widened, and then he, along with the fourteen men who followed him exploded in violent bursts of gore.

"Namu Amida Buddha." Anji prayed to his deity for the souls of the lost men. After unclasping is hands, the fallen monk lifted Naruto from his broad shoulder and set him on Iwabo's back. His eyes set in grim determination he stepped forward to oppose the Stone shinobi and the men slowly surrounding him. "Leave this to me Shishio-sama, I will hold until you can prepare a counter attack."

The creator and master of the Futae no Kiwami didn't hear Naruto's protests, or the looks the retreating members of the Juppongatana gave him. Instead he clenched his mighty fists and charged forward with a determined yell.

-With Usui and Seta after Henya's death-

On the outside Usui found himself at a severe disadvantage. After Henya destroyed several parts of the forest, various pieces of wood shrapnel and human remains were painfully imbedded within his legs and arms. But Orochimaru had it worse due to half a tree speared through his stomach-except that snake bastard literally upchucked himself and came out good as new.

"So you are a true snake." Usui growled. Clutching his short spear; The Rochin, he steadily held it up in a defensive position, along with his tortoise shell; The Tinebi.

"Kukuku I prefer the perfect being." Orochimaru laughed. Then to Usui's disgust a snake slithered out of his mouth, and he unsheathed a three foot double-edged jian from the fleshy scabbard. Even though he was blind the former Mist shinobi 'saw' the disgusting process.

Once the Snake Sannin clutched the Kusanagi (Grass Cutter) in his right hand, he thrust his left arm out, hissing, "Striking Shadow Snakes!" After he called out his technique six snakes sprung out of his sleeve revealing poisonous fangs. Usui easily blocked the serpents using the Tinebi, sliced upwards with the Rochin, and once the snake's heads were separated from their bodies he opened his mouth and spat out a sharp bullet of water.

The jutsu of his pierced Orochimaru's throat, but just like last time he regurgitated himself. Only this time his lower half of his body was a snake's tail. The Sannin easily grabbed the Kusanagi from his former 'skin', and slithered towards the blind man. The increase of his speed and agility was shocking, but Usui fought, and killed members of a clan that used the Swift Release kekkei genkai in the past, so Orochimaru was nothing compared to them.

Orochimaru's jian stabbed against the tortoise shield, to the pale mans' surprise the tip of the sword. Using his shock to his advantage, Usui stabbed the Tinebi into the external carotid artery right by the Sannin's right ear. He smirked in glee at killing the Sannin, but what he thought was blood spilling onto his palm was actually mud. His smirk disappeared when he puked out a mouthful of blood when the tip of the Kusanagi pierced through his chest.

"Poor Usui-kun," Orochimaru cooed into the dying man's ear. "You came so close, but you had no chance against me. Such a pity the two of us couldn't join forces, you could have been my top lieutenant, and I could have given you the world."

Despite the searing pain and the poison seeping into his body, Usui laughed until blood freely flowed from his mouth. "Snake you don't know me…you could never give me what I wanted."

"Kukuku, you poor deluded man. I could have given you Shishio-kun's head. That is what you desired, no?"

"Please…even though he is not what he used to be, Shishio would still wipe the floor with you." Hacking up a glob of blood, he used what was left of his strength to life the blindfold from his eyes; he turned his head to show the Sannin a vicious scar running across his face from his left ear to his right one, and the milky whites that were his eyes. "I have long given up my revenge towards him. But I joined him under the condition that I try to kill him as many times as I would like…he knows of my pride, and pretends to be unaware of my real reason that I only joined his was so he could make use of me."

Usui gave the Sannin a victory smile, the Rochin in his left hand fell from his grasp, and the head of the Tinebi pierced the pale man's foot. He forced his hands together in a final seal, and bellowed above Orochimaru's howl of pain. "And with my death, you die as well Snake Sannin!" He laughed loudly as his body glowed white, and he exploded due to the use of a suicide jutsu every single Mist shinobi Chuunin-level and above knew, engulfing him, and his killer in a bright explosion.

In the aftermath nothing of Usui remained, and a slimy Orochimaru flew from his last 'skin'. The paled man breathed loudly as he observed what little remained of his latest form. His latest 'skin' was deprived of the lower part of his body, the entire front of his torso was completely burst outwards showing what was left of his internal organs. Quite frankly it was a gruesome sight.

Gritting his teeth the former member of the Leaf cursed the dead man. "Damn you, Usui Unouma I see what you did. You knew you couldn't win against me, so you forced me to waste my precious chakra so your master could have a fighting chance against me…cleaver for a dog." Orochimaru knew he couldn't continue the fight in his condition, so he plopped onto the ground, recalled the Kusanagi into his hands, and ate a soldier pill.

He wasn't in too much of a hurry to rejoin the fight, let the fools kill each other off so he could swoop in at the last minute to take all the glory.

* * *

"Such a foolish boy." Danzo looked at the wounded form of Seta Soujiro. His boyish and disarming face had three deep cuts upon it, and he was favoring his right side. But despite all the damage done onto him, he still had that smile on his face to the point where it reminded him of Sai; his latest recruit.

"I'm afraid I'm not the fool you think I am." Seta respectfully disagreed with the leader of Root. "Despite the explosion Henya-san undoubtedly did, you must remember that I killed the pawns you sent after me."

Opening his good eye, Danzo calmly observed the bodies of his most trusted Root agents bleeding on the forest floor. It irritated him that nearly twenty or thirty years of training was wasted due to a child that wasn't even eighteen, and to add insult to injury he only used kenjutsu on them while they used a mixture of the primary ninjutsu techniques they excelled in, and that his current injuries were caused by that explosion that leveled the forest.

"They weren't meant to be the pawns, that was Josaki, and Akahoshi's job to supply us."

"Well isn't that unfortunate. Especially when I took Akahoshi's head, I honestly wonder how his forces are going to react when they learn about his death."

"None of them will ever find out."

Seta narrowed his eyes for a brief second, and then he gave the elderly man a small laugh. "I see now, you intend to kill the collaborators of this attack to insure their silence."

"Only those from Star boy, I cannot possibly kill off Hanzo and his forces. Nor can I kill those from Sunagakure due to them being under orders from the Kazekage. I cannot slay those shinobi who hired themselves to me, the payoff is more than enough to keep their mouths closed. As for Orochimaru…I cannot kill my business partner off just yet."

"My, my you certainly brought up a powerful force to take down just one man. Once we survive your memory will live on as a constant reminder to tread carefully." Seta then opened his eyes to reveal the malevolence held within them. "Which I will do by bringing Shishio-sama your head!"

Using his created technique-the Shukuchi, Seta burst towards the elderly man, his right hand raised to deliver a critical blow. But instead he sprinted to the side when a gigantic hand slammed into the ground. The teenager narrowed his eyes in slight annoyance to see a hefty man with one gigantic hand blocking his path.

"Torifu, I'm glad to see that you made it." Danzo calmly said to his last living teammate.

Looking behind him, Torifu Akimichi was an elderly man about his former teammate's age with short spiky brown hair and dark markings around his eyes. Like every other member of the Akimichi Clan, he had a very robust build and markings on his cheeks that looked like permanent distinct blushes on his cheeks. For his attire he wore the standard black suit and armor with the kanji symbol for 'Food' printed on it, iron hand-guards, and a Leaf hitai-ate modeled to resemble a hat with cat-like ears. In his regular sized hand was a bo staff.

The giant man snorted in reply to the leader of Root, and slammed his hand down where Seta was once again. He clearly missed when he didn't feel the wetness of blood and organs upon his palm. But using his years of Root training he brought his bo staff out to block the young mans' wakizashi, he let out a bellowing yell as he put all his strength into swinging his weapon, and sent his opponent flying into a tree.

Seta had to restrain the urge to cry out in pain when he stood back up. Upon impact he felt something within his back break, weather it was his ribs, or something else remained to be seen. But until he couldn't move his legs, or he died Seta had to keep on moving. Seeing the Akimichi withdraw his limbs and his head into his armor, the teenager immediately jumped high into the air-just in time to watch at his former position was flattened like a pancake, and the tree that stopped him from flying any further become nothing but splinters.

"Wind Style: Great Vacuum Sphere!" Danzo called out his technique. Taking a deep breath he expelled a single large, crushing sphere of wind chakra that hit Sojiro in midair. The jutsu tore into the teenagers' body, slicing deep wounds into his flesh, and destroyed a good amount of his clothing. Danzo thought one of his strongest wind jutsu's would have put down the strongest member of Shishio's faction, but to his pleasant surprise the young man rose to his feet, determination set upon his bleeding face.

"He is quite resistant Danzo. It's such a shame that he chose the wrong side." Torifu commented. "Isn't there some way you could keep him under your command?"

"There is no point Torifu. The entire point of this operation is to exterminate Shishio Makoto and his entire organization…no matter how much I desire his set of skills."

"I won't lose to the likes of you." Seta repressed a snarl. He grunted in pain as he forced himself to his feet, there was no denying it, he knew that he was in bad shape. Various cuts marred his body, and already his lifeblood was pouring onto the ground. "It's just like I was taught. In this world the flesh of the weak is food for the strong…the strong live…and the weak die. I am not weak, you both will die!"

Using the last of his strength Seta sprinted towards his enemies. His wakizashi; his most prized possession from Shishio himself, clutched in his right hand he used the only move he named for himself was famously known as the Instant Heaven Kill, the one move that combined with his unnatural speed allowed him to instantly kill his victims.

With a yell of triumph Seta blurred out of sight, and Torifu Akimichi blinked, once, twice, and the jugular vein on his neck erupted in a torrent of crimson. The giant man clutched his neck in an attempt to stem the bleeding, turned on his heels, and swatted the young man away from Danzo in a last ditch effort to save the leader of Root with his bo staff. He succeeded for the most part as the tip of his deadly blade only cut into Danzo's side, and Seta was sent spirling into the woods.

Despite his injury Danzo calmly looked upon his last living teammate. His lone eye taking in his serene-looking face as the blood flowed down the side of his neck. "I guess this is goodbye Torifu."

"So it is," Torifu said as calmly as a dying man could. The big man spotted a tree and slowly leaned back against it, with a sigh he calmly slid downwards before looking upwards to the sky. "Danzo, may I ask a favor of you?"

"What is it I can do for you?"

"Please take my body back to Konoha. I want to be buried with my family, and don't tell my son how I died…I just cannot let him know what I've done."

"I will. The wound on your neck healed, and you officially recorded as dead of natural causes. Your records, missions, your entire history with Root will be destroyed…it will be like you never existed."

Torifu let out a loud laugh of relief. "Thank you my old teammate. I…I can finally rest now…thank you."

"Rest my old teammate. Just let it go, I will carry out the rest for the both of us." Danzo said his last words to the dying man. He saw him smile, close his eyes, and then died with a smile on his face.

* * *

On the inside of the base Shishio secured the hallway with a second set of security measures. Only this time, instead of there being just an iron door, he placed his hands into the tiger seal. With a quick activation of his chakra the bandaged man activated several dozen of his deadliest traps within the base. He honestly hoped that Anji would succeed in killing that Stone shinobi, but if not…well it would be a complete waste on his side, you just don't find a man like that on the streets every day.

"Gufu?" Shishio turned towards Iwanbo, the stupid man was scratching the side of his head, and his fat belly in confusion while Naruto sat upon his back shell shocked. Narrowing his red eyed he stomped over towards the blond, and with a simple flick of his arm, he slapped his fellow Uzumaki across the face.

"Snap out of it kid, right now we need all the help we can get, and having you sitting on this idiot's back isn't helping matters!" He barked at the boy.

That slap seemed to do the trick when Naruto's eyes narrowed in response. He took in a deep breath and hopped off Iwanbo's back, and unsheathed his tanto. It wasn't the wakizashi he was used to, but it came to a close second after the katana. Securing the small gifts held within his yukata the best he could, and nodded towards the bandaged man. "Okay Shishio-san, I'm ready now."

"Well then," He looked towards Yumi strapping on steel finger-claws on all ten of his fingers called neko-te, and Kamatari stretching his arms out in order to properly wield his scythe properly. "As of now we begin our counter-attack!"

* * *

Armageddon: Well here you have it this is the first part of Shishio's downfall. And the fans new...and some old have spoken, this will be a harem. And I must say I am revolted that my fans are nothing but perverts! And if you're offended by this you should know by now that I'm pulling your leg, of course it would be a harem pairing.

Lt. Doom: You're not surprised?

Armageddon: Not really. In fact I was half expecting this to happen, so I already have some women lined up. But I will tell you now that it won't go into the triple digits, and I already have three picked out. Now I hope you enjoy this.


	5. The downfall of the Juppongatana Part 2

I don't own Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin. If I did this story would be truly epic.

"Talk"

'_Think_'

**"Talk"**

**'_Think_'**

Authors Note: Toonami is back bitches!

* * *

"Give me a status report." Hanzo the Salamander demanded his subordinate Murasame.

Nodding in reply a muscular, tough-looking shinobi wearing a black, sleeveless shirt, grey pants, shinobi-styled sandals, and tan arm warmers pulled out a small stack of papers from his ninja pouch. Running his right hand through his chin length grey hair which is spiked at the top, he wrinkled his nose that had a teal line tattoo going over it. "The news isn't good Hanzo-sama. In the first hour since the attack we already lost forty percent of our own forces, and since we broke the base the numbers are steadily climbing with the amount of dead we keep bringing out due to various assortments of traps, and enemy forces alike."

"This doesn't bode well Hanzo-sama. If our forces are suffering this many casualties, then as much as I hate to say it, we must retreat and regroup." Aoi voiced his concerns.

"I would not recommend that action." Danzo's voice alerted them of his presence. When the three turned the saw him making his way towards the group, and paying the wound on his side no mind, almost as if it didn't exist.

"And why would we not Danzo. With our dwindling forces victory may be out of our reach." Hanzo questionably raised a blond eyebrow.

"Because they are getting weaker by the minute. With every shinobi on our side slain, we take out five of theirs in return. As of now Shishio is resorting to traps and deception."

"And I think I know just how to bypass those traps with no further casualties." Hanzo grinned underneath his breathing mask.

-Inside the base-

"It's quiet." Shishio muttered.

"Too quiet." Naruto agreed.

For the last half hour the five retreated into a stone cavern filled with stone stalagmites that housed hundreds of skeletons resting at the bottom of it. And the only way across the chasm was a simple rope ladder, or if you were Fuji a simple jump would suffice.

…Speaking of Fuji, the retreating group met up with both the giant man and Saizuchi, along with the last chunk of their soldiers just before they arrived.

The situation was grim; so far they sealed all the entrances leading in and out of the hideout, but at the cost of losing half their troops in the process. So that meant they only had about half the fighting force Shishio desired and even less of his faction, dammit all.

"We're not going to get out of this alive, are we Shishio-sama?" Kamatari questioned his leader, in a tone that showed his resignation to death.

"Shut your mouth Nancy boy, it isn't over until the fat lady sings! And until Iwanbo learn how to even speak properly I do not see us dying tonight!" Saizuchi barked at the crossdresser.

Despite the situation they were in the group couldn't help but laugh…it was insane. Here they were, practically staring death right in the face, but one crack about Iwanbo's intelligence, and Kamatari's lifestyle and they just started laughing. Kami help them, they lost whatever sort of sanity they had left.

A loud explosion soon rocked the room afterwards, cutting their laughter short. Another explosion dented the steel door; the small group gripped their respected weapons. A final third explosion blew the iron door forward, the edges slicing and crushing the unfortunate men in the way, and fell into the stalagmite pit.

Instead of shinobi pouring out in droves a giant gray spotted salamander exploded through the opening, sending chunks of stone into Shishio's hapless troops. It opened its mouth and exhaled a purple cloud of poisonous gas that paralyzed half the men within the area.

Another the same size of the salamander was a gigantic elephantine chimera. It had tiger-like limbs and bandages wrapped all around its head similar to its summoner and armor on the base of the trunk and between the eyes. It was predominantly dark orange in color with the exception of its trunk, legs and the markings around its eyes. Its feet are also striped; reminiscent of those of a tiger and it also has huge tusks and what looked like a tan beard, as well as long, sharp claws. The beast opened its mouth to reveal several missing teeth, and inhaled an ungodly amount of air, taking the disabled men into its mouth where they would spend an eternity in its stomach.

"Summons! Fuji, strike now!" Saizuchi commanded the second half of The Destructive Army.

Letting out a loud snarl in reply, the giant man gripped his gigantic zanbato, and swung it down on the salamander summons head. The blade that weighed a good three tons sliced into the salamander's neck, he wasn't more than a quarter ways through the beasts' neck before he was kicked straight in his kabuto helmet.

"Go home Ibuse, I'll check up on you later." Hanzo commanded his favorite summon. As it disappeared the leader of Amegakure narrowed his eyed towards the giant man, and the imp perched on his left shoulder. "You injured my favorite summon. I cannot in good conscience let that go."

Saizuchi only smirked in reply. "Bring it on Hanzo the Salamander. We will kill you where you stand!"

* * *

"Hanzo the fucking Salamander? Kami in heaven, they aren't pulling any punches with us." Shishio whispered to himself.

"Then we will not pull any punches with him!" Naruto boldly declared. Twirling his tanto once in his right hand, the blond recklessly bolted towards Hanzo's exposed back. Usui once told him 'If you see an opening to kill someone, take it damn it!', and this was the best opportunity he had to take out someone who was determined to harm his teacher and friend…at least he was going too if he didn't jump out of the way of a barrage of senbon needles.

"Well what is this? Shishio had a brat that wasn't in the information we gained." An arrogant voice echoed within Naruto's ears. Looking to the side he saw a Rain shinobi holding an umbrella.

"Get out of my way weirdo; I'll deal with you later." Naruto growled at the man.

Aoi crackled at the boys' moxie. Reaching his right hand into one of his side pouches he pulled out a purple colored, metallic-looking hilt. Then pressing a button with his thumb a yellow energy blade emanated from the hilt and crossguard with a _snap-hiss_ to reveal a thin blade three feet long and nine inches wide. Its blade was crackling with electrical energy. "I like you kid, but you signed up with the wrong crowd. So you have to die."

"Dammit kid get back here; you're no match for a Jounin-level shinobi!" Shishio barked at his fellow Uzumaki.

"I'm sorry Shishio-san, but I don't think _now_ is the time to tell me who I can't fight." Naruto would have said more if he didn't jump away from the odd sword sweeping to take his head from his shoulders.

"He is right Shishio-san." Turning his head the bandaged man glared at the voice belonging to Danzo Shimura, flanked by two of his faceless bodyguards. "Whoever the boy is, he is right. You cannot choose who your opponent is now."

Unsheathing the Mugenjin, Shishio glared at his opponent and his arriving entourage. "Danzo Shimura. So we finally meet face to face, tell me how goes the process of becoming Hokage when the Uchiha's are all nearly but extinct?"

"You are very well informed Shishio-san. Then again…" The elderly man pulled his right arm from his sleeve to reveal his entire hand wrapped in bandages, and three golden arm braces held in place by bolts to keep them secure. "A man like you knows everything doesn't he?"

"I have my ways old timer. But the only thing I don't know is _who_ sold me out…not yet anyways."

"And you will die clueless." The monotone voice of one of Danzo's bodyguards said to him.

"Enough talk." The red-eyed man looked over to his lover. "Yumi, get across the bridge. Gather whatever troops we have left, and barricade yourself, I will be along shortly." He then turned his gaze towards Kamatari and Iwanbo, "I need you two to help me take care of the old man, and his lackeys. I want to end this now."

"Gufu?" Iwanbo dug into his ear with his pinkie finger.

"Of course Shishio-sama." Kamatari readied his scythe. "None shall cross my path."

Letting out a tired sigh Danzo began undoing the bolts on his arm braces. "Hold them off until I'm ready."

* * *

Snapping his fingers, Hanzo created twin balls of flame within the palms of his hands. Breathing out once he sprinted to the side and flung them at the duo.

"Water Style: Raging Waves!" Saizuchi barked before spitting out a stream of water from his mouth. The two attacks collided briefly before his water technique overpowered Hanzo's fire jutsu.

Undeterred by the failed technique, Hanzo clapped his hands together and bellowed. "Fire Style: Flame of the Salamander!" Thrusting his hands outwards he sent waves of fire straight at the giant man. Molding his chakra the most powerful man in Amegakure formed his fire technique into the shape of a salamander, and had it circling the two until they were wrapped inside a dome of fire.

The technique was unfortunately broken when a sphere of water that turned it into nothing but steam. Once it cleared Hanzo was greeted to the sight of a haggard Saizuchi. He couldn't help but chuckle. "You're growing too old for this lifestyle. You've used only two techniques that are clearly not your chakra nature and you're ready to keel over, why do you persist to delay the inevitable?"

"That is not for you to know Salamander." The oldest member of the Juppongatana wiped the sweat from his gigantic head. "All you need to know is that you die here! Now Fuji!"

Letting out a loud roar the giant man bit through the rope on his kabuto helmet. It soon caused a chain reaction of having all the armor pieces on his torso to fall to the ground with a loud bang, for the first time in many years Fuji's real form was revealed in his terrifying glory. His torso was incredibly muscled to the point where no one could ever imagine that his skin could be pierced, his eyes were a soft golden color and his hair-his majestic silver hair that went down to the small of his back flowed due to the updraft of the armor.

The man gripped the hilt of his gigantic zanbato with both hands, and swung it downwards in a diagonal angle, sending shock waves of powerful energy and steel at Hanzo the Salamander. It didn't just end at him, no the wave of energy flew forward, destroying the entire right side of the cave, obliterating enemy and ally alike in one fell swoop.

"He did it! Hahaha not a trace left, Fuji this proves that you're the greatest!" Saizuchi joyously laughed in triumph. However Fuji was frowning in response to his attack. "…Fuji?"

"That was a perfect strike, large one." Hanzo commented. "It's too bad that your talent was wasted on Shishio."

The odd mustache on his face standing on end the old man fearfully looked to the side. And to his horror Hanzo the Salamander was alive, and hanging on the side of the giant mans' zanbato with his kusarigama stabbed through the various layers of steel. Before any of them could react, the most powerful shinobi of his generation disappeared, and Fuji recoiled from the diagonal cut going down his torso.

Once Hanzo was safely on the ground he slammed his left hand upon the stony surface. A large number of explosive tags flowed out of his sleeve and streamed towards his target, and immediately began wrapping them around the giants' feet. After they were where Hanzo wanted them he detonated the tags all at once, engulfing the giants' lower legs in an enormous explosion. Fuji screamed in agony as the explosion obliterated his Achilles tendons. His legs buckled and he fell to his knees unable to get up. That left him vulnerable to attack by the three shinobi hiding in the shadows.

A very tall Sand shinobi with two distinctive, red markings on the right side of his face, and brown hair swung his right arm. A long blade of wind flew from his right and middle index fingers sliced into the jugular vein on his neck, causing the giant man to drop his giant sword.

It was then Cloud Jounin dressed in the standard Kumogakure outfit and hitai-ate, as well as a long white scarf around his neck with rather broad and chiseled features, characterized by a strong cleft chin and a pair of prominent sideburns that descended from his medium length, dull-purple colored hair. Clenched in his mouth was a sealing scroll, and in his hands were four distinctive square-shaped shuriken the size of his entire body. The man threw the gigantic weapons with perfect precision, and they pierced Fuji's chest and stomach areas, then to add insult to injury the man yanked his hands upwards; forcing the Kubikiribocho to fly from the giants' waist and into his hand, and the giant zanbato to fly into the air, and pierced Fuji through the side until it emerged through his shoulder.

Finally the third killer flew out of the darkness; this one being a Stone shinobi that was extremely feral-looking with very large fists. He roared like a lion and delivered a devastating punch to Fuji's handsome face. That final blow that the straw that-literally-broke the giants back. Fuji fell backwards, and died falling into the stalagmite pit.

Saizuchi barely managed to escape from the dying man's shoulder, his mind racing in disbelief that his ultimate weapon was beaten. And that cost him dearly when the Cloud Jounin threw the Kubikiribocho at the elderly man, piercing him below the belly, and sending him clear across the cavern. Once he hit the side of the cavern the Cloud shinobi pulled his arms back, and the zanbato flew back into his hands, causing the old man's two halves to fall into the stalagmite pit.

With their part of the mission done and over with the three shinobi turned to deal with Shishio's remaining forces. The poor souls never stood a chance, especially when hoards of enemy combatants poured in from the gigantic hole Fuji made.

"No…Fuji…Saizuchi-sensei." Naruto couldn't believe what he just saw. His long time teacher, and the closest person he had to a friend were dead…gone…just gone. The distraction nearly cost him his life when he felt a great pain in his right cheek at the electric sword sliced into his flesh, and gave him a shock that nearly crippled him.

"Don't take your eyes off me brat!" Aoi sneered at the blond. A smirk then spread on his face as he saw the boy slowly rise to his feet and wiped the blood from the diagonal cut on his cheek. "I do not know why you're resisting your demise, but I take in no pleasure in killing a weakling like you."

Naruto's mind flashed back to the first time when someone fist laid a hand on him. An impassive-looking, one-eared man, he hit him in the eye after the blond accidentally bumped into him. He called him a _weakling_ when he strolled away. His face tightened up in anger.

"I mean just look at you, you don't belong here!"

Naruto's muscles tightened and what looked like veins bulged on his hands. His mind reverted back to a random villager that shouted _you don't belong here_.

"Just die already!"

_Just die already!_ He heard the villager who stabbed him say that on the night Anji took him from that hellhole. And it was the last thing he said before he _speared_ the bastard through the gut! Crimson chakra slowly flowed out of the seal on his stomach, his hair became shaggier, and his pupils retracted until they were barely visible.

"These people were fools to take you in, and you die with them…but not after I have fun with the woman." Aoi licked his lips in anticipation.

And now he _dared_ to violate the only person he viewed as a mother! These bastards barge into the only place he considered to be a home, killed the people he viewed as a family, and on his birthday! Naruto exploded in unholy anger. His body tensed and every part of his flesh sunk in until several dozen thick veiny lines emerged on every exposed part of his skin.

Bursting forward with speed his body should not have possessed, Naruto's tanto bit into Aoi's face, the sharp blade diagonally slicing upwards taking out his eye. Not done yet with his opponent, the blond pivoted sheathed the tanto, withdrew his taichi, and delivered a devastating slash along his back.

Naruto ignored Aoi's pained screams as he went down and directed his anger towards the ones attacking Shishio, who's skin seemed to be bubbling and steam rising from underneath his bandages. His eyes narrowed when he saw Iwanbo on the ground covered in a layer of purple…insects? And Kamatari was already down on one knee, futilely defending himself from a bear of a man in a black cloak.

The Kyuubi jinchuriki let out a demonic roar that sent the insects scurrying way from Iwanbo's corpse, and knocked the big man off the scythe-wielder; which allowed Kamatari to behead him. Ration and reasoning already leaving his mind Naruto leaped into the fray, cutting, slashing, and hacking into enemy and ally alike to get towards the man who he valued more than his own life.

A faceless shinobi in a black cloak met his end when the taichi beheaded him. A Star Chuunin emitting purple chakra wings from his back fired streams of deadly projectiles, Naruto easily dodged them, jumped, and cut him in half. Free falling the blond somersaulted and laid an axe kick in one of Shishio's soldiers; splattering his brains out of his ears. But with his death Naruto jumped into the air once again, sped through five hand seals and shouted, "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough Jutsu!"

A great gust of wind flew from his mouth, and slammed into a few shinobi who were too slow to get out of the way. Undeterred by the lack of casualties Naruto landed on his feet and bounded forward with a straight shot towards Shishio fighting against an old man wielding a sword cane. Letting out a primal roar he swept the taichi at the old man cutting deep into his side…or at least he thought he did before the old man disappeared.

"Impressive speed for young one, he actually forced me to use my ultimate technique." Danzo congratulated the blond before he reappeared, and sliced him across the chest. Naruto's world suddenly went white with absolute pain. He didn't know how, or why, but the single cut incapacitated him to the point where he couldn't move. If it wasn't for Shishio firing off one of his many fire jutsu's to drive Danzo away he would have been done for.

"Insolence. Baku, finish them off!" The leader of Root commanded his chimera summon.

Snorting out a plume of smoke from its trunk the summon opened his mouth, and drew in another deep breath sucking in the dead, dying, and some of the living into its mouth. Kamatari lost his footing due to his shattered knee, and went screaming into the summons mouth; both Shishio and Naruto nearly became victims as well if it wasn't for Seta Soujiro's intervention.

The young swordsman used the last of his power using the final Shukuchi to grab both the boy, and the man who gave him his life's creed. Seta didn't stop until they crossed the bridge; decimating the wooden floorboards as he went, until they arrived at the last and final room where the Juppongatana met for important meetings.

Once Yumi slammed the oak doors shut, and pulled the secret lever to bar them with iron walls, she covered her mouth in horror seeing the young mans' appearance. His clothing was in tatters, various parts of his skin were loosely hanging onto his muscles…in fact his entire spine was showing through his back. Several bones were obviously broken and sticking out underneath his skin…yet despite the agonizing pain he was in, that foolish boy was still smiling.

"Soujiro, dear Kami what have you done to yourself?" Shishio demanded the second youngest member of the Juppongatana.

"I'm sorry…Shishio-sama. B-t I co-cou…" Seta was unable to complete his sentence before he fell over Shishio's body. His brown eyes were slowly dimming by the second, and those in the expensive room knew he wasn't much longer for the world.

"Rest boy…you have done your job. Just rest, we'll take care of you." Shishio whispered to the dying teen.

For the first time in his life, Soujiro felt tears falling from his eyes. Not since the night he butchered his family did he finally let his emotions out, it felt…nice. It felt nice to be surround by the people he cared about, he was glad he could die with them.

When he felt Soujiro's life leave his body, Shishio closed the young mans' eye. After gently setting his body on the ground he embraced a crying Yumi. Dammit this was not supposed to happen! They were not supposed to go out, especially like this. His plans, his visions, the future he had with them by his side were all gone.

"Shishio-san. We're going to die aren't we?"

The bandaged man, ignoring his body's temperature rising to a frightening degree looked down to see his fellow Uzumaki, blooded and wounded, his eyes showing defeat. Waving the steam away from his face, he said to the blond. "No. We're not, Naruto come here."

Obeying what would be his final orders Naruto quickly went to Shishio's side. The swordsman departed himself from Yumi and crouched down to meet him at eye-level, staring into his burning red eyes the blond felt the man reach his gloved hands into his bloodied yukata robe and pulled out the three gifts already covered in his own blood. The man then reached into his own yukata and pulled out a plain white scroll, he opened it, placed the two scrolls, the black book, and surprisingly his very own katana into it.

"In this scroll is my legacy. It has everything containing the fuinjutsu lessons we have been going over for the past few weeks, the final form of my kenjutsu style, various fire ninjutsu, and a list of special materials you're going to need when you're on your own."

"On my own? Your plans? Shishio-san…I don't understand. There are no exits in this room; shouldn't you just retrieve the Mugenjin so we can fight to the last man standing?"

"Naruto we are the last_ men_ standing." Shishio said to him as he placed the scroll into his yukata. "Now listen to me, I need you to live, I need you to fulfill what I cannot do in my lifetime. The scroll will explain everything."

"But how can I do that? There is no escape, Shishio-san you're not making any sense!" Naruto's cracking voice shouted at him.

"Live my son." Without any type of warning Shishio chopped the blond in the neck, forcing to fall unconscious. He then picked the unconscious boy to his shoulder, nodded over to Yumi who quickly went to one of the bookshelves. She pulled on one of the books to reveal, of all things, and escape pod.

"I honestly wished we had enough time to fashion more of these." The bandaged man said, ignoring the cracking of the oak doors.

"They were highly expensive my love, enough to fit one average sized person," She took the boy from her loves arms, and placed him inside the steel pod. "Or a boy with enough room for another person."

"If you want to go with him I would understand."

Yumi's light brown eyes flickered over to him, looking like she was just smacked. "I love the boy. But I promised to never leave your side…no matter how much it hurts to see him go." She placed a light kiss on the unconscious blond's forehead and then closed the pod, and put the trap book back to hide him.

The cracking of the doors became unbearable, and the sound of iron screeching caused shivers to run down their spines. The two stood next to each other in the middle of the room filled with expensive paintings, extravagant jade statues, and wooden furniture that cost more than most small houses.

"Did you mean what you said? Calling his your…our son?" Yumi quietly asked.

Shishio pulled her next to him; if he was going to die he wanted to have her next to him. "Yes…I may have been harsh, but it will make him strong. I hope he viewed us in the same way...pfft who am I kidding? I doubt he did."

Yumi only giggled in response. "But he did my love. He said this to me during one of our last lessons when he was younger." She smiled at him with tears running down her eyes when the doors finally gave way.

"Good." Shishio pulled her face against his, and gave her one last loving kiss.

* * *

On the outside of the base several dozen shinobi from the attacking force were writing down the number of dead, missing, and wounded. The medical staffs were busy saving whoever they could among the mass chaos of the entire operation-it was a losing process. None of them were prepared for the devastation Shishio and his forces would inflict upon them, Kami they expected a quick in and out operation with little to no loss of life.

"What is the status report on our losses?" Orochimaru demanded one of his subordinates.

"Too many to count my lord. We are still bringing out the bodies." The balaclava mask-wearing shinobi answered the pale man.

"I want an actual number you whelp! Give me an estimated amount, and I won't kill you for your insolence!"

After he said that an earth shattering explosion devastated what was left of the forest. Looking up on awed fascination the Snake Sannin saw the mountain that housed Shishio and his allies/enemies engulfed in the biggest ball of fire that he ever saw in his life.

"I believe we have…less than we rightfully desire." The Sound shinobi deadpanned.

"For that you get to keep your head."

-Several hours later outside of the ruined base-

It would be several hours later before Naruto found himself in the land of the living again. At first he thought he had gone blind, but then upon realizing that he was in an enclosed space he calmly moved his arms around, finding to his surprise an extremely lumpy metal surface. It took him a better part of ten minutes before he found what was left of the door.

When he punched himself out of the steel pod, the blond felt the first drop of rain hit his head, he looked up to see where the base was…or what was left of it. The base was gone, the flames licking out any exposed openings, adding smoke into the already dark sky. He should have been shocked, he should have been angry that his home for the past four years was gone. He should have been enraged that Shishio…that everyone he knew was dead. But instead he felt empty, hollow, dead inside.

His ears twitched at a distant sound, the sound of clashing metal. Almost immediately his entire attitude did a one-hundred and eighty degree turn, someone was still alive! The blond had to breathe out several times to calm himself before sprinting towards the source of the sound.

"Iaido!" Whipping the Hakujin no Tachi at his waist, Cho sent a burst of pure pressure that flew off the thin blade and into his assailants. He watched with glee as a Rain shinobi was cut in half, and one of those faceless assholes lost both his legs. With the flick of his wrist he sent the head of the thin-bladed sword into that mans' white-masked face.

Unfortunately for him another white-masked shinobi emerged from one of the trees above him, and sliced off the hand holding the Hakujin no Tachi with his ninjato. Cho ignored the brutally painful amputation, grabbed his attacker by the throat, and with a loud scream of defiance he easily snapped his neck and threw the body at the remaining attackers.

"Is that all you got you bastards!" The wounded blond screamed at them. Unsheathing one of the katana's on his waist with his remaining hand, he let out a roar of defiance before hacking up an impressive amount of blood. He felt his knees shaking, the makeshift tourniquet slipped from his stomach to reveal his intestines, and he collapsed to his knees.

The remaining ten shinobi didn't hesitate to finish the wounded swordsman off. Or they would have if they didn't hear an adolescent cry of 'Shadow Clone Jutsu!', and thirty blonds descended upon them. Due to the sudden ambush, and overwhelming numbers the ten shinobi soon found themselves overwhelmed, and brutally hacked to pieces by the enraged blonds.

In his condition Cho only laughed at the pain his apprentice wrought upon his attackers. It was just too damn funny, he realized as he slumped against a tree that there was nothing more he could do. He taught his fellow blond everything he knew about kenjutsu, he…no the members of the Juppongatana passed down their own legacies of brutality onto him. "I guess that stupid epithet of his now makes sense…stupid brat." He coughed to himself as his lifeblood poured from his wounds. "...Chosen One."

After beheading his last foe; a defenseless Rain shinobi, Naruto sheathed both of his weapons. His blue eyes looked dully upon what used to be a man of remarkable skill. His wounds were severe, his belly was sliced open to the point where his entrails were hanging around his feet and the entire area around it was a sick purplish color, poison, most likely. His right arm hand was cut from his arm, and various parts of his body were just oozing crimson blood. His hope was immediately smashed when he realized that the last person he considered to be a family member was dying.

"You're still wounded kid. Heh, I never thought I would see the day when you couldn't heal after a few hours." Cho then saw the look in his fellow blond's eyes, and frowned deeply in response. "Kid…don't look at me that way; don't you dare look at me that way." The former samurai growled at the boy.

"It's a little hard no to sensei, you're dying after all."

"Pfft, what was your first clue? My guts lying near my feet, the poison coursing through my body, or my blood pooling into a neat puddle around me?"

"There's no need to be an ass about it." Looking over to his clones, he nodded once for them to scatter around the area to observe, and kill whoever was deemed a threat. He then knelt in front of the dying man and continued, "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Bring me my hand."

Blinking in response the blond found the hand ten feet away. Once he flopped it into Cho's lap, he pried his Rigor mortised hand from the hilt of the Hakujin no Tachi, unclipped the belts holding his twin katana's and tossed them to his apprentices feet. When he completed his task, the swordsman from Iron Country threw up a mouthful of blood onto his own chest.

"He-re are…my demands kid, listen to them well." Cho barely managed to say. "My Hakujin no Tachi...I would like you to find someone to wield it, but make sure he…or she will put it to good use." He coughed again, and Naruto saw his teacher's face turning pale. "My Renbato (Cutting Sword), please take them to Mifune…he was my sensei, and tell him that his fallen student begs his forgiveness."

Naruto could only nod in response. Reaching into his bloodstained yukata he pulled out the sealing scroll Shishio gave him, opened it, and sealed the two extremely rare swords into it. He didn't feel the rain drops steadily increasing as the life was starting to leave Cho's eyes.

"My third request…don't let them take my head. Hehe I-I kno-w everyone is d-ea-d, their bodies destroyed thanks to those exp-losi-ons…I can't allow them to take my head…it will bring me the greatest _shame_. Please…don't let them take my head."

Thanks to Saizuchi's lessons about Iron Country, and the cultures of their famed samurai, Naruto knew that the ultimate dishonor for them was for their heads to be taken by their enemies…or a great honor, the samurai culture was confusing one. But Cho didn't want the enemy; no matter how few there were, to have it. So with a reluctant nod, Naruto accepted his third request, this time feeling the rain falling harder upon his head.

"And finally…the last request…from all of us." A final mouthful of blood spilled onto his chest, adding to the impressive puddle around his body. "Those who f-o-ff-oun-d us." His face darkened into a ferocious scowl and he poured the last of his strength into his last words, "Find them…find out who betrayed us, find the ones who attacked us _and kill them all_."

Cho's life finally left his eyes, and head slumped downwards. The light rain slowly increased its downpour washing the blood, dirt, and grime off Naruto's body. Lightning flashed through the sky lighting up the area, revealing the dullness of Naruto's blue eyes as he looked at the fresh corpse.

Almost robotically he scanned the killing field. His eyes observed the corpses, thirteen in total; an unlucky number. Blinking once the blond moved himself towards the first corpse and began looting the body. After finding what he desired he moved onto the next corpse, and then the next one, he didn't stop until he plucked ever single corpse clean of their valuables.

Returning to Cho's corpse, Naruto planted the one thing he had at his disposal onto his body. Yea, he planted exploding tags onto the dead man. He placed a tag on his torso, his legs, his amputated hand, his arms, and especially his head. After his handiwork was taken care of the rain came down upon him almost painfully, but he didn't feel any of it.

Lightning flashed overhead once again, revealing the blankness on Naruto's face. He slowly raised his hands into the tiger seal, focused his chakra, and in a mighty explosion Cho's body was destroyed where it rested in death.

It would be several days and one-hundred miles later that Naruto would finally rest in some relative comfort. Night had already fallen, and his only comfort was a campfire to keep him warm. In his hands was the black book Hoji entrusted to him before his death, honestly he couldn't believe what he was reading.

Within what looked like a harmless book was information that could cripple nations, a list of smugglers for weapons and drugs, information brokers-the new Daimyo being on the top of the list, blackmail material for several politicians and village leaders, access to dozens of bank accounts, and much more information that would prove useful in the long run.

But as of now it didn't matter to Naruto. His mind flashed back to seeing the people he cared about, the only people who really gave a damn about him were dead. Cho's mutilated body, Seta's smile in death, a kunai sticking through Hoji's heart, Iwanbo covered by insects, Kamatari being sucked into the summon, Fuji's horrific slaughter, Saizuchi getting bifurcated; they all blurred past his vision.

The fates of the other members of the Juppongatana were still unknown, but he knew they were all dead. Henya was definitely responsible for the five mile devastation of the forest. Usui, while a sick twisted individual, would not die unless he took his opponent out with him. Anji…Naruto was positive the fallen monk died in the explosion, or in battle with the Stone shinobi from the Explosion Corps. And Shishio and Miss Yumi; Kami it hurt to think of them, but the blond was sure that Shishio had the place set to blow if he were to die in it, and Yumi stayed with him out of love.

The sound of crackling fire drew his attention. He looked at the burning branches, once they were full of life, but in the last few hours they were reduced to nothing but ash. It was almost symbolic really, that life could easily be snatched away before you could even realize it. It made Naruto wonder when it would be his turn. Would he die tonight, or the next day, maybe even a month from now due to his still open wounds? Or would he die several years from now with a weapon in hand?

The crackle of fire continued to draw his attention and he brought his right and to his face. The appendage was small; nothing compared to the great man who always ruffled his hair. His memory flashed before him once again, hearing Shishio call him his son, Cho demanding vengeance for them all. Naruto felt a flash of anger course through his entire body, and stuck his hand into the fire without hesitation. He didn't wince, nor did he cry out in pain as his flesh bubbled and turned black as night.

"Tonight…" Naruto began an oath that would bind him for years to come. "Tonight with this oath of pain I will find those who destroyed everything I held dear. And when I do they will receive no mercy from me, not the ones who sold us out, not the ones who participated in the attack, no one will escape my wrath. I will complete Shishio's will and his ambition…and I won't stop until my mission is completed."

Withdrawing his hand from the flames and his goals set firmly set in his heart. Naruto kicked the fire out, and departed towards Hot Springs Country.

-Six Years Later, Fire Country Bounty Station-

"It was good doing business with you again Zangei." A tall, muscular, tanned man thanked his longtime business partner. The man wore a white hood with an odd black headband around his forehead that held a scratched out Waterfall hitai-ate and a black mask, with his eyes being the only visible part of his face. His eyes had an unusual coloring that consisted of green irises, no pupils and red sclera. His clothing included a black cloak that was decorated with ominous red clouds. On his fingernails were dark green nail polish and a ring with the kanji for 'North' placed on his left middle finger.

"It's always a pleasure Kakuzu." A bald man in his late thirties grinned as he handed over a suitcase of money. He wore an off-white robed outfit over white-beige clothing, had a black mustache goatee combo, and had a badly stitched scar going down his right eye.

Opening the suitcase the former shinobi of Waterfall plucked out the various dollar bills, and counted them individually. After twenty minutes he was finished, satisfied, and began to make his way towards the secret entryway…at least he was until the door opened to reveal a figure around the age of sixteen that stood five foot six in height, and cool blue eyes that flickered with annoyance when he looked upon the giant man.

"Well, well, well the prodigal child finally returns." Kakuzu greeted the figure with great sarcasm. "I thought you to be dead."

"Kakuzu 'The Heart Stealer'." The figure greeted the bounty hunter. "I see you got yourself a new cloak, tell me did your hearts break when you departed the one ryo to purchase it?" His voice dripped with mocking contempt for the cloaked man.

"Cute," Kakuzu lowly growled at the person. He placed a giant hand on his shoulder and moved him aside. "You're lucky there is no bounty on your head. Or I would gladly give your body over to Zangei."

"And you're lucky that I'm not ready to take you on. But know this old man, your time will come, and I will be the one to end it."

"I will enjoy taking your heart." With the last word said the man left the cold room where the bodies were held.

"Ronin please don't mind Kakuzu, you know how he is. I for one am glad you're still alive. Now what have you got for me?"

"Something special." The teenager stepped into the light to reveal-as always-when he strolled into the bounty exchange master's presence a pure white robe and a white mask the only showed his eyes. He pulled out a scroll, placed it upon the only table within the room, and opened it. "Keep the scroll, I have no more use for it."

When the scroll opened, it revealed to be a teenager like himself with short black hair, and two red marking under his eyes. Zangei grabbed the decapitated head, and his black eyes narrowed dangerously. "You're gone for three years and you come back with one C-ranked bounty? You're slipping Ronin, really slipping!"

Disregarding the angry bounty exchange master waving a decapitated head of some no name Mist shinobi, Naruto; using one of his many aliases bordly stared at the man until he ran out of steam. He then pulled another scroll; this one bloodstained, from a pouch firmly secured to his belt underneath his robe and unrolled it.

A cloud of smoke later the blond revealed twelve heads firmly planted upon the scroll. The first nine were faceless grunts, but there were three that the bald man could clearly identify from the Bingo Books. The first was the head of a kunoichi with short light brown hair, blue earrings, red lipstick and a white hairband over her head to hold the hair out of the way from her eyes. The second was a man with dark brown hair obscuring the right side of his face, a black half-mask covering the lower part of his face, a dark blue bandanna bearing the a Rain hitai-ate on the front of it. And the final third head was another man with chin length grey hair which is spiked at the top due to his Rain hitai-ate, and a teal line tattoo going over his nose.

"Good sweet Kami!" The bounty exchange master exclaimed in genuine shock.

"As you can see Zangei-san, I'm not _slipping_. My time away from bounty hunting has been most beneficial." Naruto calmly said to the bald man, his blue eyes piercing into the soul of one of the contacts within Hoji's little black book.

"Yes…yes I see what you mean. When you started out you only brought in the meager D to C-ranked bounties, but now…three A-ranked Missing-nins, and…" He unmasked one of the masked men, took in his features, and then proceeded to unmask the others. He raised a moderately thick eyebrow before he pulled out a light grey Bingo Book from his medical robe and opened it.

He then whistled and showed the teenager completely dressed in white several pages within the book. "Ronin you've brought in a smorgasbord! You'll get a small fortune for these nine C to B-ranked shinobi from Amegakure. But the pieces of résistance are these three; Hisame, Kirisame, and Murasame all three are Missing-nin from Amegakure as well. Color me impressed lad, but how did you kill them?"

"It's wasn't hard to tell you the truth. Takigakure hired my services to escort Shibuki; their future leader back to the village. We ran into a small amount of trouble with his old teacher Suien and his group. I won't bore you with the gory details, but those three assholes trapped me with some sort of water whip, I fried their brains with a lightning jutsu. After they fell over dead I killed the grunts, and then slayed Suien when he went into cardiac arrest after he ingested something called the Hero Water. After his death the village paid my mission fee, and the bounty for his head; which I already put into one my accounts."

Naruto then held out his white gloved right hand, and gestured it towards the bald man. "Now please give me what their bounties were worth."

Zangei raised an eyebrow after he heard the story. It was an odd tale, but figuring that it was none of his business he retrieved a suitcase from one of the cold coffins. Slamming it shut the bounty exchange master handed it to the teenager dressed in white. "This is quite an unusual for your Ronin. Are you sure you don't want me to deposit this large sum of cash into your usual account?"

Naruto only took the money from Zangei, and pocketed his two sealing scrolls. "Thank you, but no thank you. Where I'm going I'll need every bit within this suitcase to open up a new account."

"And where are you heading?" Zangei inquired.

Naruto didn't hide the wolfish grin under his mask when he spoke only one word. "Konoha."

* * *

Armageddon: Well everyone this is the fourth chapter that I have written, and I tell ya I'm happy about it. But I believe a few of you are calling bullshit on a few things in this chapter, and probably the last chapter as well.

Sgt. Shadowstrayster: I can name a few, like the scene with Akahoshi dying easily, or Shishio putting Naruto into a capsule of all things, or him being able to move his right hand after burning it, and especially killing Jounin-level shinobi at that age.

Pvt. Liquor: I agree about this, some of this stuff is cheesier than cheese bread sticks.

Pvt. Fox: Really? You're comparing this to bread sticks?

Pvt. Liquor: Shaddap, it's the truth!

Armageddon: At ease guys our favorite drunk is right, I do need to answer a few things that I know need explaining. Now what would you like to cover first?

Pvt. DemonShifter: I want to know about the harem.

Armageddon: *sweat-drops* ...Of course you do. Well folks It's not gonna be big, I mentioned that last chapter but I may have confused a few people. Well it ain't gonna exceed ten women, actually I don't expect it to even get up to ten women. But I have planned out who will be in it...or at least a part of it. Some you will expect, while other you won't, so lets leave it at that.

Pvt. Killjoy: What about Akahoshi dying so fast? I mean the man was Kage-level.

Armageddon: He may have the title of Hoshikage, but he _certainly_ wasn't Kage-level. He achieved it though manipulation, murder of the Sandaime Hoshikage, and imbedding that meteorite within his chest. But catch the arrogant bastard unaware, and without that meteorite he is as weak as another man who gets decapitated from behind.

Pvt. VFSNAKE: What about the capsule? Ain't that...well stupid?

Armageddon: Was it stupid when Indiana Jones used a lead refrigerator to survive an atomic bomb testing and survive it? Now some of you may have hated that movie, but I thought that scene was badass. Was it stupid that Shishio just _happened_ to have an escape pod in his final standing place? Yes, it was, but you have to remember Shishio is the type who prepares for the worst, and combine that with Indiana Jones...well there you go you have my halfassed attempt to have Naruto survive an explosion.

Lt. Doom: What about the hand? I mean nerve damage and all, I mean you read the Dresden Files and know what happens with fire right?

Armageddon: I do, but remember Shishio was burnt alive in the manga and anime. And yet he still survived, he moved, and killed a great many people before becoming nothing but ash. It's the law of anime/manga, some shit just doesn't have to be logical to make sense. Now to save time and a long winded speech, the reason Naruto could kill Chuunin to Jounin level shinobi at the age of ten is due to a simple fact was that he was underestimated, he used sneak attacks, and he was lucky.

Pvt. Superninja: Huh, well I get it. I hope everyone else gets these explanations too.

Armageddon: Now that I gave you this chapter I hope you have good Memorial Day. May it be filled with barbecues, a sunny day, and if you have a relative that served or is serving I say congratulate them, give them a hug, or buy them a beer. I know that's what I'm gonna do, so happy Memorial Day!


	6. Splashes in Wave: Naruto's Return

I don't own Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin. If I did this story would be truly epic, especially with the shit I wrote for this chapter.

"Talk"

'_Think_'

**"Talk"**

**'_Think_'**

Authors Note: Toonami is back bitches!

* * *

"This is not good…not good at all." Said a light-skinned elderly man of below-average stature. He had pronounced cheekbones, a long thick gray goatee, several deep wrinkles, a wart near his left nostril, and a few liver-spots. He wore a long white cloak, along with a red, full-length gown that was tied using a white sash, and an odd triangular red hat with the kanji symbol for 'Fire' proudly printed in front of it.

In his hands was a letter from Kakashi Hatake the Jounin commander for Team Seven. Now when he sent the Jounin and his team as back up for Team Eight for their mission in Wave Country when the Demon Brothers attacked, but what he didn't expect was for both teams to get ambushed by Zabuza Momochi himself.

Reading over the report again the Sandaime Hokage saw that after the ambush both teams barely escaped victorious. But then they were attacked by others soon after, one being former Leaf Jounin Aoi Rokusho along with a three man cell under his command, another being a rogue shinobi who called himself Lightning Lion, and a famed bandit leader named Raijuta Isurugi. A member of Team Seven was captured; a girl named Ami that he feared was dead, the two Genin of Team Eight were greatly injured. They were pleading for backup, but the Sandaime already knew that was not an option.

Kami these past ten years have been a living hell for him. First Naruto disappeared after the vicious slaughter of civilians and shinobi by an unknown assailant.

The council was still badgering him over the deaths an entire classroom full of academy students and their instructor Mizuki nearly seven years ago. It was a great tragedy to lose an entire classroom of future shinobi, but with that tragedy allowed the Hokage to create a new law that forced a great change within the academy. Now academy students weren't allowed to graduate until they had more in their arsenal than the three basic academy jutsu-that included advanced taijutsu techniques, elemental ninjutsu, kenjutsu, greater clan techniques, and so on. It cost a pretty penny to finance something that may or may not have borne any fruit, and because of it he had to stretch his forces thin, and put in an increase of S-ranked missions; so there weren't going to be any reinforcements anytime soon.

And most importantly he was forced to have Itachi; one of his top shinobi to massacre his entire family to put down their rebellion before it even started. May Kami forgive him for causing that poor boy to become an S-ranked criminal, because he certainly would not.

Folding the paper in his hands, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage let out a deep sigh. His bones that were already suffering from arthritis protested as he leaned back into his chair, his lungs urged for his pipe and the tobacco within it. And his entire demeanor just screamed for a miracle to plop into his lap. "What am I going to do?"

"I don't know what are you going to do?" An amused voice said to the side of him.

Immediately hearing the voice Hiruzen leaped from his seat and produced a kunai from his sleeve. His black eyes, whole old with age, were still sharp and attentive. They focused onto the window and widened in surprise.

Casually sitting on the window still was a teenager whose head was obscured by the sun. But despite that he looked to be about five foot six in height and was at least sixteen years old. He was dressed in a unusual attire that consisted of an Iwagakure-styled one sleeved formfitting black shirt with four metal buckles on the front of it that revealed his athletic torso that was tightly packed with muscle and several aged scars along his left arm and the kanji for 'Demon' tattooed on his shoulder. His pants were loose white kung fu pants with a crimson stripe going down the sides of both pant legs that were specifically designed for effective kicking actions. Securing the pants was a belt that held standard shinobi pouches, a katana in its black scabbard resting at his left hip, and a tanto strapped to the back for quick access. He wore only two pieces of armor, firmly strapped to his shins were white Kumogakure-styled shin guards with three crimson stripes going down the middle of them, and the same styled gauntlets protected his visible forearm, but strangely enough his hands were covered by black full fingered gloves.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Sarutobi demanded the intruder, cautiously as he lifted his kunai into a defensive position.

"Please, relax yourself Hokage-dono I'm actually here to extend a helping hand." The teenager said to the old man. Moving himself from the window still Sarutobi his black shinobi-styled sandals hit the wood with a loud thump. Hiruzen then saw his face...at least the parts that weren't obscured by the white scarf covering his face from the nose down. He had golden hair that was tied into a ponytail by a black band while the bangs framing both sides of his face went to his jawline, and his eyes were a dull blue that showed past tragedies, and hardships.

You know that old saying, 'Speak of the devil and you shall receive.'? Well Sarutobi got what he wished for; he just didn't realize it yet. He observed the teenager with caution before he opened his mouth to speak concerning his so-called help. "May I ask you a question boy?"

"Shoot."

"You don't seem to be the type to help anyone for free. Should I take your help, I suppose you want something in return."

"You would be correct old man." Turning his back to him-a sign of trust, the blond stuck his arm out the open window, and pulled out a black suitcase. He confidently waked over to the old Fire Shadow's desk and placed it onto next to his desk.

"I have an offer of sorts. I have sources that tell me that your village is lacking certain shinobi qualities and funds that I personally think this village needs. So I propose a deal between the two of us."

"You're bribing me boy? Don't you know that is a felony, punishable by twenty plus years in prison?"

"It's not a bribe; think of it as a reimbursement for doing your best to raise me until I left."

Sarutobi's heart stopped after the last word left his visitors mouth. Then he looked at him, _truly_ looked at him, he placed pictured a six year old boy, then added in ten years a healthy diet…and the hardships he may have faced during his time away. "Dear Kami, Naruto…is…is that you?"

"Who else has the balls to call you an old man?" Naruto pulled down his white scarf to reveal the telltale whisker birthmarks on his left cheek, but the right side that held his whisker birthmarks were nearly obscured by a cross-shaped scar.

Feeling his body screaming in protest the elderly man was glad he was sitting in his comfortable chair. He honestly couldn't believe his old eyes, the son of Konoha's greatest hero had finally returned home. "My prayers are finally answered." He happily whispered to himself. "Naruto…where have you been all this time?"

Naruto only pulled out a kiseru pipe from a pouch on his belt and gestured it to him. "Cancel your appointments and put up a silencing jutsu. I have much to tell you after I was rescued from this hellhole."

_'I have a feeling that I'm not going to like this.'_ Sarutobi thought to himself.

* * *

-Hiruzen Saurtobi's office, thirty minutes later-

Ever heard the phrase 'ignorance is bliss'? Well Hiruzen Sarutobi honestly wished that he stayed ignorant after hearing Naruto's tale. What he listened to was mind boggling, insane even, and _he_ knew that the boy was leaving out several important details!

"Shishio Makoto…_the_ Shishio Makoto trained you?" He asked.

"Along with most of the members of his Juppongatana." Naruto confirmed when he blew a stream of smoke from his mouth.

"And Fugaku…"

"Was the one who attempted to kill him to get to my mother, or rather the Kyuubi."

"And after he died…"

"I collected bounties, gathered information, killed hundreds of people. Listen you heard what I said, and I would never lie to you…after all you would never lie to me."

The Sandaime barely hid a wince when he said that. During the story he was told that Shishio revealed what caused his troubled in Konoha, and knowing his former Hitokiri he used it as manipulation to turn the boy into what he was today. "I'm sorry I never told you, it's just-"

"That you were trying to protect me." Naruto interrupted the old man. Tapping the spent tobacco into the ashtray he stowed his pipe into his right hip pouch before entwining his fingers together. "But now that all this mushy crap has been said, I need to know a few things."

"Such as?"

"I noticed that the Genin within the village are…older. Did you change the graduation age?"

"You would be correct Naruto. A couple years ago an entire classroom of would-be Genin and their Chuunin instructor were butchered by an unknown assailant without a shred of mercy. During the aftermath of the incident I passed a law that forced more advanced studies, and to have the academy students graduate at the age of sixteen. "

_'That was probably Usui, only that sick bastard would find it fun to kill a classroom full of defenseless children.'_ Naruto thought to himself, he gritted his teeth a bit as an image of the blind assassin flashed across his eyes.

"I firmly believe that having them graduate later would allow them to mature in a calm environment where we had several members from the Yamanaka Clan to monitor them. Those without the proper mindset of a shinobi were kicked out of the program, those who didn't meet the proper physical requirements were also kicked out…it's been very difficult Naruto."

"I see where you're going with this old man. I guess this village can't produce weaklings anymore eh?" His question satisfied the blond put on a serious face. "Now if you don't mind I would like the details for the mission."

"You never told me what you wanted in exchange for this."

"Ah, yes right that slipped my mind. For this mission, which I'm going to assume is A-ranked will be quite difficult for a normal shinobi…lucky for you I'm not normal. I will happily forgo the pay for the mission, but in return I would like to become a shinobi under your command, and only _your_ command."

"Naruto are you listening yourself?"

"Are you? I'm offering you a deal of a lifetime, you're getting the Kyuubi jinchuriki who was trained by your personal Hitokiri and half of his faction in the art of deception, infiltration, taijutsu, kenjutsu, fuinjutsu, enough medical ninjutsu to heal those with non-life threatening injuries, and stone cold assassination. I know what I'm doing."

Despite the boy's undeniable logic Sarutobi was still torn. When he looked at him he saw the innocent six year old that always screamed that he would be Hokage, but now he didn't see that boy anymore, what he saw was everything that wasn't supposed to happen. He wanted the boy to stay in Konoha, to become a shinobi the legal way, climb through the ranks and earn the villages respect through the Will of Fire, and eventually become the greatest Hokage like his father…but now he just didn't know what to think. "I don't know Naruto, the council-"

"Fuck. The. Council." Naruto ice cold voice sent chills down the Hokage's spine. "You're the fucking Sandaime Hokage; you're supposed to be the leader, the single _strongest_ man in the village. Have you gotten soft sitting in that comfy chair to allow _civilians_ and clan heads to walk all over you?"

"This isn't about-"

"It's about politics one of the most backstabbing practices in history." Reaching into the pouch on his left hip the blond produced a little battered black book. Licking both his right index finger and thumb he began flipping through the pages until he reached the spot he was looking for. "Ah, yes the Konoha Council it consists of twenty members ranging from ten _civilians_, ten shinobi clans, and of course you and your two teammates as overseers and tie-breaking votes."

He then listed off the Civilian Council's crimes they had done from past to present. "Itou Nakamura: He has been embezzling the villages' funds for over five years. Genzo Hikari: Illegal weapons smuggling, bribery, and child abuse. Yuuji Satou: He frequently collects laundered money from the red light district in the poorer parts of Konoha, and has sold women into slavery. Shibumi Haruno: Here's the kicker for this guy he is a known to smuggle drugs into the village, and has bribed several so-called respected shinobi and local law enforcement to turn the other cheek, and if money doesn't work his wife steps in to _persuade _them otherwise. He has also been known to deal in the slave trade, and had several people murdered who got in his way by hiring foreign shinobi." He then shut the book with a loud clap, "Frankly old man there is a lot more where that came from, and I can get you the evidence to send those assholes to prison, the chopping block, or control them."

"That cannot be true, it just can't be my shinobi-"

"Are only human." Naruto interrupted the old Kage once again. "They have faults that you cannot control, and because of greed, evil intent, free drugs, or desperation, the village is paying for it. And I can easily help you, but only if you help me."

Sarutobi had to lean back in the comfortable chair for several long minutes. How could things spiral out of control under his very own nose? Kami damn it all the boy was right he needed his help…just like when he needed Shishio to protect a young Kushina. His heart hardened in resolve as he made his decision and he looked into Naruto's now chilly blue eyes.

"Naruto Uzumaki, due to this new information I regretfully acknowledge to this cancer that has been spreading within my village." Getting to his feet the elderly man placed two old, but powerful hands upon the blond's shoulders. "I will accept your help on the condition that you bring teams Seven and Eight back home alive. In doing so I will have you take up the mantle of Hitokiri, granting you the power to conduct high risk missions and deal with them anyway you see fit from now until I die."

"Then tell me whatever information you have for this rescue mission, and I will be on my way." Naruto's eyes steeled themselves almost like a switch was flicked within him.

Taking his hands from the young man's shoulders the Hokage grabbed the piece of paper Kakashi sent him. Handing it over to the blond he opened his mouth to speak. "Your mission, should you accept to choose it will be to extract Team Eight consisting of Jounin Commander Kurenai Yuuhi, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyuuga. And Team Seven consisting of Jounin Commander Kakashi Hatake, Sakura Haruno, Ami, and Sasuke Uchiha from Wave Country."

Naruto's eyes narrowed hearing the last name on the list, and when he opened the folded piece of paper he frowned in what looked like annoyance. Finally after the letter he crumpled it up and tossed it onto the desk. "You're going to have to write out a list of commands for the Jounin. The very first thing they will do is undermine my authority, and the same thing will have to go for the Genin. If they fail to follow your commands or my orders, they will face severe punishment ranging to demotions to treason charges."

"That is quite harsh Naruto." Sarutobi said, nearly flabbergasted at the request.

"Look at me. I'm no more than a stranger-or possible threat to these people. I have no rank, no shinobi identification, and no allegiance to the village…well yet at least. Until then I will be considered a risk factor, and if they don't trust me then we will fall prey to these hostile forces. Trust me old man."

Letting out a sigh of reluctant acknowledgment the Hokage wrote out his orders for the mission. After dating, signing, and stamping the paper with the Hokage's official seal he handed it to the blond. After he took it, Naruto nodded in approval and stuck it in his left hip pouch. Before he left through the window he said to the village leader. "In that suitcase is exactly one-hundred million ryo from my latest bounties. Keep half of it in your protective custody until I return for it, and you can use the other half for whatever you like." And with that said he was off towards Wave Country.

After the blond left Sarutobi picked up the suitcase, placed it upon his paperwork, undid the latches, and opened it to reveal ten neat rows of money. "Dear Kami, Naruto you are the miracle I have been waiting for."

It was sad to know that his 'miracle' was really a demon from hell.

-The border of Wave Country, Several days later-

Several days later Naruto emerged from a burning forest, his blue eyes ice cold as he left pure devastation in his wake. Behind him was one of many bandit camps that were under the employ of Gato, the business tycoon that held a death sentence ever since he heard Shishio utter his company name six years ago.

Destroying the camp was child's play. All Naruto had to do was create five shadow clones, command them to expel the C-ranked fire ninjutsu called Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu at the same time, then the original used an overpowered C-ranked wind ninjutsu called Wind Style: Great Breakthrough Jutsu…and the entire camp turned into a literal firestorm.

After strolling through the camp, the blond commanded his clones to dispel after killing any survivors, and went on his merry way towards the port town that was being held captive by Gato…at least until he came in contact with another bandit camp twenty miles later.

"How annoying." He said to himself. His blue eyes flickering around the area the blond saw a cliff face, knowing that it was his best chance to get the proper layout he let out a deep breath, and disappeared.

Several minutes later the teen arrived at the cliff face and let out several haggard breaths. He turned his head to see the deep footprints imbedded within the soil. "Soujiro, you were one lucky bastard, even with the fox I can still feel the strain on my legs…oh well, Shishio-san would just tell me to stop complaining." Getting onto one knee to rest for a few minutes, Naruto observed the camp. He studied the place for ten long minutes and robotically listed off his findings. "Camp size: Estimate three and a half miles. Population: An estimate five-hundred and counting. Threat Level: High, considered suicidal for a frontal assault. Recommended action," He looked over to the side and saw the sea, looking up he saw that is was cloudy. With a sly grin crossing his face Naruto crossed both his index and middle fingers together. "Shadow clone Jutsu!"

Ten small clouds of smoke later the only student of Shishio pointed at four clones. "You four help me out; we're going to send a message to Gato that death is coming for him." Receiving silent nods the four doppelgangers approached their creator and immediately sat on the ground; their hands flew through two hand seals before they rested upon the tiger seal. "Water Style: Black Rain Jutsu." Focusing their chakra both the original Naruto and his clones forced the clouds over the ocean and the camp to become ink black. He saw the hired thugs look up, and figuring it was about to rain they headed inside their tents to ride out the inevitable storm. Then the clouds began pouring black rain on the camp.

As the black rain poured onto the camp the six clones blazed through six hand seals before they also rested on the tiger seal. Focusing the chakra in their chests the clones roared out, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" And shot massive orbs of flames from their mouths. Both the copies and the original watched when the six massive fireballs impacted the oil-soaked camp, and it-along with its five-hundred residents went up in flames. The continuing oil based rain continued to fall, allowing the fire to climb its way up the falling drops until it reached the clouds, and the entire sky surrounding the area erupted into hellish-looking fire.

"Maybe that was a little overkill?" The original Naruto questioned himself, or his clones if you count them as other people.

"Better than underkill." A clone Naruto replied.

"I don't give a damn." Another rudely said. "Let's just get this stupid mission over with."

The original only dismissed them after their useless comments, and after observing the burning forms of the bandits he headed towards the village.

-Tazuna's home at the same time-

"This does not bode well." A moderately tall, fit man said out loud. He wore the average Jounin attire with the exception of a dark blue half-mask that covered the lower part of his face, and his Leaf hitai-ate diagonally covering his left eye. He sighed tiredly as he ran this gloved right hand through his gravity defying spiky white hair, and nearly lost balance on his crutches holding him upright.

"You believe the fire in the sky is a warning?" Asked a woman with long and black, shoulder-length untamed hair, and very unique eyes that are red in color with an additional ring in the center of her iris. She wore a little make-up that consisted of red lipstick and purple eye shadow. Her outfit was unusual that consisted of a red mesh armor blouse with only the right sleeve visible, while her bare one was slung into a sling hanging around her neck. Over a very broad material which resembled bandages with a pattern on it similar to rose thorns. Her hands and upper thighs were also wrapped in bandages. She wore a Leaf hitai-ate on her forehead to show her allegiance to Konoha and black shinobi-styled sandals on her feet.

"Indeed Kurenai, I don't like the look of this."

"Is it a new enemy…or an ally?"

"I don't know. I just pray that your Genin will be able to protect the client's daughter." Kakashi indicated her least injured student.

"Hinata may be a meek girl. But she can handle herself Kakashi."

-The village around the same time-

Coming from a royal clan, and a well-funded village, Hinata was heartbroken when she saw the first hand devastation Gato wrought upon the village she was charged with protecting. She knew that Konoha was wealthy in comparison to some of the minor villages, but to see what was supposed to be a peaceful place that was so torn by someone's greed was a real eye opener for her. Tsunami; Tazuna's only child had lead her down the dusty streets as she peered into alleyways which were crowded with those that could no longer afford to pay the living taxes put on them by the tyrant of Wave. It was clear that the man would have to be stopped, but just how to do that was the difficult part as the man had a literal army at his beck and call. But from what she learned in the advanced psychology classes before she graduated from the academy, she-and the rest of her team knew that he wasn't the type to openly confront people. Instead he chose to stay in a safe haven while his thugs and mercenaries did his dirty work.

By the time the two women reached the only grocery store left in the village. Upon entering the building Hinata realized just how much trouble the citizens were in. The shelves of the store were bare, and whatever was on them should not have even been considered edible. They quickly got what they could from their list, checking off only five of the items as available. Paying for whatever looked remotely in good condition they both turned towards the door to leave.

Unfortunately for the two the doors were violently slammed open. Three ragged, but strong, and armed men entered the store. They looked around for several seconds before the shortest of the group spitted the two women. An evil smirk formed on his face before he called outside the door. "Hey boss, looks like we got a twofer in this place!"

From the outside the two women heard a loud grunt and a large looming shadow blocked the doorway. The citizens in Wave watched in horror when a man had to duck his head in order to get into the store. The man stood over seven and a half feet tall, his muscled skin was as tan as bronze, and his light brown hair was as wild and untamed as the company he kept. The giant man wore a dark greed haoi vest with a light purple shirt underneath it black feathers surrounding his neck and shoulders. He wore dark gray hakama pants tucked into black shin guards that matched the black hand guards on his thick forearms. On his feet were simple straw woven sandals and dark purple tabi socks, and secured in his sash was a simple katana.

The giant mans' stone-gray eyes disregarded the sniveling civilians, and store keep; instead he looked upon the two beauties before him.

The first was a girl about the age of sixteen. She had dark blue hair that was in a hime-styled haircut that went to her waist, and she had cute shoulder-length strands of hair that framed her face. Other than her noticeable slender yet curvaceous frame hidden underneath a loose fitting, long-sleeved, lavender and cream zip-up jacket with lavender cuffs over mesh armor with navy blue pants and black, low-heeled sandals was her eyes. They were pure white with a tinge of lavender surrounding them. A Hyuuga? Interesting.

The second was a woman in her late twenties at most. She was beautiful-for a common housewife with curves in the right places that were defined by her pink top and hip hugging knee-length skirt. Her lovely face was framed by dark blue hair that went to her shoulders. She was the target for his boss; well the giant man couldn't blame the short man for wanting her.

"Tsuruzaemon, seize the two women." He commanded a tall, muscular man wearing a gray battle yukata with black hair cut close to his head, and a thick mustache on his upper lip. The man nodded and gripped his naginata in his hands.

"Toji, shake down the shop owner. He's late on his payment." He ordered the shortest and ugliest member of the group. He wore a simple white yukata and cream colored hakama pants, and gripped a simple katana in his right hand.

"With pleasure Raijuta-sama." Toji's nasally voice said in pleasure.

"Tsukio, guard the entrance. I don't want anyone interfering." Raijuta commanded his third subordinate. A Bald man with ripple patterns in his gray eyes, wearing nothing but a loose battle yukata, and a katana in his hands.

"Thy will be done, Raijuta-sama." Tsukio said in a calm voice.

"Thy will, will not be done you mean." A new voice said from the doorway.

Turning their heads the bandits, civilians, and shinobi alike were stunned to see a blond-haired teenager calmly standing in front of the entryway. He had a passionless look to him, almost like this entire situation was more annoying than anything else. His dull blue eyes landed on Hinata, who couldn't help but flush at the slight familiarity of his gaze. "So you're the one who needs back up…very well then."

Naruto looked around the store, observing the four terrified civilians, the shop owner, and the kunoichi. "I suggest you all leave, I rather not have any of you to witness what I'm about to do."

The shop keeper didn't have to be told twice. He bolted from his position behind the counter…only to find himself cut in half by the giant man in the room. "No one is going anywhere, boy are you against me or-"

Raijuta found his answer when the blond quickly unsheathed his own katana; the Mugen, and a surprised Tsukio found himself without the upper half of his head. As the top half of his head fell to the floor with a wet splat, Toji and Tsuruzaemon immediately leaped at him with ferocious battle cries at the loss of their friend and comrade. Naruto never blinked, he easily jumped as high as the store would allow him.

Tsuruzaemon growled at the teen and thrusted his naginata upwards to impale his opponent. Naruto however planted his left palm along the side of the blade, the tip of the spear impacted the sharp edge of the katana, and Naruto used the force of gravity to cut the steel in half, down the wooden shaft, and through Tsuruzaemon's fat head, and half his body. Quickly pivoting on his right heel the blond lashed out with a fierce kick that hit the side of Toji's katana, and shattering it. Not wasting a single move Naruto stabbed the Mugen through Toji's neck, immediately killing him.

"Three of my best men…he killed them in a span of ten seconds." Raijuta muttered to himself. "Boy, you show potential. Join me; my band of warriors could use someone like you."

After kicking the corpse off Shishio's precious sword, Naruto rudely spat to the side. He eyes the terrified townsfolk, who in his opinion looked flabbergasted, almost like he punched Kami in the face. But the kunoichi, she was putting on a brave face even though this was her first time seeing someone die up close.

"I doubt your men would agree. I already killed a good chunk of them on my way here, or did you not notice that the sky was on fire barely fifteen minutes ago?"

"Wh-my…my camp?" Raijuta's mind shut down from the pure fury that coursed through his body. Gripping his already unsheathed katana in one hand, the giant man swung it downwards, and a crescent shaped air vacuum blade came from it at amazing speed, but when the crescent shape blade hit the blond, a chair from the store took his place. His enraged eyes widening Raijuta turned around to catch a devastating kick to the chest, sending him through the wall of the shop and onto the streets.

Naruto heard several more crashing sounds; a telltale sign that his opponent went through several more buildings. Knowing that he had a little time spare, the student of Shishio turned his attention towards the dead shopkeeper. He headed over to the body and shut his open eyes. "Did he have any family?" He asked those who were still alive in the store.

"None, they died of disease several weeks ago." One of the patrons said.

"Namu Amida Buddha." Naruto quickly pressed his hands together in prayer for the man and his family. Normally he never prayed for the souls of the dead, but this man and his family were cheated out of a long and prosperous life, and in his opinion they deserved a small prayer-even if it was from someone like _him_. "Thank you miss…"

"Tsunami."

Naruto nodded in thanks for her name. After breathing out he turned towards the hole in the wall, and saw Raijuta stomping towards him through the building across from the store. "It looks like I have a little more work to do, please remain inside, I rather not have any of you see what I'm about to do."

Once Naruto stepped into the open, he calmly looked at the enraged bandit leader snorting like a hog. But Raijuta's focus was elsewhere at the moment, to his ever increasing anger; he saw the thick smoke rising from where his major camp was. All his men; the strongest of the strong were in that camp! He gnashed his teeth together, ignoring several chips of his teeth breaking off.

"You're dead boy, you hear me? Dead!" Raijuta bellowed.

"Big talk from a guy who picks of those weaker than him." Naruto responded.

"Says you!" The enraged bandit leader swung his katana again and another crescent shaped air vacuum blade flew at his opponent. Narrowing his eyes Naruto leaped to the side, easily dodging the attack. Raijuta roared in protest as he swung his sword again, and again, and again, each air vacuum cutting through various buildings, poles, fences, and even an entire tree. As this happened, the bandit leader was becoming more and more infuriated at how some _brat _kept dodging his killing blows. Letting out screams of fury he swung more rapidly, until finally the blond slipped up, and he _finally_ landed a cut on the blond's gloved left middle finger.

When Raijuta saw that he had cut the teenager, he grinned wickedly. "Did you see that? My Tobi Izuna was able to cut you and proves that it is the ultimate killing Technique!" He finally named the move he had been using this entire time, declaring his ultimate technique as the greatest thing since sliced bread.

"Does it make you happy?" Naruto demanded with narrowed eyes.

"What?"

Scowling at the man, Naruto pulled the glove from his left hand, and showed his barely bleeding middle finger; effectively flipping him off at the same time. "Does this little cut on my finger, make you happy? Even after all the attacks that you threw at me, all of them missed. And the very last one just made an insignificant cut on my finger, it has already stopped bleeding. You claim that this Tobi Izuna of your is the ultimate killing technique…well I have news for you, I wasn't even trying when I killed your men." He spat to the side and slid his glove on after insulting the bandit leader.

Raijuta only became even angrier at Naruto's comment. He only yelled in response at the teenager's pathetic excuse of being a coward. "I have not even begun to fight!" He roared out loud and began to prepare another attack.

"And I grow tired of this fight." Naruto responded. Grabbing the hilt of the Mugen he bolted towards the bandit leader for the first time since the fight began.

At the same time Raijuta swung his sword again and cried out "Tobi Izuna!"

Just as the massive crescent shape air vacuum blade came towards him, Naruto fell to his knees, and skidded underneath the so-called ultimate killing technique, and to add insult to injury he slid under Raijuta's legs. Twisting his hips Naruto lashed out with the Mugen, and cleanly sliced the hamstrings in the back of the giant mans' legs in two. Raijuta cried out in pain before he fell to his knees, he desperately tried to turn his arms in the direction towards the blond, but Naruto easily flipped from his position on the ground over the bandit leaders' broad shoulder, and with one swing of his katana, sliced Raijuta's wrists clean from his forearms.

Naruto ignored the crippled man's screams of pair as he looked at his life blood flowing from his fresh stumps. "So the 'great bandit leader' falls to a brat. How pathetic, the rumors about your prowess in battle were well exaggerated."

"You can't do this to me!" Raijuta screamed in denial. His mind couldn't process the damage done to him, his ego far too massive to accept that he had been beaten by a no name. "You're nothing! You're just a no named whelp that I wouldn't allow to kiss the ground I walk on!"

"I am not a _no name_," Naruto growled at the man when the images of Yashiro Uchiha calling him only the demon. Or the villagers calling him a _no name_ from the past flash in front of his eyes. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! Remember that when you meet the Shinigami!"

With one stroke of his blade Naruto beheaded the screaming Raijuta, putting an end to the man who had been terrorizing the village since he arrived with Gato. He heard a slight gasp and turned his head to the side, and saw the Leaf kunoichi staring at him in wide-eyed shock, and droplets of blood splattered on her outfit and face.

"I-I wanted t-t-o thank you and ma-ke sure yo-u weren't harmed," She stuttered. "M-my grea-t-t grand f-f-fath-her alw-ays said at tragic sce-nes, "A rain of blood falls."...but you really made it…rain blood." Without warning she collapsed from the shock and would have hit the ground if Naruto didn't catch her body with his.

Naruto grunted in annoyance when he adjusted her, not because she was heavy, but because he didn't want to cut her with his katana. Looking over her shoulder he spotted an equally stunned Tsunami. "Tsunami-dono, I assume she was protecting you, so would you mind showing me where your residence is so I can drop her off?"

"Y-yes, please follow me."

-Tazuna's house, thirty minutes later-

"I don't like this; they were supposed to be back fifteen minutes ago!" Kurenai angrily groaned out.

"Stressing out about it isn't going to bring he back sooner." Kakashi calmly said.

"Don't tell me what to do Kakashi!" The red-eyed Jounin snapped. "Other than your two Genin who are guarding the bridge builder, Hinata is the only one not severely injured. We got Aoi Rokusho and his Genin team hiding in the shadows, that psycho Lightning Lion could be anywhere, and Raijuta Isurugi and his crew have been seen roaming the streets collecting protection money!"

"Didn't you tell me nearly twenty minutes ago that 'Hinata may be a meek girl. But she can handle herself Kakashi.'?" The masked Jounin eye-smiled at her.

A blush of embarrassment flashed across Kurenai's face before she turned her head away. "I'm just worried Kakashi, is that so wrong?"

Before he could answer her, both of them felt a chill running up their spines. Looking out the window they saw Tsunami walking up the path to the giant house that used to be an inn they were currently residing in. Behind her a blond teenager easily towered over her, Kakashi didn't like the look of his eyes; they were dull, and lifeless. Kurenai didn't like the feel of him, his entire essence reeked of death and destruction; Kami only knew how many bodies he left in his wake. And he had Hinata carried in his arms bridal-style!

Without thinking of the consequences the kunoichi bolted out the door with kunai in hand. "Put her down and step away!" She cried out.

However before she even crossed the dock connecting the house to the mainland, her red eyes locked upon his blue ones, and she stopped dead in her tracks. They say the eyes are like the window to the soul, and when Kurenai looked into his eyes she saw images that would haunt her for life. She saw bodies, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of bodies, their faces indicating agonizing deaths. The background was nothing but fire where the smoke flowed into the sky turning into a skull; the symbol to death. Standing over them was the boy standing before her, covered in blood that wasn't any of his own except for the cross-shaped scar on his right cheek, and clutched in his right hand was a pure black blade that was as tall as him.

She didn't snap out of her vision until he was standing next to her kneeling form. He raised a blond eyebrow at her; that looked extremely odd with the white scarf covering his lower face, and then he shrugged at her. "Running with your arm like that isn't advisable. Get inside and I'll see what I can do to help."

When he walked away with Tsunami opening the door-which slammed closed from her sudden departure, Kurenai turned her head to see the stranger walk into the house. Good Kami, what was the Sandaime thinking of sending such a monster as their saving grace?

* * *

Armageddon: Hey fans of mine here is the next chapter. I know it surprised the hell outta me, but for some odd reason I'm finding this story flowing more smoothly than the others lately. Don't worry I have been writing the next chapters for Hell Sharingan V2 and Spiraling Shark in-between writing this story out. If that is weird...well I certainly can't blame ya there, because it's a new, yet refreshing experience for me. And yes I did take a decent part of the Raijuta fight from the Rurouni Kenshin manga, but seriously I doubt you'll be complaining about it after reading it eh?


	7. Splashes in Wave: A fighting Chance

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto that is all I have to say.

Talk: "Talk"

Think: _'Think'_

Authors Note: Hey everybody, long time eh? Well I'm not going to keep you waiting too much longer I just have something to say about the last chapter. Now I was really surprised about several angry reviews with the whole Hinata doing the Tomoe speech. For one thing I honestly ran out of things to write, a serious case of writers block after killing Raijuta, so I used that. If you don't like it then good bye and have a nice life. Also I have no plans of turning any of the girls from the Naruto universe into Tomoe, Megumi, etc. That is all.

* * *

Before Naruto could even take a step inside the house, he was immediately greeted with a kunai pressed against the jugular vein on his neck by none other than Kakashi Hatake. "Are you an ally or an enemy?" The Jounin demanded.

"Reach into my left hip pouch to find a single piece of paper. You will find orders from the Sandaime Hokage himself regarding my role in the mission." The blond calmly replied, a little too calm for one with a deadly weapon at his neck.

Never taking his eye off the possible enemy; who held the Hyuuga heiress in his arms, Kakashi slowly reached his hand into the left hip pouch, feeling two books a first and then a single piece of paper the Jounin slowly withdrew it and eyed the seal of the Hokage. After breaking said seal he read the orders upon the parchment with a wide eye.

"Naruto…Uzumaki. How…why?"

Naruto only backed away from the kunai knife and went into the living room. Finding the spot he was looking for, he placed the unconscious Hyuuga on the couch, took the piece of paper from Kakashi's shaking hand and leaned against the wall as Tsunami, and an obviously shaken Kurenai walked in with his clone at their backs; holding the decapitated head of Raijuta Isurugi.

When the clone tossed the former bandit leaders head towards the original he disappeared in a small cloud of smoke. After observing the head for a moment, he casually set it on the floor and pulled out a light-gray book and flipped several pages. "Raijuta Isurugi; the 'Leader of the South', total bounty ten million ryo…how he got so famous if beyond me."

"You killed Raijuta Isurugi…how? He was supposed to be Jounin-level." Kurenai exclaimed while the blond sealed the head into a bloodied sealing scroll.

"Highly exaggerated, Kurenai-san." Naruto replied before he pocketed the scroll into his right hip pouch and the book into his left one. "The only thing special about him was some sword technique called Tobi Izuna, and I didn't impress me in the slightest; ultimate killing technique my ass." After further disrespecting the dead man, the blond looked towards the masked Jounin. "Now, Kakashi-san, while we wait for your Genin to return so I can start my mission, would you mind telling me situation of this mission and how fucked you are on a scale of one to ten."

-On the border of Wave Country, Gato's hidden hideout-

While Kakashi was telling their backup about their situation, deep in the forests, on an unmapped area of the small country a small man surrounded by two ronin bodyguards, spitting fire at the two shinobi within his office.

The first was a man that stood a little under average height with green hair expanding in wild directions with his Rain hitai-ate covering his forehead. His attire consisted of a white and blue body suit and blue shinobi styled sandals. Strapped to his back were two umbrellas that were snugly inside a tan leather strap. He would have been considered a handsome man if it wasn't for the ugly scar diagonally crossing his face with a black eye-patch covering his right eye.

The second was a man of average height with shoulder-length, wild dark-brown hair and dark eyes. He wore a respirator that covered the lower half of his face and a large, clawed, gauntlet on his right arm. He wore a camouflage suit with bandages around his waist, dark-colored, knee-length sandals and a ragged black cape. His scratched out Mist hitai-ate was uniquely designed, having a single black horn welded on the top of it.

Their employer; Gato, was an extremely short man with gray-orange hair and a thin mustache. He wore an expensive black suit imported from the west and black sunglasses covering his beady, evil eyes. He pointed his right jeweled finger at the Rain shinobi before bellowing, "Tell me again, how the hell did Raijuta die Aoi!"

"As I told you, one of my Genin witnessed the leader of your mercenaries fly out of the shop _you_ ordered him to shake down. It wasn't until thirty seconds later he saw a blond teenager dressed in a mixture of Iwagakure and Kumogakure clothing emerge from the shop, and he made Raijuta look like a complete fool, he dodged every single attack he made until his legs were disabled, his hands cut off, and then he finally lost his head. That's all I can tell you again…boss."

"Damn it all. Aoi, did your Genin see anything else? Like facial features, or a name!?" The business tycoon demanded.

"I'm sorry boss. But he was too far away to see or hear anything else important."

"Dismissed! Get out of here, I want him found, and I want every single man Raijuta had in this village by tomorrow!" After Aoi left Gato's presence, the short man turned his attention on the man with the respirator. "And you, what is the status of the baby demon!"

The former Mist shinobi's clawed gauntlet grabbed the little man by then neck. He then turned his head to glare at the two ronin who were about to draw their swords, and growled at his boss for the time being. "First of all, my name is Gozu. And second _Zabuza_ is still in the process of recovering. And if you insult him again I will break your remaining arm." He said while eying the white cast covering the midgets left forearm.

After releasing the business tycoon Gozu left the room, slamming the door shut.

"Bastard," Gato couched out as he rubbed his bruising throat. "I honestly hope you can deal with that lot." He said to the corner of the room.

"Oh I sure can, as long as you hold the end of our bargain." A sinister voice answered back before he revealed himself to the tyrant of Wave.

The person talking was a psychotic-looking shinobi who clearly towered over every occupant in the room. He had long, shaggy, sandy-blond hair that was styled like a lion's mane, and feral amber eyes. His outfit consisted of an open dark brown leather vest that showed off his rock hard muscles, tattered black shorts, and was barefooted. The most unusual features for this man were the very large, clawed fists, and the skull of a lion firmly set on his head with the symbol for Iwagakure imprinted in the middle of the forehead scratched out.

"Of course, you can keep that cunt who broke my arm. I'm sure she will go great with that Leaf kuniochi you brought back."

"Hehehe she's been _real_ good boss. She lost a lot of her fight though, now it's almost boring."

"That's your problem Lightning Lion; you just keep pushing them until they break."

Lightning Lion only snorted at that remark, "Now where's the fun in that."

Gato sighed in response. The former Stone shinobi was his most favorite employee, but he went through his 'payment' like a junkie. "Whatever, Aoi's order goes for you as well. I want this brat found, and if possible the bridge builders' daughter brought to me; _unsoiled_!"

"Fine," The former Stone shinobi snorted in disappointment. "But don't expect me to like it one bit." With his peace said, the man left so his boss could yell at his useless guards.

-Tazuna's home, same time-

After hearing the new developments of their situation, Naruto leaned against the wall digesting the information. The bad news was that the Jounin were still injured, the male members of Team Eight were still recovering, and the second female member of Team Seven was still missing; and more than likely dead…or wished she was dead. Gato and his shinobi hire's were still alive and kicking, and the client's employees were dropping like flies because they were cowards.

But the good news was there haven't been any shinobi attacks; Zabuza was immobilized by a false hunter ninja, the client and his family haven't been discovered, and he had three supposedly highly-trained Genin to work with…provided they actually follow his orders. And most importantly one of their threats was within one of his sealing scrolls, and at least seventy-five percent of his forces were burning on hot coals in hell.

"Well the good news is that your fucked level is lower than I thought it would be. But the bad news is that we all still are in danger, because what you told me Zabuza will be active in the next few days, and once that happens; well you know why he's known as The Demon of the Mist for a reason." Naruto revealed his analysis that was honed over the years, and beaten into his head by Saizuchi.

"Then what do you suggest? I should be on my feet by the time Zabuza shows up, but Kurenai's arm is still broken and we're still three Genin down." Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well you're lucky that I'm here. Kurenai-san can you please let me take a look at your arm?"

Complying with the request, the crimson-eyed woman tried to take her left arm from the sling. Naruto however placed his gloved hands on her wrist to prevent her from doing it. His dull eyes narrowing he focused his chakra into his hands, emitting the soothing green chakra that felt like a Kamisent.

"Mhmm I see, well it's broken, but it's a clean break. Just let me…and I apologize for this." Feeling the breaks with his fingers, he quickly brought them together inciting a cry of pain from the woman, and then a sigh when he poured the healing chakra into the arm. After several long seconds the blond pulled his hands away. "Okay, I healed it to the point where you can move it without pain, but I strongly recommend taking it easy."

"I-I will thank you, Naruto-san," Kurenai thanked him with a sigh of relief when she moved her arm.

"You can thank me when I heal those two students of yours; we're going to need all the help we can get at this point."

"Right. Kakashi when Hinata awakens mind telling her to join the two of us upstairs?"

"I will." Kakashi promised. Once they left his presence he pulled out an orange book labeled 'Icha Icha Paradise'. After flipping it open to the part he left off of, the Copy-nin giggled like the pervert he was. "Miko you naughty girl."

After arriving in the room where the male members of Team Eight resided, Naruto scrunched his nose at the smell the two were giving off. "Please tell me that you have been changing their bandages daily, and giving them a bath."

"Not at much as we would like." Kurenai shamefully admitted. "With the lack of supplies in this country we had to use what we could, and that meant reusing the gauze that we had." She noticed his disappointing look before adding more to her sentence, in an attempt to defend herself. "We at least washed them so they could get as clean as they could! We also washed them as often as we could as well."

"I have my work cut out for me…wait a second I was informed that you had an Inuzuka in your squad. Where the hell is his dog?"

He was answered when a gigantic white furred dog crawled from under the bed. His dark brown nose sniffed the air, and he recognized the smell of his master's sensei. But he also smelled something dangerous, the other human smelled of blood and of a fox. However despite the bad vibe he got from the other human, the giant dog knew that he was an ally, and parting his muzzle he licked his master's hand to wake him.

"Ugh, Akamaru…what's up buddy?" Kiba scratched the side of his companions face. "Oh, Kurenai-sensei what's going on? Who the heak is this guy?"

"I am your reinforcement Kiba Inuzuka, and I will also be your healer for the duration of this mission." Naruto replied.

If Kiba could see from under his bandages, he eyes would have popped out in surprise. "You're kidding me right!? One person is our salvation from this mission from hell? Dammit we're going against The Demon of the fucking Mist and his goon squad!"

"Let's not forget Aoi Rokusho, Lightning Lion, and bandit leader Raijuta Isurugi with three camps worth of soldiers." Shino Aburame's monotone voice continued for his teammate.

"More like one small camp worth and no bandit leader." Naruto retorted to the Inuzuka's whining. "I may be only one man, but the Sandaime sent me to deal with the mess you're all in. Now hold still I need to get a good look at you."

Leaving Kurenai's side the blond first made his way over to Kiba's bed to get a better look at him. The upper half of his torso was covered in gauze to cover a nasty wound from what looked like several deep slashes if the amount of blood revealed anything. His left leg was put in a splint, and his eyes were wrapped in bandages that slightly covered the upper portion of the red fang markings on his cheeks.

Placing his right gloved hand on his messy brown hair, Naruto focused his chakra to perform the Diagnostics Jutsu to see what could be done. It took about a minute for the jutsu to send the information to his brain, and thirty more seconds for him to sort out what he needed to do to treat his patient.

"Well the good news is you're not going to go blind, it's just some minor lightning nature damage that I can take care of. Your chest is a mess, you have four deep lacerations and bits of stone inside it; the only good news is that whoever stitched up your wound did a pretty good job, it's just a shame I have to cut you open to get those rocks out. And finally your leg is broken, it isn't clean either, you're going to need a professional to fix it." Naruto revealed how screwed up the Inuzuka was.

"Damn it all. Do you at least have anything to dull the pain?" Kiba winced when the pain in his leg shot through his side.

"I will make you so doped up that you'll think your dog is a cat." The blond promised, ignoring Kiba's snarling look before he went over to Shino.

Unlike Kiba, who was bare-chested and in pants that were cut into shorts. Shino was still completely clothed in a with a dark green jacket hanging down to his knees and the addition of a hood that obstructed his face along with the black glasses that covered his eyes, and long black pants that covered his legs. For the love of Buddha what was it with the Aburame's being so mysterious?

"I rather you not touch me." Shino said to him.

"I need to know where you're hurt." Naruto replied.

"I am fine, please attend to my teammate."

"Bullshit Aburame, I may not be able to see your face, but you're in pain. If you don't want me to touch you, fine, but I need you to tell me what happened to you so you can start moving again." When the mysterious Genin didn't respond, Naruto did what he did best. "Well if you don't tell me, then I will have to knock you out and do what I have to do."

"Naruto!" Kurenai admonished.

"I was given orders to bring you all back alive. And I will be damned if that fails because one of them doesn't want to be touched." He slowly turned towards the crimson-eyed kunoichi, his demeanor turning violent. "Kurenai-san, I suggest you leave this room and tell everyone to cover their ears. I'm about to heal these two."

Feeling the hair on the back of his neck stand up, Kiba tried to persuade her otherwise, "Sensei, you're not going to leave us with him are you?"

"He has written orders from the Sandaime himself Kiba," Kurenai looked at them both, apologizing as she moved out of the room. "It's out of my hands, but please Naruto, we need them in good condition."

"I promise they will be fine," Naruto waved as the Jounin sensei closed the door. He placed his left hand into his left hip pouch, thumbed around until he pulled out a green colored scroll. "Well boys, let's practice medicine." His eyes flashed white, almost if he was planning something evil.

Well no one expected him to be a good doctor now did they?

After about an hour and a half, the three shinobi, and civilian within the living room drinking tea, found themselves a little worried for the two wounded Genin upstairs. At first there was a girlish scream; who Kakashi bet came from Kiba the first five minutes, and then nothing. Then about half way through they heard another girlish scream, at thump on the floor above them, and an unmistakable sound of someone saying 'Oops'. That definitely was something no one wanted to hear from a medic.

Finally after another half hour passed, the door to their room opened and Naruto joined them. Taking one of the extra glasses, the blond poured himself some from the kettle, and then slowly sipped it until his thirst was satisfied. "Well we're going to be teammates for the time being, so if you have any questions go ahead and ask. I don't want there to be any mistrust between any of us."

"Shouldn't we wait until my Genin arrive with Tazuna, and Kurenai's recover?" Kakashi was first to ask.

"I rather not repeat myself again, you're their teachers it's your responsibility to tell them information."

"I guess that's fair," Kurenai admitted, "So tell us Naruto-san, who taught you in the healing arts? It had to have been difficult."

"I had a sensei who knew the basics. She taught them to me, you know reviving a fish with my chakra, and several exercises to help my control." Naruto stopped for several long, uncomfortable seconds when the image of Yumi flashed across his eyes. "I learned a few advanced techniques through scrolls, but I'm no medic Kurenai-san, if somebody is on the verge of death I can't help them. It was through much experience that I can reset broken bones, and heal cuts and bruises."

"How much experience?" She asked.

Once again images from the past flashed in front of his eyes, he saw a man in armor clutching his opened belly while a younger version of himself desperately trying to close the wound. Blinking the image away he just showed them his left arm, showing them his aged scars. "How else do you think I managed to heal all this?"

"Sp-eaking of which." Hinata was the second to ask her questions. "When I sa-w you fighting Raijuta, a-and his men, it looked l-l-like it was far too easy fo-r you. How…how did you make it s-s-o easy, and how many mo-re wounds do you have?" She stuttered out, yet it wasn't as bad as it had been in her childhood.

After taking another sip of tea, the blond answered her question without an ounce of hesitation. "The reason I make it so easy is because it _was_ easy. Raijuta may have been a terror to civilians, but to a well-trained shinobi he and his men were nothing more than an annoyance. As for my wounds…I honestly lost count."

Feeling the air in the room shift, Kakashi blurted out a question that had been bugging him for a while now, "Where have you been all these years?"

"Pardon me?" Naruto asked.

"Your clothing and hairstyle may have changed, but your name has never left my mind. You disappeared for nearly ten years, and then you suddenly appear here of all places under the Sandaime's order. Tell me, where have been for all this time?"

Kakashi didn't receive his answer for several long heartbeats, at least until the blond answered him. "I have been to many places Kakashi-san, that is all I have to say to you."

Before the Jounin could ask another question, the front door opened to reveal a grey-haired, bespectacled man with a large beard and dark eyes. He wore a gray sleeveless v-neck shirt with an obi, tan pants and a pair of sandals. He also carried a white towel around his neck that he used to wipe his face with when he entered his home.

The second was a girl about his age with near waist-length bright pink hair, large green eyes, and fair skin. She wore red top that showed off at least a B cup chest, with black gloves, black boots, black shorts, short pink apron skirt, and pink elbow protectors and a red clothed Leaf hitai-ate that was styled to keep the bangs out of her face.

The final person to enter was a boy around his age. He was a fair-skinned ninja with onyx eyes and black chin-length hair. His hair was spiky in the back the made it look like he had a ducks ass on his head. His outfit consisted of a grey high-collared short-sleeved shirt with a zipper, dark blue pants with a blue cloth hanging from halfway up his stomach to his knees that had a gray rope to secure it. He also wore black arm-guards that covered his forearms. Secured in his rope was a chokuto with a blue scabbard and matching handle.

"Dad, you're home!" Tsunami bolted from her chair, and hugged the elderly man.

"Almost didn't make it dear. Gato's goons attacked us on the bridge today, if it wasn't for those two kids we would have surely died." Tazuna gestured to the two teens, the girl blushing in embarrassment, and the boy looking indifferent.

"I hoped they killed them then, that way it will show Gato not to try that shit again."

Hearing a new voice, Tazuna focused his attention on the new guy. He nearly reeled back in surprise when the blond's impassive eyes stared into his. "And who are you?"

"I'm your reinforcement for this mission," He got to his feet and held out a gloved hand. "Naruto Uzumaki at your service Tazuna-san."

Raising a gray eyebrow the bridge builder didn't see the exact worth of just one kid. But when he grabbed his hand, the old man bit back the urge to scream, good Kami this kid was strong. "It's good to have you aboard Naruto-san, I hope you can protect me and my family."

"Consider yourself protected." Naruto assured him before releasing his vice grip, his respect for the old man went up a notch seeing her didn't cradle his hand. He then turned towards the other two, his eyes dully looking at them. "I see this is the rest of who I have to work with?"

"Ye-s, my name is Sakura Haruno. I'm the team medic, in charge of taking care of the wounded members of Team Eight." The pink-haired girl introduced herself.

So she was the one who worked on the two? Well it was decent work considering she was wet behind the ears. With some more work and field experience, she would definitely become a good medic. "So you're the one who patched them up? Not bad for a rookie, there were several mistakes though." He saw her eyes widen, and her demeanor slowly becoming dejected. "Oh relax it wasn't anything major. You did well for your skill level, but next time bring more gauze, antibiotics, and painkillers, that is what those two really needed."

Seeing her cheer up a bit the blond looked towards the broody one, instantly he didn't like the looks of him. But then again he distrusted all the Uchiha's since Yumi told him the story of what they did to Shishio, and how they nearly killed him in when he was seven years old.

"And I take it you are Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Correct." Sasuke answered him.

"I see…very well then." Just like that he turned his attention to Kakashi. "I heard that you had another member of your team kidnapped. Ami was it? Any clue to her whereabouts?"

"None." The Copycat shinobi lowered his head in shame. "We barely managed to escape from Zabuza, Kurenai's arm was already broken from the flat end of his sword, and I was suffering from chakra exhaustion. And when Aoi and Lightning Lion showed up…none of us stood a chance. Aoi disabled Ami with his lightning chakra and took her away, while Lightning Lion played with the members of Team Eight.

"Those brave boys put themselves in harm's way just to protect us and the client. After we escaped those two arrived at the meeting place fifteen minutes later, bloodied and beaten. I was only pure luck that they managed to fight of that vicious Jounin and survive. And in spite of the villagers' efforts, we haven't been able to find her, not yet."

"I see…" From experience this didn't bode well. Either that girl was dead, or wishing she was dead, either way it was a problem with his mission. "Thank for the information. I will take the first watch tonight; hopefully tomorrow we can do something productive."

-The next day-

The next day Naruto found himself in the woods with the members of Team Eight.

The first thing he did when they woke up was another healing session. He worked a little more on Kurenai's arm to dull the pain and fix up anything he may have missed, and then he took a look at the guys. Shino was healing quite nicely thanks to the insects in his body devouring the healing chakra, but Kiba was another story, his chest was healing up nicely, but his leg was still screwed up; so he doped him up to the point to where he thought Akamaru was a cat like he promised…what? He told them he was not a medical shinobi. He even took a look at Hinata to make sure she didn't have any injuries from yesterday; she unfortunately was the only one with a clean bill of health.

Now the reason he called them into the woods was pretty simple. He needed information on their individual skills.

"Our skills? Why would you need to know about that?" Kurenai asked.

"I need to know what I'm working with. I know of your clans, but I don't know how advanced you are, nor do I know if any of you have skills outside of your clan arts." Naruto coolly replied.

"This is a reasonable explanation," Shino voiced his opinion. "However I do not feel comfortable just telling you about my hard-earned skills…not unless you're willing to exchange the same amount of information as well."

Well that was expected from an Aburame, very well then. "You make an excellent point, fine, I will tell you about my skills no holds barred. But I expect the same from all of you." He pointed at Shino first, "And since you brought it up you'll go first."

"There isn't really much for me to say. I have been trained by my clan to use insect-based ninjutsu, in the academy I trained in taijutsu to hold my own, the basic jutsu taught at the academy, and I ranked in second for kunai and shuriken accuracy for the boys side."

Naruto raised an eyebrow after he finished talking, that must have been the longest he talked in his entire life. While it didn't sound impressive he knew the history of the Aburame Clan, and how dangerous they were. However, clan techniques, a little bit of taijutsu, and weapon accuracy could only get you so far. He then looked over to the Inuzuka.

"Well for me…I'm number one in taijutsu, the three basic jutsu like my teammate, and I've come a long ways in my clan techniques that involve my partner Akamaru, plus I've got one of the best noses in the village!" Kiba loudly boasted.

And one hell of an ego as well, he would have to deal with that at another time. That was the one major downside he could find, but on the plus side once he gained his trust his loyalty would be unquestionable. Thanking him for his cooperation; and mildly surprised he got a straight answer out of the drugged teen, he turned to Hinata.

"I, uh I'm…very proficient in my clan's taijutsu style, and like m-m-my teammates I know the th-ree academy based jutsu…and I hav-e the knowledge to create various medical creams."

And confidence issues. Naruto knew of the Hyuuga Clan and their deadly taijutsu style and techniques, not to mention their legendary eyes. But they were practically useless the way she was at this point in time. That was going to be the first thing he would have to work on. Then he finally turned to their Jounin sensei.

Kurenai pointed at herself, blinking in surprise. When he nodded she shrugged her shoulders before saying, "My primary skill relies in the art of genjutsu, that's all I can tell you."

This was more than enough for Naruto to know that it was the only skill she excelled at, and lacked in the rest. That was dangerous, especially against opponents like the ones Gato employed, that was something he had to change, or force her to change after they got out of this mess. Then they looked at him expectedly, after all they told him what they were capable of.

Letting out a long sigh, the blond told him what he was capable of. "Since you answered my question I'll tell you what I'm capable of, but this does not get out to anyone else. You keep my secrets and I'll keep yours, understand?" When he got four nods; five if you counted the dog, he reluctantly told them his particular set of skills. "I am extremely advanced in the art of kenjutsu, just a few years away from complete mastery. My taijutsu is one of the most deadly forms that only I've mastered since my sensei died; my ninjutsu consists of all five primary elements that rank from C to A-rank. I'm faster than any of you, I'm proficient enough in the art of healing, and I've been taught in the art of assassination."

By their wide-eyed looks they didn't believe him. Hell, he didn't believe it at times either, but despite that he still held a few aces up his sleeve, and several weaknesses that he could not allow anyone to know about.

"I call bullshit! You're the same age as us, there is no way you could be that skilled!" Kiba was the first to react.

"I must agree with my teammate Uzumaki-san. Even with the added years in the academy nobody, not even Uchiha-san are that strong." The ever logical Shino voiced his opinion.

"Believe it or not, but what I tell you is the truth, after all your teammate saw firsthand what I can do." He indicated towards the Hyuuga, who 'meeped' at being put on the spot, "But that aside I cannot allow any of you to just sit on your asses getting weaker while all this crap is happening."

Kurenai's eyebrow twitched in anger, here she was getting mouthed at by a boy fifteen years her junior, and no rank to speak of. He may have had the Hokage's orders to back him up, but that didn't mean she would be talked down to. But before she had the chance to speak up on it, she was rudely interrupted by the blond.

"Now I'm not calling you weak per say, but you're forgetting that one of our enemies is Aoi Rokusho. Since he fled from Konoha he undoubtedly blabbed many of your secrets to his village leader, and knowing Hanzo the Salamander he forced his shinobi to train how to counter and defeat members of your respective clans."

"What! Impossible, us Inuzuka's can never be defeated!" Kiba protested.

"Says the Genin with the broken leg," Naruto indicated the feral-looking teen's splinted leg. "Listen your weakness is simple. Your entire clan relies on your partner and collaboration jutsu's, lose your partner your strength is cut in half, or you're dead because you're grieving over the loss of your longtime friend."

He then pointed to Shino, "Your clan relies on your insects, and because of them you cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu properly because they feed on your chakra. Lose your hive, or have them become dormant you're dead in the water."

He then pointed at Hinata, "As for you personally, you lack confidence and that can lead to your downfall. Plus your clan uses only taijutsu, granted it is a deadly style, but useless if an opponent can outsmart you through the use of ninjutsu…or the loss of your hands."

And then he finally pointed at Kurenai, "And then there is your situation. You're strong Kurenai-san; you have to be strong to reach Jounin-level. And while your genjutsu is said to rival Itachi Uchiha's, you neglected your training in taijutsu to increase your stamina and I believe your strength is at an all-time low."

"How dare you!" Kurenai exploded; honestly the arrogance in his voice was sickening.

"Then punch that tree."

"What?"

"You heard me punch that tree, punch it with your good arm. Pump chakra into it, use your own strength, honestly I don't care. Prove me wrong, unless you're afraid to look like a fool in front of your students." Naruto dared the Jounin.

Rising to her feet, Kurenai took on his challenge. Finding the nearest tree she focused her chakra into her undamaged arm until it reached her fist. Now she was no Tsunade of the Sannin, but she had years of constant chakra control exercises under her belt, after reaching her limit she let out a loud yell, and punched at the tree. The trunk of the thick tree shattered and turned into splinters, and felling the large tree.

"Impressive," Naruto congratulated the raven-haired woman. "not bad for someone who is no Tsunade. But that is nothing compared to Gai Maito who uses nothing but pure strength and technique." He then lashed out with his right arm, reducing the entire trunk of the tree he was leaning against into nothing but sawdust. "Or me with my devastating taijutsu style."

Ignoring their jaw dropping looks he reached into his left hip pouch and pulled out three plain pieces of paper. "Now these are chakra paper, a special tool that allows one to learn of their elemental affinity. For example: If your affinity is fire it will ignite and turn to ash, wind will split it in half, lightning will wrinkle it, earth will turn it to dirt and crumple away, and water will make it wet." Flicking the individual cards at the members of Team Eight he told them to focus their chakra into them.

After the Genin followed his orders and focused their chakra into their pieces of paper. After they finished Naruto got one expected result, one that was slightly surprising, and another that was completely unexpected and ironic.

It turned out that Hinata's was water; the expected result, Kiba's turned out to be fire, and Shino's was surprisingly lightning. Interesting, and perfect for what he had to do. Reaching into his pouch he pulled out a lump of coal, a hanker chief, and a simple piece of paper.

"All right, you." He pointed at Kiba and tossed him the simple piece of paper, "Since you can't walk without riding on your dog you're going to use this time to learn to control your fire affinity. Try molding your chakra from in your stomach then slowly bring it towards your hand to try and burn the paper. Once you complete this exercise I will give you another one, and if you're lucky I will reward you with a fire technique."

"You," He tossed Shino the lump of coal, "try and manipulate your lightning chakra into this coal and turn it into a diamond. Now I will warn you this exercise is difficult, but luckily this is the only step you need properly control your lightning manipulation…in theory at least."

"And finally you." He tossed Hinata the hanker chief, "All you have to do is try to draw moisture from into the air and into the hanker chief, continue to do so until the thing is soaking wet." After instructing them on what to do he created three shadow clones to watch over their progress, and to keep guard. It may have been over kill with their Jounin sensei there, but it didn't hurt to be cautious.

"Now these guys will instruct you or give you whatever help they can give. Meanwhile I'll be heading over to the bridge to relieve the Uchiha of his shift, if you need something just dispel one of my clones and I'll come running." Bidding them adieu, the blond vanished in a small cloud of smoke.

"This is going to suck," Kiba whined, and was rewarded with a slap to the back of his head by one of the clones.

"Quit your bitching mutt. The boss said practice, now practice damn it!" The clone brought his right hand to the sword on his waist in a threatening gesture.

It was on that day that the Genin of Team Eight learned to It was on that day that the Genin of Team Eight learned to _hate_ Naruto's clones.

-The unfinished bridge, ten minutes later-

"I hate guard duty." Sasuke Uchiha said to himself. It was extremely boring, dull and completely a waste of his time. It had been like that since the teams arrived, and it wasn't until yesterday that there was finally some action on his part. A dozen mercenaries tried to kill the bridge builder and his workers, it was a big mistake on their part, and they paid for it with their lives.

It was so easy; with a flick of his wrist he cut their lives short with his chokuto. He felt nothing afterwards either, and why would he? They stood in the way of his mission so they had to die, it was that simple.

"Hey Uchiha, I'm here to start my shift." A new voice broke him from his musings.

And then there was the new guy. He was a wildcard, completely unpredictable, and he didn't like him one bit. Sasuke knew they were in dire straits, and he fully expected the Sandaime to send a squadron of Anbu Black Ops to get them out of this mess. But instead they got _him_ a golden-haired stranger that killed one of their antagonists, and took over. He couldn't explain why, but he hated him, and it was likewise with him as well.

"Whatever," Sasuke only responded to the new guy. He couldn't do anything about him at this moment, not during this important mission, his training wouldn't allow it. After all, if they did survive it only meant he was one step closer to killing his brother.

"Glad to see that you give a damn," Sarcasm dripped from the blond's mouth as he started to pass the Leaf Genin, but the two of them stopped and turned their heads in the same direction. "Well Kami damn it."

"You said it." Sasuke agreed.

Tazuna barely had the strength to keep himself upright. Right in front of them were ships, five ships to be exact, and filled to the brim with a lot of pissed off mercenaries. Judging from their looks they ranged from extremely weak, while others were strong. They were outnumbered, outmatched, and taking them on seemed to be suicide.

But looking towards both Naruto and Sasuke he recoiled a bit in surprise. The blond had a deadly look in his eyes, replacing the dull look he always seemed to have, and the raven-haired lad's eyes turned red with three black tomoes in the iris. Their hands going to their respective blades the young lads burst forward and leaped off the bridge.

-With Naruto-

Landing on the first ship, Naruto wasted no time in slicing a mercenary's belly open, when the man screamed and futilely tried to hold his guts in, the blond kicked him into a crowd of his comrades. Pivoting on his heel he blocked a sword slash with the Mugenjin, and rewards his attacker with a savage kick to the side, shattering his hipbone. Ignoring the wounded man he gathered wind natured chakra into his left index and middle fingers.

"Wind Sword!" He cried out as he swept his arm across the deck of the ship. Not watching his foes getting cut down from the razor sharp technique, Naruto reached into his right hip pouch, and pulled out five high powered exploding tags. Sharply breathing outwards he sprinted along the deck, dropping the exploding notes along the, spacing them out from each other in a deliberate fashion. Finally reaching the stern of the ship he sheathed his sword, pumped a minor amount of chakra into his legs, and leaped off the wooden rails.

While in midair he placed his hands into the tiger seal, whispering, "Katsu!" and was rewarded with a brilliant explosion that completely incinerated the entire ship and her crew. The force of the blast propelled him further forward towards the bow of the next ship just like he wanted. His right hand going to the hilt of the Mugenjin he unsheathed it, "Iaido!" Pressure from the swing tore through the air until it hit the bow of the ship; the pressure of the attack easily tore through wood and mercenary alike.

After hitting the deck and rolling to lessen the impact, Naruto planted his feet onto the wooden walls he ricochet towards a group. Gathering his wind chakra into his left index and middle fingers again, he swiped another Wind Sword at the group, and sliced them all in half at the waist. Catching the wooden guard rail his free hand, the blond flipped over it and planted his feet on the haul of the ship, then using his chakra he ran along it, and like last time, planted several high powered exploding tags onto the side of the ship.

After placing the last tag where he wanted it to go, he leapt from the stern of the ship, activated the tags once again to blow the ship sky high, and flinging him onto the middle ship. After landing on deck Naruto's cold eyes pierced the frightened mercenaries' souls. Those eyes promised only death.

-With Sasuke at the same time-

At the same time Sasuke landed on the first ship Sharingan blazing. And unlike Naruto, who used nothing more than a high powered jutsu and exploding tags, he fought more extravagantly. Almost immediately when he landed he raised his chokuto to block an ugly mercenary's club, then without an ounce of hesitation poured his lightning nature chakra through the specialized steel, cutting through the weapon and decapitating him.

Barely a second later after he ceased to pour his chakra into the blade, he pivoted on his heel to avoid a skinny man lunging at him with a dagger, and easily cut the back of his neck in response. The man let out one gasp of pain and flew forwards, letting go of his dagger which Sasuke merely snatched out of the air with his right hand. Moving forward he blocked another mercenary's sword with his, and then stabbed him in the liver and lungs with his newly acquired weapon in three quick successions. And it continued like that for a while, block, stab, duck, slice, repeat; at least until he heard the first explosion.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the enormous fireball the blond managed to create, barely three minutes in and already the new guy managed to destroy a ship. A pang of envy and jealousy surged through the Uchiha, he made it look so easy, easier than what he could manage. And when he witnessed the bow of the other ship being destroyed by some sort of shock wave attack, that really pissed him off! Slicing an unfortunate bandit's head off Sasuke ran towards the mast of the ship, and focusing his chakra he ran up the mast.

After reaching the top of the mast he launched himself towards the other ship. In midair he flipped himself upside down, and sped through seven hand seals, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Launching a fireball the size an Akimichi using his Expansion Jutsu, he shot it at the ship-completely igniting the old timber into a massive inferno that consumed the entire ship within minutes.

But ignoring the fiery inferno the Uchiha landed onto the bow of the ship, and before he could do anything he found himself cut in half at the waist.

"Haha! I did it!" The gigantic mercenary who did the deed screamed in triumph.

"Excellent job, put er' there." A second mercenary raised a hand to pat him on the back. But instead the gigantic mercenary screamed in surprise, and cleaved the man in two with his claymore.

"What the hell are you doing? St-" Another mercenary was cut down by the giant blade, and another soon after. Before they could try and stop the giant man, another one of their comrades started screaming incoherently and began to kill the men next to him.

And sitting on top of the mast was none other than a smirking Sasuke Uchiha. With the hypnotizing power of his Sharingan eyes he forced the deepest fears of his enemies to become life-like, and this was the result; total and complete slaughter. Simply flicking his stolen dagger into the neck of the last man he turned towards the last ship, and saw the explosion of the other ship the blond was on, and seeing him land onto the stern of the ship Sasuke gritted his teeth and jumped towards the bow of the ship.

-With Tazuna at the same time-

And watching from the bridge, Tazuna and his remaining workers watched in a mixture of awe and horror. None of them were strangers towards brutality and violence, many of them found themselves overjoyed seeing their oppressors getting what was coming to them. But Tazuna…he only observed the two teenagers and their unique styles of combat as they massacred the final ship.

The blond one was obviously a power fighter. With a single swipe of his sword, a man found himself cut in two or a vital part of his body cut in two. A single punch or kick, and the affected parts of their bodies were caved in, or exploded in chunks of meat. He also seemed to be very knowledgeable in ninjutsu as well but used the very simple, but very deadly blade of wind to kill his enemies when he found the opportunity to do so.

The raven-haired one relied on speed. With that lean body of his he could easily dodge at almost impossible angles, and with a simple flick of his wrist the enemy facing him died. Tazuna noticed that he always went for the major arteries or vital organs of his opponents, and those eyes of his seemed to give him some sort of advantage.

He winced when the both of them impaled the last mercenary, both their respected weapons jutting out of his chest. Good Kami, he was not looking forward to cleaning that shit up.

-Later that evening-

"You did what!" Kurenai exclaimed later that evening.

"You heard what he said Kurenai-san, those thugs on Gato's payroll tried to kill Tazuna and his workers with five ships worth of men, so the Uchiha and I killed them all." Naruto casually replied to the crimson-eyed woman before sipping the tea Tsunami provided him with. "This is delicious, thank you Tsunami-dono."

"Thank you Naruto-san." Tsunami smiled in return.

"Pardon my rudeness Uzumaki-san, but I find it a little difficult to phantom that both you and Uchiha-san could take out five ships full of highly trained mercenaries." Shino voiced his disbelief.

"Highly trained? Pfft, if they were strong they would have been able to put at least a scratch on me. They were nothing but cannon fodder." Sasuke gave his opinion on the matter.

"Sasuke, there is no reason to to-" Kakashi started to admonish his student.

"Actually Kakashi he's right," Naruto regrettably admitted Sasuke's opinion. "They were nothing more than cannon fodder, a distraction. But the question if why? Gato doesn't have that many mercenaries left; even more so now, so why exactly would he throw away nearly two-hundred able-bodied soldiers?"

"Two-hundred? Bullshit!" Kiba nearly choked on his food after hearing that number.

"That is how many bodies they've found so far." The blond took another sip of tea to ignore the Inuzuka's shocked expression. "Don't look so shocked. Sasuke is pretty fast and good with a blade, and I've killed plenty of no names like them in the past. Remember a well-trained shinobi is worth much more than some hired thugs.

"Anyways, I do not have a good feeling about this at all. We will take shifts for tonight, Sasuke you go first, Hinata will be second, I will be the third. Hopefully I'm wrong about this gut feeling and nothing will happen."

-Gato's hideout-

"Aoi…" Gato gritted his teeth so harshly that the Rain Jounin thought they would break, "you better give me a good reason why you sacrificed half my remaining forces in a vain attempt to kill that bridge builder!"

The one-eyed man barely suppressed a frown at his arrogant employer. That midget has been an enormous pain in his side since day one, if it wasn't for the fact that he was paying him and his Genin team a ridiculous amount of money he would have killed him a long time ago. "It was a necessary sacrifice Gato. Because his bodyguards were busy slaughtering your men, and the entire bridge building crew watching, my Genin team was finally able to locate where the bridge builder was hiding all this time."

"You what!? Well don't just stand there, got and kill that bastard once and for all!" Gato screamed at his hired help.

"Hold it shorty. I cannot just go and kill the old man; I'm going to need some help."

"Fine! I'll send Lightning Lion and those Demon Brothers and as many men I can spare, just do it now!"

"Shut up!" Aoi finally snapped at the short man. "Listen to me, now is _not_ the time to attack. What we need to do is send them into a false sense of security. Let them think that we're falling back to launch another attack later, let them become extremely paranoid wondering when we are going to strike, and when their guard is at its lowest we attack."

"But what about those Jounin? With each day that goes by they are that closer to recovering." The midget argued.

"But so is Zabuza," Aoi replied with a smirk. "all we have to do is get him well enough to join the fight, and once we kill those Leaf bastards, Lightning Lion and I will kill him, his two flunkies, and give the girl to you. I know how much you want to pay her back for breaking your arm."

"Kill two birds with one stone." Gato muttered to himself, that was a pretty good idea, practically flawless! "Okay Aoi, you win. We will wait for now, you get five days! No more, no less!"

"Sounds good to me."

-Tazuna's house, days later-

Four days passed without incident, and that did not bode well for Naruto's nerves. Every single day he had his clones scout the area to see if there was any sort of human activity, but there was nothing…and yet he still had a bad feeling that refused to go away so he kept half a dozen clones at the house to protect Tazuna's daughter, and his pain in the ass grandson Inari while he divided his time in-between helping Team Eight and guarding the bridge.

Speaking of Team Eight, the blond was pleasantly surprised at their progress for elemental manipulation, and their health as well.

Kiba seemed to be a natural fire-user, that or it was because he loved to burn things like every guy he met during his travels. It took a whole day for him to learn how to burn the paper and now he was learning how to burn a green leaf from the inside out. The only downside was his busted leg, Naruto kept giving him some painkillers and pouring some healing chakra into said leg to numb the pain and slowly speed the healing process until he could see a professional.

Shino on the other hand was having a difficult time training his lightning chakra. Naruto could not blame him for it either, because even he had a hard time trying to control the most uncontrollable element. So far he was only able to turn his lump of coal into the pitiful diamond it was becoming. Health wise he was nearly at the top of his game again.

Hinata…what could he say about her. The girl was a damn prodigy when it came to her element. Not only did she finish her first exercise in less than an hour, but she completed everything else he threw at her. Whether it be water walking, kunai balancing, hell he even told her to dive into the water and come out dry as a bone. And she did just that-something that he believed was impossible-Buddha help him he was impressed. Maybe she could teach him a thing or two about chakra manipulation.

But then there was their sensei. She was a pain in his ass, whenever he looked at her, let alone was in her presence she either adverted her gaze or found some excuse to get far away from him. Honestly it was rude as it was annoying, but then again it could just be a woman thing, and that was something he would never understand even if he lived to be over a hundred years old.

"Naruto."

"Huh?"

"I said you're spacing out, what's troubling you?" Kakashi asked for the third time.

Blinking several times Naruto remembered that he was at the dinner table with the entire household. Damn it, he really needed to get his head in the game. "It's what those mercenaries tried to do a few days ago. It has been bugging the crap out of me." Naruto confessed the masked shinobi.

"Again with those guys," Tazuna exasperated, "boy just let it go. We found nearly five-hundred bodies after what you and the duck-haired lad did to them. Gato is probably pissing himself knowing that he's screwed!" The old man laughed at the last part of his sentence.

"Tazuna-san it appears that you have forgotten that he still has his shinobi." Shino's news broke the old man out of his fit of laughter.

"But you shouldn't worry," Sakura piped up. "Kakashi-sensei has nearly recovered from his chakra exhaustion and should be in tip top shape by tomorrow. And thanks to Naruto-san's healing abilities Kurenai-sensei's arm has been healed to the point where you couldn't even tell it was broken, and we now have another person to help guard the house thanks to Shino-san's insects."

"When the hell did he start doing that?" Naruto demanded.

"Only a couple days ago." The insect-user answered.

_'…must resist the urge to strangle him.'_ Naruto's right eyebrow twitched and his hands rapidly clenched underneath the table. Why exactly wasn't he informed of this? It would have saved him a lot of restless nights…the bastard.

"It doesn't matter anyways," A new voice joined into the conversation. It was Inari, Tazuna's grandson, and emo extraordinaire. "it does not matter what you do, Gato will just hire more men. He won't stop until he rules over us with an iron fist."

"Inari!" Tsunami gasped in surprise.

"Don't be an idiot kid, it doesn't matter how many people Gato hires. We will take care of them until we take care of that tyrant!" Kiba confidently said.

"Shut up you stupid mutt!" Inari slammed his hands onto the table, rattling the silverware and spilling a few drinks in the process. "You will not win; Gato will kill every single one of you."

"For the love of Buddha shut your damn mouth!" The blond swordsman snapped at the twelve year old. "Every single day I hear the same thing over and over again. 'Gato will kill us.' 'Gato will win.' 'Oh woe is me I'm a whiny bitch!' Honestly, I'm getting tired of it and I'm surprised your mom hasn't whooped your sorry ass yet."

"Naruto!" Kurenai admonished him.

Sticking his gloved right index finger at her the blond stopped her before anything else could be spoken. "Don't you try to admonish me Kurenai this little bastard needs a stern talking to, or at least a good ass whooping, and honestly I'm leaning towards the latter."

"Go ahead and try it you swordsman wannabe! There is nothing you can do that he hasn't already been done, I dare you!"

Naruto's dull blue eyes hardened into a glare. "I could kill your mother and grandfather."

His proclamation caused the members of both teams, and clients to rock back in their chairs out of sheer surprise. None of them could believe they just heard that come from his mouth, and almost immediately Sasuke began to draw his chokuto, Shino's insects began to pour out of his coat, and even Kakashi pulled a kunai from his leg holster.

"Wh-what di-d you say?" Inari stuttered.

"He dared me to do something worse than what Gato has done to him. I'm assuming from the lack of a father figure he was killed because of him, but what he has forgotten was something that I would kill for." He glared at the preteen with a hateful look. "He still has a mother and a grandfather who love and care for him. And if he wants something worse to happen." He unsheathed the Mugenjin and held it to his side, "Who am I to deny him his rightful misery?"

"No, wait p-p-please stop!" Inari's cries fell on deaf ears when Naruto fixed his eyes on the bridge builder.

"Naruto, I am ordering you to stop!"

"Or what Kakashi? What are you going to do, are going to try and kill me?" The teenager held his arms out, inviting him to do so. "Go ahead then 'Sharingan' Kakashi, send that kunai of yours into my throat, or how about my eye? Or a better idea use your most famous jutsu and send it through my heart! Come on, do it!"

The tension in the room was so thick that Kiba attempted to cut it with his own kunai knife. But his nonsense aside only four people in the room truly saw what was really happening especially when they looked into the blonds eyes. It was both Kurenai and Hinata who saw the barely suppressed anger held in his eyes and not just a little, if they could individually compare it, Kurenai would have easily guess it rivaled the Kyuubi's wrath. As for Hinata the worst she could even compare it to was when her father lost his temper and killed the Cloud ambassador when he tried to kidnap her.

For both Shino and Tazuna when they looked into his eyes, they saw nothing but a man with nothing to lose. The old bridge builder knew that look far too well with his own workers, the men and women, and even the children of the village. As for Shino…he just didn't like that look, it was unsettling.

And when nothing happened, no attacks were made on Naruto's person; the blond scoffed, sheathed his blade and turned to leave the room. "That's what I thought. I'll be outside for the rest of the mission, if you want to get a hold of me…well I'll be on the roof."

Two and a half hours later Kurenai found Naruto was where he said he would be; on the roof of the house. His posture was too relaxed with him leaning against the chimney, his eyes half-lidded, she saw the lower part of his face for the first time and saw the whisker birthmarks on his left cheek (something she thought was kind of cute), but the right cheek was ruined by a cross-shaped scar. And in his gloved right hand was a kiseru pipe, smoke slowly blowing from his mouth.

Upon noticing the crimson-eyed Jounin, the blond blew the rest of the smoke from his mouth. "Honestly, I didn't expect to see anyone up here, especially _you_ of all people."

"Well, excuse me for being worried." Kurenai calmly replied before walking over to him. Her crimson lips frowned in disappointment once she smelled the smoke. "A person your age shouldn't smoke."

"Want to see me give a fuck?" Naruto paused for a moment to inhale the tobacco, and blew the smoke from his mouth. "Want to see me do it again?"

"Very cute kid."

"Sorry Kurenai-san, but I know why you're up here, and I'm not going to apologize to the kid or the clients. I can't stand people like that, so blind in self-pity that he can't see what he has left to treasure and enjoy."

"I take it you're speaking from experience?" Kurenai asked.

He only spat to the side in response.

"Looks like I hit a nerve there didn't I?"

"You couldn't be more wrong," Naruto responded with a touch of hardness in his voice, "Kurenai-san, I will let you know right now that you do not know me, and I like it that way. For now I'm just a teammate for this mission, and once you're all safe at home I'll be gone. So just do yourself a favor and forget that I even existed."

"An order coming from a no-rank shinobi? I hardly feel threatened." The genjutsu mistress sarcastically replied. "You may have Hokage-sama's backing for this mission, but once we get back your orders will be completed, and that will give me full reign to find out all I want about you."

"Why exactly are you so intent on me all of a sudden? I know that you looked into my eyes and saw what I'm really like. You have been avoiding me like the plague since then, and quite honestly I don't blame you." Sighing loudly Naruto tapped the spent tobacco out of the pipe and pocketed it. "Good night Kurenai-san, and think about what I said."

Without a word Naruto jumped from the roof and disappeared into the night, leaving behind a frustrated kunoichi.

-Gato's hideout-

However several miles away within Gato's hideout the opposing forces were gearing up to ransack Tazuna's place of hiding.

In one room Aoi was finishing up his battle plans with his Genin team. Team Oboro was a group composed of three Genin that wore yellow jumpsuits stitched up the middle along with a pair of sandals. They also wore their villages Rain hitai-ate that covered their whole heads, respirators and sashes around their faces with eye holes cut out…minus the other two who just had one or none cut out.

"Boys I congratulate you for finding that pesky bridge builder." The one-eyed man said with a smile. "Thanks you I believe that we will get a little something extra, but now comes the difficult part. Tomorrow we will attack their place of holding and I'm going to need you to participate."

"What are we to do?" Oboro rasped out.

"You are to sneak under the docks and plant exploding tags on the support beams of the dock holding their house up. After you blow it I want you to engage and kill their Genin, show no mercy."

"What about the new guy who killed Raijuta? And the Jounin, they must have gotten better since you ambushed them."

Smirking in response Aoi he pulled out a purple colored, metallic-looking hilt. Then pressing a button with his thumb a yellow energy blade emanated from the hilt and crossguard with a _snap-hiss_ to reveal a bright yellow thin blade three feet long and nine inches wide. Its blade was crackling with electrical energy. "With the Raijin no Ken (Sword of the Thunder God) by my side, I will kill whoever stands in my way."

In another room Gato was conversing with Lightning Lion; a man who ironically was the only associate he could trust at this point in time. The room smelled of cigar smoke and spilled ink as the short man was furiously scribbling on a parchment of paper.

"Is it done yet shorty?" The feral man asked.

"Yes," Gato finished signing his name and stamped it to make it official. "Just complete this task of killing the bridge builder and you will be rewarded handsomely."

"Hehe, I can't wait."

* * *

Armageddon: Hey folks, I know it's been a while and I know you're tired of excuses and waiting. But I'm not going to apologize, real life has not been even remotely kind to me. If you're willing to wait for me then good, I know you're all true fans that I can count on until I retire from writing out fanfiction someday in the future.

Pvt. Liquor: *starts weeping* Armageddon that is so inspirational. It makes me want to start writing now!

Lt. RasneganFin: *Beams Liquor with a military issued baseball bat with rusty nails* No one wants to read your stuff. Half of what you write is either covered in drool or covered in alcohol you drunk.

Lt. Doom: And vomit, don't forget vomit either.

Armageddon: *Sweatdrops* Yea...anyways folks there are two things I have to do before you review, and I honestly hope you don't skip over these skits.

Pvt. VFSNAKE: What are those exactly?

Armageddon: Well for one I apologize if this chapter wasn't satisfactory. Hell I wrote it and I feel disappointed with it, I dunno why either, But if it sucks just stick around until the next chapter then things will go on by much faster and be more actiony.

Sgt. Shadowtrayster: And the second?

Armageddon: Oh come one it's the manga man! I mean when Tobi was first introduced I thought "Oh, a throw away character." But as the series went on he became "Madara Uchiha", so I thought "Oh, _the_ weakened Madara Uchiha, guess the Eternal Sharingan makes you immortal...interesting." But after reading the latest few chapters indication who the main antagonist was and FINALLY seeing him becoming unmasked...well folks I was pretty dang surprised for this sort of twist. As for Orochimaru's resurrection I had a feeling that we would see him again, after all you can't keep a villain like him down for long.

Pvt. Fox: Sir, this chapter feels a little off to me.

Armageddon: Well that's because I didn't make Sasuke a ginormous douche...yet. I'm not going to lie to you guys, I'm not a fan of Sasuke in anyway, shape, or form, but I will admit he is pretty damn strong. For some of the first part he will be somewhat bearable, but then he will fall straight to dick city with that superiority and inferiority complex of his. So later folks hope you enjoy this.


	8. Splashes in Wave: Crimson Tides

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin, dammit if I did I wouldn't be having all these fucking financial troubles!

"Talk"

'_Think_'

**"Talk"**

**'_Think_'**

* * *

"I will not ask you again," A fist cracked across the poor mercenary's face, "where is Gato located?"

After his conversation with Kurenai, Naruto went far into the woods to clear his head, I mean smoking his pipe could only do so much for him, what he needed was a few hours of quiet meditation to get his mind focused on the mission once again; and not tanning some preteen's ass red.

But nooo, a group of thirty assholes on Gato's payroll interfered with that. So instead of the meditation he wanted, Naruto ended up butchering twenty-nine of those idiots. He would have struck down the last one, but then an idea struck him, maybe this guy could tell him what he wanted to hear.

Unfortunately for the mercenary Naruto didn't have any ninja wire with him at the moment, so the blond stabbed him through the hands and feet with four separate swords, sat on his chest, and began backhanding him for the past half hour or so.

"I…I told yo-u, I do-n't know!" The mercenary spat out another tooth, and a small amount of blood.

"Listen asshole, tonight I am _not_ in a good mood. I was going to be fine, but then you guys ruined that, so here is what we're going to do. You give me Gato's location…or better yet a person of interest who knows of his location, and I will let you live, or better yet you become _my_ employee."

"_Your employee?_ What makes y-ou think I…will even se…r-ve you after what…you've d-d-done to me." The man growled.

"Other than the fact that you get to live to see another sunrise is a start." Naruto drawled bordly, focusing his chakra to his hands he brought them to the mercenaries face to heal the damage he did to him. "If that doesn't interest you, maybe money will convince you otherwise, I will pay you more than Gato has been offering you. Choose wisely, I will only offer this to you once, and once only."

The mercenary turned his head to the side and was quiet for several long moments. "I do not know where Gato is, my group was on its way to his hideout, but you killed the guy leading us so I do not know. However!" He bellowed when the blond unsheathed his tanto, "However, I believe the shinobi he hired know of its location. Find one of them and you can get to him."

"Smart man, now the question is where can I find them?" The blond pondered.

"I dunno, but the guy leading us said that there was something going down around dawn today. Something big, I dunno what but that might be the only time you could get to em'."

Resheathing is tanto Naruto got off the mercenaries barrel chest, and pulled the swords from his hands and feet, then proceeded to heal said appendages. "Well you're more helpful that I thought you would be. Thank you mercenary-san."

"Don't call me that, my name is-"

"I don't care." Reaching into his ninja pouch on his left hip; he pulled out a rumpled piece of paper and handed it to the man who was spared of his life. "Just follow the directions to that place. They will ask a question, respond with the answer "Silence, my brother." Make sure it is that exact answer if you will find yourself without a head."

"Uh, all right. Thank you boss I promise to not let you down."

"Don't thank me yet. You will probably hate me after you arrive." Before his new employee could even question what he was to expect, Naruto disappeared in a small cloud of smoke.

"Ugh, well at least I'm not dead." Yea, that was the only bright side of this situation.

-Tazuna's home at the same time-

Within Tazuna's property, the Rain Genin were just beginning to sabotage the support beams to the dock holding the house above the water. Pulling out one of the special waterproof exploding tags, Oboro slapped it onto the rotting wooden posts and barely managed to suppress a wicked chuckle.

These were some pretty powerful tags. They were enough to destroy at least the bottom floor. He hoped that the explosions would kill one of the Jounin to make their job easier, because if that woman was killed, then Aoi and Lightning Lion could stand back while Zabuza and his group fought against 'Sharingan' Kakashi. And if their planning was on the spot, Kakashi would kill the Demon Brothers, wound Zabuza, but then they would all be too tired to defend against the mighty power of Aoi and Lighting Lion.

Looking to his sides Oboro looked at his two teammates with a certain fondness. Four years ago they were voted to be the first Genin team to die in the field; instead they were the only ones in their village to pass Konoha's Chuunin Exams three years ago (1). And from then on they were the most highly asked for Chuunin of their generation.

Whether it was simple escort missions, to complex assassinations Team Oboro succeeded in every one of them. It was due to their high success rate that they were sent here by the Angel of Amegakure herself along with 'Lightening Sword' Aoi Rokusho. And now here they were, so close to completing their mission that they could taste the sweet nectar of victory on their tongues.

All they needed were five more minutes.

"Well what do we have here?"

Oboro made the mistake in looking at the two spinning Sharingan eyes.

"What's taking those brats so long Aoi?" Zabuza grumbled angrily at the one-eyed Jounin. "In my old village if you took longer than two minutes to set us some exploding tags, you got ten lashes."

"Keep your wrappings on Zabuza. Those boys are some of the best the village has ever produced, they will get it done."

Suddenly their shinobi senses kicked in and the two of them jumped away two seconds before a dozen shuriken struck the ground they stood on. The two elite shinobi turned towards the offenders, and Aoi gnashed his teeth at seeing Kakashi, Sakura, Shino, and Hinata standing before them.

"Kakashi, I'm surprised to see you." Zabuza said.

"How can this be!?" Aoi demanded.

"You mistake us being ignorant; it was easy to detect you with all my insects patrolling the area." Shino revealed his strategy as he summoned his insects back to him. "Good luck trying to ambush us with the others."

"Aww, dammit." Meizu cursed before he barged out of the bushes with his twin brother in tow.

"I praise you on your tracking skills Aburame-san." Haku, the false Hunter ninja said, jumping from the tree she was hiding in.

"But you will die! Lightning Style: Roar of the Lion!" Soaring out from the forest came a gigantic head of a lion made completely out of blue lightning with red eyes. Kakashi and the Genin easily jumped out of the way, but to their horror they weren't the targets. Instead Hinata and Sakura landed and looked on in horror as the lightning ninjutsu flew towards the house.

It impacted the front and destroyed the entire front portion of the house, and it then exploded, sending the house into the water.

"My team!" Aoi shouted in disbelief. "Lightning Lion, what is the meaning of this!?"

"Oh don't worry yourself Aoi," Lightning Lion's emerged from the forest with a smirk on his face. "If those Chuunin are as good as you say they are, then a little explosion like that would not kill them so easily."

Aoi only gritted his teeth and pulled out the Raijin no Ken, then pressing the button with his thumb the yellow energy blade emanated from the hilt and crossguard with a snap-hiss to reveal a bright thin yellow blade. "I will get to you after this."

"After we kill the Copycat ninja. I've always wanted to learn those lightning techniques he had under his belt." The leonine shinobi showed his sharpened canine teeth to his opponent, and focused his lightning chakra into his hands, creating blue lightning claws.

-With Kiba at the time of the attack-

On the inside of the sinking house Kiba was struggling to keep things from escalating into chaos. Okay, he remembered Shino alerting them that they had enemies inbound, Sasuke bolted downstairs to intercept anyone trying to sabotage the beams to support the house, Kakashi took his teammates and Sakura to ambush the enemy. That left his injured ass, Akamaru, and Kurenai-sensei behind to protect Tazuna and his family.

Nothing happened for fifteen minutes, nobody barged their way in, and he didn't smell anything out of the ordinary. But then again the only thing he could smell was the saltwater, that didn't sit well with him.

And then some asshole blew up the support beams from underneath them, leaving him to fall on his bad leg, and hit one of the walls. But he wasn't a shinobi for nothing; Kiba forced the pain to the corners of his mind and struggled to regain his balance. He gritted his teeth as he stood on his broken leg. "Akamaru!" he barked.

Immediately his loyal companion rushed to his side, a look of worry plastered on his face. "Don't worry I'm fine, listen find Kurenai-sensei, and the client and his family. Their safety is top priority."

Akamaru tilted his head uncertainly.

"Do it, I'll be fine!"

Barking out an affirmative, Kiba's loyal companion bounded off to do his bidding.

"Good boy, survive this and I will buy you a nice juicy steak." The heir of the Inuzuka Clan said before the pressure of the water broke the glass and began to flood the house.

* * *

"Lightning Hound!" Kakashi thrusted his right palm out, manipulating his lightning chakra into the shape of a hound the size of a great dame with red eyes. The Copy Cat ninja moved his arm to the left, forcing his technique to sprint to the left thanks to the lightning still connected to his hand.

He initially aimed his attack at Zabuza, but it was intercepted by Lightning Lion, who gladly absorbed the lightning technique into his body. "Oh, that's the stuff!" The former Stone shinobi crackled with glee. "Come on Hatake, give me some more!"

_'That's impossible, he should have been fried.'_ Kakashi thought to himself with frustration. The odds were definitely not in his favor, he was outnumbered three to one, and his only reprieve was that Hinata and Sakura were taking on that Hunter ninja, while Shino was bravely-or foolishly taking on the Demon Brothers.

_'Calm down, and assess the situation. You have survived far worse than these guys, you can do this.'_ Taking a deep, calming breath, the Leaf Jounin lifted his hitai-ate to reveal his single Sharingan eye.

"The Sharingan, nice try Kakashi, but I will not be beaten by you ever again." Zabuza brought his hands up into a simple seal and focused his chakra around the entire property. "Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu." Due to the already foggy morning, and the water surrounding the area, Zabuza had no problem coating the place with pearly-white mist.

"You think your mist will be enough to stop me Zabuza?" Kakashi demanded in his usual bored voice. "I beat it once, and I will beat it again."

"True, but you have not fought against the likes of us." Lightning Lion's cruel voice echoed from behind him.

Kakashi immediately dodged to the left to avoid being cut in half from the leonine man's lightning claws. He then rolled out of the way before Zabuza's Kubikiribocho impaled him through the stomach, which left him just barely enough time to use his hands to backflip away before Aio tried to slash him with the Raijin no Ken. The Copycat shinobi managed to not get hit for several minutes, but as the battle dragged out he started to lose his stamina.

And then unexpectedly he felt Zabuza's zanbato slice him across his chest. Kakashi held in a scream of pain and placed his right hand over his bloodied vest to inspect the damage. Luckily for him the vest took the brunt of the blow, but he was bleeding badly.

Perfect.

Pulling a scroll from a scroll pouch on the right side of his chest, Kakashi unrolled it with a flourish and with his free thumb; he wiped a thick amount of blood away from his wound, and dragged it down the middle of his scroll. Then slapping it close the silver-haired Jounin flew four hand seals, and then slammed the scroll onto the ground. "Summoning Jutsu: Earth Style: Fanged Pursuit!"

There was a slight rumble that came from the scroll that traveled towards the man that wounded him, and several seconds later the sound of the ground bursting open, dogs barking, and a man screaming in the mist calmed Kakashi's beating heart. Zabuza wasn't dead, immobilized, but he wasn't a threat at the moment.

"Ninja Art: Senbon Shower!" From within the mist, Aoi threw up one of his umbrellas. And with one hand seal he focused his chakra to spin the umbrella in mid-air to spew s hundreds of paralyzing poisoned senbon needles around the battle field.

"Earth Style: Mud Wall Jutsu!" Kakashi shouted.

* * *

"Damn it all." Sasuke gritted his teeth as he spat out a mouthful of water. He nearly had his way with the three Rain Chuunin, and by his way he meant hypnotizing them into committing suicide. But instead the tags went off and nearly crushed him to death, and then he nearly drowned because those assholes tried to drown him. If it wasn't for him forcing his lightning chakra to surround his body to electrocute them he would have been nothing but a bloated corpse. But on the other hand he also electrocuted himself as well, so that sucked as well.

"Not bad Uchiha, but you lucked out big time." One of the Chuunin's voice echoed throughout the area, a ventriloquist-type of ninjustu? That was new.

"But you won't get us a second time." Another voice echoed out.

"Water Clone Jutsu." A third, and final voice said.

From the very water itself rose fifty water clones, Sasuke narrowed his black eyes in annoyance. He knew about this type of technique thanks to Zabuza and Kakashi's fight, the clones themselves weren't all that powerful, but the person who knew that particular type of jutsu could create a lot, and it was another pain in his ass that he didn't need.

With a loud sigh Sasuke unsheathed his chokuto and sprinted at the clones of Oboro. With a flick of his wrist he slashed at their necks, and turned the clones back into water, then pumping some chakra into his legs, the Uchiha jumped high into the air to escape from the clones. He then sped through several hand seals and brought his left hand to his mouth. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Launching a fireball the size of his torso at the lake, he watched as it impacted the water creating a cloud of steam.

He landed square on the water and moved to avoid dozens of crossbow bolts flying in his direction. _'Damn it, that didn't work like I thought it would.'_ Sasuke mentally screamed at himself. Of course that wouldn't work; he was fighting on water, not land.

The mist cleared up several seconds later, and Sasuke was greeted by nearly two-hundred clones of the Rain Chuunin. They were all nearly identical, except the apparent leader had both his eyes uncovered and spiky brown hair, another was wearing a black cap with one eye exposed wielding a crossbow, and one more with his eyes completely covered and wild brown hair…freaking clones.

"Very well then, bring it on!" Sasuke activated his Sharingan eyes and moved to attack.

But just then, the water erupted in front of him, decimating several dozen of the clones. He was sort of relieved that the tornado-like technique was that of an ally. But when said ally landed in front of him, and nearly collapsed because of his broken leg.

"Oh great, now I have to protect you as well. Just freaking perfect." Sasuke said in an exasperated manner.

"Shut up Uchiha!" Kiba growled at his comrade. "I'm not happy about this either, but I'm far from useless."

"Then get spinning. I rather not die here."

* * *

"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!" Clenching her fists Hinata thrusted both her arms forward to attack their opponent.

Instead of dodging, Haku raised her arms and whispered under her mask, "Ice Style: Ice Dome." Using the power of her kekkei genkai she quickly created a dome of ice around her, blocking what would have been crippling blows.

With her Byakugan active, Hinata gasped in surprise at the absolute thickness of the ice. She then turned to see chakra preparing to throw a dozen kunai with explosive tags wrapped around the hilts. "Sakura wai-"

Her words came too late when the pinkette flicked her wrists, sending the deadly projectiles at the ice dome. They hit the ice with a loud clanging noise before detonating with violent intensity, shooting up a lot of dust and debris. When it cleared Sakura looked on in horror seeing no visible damage.

"What…how?"

"I tried to tell you, but her ice is coated in chakra. I believe she has a kekkei genkai." Hinata explained to her partner.

"How do you know she is a she?" Sakura asked.

"My Byakugan can see through her mask. The seal on it must have worn off to block my clan's eyes, and I can see chest bindings underneath her clothing."

Knowing that her cover as a boy was blown, Haku lowered her ice barrier and pulled out two senbon needles. She did not want to fight those two, but for the mission, and for _him_ she would sacrifice her soul if need be. So quelling the butterflies in her stomach, she sprinted towards her fellow kunoichi.

Both Sakura and Hinata quickly pulled out their respective kunai's and charged at the phony hunter ninja. The three kunoichi's weapons connected in a flash of sparks, Haku ducked under a palm strike the would have turned her brains into jelly from Hinata, she then brought her senbon needle up to stop Sakura's kunai from cutting into her, twisted her hips, and kicked the pinkette right in the stomach.

With Sakura out of the way for several seconds, Haku focused her attention of the Hyuuga heiress. She lashed at the Genin-level kunoichi, striking her in the chest with the palm of her hands and then kicked her ways. Twirling her needles in her fingers, Haku threw them up into the air and put her hands in a hand seal that was unfamiliar to the two Leaf kunoichi. "A Thousand Needles of Death!"

The mist in the air warped, and twisted into a thousand needles. Haku then let them fly at the two kunoichi opposing her.

Three years ago Sakura and Hinata would have easily been impaled by that technique, but after three years of advanced reflex training by Gai Maito himself, the two dodged, twisted, and spun their flexible bodies out of harm's way; well they didn't get out completely unscathed. A few of the water needles found their marks, but it was better than becoming pin cushions.

"Impressive, you two are the first to survive that technique." Haku clapped twice for the both of them before she placed her hands in another hand seal that they were unfamiliar with. "But now, you leave me no choice but to eliminate you."

"Bring it on!" Sakura challenged the fake hunter ninja as she got to her feet. Sure she was sweating from the dodging, dirty, and bleeding from several cuts on her body. But after pulling four or the needles out of her body, she felt more confident than ever that she could take her opponent on.

Hinata however was not so sure. It wasn't a self-doubting confidence issue that she had when she was younger. After pulling three needles out of her body, the temperature around them started to drop into freezing levels. She breathed out and saw her own breath, "This is not good." She whispered.

"Indeed." Haku formed a dome of twenty-one floating mirrors made out of ice. Twelve remained at ground level, eight floated above the first twelve and angled toward the ground, and the final mirror was above the rest and facing the ground. Grabbing the senbon needles that she threw upwards several seconds ago and stepped backwards, and…merged with it until every mirror held her reflection in them.

"Crystal Ice Mirrors." Haku's voice echoed from the mirrors.

* * *

"Shit, Gozu, how in the hell do we get out of this." Meizu demanded his older brother.

"Just follow my lead little brother. Do that and we will get out if this alive." Gozu ordered his ill-tempered little brother.

Due to their fearsome reputations and high success of missions back in Kirigakure, both Gozu and Meizu were given the title of The Demon Brothers. It was well known that the twin brothers participated in dozens of highly covert assassination mission before their defection; it took little to dissuade them from attacking their opponents, let alone hesitate.

But this wasn't a dignitary, Daimyo, or even regular shinobi. They were faced against a member of the Aburame Clan, who were infamous for their ability to control kikaichu insects that could suck chakra out of a human being within seconds. That caused for extreme caution on their part.

"I see you two aren't as foolish like I thought. Interesting…" Shino brought his right insect covered hand to his chin, and made an 'hmming' noise like he was thinking.

"What!" Why you little-"

"I said calm down!" Gozu smacked his brother with his not gauntlet hand. "Don't let that hot temper of yours control you. He's trying to lure the both of us away from each other so he can pick us off one at a time."

"Too late for the both of you."

Turning their heads the Demon Brothers saw thousands of kikaichu insects behind them. The small, but deadly insects chattering loudly in hunger for their chakra. Gozu then looked at Shino, and a thousand more insects flowed out of his jacket menacingly.

"Shit." Meizu cursed.

"Relax little brother…easy…easy…now!" Whipping off his rebreather to reveal an average-looking face, Gozu threw his hands up in the horse hand seal and took a deep breath. "Boil Style: Solid Fog Jutsu!" Exhaling a cloud of mist from his mouth, the eldest brother spat the corrosive mist at the wall of insects, dissolving seventy-five percent of them while Meizu leapt at the young Genin.

The younger brother raised his left arm that held his large, clawed, poisoned gauntlet and swiped it down at the Aburame heir. The young Genin easily jumped backwards to avoid the deadly claws and thrusted his arms out, sending his insects out at the Chuunin-ranked shinobi.

"Meizu get down! Boil Style: Solid Fog Jutsu!" Gozu exhaled another cloud of corrosive mist at bot his brother and their enemy. The mist hit them both square on, but to his horror and relief the both of them weren't reduced to bubbling human sludge, instead two blocks of wood took their places.

"Dammit Gozu, you coulda killed me!" Meizu screamed at his twin.

"That's the risk of this bloodline of mine, it's indiscriminate of who I use it against."

"So that's why you allied with Zabuza to try and kill the Mizukage." Shino's monotone voice echoed throughout the foggy area. "Because of your kekkei genkai you were in danger of being wiped out by the Anti-Bloodline Collision squads. You were smart to hide your abilities, not even the Bingo Books have knowledge of this."

"And neither will you boy." Running his hands through three hand seals Gozu breathed in once again. "Boil Style: Sinful Lotus Jutsu!" Instead of expelling another mouthful of mist, the ground around Shino erupted around him, trapping him on all sides. And then the middle part he was standing on erupted underneath him, turning his entire body into nothing but sludge.

Or that would have been the case if he hadn't substituted himself with his insects in time. The two brothers blinked n surprise and looked to their left, right, behind, and up. It took only four seconds to look in those respective areas before realizing their mistake, and Shino erupted from the ground in front of Gozu; nailing him right in the chin with his right fist.

Other than breaking his opponent's jaw, Shino also managed to cover the eldest brother with a sleeve full of insects.

"No, big brother! Water Style: Ripping torrent!" Quickly focusing his water natured chakra Meizu thrusted his right arm forward, and released a torrent of spiraling water from his hand, dousing his brother with the water and washing the insects off his body.

"Dammit no…" Running towards the only person that kept him sane throughout the years, Meizu skidded to his knees and placed his only exposed hand on his neck to try and feel a pulse of life. He frantically tried to find something, anything, but he couldn't find anything. "Not big brother…not him…please not him."

"I'm sorry for your loss." Of course Shino's monotone voice didn't sound sincere that he just took his first life in battle, but he _did_ feel bad. "He put up a great fight and nearly killed me, you should be proud of that."

For once in is life, there was no angry comeback, not shout of anger. Just tears, angry tears of sorrow running down Meizu's face. "You know all those dangerous kekkei genkei-users your village warned you about?" Bringing his right hand to his rebreather, he tore it off to reveal his own average-looking face, and turned towards the insect-user. "I'm the worst one!" He opened his mouth, screamed at the top of his lungs. "Lava Style: Lava Globs!"

"Oh shit." Shino openly swore as globs of lava the size of a full grown Akamichi flew towards him.

* * *

"Fucking assholes!" Kiba swore for the fiftieth time in the span of ten minutes.

"Shut up Kiba!" Sasuke panted out tiredly before he wiped the water from his eyes.

The fight was not going well for them, for every time they attacked the Rain Chuunin they wither hit a water clone, or passed right on through them like they were a mirage or something. And then they would either get punched from behind or cut by a kunai.

Sasuke of course knew of an easy way to defeat them, but it would only result in electrocuting Kiba to death along with their attacking enemies. If he did it, not only would the Inuzuka Clan want his head in compensation, but there would be other repercussions if he managed to not get executed. He could either get sent to prison, or pay hefty civil fines. Kami ever since the academy slayings things had not been the same in the village, there were stricter rules and stricter regulations…it didn't sit well with him. Especially since it interfered with his goals.

"Give it up Leaf shinobi," Oboro's mocking voice echoed throughout the area once again. "We're in our element, fresh as spring water, and far more experienced in battle than you. Accept your defeat, and we will make your death painless."

"And why don't you go fuck yourselves! Tunneling Fang!" Rotating as he jumped, Kiba's form turned into that of a tornado as he crashed into the army of clones, dispersing them into water or going right through them.

It was then Sasuke formed a plan that could save their hides. "Kiba, twist upwards! I can stop them once you do that!"

Thanks to his enhanced hearing due to his genetics, Kiba managed to twist his body upwards and spiraled towards the sky.

Sheathing his blade, Sasuke quickly ran through five hand seals, and gritting his teeth he bellowed. "Lightning Style: Electromagnetic Murder!" Creating a wave of blue-white electricity from his hands, the Uchiha sent it towards the water. Immediately everything in the lake was electrocuted, he gritted his teeth in pain as he felt his muscles spasm wildly. And for thirty long, agonizing seconds passed by before the Rain Chuunin exploded out of the water.

Team Oboro glared at the Uchiha. They were hurt, hurt real badly. Thanks to his their rebreathers shorted out, their muscles weren't exactly under their control, and there were electric burns scarring their bodies underneath their yellow jumpsuits.

"You…you ba-stard." Mubi, the one-eyed Chuunin threw his ruined crossbow into the water, and unbuckled his quiver containing the metal bolts that harmed him. At this point in time he did not care that they sank to the bottom of the lake.

"We will kill you." Kagari, the Chuunin with his eyes covered spat in rage.

"Not if I can help it. Tunneling Fang!" Blindsiding the Chuunin from behind, Kiba tore through them like wet paper. Blood flew through the air as the Rain Chuunin flew through the air, and landed with a loud splash as Kiba landed right beside Sasuke.

"Yea, take that you-fuck!" Collapsing to the water, Kiba grabbed his splintered leg and gritted his teeth in agony. "Dammit to hell, I think that attack was my last. Fuck!"

"Quit your needless swearing dog breath." Sasuke sighed in annoyance. He hated needless swearing as much as he hated his brother and fangirls. "They're dead; we can go help the girls now."

"You're…not going…anywhere." Oboro rasped out in agony. He and his teammates shakily got to their feet.

Team Oboro looked like something out of a horror movie. Their jumpsuits were shredded in various places, revealing the cracked, blackened skin from the lightning jutsu and several long deep lacerations on their skin from Kiba's attack. But they rose like Zombies getting ready for more.

"You…will die here." Oboro coughed out a mouthful of blood, and then started going through hand seals. His teammates followed soon after, their hands as quick as lightning as they flowed through seals until they handed square on the horse seal and the water powerfully surged around them.

"Water Style: Wrath of the Hydra!" The three shouted as they poured nearly all their remaining chakra into their most powerful technique. The water surged upwards, twisted and shaped into a terrible sea serpent with eight head with blazing yellow eyes. Letting out a wet roar, the Rain Chuunin sicced their creation towards the two Genin.

"Oh shit…Sasuke, please tell me you have something that will destroy this thing?" Kiba gulped loudly at the sheer size of the technique.

"Yea, but be prepared to die just in case." Placing his hands in the tiger seal, Sasuke compressed a lot of fire nature chakra into his body. The reason he said that to Kiba was that he had been experimenting with his clan's jutsu for nearly three years and was in that last phase of its development stages for this particular one. In the best case scenario the jutsu would work, if not…well at least their deaths would be instant and painless.

"Fire Style: Great Dragon Flame Jutsu!" Opening his mouth, Sasuke let forth a great trail or fire that shaped into a massive dragon's head.

The two techniques collided with a great violent hiss as steam erupted from the two attacks. The two opposing sides struggled to maintain control as the two opposing elements battle for dominance for three long minutes.

Finally it was Oboro who lost his concentration, his body slackened from overuse and his wounds finally took their toll. The hydra technique weakened, and finally dissolved in a cloud of steam. The great fire dragon continued onwards towards the doomed Rain team, the two conscious members screamed in fear one last time before the dragon head incinerated all three of them on the spot.

Finally ending his technique, Sasuke took in a deep breath and coughed out several large clouds of black smoke before finally collapsing on his ass.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Kiba raised his right arm to high-five him.

"Shut up, Kiba." Sasuke coughed out another cloud of black smoke.

* * *

As Sasuke and Kiba finished their life and death struggle, Sakura and Hinata were in the middle of theirs. But unlike Sasuke and Kiba, they were having possibly the hardest time due to an unnatural amount of senbon needles sticking in their bodies.

They were not slow in any sense of the word; in fact the two of them were among the top three fastest kunoichi out of their class, but this kunoichi was a level above anything they ever experienced before. Just when they managed to avoid a barrage of needles, they were hit with one or two more in their blind sides.

"You are within range of my field of divination. Eight Trigrams: Thirty-two Palms!" Hinata rushed towards the mirror she figured Haku resided in. "Two palms, four palms, eight palms, sixteen palms, thirty-two palms!" The Hyuuga heiress struck the ice mirror with fierce force, but there wasn't even a crack in the thick ice.

Sakura wasn't having any luck either, no matter how many times she slashed at the mirrors with a kunai, or slashed at them with the chakra scalpel jutsu she finished learning before her mission to Wave.

The two tried to escape several times, but Haku would not allow it, and every attempt they earned a barrage of more needles. It just plain sucked to be the two of them at that moment.

"We're in trouble, aren't we?" Sakura gritted her teeth as she pulled another senbon needle out of her shoulder. "What I wouldn't give to have the Mystical Palm Technique right about now."

"I know," Hinata panted in a mixture of exhaustion and pain. "But they didn't have enough medical personal to teach all of us."

"It's a load of bull is what it is." The pinkette growled.

"Are you two quite done?" Haku questioned the two Genin.

"Of course not, we will never be done." Sakura pointed at one of the mirrors in some sort of form of defiance. "We will find a way to defeat you and get to everyone else!"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but my orders were to take care of you in any way necessary. That is Zabuza's will."

"I don't get you hunter-san, why follow _him_ of all people? Does he have some sort of hold over you?" Hinata questioned, she just couldn't phantom why she would work with a monster like Zabuza Momochi.

"It was because he saved me when my life held no meaning." Haku coldly answered the Hyuuga heiress' question. "His goals are my goals, and the person he follows, I too will follow to hell and back."

"Hold on a second, Zabuza follows someone else? Who is he, what would this type of person be that-"

"Who we follow is none of your concern." Haku snapped at Sakura. "All that matters is that his will is done, after all he did for us, and I would do anything for him, even if it meant selling my soul."

With her peace said, Haku moved her arms to her senbon holster, pulled out three needles for each finger. Crossing her arm she then sent them towards the two Genin, only two managed to hit them, but like she had always been doing, Haku emerged from her ice mirror, and using her extreme speed she went straight into another without the two knowing otherwise.

This continued on for several minutes until she heard the sound of a thousand angry birds coming from the direction of Zabuza's battle, something was wrong. It was Zabuza, he was in trouble!

"I'm sorry, but I must end this." Pulling out two more senbon needles Haku threw them at the girl's necks. The attack itself wouldn't kill them, but they would be paralyzed for the time being. Then forming on hand seal, Haku dismissed her jutsu; leaving one ice mirror to merge into, and then disappeared to possibly save Zabuza's life.

* * *

Several minutes before the girl's battle ended in defeat, Shino was literally sweating buckets. Already he lost half his hive thanks to Meizu's eldest brother, and now he lost a quarter of it to the hot-headed lava-using brother. He partially blamed himself for not preparing himself for this type of situation, but he mainly blamed the Bingo Book Company for not looking in on those guys. Honestly, shouldn't they have kept track of who their parents were, it was ridiculous.

Dodging to the left, Shino winced in pain as parts of the magma caught parts of his clothing. Burning parts of the fabric away, and burning his skin. His first option was to go and fight on the water, but Meizu kept forcing him away.

"How do you like it now you little cockroach?!" Meizu demanded before firing off another glob of lave from his mouth, this one much smaller and faster than his usual ones. "How does it feel to be on the receiving end, the fear, I bet you're pissing your pants!"

"You are mistaken, my pants are clearly dry."

"That's not what I meant you…ah, fuck it! Lava Style: Molten Dragon Jutsu!" After going through thirty quick hand seals, Meizu spewed out a large geyser of magma the morphed into an angry molten dragon that surged at Shino.

The Aburame was about to move once again before a familiar voice halted his steps.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" A large amount of water burst out of the lake and turned into a giant, powerful dragon with glowing yellow eyes, it hit the molten dragon with such force that it over powered the technique. Once it was over, it left behind a lot of steam and a very flabbergasted Meizu.

"Meizu, Meizu, Meizu," An authoritative voice broke the youngest Demon Brother out of his stupor. "You surprise me. Out of everything that I could have guess about you, a kekkei genkai was the last on my list."

"Stay back, who the hell are you?"

"Well this is no good. Meizu, how could you forget about the life debt you owe me?" The person who owned the voice was slowly becoming visible as the steam cleared up.

"N-" Meizu fell to his knees, causing Shino to look at him oddly. "Naruto-sama?"

"What?" Shino raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Stepping out of the steam, Naruto Uzumaki himself stepped towards the two combatants. His arms crossing his muscled chest, his eyes staring at the two in annoyance. "Okay you two, spill it, what the hell have I walked into?"

Bowing his head, Meizu explained the situation without a moments hesitation. "Gato ordered us to finally take out the bridge builder, and the teams guarding him and his family." The younger Demon Brother gulped in hesitation, his voice quivering. "But w-we didn't know t-that you were with them. I swear we didn't! If we knew we wouldn't have-" He was stopped mid-sentence when Naruto placed a gloved hand on his right shoulder.

"Easy there, Meizu. I knew that I was going against you guys and wanted to find you so we could go against Gato, but navigation of this country is just pure hell." Gripping his subordinate's exposed left hand, he hefted him onto his feet. "Now where the hell is that brother of yours?"

"…dead."

Naruto narrowed his eyes in response, "Show me."

It didn't take more than a minute for Meizu to guide him towards his brothers still body. For Gozu, he looked almost peaceful in death. Kneeling against the body Naruto placed his right gloved hand on his neck, he frowned and stood up.

Then he promptly smacked Meizu in the face.

"You idiot! Gozu is not dead, his pulse is weak, but he is definitely not dead!" The blond smacked the younger brother again, just to demonstrate how stupid he was.

"Oh thank Kami." Meizu dropped to his knees and this time he found a pulse on his brother's neck. He realized that in his panicked state he more than likely missed the important area to test his pulse. Stupid him.

"Naruto-san, may I inquire what exactly is happening here?"

"A mess, that's what's happening." Naruto answered Shino. His dull blue eyes then opened wide when he heard the screeching of a thousand angry birds. "Excuse me, but it appears that I'm needed elsewhere. Don't kill each other." Leaving not room to explain himself, Naruto disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

"Lightning Style: False Darkness!" Lightning Lion emitted a bolt of lightning from his mouth, sending it towards Kakashi.

Raising both his arms, Kakashi generated his lightning chakra into his hands and took the attack head on. Instead of getting electrocuted to death, or getting pierced through the body like the former Stone shinobi hoped for, instead he counteracted the powerful lightning attack, and dissolved it into nothing.

That wasn't too bad considering Kakashi was also avoiding getting pelted with poisoned senbon. Thank Kami for his mud wall.

"You absorbed my lightning attack, impressive Kakashi. Now I _really_ want to dig into that brain of yours and steal all those precious lightning ninjutsu you accumulated throughout the years." Lightning Lion said from within the dispersing mist.

"Save your breath Lightning Lion, it will be a cold day in hell when you defeat me." Kakashi replied to the leonine shinobi.

"And I intend to collect!" Appearing by his side, the lightning fanatic swung his lightning claws at the Copycat ninja, chopping him in fours…or he would have if it didn't turn out to be a lightning clone. Now that was truly shocking, no pun intended.

"Hatake! Show yourself!" Lightning Lion roared out in anger. Focusing primal rage he wrapped his body in a layer of lightning chakra that electrically stimulated his nervous system. It was used to speed up neural synapses to react faster, and to push his physical prowess to the absolute limit, allowing for tremendous raw speed. It was the perfect technique for the alpha male after all.

"Calm yourself," Aoi commanded the erratic shinobi. "this isn't amateur hour, we are dealing with a man who has trained by Konoha's greatest Hokage. Do not let your guard down."

"Be quiet you filthy omega!" Lightning Lion pumped more of his lightning nature chakra into his lightning armor, causing his mane-like hair to stand on end. "I call the shots, not you, disobey me and die!"

Despite possessing a legendary sword, Aoi knew that when Lightning Lion was like that, nobody was safe from his wrath. Not his allies, his enemies, and especially women. When he went into 'Alpha Mode', the former Stone shinobi became more beast than man.

"Very well then, what is your plan?" Aoi held the Raijin no Ken to his side, indicating his 'submissiveness'.

"Find him, kill him, and then kill Zabuza!"

Far away from the two Shinobi Kakashi panted heavily in exhaustion. Good Kami he was starting to get old, back in the good old days he could have easily taken those two on without breaking a sweat. But at being half recovered, and spending half his chakra for that lightning clone the Copycat ninja was in dire straits.

_'It looks like I need to pull out all the stops on this one.' _Kakashi thought to himself. _'Gate of Opening, open!'_ Opening the gate located in the brain. Kakashi removed the restraints of the brain on the muscles so one-hundred percent of his strength could be used whereas normally, a person could only use twenty percent of his muscles' strength to keep them from disintegrating.

Feeling refreshed, Kakashi channeled his chakra into the ground underneath his feet into fine sand, and descended downwards. Once submerged he used the magnetic forces that allowed him to use the jutsu and navigated towards both Aoi and Lightning Lion. Then adding some chakra into his limbs, the Copycat ninja exploded upwards.

He hit Aoi with a vicious uppercut to the jaw with his right fist, sending him far away from Lightning Lion. Then ducking underneath a vicious, lightning clawed strike, Kakashi retaliated with a swift upper kick that launched his opponent into the air. Jumping behind him a second later, Kakashi quickly reached into his right hip pouch to pull out near-invisible ninja wire and wrapped the durable strings around Lightning Lion's barrel chest, cutting into it. He then rotated at a ferocious speed, and then pile-drived the leonine man head first into the ground.

Letting go of the man, Kakashi nearly collapsed in exhaustion and tried to fight the effects of the lightning chakra screwing with is muscles. "Gai, I do not know how you can do this." He complained to himself before mentally kicking his own ass into gear. He had one more left to defeat, but Zabuza was still out there, captured by his loyal hounds.

Once he arrived, he saw the Demon of the Mist firmly held down by various breeds of dogs. From a grey hound a Labrador, and a beagle biting his legs, to two Doberman holding his arms, a great bull dog biting into his shoulder, a blood hound biting into the circle of his zanbato, and his pug; Pakkun gnawing on the strap of Zabuza's hitai-ate.

"Kami damn you, Kakashi." Zabuza growled at his opponent. "to think that I'm going to be done in by a bunch of mutts!"

"Save your words for the underworld Zabuza." Kakashi went through three hand seals, and used his left hand to brace his right wrist. A ring of crackling chakra appeared around him and small bolts of electricity flowed from the ring into his hand. The bolts eventually stopped and he now held a large blue ball of lightning, which let out a terrible sound like the screeching of a thousand angry birds.

"You come into this country and work for the likes of Gato. You give shinobi a bad name, and I will gladly rid you of the earth for the sake of this village."

"Then strike me down Kakashi!"

"Lightning Blade!" Rushing on forward, Kakashi brought his right arm back and thrusted it forwards to pierce the infamous Demon of the Mist through his black heart.

Inches before he struck home, Haku appeared right in front of him ready to take the blow. Behind her mask was a sad smile. She was about to sacrifice her life to save the man who gave her a purpose in life, and by saving his life, she gave him another chance to serve the man that saved their lives, to make his goals become a reality. Her only regret was that she would die not seeing _him_ one last time.

Before the lightning jutsu got close enough to even singe her kimono, a black-gloved hand captured Kakashi's wrist with bone crushing force. "I would not do that if I were you Kakashi. These two are quite invaluable to me, and I rather have them alive."

"What the?" Kakashi gasped in shock.

"No fucking way!" Zabuza choked out in surprise.

"Naruto-sama!" Haku cried out in glee.

Throwing Kakashi's arm away, he was soon hugged by the ice-using kunoichi. He felt her arms wrap around his neck as she pulled her body tight against his, and not to be rude, Naruto wrapped one arm around her waist. "Hey, Haku-chan. It's been a while hasn't it?"

"Naruto, what's going on? How do you know these people!?" Kakashi demanded.

"That's my business Kakashi. Just know that these two and the Demon Brothers are no threat to any of you…sorry about the wrist."

Cradling his broken wrist, the copycat ninja let out a frustrated sigh before collapsing on his knees from the effects of the first gate he opened. "Well at least we only have Aoi to deal with."

"HATAKE!"

"…make that Lightning Lion as well."

"Relax Kakashi, I will deal with those two." Naruto unsheathed the Mugenjin, and casually draped it over his shoulder. "Knowing you, you dealt a lot of damage on those bozos. I should be able to finish them off without much difficulty."

"I know you're strong, but at least bring me along." Kakashi took one step forward and immediately collapsed to his knees thanks to a mixture of blood loss, and chakra exhaustion.

"I rather you stay here. I have my own grievances with the two of them anyways. Do not follow me."

All three were about to protest against his course of action, but instead they were silenced when Naruto turned his head towards them. His eyes that were always a dullish blue were now as cold as glaciers, the edges of his pupils showing primal rage within them. "Trust me none of you want to see what I'm going to do." Spitting to the side he left them behind to deal with the remaining shinobi in Gato's employ.

Once the blond got to the spot where Lightning Lion was plunged head first into the ground, Naruto flared his chakra and dispersed the mist to reveal the two shinobi licking their wounds. Killing intent leaked out of his body at the very sight of them. If it wasn't for Shishio's training, he would have probably rushed at them like some short, orange-clad idiot screaming 'I'm going to defeat you, Dattebayo!'.

Instead he gripped his katana with his right hand and clenched his left hand into a fist. "Aoi Rokusho, A-class Missing-nin from Konohagakure. Rank Jounin. Bounty; seventy-five million ryo. Crimes, the theft of the Nidaime Hokage's sword, the Raijin no Ken and revealing village secrets to a hostile country. Sentence: Death."

"Lightning Lion, formally known as Stone Lion, A-class Missing-nin from Iwakagure. Rank Jounin. Bounty; one-hundred million ryo. Crimes, ten known counts of murder-rape, dozens of suspected murder-rape, suspected of selling classified information to the highest bidder. Special note: Was part of the Stone Animal Corps., and attempted to rape the Tsuchikage's granddaughter." Naruto practically glared a hole into the leonine man's face. "Sentence: Death!"

"Hahaha! Look who we have here Aoi, the Leaf hired a cute little bounty hunter. Isn't that just precious?" Lightning Lion laughed loudly.

Ignoring his companion's annoying laughter, the Rain Jounin narrowed his remaining eye at the blond. He looked…familiar. "Who are you boy? I know the Sandaime would not just hire some kid off the streets for something like this."

"Who am I? I'm surprised you have forgotten." Naruto flared his killing intent directly at the two shinobi. "After all I have not forgotten what the two of you did. How could I forget seeing an aggressive leonine-looking shinobi punch a gentle giant into a pit of stalagmites," He then ripped the white scarf off to reveal his entire face; he threw it to the wind and it was caught on a low hanging tree branch. "or an electric sword scarring my face and me taking your fucking eye in return!"

"You!" Aoi exploded. "You're that fucking brat from Shishio's hideout!"

"The fuck? We wiped everyone out that night." Lightning Lion narrowed his amber eyes at the blond.

"Apparently one survived." Aoi pressed the button of the Raijin no Ken, activating it with a _snap-hiss_. "And it looks like he is out for revenge."

"Ha! What a cliché, this ain't a movie boy. We have two life time's worth of experience between the two of us. You are nothing but shit on the bottom of our feet!" Lightning Lion surrounded his body in lightning chakra once again, and formed lightning claws at the end of his fingers to cut the blond into ribbons.

Spitting to the side once again Naruto bolted at them faster than they expected him to. Using the effects of his Lightning Armor, Lightning Lion quickly dodged out of the way, and using his combat experience Aoi also dodged away from the attack.

Not to be deterred Naruto skidded along the ground and did a ninety degree turn towards the two. He extended his left index and middle fingers and gathered his wind chakra around the area. "Wind Sword!" He swiped his arm outwards to send the razor sharp wind jutsu at them.

"Lightning Style: Roar of the Lion!" Roaring his technique, Lightning Lion shaped the lightning around his body until it was the shape of a gigantic head of a lion made completely out of blue lightning with red eyes. The two attacks met head on, but the lightning attack was sliced in two, continued on forward, and sliced deeply into the former Stone shinobi's right bicep.

Roaring like a wounded animal, Lightning Lion placed his left hand on the bleeding part of his arm. "What did you do to me? My lightning attack was supposed to blow through that like wet paper!"

"Wind beats lightening. It's as simple as that."

"Bullshit!" The leonine man snarled, dammit it felt like he was cut right down to the bone. "I killed a Sand shinobi with this technique no more than a month ago. The fool used the same technique as you, this is bullshit!"

"Snap out of it! Ninja Art: Senbon Shower!" Throwing his second, and last umbrella into the air Aoi did one hand seal he focused his chakra to spin the umbrella in mid-air to spew hundreds of paralyzing poisoned senbon needles around the battle field.

"Wind Style: Roar of the Wind!" Naruto clapped his hands together, and blew a large stream of wind from his mouth. The powerful blast protected him from the barrage of needles, and then with that opening he bolted forwards to strike Aoi down with his sword.

Aoi instead blocked the sword strike with his blade; he smirked, expecting the blond to get electrocuted. His vision was greeted by fire instead; to his horror Naruto used his fire chakra to ignite the oiled blade. "Fry you little insect!"

"Burn instead! Blazing Glory!" Clenching his left fist, the blond manipulated his fire chakra around his glove. Naruto delivered a fierce blow to Aoi's belly, and then with a wicked smile he ignited the explosive powder.

The results were devastating, the explosion ripped through the former Leaf Jounin's belly. He screamed in agony until hot blood flew from his mouth as he flew away and hit a thick tree.

Shaking his smoking fist, Naruto immediately turned his attention towards a charging Lightning Lion. Extinguishing the Mugenjin, Naruto placed his fingers into a cross seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Creating ten clones, Naruto ordered them to distract the charging asshole.

The clones obeyed without question or hesitation. They didn't last long against the tank of a man, but they gave their creator the five precious seconds to sheathed his blade, drew his arm back, tensed his muscles before impacting the entire length of his arm right across Lightning Lion's upper chest with considerable force. "Lariat!" Naruto shouted the name of Saizuchi's favorite taijutsu move when he was in his prime.

Lifting the bigger man off his feet Naruto continued forward, driving the leonine man through five trees before flinging him off his arm. "That was for Fuji you fuck! Dattebayo!"

"Lightning Style: Lightning Dragon Jutsu!" Looking upwards Naruto barely rolled out of the way in time to avoid a giant purple, red-eyed lightning dragon slam into the ground. But even though he dodged the brunt of the attack, the dragon exploded into thousands of stray lightning volts. Naruto was hit by one of them and received a thousand bolts of electrical agony that numbed his left side.

"Die boy!" Falling from the trees was the wrecked figure of Aoi Rokusho with the activated Raijin no Ken clutched in his hands. The entire front of his body was burnt and bleeding. A part of his stomach was missing to expose his ruined muscles and a foot of his entrails flapping in the wind.

The yellow crackling blade plunged into the blonds left shoulder, sending thousands bolts of electricity into the teenager. Aoi laughed when the blond cried out in agony, "You took my eye boy, and years of my life were stolen thanks to you nearly cutting my spine in half! Now you're going to die for it!"

Snarling in defiance Naruto looked toward his katana that was out of his reach no thanks to Aoi's last attack. Instead he spat in Aoi's remaining eye causing him cry out in surprise, then he forced his right arm to reach behind his back and unsheathed his tanto. The blond gritted his teeth to their breaking points and using all his determination and will, he swiped it upwards.

The sharp blade bit into Aoi's flesh, cutting through the muscle and bone until it cut through the entire forearm. The former Leaf shinobi looked on in horror when blood spurted out of his new stump, the hand gripping the Raijin no Ken lost its grip, and the blade retracted into the hilt.

Without any wasted effort Naruto head-butted Aoi right in his face, effectively breaking his nose, and driving the one-eyed man off him. Immediately getting to his feet Naruto grabbed what was left of Aoi's ruined jumpsuit and lifted the limp man on his feet and punched him twice in the face with the hilt of his tanto before speaking, "Aoi Rokusho, I'm going to ask you one question, and one question alone. Answer it correctly and then you have my permission to die."

Spitting out a mouthful of blood and six teeth, the defeated ninja glared at the blond. "Like I will tell you anything."

Striking him in the face again, Naruto held himself back from dropping the weapon and using the Futae no Kiwami, he needed the one source of information that he had not been able to get from his information sources. "Listen to me one-eye, there are rumors going on that Hanzo the Salamander is no longer the ruler of Amegakure. In fact I heard that he, his entire family, his friends, shinobi loyal to him, associates, diplomats, and acquaintances were murdered by a _single_ man. Who is this man, who!?"

Aoi only laughed at the question, he laughed until he was coughing up a massive amount of blood. "He is a man who can't be beaten…a true God, he has the power to destroy entire villages, the power to bend existence to his will." He hacked several times and gave the blond a bloody smile. "He will learn of you boy, it won't be today…or tomorrow, maybe not even in a year, but you will die underneath his heel like the pest that you are."

Throwing the broken man against the nearest tree, Naruto shook his head in disgust. If it was one thing he hated more than traitors were fanatics. Looking on the ground the blond picked up the Mugenjin, sheathed his tanto, and then pried the Raijin no Ken from Aoi's dismembered hand. Activating the lightning blade in his left hand Naruto stalked over to the fallen shinobi.

"Any last words, Rokusho?" The teen demanded.

"Go to hell kid." Aoi spat.

"I will meet you there." Naruto stabbed the Raijin no Ken into Aoi's stomach, and watched dispassionately as the man was electrocuted to death by his own stolen sword.

Deactivating the blade Naruto turned just in time to see Lightning Lion rise to his feet once again. _'Dammit, this guy just won't stay down.' _He narrowed his eyes and placed the Nidaime's sword into his left hip pouch, it wasn't going to be much use against a lightning-user of his caliber. _'Very well then, I'm getting sick of this piece of trash.'_

Scraping the end of the Mugenjin against the scabbard igniting the serrated blade, "The First Secret Sword: Burning Soul!" Announcing the first technique Shishio used most often, Naruto moved using the shukuchi to increase his speed. He slashed at the rising figure, carving a deep burning wound that ran from his left hand to his shoulder.

But Lightning Lion didn't seem to even notice. His feral amber eyes had retracted until only the whites in his eyes were showing, his mouth twisted into a cruel smile; showing his sharp canine teeth. He roared loudly like the alpha lion, lightning chakra shaped and morphed around his muscular body. His shaggy, sandy-blond hair sharpened like they were jelled, his muscles expanded to two times their original size, the nails on his hands and feet sharpened into razor sharp points, and finally a spiky lightning tail formed behind him.

"You think you can kill me!?" Lightning Lion howled. "I was once buried alive in the harsh mountains of Stone Country for six months! If that didn't kill me…if Iwa and the bounty hunters and the Third Great Shinobi War couldn't kill me-then you will not kill me!"

"You have never faced the likes of me, nor will you ever again. You will pay for your crimes against humanity, your foolish 'alpha pride' caused you to do something so stupid like trying to force yourself on the _Tsuchikage's granddaughter_ of all people, then you deserve this fate you created for yourself."

Lightning Lion only roared in response and charged at Naruto with murder on his mind. He raised his right, lightning clawed hand, and slashed down at him. Naruto easily leapt sideways and lashed out with his katana, the flaming sword bit deep into the larger man's side.

The larger shinobi didn't notice it; already his body was wracked with various injuries. Head and spine trauma thanks to Kakashi, his entire chest was fractured and broken, and counting the two recent injuries Lightning Lion did something he hadn't done since the last war.

He drew on his inner animal. You see, unlike most villages Iwakagure had only three squads to its name. Its Rock Anbu squads, the Explosion Corps., and the Stone Animal Corps. The first two were self-explanatory, but the last one was a lot more complicated. To be join the Stone Animal corps. Those willing to join were supposed to pick out the animal skull of a predator that 'felt right' to them, and when they placed it upon their heads a seal inside the skulls activated, sending the animal behavior of the skull directly into their brains. Afterwards they were trained, or disciplined to control the instincts of said animal. A good number of them manage to repress their animal instincts and take on the name of the animal; like Stone Bear, or Stone Tiger for example.

But Lightning Lion did not manage to control his instincts. Instead he succumbed to them, becoming exactly like a male Alpha lion in human form. After raping five women in the village to death he set his eye on the greatest prize of all, the Tsuchikage's granddaughter. Thankfully for her a boy she was seeing at the time prevented it and he fled from the village, forsaking the name Stone Lion forever.

And now Lightning Lion was drawing on the power of his mask, becoming more animal than man. He roared, sending a stream of lightning straight at Naruto who defeated it with his wind sword technique. Not even deterred the leonine shinobi fell onto all fours and roared once again.

Not even waiting for the lightning-user to bolt at him Naruto took to the trees for a tactful retreat. He was _not_ going to go through that kind of bullshit on the ground.

Of course it didn't take long for Lightning Lion to chase after his prey, he used his lightning armor to increase his speed, dodge around the trees, and if necessary burst through them. Finally after three minutes of following his prey, and losing sight of him only once, the leonine man jumped ten feet into the air, and tackled his fellow blond…only for 'Naruto' to explode, sending him hurling to the ground.

The real Naruto emerged from a nearby tree and descended on his opponent's falling form, his blade ablaze with fire poised for the killing blow. As the end of the blade neared his heart Lightning Lion moved his right arm to intercept the blow, he gritted his sharp teeth when the blade pierced his forearm and stabbed into his side. It hurt like hell, but it was better than having his heart pierced.

"Second Secret Sword: Crimson Lotus Arm!" Gripping the hilt of his katana with his left hand, Naruto placed his remaining black glove onto the burning hot blade, and ignited the explosive power within the gloves. The two of them were engulfed in a ball of fire, and then they were separated by the shock waves of the explosion.

Naruto slowly got to his feet, swearing loudly he placed his blackened right hand tenderly on his torso. Instead of feeling cotton cloth and metal buckles, all he felt was his scarred, bleeding skin. Dammit that was his favorite shirt too, fucking Lightning Lion forcing his to do something like that at close range.

Gripping the hilt of his sword the blond walked towards Lightning Lion's body impaled on a broken tree trunk. The scene was ghastly, sharp jagged pieces of wood were protruding through the muscular man's stomach; his right arm was blown off at the elbow showing off jagged bone and strings of muscle. The leonine man looked up and growled like an animal, he tried to move his left arm, but couldn't because it was broken in several places.

"And so the Alpha has fallen," Naruto brought the Mugenjin to his right hand and gripped it tightly. "Now answer me, where is the girl you took. Tell me this, and I will make your end quick."

"Tch, is that all you can offer? Bring that Hyuuga or pink haired chick, I'm sure they will get me _motivated_."

Naruto only stomped on his groin harshly, Lightning Lion screamed loudly in pain. He coughed up a mouthful of blood before laughing loudly it was almost as if he liked that…what a freak. It was then Naruto did something that would change the former Stone shinobi's shortening life forever. He raised the Mugenjin above his head with both hands…and then plunged it downwards, departing Lightning Lion of his cock forever.

Ignoring the dickless man's loudest roar of agony Naruto stomped on his bleeding crotch and ground it angrily. "Answer my question now and this shall end!"

Coughing out another mouthful of blood the defeated man whimpered and fell back further into the tree. "She's back at Gato's place…she's in my private room…hehehe…HAHAHA GOOD LUCK WITH HER BOY HAHAHAHA-" Lightning Lion's maniacal laughter was cut off when the Mugenjin's sharp serrated blade removed his head from his shoulders.

"Fucking animal." Naruto spat on the corpse.

-With Kakashi and Zabuza at the same time-

Away from the devastating battle both Kakashi and Zabuza blinked whenever they heard an explosion, screams of pain, and the flash of a jutsu. They had been blinking a lot in the past fifteen minutes.

"Well, I'm glad the brat hasn't lost that destructive nature of his." Zabuza's ears perked when he heard a loud roar of agony, "That sounds like it hurt."

"How exactly did the two of you meet?" Kakashi asked as another explosion rocketed in the woods.

"It was one year ago the kid saved our sorry asses from a bunch of Cloud shinobi. Several of them were Hunter ninja while the leader was a member of the Kinkaku Force, I won't bore you with the details, but they had us dead to rights, then out of nowhere the kid comes out of the blue and kills them all. Afterwards he told us to pledge our lives to him." Zabuza shrugged his shoulder, wincing a bit when he moved his injured one. "I was reluctant, but damn if the kid isn't convincing."

"Really? I'm a little surprised. A man of your…reputation is not exactly the following type. What did he do to make you follow him?" The Sharingan warrior placed his left hand into his hip pouch, and pulled out an orange book labeled 'Icha Icha Paradise'.

"Other than saving our lives, healing our wounds, and directing us to several safe houses when we were back on our feet…" He looked to his side for a brief second, and saw Haku giving him a sweet smile. "Well it's self-explanatory Hatake."

"…I see."

A rustle behind the three alerted them, cut, bruised and one arm down Kakashi pulled out a kunai to meet the threat. But it only turned out to be Shino and Sasuke carrying their respective teammates.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, we got a problem. The girls were all knocked out and their opponent…" Kiba trailed off, and nearly dropped Hinata in surprise. "What the crap!? Kakashi-sensei watch out!"

Sasuke sighed and kicked the feral teen in his non-broken leg. "Idiot, it's obvious that Zabuza and his crew have reached some sort of agreement with us."

"He is correct," Shino's monotone voice echoed behind his teammate, causing him to jump into the air, drop Hinata, who was then caught by Shino.

"What the-" Kiba saw Meizu shouldering his unconscious brother, and then over to Zabuza and Haku again. "Oh come on this is bullshit! That bastard broke my damn leg!" He pointed at the Demon of the Mist.

"It wasn't personal mutt-boy." Zabuza shrugged indifferently.

"But, but-"

"Kiba," Kurenai's voice came next. The conscious bodies looked to the source of her voice, and sure enough she appeared out of thin air by dropping the genjutsu surrounding her, Tazuna and his family, and Akamaru. "It's done and over with, none of us are in any condition to fight anymore."

'Yea, says the person who stayed out of the entire fight.' Kiba bitterly thought. "Dammit fine." _'This is bullshit!'_

"Ugh, Haku can you take care of those girls? I hate seeing needles in someone's neck, and what the hell happened to the two of you?" Zabuza demanded.

"It's a long, sad story." Meizu answered.

"Explain it later." A cold, angry voice alerted everyone.

Turning their heads they were greeted with Naruto's limping, and electrocuted up figure. The entire front of his shirt was torn to expose a recently burned muscular torso. It was adorned with three scars that were visible in the dark, one was going straight across his chest, another going straight across his abs, and one diagonally going down his right peck and went over his collarbone, and there seemed to be a new one on his left shoulder that was tied off with his scarf. Clutched in his gloveless, knuckle-scarred hands were the dismembered heads of Aoi Rokusho and Lightning Lion. His blond hair was standing on edge, and his body involuntarily twitched from all the times he was electrocuted.

"Zabuza, tell me where Gato is." Naruto demanded, his voice leaving no room for discussion.

* * *

Armageddon: Hey everybody...been a while hasn't it?

Lt. RasenganFin: You're damn right, what the fuck man. I know you have a life and a job and shit, but seriously dude the readers are seriously pissed at you.

Armageddon: Well let's see, I haven't been myself to tell you the truth. I've had just no inspiration to write at all, nothing came to me at all regarding this or my other stories. And with it being December and all I used my vacation days to head back home for rest and relaxation...and if the end came I would die with them. Luckily we didn't so that means you're stuck with me for several more years! Hahaha!

Pvt. Fox:...still the same as ever aren't you boss?

Armageddon: Damn right, I'm refreshed, relaxed, and I have ideas coming out of my head that I can't get on paper fast enough.

Pvt. Liquor: Well good for you, sir. But this chapter seems a little...different, I see shout outs. And what's with the number?

Armageddon: You are correct my favorite drunken Private. You see guys every few chapters I put in references from movies, comic or books. Some are well known, while others are obscured and or long forgotten, if you can spot the ones in the chapter and can name what it's from...well points to you. And the number is really something that I felt that needed to be explained, after all the readers aren't me, and don't know what goes through my twisted mind.

(1) Okay, as you all know Team Oboro are Chuunin in this story. Well before you you bust a gasket, need I remind you that they were denied becoming Chuunin thanks to the efforts of Team Seven and a little help from Kabuto as well. However thanks to me the main cast didn't enter the exams, Team Oboro passed through without any real competition and became Chuunin. Now what does that mean for the other teams that entered and or were supposed to have died in those exams? Well you will have to read and find out now won't you?

Now have a Happy New Years guys, stay safe and stay tuned.


	9. Splashes in Wave: The Tyrants Fall

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin, now that that's settled lets continue to read this story you have all come to love so much.

"Talk"

'_Think_'

**"Talk"**

**'_Think_'**

Authors Note: If you want to know why it took me so damn long, read the authors comments.

* * *

"So that's where the little midget has been hiding, very well." Naruto said.

After the fight with Aoi Rokusho and Lightning Lion the battered victors broke into one of the many abandoned houses within the desolate town. It was run down, but still had power, running water, and a few beds so that was good enough for them.

After they were situated and patched up, Zabuza and company told the conscious Leaf shinobi and Naruto where the base was, the description of it, and how many soldiers were stationed there.

As of now Zabuza, Kakashi, Sasuke, Kurenai, the conscious male members of Team Eight and Naruto were sitting in what used to be the kitchen. Tazuna and his family had taken quarters in what used to be the master bedroom, fatigue and realization that their home was gone finally settling in. But Haku had taken both Sakura and Hinata into another bedroom to recuperate from their near-death states, and stayed to make sure they were all right. Gozu however was deposited on the couch in the living room with his younger brother there to watch over him.

"Then we will attack him in the morning." Kurenai, being the least of the injured of the ninja present voiced what they were all thinking.

"No, _I_ attack him in a hour." Naruto stopped the raven-haired kunoichi in her tracks. She, well more like the conscious members of the group protested loudly at his course of action.

"Keep your thoughts to yourself, it's not going to stop me from finally putting that midget's head on a spike." The blond threw his right hand down on table, showing the damaged black skin, and leaving the table with a deep indentation.

"Naruto that is suicide!" Kakashi protested before wincing. He removed his Jounin flak-vest after the fight in favor of bandaging the deep wound Zabuza gave him earlier that night, and his right wrist was in a makeshift sprint no thanks to Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei is right!" Kiba seconded. "Naruto, you're wicked awesome, we know that. But you're injured pretty badly, you took out two _Jounin-level_ shinobi after all!"

"By the way Naruto-san, will you please do something about their heads?" Shino turned his head to look at the decapitated heads of Aoi Rokusho and Lightning Lion staring lifelessly at the party. The Aburame heir turned back to face the blond, hiding a wince from his burned side. "It's kind of disturbing to have them looking at us like that."

"Yea, yea, making me getting up and doing shit." Naruto grumbled in annoyance. So they had decapitated heads in the kitchen, big deal, it's not like he had their bodies hanging on meat hooks in the basement. This house didn't even have a basement.

Reaching into his left hip pouch Naruto brought out two scrolls. The first looked like it had see quite a lot of use with all the old bloodstains that had collected on the bottom of it along with what looked like bloody fingerprints on the outside of it. The blond opened to scroll part of the way to reveal two seals that were designed for holding one item each. Then yawning tiredly Naruto placed the two decapitated heads on each of the seal and watched at they were consumed into a small puff of smoke, showing they were successfully sealed into the scroll.

After rolling the first scroll up and depositing it into his hip pouch, Naruto unraveled the second, newer-looking scroll to show one seal. And almost immediately it puffed out a cloud of smoke to reveal another Iwagakure-styled black shirt minus the buckles that would have opened it from the front, and a pair of full fingered black gloves. With another sigh when looking at his favorite shirt, Naruto pulled off the Kumogakure gauntlet from his left arm, and reaching into the tattered sleeve he pulled off a suspicious-looking black device that held what looked like a wooden stake in some sort of launching contraption, and a kunai that looked to be spring-loaded.

Setting the equipment on the nearest counter, Naruto then proceeded to tear off his ruined shirt, causing sudden gasps of surprise from those in the kitchen.

From Kakashi's and everyone's point of view they expected to see some minor wounds aside from his face, exposed arm, right hand, and what they when his torso wounds came into sight. But honestly the sixteen year old's body was a mess. His entire back was covered in wounds that looked like it came from a whip, on his right side where his kidney was showed some sort of large projectile weapon stabbed into him, both his wrists had scars that came from restraints, and his right arm, while less scarred than the left looked like had been abused in several fights.

While the excessive scarring was surprising, it was the artwork tattooed onto his body that really drew their attention. On his back ranging from his shoulder blades to the middle of his back was a majestic mountain range with several fierce-looking animals perched on various peaks or along the ground. Moving along towards his right arm the small party saw various intricate designs that completely covered it. From the images they could make out was a fist on his forearm near his wrist was a clenched hand looking like it was holding an explosive power, following up were several more entwined together including a decorative white human skull with the kanji for 'Thirteen' tattooed on the forehead, a small decorative square-shaped shuriken on the underside of his wrist, a black skull with red eyes on his bicep and a white demonic mask with three horns gong along the head with cruel black eyes. But despite the decorative and hauntingly beautiful images, there were several parts on his arm that were bare of ink like the triceps area, the deltoid and under part of his arm, or that tattoo's spaced out that looked like it had reserved spot for something...or someone. (1)

"Naruto, your back-" Kurenai started to voice out the obvious, but she fell short, unable to exactly form words. Not even most Jounin she knew bore that many wounds, and it was her generation that fought in The Third Great Shinobi War for Kami's sake!

"Forget his back, look at the ink! Dude that shit is awesome!" Kiba exclaimed in typical guy wonderment. Like any other hot-blooded male Kiba enjoyed the four main categories that male teenage shinobi usually enjoyed, sex; if unavailable porn was a good substitute, good food with alcohol, weapons and ninjutsu, and tattoos. And for Kiba, who proudly had his clan's markings upon his face appreciated a good tattoo.(2)

"Questions, or appreciation comes later." Naruto said before pulling the shirt on and the began the process of checking the black mechanical device. "Right now I need you all to stay here in case Gato tries to pull something out of his ass."

"What!" Sasuke stood up in protest. He slammed his calloused palms upon the hard table and glared at the blond like he pissed on his mothers grave. "Why should we continue to follow your orders? His shinobi are dead, his mercenaries are _dead_. He has nothing left, he is _finished_. We can easily destroy him with the few of us."

"And that is where you are wrong." Zabuza grimaced when he stood to his feet. His arms, legs, and left shoulder were wrapped in gauze thanks to Kakashi's hounds. He could walk under his own power, but fighting was out of the question. "Look at us, I'm wounded thanks to your teachers mutts. One-eye here can barely stand, Gozu won't be moving anytime soon, dog-boy is on his last leg, those two girls are still unconscious, bug-boy can't move without wincing, and you Uchiha can barely keep your legs from wobbling."

"Which just leaves Kurenai, Meizu, Haku and myself who can stand on our own without any help." Hearing an indigent bark, Naruto turned towards the large canine of the group. "And Akamaru, sorry about that boy. I didn't count you because you wouldn't go anywhere without your owner." The dog sat down and panted with a doggy smile, apparently satisfied with that explanation.

"Then take them with you." A familiar voice drew their attention to the living room area. It turned out to be Tazuna, his old eyes tired from the lack of sleep and his body sagged against the wooden frame. "There isn't a need for you to go alone kid, you have done enough for all of us. But Gato could have one more trick up his sleeve."

Sliding the black device over his glove and under his right sleeve, Naruto flexed his right hand and moved his forearm back and forth to make sure it was strapped on tightly. "That's what I'm hoping for, there may be a chance he has another surprise waiting. He will more than likely waste it on me, and should I die I'll damn sure take him and everyone in his employment with me."

"Die? Naruto don't speak such nonsense!" Kakashi struggled and failed to get to his feet. Dammit, his body was still screwed up from the combination of the Gate of Opening and the Primary Lotus. Again he questioned exactly how the hell Gai managed to do that with out collapsing.

"Kakashi, I know what I signed up for when I volunteered for this mission. I am to make sure that all of you survive and are able to come home, and right now you are missing one more member of your team. Who at this very moment has been violated six ways from Sunday by that monster Lightning Lion since you were too _weak_ to protect her." The last part put a wince on the silver-haired shinobi's face, it was a cheap shot, he knew it, but didn't care. "I'm not a shinobi of your village, I'm expendable, your not. End of story."

"Wow, dude that's harsh!" Kiba protested, along with his silent teammate who nodded. Naruto may have been a quiet, antisocial, taskmaster...or at least his clones were, but he fixed them up, and protected their teammate from Raijuta Isurugi and his thugs. He was all right in their books.

"End of story." Naruto said as he pulled on the gauntlet for his left hand. Squeezing the glove he nodded in satisfaction before bringing his hand to his knee and tapped on it.

"Naruto we are not going to let this go." Kurenai stood from her chair and strolled over to him. She placed a hand upon his broad shoulder causing him to cease his actions. "You might not have a high opinion of yourself, but-" Naruto slapped her hand from shoulder with a glare, a glare that she visibly flinched from.

"All right that's enough, we don't need any bullshit right now!" Surprisingly it was Zabuza who diffused the tensing situation, without even a grunt of displeasure the former Mist shinobi walked over to the person he owed a debt to. "Listen it's against my nature to use any sort of logic, but hear me out."

"Speak it then." The blond said.

"You're right about one thing, Gato has almost nothing left except a few dozen lousy mercenaries. But he's expecting Aoi and Lightning Lion to report back to him soon, he he doesn't the little rat will disappear off the map for years to come. So, here is what I'm thinking of. You head out and if we don't hear from you in an hour, those of us that are healthy will go after you as backup."

"But what about the clients." Naruto pointed at the weary bridge builder. "We also have those who can't even move, if all the healthy people leave they will be easy pickings for any mercenaries that Gato has already sent out."

Kakashi and Sasuke looked a little insulted at that, sure they were injured and exhausted from their respective battles, but they were in no way weak.

"Do you really think so low of us that we can't even defend ourselves from some lousy hired hands?" Sasuke demanded with narrowed black eyes.

"Honestly yes," Naruto replied with a shrug of his shoulders. When he saw the looks of outrage and hurt coming from the Leaf's side, he raised up his hands to explain himself. "Before any of you throw a bitch-fit at me I want you to see where I'm coming from. Other than the veterans, you Genin are as green as Fire Country's trees. Any minute now the stress from tonight will get to you, you're going to freeze up from either your first kill or otherwise." He paused for several seconds as the image of himself staring blankly into the distance flashed through his eyes. "Kurenai and Haku will be the ones to come after me, I will need their abilities should I need their help."

"Which will leave us to defend the rest." Shino spoke up. It took him a little bit but his comrades logic was sinking in. Of course it was reverse psychology, he was tearing them down so they could prove him wrong. Devious, but ingenious. _'Naruto Uzumaki...what are you?'_

"Exactly, I'm trusting you all to succeed where I might fail." Before anyone else could object, say, or do anything else to delay him. Naruto placed his hands into a simple hand seal and disappeared into a small cloud of smoke.

_'Dammit Naruto, you could have taken the time to fix my wrist at least.'_ Kakashi mentally cursed when his mentors son disappeared.

* * *

It would take Naruto thirty minutes to find Gatos hideout. Zabuza's information was correct, it was located on the southern edge of Wave Country, built high into the trees, and its twenty story cone-shaped structure was big enough to house around two-hundred people. With its entire wooden structure Naruto cold have easily done one of two things, either create a few clones and set the thing ablaze with some high-powered fire ninjutsu, or cause it to topple to the ground by cutting down the tree holding it upright.

That would have been the smart and logical decision, but he needed two things from that lousy piece of shit. And only then would he decide what to do with him afterwards.

Gripping the Mugenjin his...no, Shishio's trusty katana with his right hand, he slowly unsheathed the serrated blade that that he had used to take the lives of so many men, and women that opposed him since the Juppongatana's demise. Gripping the handle he swung it a few times, then apparently satisfied he headed towards the entrance of Gato's hideout.

He was met with two guards, average-looking men who wielded single swords. Focusing his chakra to his legs Naruto sprung into action, he delivered a devastating kick to the first man's wind pipe, crushing it so he couldn't cry out in alarm. Then using the dying man as a springboard the blond launched himself at the second guard, he swung the Mugenjin just as the man began to open his mouth, and watched as the serrated blade came in contact with his mouth. The blade easily sliced through his jaw, sending the upped half of his head tumbling to the ground, and his tongue waggling in a silent scream before the body toppled over dead as a door nail.

Wasting no time Naruto entered the building, saw no visible threats and bolted down the hallway on the right. His legs moved in a blur when he made contact with the first group of mercenaries. He stabbed the first two right through the chest, turning them into a human shish kabob, when they tumbled forward Naruto gripped the handle tighter and went with the combined weight. The blond then lashed out with both of his legs, his feet solidly connected to the mercenaries who stood next to the first impaled victim's faces. A loud snap later their heads were hanging at awkward angles.

That left the remaining two up front to quickly turn around and attack the blond, their own katana's coming down to chop his legs clear off. Naruto however twisted his lower body so the blades could meet the bottoms oh his sandals. Instead of the sharp blades slicing through the footwear, it was met with a 'clang' instead when the blades connected to the metal painstakingly smelted onto the crevices on the bottom on the outsole, then using his momentum Naruto snapped the two swords to the side, flipped his body forwards off the sword, and nailed the two right in the face with his elbows. The two mercenaries instinctively cradled their broken noses, and that lead to their downfall when Naruto quickly unsheathed his tanto, and swiped the weapon across their throats spraying the left side of his face and arm in a fine crimson mist as they fell to the ground clutching their throats.

"I still got it," Naruto said to himself, pleased that he pulled off such a difficult maneuver. Flicking the blood off his tanto he sheathed it in his scabbard, and then pulled the Mugenjin from the two corpse pileup. He flicked the blade to be free of the blood before bounding up the stairs. His mouth was set in a solid frown, this was easy, too easy, sure he was being silent as possible, but with his luck something, or someone was going to fuck everything up. It was when he reached the top of the stairs he was greeted by three Rain shinobi, and a lot of grinning mercenaries.

"Aw shit."

"Aw shit is right Blondie!" One of the shinobi boasted arrogantly. He had spiky brown hair with a strip of gauze covering his forehead and his mouth partly stitched. He also had two scars running up his cheek, one of which has blinded his right eye. He wore a dark green poncho draped over his shoulders that partially obscured his jumpsuit that resembled the deceased Aoi's, he also carried an oxygen tank and a sheath for his umbrellas on his back.

"I don't have time for this." Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Do you want to know how we caught you?" The second one said, wearing the exact same thing as his leader, except he wore a straw woven basa on his head with his Rain hitai-ate plastered on the front, along with black tattoos covering his face and pupiless green eyes. Dammit Naruto was really getting tired of that country.

"I don't care."

"I'm a sensor-type" The final shinobi said, flashing a wide, creepy smile. He was shorter, and wider than the other two, and wore the exact same thing as the second one. "Your chakra is flaring like a beacon, I could sense you a mile away."

"I said I don't care." Naruto growled in annoyance, what part of 'he did not care' did they not understand? "Move aside and I will spare your lives, if you fail to do so then every one of you will die."

"Bitch please," Shigure pulled one of his umbrellas from his back, smirking he activated a switch on it, and a gout of fire erupted from the tip. "We're high-ranking Chuunin in our village, you may be strong enough to kill some thugs, but you're not strong enough to defeat us, and twenty highly trained fighters."

"I will kill you all in five seconds." Spitting to the side Naruto immediately stabbed Shishio's katana into the ground. One second, several of the mercenaries and the shinobi rushed towards him. Two seconds, Naruto's hands flew through two hand seals before bringing his hands to the bird seal. Three seconds, the group was half way to him. Four seconds, completing the hand seals Naruto vertically overlapped his hands and placed them in front of his mouth. Five seconds, Shigure pressed the switch on his umbrella and a gout of fire started to fly at the blond.

"Wind Style: Dust Storm Jutsu!" Naruto shot out a stream of high-velocity wind containing dust particles, the grayish wind easily bypassed the gout of flame, and impacted Shigure. The scarred Chuunin screamed for one loud, painful second as his entire body was decimated into nothing in only a matter of moments. The powerful wind technique, only known to a few Sand shinobi within Wind Country then impacted Shigure's teammates, and then the mercenaries, reducing their bodies to nothing before it impacted the wall opposite of the room letting the moonlight through. (3)

"Six seconds, dammit I need to to work on my seal speed some more." Naruto berated himself for moving a second slower, against a serious enemy he would have been killed. "I will deal it it later, right now I have Gato to deal with."

* * *

-With Teams Seven, Eight, and the others at the same time-

"You did what!?" Zabuza cringed at Haku's volume, of course she would scream at him, why wouldn't she scream at him? After all the very person who saved their lives headed straight into Gato's stronghold.

"Haku-chan, Naruto-sama knows what he is doing. After all-" Meizu instantly recoiled and hid behind the equally petrified Tazuna family when Haku oozed a great amount of killing intent in his direction.

"Dear, Kami that chick is freaky." Kiba muttered behind his petrified dog.

"Haku calm yourself!" Zabuza barked at the ice-wielding kunoichi. "It will take more that some midget in a monkey suit and maybe one-hundred lousy mercenaries to even kill him. The kid is a monster among men, a true killing machine that would have made the Mist more feared if he was born in it. Trust me he's fine."

Not even a second after he said that, the entire village was rocked with a loud explosion that knocked everyone off their feet. Scrambling to get up Meizu was the first to get to the go outside and jumped to the roof of the house. The younger brother was greeted to the sight of the southern side of the island engulfed in flames. "Oh shit."

It didn't take long for Haku to bolt to Gato's hideout with Kurenai following behind her.

* * *

-With Naruto, fifteen minutes earlier-

After demolishing the second floor with the jutsu he learned in Hanya's scroll Naruto found himself on the eighteenth floor of Gato's hideout. Every single floor he entered was filled with Gato's men, money hungry mercenaries that would slaughter anything or anyone for the right price, and every floor he left were covered with the bodies of those who got in his way. All he had were two more floors to go until he finally reached Gato, and then...he would get what he wanted out of that midget.

Running down the hallway Naruto took notice from the lack of guards. Did he kill them all already? No, that was unlikely, Gato definitely had something up his sleeve. When he was half way through the hallway he immediately skidded to a stop feeling a massive amount of killing intent.

A door opened from the end of the hallway, and a single set of footsteps echoed throughout the hallway. Naruto gripped the Mugenjin tightly in anticipation, whoever this guy was, he was a mean son of a bitch to emit that much killing intent. The person stepped out into the moonlight to reveal himself to be a fair-skinned man of average height. He wore a white battle kimono with red trimmings, a red headband to keep his black hair out of his fair-smiling face. But that friendly, smiling demeanor was betrayed when he saw a rare double-ended katana clutched in his right hand, his thumb running along the hilt in anticipation.

"You know why I'm here." Naruto said to him.

"I do." The man answered.

"You know that if you do not move aside, I will kill you."

"I plan on killing you instead." The man's eyes opened, his entire demeanor changing at the drop of a hat. His face went from friendly to wrathful when he opened his eyes to reveal black pools of anger."Just like you how you killed Toji, Tsukio, Tsuruzaemon, and Raijuta-sama. I will bring your head to their graves!"

"So you were Isurugi's subordinate. The last I suspect, and you're seeking revenge. What a shame." Naruto gripped his right hand on the Mugenjin and slid into a defensive stance. "When I send you to hell, tell them Naruto Uzumaki sent you."

The man set himself into an attacking stance, his hands gripping the tsuba's of his double-ended katana. "You tell them that Sakuramaru sent you there instead."

Sakuramaru attacked first. His speed was remarkably fast, he swung the left side of his katana at Naruto's midsection, he blocked it with a simple flick of his wrist as he unsheathed the Mugenjin, but just as quickly he quickly moved to block a quick second strike from the right side of the katana. Pretty soon their movements became a violent blur, and Naruto quickly found himself losing ground to Raijuta's former subordinate. Sweat began to drip down his face, he gritted his teeth when he missed one of the strikes and felt the right side of the katana pierce his thigh. But this was also an opportunity he could not give up, almost as fast as lightning he delivered a devastating hay-maker to Sakuramaru's face.

Sakuramaru flew back, the fierce grip on his sword allowed him to rip it out of his opponents leg. He maneuvered his body, back flipping once before he landed on his feet with a smirk plastering his face. "Not bad kid." He commented with a small measure of respect.

Gritting his teeth to bite back the white-hot pain Naruto unsheathed his tanto in his left hand. Twirling the blade once, he positioned it blade outwards, "That won't happen again."

"We will see." Sakuramaru readied himself once again and let out a barrage of lightning flash strikes. But unlike in the last bout Naruto was prepared, he managed to block the sword strikes with both katana and tanto, but it still wasn't easy. Naruto hated to admit it but his opponent was good, a true master of the sword. He gritted his teeth again when the blade bit into his right side, but he retaliated with a slice to the man's cheek with his tanto. Sakuramaru glared at him, his face bloodied from the fresh cut he punched the blond right in the face like he did to him.

And like Sakuramaru did earlier, he flew backwards, back flipped and landed on his feet. Once he landed he sprang right back into action, he swiped his blades at Sakuramaru, the mercenary blocked the tanto strike, cutting his blade deep into his wrist to make him lose grip of his weapon. But the Mugenjin struck home, the blade bit deep into Sakuramaru's side.

"That will not stop me!" Sakuramaru proclaimed. Despite the weapon buried in his side, he attacked Naruto at close range. Fury flowed through his veins, the anger of his comrades deaths pushing himself forward in his attacks. The men he has served with for years, a family he treasured when he lost his own, all gone, destroyed by this monster. He was going to kill him, even if it cost him his life to do so!

Naruto took several hits, wincing when the blade cut into his shoulders and arms. He spat in Sakuramaru's eye, temporary blinding him. Then bringing back his left fist he manipulated his fire chakra around his left gloved hand. "Blazing Glory!" he punched at Sakuramaru's belly. But unlike with his fight with Aoi, the mercenary managed to slap away the the fist. It wasn't the result he was looking for, but he ignited the explosive powder, creating an explosion next to his opponent's left side.

Sakuramaru screamed as the explosion ripped into his left side. Flesh, muscle, and organs were torn asunder, blood poured from his ruined side, blood flowed through his mouth and his body wracked in agony. But his will was strong, the faces of his friends flashed through his mind. His body took control, his arms moved with a sudden burst of speed Naruto saw a spark as their blades connected, setting Shishio's sword aflame, but it was useless when it flew from his hand and went blade first into a wall. Pressing his advantage Sakuramaru kicked his opponent square in the solar plexus, knocking the wind from his lungs, and sent him hurtling to the floor.

"Victory is mine, Uzumaki!" Sakuramaru declared as he raised his double-ended katana, both ends dripping with his opponents blood over his head to plunge into his heart.

_Thunk_

Sakuramaru found his body standing stark still in shock, he looked down to see a wooden stake sticking halfway into his chest. As the blood began to pool around his fatal wound, he looked to see the prone blond with his right arm raised. The right sleeve of his outfit was pulled back to reveal a black launching contraption, and seeing an empty space underneath a kunai the mercenary knew that he underestimate the young man. Blood sprung from his mouth when he chuckled, "Clever."

Sakuramaru's hands went slack, he dropped his exotic blade to the floor with a loud clang. The life soon left his eyes soon after that and he fell to the floor, his spirit finally leaving his broken mortal coil.

Naruto lowered his right arm to the ground and coughed out harshly. He was at the loss of breath, literally that last kick knocked the wind out of his freaking lungs. While he laid on his back he though over the fight, Sakuramaru was a fierce fighter, an excellent swordsman that would have made the samurai of Iron Country proud. But the man had no chakra, nothing that would have made him a complete threat. It was only due to his emotions, his will to avenge his allies and friends that drove him to damage him this much, it was sort of inspiring if he wasn't associated with the likes of Raijuta. (4)

"Not my problem." He grunted before he sat upright and clutched his wounds. "Dammit that smarts, fucking asshole." The blond then stood on his feet to look at the body. Sakuramaru was not in the best of shape, but he had a smile on his face in death. "Jackass," Naruto muttered before pulling out a scroll from his right hip pouch, however unlike the bloodstained, or plain white one, this one was black with red trimmings. He unrolled it and placed the double-ended katana on it, one second later it was engulfed into the scroll by a small cloud of smoke. He was never going to use it, but it could easily be given to someone willing to learn how to use it, or he could simply sell it for a high price.

Naruto pulled the Mugenjin from the wall and extinguished the flames, then walking a short distance he picked up the tanto and sheathed them both in their respective scabbards. Looking at the dead body of Sakuramaru in the hallway one last time he left the fallen warrior right where he was and went to the final floor...and he was met by the last of Gato's hired help, all of them were shaking in their sandals, and a couple of them already smelled of urine.

Naruto gave them all an impassive stare and placed his right hand on Shishio's sword.

* * *

-Gato's office at the same time-

Gato, the ruthless shipping magnate of one of the most successful trading companies of his generation, and richest man in the world hid underneath his sandle wood desk. He did his best not to breathe hard by biting the knuckles on his left hand. He heard the sounds of destruction from the lower levels, the screams of his men dying horrible deaths to whatever monsters that have come to kill him. Dammit this was not supposed to happen! his plan was supposed to be so simple, the people of this country were supposed to break under his oppressing rule, the deeds to their lands and houses were handed to him, they would either be killed off or sold and never seen again. After they were gone he would sell the entire country to the highest bidder and rake in the cash, and more than likely retire and forever be known as the man who single-highhandedly took down a country. The plan was flawless!

But then Tazuna had to go to the Leaf, that meddling bridge builder actually managed to scavenge enough money to hire two teams of shinobi. He was glad when Raijuta, Aoi, and Lightning Lion defeated them with some difficulty. The Jounin and two Genin were incapacitated, one of them was kidnapped to be Lightning Lion's toy, while three more remained remotely untouched; it wasn't too bad in his opinion. He had them all on the run, but then an unexpected player entered the scene. First he destroyed two mercenary camps, and killed Raijuta and three of his best men on his first day of arrival. Then he and another brat took out his ships and a good chunk of his men no thanks to Aoi...and now this was happening.

A deafening explosion caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand up on end. Gato slowly rose his head above the expensive desk to see what might of happened. He was greeted with the entire wall that kept him separated from everyone reduced to splinters, the bodies of his mercenaries sliced in two at the chests. And standing in his office was the source of it all, it was one man; one man who was the cause for all his misery.

He honestly couldn't believe what he was seeing. It wasn't one of the Jounin, it was the unexpected reinforcement that killed Raijuta. He could not believe it to source of his problems were because of some blond brat. He narrowed his eyes behind his black glasses, the shipping tycoon felt insulted that his plans were ruined by some...some _brat_! He was about to do...well he didn't know what he was going to do, but hit would probably have saved his life, but the blond emitted such killing intent that his heart stopped for a second and collapsed to the ground, clawing at his chest.

Naruto then moved to the downed tycoon and dragged him out from under the the desk. Picking him up by the scruff of his suit he plopped the midget onto his equally expensive chair. Bringing his right hand up he placed it on the man's chest and stabilized his frantic heart. "All right Gato, you're not going to die on me yet. But you will after I am done with you."

Gato glared angrily at him, his breaths coming out in heavy pants. "What happened to Aoi and-"

"Dead." Naruto said.

"The Chuunin-"

"Death by giant fire dragon."

"Well I got a new shipment of Chuunin that just came in tonight!"

"Yea, there is nothing left of them, or the men on the second floor." Naruto backhanded the small man. "Now, you will shut up and do a few minor things for me. And then, and only then I will let you go."

"How can I trust you? After all you have done to me?"

"Because I need you, and you want to live. I think we can work something out, depending on your answer."

"All right, ask you little shit." Gato reeled back in pain when the blond backhanded him in the face again.

"Okay, the first question I desire is very simple. Where is the girl?"

"I-I do not know what you're talking abou-" Gato reeled again when Naruto backhanded him once again.

"Do. Not. Bullshit. Me." Naruto hissed into his ear. "I know that she is here, tell me where she is. Lie and I will take your pinkie finger, don't think that I wont."

"She is on the tenth floor, third door before you head up to the eleventh floor." Gato answered ans spat out a small amount of blood, a tooth soon followed a second afterward.

"Good now onto business." He moved across from him and pulled out his battered, little black book. "Gato; President of the Gato Corporation. The richest man in the world due to various import and export contracts with Water Country, Snow Country, Sea Country, Tea Country, Lightning Country, and Earth Country. You supply the legal stuff like grain, clothing, and other supplies. But you also use your company to smuggle illegal goods. So far I know that you have sold drugs, weaponry, exotic artifacts, and humans beings."

Naruto slapped the book down in front of him and continued tell him of what he knew about him. "You were born fifty-one years ago (5), born to a pimp and his prostitute. You had an abusive and shitty childhood, killed both your parents at the age of sixteen and took over your father's prostitution ring. After you made enough money off their work, you sold them off, and began a small shipping company that grew what it turned into today. However, nearly thirteen years ago you allied yourself with Shishio Makoto, you supplied him with weapons."

Gato gulped loudly remembering the infamous swordsman. The man scared him, generally scared him and one meeting with the man was enough to market some sort of agreement between them. "Why do you speak the name of a dead man. He is not relevant anymore."

Once those words left Gato's mouth, Naruto backhanded him right in his mouth hard enough that he flew from his chair. "Don't you dare say that you fucking imp." The blond stomped over to the groaning man and picked him up with one hand. "I want to know who told the invading forces of our base. Shishio-dono only told his most trusted associates, it was not any of his men so that just leaves you and three other contacts I have yet to question. So tell me, did you have anything to do with his downfall. Tell me the truth or I will make you eat your fingers."

Gato hacked several times and rubbed his swelling cheek. "I helped with it. Kanryu Takeda, the Daimyo of Snow Country, and I were approached by a man in black. He said he knew of our situation and desired to help...for a price."

"What was this price? Tell me Gato."

"The man wanted land, he wanted special hiding spots, money, and he said, 'When I call upon you report to me. You will know when the time comes.' I don't know what it meant. Please, I swear!"

"Then where is Kanryu Takeda, and who is this _man in black_." Naruto demanded. He tightened his right fist to warn the tyrant that he would strike him.

"Takeda is somewhere in Tea Country, that's all I know I swear! But the man in black," He gulped and braced himself to be beaten again. "I do not know, he kept his face hidden in the shadows, and he just appeared and disappeared. I swear!"

The blond grunted in annoyance. He got some of the answers that had been plaguing him for six years, but it brought up another person that he didn't even consider. A man in black...what a pain in his ass. Instead of beating Gato he took him over to his desk and plopped him onto his chair. "Now Gato, that was not so hard. But I need something more from you."

"What!? What is it? I gave you what you wanted. Take the slut and leave me be!" He tried to bat the arm away with no success.

"I want the deeds for the residents of this country, and a partnership to your corporation." Naruto said forcefully. "And by _partnership_, I mean second in line. Do this and I will let you live."

Gato was about to protest again, he was about to try to worm his way out to save face. But behind his sturdy glasses he saw Naruto blue eyes staring staring into his. This was a man who had eyes that were blind to suffering, his ears deaf to pain, and his expression often showing no mercy for those that disobeyed him. He gulped loudly and reached into his desk. The small man took out a blank piece of paper and an ink pen from the right side, and a stack of papers from the left sign. Gato sighed loudly, choking back a sob as he wrote out instructions that upon his death, that...wait a damn second.

"Exactly who are you?"

"My name is Getsuei Setsudanki (Moon Cutter)." Naruto said, using another one of his aliases that he created for himself over the years. "Write it down!"

Gato quickly wrote down the name, several more instructions for the CEO's of his company regarding the legal operations, and signed his name. He shakily handed the pen to the blond, and bit back from crying out when Naruto signed it under his false name. "So are we done now?"

Taking the papers Naruto looked them over, and using the knowledge Hoji pounded into his head for looking for any loopholes and any other political bullshit. He scrunched his face, nodded a few times, clicked his tongue, and nodded in satisfaction. If it was wrong in any way he would have torn it in half. "Good, I am very satisfied with this."

Gato breathed out in relief. He really dodged the bullet there didn't he? He wanted to chuckle to himself thinking that he was cleaver enough to live to try and get his revenge on the blond bastard. But before he could even remove himself from his chair Naruto grabbed him by the top of his graying hair with his left hand. "What, what are you-?"

Flicking his right wrist a single kunai knife extended from under his sleeve into Naruto's hand. Leveling the sharp blade against his exposed throat, he easily sliced it across his windpipe. "Tell Shishio that Naruto Uzumaki sent you." Naruto callously said before dropping the dying tyrant face first onto his expensive desk. He watched as the tyrant of Wave Country choke on his own blood, him gurgling, desperate to breathe in the precious air before he finally expired. The blond had no intention of leaving the man alive, not after all the atrocities he committed in his life time; especially when he had a hand in Shishio's downfall. His treachery was pain in blood, the same would go with Kanryu Takeda, the Daimyo of Snow Country, and whoever lead the assault that day.

But that left two questions. Why would the Daimyo of Snow Country want to destroy his former mentor, especially when the two had a _mutual understanding_. Shishio would buy his weapons, the Daimyo would supply them, end of story. And then there was this so-called _man in black_. Honestly Naruto thought he had it figured out, after years of searching and interrogating the major contacts in his black book he finally narrowed it down to Gato and Kanryu who betrayed them.

"Guess I have two more targets to add to the list." Naruto said to himself before pinching the bridge of his nose. Already he could feel a migraine coming on, among other things that were wrong with him. "Ugh, sorry Shishio-dono, but you will have to wait a while longer."

Getting down on one knee Naruto pulled out the final scroll from his hip pouch, unlike the previous three this one was pure green. He unrolled it halfway and placed the deeds for the various properties and his agreement with Gato onto the last of the seals. After they disappeared in a small cloud of smoke he rolled the scroll up and placed it in his hip pouch.

Naruto soon left the dead tyrant and went where Ami was supposed to be held. Tenth floor, third door near the eleventh floor. He gripped the doorknob, found it to be locked, and kicked it down a second later. He fucking loved doing that! Instead of being greeted by a room he was greeted by a hallway...well that was unexpected. The blond spat to the side in defiance and walked down the hallway until he reached another door, and once again he kicked it down feeling the enjoyment of doing it.

That enjoyment soon turned to hot-blooded fury. All that was in Lightning Lion's room were twenty candles, a rug, and a bed. And on the bed was Ami. Naruto had to look away, the girl was...destroyed, that was the only way he could describe her state. The girl's pale skin showed all the abuse the former Stone shinobi inflicted on her, especially her neck, apparently Lightning Lion liked to choke his women. Her purple hair styled in an asymmetrical cut was matted in knots from the sweat and cum coating it. Her brown eyes...they were dead, her soul long since shattered from her treatment. Naruto approached her prone form and placed his left index and fiddle fingers on her neck. There was a pulse, a small, but strong pulse to show that she was still alive.

Naruto shook his head and closed his eyes, and placed a glowing green hand upon her forehead. The girl was gone, kaput, checked out, and there was nothing that he could do about it. Even if he was to take her to the village to retrieve some help, he sincerely doubted that she would come back after this. Even if the best Yamanaka therapist consoled her, raised or altered her memories, he body would never be able to support her. Her pelvis was shattered, she would forever walk with a limp if she could ever walk at all, and her cervix, anus, and throat were so abused he knew that she would not be able to eat properly, use the bathroom, or even have a baby. It would be the merciful thing for her to die than live such a miserable existence.

But then again his mission was to bring them back alive...but did this even count as alive? No. Naruto shook his head, this was not living, she was trapped in some sort of personal hell, a hell that she could never escape. "Forgive me for this." Naruto whispered as his hands went through five hand seals. His right hand glowed a soft blue, into that of the Chakra Scalpel, he placed it on the center of her chest and thrusted his fingers against her skin. Ami gasped painfully, her eyes looking straight into his before the light in them fully died out, and breathed her last breath. (6)

"Namu Amida Buddha, Ami of the Leaf." Naruto whispered to the poor woman. He moved his left hand to the tops of her eyelids and closed them off to the world. He stripped the dirty sheets off the bed and draped them over her cooling body. Breathing out he placed his index and middle fingers into the familiar shape for the Shadow Clone Jutsu, he focused his chakra and unleashed it. Twenty clones appeared appeared in the room, each were stone-faced as their creator.

"I want all of you to go to each floor, gather your chakra, and the blow yourselves up. Do it for maximum damage, bring this fucking place down!" Naruto ordered his clones.

When he saw them nod in quiet response and filed out to do their duties, Naruto gently picked up the deceased kunoichi into his strong arms. He then proceeded to walk down the ten levels, taking his sweet time in doing so. The blond saw his clones position themselves at the support structures of the place; each nodded at him as he passed by. And when Naruto walked away from the entrance of the hideout the clones detonated themselves, causing a massive explosion that rocketed up into the air that would be seen for miles around.

That was the sight Haku and Kurenai came to see when they arrived. They saw the blond walking away from the destruction, the flames at his back, his arms carrying the dead body, and his eyes glowing with the anger of a demon's. He passed the two women by without a word, just the crackle of flames in the background.

* * *

A week later Naruto and the former shinobi from Kirigakure stood on the nearly finished bridge that would Connect Wave Country to Fire Country.

The first thing the blond jinchuriki did was inform the sensei and members of Team Seven that Ami was dead. The reactions were...mixed, Kakashi took the news with professional stoicism; he would put on a tough face until he could grieve properly later. Sasuke huffed in response, and that was something Naruto could have come to expect out of a Uchiha. But when Sakura awoke a day later, her reaction to finding out were mixed, apparently Ami was a childhood bully of hers and mercilessly tortured her because of that forehead of hers, but at the same time she was a teammate and ally.

The entirety of Team Eight were just as devastated as well. While Shino, Kiba, or Hinata never really interacted with her during the Academy, she was still a comrade in arms. It was some sort of Leaf thing because he did not get it at all, he didn't know her, so he didn't grieve for her. However he absolutely refused to have them see Ami in that horrible state. Naruto immediately burned her body on a funeral pyre, and after she was turned to nothing but ash he collected the destroyed remains and placed them into a small white box that he sealed into the green scroll so she could have a proper burial in Konoha; which was more than many shinobi got in their careers.

After Gato's downfall the citizens of Wave Country immediately had a huge attitude change. After Naruto handed back the deeds that Gato took from them they immediately began the long process of rebuilding their country, work doubled, tripled even, and in another week the bridge would be fully complete.

And now that is where Naruto found himself. He waited an entire week for Zabuza and Gozu to heal enough to run under their own power, oh don't get me wrong he helped them along as much as he could with his limited medical knowledge, but there was only so much an amateur could do, especially when he had to divide his attention between teams seven and eight.

"You do not have to see me off." Naruto said irritably to Kakashi and Kurenai who though it fit to see him off.

"I rather see you off personally. Plus...I rather know that she will be buried properly." Kakashi said, his voice trailing off knowing her death was another one of his failures.

"She will be buried with honors, nothing else needs to be said Kakashi." Naruto assured the Jounin. Then he turned to Kurenai, his gaze questioning. "That does not explain why you're here."

"It's not wrong of me to see another fellow Leaf shinobi off is it?" The red-eyed kunoichi crossed her slender arms across her well endowed chest.

"Uh, technically he is a mercenary under the employ of Konoha. After he's paid you'll probably never see him again." Meizu added his two-cents, much to Kakashi's concealed horror.

"Unless Hokage-dono desires me to stay...for the right price of course." The blond said, covering up the fact that after this mission was done and over with, he would be under the Hokage's employ as his personal assassin. Nobody needed to know that, and it would be a good cover story if he needed to explain why he was hanging out in the village.

"Very well then, please be safe, and thank you for healing my students." Kurenai bowed to him in appreciation.

"I rather you take them to the hospital just to have them checked over and properly healed. Good day to you Kurenai." Giving the two Jounin a half-assed salute he took off without another word. Zabuza and the others quickly followed suit.

* * *

-Konohagakure, Two days later-

"I'm sorry, you did what?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked Naruto after he told him at great lengths, and gruesome detail what happened in Wave Country. He described him encountering the first mercenary camp, to obliterating the second one to killing Raijuta and his men. The blond then went into recounting his guard duties, to helping the members of Team Eight learn their elemental natures, both him and Sasuke butchering a combination of five ships worth of men, and the attack on Tazuna's home. He also told him of his fight with Aoi Rokusho and Lightning Lion, and how he killed them. After that he told him of how he infiltrated Gato's base, and killed everyone in it. And just to make his life even harder, he explained why he had a group of Missing-nin from Kirigakure.

"I will write out the full report if you wish, but I'm not going to explain what you already heard." Naruto answered. While old, the Sandaime was far from being deaf.

Hiruzen sighed and shook his head, he got what he wanted, but this was a little too much for him. "You know that I'm going to have to do a lot of work in order to not extradite Zabuza and his men back to Kirigakure."

"I rather you keep them, yes they have a shady and bloody history, but they are the best in their fields. I'll even pay for it if need be."

"Naruto-sama, you don't need to do that." Haku gasped in surprise.

"Yes, he does." Gozu said with a wince, damn that Aburame brat and his stupid insects. "While rare, it's not unexpected for another shinobi from another village to join a new one. But the process is a pain in the ass, and expensive."

"Indeed, you are right." Hiruzen said, impressed that he knew of the process. "You will be screened, put on probation, and under watch until I deem it necessary."

"We accept these conditions, Hokage-sama." Zabuza nodded his head. "Now, tell those Anbu rats to get down from the ceiling and take us to do what needs to be done."

Chuckling the Hokage snapped his fingers, and a squad of Anbu Black Ops dropped from the ceiling. He nodded to the three to have them take the new recruits to Inoichi, once they disappeared in a cloud of smoke his expression went from jovial to serious in an instant. His black eyes turned as sharp as steel, demanding, and not asking. "Now that they're gone we can get down to business. Now, do you really have the heads of Aoi Rokusho, Lightning Lion, and Raijuta Isurugi?"

"See for yourself." Reaching into his right hip pouch, Naruto produced the bloodstained scroll. Placing it on the scroll on the desk he unrolled it, and in a small cloud of smoke the three decapitated heads of Aoi Rokusho, Lightning Lion, and Raijuta Isurugi. Then surprising the Hokage Naruto pulled out the purple metallic hilt of the Raijin no Ken and placed it in front of him.

"My...my sensei's sword." With trembling hands Hiruzen picked up one of Konoha's last remaining and sacred relics. He couldn't believe it, honestly he thought he would not live to see the day his sensei's; the Nidaime Hokage's sword returned to its proper home. "I thought it lost forever."

"Not anymore Hokage-dono. I made sure Aoi paid the price for stealing it." Naruto said, recalling the moment he plunged the electrified sword into the man's belly, and electrocuted him to death. "And it is my gift to you, in appreciation and as an apology as well."

"An apology?" The Sandaime questioned him.

"Because I have to tell you many thing you do not wish to hear...it's a delicate matter."

Nodding in understanding the Hokage placed the Raijin no Ken off to the side and sealed the heads into the scroll. He made a gesturing motion, and one more Anbu operative dropped down from the ceiling. He handed the bloody scroll to him saying, "Take these to Ibiki, I know they are real, but I want them verified with the proper procedures. Report back to me when it is taken care of, and do not disturb me until otherwise is that understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama." The Anbu operative nodded on confirmation as he placed it in his right hip pouch.

"And please return the scroll to me, I still have need for it." Naruto added in before the man did anything.

The Anbu operative looked towards his leader for confirmation. He found it a little insulting that he was being ordered around by someone with absolutely no rank in the village, but the Hokage only nodded in response. Again, he found it unusual, but he was bound to obey his leader. Nodding to the both of them he disappeared in a small cloud of smoke.

"Is that all of them?" Naruto questioned.

"I'm not under any liberty to say." Hiruzen replied.

"Hmph, very well." Leaning back into his chair, the blond pulled out his green scroll. Unraveling it he revealed to the Hokage the small white box, and the agreement that Gato made with him. "As you can see, I held back some information, and for that I do apologize."

Narrowing his eyes the Sandaime first picked up the small white box. He knew what that meant, and once again he felt a stab within his heart. "One of them didn't make it did they?"

"It was Ami of Team Seven. When I found her she was long gone, there was nothing I could do Hokage-dono." Naruto said in a flat voice. It was a stretch of the truth, but what she went through would-could not be labeled as alive. He did her, and everyone that knew and loved her a favor.

"I see..." Hiruzen gently placed Ami's remains on the table and pressed his hands under his eyes. He did not expect everything to go smoothly, but it still broke his heart that he lost another of his shinobi, and a young Genin at that, one who never got to live out her life. "Thank you Naruto, at least Ami's family can bury her."

"Yea, but this is the main concern." He pushed the agreement towards the Sandaime.

Picking the document into his hands Sarutobi's eyes widened in surprise. "How on earth did you get him to do this?"

"With the promise to spare his life...but I slit his throat afterwards." Naruto dully said, almost if he was discussing the weather over a cup of saki.

Suppressing a shiver, Sarutobi looked over the deed and found no loopholes. He was impressed, and disappointed. Impressed because Naruto was now the richest man in the world, but disappointed because he broke a promise, yes Gato was scum, but the Naruto he knew before his disappearance would never break a promise. "What do you plan to do with this?"

"I plan on using it for our advantages." Leaning forward Naruto placed his elbows on the desk and entwined his fingers together. "Like I said, I fully plan on serving you after the mission was done and over with. I will become your Hitokiri, I will bloody my hands so yours stay clean, and weed out the cancer threatening the village."

"I only said that if you brought everyone home alive."

"The girl was dead the second she was captured, you know it, I know it, every shinobi that knew the name Lightning Lion knew it. Hokage-dono lets not jerk each other around like this, you know what needs to be done."

Sarutobi sighed tiredly, there was no arguing with this stubborn blond. "Very well, fine, but how will you use the Gato Company?"

"By using their well-known reputation, I will pass this on to a man that will take care of some of the more seedy members of Civilian Council."

"And who will you pass this onto?"

"Oh, I think you will hear his name in the upcoming weeks Hokage-dono." Naruto said, an amused expression growing on his face.

"Very well then. If that is all you need to report, I bid you a good day Naruto-kun."

"I'm not done yet. I have some questions about the conditioning for the Genin, because during the mission I found some things quite unsatisfactory."

"What do you mean?" Sarutobi inquired.

"For instance, Hinata Hyuuga of Team Eight fainted when she was sprinkled with blood. She and Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame of Team Eight did not know their elemental affinities. Also Sakura Haruno and Hinata Hyuuga; the 'medics' of the group did not know the Mystical Palm Jutsu, if they knew of it they would have saved a lot of pain and suffering for the male members of Team Eight and their Jounin sensei's. And let's not forget about Sasuke Uchiha, he is a wild card, and I suspect mentally unstable; he shows signs of that he has both a superiority and an inferiority complex. Now you said that all the students were examined by members of the Yamanaka Clan, but I'm beginning to wonder if they altered anything in their reports." Naruto reviewed what he found wrong with the Genin during the mission. He admits that they were pretty good for rookies, but they could be better in his opinion.

Taking out his pipe Sarutobi stuffed the tobacco into it, lit it, and inhaled the sweet nicotine. After blowing the thick smoke out of his nose he answered the questions his new Hitokiri demanded to know. "In that order: While the courses have been increased we still have not been able to find a proper way to get the students exposed to that much blood, so it is no wonder she fainted. Learning one's elemental affinity if a hard process, some are skilled enough to learn of it, but for those who don't the could either take a more advance taijutsu course with Gai Maito, learn the art of kenjutsu from Gekko Hayate or learn more advanced techniques if they were from a clan like the members of Team Eight are from.

"The same goes with medical training. Those who wish to learn the art of medicine have to show promise for it, now I know Sakura Haruno and Hinata Hyuuga are adept at it, but we simply do not have enough medical personal to take leave to train them. They're on a waiting list, and they will be taught by the best Konoha has to offer. As for Sasuke Uchiha," Sarutobi inhaled from his pipe again. "After the Uchiha Massacre we sent him to the Yamanaka Clan, and he has been monitored, and has had recent consoling with Fu Yamanaka throughout his academy years."

"I see...I see," Naruto tapped his chin in deep thought. It did make sense, Konoha never had to do anything like this before so they were practically back to square one thanks to Usui. It would take some time, and effort to redo the entire training process, but he was already forming ideas for future generations. But this Fu character, there was something fishy about him that he could not place a finger on. Sasuke was unstable, anyone could see that; especially a member of the Yamanaka Clan, so why let the jutsu-stealing bastard even become a shinobi? It just didn't add up.

"What are you thinking Naruto?" Sarutobi questioned the blond.

"I'm thinking you should have your shinobi look into this Fu Yamanaka. His background, his parents, where or how he was trained, things like that. As for the others...give me a few days, and I will bring you some ideas crawling around in my mind."

"Is that all Naruto?"

"Just one more thing. I want to buy some land in the poorer districts in the village, preferably an old apartment complex in the slums."

"Now why would you want that?"

"I have a plan." Naruto said, his eyes flashing with devious ambition. (7)

* * *

Armageddon: WHOOO! Back from the dead!

Pvt: Liquor, dude...what the hell took you?

Armageddon:...well my fans, shit happens. The first was my place of employment went belly up, leaving me unemployed for too long. I got a whole lot of debt that nearly drowned me, and the worst part was my old computer, God bless it's mechanical soul died on me. The motherboard fried up on me, all my data for the next chapter of Hell Sharingan that was nearly complete, and my half-way finished chapter of Spiraling Shark was wiped out, never to be seen ever.

But fear not my minions, I got myself a job two months ago. While high paying, it takes up all my time nowadays and leaves me tired as hell. I have not had a single day off either until recently. And thanks to those fat paychecks I was able to get myself a new laptop to write this chapter out, and paid off all my debts...well I still have one left, but it is nothing more than a minor inconvenience that will be taken care of by tomorrow. And that is my sad story ladies and gents, thank you for understanding.

Lt. Doom: Wow, one hella story there boss.

Pvt. VFSNAKE: Oh man, dude that sucks. I'm nearly in tears.

Lt. RasenganFin: Ignore him folks, that's just Armageddon writing out insane shit like always.

Pvt. Fox: Speaking of insane shit, what is with the numbers.

Armageddon: Well I'm taking a small example from DevilKeys Writing. The man always puts in numbers to explain things, and I'm thinking of doing the same so I don't confuse the crap out of my readers.

(1) Now some of you might be asking 'Why all the tattoos?'. Well there is a reason for them, they hold significant events for him, or memorable kills. Each tells a story, along with the various scars aborning his back and body. They will be discussed at length in the future, I'm thinking during or after he retrieves Tsunade with Jiraiya.

(2) I firmly believe the marking on Kiba's cheeks, actually on the entire Inuzuka Clan faces are not birth marks but tattoo's. I mean yes, Naruto has whiskers, and Choji had swirls on their cheeks, but those are birthmarks. That is what I believe at least.

(3) I added in Team Shigure for shits and giggles to tell you the truth. Just like with Team Oboro, they entered the Chuunin Exams and became Chuunin because Gaara didn't kill them...aw shit, yes Gaara and his siblings didn't participate, but I have a good reason for it. Remember there is always a logical reason for my madness.

(4) Sakuramaru is actually a strong fighter. I don't know if any of you remember the Rurouni Kenshin anime like I do, but during the Raijuta Arc, Kenshin did have a harder time against him than the other three. And since he was my favorite character of that arc, I felt he deserved some recognition, even if it did kill me a little on the inside to kill him off.

(5) Officially Gato was forty eight in part one when he died. And since I made the story start three years later everyone has aged three years, pretty self explanatory.

(6) Just so you know I really do not enjoy the thought of rape, nor the killing of women. But unfortunately I make my stuff realistic, and Ami was unfortunately a tragedy that will prove a point in later chapters. And as I wrote, she was practically brain dead, the lights were on, but nobody was home. That is no way to live, I know I certainly would not to live that way.

(7) And now this. Remember, Naruto was trained under Shishio, he never stayed in the village with all the glares and stuff. And despite the harsh training Naruto came to view Shishio and the Juppongatana as family, and when that family is torn away, and you have nothing left you change quite a bit. And lets not forget that he also went through six years of stuff that I have not revealed yet, so yes he definitely did have a personality change. So please stop bitching what he is completely out of character, that's the entire point of this story. I do what feels right to make this story interesting so you keep coming back for more.

Sgt. Shadowtrayster: Huh, all right.

Armageddon: Okay then, you know the rules guys. Tell me what you liked, or didn't like about this chapter. Constructive criticism only, I like that because it will help me improve for future chapters. Flames will be pissed on. Later all, until next time.


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