hey guys welcome back to the channel this is story about what a future nuto returns to koha stronger than before and ready to finish what should have never been started part one before I start please do support for more amazing content and comments for part two do consider to subscribe my channel and Share my video to your friends and check out the description as well let's start the video I have to retire here is in serat toi managed to wee out between tired lips he sat at his desk wearing his full hat and robes the various Scrolls and messages laid out before him with Naruto's being the most recent why did everything have to happen today and all at once and why wouldn't sunate take the damn hat I've been telling you that for years sunate Jed as she walked in she looked not a day older than she did the last time she saw that little twerp of manad but she couldn't say the same for her Sensei the years and the stress were really starting to wear down on him and it showed his wrinkles looked deeper his eyes held more Mist in them than they ever had before and he looked tired enough to sleep on the pile of papers in front of him do that mean finally here to relieve me of my torture the third chuckled lightly laughs were rare in his office as of late not even his grandson's Antics brightened his mood anymore sunade looked hard at the old man seriously considering the option for what was the first time have you asked Kakashi he would manage for a time but he's not quite ready to run a village he's used to small teams getting the job on hand done having one goal and doing whatever he could to accomplish it a good quality yes but he's not finished fleshing it out in a few years I imagine his mind will have shifted to taking in the bigger pict picture as a whole at the very least coming to see the village as a team to protect and Lead they still pretty long-winded for your Advanced age I see Sun aide and sat down with a small smile enough wind to still give you a good sparring session if you upset me enough that's for sure sunade had to smile at the thought it was likely true even in her fighting Peak she could never truly lay a hand on her Sensei old age banned it was also true that someone would have to step in for him sooner rather than later and she owed it to him to at least be a placeholder for the next hookes coming I take it jera still isn't a candidate probably a stupid question here is in simply past her the message jera had sent definitely a stupid idea how can he really be that stupid sunate asked in mere exasperation in all seriousness harisen looked her in the eyes and said well you did hit him in the head quite a bit as kids sunade shot him an annoyed glance cut me some slack you know he had it coming to him the chuckle was her only response after a comfortable moment of silence had passed harisen asked in a weary voice what are we going to do Tade Another War and most of our Shinobi remember the last one Tsunade leaned back in her chair sighing as she stared at the blank wooden ceiling normally I'd say what we've always done wi but I understand your desire to end these wars we've destroyed as many lives as we've saved and it's pretty heavy on my mind too by point exactly all of these wars over the years and almost nothing has changed what will it take to convince Iowa and Kumo to work with us instead of against us soon a bitter lip there might be too much bad blood to avoid drowning in it Sensei pis and robbed his wrinkled face what would you have me do then follow danzo's advice and just make sure there was no one left to wage a war at all I'm saying sunate Drew out her words for the extra emphasis that you should pass the problems off to someone else you've dealt with them for more than long enough and who would you have me give the hat to narudo no but maybe I can in a few years depending on how he matures the silence that invaded the room was laced with emotion surprise and resignation being the two most prominent ones Youk take the position heisen asked quietly he refused to meet her gaze likely worried he might see the glint of a joke in her eyes at least until jer's brat makes good on his promise and is ready yes harisen stood up from his chair and walked around his desk sunade stood as well rising to match his height and expecting him to Simply hand her the Hat instead he wrapped her in his thin yet still strong arms giving her the first hug she had received from him since she had become a chunin thank you tunate I know you never wanted this for yourself so thank you for taking the hat before it killed me completely stunned sunate didn't move hin simply released her set the Hat he so despised in his Advanced years on the desk and walked out the door sunate knew he'd tell the people who had to know to make it official so she just let him leave let him have his day it was his first real day off in far too many years soona picked up the hat and moved her way back to the old chair she had gotten used to seeing her sensei in taking the seat she dawned the Hat it fit her well then she read over the papers left out the messages sent to herzen hiding her first bottle of sake as Hokage sealed the deal this was her burden to bear now and by commi she wouldn't do it sober if she could help it why did you want to come back here again Naruto asked aloud as he stepped onto the overgrown grounds of karam's Temple once more I told you you have to be back in that reflection room for me to do what I have in mind Nudo stepped into the main hall it's nothing stupid right you won't give me a tailor turn me into a chick or anything there was a loud snort from Naruto's mindscape he took that as a maybe so he was wary when he stepped into the somewhat familiar White Room dancing with gray veins all right what next oh cryptic one Naruto snapped out sarcastically D get your ass in here kit Nudo sat down with his legs crossed comfortable enough to go into his mindscape he had had plenty of practice doing so over the last year and now it took no time at all all right furball what's the big plan Naro asked from his seat at top kurama's head you know I hate it when you appear on my head right with a flick of his head Kurama sent nuto hurling to the ground and we're here to try and create a contract pulling himself back up and straightening his clothes Naruto asked we already K to have one though you live inside me and keep me alive and therefore keep yourself alive if I do this right it will be more of a Summoning contract who hold up since when has there been a fox summons there isn't at least to my knowledge and you'd be summoning only me not foxes and where do you think I'd find the chakra to summon you of all things Naruto was very skeptical of this plan Naro you can literally store hundreds of upon hundreds of seals full of your chakra as well as tapping into the chakra of the literal environment you make a fair point how's this work Naruto conceited as he sat down in front of the BIDU I'll create the contract itself on your back and no one else will be able to sign it this stays between you me and if I agree whoever my next gin shuii is you'll be able to summon me at various strength levels one for each tail so you don't have to blow chakra every time I want out of here for a while so I'll be spending enough chakra to not only summon your soul and various power levels but also enough to create a physical body for you doesn't really sound worth it I'll handle the manifestation of a body you just get me and some of my power into the real world deal Naro stood removed his shirt and gave his back to Karama one of karama's massive claws touched lightly onto the skin of Naruto's spine and his entire back was filled with black flowing markings that glowed with power Naruto shivered at the warm sensation and he felt a trail all the way down his spine before flowering out to Encompass the rest of his back a year ago he would be hardpressed to trust kurarama this much but now it was nothing I'm done go into the main hall of the temple and summon my one taale form Naruto had his shirt off as he walked into the main room of the temple and he was constantly looking over his shoulder at the new black marks running down his back maybe people would mistake it for a tattoo Nudo bit his thumb and ran through the seals to summon what he did do differently though was reach his chakra to his back to feel for the contract Naruto felt a subtle shift in his energy as well as a slight heat on his back and he knew he would summon a toad by accident slamming his hand down Naruto saw a small circle of the usual seals appear before the puff of smoke blinded him standing there under his hand was kurarama barely bigger than the last time Naruto had seen akimaru the chibby version of the mighty nine Tales only sported one of the fluffy appendages ah fresh air hello narudo nuto as much as he tried to suppress it let out a loud echoing laugh he fell to his rear and rocked with a laughter annoying Karam to no end what it it's just that oh Kami your deep ass voice is coming from a [ __ ] you more laughter followed even as kurarama huffed in his tiny form it's not like I can just change my voice let's just get back to koha Nudo stood in the middle of the road the Towering gate of koha's wall staring him in the face what would he come home to how much could change in just a year who all would be home in a while a Nudo Nudo spun to face the voice directly behind him unsurprisingly Kakashi stood there nonchalantly reading his preferred literature why am I not surprised you I was back before I was even back nuto joked it's good to see you Kakashi Sensei Kakashi Pat the top of nutk head as they started the walk to the gates to tell the truth I'm just returning from a mission with Ura and anko I got lucky and decided to hang back for a bit nuto perked up at that at the very least he would see both of his Sensei today after checking in at the gate nuto and Kakashi started to walk towards the Hook's building hey I'd say you're almost as tall as I am now the mask man made conversation ah says might be as big as OS Sensei when I'm finished growing I guess I eat more bugs than he ever did Naro pulled a quick face at the thought of his previous year's menu I wouldn't put too much stock into that but you sure aren't the run I remember trying to climb on my shoulders the two walked in happy silence Kakashi's words having started a mental trip down memory lane Naruto had to agree he had changed quite a bit since he left with Jura I'd say the change was for the better even as annoying as you still are love you too [ __ ] the duo walked into the hokage's office to an unexpected sight heroin had changed even more than Naruto had he had lost his wrinkles his beard and most likely his male reproductive organs uh Hey there jigi you look uh different than when I left Naruto stumbled through his greeting prompting tsun to lift her head up from her paperwork real clever brat Kakashi jera already gave me a briefing so you're free to go if you do me a favor and tell jera his Troublemaker is back I'd appreciated Bashi bowed as he left giving Nudo an eye Smile as he did so that bastard could have at least warned him so not that I'm not happy for you or anything but what happened to the old man nuto asked as he slid into a chair sunade simply sighed as she moved her papers off to the side HEK old narudo this job was killing him as surely as this war would have wait we're in the middle of a war why didn't anyone call me back Naruto sat up straighter mild Panic rising in his voice calm down Sun's tone wasn't an amused one Sensei did his best to prolong the attempts at peace talks until you could finish your year of training it was difficult but he managed to have the official declaration held off until earlier this week arudo relaxed back into the chairi have to thank him then so what's our list of enemies looking like so far the fortunate could respond a third voice piped up from the side of the room better than it could be but worse than it should jera lazily interrupted he was Seated on the window sill looking bored as he doodled notes onto a pad of paper for something DEA you can't keep pulling the stunt I'm the Hokage now sunate almost growled at him had to suppress a smile B HED you're not you're my teammate first and nuto is my special little problem so I figured I could barge in let it slide Karama prevented the slew of insults Naruto had prepared for the white-haired man fine then you can finish talking to him I need a break and a drink sunate insisted Naruto had a feeling that she had planned to pass him off as soon as she could anyway much to his surprise however she didn't leave her desk for her break instead she reached into one of the drawers and pulled out her own bottle he should have figured all right Naruto we'll continue just as soon as shizun finishes up jera hummed as he hopped off the window and made his way to the remaining chair narudo was confused to say the least and kurarama couldn't offer any insight then he understood all in a very short amount of time sunade pulled the stopper from her bottle the gentle pop nearly inaudible the door flew open and a very frazzled Pig holding shizun burst into the room Naruto sat in silent awe and confusion as she wrestled with a Hokage for the prize bottle of sake the two ladies rolled over the de desk and shizun eventually popped up with the alcohol she then ran from the room screaming something about proper behavior in your position and she was tailed closely by the older blonde ah jera sighed as he put away his pen and paper aerous yet stupid smile on his face I love when she decides to take breaks Focus pervert Naruto muttered under his breath oh I'm focused all right ah State of Affairs that's right the sandon snapped his fingers at his Revelation so here's the basic rundown Iowa and Kumo ha big surprise there and half of mist is now loyal to rimu and will probably attack as well sunna is on our side though so that's good news akitsuki seemed to be mingled into the mix of things here but I can't figure out how yet I'm sure that losing Itachi was a pretty big blow and they're sitting back on their heels now but I wouldn't count them out for too long they've already snatched up Taki's gin chuii nuto did his best to follow along he really did the mere fact that two and a half of the five major Villages hated koha's guts just seemed to not sit well with him his Sensei of course took it all and strid and relayed the information in an almost nonchalant tone almost as if he'd done this before H weird and Hinata Naruto pressed as soon as he was able urea visibly darkened and Naruto knew better than to expect good news I've spent the last year with Kakashi and anko tracking her down but I can't seem to pinpoint who has her we're betting that she's alive though if she wasn't there itd be a village sporting at least one successful Byakugan transplant nutk fists clenched and his Knuckles whitened what about her seal that's probably the only reason she's still alive Whoever has her is likely taking as much time as they need to try and bypass that seal and since whoever it is isn't as good as me or you they'll need a lot of time they probably sh a brick when they realized she had it but it's not like they'll get another chance they won't get much of a chance to do anything after this stunt if it's up to me Naruto's voice dropped and his eyes rened ever since his merge with Karama his emotions had been more intense and easily displayed easy kit you'll get your M back as well as your Vengeance arudo calmed at the words even as jera patted his shoulder don't worry kid wek get her back before anything drastic happens and maybe with you back on the force you can Mass out your clones and spread the party if the Hokage permits it that is yeah about that when did jigi pass off the hat and why wasn't I called back for it nuto asked couple of days ago and it was really a small Affair it usually is during wartime he stepped down to retire again and soon a stepped into the office the same day I didn't even know until a few days later when we got the hawk nuto nodded in understanding and then stood up with his Sensei went sunade waled back into the room her face a bit flushed and her smile relaxed she must have won the Battle of the bottle well Naruto she started as she sat down at her desk what all did you happen to learn on your trip DEA perked up at this as it was likely something he had been waiting to ask about for quite some time well I did manage to become a perfect gin shuii kurarama and I are pretty tight never say that again or so help me that's great any drawbacks you've noticed the Hokage asked as she pulled yet another bottle from her desk when shizun didn't barge in at the opening of said bottle Naruto answered most notable would be my increased emotions I think I can still control them well enough but they show more easily now also I can hold a perfect cloak for well over an hour and I'm getting close to two the last time I checked nuto watched as his Hokage poured herself a saucer of her sake before taking long GS from the container itself uh good good jera tried to keep the conversation going while avoiding his teammate's glare and your Sage Mode arudo brightened At The Mention Of senjutsu I actually think that was my biggest Improvement I can enter sage mode in 3 minutes now and totally on my own I can last about 20 minutes per charge and I can fit three seals on my arm to stock up to emphasize his point Naruto pointed out three seals on his left forearm Gua whistled in appreciation that's pretty good kid anything else you want us to know arudo smiled mischievously at the question well I can split a waterfall no problem now and I've already started on another Impossible Project becoming attractive less annoying Andor a productive member of the human race for some odd reason kurarama was ignored heard but ignored Impossible Project a jera leaned forward as Tsunade finished her bottle and tossed it to the trash her attention was also on him yep dad said that the rengan was incomplete tunate nodded in what appeared to be polite ignorance of the levity of his statement but Jura immediately caught on sunate tossed what was left of her sake from the saucer and into her mouth swishing it around before finally ingesting it if you're looking for impossible you did a pretty good job of picking one the white-haired San and mumbled before Naruto could elaborate on his progress the door burst down standing where the heavy door used to hang was a stiff looking Mido guy everyone present immediately knew that something was off with the man okama I have urgent news sasua has been taken from his clan compound by a large group of sound nin he Frau off and killed several and a commotion Drew in several of his peers as well as myself I took the initiative and sent out chunin niiji hauga shikim marinara and Sakura Haruno they are leading a team of Jen and comprised of joji akimichi kba and yuzuka and tenton Higurashi I apprehended and captured three of the sound operatives that were escaping into the village but the children had to take Pursuit on their own sunade was immediately sobered the blush was gone and her soft smile followed it shortly after in that one instant she had the look of a Harden veteran a capable leader and a Hokage that nuto could follow you did well guy have you brought the three you captured to TI Andi already I notd at once yes although they did have a strange technique which allows them to transform that made keeping them alive difficult I'm sure icki can handle it but I would suggest possibly sending him back up the blonde cage snapped her fingers once and a mask amboo appeared at her side without a word she glanced at the mask nin and nodded he was gone in an instant Naruto I assume that you would like to be involved in the retrieval of your teammate sunate asked rhetorically everyone knew the answer to that Nudo suppressed the rage he was feeling with your leave lady Hokage once Naruto got clearance he dropped to hin kunai into jer's lap if I find rimo I'll come to get you and then he was gone even before he received approval from jera I was dismissed as part of III's backup and the two sanon sat in weary silence how long had he been back before the [ __ ] hit the fan sunate I'm guessing about 2 hours that's if he didn't stop for Raymond and came straight herea shook his head he's just a magnet for trouble that one I hope he manages to get saso back because if he fails at that too I don't think we'll have to worry about Sounder misted anymore they won't be on the map nuto flashed into a pitch black area much to the surprise of two others in the same room in the instant that his Jutsu lit the pace up he would almost suggest that they were in a cave Sakura where are we I thought you were tracking sasu Naruto asked as he reached to hand out for the wall Theo Sakura and the other voice yelled in Surprise oh Choi are you in here too nice to see you man well hear you Naruto what are you doing back Sakura asked a I got back a few hours ago and gu Sensei interrupted my meeting with our new Hokage to tell her about you guys and Sask so here I am what's our scenario here Joi spoke up next this one guy called jobi broke off from his group to hold us off he's huge and he has this Jutsu that's trapped Us in this Rock cave thing I'm pretty sure it's sucking our chakra too here let me get a feel of the wall I've been working on my my sensory abilities Naruto suggested be moved to his left with his arms outstretched and reaching the direction here remembered both the nearest wall and Sakura being now taking into account that it was pitch black and Sakura hadn't said anything in a bit it was completely understandable how nuto made the mistake he did with his hands groping for some semblance of a rock wall they met something much softer a pair of somethings actually yeah they were much softer than Rock and after his first involuntary squeeze they almost seemed to have a tip or Pebble at the front of them you [ __ ] Sakura's fist somehow squirly found his jaw in the dark planting firmly into the side of his face and rocketing him away Naruto's head then crashed into the opposite rock face not making a mark aspite the speed he had hit it at what what happened are you guys okay why did it sound like Naruto flew into the wall Choi asked rapidly his voice filled with worry is this part of the sensing technique it better not be part of the [ __ ] technique Sakura growled nuto lay against the far wall doing his best to keep his whimpers to himself as he put his jaw back into place and flooded chakra to the area to heal it I am so proud the comment was followed by a round of loud laughter Sakura by kamami why don't you just punch the goddamn wall Naruto moaned once he could use his jaw the pin cat huffed tell me where and I will I have a lot of anger to get rid of now Nudo gulped audibly as Choi asked again guys I still don't know what happened that's fine Choi Naruto immediately responded all right well at least I found a wall one sec Naruto placed both hands on the wall and started to feel out the chakra coursing through it Naruto joji started can't you just make a Shadow clone outside of the Dome and have it place a heran marker already tried the chakra in the walls is blocking my presence Naruto answered after a solid minute a Fed Up Sakura asked did you find the damn spot yet I can feel this play sucking my chakra and Shoji and I don't have an infinite amount like you do Theo grunted yeah I found a couple and don't worry about chakra since I can refill your reserves Nudo dusted off his hands before continuing Sakura 3 ft to your right is where the chakra is the strongest likely where that Jobo guy is holding the Jutsu ad 3 ft to my left is where it's at its weakest the exact opposite end which makes sense now I can probably use a ringing about [ __ ] time Naruto heard Sakura cut him off before there was a loud WP and a crack of light appeared the entire Dome of rock then crumbled in on itself and nuto could see his teammates outstretched fist continuing from where the wall was and hitting a large s on Shinobi's jaw he knew that one would hurt beruto stood next to choji incomplete of what just happened and totally fine with letting Sakura take this one ha there's three of you now the large man said dumbly as he jumped back and rubbed his jaw the Shinobi was massive both tall and stout he may have been a bit round compared to the average shobi but the layer of fat likely hid pounds upon pounds of muscle how did you I don't care but since you broke out of my technique I'll have to kick things up a notch Sakura was about to charge in again when the black mark started to take over his body the already ugly man then went through a kind of transformation one that didn't help his slightly overweight and idiotic look his skin turned completely red and muscles seemed to bulge a bit before caling the black receded and Jobo stood looking smug Sakura that's curse mark stuff do you want help Naruto asked surprisingly Sakura waved him off you think you're the only one who can get a power boost Sakura asked aloud toi leaned into nuto and saidwe all loved it when she showed us this Sakura crossed her arms in a very familiar pose and when she released them Naruto's eyes widened she had opened the Gate of opening [ __ ] note to self never upset her again Sakura flew forward at least twice as fast as the last time Naro had seen her Jobo hurled a massive chunk of the Earth at her the mass of rock and dirt dwarfing the kinoi Sakura didn't even punch through it she flicked and a few of jura's stories made nuto rethink her training under Tsunade was good for his health through the rubble the transformed Jobo showed fear for the first time this little girl was coming for him and she was stronger than anyone he had seen before surprise [ __ ] Sakura screamed as her fist made contact with his stomach the Flesh of the sound Ninja's stomach offered Little Resistance to Sakura's fist allowing it to sink and past her wrist the shock wave that traveled along his belly fat seemed delayed and the man was frozen in place by pain his body tried to absorb the chakra present in the Gira and the chakra invading his body but there was no way he could do so in time the wave made its way back to his Center and Fin finally the pent up energy found a place to escape out his back a massive crater was blown through J robo's body the power behind Sakura's punch literally ripping him open over half of his back was blown away bits of his bloody organs decorated the trees behind him and the shattered pieces of his spine cut into the trunks Sakura pulled her fist from the tiny hole it had made in the front as Jobo skin went back to normal she shook off what blood she could and then used the shirt of her now dead opponent to finish cleaning her hand so uh Sakura about what happened earlier it was a mistake see and I'm really sorry Naro started as he walked up to his teammate I'm over it she cut him off with a sigh it was dark so I don't blame you too much I'm not even going to ask anymore Choi mumbled well Naruto said both quickly and cheerily we should get going someone else might need backup and the three took off Naruto scribbling seals onto tags so he could eventually give them back some chakra Nudo Sakura and Choi all sped through the Treetops in the direction that the latter two had seen the rest of the team runoff in the corpse of jobi lay in a pool of blood behind them and their friends lay in various states of health or battle ahead of them the conversation was sparse and nuto wasn't prone to Banter during active missions as it was before too long however all three Shinobi started to notice massive spiderwebs hanging from the trees half a minute later choji got his leg stuck in one and the action alerted the trio to the fact that the webs weren't from natural spiders uh guys I swear I'm strong enough to break out of normal webs Choi asserted as he tugged against the St out threads zakura then tried to pry them apart and even her super strength couldn't break more than one thread maybe if she opened the first gate again but that would be overkill for such a small task looks like one of the enemies fights like a spider the same way anko fights like a snake Naruto mumbled he nudged Sakura to the side and created his preferred chakra claws on his right hand the wind chakra cutting easily through the web easily well Naruto you have seniority here what's the plan Sakura asked as choji was freed nuto then sat down cross-legged before replying I need 3 minutes to enter sage mode after that I should be able to pinpoint and eliminate whoever is responsible for this sakuru grabbed a pair of completed chakra tags from Naruto's pocket as he was prepping himself she handed one to choji and explained how they worked after the pair felt rejuvenated they simply watched Naruto gradually they could feel a Serene presence around their little group and Naruto's eyes had an orange stripe run across them you know I don't actually think you've shown me this one before Sakura said absently as nuto stood back up I've never had to Karama says it's on par with his more powerful cloaks and the sensing capabilities are almost unmatched in fact I've picked up on nii fighting our spider friend was Naruto's response what the plan then Joi asked him you two wait here with a clone until he pops my wind chakra and nii's gentle fist are the only things we have that can probably cut through the webs zakura looked like she wanted to protest but technically nut was her senior officer in the situation that in mind she simply nodded along with choji Naruto flicked a quick two-fingered salute before dashing off at a speed mistakable with a shunin he didn't use the actual technique just in case the spider nin was also a sensor but Sakura surmised he wouldn't need it with his augmented speed aruto crouched in the branches of a leafy tree using both his eyes and his Sage Mode sensory ability to scope out the scene in front of him nii had just avoided the massive Arrow aimed at his heart by mere inches allowing the deadly projectile to plunge through his shoulder nuto followed the string that was attached to the back end of The Arrow the same string nii cut and pulled through his shoulder there up in the trees and completely hidden by both webs and foliage a large six armed man sat holding a bow and yet another arrow aimed at niji's position Nudo felt a spike of urgency and he shot out a sharp tendril of calm at the Spider-Man he had activated a curse seal of some kind and nuto didn't know if niiji could survive another shot the bow was drawn back and niiji took off running unsteadily showing just how many injuries he had taken fighting this Odo jonan Theo managed to get his presence to take cold and due to its calming nature it went unnoticed the Clone popped into existence behind the man but the string was released anyway nuto made a split second decision and decided to trust in miji Byakugan to keep him alive and he swapped places with his clone Naruto grabbed the bun of the spider like nin and pulled him down onto the branch straddling his waist as he did so Naruto saw the maniacal Glee leave the Man's eyes as they bore into Naruto's Furious striped orange ones the Rasengan appeared before getting slammed down onto the Shinobi's chest tearing through hard yellow substance used for the bow and arrows like it was tissue paper once the protective shell was gone Naruto felt the all too familiar grind of chra against bone and then the spread eagle man's tum gave way to the purely destructive nature of the Jutsu shards of bone cut into Naruto's cheek small cuts that were almost instantly healed blood flew up around Naruto's arm and hit him in the face like a hot demonicon [ __ ] of raindrops the sound nin screamed loudly and once Naruto got his hand into his chest cavity he ended the poor being suffering a quick upward Twist of his wrist obliterated the heart of niji's attacker Naruto pulled his hand free and took a page from Sakura's book cleaning the weapon of Destruction on the man's clothing their claws would have been cleaner you know this one is obviously one of arachim maru's Elites I had to be sure fair enough I'd help nii if I were you nutk head spun and the scene that met him was disheartening to say the least nii dangled a good few inches off the ground the last Arrow of the Spider-Man impaling him to a rock considering that the path of the arrow had blown through several trees before it had found its Mark meant that niiji was unlucky and not receiving another clean pass instead all the hyuga could do was jump and hope that the arrow passed underneath his most vital organs nuto raced to nii's side and placed a splintered piece of a log under his feet doing his best to relieve what must have been unbearable pain nii nii are you with me Naruto asked frantically Naruto it's good that you're here the others will need help nii whispered all of his strength was gone and the light was slowly leaving his pale eyes no no no you bastard you aren't allowed to die yet Naruto transferred one of his four spare chakra tattoos directly onto nii's head not healing him at all but buying him a few more precious minutes of Life the Clone appeared before immediately popping Naruto pulled out a herish and kunai but was interrupted by nii Naruto it's no use I'd need Tsunade shizun or Sakura here to save me and judging by the stories I don't think I'd survive you hering me home I just wanted to tell you you were right about hanada and my stupid fake deal I talked with with my uncle and I just want to ask for your forgiveness before I join my father Nudo blew air through his nose in exasperation he must have given you a concussion too of course I forgive you dumbass but you sure as hell aren't going to die here there's more than one way to get you healed nuto slammed the kunai into the dirt and the Clone he had left with Sakura and choji appeared with both of them in toe now since it was Sakura and choji's first time traveling via hin they had less than spectacular responses to warping through space and time Sakura dry heaved off to the side gagging almost violently choji whose stomach was almost always full ran off to the bushes to throw up whatever he had inside of him what the hell Naruto I haven't seen you in a year and you do all this stupid [ __ ] to me Sakura complained wiping down her mouth Sakura nii whispered in immense pain there may have even been a bit of Hope mingled in that tone but it was definitely almost all pain Sakura whipped her head around and went into a fullon medic mode when she saw the damage Nudo be ready to catch him I have to bust the rock to free the arrow she ordered Naruto knew that field ranks held no bearing in emergency medical situations like this and the medic was always given the lead narudo created a dozen clones to search for the remaining groups and provide what help they could he then moved over to a nearly unconscious nii as Sakura placed a hand on the boulder behind him the light TA from her Knuckles and the large Rock crumbled freeing the arrow and allowing niiji to fall limply into Naruto's waiting arms there was no Preamble as Sakura motion for him to place the hyuga on his side okay now I need you to cut the arrow off in the back as close to his skin as possible after that start pulling it out slowly and as straight as possible while I heal what I can on its way out that should keep him from losing too much more blood Sakura ordered even as she began to work on closing nii's other various wounds most of his serious injuries were located on his back with several wounds looking much the same as one another likely the odd kunai that Lit her to clearing Naruto's chakra claws made short work of the arrow and the six inches protruding from the middle of nii's back fell to the dirt betting a nod from Sakura Naruto slowly began to pull the arrow out the way it went in Sakura's hands glowed brightly as she did her work and no blood left the exit wound as she promised when the end of The Arrow left the front of nii's body it was accompanied by a rank smell and a small Spurt of blood Sakura's hand was there immediately to both stem the flow and close the surface of the wound now that nii wasn't at risk of externally Bleeding Out Sakura laid him on his back he was still unconscious and nuto was glad that the hyuga was afforded that small Comfort he had taken taken a lot of damage and deserve the break from the pain I just have to focus on helling what organs I can in the field I should be able to stabilize his lungs but that Arrow took out a fair amount of his small intestine at best I can stop the internal bleeding but he has to get to the hospital for real treatment Sakura told him that was nutk cue to take back over okay I leave three clones to carry him and escort joji back Choi I need you to give a report on what's happened so far to the Hokage DOI held up a thumbs up from his spot halfway into a bush he'd be good to go by the time Sakura was done with nii probably Sakura be on standby for another clone to heishin you to wherever you're needed that may be for either healing or combat so be prepared for anything Sakura scowled lightly as she worked ug we need to practice with you flashing us around everywhere that first time sucked also leave me another tag if you can this is going to drain me Naruto did as he was asked transferring one of his tattoos onto a ceiling tag for his teammate with that Naruto took off in the direction of of the Clones that had popped they had found Kiba and had been taken out in the ensuing fight with someone named siken or yukin the memories were pretty erratic giba spun to a hasty stop his passing Fang having ripped up the Earth beneath him his technique had gotten much stronger and with aamer's new size he was hitting harder as well on the downside they were fighting even numbers although they had expected to be fighting just one sound jonan this guy had some crazy ability to split off into two different people and they were keeping him and akamaru pretty busy nut's clones had appeared and tried to help but the two Odo Shinobi or one were too slippery to get caught they phased in and out of each other to both avoid and attack the Clones leaving them useless other than to alert the original nuto of the location come on Naruto where are you giba took a hard blow to the shoulder one that sent him spinning through the air luckily he was quite used to spinning and when he caught the transformed akamaru's eye they both went into Fang passing Fang the S and you can Doo smirked when they saw the twin destructive Twisters barreling their way the swerving and switching pattern of the anuska and his Hound destroying anything in its path splitting at the last moment the brothers took off in opposite directions Kiba and akamaru split up on a silent signal Kiba going in after saen to the left the revolting technique of the Odo man saved him once more when he phased backward into a tree tempting Kiba to plow into it and send its splinters flying everywhere he did so and the destruction was honestly magnificent to behold but Kiba had played almost directly into sain's hands saen shot out of the ground kunai at the ready and did his best to Kiba as he spun past all he got for his trouble was a badly damaged kunai and torn up hand kiba's strength would make a one-on-one fight tough so saen had to rely on yukin to take out the puppy well Kiba started as he reoriented himself I guess we get to see who has the better teamwork and inuzuka and his ninkin are a pair of [ __ ] up Brothers saen smiled gleefully silly boy I am one of odo's elite I don't need my brother to kill you of the five my brother and I are the most versatile and it would be a cold day in Hell before we lost to some jenon in his mut giba knew he couldn't help to kill both of these guys he was buying time at best at worst he'd shoot for a puck Victory and hope his mother would understand why are you guys even doing this what do you want with Sask Kiba asked as he ready to kunai saen perked his ears up and tilted his head to the side and then was joined by his brother Kiba had a horrible feeling in his gut and he looked behind the two Jonah laying on his side beaten broken and quite possibly dead was akamu two of his legs were snapped to Traverse angles of their norm and his spine looked like it was in two pieces that could just be his fur kibba HED it was there would be no real comeback from an injury like that ukin answered Kiba because he's part of our orders Lord arachim wants him so Lord arachim will get him and you little boy are simply in the way kibur Ed his partner was he be okay Kiba just had to end the fight and get akimaru back to the clan maybe kba's sister could do something at the moment though he had to contend with the speeding Brothers Moving in to flank him ran a Kiba with twin kunai drawn sprinting directly at the inuzuka from either side Kiba knew he couldn't overpower them both and they were faster than he was he'd have to think kba launched himself forward at a tree trunk at the last minute possible before flipping around charging at the spot he was once at with a passing Fang hoping to hit them both unfortunately the brothers simply phased through each other and Thrust out both a kunai and a foot each kibba spin was interrupted and twin gashes appeared along his sides painful but far from lethal when will you learn little boy saen drawled as he and his brother sauntered closer ukin continued as Kiba backed away on the ground snarling like a cornered animal your little tricks are powerless here nothing you do can stop us we're just better than you DBA found himself with his back against a tree and the brothers no more than 10 ft in front of him and steadily getting closer Kiba gave one last look to aimu taking Solace that he'd die in battle with his best friend before fingering one of his last kunai it was a pause and everything in the forest seemed to freeze birds and insects seemed to vanish the air dropped in temperature and everyone present felt the same horrifying feeling well kibba was relieved at least nut's power flooded through the woods the cold bitter fingers of hopelessness wrapped themselves around sikin and yukin's hearts Kiba dropped his weapon and simply tried to relax he was losing a bit more blood than he would like arudo walked out of the Shadows of the trees his hair being one of the only things visible until he was close enough to hear when will you Odo trash learn I've already killed your resident spider freak and watched my teammate blow out your fat ogre's spine we're just better than you nunk voice was low calm and smooth with confidence added to the feeling of pure power he was exuding and kba would believe any claims he made hopefully the brothers would do the same yamaki or is it nekus now saen taunted we were wondering if you'd show your cowardly face word has it you've been hiding for almost a year now nunk face remained completely passive and his body looked totally relaxed faster than anyone could follow Naruto had a hand lazily out out stretch toward sikin and the horrified twin had a long shallow cut along the right side of his neck centimeters from actually killing him keep in mind you're alive because I feel like talking Naruto added calmly why are you after Sask ukin responded this time we already told your mud of a friend here that Wiz arachim Maru once he gets all right Aro looked at Kiba and akamaru and he felt a twinge of guilt at taking so long to find him a jenon shouldn't have to deal with this kind of thing war or not Kiba take aamu and follow this clone to Sakura she'll Pat you up enough to get him home to your clan vet a clone appeared next to the down pup and brought him immediately to Kiba kba shakily stood and accepted his injured friend before walking after the Clone as fast as he could manage and what makes you think we're letting any of you leave these Woods alive saen asked with Bluster back in his voice nuto sighed in apparent annoyance before disappearing from sight suddenly a pair of Narutos were behind each of the Twins and a sharp kick broke the outside leg of each brother their yells of pain were drowned out by the Sick snap of their kneecaps and then Naruto was back where he started you two make it very hard to keep you alive you're lucky I'm here and not anko she wouldn't even ask the question first she'd start off by waterboarding one of you with your brother's blood at that morbid thought yuk can gave in fine what do you want to know saen hissed him but didn't protest Naruto asked again what does arachim want with Sask Lord arachim Maru has wanted a set of Sharingan for a long time and right now he's hunting for a new host body baruto followed up with how many of you are left and who has Sask youin hesitated to answer and saen smiled triumphantly at least he did until nunk knee was burying his face into the ground I only need you alive since you're the one talking your brother is just collateral to me at this point wait you can scream just before Naruto plunge his chakra claws into San's chest sasu and that jonan killed almost everyone except the sound five the four of us were heading to meet up with our leader at the meadow in these woods and we left AIA with sassu to hide him in the field as she FR off whoever followed her the sound five who is included and what is its purpose yukin swallowed heavily San and myself tea Jobo and kidu are the original sound for cimro is our newest and strongest member he's the one waiting in the field we're the hand of Lord arachim Maru his bodyguards and elite soldiers what he wants done we get done Naruto didn't lift his knee from sain's face as he contemplated the new information you're more like servants to him than Elite Fighters I fought stronger sound nin during The Invasion while I assume you all held up that barrier and it looks like teia and Your Leader are the only ones left alive I'll have to tell Shikamaru and tenton to capture her yukin had a confused look on his face but it was soon wiped clean as a clone buried a kunai into his neck sain's fate followed shortly after and nuto stood to get to the field a clone would have to find Shikamaru shikimaru had figured out T's game long ago and with tenton expertise in Weaponry things shouldn't be too difficult to kill her her massive summons would be a threat but as long as his shadow or one of tenton many blades could reach her it should be over fairly quickly hey [ __ ] even if you kill me there are people in my group that could still kick your ass TK's hidden voice called out ah Shikamaru and tenton also had to find her and you think we're the strongest of our own group Shikamaru asked aloud trying to keep her talking while tent and search the Shadows at hyuga kid ha he likes to Jutsu and cimro would tear him a new [ __ ] in t Jutsu if he managed to get by kidu or are you talking about that pink [ __ ] I'm still not even sure how she made tune and she looks damn weak there was a wave of familiar power that swept over the woods freezing everyone in place when it lifted Shikamaru couldn't help but smile you know who that was right there was no response that time she knew damn well who it was it was one of the only people that age she was ordered not to engage alone another minute of avoiding the three large Doki and shikima was getting frustrated tenton should have found her by now or at the very least flushed her out of her hiding place all of a sudden nuto ran into the clearing cutting one of the ghostlike Doki in half with the stream of his breath Shikamaru how you doing Naruto asked cheerfully Naruto why are you here shouldn't you be tracking Sask the shadow user asked nuto flapped a hand nonchalantly a I'm just a clone the real me knows exactly where to go but I had to activate sage mode to track you down quickly oh hi tenton Naro didn't wave an order to allow her to remain hidden I'm just here to tell you that the boss said to capture Tei alive since everyone else except their leader is dead she's up there Naruto pointed behind without looking Shikamaru only nodded in appreciation yep with nuto back things were bound to get interesting and very very Troublesome Aro bolted onto the field that he knew sasu to be hidden at at most he had expected a fight with this leader that yukin had talked about but the field was a bit more populated than he had expected Lee was jumping around throwing his deadly kicks at a Shinobi who seemed to fight with his own bones if that wasn't freaky enough Lee had the third gate open and his shots weren't doing too much to the mystery Shinobi Theo stood in a appreciation for a hot second it was rare to see two masters of T Jutsu fight all out against each other Lee had access to the gates but the sound nin presumably cimro had a cursed seal activated Lee's head was never in one place always weaving to avoid Lightning Fast Jabs of a bone sword Naruto knew even he would find challenging the same could be said for Lee's opponent even if Lee didn't have anything strong enough to kill him the blows that did land were still obviously very painful kimra weaved just as much as Lee did and nuto marveled at the constant motion before Naruto could intervene Lee was blasted Away by what appeared to be a hail of ribs sharp enough to pierce him and pin him to the ground Naro figured he should probably step in hey Lee you look like you could use a hand Naruto called out getting the attention of both Fighters morenoa trash how many more of you are there the pale stoic man asked flatly it was hard to tell if he was taunting them or was genuinely curious Bren narudo Lee shouted before blasting up from the ground leaving the bones protruding from the dirt after ripping the rest of the w through his body it is Sho good to seeing you oh Gods Le got drunk and he has the gates open should we run all at once the fight seemed to catch up with Lee and he fell to his knees as the drunken blush left his face the energy from the gates dissipated and he knelt still simply trying to breathe through the holes in his chest and back and stomach and sides no we're fine arudo held up an old familiar cross sign the shortcut for his Mass Shadow clone Jutsu in the blink of an eye the field was littered with a 100 clones enough to pose a threat by sheer numbers but not enough to the point of chaos ruining any plans made on the Fly adding trash to a pile only allows the blaze to burn brighter was the calm response of the bone user as the Clone started to keep cimro busy Naro had one dispel to bring Sakura to the location the Clone left with her dispelled upon completion of the herin leaving Nudo with a gagging Sakura and heavily bleeding Lee who is it this time Sakura asked once she got her gag reflex under control Naruto simply pointed to Lee and she got down to work as her teammate trans ER his second to last store of chak to another tag the last one was probably for sasuki also need you to distract the bone guy my clones are fighting once Lee can run back to koha I'll free sasu qu you do no I can still fight Lee interrupted himself by choking a little bit on his own blood I'm the medic I'll make the call Lee Sakura's tone left no room for arguments and Lee looked more than a little crestf Fallen look at it this way Lee Naro started to reassure the green clad boy as he walked to the Forest Edge you're just giving Sask Sakura and I are first battle as a team in a whole year there's got to be something youthful about that Naruto sped off before he could be bombarded with the shouts of the dreaded y word as well as Sakura's curses for setting Lee off on a tangent Nudo found sas's odd prison within 2 minutes enough time for Lee to start his escape and Sakura to absorb the chakra from the tag unfortunately kimra was down to the last dozen clones all 12 of which had now resorted to using Ninjutsu instead of just their fists they couldn't risk it earlier without taking out some of the other clones the biggest thing holding sasu out of the waking world was some kind of barrel it was easily the oddest prison nuto had ever seen but definitely one he could break his friend out of it was guarded by F and Jutsu after all nuto took one look at the tag on the outside of the barrel and he noticed it was a relatively simple dark sealing method it was sloppy as well and it left several gaps in the kangi for his chakra to seep into and break releas Naruto muttered not even bothering with a halfhand seal too easy the paper slip fell and immediately sounds originated from within the barrel the barrel itself was sealed with a multi-member level seal something that would take at least as many members to infiltrate at the same time which would pose a real problem for most relise Naruto and three clones muttered freeing the barrel of the restrictive lock the Clones all popped leaving Naruto alone with his bewildered final teammate Sask launched the top of the barrel off before stretching violently he was ready to fight for his life despite how tired and ragged he seemed how the hell did these idiots capture you Naruto asked with an amused smile sasu spun to face the blonde eyes white and surprisingly devoid of his D Jutsu Naruto when did you get back how long have I been trapped Nudo placed a hand on Sask shoulder and started to transfer the chakra seal directly from his arm I don't know maybe an hour gu Sensei busted down the hokage's door to tell her about your capture and I happened to be there how did it happen again Naruto's tone was almost teasing and it annoyed sassu to no end I had just finished my fifth hour of training and was out of chakra I don't know how they got into the village either they must have them all that actually worried Naruto I managed to kill a good six of them and then guy showed up to kill off a few more before they got me and he had to chase some into the village Itachi's going to be pissed about all the blood in the training y anyways they managed to pin me shove some weird pill down my throat and lock me in that damn box four of them seemed like they were in charge but I could have killed them all if they hadn't caught me with my pants down Dorito believed him he could feel that the one seal wasn't enough to fill sas's reserves entirely and he would need a second one to top him off Sakura could probably handle herself for another minute while he scribbled the seal onto his arm is Sakura safe sasu casked she's out kicking the leader ass want to watch Naruto turned and let sasu get a view of his girlfriend in action nuto would only need about 30 seconds to fill up the seal and Sakura would make great entertainment while the boys waited she was charging and ride along with the Clones much to Kim's annoyance in fact the first punch he saw coming he simply rolled his eyes and allowed her to [ __ ] her arm back however when her fist shot forward almost as fast as Le he realized his mistake he realized this even more so when her punch landed and sent him rocketing away with a dislocated jaw it had been a long time since someone had hit him that hard burito whistled she sure has started to pack some power behind her punches saso nodded in agreement yeah just wait until she asks to spar with you I can't even block her hits anymore or we have to call it a day you won't believe how hard she actually hit now nuto had a small flashback to a dark painful and very embarrassing cave I got a pretty good idea Sask felt the second Hasty seal of chakra flood into him and he felt his reserves fill almost all the way back up well we can't let her have all the fun I take it no one brought my sword bero dusted his hands as he shook his head sorry you'll have to do without sas's eyes flashed red before swirling into the Exotic pattern of his eternal Mano I have no problem with that and the two disappeared from normal view speeding away to help out their third teammate the mimo sat up from the grassy crater his body made after receiving that single punch that seriously could have killed him if his bones weren't strengthened from the level one curse mark he allowed his eyes to unfocus as his jewelry set itself through a series of sickening cracks when they focused on his opponent again there were three instead of just one the pink [ __ ] the loud clone user and his Target how unfortunate how are you feeling Sask Sakura asked as she cracked the knuckles of her hand Sask grunted making nuto smile some things never did change I've been better I've been worse Nudo spoke next iing cimro as he stood up across from the trio so Sakura exactly how strong is this guy Sakura Shrugged he's pretty tough but nothing the three of us can't handle I hit him the hardest I could without opening any of the gates sasu crowned on her opening any of the what surprise babe Sakura's smile was both demure and mischievous UK Cano hat trash have delayed me for far too long as well as setting back the progression of sasukes curse SE my master will not be pleased Nudo laughed out loud replying with did Sask forget to tell you that he doesn't have a mark anymore I removed it like half an hour after he got it the mro would have gotten paler if he could have stop talking nuto I want to go home and clean up the mess before Itachi comes home from his mission sasu groaned before narrowing his eyes at the sound Elite arudo nodded fired off a tendril of malice to freeze the bone user and had a clone slam a full power renan into his back the attack hit flush and cimro was thrown face for burst into the dirt as the Jutsu drilled into his spine oddly enough the ball of violently rotating chakra didn't progress past the bone and the chips that wet flying told Naruto that the trick should have worked a rib shot out and dispelled the Clone ending the attack the [ __ ] Naruto asked as cimro stood up calmly that should not happen don't worry about it Sask muttered amatarasu the Bony opponent was engulfed in Black Flames Flames that devoured everything it touched without fail unfortunately the screams only lasted for a Split Second as did the flailing associated with being burned alive by fire Straight From Hell the mimo malted he looked like a sick crab walking forward out of an old ex of skeleton the suit of pure bone burning to Ash around him the [ __ ] sasu casked in a comic mirroring of Naruto zakura bent over picked up a small pebble and hurled it with all her strength kimomo looked actually bored as he deflected the tiny projectile with a bony protrusion on his hand the [ __ ] Sakura's version didn't fit quite as well and her teammates looked at her in confusion she didn't actually expect that to work did she kurama's voice was almost concerned for the sake of all of our lives in the future I sure as hell help not she's not nearly that useless upon seeing the worried expressions of the boys Sakura simply Shrugged and said what shizun says Comedy Works best in threes nuto pinched the bridge of his nose and gazed up into the heavens for answers sasu con sighed and muttered you're lucky you're cute pimo who heard nothing of the conversation spoke up next I see you are truly garbage set aside from the rest of your Village I understand now that I will have to take you more seriously the trademark black marks adorned his body then ascending the power and influence of the curse mark to its level two State cimro shifted from his somewhat normal appearance to a darker colored Twisted bone monstrosity he maintained basic anatomy but extra bone jutted out from places that there should be no bones and he pulled Bones from himself to use as Weapons behold the power Lord arachim Maru has bestowed upon me behold the bringer of your death see me and fall to despair as you will fall to the bone of my blades Nudo scratched his head at the loud Proclamation you know that could have been really bad as if it was just one of us facing him SAS nodded as if to agree you think you're the only one here with Transformations or powerups taking that is a signal Sakura opened the first gate Sask followed her lead and manifested the Ethereal skeletal head of his Susu in between the two of them Naruto called upon karam's perfect cloak breathing himself in the golden shroud of pure power I'm liking the gold Naruto really suits you Sakura complimented as she finished the four took off from their respective positions meeting in the middle of the one Serene Meadow to clash gimo was hard pressed to stay alive very very hardpressed these three frought together better than the sound four did and these three were infinitely more powerful Sakura had hit him extremely hard in the side shattering several of his ribs as he was flying through the air Naruto had sliced at him with manifested claws of chakra destroying the protective layer of bone on the arm he used to block just as his ribs were replaced Sask slammed it aad door into his chest while protecting his own body with parts of some massive ghost skeleton these teenagers had no idea how to give him a breather that's not to say kimam didn't do his best to give as good as he got Naruto and sassu took most of the blows using their bodies to protect their teammate from his deadly bones his spine was in one hand in the form as a whip and a sharpened humorous was in the other as a sick type of sword the sword had the best chances of slipping between the susu's ribs while the whip could temporarily immobilize the gingeri the four fraud in a blur of speed in power chunks of the earth flying whenever Sakura landed one of her punches blinding light appeared every time sasu tried Chidori not willing to use a fire Jutsu with his team so close to the Target nine powerful glowing hands claws would whip around Naruto destroying anything they slammed into while avoiding both Sask and Sakura by this point Sakura had released a 100 healing seal on her forehead covering her face in markings and opened the second gate without fear of injury she was taking just as many slices and whip strikes as her teammates now but no matter what they hit this bony [ __ ] with he wouldn't seem to die suddenly the blade slipped through susu's ribs and the whip cut too deeply into nito's calf for them to escape the three members of Team seven locked eyes and passed a silent signal the depths of their team's connection was difficult to understand but in rare moments like these they doubted they'd find a closer knit team saso slammed one of his modified Chidori strikes into the crook of kimbro's left elbow the blow sent electricity coursing through the Odon nin and stunned the left side of his body at the same time lashed out with a massive burst of cutting wind chakra the most any of those involved had ever seen the bone whip held up incredibly well considering the breath of air left a deep clean cut into the dirt and rocked dozens of feet deep in the end it snapped in half and released nutk leg now freed Naruto sped forward and through the strongest renan he could manage directly at the throat of cimro the least protected Target at the same time sasu shidori landed seeing her opening Sakura Drew her fist back into the same powerful punch that blasted a hole through jobi in a split second her Knuckles shattered against the bone of cimro stomach before instantaneously healing themselves they did their intended damage though and the energy dispersed into cimro the impact knocked him to the far side of the field leaving the three members of Team seven sweating with both their exertion and hesitation to continue the fight he should very well already be dead to their dismay the Odo Shinobi slowly and shakily Rose from the dirt the beautiful grassy meadow they were once at was no longer grassy at all rocks and dirt were strewn about from the battle and it wasn't over yet how much more do we have to hit this guy with nuto asked an awe this was easily the most resilient opponent he had ever faced cimro was about to respond with some derogatory phrase but the only thing to spew from his mouth was dark blood upon closer inspection one could see the damage that would do in the bone user his throat was absolutely ravaged flaps of skin and flesh flapping in the light wind a layer of bone closed off his throat from the elements his upper left side was hanging limp most of the nerves completely fried from the extreme voltage pumped into him the biggest issue though was that the energy and power from Sakura's punch had nowhere to escape it couldn't fire out his back like with jobi and this time she had an extra gate open all of that raw power transitioning straight into his organs the world was fading for a rachim second choice of body there was always one move he could use upon death and by Kami would he take these brats with him he fell into a Chasm of his own making using the very last of his strength to complete his ultimate technique Dance of the fern above ground the three members of Team seven stood ready for him to emerge anywhere but all were startled when they felt a small Rumble Sakura however smiled and told the boys you guys are going to want to jump for this knowing what she was capable of and caring for their personal health nuto and sasu coed jumping as high as they could Sakura still under the effects of the hundred healing technique opened the third gate it was something she had just started to work on and was nowhere near ready for use without the seal active but the single minute of power she gained from it would be all she needed with her arms stretched up and in a hammer fist likee position both boys heard her yell of gate of healing open as her hands descended just as the burst of power erupted from her the meadow began to burst into towering Blades of bone the bone started in the last place Kim was seen but would fill the meadow in less than a few seconds Sakura's fists met the hard ground a split second before she was overtaken the shock wave was almost unbelievable the ground immediately cratered beneath her and she was suddenly staring at the lip of the depression at eye level the power that spread like a ring around her flattened both Earth and Bone a 50 foot circle of sunken dirt around her surrounded by cracked bones that withstood the blast shards of the white material littered the ground around her SAS and Naruto were sent kening even higher from the explosion although neither would admit it they both screamed more than a little eventually Naruto grabbed hold of sasukes arm and used hirin on the kunai with Sakura bringing the boy safely to the ground Sakura's Aura of power vanished and she fell to her knees exhausted sasu remained in the dirt crater gagging from his first heishin and doing his best to maintain his lunch nuto looked at Sakura with more than a little irritation added to his satisfaction a little warning next time maybe he asked her hey she panted and then laid down at work didn't it nuto simply scoffed since he was the only one left that was fighting fit he absorbed one of his senjutsu seals entering sage mode to try and feel out if kimam was still alive I don't feel him guys I think we did it Naruto smiled before he could celebrate however he was forced to add hang on I'm picking up on someone I really shouldn't be right now his teammates looked up from the dirt in worry very good Naruto I'm quite pleased with your progress an oily voice called out from the top of one of the splintered bone spires great the [ __ ] pedophile is Here Naruto spat motioning to his teammates to stay down they still convinced about that are you it won't matter too much once you're dead or better yet on my side Naruto let us help you sasu C lowly it's okay guys I feel someone else too someone I'm more than happy to see right now Naro assured everyone his team relaxed into the dirt while the present sanon corked an eyebrow and who would that be little Naruto it's been a long time since I've been followed without my knowledge the crow flapped onto another one Spire TSK you've made many mistakes arachim Maru the sandon looked nervous for a split second Itachi his face returned to the smirk it was seemingly fixed on it's been a long while saso stirred from his position in the dirt guys this was Itachi's Mission find and trailer rimu I had no idea I have to get home now why Sakura asked lowy I have to clean up before he returns from the mission or I'll get my ass kicked he then on went ignored why whatever do you mean Itachi arachim asked the crow hopped to look directly at the sannon you went after my baby brother that's [ __ ] adorable Naruto muttered under his breath Huck off was sas's response arachim laughed in the face of the crow silly Itachi did you think I wouldn't improve myself after our last encounter Snake Eyes see more than just light and colors jinjutsu won't work on me anymore the crow made a barking sound almost mistakable for a bird's version of a laugh silly arachim Maru you're in a jinjutsu right now holy [ __ ] he's right he's good that was High Praise coming from kurarama the rimu scowled before breaking the surrounding jinjutsu freeing everyone in it they were all in their respective positions but the crow was gone and arachim was slumped on the ground the sanon sprung to his feet in Anger perfect Naruto yelled out getting everyone's attention I'm still I say mode and I've wanted to try this out ever since I got it oh hell yes theud sped through the summoning signs one of the senjutsu seals traveling to the large aray on his back Naruto slammed his hand down a massive cloud of smoke Rising as a deep powerful Roar split the air gamas stood protectively over an arru sasu kakura with Naruto standing firmly on his head all nine of his powerful Tails swished through the air behind him knocking down towers of bone as if they were made of cardboard he was the picture of power at its peak theacher looked once at the Towering kurarama and then to the rapidly emerging Itachi then back to kurarama well I seem to have forgotten to turn off my lights at home I'll see you all later and the snake was gone having Swan dove into the ground and melding away before Itachi could act Gama was more than a bit disappointed wow what a [ __ ] [ __ ] sasu beat everyone back to the Village by almost a full 20 minutes leaving his teammates no warning about his rapid departure if Itachi had been listening in on any of the conversations which was very well possible since it's Itachi freaking AA then he would already know of the situation at home as it was Itachi was going to try and track down his Target before heading back to report so Naruto figured sasu could have some time Naruto had to check in with Tsunade before he could head home and seeing the girls and zusa was something he was really looking forward to Sakura walked along with nuto on their trip home enjoying the company that had been missing from the village for a year he seemed more at EAS now like he was almost detached from everything yet still invested completely in the world around him it made no sense but sakuru got the feeling that he had grown more in a year way than he would have in 5 years in the village Nudo was content simply walking with Sakura she had several stories about her and Sask some of them making him laugh aloud she told him of the fun she has at the girl's kns Karen and Haku have every Sunday there were even a few stories of how Itachi would watch her and Sask like a protective mother whenever the Elder AA was home and not training overall it was as if nothing but time had changed between the two nuto was also taller than her now but that was forgotten pretty quickly once the conversation turned to her training the stories she had about that particular subject were pretty vast the hour and a half long stroll was filled mainly by Sakura's complaints of how ridiculous her tasks usually were she had picked up a side job at the hospital to combine with her medical training and she insisted that both of them combined were nothing compared to the demands both Guy sensei and Lee made of her Naruto understood that statement wholeheartedly those two green freaks were crazy when it came to training before Sakura could get around to asking nuto of his own training and time away the village Gates came into view Naruto had to promise that they could all get together soon and have a real conversation over the past year maybe over dinner or something with that reassurance the two- parted ways at the gates Naruto to get to the Hokage and Sakura to get home and tell her parents she was fine Naruto was told by shizun to wait in one of the chairs for tunate to return apparently she had gone to see teia herself and was just now getting back to the office Naruto couldn't help but winse at the fate of the girl sunate could be scary why do I have the urge to smack you right now the woman in nutk thoughts asked as she entered nuto laughed nervously a haha no reason probably I did well enough for an on the-fly Mission so why hospitalize me right Tade sighed as she sat down she looked fed up with everything that had happened and nuto honestly didn't blame her it went exceptionally well considering the circumstances we just have to figure out how to get tea to talk and all should be well enough no one was hurt too seriously although nii and akamaru had some close calls there set for full recoveries nuto visibly relaxed when he heard that how would I go about recommending people for field promotions Naruto asked suddenly give me their name and your reasoning and I'll add it to the listings they'll need another officer's recommendation before I consider it though the inuka his teamwork and strategy with his ninkin helped him hold off a pair of jonan his partner received injuries near the end of the fight but they were successful in delaying and getting information from the enemy before my arrival tenton higashi she showed exceptional stealth and tracking skills for the short amount of time I was able to sense her and clone memories of her show her adding valuable input into solid strategies and reliably completing her own parts of Any Given plan sunade nodded as she scribbled down the names is that all she asked once baruto nodded but jumped a bit when Itachi walked in the now repaired door lady Hokage I seconded both of those recommendations I had crows watching the entirety of the woods and was close to intervening before nuto arrived Tsunade smiled put check next to each of the names and slid the paper to the middle of a stack perfect Naro if you'd finish up your report please narut would normally have to file a written report but since this wasn't an official mission he could get away with an oral version after a quick recount of the day's events sunade nodded an approval you did well Naruto I'll be sure to assign more Mission specifically to you and you should be a full Jon and by the end of the year soon a then shifted before looking to Itachi before I move on to your report Itachi I have to pass along and important message to the both of you tomorrow will be our first major council meeting and now that both of you are back there couldn't be a better time take today to do as you like but please report to the main briefing room tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. sharp Naruto you are dismissed Naruto didn't need any more coaxing and he left immediately eager to see the rebuil compound baren sat at the rounded desk of the uzamaki administration building trying her best to keep herself entertained days here went by slowly but she did get the occasional visitor sometimes they came with official business or other nonsense she told them to ask nuto but days like today she would get lucky Eno had come over to keep her company I don't know how you live in this room for most of the day Eno complained while leaning against the desk at least at my counter there are flowers to keep me company paren snorted at the thought Eno only you would consider flowers company Eno blew a raspberry at her reded friend changing gears she asked so what's the plan for the Sunday I was thinking maybe Sushi and other Seafood for dinner Naro should be back by then so I don't want to Raymond both girls giggled at the thought of Naruto storming in on their girls night raiding the kitchen for any and all Raymond fantasy it may be but it could very easily become a reality we talking about Raymond in here a new voice spoke up both girls spun around and they saw him at about the same time Naruto sat Dred across a chair one leg dangling over an armrest how he got in past a pair of kenoi one of which was a sensor was unknown before Eno could say anything she had to restrain a laugh as she saw a red bullet shoot into the blond's chest if not for the wall that poor chair certainly would have tipped over Naruto you're home Karen shouted her voice muffled by nutk chest and what a home you've made it Karen Naruto replied warmly Eno was slightly taken aback at his response was this really Naruto that was actually kind and thoughtful and nowhere near as awkward as an entrance she was expecting Eno watched as he stood up dragging her friend along with him and finally met his gaze well nuto held open an arm while keeping the other wrapped firmly around his cousin would you like one too youo did she he was her friend and she was happy to see him again but would that be giving off the wrong kind of message she was definitely over him all that drama had happened over a year ago for kami's sake but seeing him now confident still handsome yes she does Karen answered giving Eno no way out of the situation the reded pulled Eno into the Embrace and the three shared a quick hug and reunion it was definitely nice to hug him and the guilt was almost non-existent so are you going to show me around or do I have to figure things out myself Naruto asked with a smile looking down at Karen as he did so said girl immediately grabbed his wrist and started dragging him around leaving Eno alone to contemplate her thoughts once more nuto was impressed with how much had been finished in the last year the list of buildings was fairly small but they were the important ones the administration building zabuza's private dojo and training field a public set a pair of residential houses for the three members of the clan aside from nuto and the clan head's manner that was quite a bit bigger than nuto was accustomed to a three-story but he supposed that hanata would like it yeah he still thought of his future as one where hanata was present it wasn't weird at all just hopeful it didn't matter that no one had seen her in the past year nuto would find her nothing would change that so what do you think Karen asked nervously uh what Narito blinked himself back or reality startled by the sudden question of your new house silly Karen rolled her eyes at the goofy blonde arudo avoided her stare and asked would you run by it again I was distracted please say by me well you can see it has three stories the first floor has your kitchen dining and living rooms as well as a bathroom the second floor has three bedrooms and a bathroom the top floor has the master bedroom connected bathroom an office and a few extra closets nuto gave her a confused look who could ever need that much space well a clan head one with a wife and kids or a few Karen said matter of factly you kids Naruto confirmed parents started to tug him along towards abuses uh yeah kids of course Naruto's meeting with Zabuza hadn't been much more than that a meeting there weren't any overly kind words from the exm nin and nuto soon left him to train up the few students he had with him exactly what Naro had expected if he was being honest Haku had unfortunately been away on a mission but she was du back by the weekend after he had managed to say to goodbye to Karen and Escape Naruto made his way to sasukes place Sakura found him earlier and had wanted to meet up there when they all had the time and since Naruto had more people to stop by he figured she was already there hopefully he wouldn't interrupt anything the entirety of the aad district still seemed cold and lifeless but the house that sasu kitachi occupied retained a bit of Life still Naruto couldn't help but feel the pain that still bled from the streets as he made his way to his friend's house it is the pain of betrayal Naruto no matter which side you view that night from someone was always getting betrayed my father used to warn us about these dark emotions the pain and thirst of loss can never be quenched by the blood of your family the AA and their pride are a perfect example of this sometimes I forget that you're thousands of years old you know that sometimes I also think that our time with the Toads is affecting you more than me I'm going to choose to Simply accept that compliment nuto cut their banter short by knocking on sasukes door Karam didn't always break silences like that but whenever he does it's usually for some Sage likee reason the last year was absolutely full of it the door opened and Itachi was the one looking at Naruto Naruto hello I must give you my thanks for rescuing my brother in fact ifach Maru hadn't jumped in or I had known about your new relationship with the caoi I could have likely kept my cover Aro bowed awkwardly trying his best to brush off the compliment while still accepting it it wouldn't do to get a big head your team is waiting for you in the living space feel free to help yourself to The Pantry I have to go and prepare for tomorrow's meeting but that the tall AA left sweeping past nuto in a controlled stride that was an almost surreal encounter Itachi had become a kind of living legend within the elemental Nations the only real less ranked threaded in the active koha Force aside from the sanon not to mention he was the most eligible bachelor in 20 years Naro didn't want to know how one got such a title Naruto we've been waiting for you Sakura called out as soon as Naruto stepped inside the door she was sitting back to back with a dozing Sask doing her best to Elbow him awake yeah he had a pretty good reason to be tired after today you guys start the meeting without me Naruto joked Bashi looked up from his orange book and grunted confused as to the changing situation apparently Naruto had shown up between now and the last 15 minutes Sakura's urging to wake SAS got a bit too enthusiastic and the darkhaired TOA slumped over his shoulder smacked the wood of his floor before he jolted awake scrambling to sit back up with a bit of dignity actually it's nice to know not much has changed nuto laughed aloud as he took a seat next to his teammates this was honestly something he had missed the most these team meetups speaking of change Sask muttered as he rided himself on the floor ow did the last year treat you Nudo smiled wistfully as he thought back likely looking like an old man remembering His Glory Days in reality he was remembering how often he had his ass handed to him over the last year Well my sage mode is better is a lot better now I can summon kurarama at various tales and I'm working on modifying the renan aside from that I did a lot of sparring with sages that absolutely kicked my ass most days how about you guys all three other people in the room stared blankly at the blonde each for a different reason in the stories of the last year he going to finish sensei's just even I failed at that who the hell could hand nuto his ass last time we spart it was like fighting a blonde version of my brother when the hell was summoning BIDU a thing the cashy cleared his throat catching his students attention well I for one got a lot of reading done during my long-term Mission we never did find our targets but Itachi had much better luck than we did by the sounds of things isn't it the same bookand or series you've been reading since we've met Sakura asked with a disapproving look guard doesn't expire the team leader defended himself well I have been working my butt off and not just with reading sakurao pointed sunade Sensei taught me a lot and I have her seal of 100 healings mastered and on top of that I asked Lee to teach me about the gates of course he brought Guy sensei into it and I'm exhausted all the time but I can open three of the gates now oh and I made chunin Nudo knew most of this already having seen it in action hearing it aloud though was a sobering experience and Kakashi looked more than pleased with his pink-haired pupil Sakura had probably grown the most of the three of them and she had a reason to be proud of herself I'm getting better and better with my sword every time I see zusa I'm training under my brother as well and I've gotten a lot stronger even without my evolved Sharingan I've mastered most of my family signature jinjutsu and now I'm working on alternate forms of the Chidori Sask finished by showing off one of his Chidori variations a long sword like lightning blade extending from his shping hand Naruto thought that the last Chidori used on cimro had been a bit different but he was understandably too distracted to take total notice I'm still awesome and still your senior enough said Kakashi offered after heavy prompting am on Sensei give us more than that sakur urged Bashi Shrugged his shoulders as he leaned forward I spent most of the last year hunting targets you all know of you kids had a much more exciting time than I did this seemed to satisfy the youngest ones in the room I am very proud of all of you and your progress though and like that the mood lifted even higher and smiles were skillfully hidden from view there was always something special about getting praise from someone who's taught you someone who you look up to especially when that someone is Kakashi yeah well I bet we could take you on now Naruto asserted after regaining his composure Bashi chuckled and held up a hand to stop the confirmations he knew were coming usually I'd love to test all your growth personally but we have a war to prepare for can't be wasting too much energy now in fact I think the first war meeting is tomorrow arudo groaned aloud when he was reminded of that speaking of tomorrow Sask started I think I'll sleep until it starts I'm exhausted go ahead and head to bed Sask Kakashi granted as he stood he was followed by all of his students since he actually wants to sleep sakur you probably shouldn't follow him Naruto joked as the three guests made their way for the door idiot what Naruto saw Kakashi opened the door and suddenly he was flying out of it his head throbbing with more pain than usual zakura stood with her fist outstretched eye twitching and saying it's a good thing that door was open the cashi just shook his head as he left to the sound of sassu grunting in his form of agreement he never had a dull moment around his team and he wouldn't have it any other way nuto stood outside of the door leading to the meeting room conference room war room it didn't really matter it was too early to bother kurarama with being awake and actively partaking in anything so Naruto was going in Solo Kakashi had told him how things would probably go and what he should bring so Nudo had at least a little bit of confidence going into this nuto was the most recent addition to the council and by proxy of showing respect his first appearance should be with being the last beside the Hokage to arrive Kashi had explained that this was usually so every other Clan could see him enter the room and read his body to try and get a feel for what kind of Clan head he would be no problem he could usually walk into a room without making a fool of himself Nudo was also sitting in his mother's seat instead of his father's one of the oldest seats in the village the uzamaki name carried a lot more weight than namis did throughout history in fact manado had been the one to found a seat on the council for his name when he became Hokage that being said Nudo would have some high expectations to live up to he would make the uzamaki clan proud he would make his parents proud Nudo stood up straighter and opened the door as his foot passed the threshold of the room all polite muttering stopped his eyes were trained on him nothing more than nuto had expected but still a little off putting Naro calmly walked to his designated Spot while looking for the few people he both knew and was supposed to acknowledge theoi had pledged himself to nuto long before anyone thought he was the best thing since Raymond he was the first person Naruto offered to small nod too the blonde man returned it with polite surprise next up the table was Asuma taking the place of his father he was smoking while lazily following nuto with his eyes and he returned nut's small nod with his own it was well known that hin had a soft spot for the blonde so Naruto had no problems making the connection with his son and that was never minding the fact that Asuma had helped him figure out his chakra claws up near the head of the table was Itachi sitting just behind the hyuga seat Naruto was surprised when Itachi nodded first but he did show it and return the gesture Sask was likely the reason Itachi held nuto in such regard sitting in the highest occupied seat of Clan heads just before the three Council Elders was hiashi hauga Naruto didn't give him a nod there was no real binding tie between them until hanata was returned instead the two sheared a look it was full of understanding and determination and both knew that their interests were the same hanata would be found safe and healthy arudo pulled out his seat in the Silence of the room and then turned to the council elders and bowed slightly before sitting down nuto laid out the few notes and documents he had prepared and sigh in relief when he heard the voices start once more not the one in his head Kurama was still being a lazy ass but the ones at the table it was a really good first impression if what Kakashi had told him was anything to go by nuto took note of all the empty civilian Council chairs on the opposite side of the table and then decided to study the order the clans were arranged in Clans with more influence political or otherwise were seated closest to the Hokage the Hokage sat at the head of the table of course following her was the three elders danzo hamura and kaharu while not actually Clan seats they counted as the first three chairs since they carried the most political weight aside from the Hokage the highest actual Clan seat but technically still chair number four belonged to the senju which made sense as they were the founders and the family of the first two Hokage positions five and six belonged to the hyuga and the AA respectively and up until the massacre nuto knew that the seats often switched seventh was the serat toi Clan who had a significant jump up the rankings since heroin became Hokage nuto wasn't sure if Asuma had always sat the chair or if his father had picked another representative but everyone seemed surprised to see the chain smoker present in the eth chair sat the abam clan head Naruto didn't know him personally but he was aware that he was sho's father a quick check of one of his notes told Naruto that his name was shyy that didn't sound right shyy wow he had to start taking better notes Sakura could probably help that wasn't the only place he had to cram things on a page due to poor PL apparently the abam single-handedly wiped out a rival clan in the last war earning them a bit of a political boost despite the social barriers they were known for ironically Naruto was seated Ninth at the table something he thought kurarama would enjoy was it pure symbolism that put the uzamaki the literal Guardians of the caoi here or maybe honor to the Past favors and deeds the next three seats were interchangeable between the inos shikao trio they made a large impact in the past with their teamwork and they cared little for their actual positions since everyone gave them the respect they each felt was deserved the inuzuka made up the 13th slot and the last two seats were unoccupied number 14 belonged to gu Sensei but he was stationed Elsewhere for the meeting the last chair was his father's and would be the first to be replaced if another clan found themselves deserving a spot on the Council of 15 the door opposite the one nuto entered was opened and a line of well-dressed businessmen and women streamed in they were the 15 most powerful richest civilians in koha and they like to annoy the Hokage during Times Like These n was sure they saw it as something important but no one was really fooled nuto spent the time waiting for the civilians to find their seats pretending to read over his papers there was no one to talk to with an antisocial abum to his left and the board shikaku to his right that must be where Shikamaru gets it from eventually a third door opened one behind the hokage's seat jera was the first to emerge followed by Kakashi and guy they were the three top jonen in the village present to act as peacekeepers in case the council became agitated they were actually just showing off to the civilian side everyone knew that there were Ambu ready to kill everyone in the room probably Nudo stood with the rest of the 30 person table as tunate entered wearing her full robes and hat the first time nuto had seen her do so she looked like a true symbol of Pride and strength fitting for the strongest kinoi in the elemental Nations andun sat and removed her hat the table followed suit her three Jon and of choice remained standing behind her seemingly alert for any stirs in the room well guy was Kakashi's one visible eye seemed to struggled to stay open and focused while both of juras were roaming the chests of every woman in the room welcome ladies and gentlemen to the first war council in over 20 years sunate started off she had the total attention of every person in the room as many of you already know we are at war with Iowa Kumo the majority of mist and whatever minor country Villages decide to join their cause hostilities arose due to one of our three major enemies abducting a young girl of the last public tun in exams and killing or injuring others during their escape everyone could feel a small Spike of anger come from two distinct points in the room and both nuto and hiashi refus to care instead of ratting out one another confessing each Village became more and more belligerent and disrespectful in dismissing the claims eventually they declared war on koha soon as stands at are back as does grass and waterfall a few mutters went through the seated assembly but they quickly silenced themselves we are here today to discuss our course of action key positions for the duration of this war as well as to handle any concerns or questions we shall also decide on an adequate opening few missions to send teams on before we get too many full squads sent into the field the collective weary saigh escaped the Shinobi side of the council the questions and concerns portion would drag on forever as usual and it's always by the civilian Council sunade cleared her throat and was handed a paper by jera the first order of business shall be the assignment of roles many of these assignments will be unchanged from the last time we went to war and I am grateful that we have such experience available to us many of the civilians lean forward in their seat hoping to be chosen for one spot or another Nar found it kind of sad really my LED General and strategist will be shikaku Nara I am positive your performance will do your clan as proud as your previous one chikaku stood and bowed to the Hokage before retaking his seat it was of no real surprise the man was a tactical genius that must also be where shikimo gets that from Gua will remain the Spy master and Lead infiltrator in conjunction with this enoi yamanaka will remain the head of intelligence and communication enoi bowed well Ura simply inclined his head I am placing the hyuga in charge of guarding the borders I will leave the decision on how many to dedicate to our border safety and how many to give to our fighting force on you hiashi the pay man gave his own flowing bow I am placing koha financial affairs in the hands of miuki hero Mino was ashy nuto honestly stopped listening after the list turned into the civilian side of things he was pretty sure most of the last positions were to keep the merchants happy with pointless titles the only position of importance was the first one regarding the wars funding and nuto only recognized Sakura's mother and the owner of the bank from the names listed what the hell were they doing handing out jobs for a home care and cleaning committee anyway but that out of the way we can get into the statistical side of this war our last reported census places our total forces around the 15,000 Mark of that number 8,000 are jenin 5,000 are chunan and 2,000 are jonan Theo saw shikaku write those numbers down on a pad of paper Gua has reported the number for Kumo and IA to be around 20,000 and and 18,000 respectively they both have more Shinobi than us but we hold our standards higher our brave Shinobi are worth five of each of theirs nuto could appreciate the little bit of pep talk but the hard numbers still made him uncomfortable apparently shikaku shared his thoughts the man made small sounds of displeasure as he wrote down notes and numbers tunna can offer 11,000 Shinobi to the fight with grass and waterfall combining for another 9,000 we do not know for sure the allies of our enemies so we cannot account for their numbers what of Miss lady tunate Itachi asked his head tilted in curiosity we do not know how much of the country has started to follow my former teammate tsunade's brow furrowed in frustration at the thought sound alone invaded us with an estimated 6,000 troops we killed and captured almost half of them so it would be safe to assume that in the last year their numbers have grown back to around 4,000 we should assume with the addition of miss our opposition doubles that number nuto heard a huff and more scratches from shikaku that poor man now our main focus should be on Kumo mist and any of their allies we can trust sunna and our allies to guard our rear from Iowa and we can either hold off or eliminate our threats further deliberation with my strategist is needed to cement a plan into place mters ran through the room as the words left her mouth and Naruto watched silently as she silenced the room in a creative way her hand Rose and her fingers indicated she wanted jera to approach her as soon as Naruto's first Sensei was close enough her hand wrapped around jura's jaw hard Naruto smiled as he saw a fear widen in his perverted Role Models eyes and sunate threw him forward the sandon screamed as he flew down the table the sound getting louder until it passed Naruto and quickly fading as the flying man went past and the room was shocked into silence the far wall held no resistance to the large projectile and a hole into the hallway was created everyone knew then how hard their Hokage threw one of her oldest friends well that's one way to use your top jonen to silence the table now are there any suggestions on preliminary missions possible teams for the missions or anything you wish to discuss with me or the rest of the council sunate asked her voice unchanged from the last time she spoke we should send a team to omeger to try and secure their allegiance one of the civilian suggested literally every one of the present Shinobi had to fight a visible reaction did did a civilian just offer a good idea soon a recovered quickly and answered I will have a diplomatic team sent to aim thank you for the suggestion soft mutters went through the crowd as people tried to come up with their own ideas sunade leaned in to listen to her advisers Naro decided that this was as good a Time as any time to make an impression nuto ruffled his papers smacked the bottom of the stack on the table to neaten them up and cleared his throat to get the rooms attention lady Tsunade if I may he asked he was still the new kid on the Block literally the youngest person in attendance so he was showing as much respect as he could of course nuto anyone seated in the uzamaki chair doesn't need to ask to have their voice heard was her response Nudo smiled in thanks for both the personal reassurance in the new environment and the political backing her words help held the senju and the uzamaki were distantly related and in the past his family had done great things for leaf sunade wanted everyone to know that she would treat nuto like a tri uzamaki despite his name only recently being validated I have a few points actually most of the reasons that smaller hidden Villages turn on us are because war between the major countries destroys their lives in order to avoid this I suggest we inform the residents of Northern te country to evacuate I suggest we do the same for those in wave even though they do not have a mil to attack us with the fact that they are a major player in Marine trade means that they could wreck us economically in the future Naruto's words hit the money-minded civilians extra hard something he had been counting on to reach through to them as well as future repercussions the bridge to wave should prove to be an important Supply Route during the war one we should move to secure early on as for Te everywhere between our border and the border to frost country should be cleared sunade smack the table once to silence the room wave I understand but what Drew you to adding T into the equation soon n already mentally agreed but she wanted to hear nutk reasoning in the last Great War Frost aligned with Kumo and the one before that they were nearly destroyed by Kumo knowing this it is in Frost's best interest to align themselves with Kumo T would get caught up in the crossfire and we want to be able to fight without worrying about the lives of Innocents nod showed the approval of nutk words so he continued I would recommend two teams be sent W in order to both deliver the message and secure the bridge I believe that the team sent to te should be prepared to act as an assault team as well since it would be prudent to also have them Scout the border and few miles into Frost country for signs of Kumo activity if possible they could try and persuade the country to our side sunade leaned to the elders to get their opinions on the matter as she did so Naruto caught the eye of a few of the older Clan heads many of whom gave him looks of approval so far so good andun a straightened back up the room quieted in addition to your solid preemptive plan the elders would like to add a team to go to sound their mission will be to locate and Destroy old bases used by sound that was the approval to nut's proposal that he was looking for he sat back and waited out the duration of the rest of the suggestions most of them were utter crap spouted by the civilian side protect these specific luxury trade routs commonly used for exotic spices and trinkets assassinate the rage as if that was a viable option ug idiots okay does anyone have recommendations for any of the approved missions sunate asked while rubbing her temples I would volunteer my nephew niiji to join the sound team hiashi immediately volunteered thank you hiashi I know what he can contribute to the team and will add him immediately sunate responded while writing down the name I volunteer myself to the wave team I led my Jen and team there during the construction of their Bridge so I will be a trusted face Kakashi spoke from behind the Hokage sunate only nodded and wrote down his name bero spoke up again with the permission of Itachi AA and Muki huno I would like to volunteer sasu kacha and Sakura hero to accompany me on the te team we can also rendevu with a team after we complete our primary objectives the room tensed and the Hokage looked Naruto dead in the eyes for a solid 10 seconds I can agree to that three man cell if both Itachi and Muki agree there was a bit of an uproar from the civilian side of the table one of the older balding men stood up and said lady Hokage are you sure we can trust such a vital mission to a trio of chunin especially when one of them stands to gain so much at this table from volunteering himself burito bristled at that hard he was accepted as a real person since he revealed his parentage but he still was held in rather low light due to his other circumstances not by many but enough that it affected situations like this to top it off this cockwaffle assumed Naruto was as power hungry as he was sunade remained completely calm looked at the standing man and then smiled lightly Naro felt his stomach drop a little he knew enough about the woman to know that a reserved smile like that meant she was pissed Naro you have my permission to validate yourself as leader of this Mission Nudo smiled and nodded at his Hokage thank you lady tunate n stood and locked eyes with every person in the room for a split second before settling on the man standing across from him I am Naruto yamaki namikas takuetsu jonan of koha I have single-handedly killed summons that entire squads could not I have single-handedly killed dozens of men at once on more than one occasion a year ago as a jenin I was listed as an aank Threat by both IA and Kumo I am the only living user of the herish which is how I plan to rendevu with a sound team I have defeated Jin shuii with nothing more than handmade seal I defeated a reincarnated shaame Hokage in the same manner I am the Gin Chiki of the strongest Buu in the world the same beu I now have the ability to summon into battle at his full strength by the end of his speech everyone was slack jawed or in gripping fear of the blonde much of that information wasn't well known and his last little bow trumped everyone's expectations well except sunade jera and Kakashi that is any objections to Naruto leading this team sunate asked I volunteer my brother for the position Itachi responded and I volunteer my daughter Sakura miuki immediately followed good in that case the meeting is adjourned sunade stood and left through her door leaving a still stunned room to watch nuto gather his papers nuto staggered into the massive new house of his he was sore tired and conflicted after the meeting had taken place nuto had made his way over to the hospital to see Sakura and deliver the news she was there all right and the lady at the desk had even directed nuto to the room Sakura had been assigned to for the day Naruto didn't expect to see sasu present apparently he had somehow burned the majority of his forearms and then he went in to get some attention from his lady friend overall it just made nut's job easier but it was still funny to think about they were both ecstatic to hear that they had a mission together so soon after nutk return but quickly sobered when nuto told them what the mission was they weren't little kids anymore and they were getting sent on a high-risk aank mission to the land of ta to top it off there was a reason between all of them that they were hesitant to return nuto had spent the rest of the day preparing and his his big house while clones moved personal things in near the end of the day though Naruto tested out the training field to vent out whatever frustrations the mission had brought back up all in all it had a passing grade and the dirt tasted just like it was supposed to now 3 hours later Naruto was setting his Scrolls on the living room table camping gear and clothes extra weapons provisions and his cealing supplies this was an important Mission and his first as a leader he'd make sure everything went fine two days of travel brought team 7 to koha's border with land of tea the trio had actually stopped at the same Outpost nuto had first been deployed to everyone there was unfamiliar though and a fair number of them were hyuga this Outpost has a better map of tea than we do it should show us most of the villages we need to hit Naruto explained as he led his team through the Halls he was impressed with them so far especially Sakura neither of them had asked for a break during the trip but that was expected of his team by now what impressed nuto was the fact that neither of them appeared to be any worse for the wear do they also have a cafeteria Sakura asked more than tired of eating Bland ration bars arudo smiled although neither of them could see it take this next left and you'll see the sign you both can grab something to eat I can read a map by myself so he can learn came sas's dry reply arudo turned around in confusion when they reached the hallway leading to food Sakura when did you teach him humor said pinat simply laughed once as she dragged her smirking boyfriend away wek bring you whatever they have for Raymond she knows me so well literally everyone knows that about you and at the end of the hallway was the information center and it held the map they wanted stepping inside Naruto waved to the oddly familiar looking hyuga they all shared to look though so who knows and made his way to the hanging team map the plan so far was to hit every town and Village along the western border and send them to the relatively safe Southeast towards the capital Naruto plannned on having the fleeing villagers go through any towns between the Western border and the capital effectively clearing the region while resupplying let's see there's 1 2 3 Naruto counted seven Villages and one larger town in total along the path they would take it shouldn't take too long at each so maybe 3 days to reach the frost country border nuto took a good 15 minutes tracing a finger along the shortest and easiest paths to take choosing the ones he preferred and memorizing what landmarks he could Kara pointed out a few things when he felt inclined to do so such as a few of the SES of forest in the root were marked for prime hunting grounds Nudo took that into consideration and mentally marked such an area for one night's camp we brought you the wet noodles SAS announced as he and Sakura entered wo insult me all you like but you leave the gods chosen food out of it Naruto warned as he took the warm cup Sakura sighed at their Antics but she was happy that nuto was starting to open up about being more lenient on missions he used to be a real stickler about staying professional so what's the plan arudo took a long second or nine to slurp at the noodles before smacking his lips and turning to the map we're here and we'll travel this way he trailed his finger up the Western border and hit a total of eight settlements they'll flee East going through every village they can and alerting the rest wek camp here and here before we cross into frost on the third night Sask nodded along with a plan content to trust in nutk lead for this one Sakura though took a closer look at the map would you pick that second campsite we could get closer to the border on that day and leave less ground to cover in the morning nuto was honestly pleased that he had someone with him who would not only follow but also question him he had been taught that it was the best way to learn to lead kurarama noticed that it was a marked hunting ground so I decided to call that one early and get some real food in us before the big push we'd be far enough from the border I'll feel comfortable with a fire that satisfied the pink kichi and after that they were ready to head out Naruto let sasu take lead telling him to watch for the next Landmark knowing that they could keep up Naruto pushed the speed a bit with nothing more than a stirring of Treetops team seven was off the first Village was in sight now and not just to sasukes eyes Naruto retook the lead since he'd be in charge of talking to the Village leader okay we don't want to be here for more than half an hour we offer our help to get people ready to leave but we're gone in 30 understood the other two members of the team confirmed like most small villages the trees were cut back about a 100 yards away from the walls this let the Watchmen see any approaching animals or people now such a thing isn't too much of a problem for Ninja the level of Sask Sakura or narudo but the three walked into the clearing regardless the shout and a wave came from a lone Watchman and nuto waved back trying to convey his friendly intentions a few samur I appeared at the gate and nuto knew that they were just a precaution hello Travelers what is your business in our home the Watchman asked once team 7 was within ear shot he sounded friendly enough but he was definitely ready to Signal the attack arudo stopped walking once the question was asked we are Shinobi from koha we come as Messengers trying to save as many of your people as possible all of the Samurai moved their sword hands to their pommels the collective rustle of their armor being impressively in sync I apologize stranger but your message has the tone of a threat The Watchmen said weily if these were honestly Kohan ninja there wasn't much this handful of mid-tier Samurai could do to stop them and the Watchman knew it quite the opposite sir we come bearing the news of another looming war and we would prefer if you and your people evacuated immediately I would be remiss if innocence were caught in the Bloodshed between koha and Kumo The Watchmen cursed then another war and you wish to use our home as a Battle Ground why must you shobi always trample on those beneath you are we not deserving of our peace as War that important to you that you would upturn the lives of every country between you and your enemy baruto bowed his head this was a man who had seen at least one war in his time likely at the feet of fighting Shinobi I apologize sincerely it is not our intention to Sully your lands with blood but even if we are simply passing our armies through to fight on the enemy ground we may be attacked I do not want your children to see something so horrible as a war for many years in the event that I can't ask for never sasu and Sakura stood in silent support of their friend and leader and they heard the Sigh The Watch gave fine thank you for your warning and may whatever Gods be bless you on your travels we will warn others on our travels East nuto let out a sigh of relief as the samurai went back to a neutral stance we can offer you and yours 20 minutes of Aid in preparation but we have many others we need to warn north of you nuto was waved off go warn our Kinsmen we are a poor Village and no one has much to prepare we will be gone by noon arudo waved one more time before leading his team into the northmost trees he let out a relieved breath and leaned against a tree not bad for my first nonviolent diplomacy attempt a guys Naruto where did you learn how to do that that was actually really well said Sakura asked as she let her team leader regain his composure spent a year with sages that's literally the only way they talk you pick up a thing or two Naruto joked lightly you handled yourself well your Masters would be proud you good to get going sasu cased yep we have extra time now but we should keep moving the rest of the day was met with two more experiences that mirrored the first both of the other settlements in the day were small and nuto even let Sakura try talking to the third one of the day sasu would take the last one tomorrow but for now they were busy finding the knight's campsite I can see a clearing ahead there's a large pond in the middle of it Sask reported from the lead we should be fairly close then Naruto commented you mark the first Camp to be just north of the pond Sakura added and Naruto found himself grateful once more for her skills in memorizing things saso grunted and led them a little way to the left likely to get her around the body of water it was in fact a good flat area of land clear of trees just north of the water Naruto gave the silent signal to start setting up camp and as he set up his own tent a trio of clones took off into the woods to both Scout and gather firewood once the fire was going and everyone was eating the Bland heated travel meals Naruto said I leave a clone on guard at night it will be able to maintain Sage Mode by meditating all night and that should give us a pretty good range of protection the sound border is to the West right sasu Cas as he ate yeah we have almost 5 miles between us and the Border though Sakura answered remembering such on the map hopefully nii and his team are already in sound and marking up bases it will give us a bit of a cushion to the west but we do have to watch out for Odo and fleeing this way I'll have the sage clone send out lesser clones to try and take out anyone it feels is a threat but if things need a real ninja it'll wake one of us probably saso since you can see in the dark bam life sucks Buttercup well see you guys in the morning nuto asked as he stood sleep tight Naruto Sakura called out following the blond's Le and heading to her tent she shared a quick kiss with sasu before they went to their separate tents arudo sat up suddenly not entirely sure why he had reacted but doing his best to wake up nonetheless he always slept with one of his gloves on and now a set of claws were extended towards the flap of his tent when his eyes finished waking up he saw that a lesser clone had entered his tent h& g g he was basically a Sasso now [ __ ] boss we got a large group of Shinobi fleeing Odo they'll cross us about half a mile North we could engage or go unnoticed wake the others Naro said lowly putting on the rest of his clothes if they're in the same tent I don't want the memories the Clone gave a small two-fingered salute and disappeared behind the flap Naruto finished dressing going as far as to pull out his familiar black cloak and Hood the other glove went on and he moved out by the remains of the fire to wait for his team sassu came out first looking no different than normal and completely awake he flashed through all the stages of his Sharingan as he walked likely trying to wake up fully Sakura wasn't long after Sask thankfully from her own tent Naruto wasn't sure why he was so worried about that it would be funny as hell to catch them in such a compromising situation Naruto why do I feel the need to hurt you Sakura asked as soon as the thought finished in his mind thinking quickly Naruto replied smoothly with because I just woke you up in the middle of the night to go hunt down a group of Odon nin Sakura nodded and agreed oh yeah that'll do it how many and how far sasu cased cutting straight to business so he reverts back to a 12-year-old when he's tired that was good to know 14 and they'll pass a half mile north of us in 10 minutes I won't force you to go since it's not part of the mission but I thought I'd at least offer okay cool let's go SAS didn't even hesitate to answer Sakura Shrugged and started to stretch for the coming travel and fight nuto well pleased for the company couldn't help but throw in a jab at his dark-haired friend wow Sask I didn't know you were so selfless that you'd go out of your way to kill people the innoc at stake here must really be influencing you or he was tired and wasn't thinking straight Naro didn't know which answer was better not even close [ __ ] sasu snarked as he cracked his neck it's because you're our leader and our best friend we don't care if it's a mission or if it's because you think one of them is a hot alien with three tits that your Sensei wants a drawing of where you go we'll follow you now hurry up so we can get back to sleep but that sasu took off walking to the Forest Edge leaving a stun Nudo flapping his jaw in a feudal attempt to understand what had just occurred Sakura walked up to him closed his mouth and pat him on the shoulder in a show of comfort he says these things when he's tired come on letun get this over with stop this is the spot the sage clone says they're on course to cross Naruto said coming to a halt in the trees what's the plan sassu C lowly I'll have a clone hide underground with a modified explosive note attached and sassu qy in the trees above it once the first half of their group passes the Clone it will detonate the tag and hopefully take out the last two or three of them Sask you hop down behind the smoke to cut off their Retreat will you not get the memory of literally blowing up Sakura asked with more than a little concern as Naruto placed a note on a clone's chest nah I've learned how to disable the memory gain for specific clones it's come in handy a few times Naruto replied rest of the plan guys we only have a few more minutes Sask urged oh yeah Sask you take lead on this one in the dark your eyes will be a pretty scary incentive to surrender I'll have my mask on an 11 clone spread out so you can just pretend we're like your Faceless Men or whatever you want how's your acting and improv skills by what you'll do fine just be as dark as you like to pretend you really are and start ordering me to kill them off if they don't cooperate Sakura you'd be in the woods for a straggler or two no offense but you would kind to stand out in this situation zakura moved into the Treetops no I get it you boys have your fun cool okay let's come up with a script for you Sask we only need one of them alive IA had no idea how the base had been found there was no trace of it on the surface the hatch was even buried via Earth Jutsu after every use it couldn't have been by smell either no one would be stupid enough to leave anything on the surface like that all IBA had been able to do was Destroy what files he could gather the 13 most important experiments and flee towards Master Rim's new area and missed so far things were going okay aside from the fact that all they had was weapons and a bit of water IBA surmised that they would have to hunt and steal for food IA may have made a personal decision when he fled in all honesty experiment 7 wasn't vital by any stretch of the imagination in fact she was almost put down since the mark given her had been so defective but she was so sweet and she kind of reminded IA of his daughter and she didn't deserve to die at the hands of those kohad ouch bags suddenly the piece of the night was split by an earth shattering explosion sending everyone tumbling forward IA yelled along with his men his ears ringing as he skitted to a stop in the dirt IA looked back the way they came and his eyes grew with with fear of what was hiding in the dark smoke and dust were in the process of clearing but it was easy enough to see the twin torsos impaled to tree trunks long sharp shards of Bloody Bones stuck through the stomachs of each torso only one of them still having a limb attached he knew both of them in an instant it was experiments one and two arachim maru's attempts at recreating the kagaya bloodline it had been a partial success and both of them were capable of both elongating and strengthening the bones in their arms the bones that now stuck them to trees as the dust finally settled in the remaining 12 of ibas grew puddled together defensively and even more chilling sight became visible a lone man stood outlined against a moonlet background he held the head of one of ia's perished men in one hand and a long deadly Katana in the other who are you why have you attacked us IBA called out angrily I the figure started slowly am he who stalks the Knight and you are nothing more than my prey the man tossed aside the head of whichever bone brother he held the dull thump resounding much louder than it should have IA felt a sense of relief then this was nothing more than some [ __ ] trying to play the hero oh really well Mr nightstalker we seem to have you a bit outnumbered here there came a low dark chuckle and the figure lifted his head IBA didn't even know he had been looking at the ground and resented himself for not attacking when he had the advantage he hated himself a lot more for almost soiling himself at the new sight the man now stared straight at IBA and his group of refugees with the eyes of a devil they seemed to absolutely glow in the darkness illuminated by whatever evil fire burned with within this man they were the eyes of a predator the eyes of one who truly did stalk the night itself I want you the katana started drawing circles in the dirt the grading of metal on dirt also seemingly magnified a thousandfold to look around you look and see my pack that surrounds you ready to kill you at my leisure IBA didn't want to he didn't want to take his eyes away from the glowing orbs of this demon in man's skin and have his head stolen from his body that is until he heard a soft feminine whimper behind him no she shouldn't have to die IA looked at his left and blanched emerging from the very Darkness itself were hooded Faceless Men there were beams of moonlight that illuminated one of their heads and there was actually no face more demons at the back and call of their master I shall allow one of you to flee but you speaker must stay and be the one to choose the katana never stopped its loud circles IBA did not trust this man demon thing but if he was telling the truth 11 Head East the large muscular man hesitantly stepped out of the group circle IBA had chosen him because he had the best chance of surviving the journey his body had been modified the most his skin replaced with armor like living leather plates his bones were three times as strong as any man's besides cimro El was strong he would be the one to tell arachim everything El walked slowly to the western edge of the Ring of Faceless Men absolutely terrified of getting too close to one even though he towered a foot above them once he was past the circle he broke into a run and disappeared into the forest IBA felt a glimmer of hope that hope was immediately dashed when he heard a short yell a laugh loud meaty impact and rustling foliage Elan came back through the trees flying high above everyone's heads he slammed into a tree above a faceless man limp and unmoving elan's body fell only to have his head caught by one of the demons in black and promptly crushed in one hand with a burst of strength and chakra a demon tossed aan back to the group and IA saw that his ribs had been destroyed by a single massive impact he had been dead long before his head was crushed in everyone in his group shifted nervously and Drew what weapons they had I'm sorry it seems that my associates did not agree with my Mercy how unfortunate the red-eyed demon drawled over the noise his sword tip made maybe at some point I will ask for what you might call a surrender IA felt his pride take a blow at the words he was one of arachim maru's lieutenants trusted with an entire base on his honor as a man he would never go down without a fight my eyes see your truth Dead one they know your pride will force you to fight and as such you will force them all to die IA couldn't breathe too well now he was so [ __ ] scared how does one fight a demon in the first place this was a children story type of stuff um the low menacing tone was back then the sword stopped the circles the silence was absolutely deafening even the surrounding bugs had gone to hiding leaving IBA and his group to listen only to their frantic Heartbeats The Faceless Men didn't move but blue ethereal claws formed at their hands in perfect snc the man lifted his sword and pointed it at the group four 9 and 12 were pointed out and IBA was stuck between fear and confusion you three will die now IA didn't even see it happen there were three blurs and three Faceless Men seemed to settle back into place their cloaks floating gently down and then every person pointed at by the red-eyed demon dropped to the ground four was missing her head nine lacked most of his throat and the internal organs that littered the ground and 12 had half of her brain exposed to the pale Moonlight seven threw up directly behind IBA and he moved directly in front of her so she couldn't be pointed at 3 5 6 8 diamond formation IA managed to call out three shakily took the Left Flank six the right eight face the rear and five took point five did his best to stare down the red eyes in front of them but he couldn't meet their gaze a demon in charge let this happen and when all four experiments activated a level one curse mark he chuckled kill all four of them more blurs of black speed but this time there were Grunts and a single scream of pain IBA watched in horror as one of the faceless ones cut both of five's hamstrings with his off worldly claws kneeling stock still behind the still living experiment to ia's continued horror the being flickered from existence and reappeared in front of f five was on his knees so he was next to powerless to stop the being from reaching out with both hands grasping the sides of his head and ending his life IBA felt his heart stop when he saw FES now lifeless eyes and face where the back of his head should have been a hand was placed on the top of his head and blood seeped from every orifice of f skull soon it blew apart in a bloody swirling massive chakra his brain having been Blended from the inside he please IA choked back a sob he couldn't take this nightmare anymore he and all of his men were powerless to stop these demons yes I see the fight leaving you my eyes tell me much but you two the eyes and the sword both trained on first 10 and then 13 must still die before IA could say or do anything the last two of his Fighters were gone not killed before his eyes just gone the passing unnatural Breeze gave the impression that they had been sped away but IA saw nothing Hy please no 13 could be heard just off in the woods and IBA fell to his knees when he heard her loud sobs full silent that was it he could do no more he and seven would die here at the hands of these monsters instead of at the mercy of koha at this point it would be so much nicer to die IA had seen too many nightmares to ever wake up from now I see it your eyes tell mine all I need to know you are finished a slave to whatever whim I may have but you the man did something new and pointed with his hand instead of his sword he was pointing over ia's head and at seven yes you child you were once pure taken from your world of light and plunged into a Darkness not of your own making you I shall choose to save two of The Faceless Men parted and from between them came what could only be a goddess yes please she's innocent I swear IBA confirmed desperately the tears springing from his eyes silence worm the harsh order from the demon sent IBA sprawling to the dirt growling silently to plead for his life the goddess seemed to glide into the circle of Faceless Men her or light and calming her arms glowed green with a Telltale sign of healing and she she held out a dainty hand to seven hum was the only soft soothing sound she made her steps were silent and her beautiful pink hair covered her eyes with what little length it held as quickly as she came she was gone taking seven and leaving I alone with the Demons of his nightmare again the sword was in the dirt the unnaturally loud grating sound got closer as the furiously calm red eyes approached with slow powerful steps I see you your essence you can hide nothing from me now and you are broken IA knew he was right so here am on the ground and placed his forehead to the dirt in hopes of appeasing this angry dark God he said not a word and the clearing was filled with a heavy sense of malice it seemed to come from every direction not just from his new dark lord the feet stopped in front of IBA and his Lord paused before doing anything IBA felt the blade dip under his chin urging him to raise his head he did so eagerly quick to try and please his new master he looked up and immediately into the blood red eyes of his master the intricate swirling lines holding some dark occult meaning that he may never TR understand surrender your life to me and my kin surrender yourself now and I swear to you that your soul will never see the torment your body has known IA nodded enthusiastically yes my dark lord I am yours from now until your need of me dies I sweared the demon Rose to his full height and locked eyes with one of his Faceless Men simultaneously every member of the circle burst into a cloak of awe and fear inducing Red Power their arms raised and one of them appeared behind IBA placing a cold hand on his shoulder the Dark Lord give so toou shall the dark lord taketh away and ia's world when dark vertigo pain extreme nausea when he opened his eyes to discard the contents of his stomach he recognized the walls of koha as well as the sitting form of the young seven what in every kami's name was that [ __ ] Sakura screamed as Naruto smiled along with Sask that was bad [ __ ] ass is what it was Kurama laughed along although he knew she couldn't hear him that was the single most baddest example of R playay I've ever seen Naruto shouted back smacking his a friend on the back I didn't know you had it in you Sask you should quit being a ninja and work in movies nah my whole family just specializes in dark and broody that's all sasu tried to brush it off but his smile was much too large to hide besides you read my improv Ed signals perfectly improvised and thank you but that one line you said surrender your life to me and my kin surrender yourself now and I swear to you that your soul will never see the torment your body has known was just freaking perfect no you guys SA robbed at her temples that was so [ __ ] up nuto looked at her blankly before responding with uh yeah that's why it worked that guy will be so easy for aoi or acki to break now Sakura actually swung at Naruto for that one that poor guy will never be the same that kind of trauma ends lives Naruto and that little girl couldn't have been more than 10 Naruto did sober a bit when the child was brought up luckily sasu jumped in for him that's why I focused all of the Mind Games on the guy who seemed in charge and gave you the signal to get her out of there as soon as I could zakura narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend she watched everyone in her group get brutally murdered she watched as her leader slowly descended into Panic fueled insanity and you're telling me that since she was sent to koha before you started talking like some wanted [ __ ] deity that it's totally fine saso shied away from her after that Outburst she was really pissed maybe things did get a bit dark wise couldn't you just put them in a jinjutsu if they broke it they'd know we were just Shinobi and would have resisted a lot more why not just kill them all at once and leave that guy alive I've seen nuto do it before his Spirit wouldn't have broken the way it did and icki would have struggled to break him since he would be fiercely loyal to rachim damn did Sask let me win no Sakura Naruto said soothingly she wasn't a normal little girl she was one of arachim maru's experiments nothing she saw here today Will trump what happens in those labs trust me the important thing is that she's in koha now and they can try and save her from a worse psyche than anos zakura crossed her arms and huffed it was still way too dark and you made Sask seem like a villain Nudo looked at Sask and tried to Signal him with his eyes sasu rolled his in understanding yeah but was I at least a powerful and mysteriously sexy villain sakuro blushed only a tiny amount maybe a little bero laughed before heading back to the camp at a slow walk come on let's get what hours of sleep we can before Daybreak and for the record saura you played your part beautifully as well the rest of that night went quietly and the entirety of Team seven woke up ready to scarf down a quick breakfast and leave Naruto had the sage clone dispersed the Natural Energy back into the ground before dispelling the first stop of the day would be the biggest settlement they would encounter during the mission and once Naruto got it out of the way he'd see if Sask wanted to take either the next one or the last one of the day Sask was once again in the lead of the group using his eyes to scout ahead twice as far as either of his teammates could see the town wasn't too far out from Camp maybe an hour's travel likely less since Naruto liked to push the speed when he could narut I'm seeing a massive clearing of almost pure dirt ahead it looks like it could be a crater of some kind sasu reported as the team sped through the Treetops really it's pretty close to the town and it must be really recent if it didn't show on the map hn bad news I think I'm starting to see some Rubble I'm pretty sure that this crater was the town Nito didn't break stride but his brain jumped at the words that wasn't a small town by any means no simple Bandits could blow it off the map without everyone knowing about it that's why I'm worried thoughts Take the Lead back maybe send a clone ahead to scout it might not be the actual Town it could just be a few outskirt Farms nuto didn't argue with a voice in his head summoning a clone into existence and giving the order to take off and Scout the crater it rocketed off as Naruto switched spots with Sask we'll go at 3/4 of our original speed give the Clone time to check things out this is what shadow clones were originally made for and it was where they truly excelled at Recon in a possibly dangerous area Naruto felt confident that whatever his clone sent back to him would be valuable information the Clone popped well it got dispelled by force I see a dust cloud originating from the center of the crater ahead sasu warned stop Naruto halted the group what are we up against Naruto you have a plan yet Sakura's voice didn't make it to the blonde though his mind was occupied with analyzing the short yet clear memory the Clone had returned to him there's one man in the center of the mess he's blind or at least blindfolded he also had some odd piercings but I don't know if they're purely cosmetic or not the thing is he's sitting on some kind of thrown fashion from the rubble and he dispelled my clone with something it was like he pushed physical Air at me but the impact was way more solid than any wind Jutsu has a right to be that description puzzled even Sakura and nuto was just fine admitting that she was the brains in this operation that wasn't a normal Jutsu is he for sure hostile he could just be a scared Survivor nuto was a bit skeptical since his clone was taken out so easily but that could have been his ego talking definitely your ego and pride talking just go and see what the old man wants Gama says we should just go talk to him so that's what we'll do be ready to fight though Naruto Sakura and sasu walked out into the devastated field doing their best to come across as friendly they weren't too sure if it would help since the guy was blind but it wouldn't hurt to try excuse me sir do you know what happened here Naruto asked stopping a few yards away from the seated man the Blindfolded man turned his head to face the trio ah children come sit with me aruto looked at first Sakura and Sask and when he got a pair of shrugs he sat cross-legged in front of the man why are you sitting alone out here do you need any kind of help the man smiled sadly before he answered the story that brings me in front of you is a long one one much too long for a single sitting Naruto saw both of his teammates show their annoyance from the corner of his eyes Sask was reserved and merely closed his eyes but sakuras was more obvious with the way her eye twitched do you know what happened to this town sasu cased once he reopened his eyes but the tilt of his head the blind man said they were crushed by the weight of their sins boy blown to the side to make way for a new world's peace great heun's an end of the world kind of gu Sakura mumbled under her breath okay but what happened exactly nuto pushed I will tell you but you must first know that I am not here to fight any of you you have enough of War on your plate as it is that one through a red flag or two Naruto be ready to defend yourself I do not trust this man the man shifted on his Rubble chair before speaking again I have happened I crushed these people their sins were the fewu all pain needs and instead of spreading to the world I made sure it was contained to the Sinners themselves what Sask shifted in place resting a hand on his shuriken pouch Sakura pulled her gloves on titer ready to start throwing fists at whatever she had to I don't understand who are you Naruto asked mentally preparing himself for an answer the man stared up into the sky his head tilted back as far as it would go even though he could not see that is a good question I have many names and yet I have none I am many people and yet I am no one person for the sake of ease you may call me pain Naruto was used to Old Men talking in riddles and rhyme by now so he followed most of that and you pain destroyed this entire town on your own you don't work with anyone there was a deep slow chuckle as the Blindfolded man stood no Naruto the organization I lead is not here with me it is not yet their time to serve a God how do you know his name Sakura asked immediately who works for you sas's question followed soon after arudo stayed silent as realization dawned on him kurarama gave off a low growl within his mind this was a very very dangerous man and he was just sitting in front of him the man stood then prompting the three members of Team seven to jump to their feet as well we've had an eye on nuto for quite some time actually speaking of I know of that little stunt you pulled last night the same as I'm aware of the Discord it caused among you sasu looked sharply to Sakura for some kind of response but she refused to meet his gaze and focus on the strange man what are you talking about Naruto demanded he was confident that he would have known if they were being watched zakura you failed to understand the implications that war brings in times like these Villages like yours expect anything to go you are taught to go to any lengths to shorten the war and save as many of your own people as possible unfortunately that little girl and surviving man of that group had to be put through what you all did last night to achieve this but this is war and it was expected Sakura relaxed a bit as she started to see the new viewpoint on the other side of the coin sasu Naruto could have taken measures against the situation had they been given more time perhaps they would have but what you two did can be considered Despicable by any means and your people will only believe it Justified under the banner of War just know that the little girl's wellbeing is on your heads saso took his turn in softening his stance not everyone was as cold or hard as he could be since not everyone had been broken and rebuilt like had been his actions did have consequences and what made it worse was that they wouldn't hurt him but others Nudo you had the best understanding of what you were doing but still decided to let events unfold the way they did you let things drag out and become much worse than necessary simply because you found it amusing that Sask was doing so well your sins weigh the heaviest and what are you going to do about it old man flatten me like this Village Naruto struggled not to snarl as he spoke in truth if this was the man he thought it could be he would need karama's help no Naruto I promised you that I wasn't here to fight any of you the man began to turn away slowly nark eyes widened as his worst fears were shown on the mank cloak red clouds your time to die by hand has not yet come he zakat tsuki Naruto yelled and with less than a thought five tales burst from behind him nuto released every ounce of malice he could muster doing his best to direct it at the leader of akitsuki there was a lot more he was capable of releasing now nearly double of what he had used during koha's Invasion and it showed the ground beneath his feet cracked and cratered and even with his focus on the akitsuki leader both Sakura and sasu buckled by the feeling I see you have grown since the last time I watched you came the Casual response the Naruto's shock a hand flicked out and then backward flinging a piece of paper at Nudo it flew too fast for even nuto to avoid and it stuck itself firmly to the right side of his forehead the malice cut off the tails disappeared and Naruto fell shaking to his knees he felt empty devoid of energy and warmth and now he couldn't even feel K G his internal shout was as loud as he had ever managed but there was only silence in response we got him sas's eyes lit up in the now familiar pattern of his eternal Mano and Sakura blitzed herself to the second gate the couple flew forward flying at the turned back of the man Naruto was too weak to tell them to stand down all he could do was support himself on his shaking arms Naruto saw fire streaming from sasukes mouth and he knew that a massive wave of heat and destruction would soon follow Sakura was ready to launch her fist forward green energy swirling around her hand nuto felt confident in his team but it all changed when he heard the cold voice of the man once more shinen say sasu and Sakura were flung back and Naruto followed them soon after he had no way of catching himself and the powerful push sent him crashing into and through the rubble without kurama's healing power or even his own strength Naruto was in serious danger of dying he felt his arm snap his leg get cut open by a sharp Rock and the impact of the hard ground with every tumble he took away from the man the three shenobi of Canó has stopped about 50 yards from their enemy nuto remaining on the ground in severe pain I do have to thank you for such a tag nuto had you not given it to sunna while it was under the control of a certain snake I never would have been able to buy it off of him Nudo cursed within his throbbing head I have only come to tell you that I do hope you win your little War I may not pick one but I do favor one side over the other the man you captured last night was on his way to rachim Maru so you should learn of his location soon enough also the Border towns in Frost country have already been militarized against you you can either return home or purge them for me it makes no difference to my plan hands Theo managed to painfully tilt his head up to look at pay once more he stood calmly facing the trio without a care in the world he must have been using some form of voice amplification because he was speaking in the same tone from this distance Sakura was soon at Naruto's side removing the tag and healing what she could pain tilted his head as he watched Sakura snap nutk arm back together and heal it manually happy that the tag worked now that I know that I wasn't sold faulty Goods I will take my leave know this children you are some of the only Mortals to live after being face to face with a living God nuto braced himself on one arm and focused on regaining his chakra back as well as his connection to kurarama if it was truly his tag then he knew that the more chakra someone had and tried to use the sooner the effect would wear off after removal also Naruto pain straightened and spread his arms wide by meeting me you are all that much closer to finding hanata and then he was gone no flash no smoke just gone and nuto was livid his chakra seeped out of his tinku doing its best to reopen everything both of his teammates backed away from what they knew was a coming explosion red began to leak from him rolling off of him and growing waves a dam broke and nuto was explosively shrouded in gold black marks adorned his body and he radiated with furious power uh please don't make everything explode sasu Cas hesitantly nuto let the cloak fade and did his best to calm his breathing hanata would have to wait there was still a mission to do letun move we have to make sure the rest of the villages and towns are okay we have no idea if this was the only target so we'll check them all before getting into Frost then we'll move west and link up with nii zakura knew that this tone meant it was time for business and nothing else tonight she would try to talk to him hopefully after he had calmed down some with that in mind she followed him North with Sask past the ruins of the town and towards their next objective I know you're upset I'm inside you I'm always inside you ug don't say it like that whatever it takes to get you talking again you haven't said anything since we met pay and that was hours ago what did you expect and you've seen the rest of the Villages today all of them destroyed in the exact same way he isn't akatsuki's leader for nothing exactly so why would he be so stupid to show himself to us like that I don't think he's stupid Naruto that little show he put on for you had a purpose what do you think it was that got nuto thinking as he led his team even further towards the frost country border their Pace was Furious but there weren't any complaints yet he wanted me to know that he's everywhere he knew everything everything important about me and even a bit about sasu can Sakura good and he let us know that this war isn't our only concern and there isn't even a guarantee that countries are the only ones involved akitsuki could strike out at any time they wanted what else he knows where hinat is if akitsuki doesn't have her then one of their members will know who does Naruto he cut our link think about that he did what should have been impossible and cut off all of your chakra only you or your Sensei should be able to do that you heard him he bought my tag from arachim Maru I gave the tag to the sand siblings to help gar asleep so no doubt they had it looked over and turned into their kazakage before they used it and of [ __ ] course the real kazakage was dead I feel like a big part of his appearance was to show you that you aren't Invincible he even Shrugged off a fet tailed presence all he did was show me one of my weaknesses to work on and that no one is Invincible that includes him nuto we're getting pretty close to the Border can we take a break before we cross into enemy territory Sakura spoke up from behind her leader Naruto's head snapped up and he noticed that the sun had sunk below the Treetops he had spent more than a couple hours alone with his thoughts and with Karama he looked behind him next and he felt more guilty than he ever had before both of his teammates were Breathing heavily their chests and shoulders heaving with every step his brutal Pace hadn't slowed in the slightest and their nonbu enhanced bodies were feeling the toll like real soldiers like real friends they were prepared to follow nuto on his hatred fueled war path with no rest it was a good thing sakuras spoke up to snap him out of his Ry Nudo came to an abrupt stop both surprising and relieving his Haggard teammates I'm sorry you guys I was up in my head this whole time wek rest for the night and head out in the morning saso looked up from his position leaning against a tree not that I'm not grateful or anything but what happened to scouting things out at night aruto glanced between his two closest friends before sending out a pair of clones after today I think I owe you guys a decent night's rest we can have a small fire after dark if we use only the driest wood Sakura how far away is the Border about an hour and a half at standard travel speed less than half that if we keep up our speed from today she was bent at her waist rubbing at her calves while taking deep breaths Naruto was absolutely amazed she made it that long then a small fire shouldn't be anything to worry about unless there's a scouting party I have to agree with Sask on this though you don't have to worry about us we'll be fine in a few hours and we can go with your original plan to scout at night Nudo smiled as he had a pair of clones take their tents and begin to set them up for them oh scouting isn't our primary objective anymore we're just double-checking on what that pain guy told us zasu caply down once his tent had been taken from him and if what he said was true we just going to head into sound and link up with the second team theud smile grew wider oh Sask don't you remember team s's original team Dynamic and purpose Sakura answered with a slight tone yes assault oriented striking team originally of the fourth degree but elevated to Second just before you left on your training trip Nudo stared at her for a hard second his clone stopping to do the same I mean I was looking for a simple assault but hey that works too what the hell is with the degrees sasu cased fourth degree is the lowest and it's always given to Jen and teams no matter what their specialty is the higher your degree the more priority missions you're given they're harder more important things like that the resident encyclopedia dictionary Almanac informed her teammates well in that case we're going to give everyone a reason to promote us to the first degree because we have a few Kumo infested towns to wipe off the map zakura was quick to interject what about the civilians I can understand last night a bit now but if we just blow up civilians then we're no better than Kumo or rajim Theo flinched at the implication she has a point kit you will need a more precise approach to this than simply letting me cut loose you're right Naruto conceded as his first clones returned with wood we will talk about this over dinner kuram we're still in the hunting area right about half a mile out of the suggested border but it's no real problem nuto ran through the summoning seals and placed a hand to the ground allowing a three-tailed Karam to emerge with that many taals he was about the size of a large Wolf the so gorgeous Sakura clapped and covered her smile Gama showed his teeth and his Sleek coat appeared to Shimmer as he looked at Sask watch out it sounds like you have some competition and the large Fox took off into the growing Darkness to the sounds of Naruto's laughter underneath it was Sakura's giggles and Sasuke's low muttering of curses Naruto sat in front of of a small fire his teammate seated similarly around the Ring of light and warmth fresh venison between their hands caramay and a rolled ball of fur off to the side and nuto caught Sakura moving to pet him several times for Sask sake he stopped her every time in this rare time of his head being completely private Naruto thought not that he didn't uselessly think or anything it's just now he thought about the bigger things in life he actually had a Le on Hinata if akitsuki did have her then it seemed like nuto would have to start head hunting for s-ranked criminals no problems there the problems were with Nudo himself he had changed so much over the course of a few years and he wasn't too sure he liked all of the changes he wasn't sure if inata would what happened to the kid who believed he could save everyone why didn't that kid tell him to save that little girl like Sakura said he should have was he really starting to enjoy the want in destruction and humiliation of his enemies that wasn't him that was anko and no way in hell would he become an anko eyes am I a good person Naruto asked hesitantly once his own menis had disappeared sakuru glanced at her boyfriend before asking what do you mean I mean what if that pain guy had a point as crazy as he was what if the weight of sins really is what will sink us you've spent too much time talking to old men narudo say what's on your mind without twisting it up sassu grunted he came across a bit Brash but Naro knew he was doing his best to be supportive I used to be so different I hated killing and I thought I could save everyone I hang on I have an idea Narito disappeared in a sudden Flash start startling both of his teammates kurarama didn't stir and was likely still sleeping as Sask waited patiently for nk's return Sakura once again inched closer and closer to Kurama and his magnificent fur the flash of gold scared her back into her original seat I wrote this around the time I became a jenin jera Sensei told me it would help but it seems so different now that I'm reading it so much later Naruto held up a folded slightly wrinkled piece of paper in the Fire Light what's it say what is it Sakura pushed Nudo was silent for a second but he eventually read the paper aloud nuto yaki's list to live life by Shinobi have no room for Honor that is for Samurai and dead ninja but a man is allowed to be as honorable as any Samurai all ninja are tools to protect the Village from harm but all real men put what they love above all else I will never abandon my friends nor will I ever disappoint my family I will not let what happens on a mission affect what happens in my home Mercy isn't for the weak it is for the deserving death may be mine to deliver but it isn't mine to control if I am able to help someone I will put their needs above my own if I ever have to choose between honor and Duty I will choose both or die trying I don't know what you mean that all sounds just fine Sask asserted once Naruto finished exactly the problem is that I feel like I've been drifting further and further away from the kind of person I want to be 12-year-old me would never have let that little girl stay he wouldn't have jumped straight to eradicating Villages without considering civilians as I did zaket took his old argument and said 12-year-old you was never ever in Wartime is that what's going to happen Naruto asked cynically I'll go through war after war and lose a little more of my values and Humanity as time goes on Sakura had no response to that the leader of the [ __ ] akitsuki had a better grasp of right and wrong than I do he knows who deserves to die and he believes that he's dishing out some kind of Justice what am I doing sasu lowered his chin deep in thought I've been going around just reading orders and killing people they're nameless to me but they had friends probably family odds are they all had their own Hinata and I took them all from her when I didn't have to and the [ __ ] up thing is that I'm perfectly willing to keep doing it I don't care about others so much anymore as long as I keep you guys and everyone I care about safe I'll kill whoever I have to sasu picked up his head and he had a determined look in his eye that nuto knew meant that he had thought out what he had to say the thing is nuto trauma changes people it either forces them to grow or it crushes them you'd never be crushed by something like this or anything you've been through so you've been forced to grow the more pain painful the experiences the harsher you have to grow it's just the way it works you both saw it happen to me after the incident and you nuto were the first to start pulling me out from under the crushing weight thank you for that and know that we're both ready to help you with whatever it is you may need Nudo sat and stared recognizing more than a few little things from the first time he had properly met Sask he would never get used to just how much the AA was capable of saying when he wanted to but Naruto would also be forever grateful for it you ever consider becoming a sage [ __ ] off Sakura interjected the light banter he's right you know we're right here and nothing is going to change that we'll help you through this war the same way you'll help us and we'll help you get hanata back I'm sure once she's with you you'll feel more complete and a lot happier with who you are zakura locked eyes with saso for a split second chewing the inside of her lower lip as she looked at her boyfriend that's just how this sort of thing works Nudo stood and gave his friend's one last smile thank you guys really I got really lucky with my team I'm going to in for the night my Sentry clone will wake us at dawn Nudo had turned to make his way towards his tent but he was stopped by a slim yet strong pair of arms wrapping themselves around his chest a third hand placed itself on his shoulder and nuto knew even Sask was getting in on this impromptu group hug de a good person Naruto we don't doubt you so don't go doubting yourself Sakura mumbled yeah quit flipping your [ __ ] you pansy good old SAS Nudo laughed lightly as he disentangled himself from the support of his friends go to bed you guys I'll be fine in the morning kurarama you can either sleep out here or dispel yourself and head back into my mind your choice the lack of response LED Naruto to believe that the fox would sleep in the real Forest tonight but night you guys this is about as close as I'm comfortable taking us I could send in a clone but if they have a sensor which they almost certainly do it would be found pretty quickly Sask can you see From Here Naruto had his team up on a Cliffs side laying on their stomachs and scoping out a village a good mile away it was true a good sensor ninja could reach well over half a mile but if they kept their chakra usage low enough they should be safe from this distance sasu captivated his Mano and N his eyes in Focus I only see Kumo Shinobi on patrol and setting up defenses no civilians in sight Theo scowled great so this is either a scorched Earth or a search and rescue mission now do you see any teams or single Shinobi on the outskirts yes it looks like a Duo is headed off to the east side of the village to get wood they have a wagon and axes Aro looked at sakur silently asking for her input on the situation since everyone on the team was technically capable of leading one of their own Naruto thought it was a good idea to get ideas whenever he could if sasu could trap one of them in a jinjutsu and lead the other one far enough away to eliminate one and capture the other we could interrogate him for information on the village and maybe even the rest of the villages arudo nodded to himself already liking the plan sasu spoke up then visual jinjutsu still uses chakra what if the sensor picks it up most soldiers will travel either to the front of the woods or the back end of the resident sensor range if sassu can get one with his cheating eyes from about 20 yards away he should be safe enough for light chakra use Sask is that pair cutting at the front edge of the woods or are they moving deeper in Naruto asked they've started cutting about 2/3 of a mile in okay kuram says that should be about the effective range of their sensor you just have to hit one with your jinjutsu from your max distance and you should be fine just keep your kill quick quiet and don't use chakra Sask laid a hand on the h of his sword and said be back in five sasu returned with a Kumo chunin trailing him the Kumo nin had a glazed look in his eye and he clearly had no idea what was going on I'm telling you those eyes are totally cheating the job Sask Sakura immobilize him please Sakura nodded and knelt down by the dazed Man's legs her hand came up by her waist as she looked for the best place to immobilize the man in question suddenly her fist flew forward there was a sick squelch right before a sharp cracking sound and then she pulled her bloody Fist from between his legs the Kumo man snapped out of the jinjutsu no doubt in horrifying Agony his mouth was stretched wide as tears streamed down his face but no sound or erir escaped his lips as Naruto looked on in morbid Fascination he finally heard the pain squeak that came from the target oh my gods Sakura Sask said as he backed away the prisoner was now on his side cupping the crushed remains of his manhood I was expecting some kind of medical thing Sakura shook the blood and puss from her hand as she responded hotly if you boys can enjoy torturing a group of people then I should be allowed to enjoy my own bit of torture that's a red flag tell saso to run as far away from her as possible uh we still need information from him and we can't wait a whole day for him to numb the pain to talk nuto said sasu perked up at that how about 3 days I can be back in less than a minute Nudo knew vaguely what he meant it was one of Itachi's most feared techniques go ahead just get what we need from him saso nodded turned the down man to face him then went completely still for nearly a full minute when he moved again the Kumo Ninja convulsed on the ground but sasu quickly used his sword to put an end to his suffering Naro was honestly relieved for him all right what's the deal how did it go Sakura asked her boyfriend I'm not quite as good as Itachi yet so I only had two days to talk to him plenty of time but he made me promise to kill him and end his phallic torture his eyes then flicked to Sakura in fear but he did tell me that Kumo always make civilians evacuate before they dig themselves in aside form this Village there's three as we head West great Naruto sat down made three clones and started to a mass nature chakra that's one for each of us oh Naruto you spoil me have fun big guy you're letting kurarama out won't that tell them who's responsible Sakura asked yeah but who cares we're already at War this will just put a nice little chunk into Kumo's forces and we can hit the next Village before word reaches them I'll take the next one sassu can take the third and Sakura you can cut loose on the last one what makes you think can destroy an entire Village Sakura asked worriedly uh you can demolish buildings with a tap of your knuckles you can open the gates and you can literally turn Invincible sasu answered he finished just as Naruto finished Gathering the needed chakra yeah okay that's fair Naruto stood and handed Sakura one of his hin kunai Sakura you're the strongest one here do you think you can hurl this thing a mile and over their Village she looked at to kunai then felt its Weight and Balance I mean probably it's worth a shot you ready in there oh I am going to enjoy this nuto placed a hand on the kunai again coating it in an application of Gail Palm that should make it much easier let her rip Sakura reared back focused her chakra and hurled her arm forward with everything in her there was a small shock wave as the kunai left her hand it had both broken the sound barrier and threw up a small cloud of dirt you overshot it by half a mile sasu dead Pand I can make that work Naruto exclaimed before flashing out of sight is it bad if I said that was pretty hot sassu casked one they were alone how long do you think we have Sakura asked him back probably not long enough for anything good one of the sitting clones coughed guys we're still here zakura Shrugged yeah but we know you'd erase that memory or whatever before dispelling then the Clones disappeared and they heard a deafening Roar from the direction of the village there was Kurama in all his ninetail glory think queer far enough away [ __ ] I hope so a of koha invasion the NAT woke up laying on her side blood coating her arms and her head throbbing everything had happened so quickly and there were so many Zabuza could only hold off most of them and it fell to hanata and Haku to keep Karen safe hanata still wasn't sure why Kumo and Ian in were attacking them specifically if anything they should have been going for bigger fish if they were part of the invasion they finally awake AO said to hanat is far left she tried to activate her by aan but found that doing so made her nearly pass out once more please don't do that again you tried to activate your D Jutsu the last time you woke up and that was half a day ago she was in worse shape than she thought who are you hanada asked as she struggled to sit up and face the speaker you can call me Toby most of my friends do anyway I saved you from that group who was attacking you anata finally sat up fully and got her first view of the stranger who saved her he wore a mask a red swirly one that only exposed one eye probably blind in the other one he was also wrapped in a black cloak so she couldn't see the rest of him why she managed to cro out you are very important to a certain someone hanada someone who I hope I can enlist the help of one of these days the's eyes narrowed as she came to a conclusion if you think that < just let you use me to get to Naruto then you are sorely mistaken it was a light chuckle but it wasn't intimidating in the least no you mistake me for the scum that attacked you I don't plan to force or bribe nuto into anything I just want him to feel like he owes me enough to help me so I rescued you his princess the relaxed and fraud a blush at the words I wouldn't say princess or anything another soft laugh from Toby don't deny it hauga I had one of my own long ago that's actually why I need your boyfriend's help how is that any different than using us hanata asked heun have a choice I'll bring you back once it's safe and you're healthy and he will be able to choose whether to help me or not he likely will since my goals make his Enemy Mine thenada could accept that answer but before she could say anything she shivered Toby stood removed his cloak and moved to drpe it over her shoulders Hinata smiled in thanks wrapping the warm fabric tightly around her shoulders that's when she saw the first sign of trouble adorning the cloak were red clouds the same symbol nuto had told her to avoid during one of their various dates beets sui her tone was accusing but she could make no real move in protest it's my current cover yes you see my plan revolves around akatsuki's letter I've met the man several times and I have a great need of him anata was still skeptical but she didn't have too much of a choice in the matter she was honestly just grateful that a rescuer wasn't some kind of pervert then she noticed her surroundings or the lack of them everywhere she looked was the same gray floating chunks of land with a dark sky and Horizon she wasn't even sure how there was light enough to see where are we she asked with a new apprehension in her voice Toby tilted his head to the side before answering I'm surprised it took you so long to notice this is something along the lines of my personal pocket Dimension I utilize a special SpaceTime Jutsu not too much unlike nutk heishin I'm the only way in and out so you'll be safe here the was both relieved and worried at that statement there was no Escape but there was also no danger other than this Toby person himself and how long do I have to stay here I can't risk bringing a medin in here the fewer people that know about both this place and you the better you'll probably be naturally healed in a couple of months at least to the point to where you can start rebuilding your strength what no I can just regain my strength at home I don't want to burden you for so long hanata was panicking a little bit now how would Naruto react to such a long separation how would she react don't worry about it it's really no problem you know I Frau a lot of hyuga in my day I could also help you train when you're stronger just something to keep you occupied while the heat on you dies down this isn't making any sense why can't I just go back now the war has just started and nuto will be at the center of it by extension you will be at the center of it if someone can get you they get nuto for all of our sakes I need to make sure you can protect yourself before I return you to a war torn world the was starting to see Toby's reason in but she still didn't like it okay but what's your big plan with all of this at that Toby turned his back perhaps once we trust each other more I can tell you more about myself I will expect the same from you though little princess it was an odd swirl and Hinata saw Toby disappear into his own head it made no sense but that's what she saw and for some reason as she laid down once more she felt like she wasn't being told the whole truth two months after koha Invasion anata opened her eyes and took the first conscious breath of her Mourning by the lack of the breakfast smell Toby was obviously absent she sat up and pulled down the light blanket bunching the fabric down around her knees before pulling her legs free her savior had been very generous and accommodating the last two months bringing her ample amounts of food and some furniture for her comfort her favorite gift was the bed she was nearly completely healed now and only her left wrist really gave her any problems anymore she had gotten really lucky that nothing had been broken hey sorry I'm late for breakfast Toby said as he phased in as many times as she had seen it hinat still wasn't used to the site it's fine I can cook for myself as well you know she joked lightly I'd imagine s since the days I can't make it here the food I find is usually better than mine so what's the plan for today hanata asked sometimes Toby would bring games with him or even some books on Lucky days I was thinking if you're feeling up to it how about some light training anata froze her hands stuck in place over the fruit bowl really I mean Naruto's training his ass off so why shouldn't you that struck a ner the girl the mention of that lovable blonde made her heartache Naruto oh yeah I also found out where he's training for the week would you like to maybe take a secret peek at him Toby offered excitedly for some reason he seemed to take a bit more interest in pleasing hanata lately and we ow Toby that would be amazing Toby nodded enthusiastically before saying it will have to be pretty quick so he doesn't notice us but I think we could pull it off would you like to see him with or without clothes the screamed a little as she smacked the arm of her friend her face blushing White ly at the implication you're right I wouldn't be able to hold you off of him if we went to see him during a shla session clothed it is before Hinata could berid him further she felt his hand touch her arm and she was overtaken by the most uncomfortable feeling she could ever remember her eyes opened to see a new Lush and Green Landscape before she could make sense of the sensation shh he's over there don't do anything dumb and make me restrain you okay I'm really trusting you with this if he finds out about you he could endanger all of koha by abandoning the war Thea was still a bit wary of Toby's squirly logic but her excitement drowned all of it out she snuck through the brush with Toby and before long she heard the sounds of a massive battle going on leave it to Naro to train with live combat and the newly made clearing ahead she saw her beloved she actually saw hundreds of him a few hundred were playing around with a renan each occasionally blowing themselves up the other couple hundred all seemed to be fighting a single nuto presumably the real one he was cut in several places blooded and bruised but he was simply amazing to watch behind him Sat a massive toad it wasn't gamma buun who she met only once but his size was comparable he appeared to be barking orders anada gave a sharpen haale of Amazement when the narut started to fling Ninjutsu around to supplement their T Jutsu the original Naruto jumped High into the air spinning wildly to avoid what appeared to be air bullets he fired off his own followed by an extremely destructive vacuum wave the Clones either were destroyed or pushed back and Naruto flung a trio of shuriken before they multiplied by 100 or two a storm of metal met the combined prowess of every clone stone wall and the original Naruto fired off a massive pressure damage to break it all down when he did so roughly half of the Clones were missing hanada felt Elation at him having eliminated so many in a single blow but then he leaked once more into the air every one of the missing clones burst from the ground each brandishing a renan and moving to finish the fight the real Naruto Unleashed a Maelstrom from his mouth the great breakthrough demolishing everything beneath him in an instant the remaining clones near the walls Rubble mimicked him blasting their own winded him nuto pulled a kunai coated it in Chakra and gave a single powerful downward slash the wind blew past him but he remained unruffled he must have cut through the Jutsu with his own wind Naruto then Dove back into the middle of the Clones taking them out individually with his Taj Jutsu anata was in literal awe and I only increased when nuto finished heard an order and created another few hundred clones without hesitation nothing but a single breaths respit and he was back into The Fray he really was amazing then lurched as she felt the sensation again a twisting flipping feeling that upset her stomach a little the feeling was accompanied by the despair she felt from being separated once more but she knew Toby thought it was for the best well is he impressive or what Toby asked happily from his spot on the bed is he's my Naruto all right I guess I can't let him get too far ahead of me right that's the spirit we'll start with some light exercises and in a week or so we can move on to light sparring you'll catch up to him before too long little princess trust me 6 months after koha Invasion and Ada finished the form she had been working on she had no real way to advance in her old style so she honed what she knew to the point of likely being able to do it in her sleep Toby had actually started to talk to her more telling her about an old team he used to have and other small things like that she was never given any names but she knew by now that Toby was very secretive in nature wiping the sweat from her brow hanata decided to work on her new technique she had figured out the Ken in only two months and Toby's help and she admittedly did not enjoy how busy repetitive use left her Toby had suggested modifying it a bit or creating a new defense altogether she had gotten much faster and much much stronger her sparring sessions with Toby usually left both of them covered in bruises now but she knew he was holding back the majority of his strength with her new found speed she got an idea if she could somehow keep her arms moving fast enough and emitting a constant giken stream she could stand still while being surrounded by a shield so far all she could manage was near total protection of her front side but she was flexible and enough now to reach her back the sound of Toby's now familiar portal opening made her stop her daydreaming hello little princess I had an idea to help you with your new Jutsu anata noticed the wooden bucket in his hand and she was immediately wary of any possible water to be thrown her way what is it Toby the masked man held the bucket Aloft saying I'll throw these into the air and you hit them all before they can hit the ground and every round the pieces will get small and smaller so you will have to be faster and more precise the notd appeared into the bucket and saw a mult itude of leaves it would be very very difficult but she was willing to bet on it working to some degree hanata flared her Byakugan activating them and adopting a ready stance let's give this a shot 11 months after koha invasion anata was used to the swirling Feeling by now and the gray area was even more normal to her Toby had just taken her for yet another Peak at nuto something that was becoming more and more frequent he said that Naruto was leaving his secretive training grounds more and more to train as destructively as he likes to do to be honest h found it hot as hell what you thinking about Toby asked lightly swinging his feet back and forth on the high stool he sat on hanada had convinced her friend to bring her more and more things to his little Dimension and she was honestly quite comfortable oh nothing not naked nuto that's for sure oami why did I say that oh you're already that age that's adorable I brought this on myself Han's thoughts followed a deep blush I'm not even 16 yet to's leg stopped swinging as he seemed deep in thought 16 what an age to be you know I had my first woman when I was 16 and not recoiled taken aback by the personal information was it a sign that they were on trusting terms now really 16 Toby laugh then no that's total [ __ ] well how old are you maybe she could still get some info on him yet I haven't counted years in so long say how old would you say that uh Kakashi guy from your village is odd way to date oneself but why not I would guess something around his mid-30s maybe then I am probably in my mid-30s maybe it was a small apps of silence and before long Hinata found herself losing it usually when Toby was around it was all training her jokes Toby are we friends the masked man sat still for nearly a minute contemplating the question seriously it had been so long since he had a real friend and Hinata reminded him so much of her abido what my name my real name is abido Toby is the name I Ed to keep me safe from akitsuki and whoever else is interested anada was actually speechless that was huge a simple yes would have done just fine but she had no doubts now even if nuto didn't want to help Toby Theo but getting back the love of his life she would help him and that meant nuto would help him how could she possibly show the amount of trust she had just been given in return you don't have to say anything just know that I do see you as a friend my only one as of now actually I have a few things to get done today I'll see you later little princess a of Naruto's meeting with pain anata we have to take a field trip right freaking now abido yelled as he entered his time space the NAT was just finishing practicing her personal defense Jutsu when abido interrupted her let me change out of my sweaty clothes first 5 minutes and I'll be back abido quickly warped back out leaving Hinata to rush to the water basin to rinse off a bit she never passed up an opportunity for a field trip they always involved seeing Nudo and they'd only been almost caught once so the track record was pretty good Brinston changed hanada waited for her masked friend to return it didn't take him too long and he was more frazzled than usual it slightly worried her but she didn't let herself get too worried what's the occasion hanada asked as she watched to beo fidget Payne left his stronghold heun's going to intercept nuto to test a few things and this is the only time you'll probably get to see him in action until we fight him for real anata felt her heart jump pay was the man that abido needed nutk help to defeat if he was moving to fight Naruto now he won't kill Naruto not yet at least and I'll have to keep us in a constant state of intangibility so no one senses us with two of us I can only really Risk 2 and A2 minutes we won't have long but it'll have to do abido what are you talking about hanada was almost hysterical one of my Jutsu lets me become intangible it's derived from my SpaceTime Jutsu we'll need it so none of the hyperaware people will be spying on can sensus I'll also need you to have your Bakugan active what why there's going to be something there that no eyes can actually see and I'm hoping yours can it was a lot happening in a short amount of time but Hinata had to try for aido for Naruto let's go what's with all of the rubble and dirt here who's that blind old guy why is Naro just sitting in front of him Hinata's whispered questions fired off rapidly to be fair she only had a couple of minutes to figure out everything this used to be a pretty big town maybe a quarter the size of all of koha that blind old guy as a body pain is using he's smart and he switched out one of his bodies for one he doesn't actually use clever of him keep his real look a secret I don't know why nuto is sitting down what do you mean switched bodies what kind of Jutsu lets you do that other than the amanaka kind he has a special eye called the renan it's more powerful than both the Bakugan and the Sharingan put together and one of its many abilities is to control six different bodies each of them can have a separate power of the eye but I don't know what they all are yet the real pain is using this old body to hide what he normally looks like those eyes probably had something to do with ao's plans then why is he blindfolded so nuto can't see his eyes they'd be a dead giveaway then how can he see that's what your Bakugan is for his best spying technique is actually a summon it's a massive chameleon and it can't be sensed by anything other than some barri or Jutsu he refused to tell me anything else can you see it lurking around anywhere I don't see anything but how would the summon help him abido was frustrated but he tried not to let it show if you can't see the chameleon it's pointless one of the renan's powers is that every person or summon that has a renan of its own shares Vision the chameleon has one so he can see through that well that fake body is blindfolded suddenly everyone in the rubble field was standing and then nuto was Blazing Red with karam's power hanada tensed ready to jump into the battle and help as much as she could Nudo fell to his knees power gone hanada tried to move forward but Abo's hand stopped her suddenly she was back in her little pocket home devastated by her inaction no Naruto there was a thump behind her and she spun quickly AO had fallen to his side shaking slightly she was at his side in an inst feeling guilty for not considering how difficult the feat must have been for him abido abido he wasn't responding to her so she did the only thing she could think to do the very thing she had dreamed about and was convinced would never happen she removed the mask she could understand why he wanted to never be seen without it he bore a gruesome Twisted scar of some kind and the entire right side of his face was twisted and disfigured somehow that I had survived but his left socket was empty hanada ignored the sight and leaned close placing her ear near her friend's mouth she felt more than heard the small breath and she sat back in relief Theo's one eyelid fluttered rapidly before opening slowly and Hinata swore she saw a hint of red before it faded to Black then his eye widened in realization and he turned away hastily while groping for his red mask why would you do that his tone was both harsh and hurt and Hinata's chest stung I I was worried about you well you didn't have to remove my [ __ ] mask you didn't have to look at me I didn't Kenne know what to do abido I was scared for you and I just just watch Hinata he didn't even call her little princess I'm not a medin Hinata defended maybe if I was I would have known the right thing to do but I'm not okay I I just did my best for you aido had his mask back on now and he sat with his back turned his breaths coming heavy and hostile whatever just trainer whatever I'll be back in a few days we need to make contact with nuto soon and I have to go find out when the best time do it is anata didn't even get to say goodbye before he was gone swirled into the mask loved so much she held back her tears and she moved to make herself a small lunch life would go on te was just a fight all friends fought but soon enough she'd be with nuto again and she could make it up to aido
