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Chapter 1

Rippled eyes blinked curiously as they swept over the surroundings, taking in the sprawling expanse of greenery that stretched into the distance. Trees littered the area, huge ones that reminded him of those from Hi no Kuni. In the distance, he could see smoke rising, a sign of a nearby settlement.

"Hmm…" He scratched his head, wondering where he was. The terrain was similar to that of Hi no Kuni, but the landmarks were completely different. The forest was totally unfamiliar; there were less trees around, with most of them spaced out more generously than those of Hi no Kuni. There were no familiar landmarks, no patch of land that stirred something in his mind.

Closing his eyes, he reached inwards and brought out a drop of chakra from the vast ocean that resided within him. Focusing his chakra outwards, his eyebrows furrowed as he felt no chakra echo back. Pushing further, he waited for a long moment before cancelling his attempts.

His eyes flashed open. "So, a Deus Ex Machina disconnected me from the play, huh?" He muttered. Clenching his fists tightly, he allowed a strained smile to stretch over his mouth. "Well, we certainly didn't expect that…how strange…"

The last thing he remembered was…

Blocking the kunai Shikamaru had flung towards him, Naruto casually sidestepped Kakashi's surprise attack from below. The Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique) missed its target, but Naruto made no attempt to counterattack. Like hell he was going to touch that Lightning Clone.

Backpedaling quickly, he avoided the heel stomp Sakura had used. The earth shattered as her stupendous strength crashed into it, blowing up copious amounts of dust into the air.

From his vantage point, Shikamaru grimaced as he witnessed Naruto dodge Sakura's attack. 'Damnit…guess we'll have to try plan C then.' He had hoped that Sakura would clip him enough to at least make him stagger, but Naruto had always been slippery when he wanted to be.

Within the settling dust cloud, Naruto engaged in a head-on Taijutsu battle with Sakura. While he didn't make use of the super strength technique she had, as that would kill her and ruin the purpose of this little skirmish, he was still dominating the fight. Seemed like Sakura thought that all she needed was the strength to back up her strikes, and never put too much stock in furthering her skill in Taijutsu.

Parrying another punch, his fist pummeled her face and staggered her.

Seeing Kakashi summon several ninken, Naruto narrowed his eyes. Two extra arms sprouted from his sides, both pointing at Sakura and Kakashi. "Mokuton: Sashiki no Jutsu (Wood Release: Cutting Technique)."

A volley of tree roots surged from his extra limbs, rendering the two in a split-second shock. Only one person other than the Shodaime had the legendary Mokuton bloodline, and to see their former comrade utilize such a coveted bloodline made them realize that there was a lot they didn't really know about Uzumaki Naruto.

"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!"

Several small fireballs flew to meet the torrent of wooden projectiles, each of the flaming balls clashing and burning them to crisps. Naruto arched a brow as Sasuke met him, his chokuto flashing as they began to dance with their blades. 'Interesting…he's been practicing behind the curtain, hasn't he?'

"Was it necessary to reveal one of your trumps this early in the plot?"

Naruto swung his makeshift sword, swatting Sasuke's strike to pass harmlessly by him. 'It hardly matters if they know I have the old man's Kekkei Genkai…I still have more than enough trumps to make up for this moment.'

Bashing the Uchiha's face in, Naruto's senses warned him of incoming danger. Substituting himself with the closest possible person, which happened to be Tenten, he smirked as he watched lightning coated kunai slice through her body.

Landing on his feet, he felt a tugging sensation on his right arm. Glancing down, he arched a brow when he saw a spiraling distortion enveloping his limb.

He prepared to cancel out Kakashi's jutsu with his eyes when something happened.

There was a crack.

He felt something stir.

Then there was a flash of light that enveloped them all.

He frowned, recalling the strange feeling from before. It was odd…an unknown in the story. That was uncomfortable; it didn't feel like Ashura at all, neither did it feel like Indra nor even Hagoromo even. Hamura, perhaps? That bastard was still alive somewhere, after all.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. Cocking his head, he arched a brow as his ears detected the galloping of several horses coming his way. From the intensity of their emotions, he could hazard a guess as to what they were searching for.

Cracking his knuckles, he waited patiently for the group to come upon him. Even if they were weak, he needed some information of just where the fuck he was.

"You're acting a bit too nonchalantly for someone who was transported through time and space."

Naruto smiled at the voice, "Not every setback is a wrench in our plans. It took Madara more than seventy years to achieve his goal, with him suffering several derailments and unknowns…but, in the end, he managed to grasp that goal."

He could feel the voice shift slightly, the only indication that it was surprised. To those that weren't observant, it would seem like a monotonous being that never felt anything. "I know that…but I know you as well. You're just hoping that the meatsacks approaching are strong so that you can vent on them."

Naruto chuckled, his eyes narrowing as the group came into sight. They were roughly thirty men, all riding horseback and roaring delightfully to the wind. They were part of the big, burly and stupid people he lumped together as bandits, with their leader bellowing as he led the group.

He noted the odd armor they wore, which was essentially pieces of mismatched armor to protect as much of their body as they could, and the rather unclean appearance they had. They carried weapons, mainly swords and spears, with the odd one or two carrying an odd-looking bow.

"Deal with them quickly. We still have our story to tell…"

The silver-haired young man snorted, feeling his urge to kill rising with each second. "Say all you want, but I'm interested in crafting another play…the stage has been set and it would be a shame to not use it."

By now, the group had taken notice of the strange youth standing in the middle of the path and were yelling incomprehensible words at him. From their gestures and expressions, they wanted him to move out of their path. He easily ignored them, his thoughts racing. 'A tale of conquest and bloodshed…yes, I think we'll go with that for this one.'

"Interesting…this should be a marvelous story, Naruto."

Deciding that they had gotten close enough, Naruto unleashed a fraction of his K.I.

Several miles away, a young man woke up as he felt murderous intent flare into existence. Rolling off his bed and unto the floor, he took a look out the window.

He was a young man of average height with medium length brown hair (with a cowlick that falls with its weight) and green eyes. He wore a white, high collar jacket over a tan sweater vest, a pair of black pants and combat boots. On his back, he carried a short sword with a chain link tassel at the hilt, in its sheath.

Five people stood before the large estate, seemingly hanging in the sky.

Tatsumi gasped as he recognized the girl leading the group. 'Night Raid?!' Without another thought, he set off to protect the kind family that had taken him in. The guards that they had were strong, so didn't really feel too bad about leaving them to fight Night Raid head on.

As he neared the master bedroom, his heart stopped when a horrible scream echoed through the long hallway. The truly horrifying detail was that the scream wasn't that of an adult's.

Slamming through the locked door, Tatsumi took one look at the scene and promptly felt nausea and disgust well up within his hut.

Aria, the kind girl who had picked him from the streets and treated him well, was sawed in half. Her lower half was being devoured by a creature he had never seen before; it was a giant, white-furred beast with an eye-patch covering his left eye. As it turned to face him, he had to force the bile down when he noticed the remains of her legs in its mouth.

He didn't dare look at what had been done to the other half.

"So you're the one she was talking about, huh…" From the darkened edge of the room, footsteps began to sound as a person stepped into the moonlight.

She had teal eyes and blonde hair, which is gathered into four ponytails. She wore a short-sleeved, black kimono that reached down to her legs, with slits along the side and a more revealing neckline. There was a red sash tied around her waist, with fingerless black gloves sported on her hands. A huge iron fan was strapped to her back, a weapon he had never seen before.

Her lips quirked into a smile, "I suppose I owe you one. If you hadn't kept her so busy, I wouldn't have been able to kill her so quickly." There was a scream from the grounds, causing the woman to glance at the window. "Leone's really letting loose, I see."

"You…you bastards."

Turning to face Tatsumi, she arched a brow when she saw him draw his blade. "You're going to challenge me? Oh well," With a practiced motion, the huge fan was in her hands and ready for combat. "I suppose I could play with you for a bit, young man."

Uchiha Sasuke never really got to know his other classmates during his time spent in the Academy. Of course, back then he hadn't really given a damn who his classmates were; they were just strangers to him, people who would either slow him down or perhaps be of use to him.

As he rose through the ranks, his general attitude towards his classmates never changed, though there were exceptions. There were perhaps two other individuals he could admit were different from the rabble, but he never went out of his way to associate with them.

So, when he found himself waking up to a place that was definitely not Hi no Kuni, he was less than pleased to discover that he was stuck in a strange land with perhaps the most annoying woman he had ever encountered.

"Sasuke-kun!"

He felt the headache that signified Sakura's presence begin its course. "Sakura." His voice was quick and cold as steel, cutting her approaching stream of irritating concern. "Did you see Kakashi and the others when you woke up?"

She deflated, "No…you're the only one I've encountered since waking up."

He sighed, rubbing his hand through his hair. "Whatever. Have you tried asking around to see where exactly we are?"

"I tried, but the people speak a different language than we do. I wasn't able to do much, so I decided to come back and wait for you to wake up." She looked him in the eye, "With your Sharingan, we can either learn the language through lip reading, or you could just use Genjutsu to have them teach us the language."

Nodding in acceptance, since his Sharingan was definitely more powerful and easier to use than her own Genjutsu abilities, Sasuke turned in the direction of the city in the distance and began moving. He hoped Naruto was there…kicking his ass would be even more satisfying than ever.

Within the trees, curious eyes watched the strange duo as they headed towards the imperial capital.

The man was a fair-skinned person with onyx eyes and black chin-length hair. His hair was spiky in the back with bangs that hung over his eyes. He wore a high-collared, dark-coloured outfit along with a tantō strapped to the right side of the back of his shoulder. He also wore what appeared to be a harness for his tantō which ran across his chest and fastened over both his shoulders.

His companion had bright pink hair, large green eyes, and fair skin. She wore a red top with white circular designs, with black gloves, black, low-heel, calf-high boots, black shorts underneath a short grey apron skirt, and grey elbow protectors and forehead protector. Her skirt and elbow protectors are pink, something that the observer found a little odd. She was also armed with a tantō which she wore above her medical pouch.

As the two disappeared into the distance, the figure headed off into the night. "Kakashi-senpai would like to know of this."

Naruto rubbed his chin in thought, ignoring the man who was gasping and clutching at his neck. After a few moments of gagging noises, he finally got fed up and clenched his fist. Like a banana, the man's throat was crushed, ending the damned distraction.

"So, how are you going about this new story?"

Hopping down from the pile of corpses, Naruto grinned widely as he began walking. "You'll just have to wait and see, my friend." 'A young warrior who hungers for blood and enjoys the pain of others…untouchable to all but the very best, a monster in human form…yes, that sounds like the story for me…'

A/N: So, there you have it; a not-quite-sane Naruto with a not-quite-sane Esdese. Wonder what kind of hell those two would create…

As usual, the chapter length will increase with every consecutive chapter.

Anyone else find it annoying how Sasuke managed to absorb Naruto's chakra at the precise moment Yin Kurama gave it to him? Or the fact that Yin Kurama could only give Naruto a sliver of chakra despite being more than capable of powering the whole damn Shinobi army without batting an eyelash? Or the fact that all Sasuke said he couldn't control his left eye anymore, but then goes on to use the chakra absorbing powers of the Rinnegan? Or that all Sasuke needed to do to fucking win this fucking fight WAS TO FUCKING USE THE FUCKING HUMAN PATH TO FUCKING RIP OUT NARUTO'S FUCKING SOUL?!

…No? That's just me? Huh.

Hamura may or may not have a role to play in this. Kakashi, Gaara, Kankuro and the others will be revealed soon. People will die. Esdese will be awesome/best girl. Will expand on the Shinobi's movesets. PEOPLE WILL FUCKING DIE.

Read and review,

MaelstromBankai.