II

AN: I had someone complain about the way Naruto was behaving in my fic. A monster. My answer to them is why should he do anything otherwise.

He is a trained assassin. A trained soldier and even a very capable General if his promotion to the Hokage is anything to bank upon. So if you club all these he must be pretty easy with killing or doing anything to get what he wants.

Moreover a shinobi is not that concerned about morals. Whatever the means, the end justifies it is their motto I guess.

I am not gonna change from what I have thought for this story. If you can't handle the gore and pretty fucked up things that is to come, that is your and only yours problem. It's rated M for a reason.

And for those so called moderators on this site. Fuck you. You are not even thought of in my plans for this new year.

I am proud. Of what I am. Of what I have done. Of where I have reached. And of the future for me.

Chapter start :

"Where are you taking me, wise girl?" The deserts of Utah was an entirely different world from the concrete jungles of New York. Scores of free sand gave away to yet more unpossessed scores of sand. Unlike where perfectly manicured roads and their pedestrian walkways ambits prisons made of bricks. If not for the very visible lack of sea water, Percy would have fell in love with this place.

"This was the last place that our target had appeared. We have to scope him out for Athena." She replied, still upbeat about the first task that her mother had ever given her. She had even called her daughter!

"Find out who killed Richard Mercer and where is he, daughter. The killer has been spewing trouble lately." Her wise mother had said to her. Concern had clouded her features so much that Annabeth wasn't sure of it was meant for Ares' now dead son or her. Anyone who could kill Ares' offspring without causing general destruction or leaving any clues had to be say more than just a mere troublemaker.

"Worry not, daughter. If you ever find him all you need to do is call upon me." Athena tried to allay her daughter's fears. "I'll deal with him." She had said cryptically.

Annabeth was worried. If her mother was worried about this man it meant that he was worth being worried about.

"What else do we know about him?" Percy asked her.

"He can change faces. Athena said even after his death, there were people who reported seeing Richard alive."

And Percy was stumped. "How the hell do you suppose we will find him then?"

Annabeth smirked and couldn't help but point out, "With your luck I am sure he will find us rather than us him?"

***Colossus***

To be frank she liked this place.

So many prey to be hunted. So many monsters to be showed who was the Queen. With nary a challenger to her throne, she relished in each opportunity to stake her claim. That horrendous bull-man was but like a slightly heavy lunch for her. Those hounds mere a unappetising snack, not even worth smacking her fingers.

Further what she liked this place was her freedom. The seal that kept her confined wasn't of this dimension. It's rules not applicable in a different dimension. Moreover, the world of here didn't understand the difference between a Chakra construct and a real human fleshbag. Her organs were the best in the world, her tits simply the best and her body without comparison. All was possible here.

Here she was free from her husband. Not that she minded the estrangement. He was hers anyway. Forever and ever. One way or the other. The Shinigami and the Yondaime had made sure of it.

How would the Yondaime and his wife tremble when they realize the only dowry gift she bought home was their deaths?

There was a reason the Death reaper seal forbidden and obscured to even the vast knowledge of the Uzumakis. The death reaper seal binded a spirit to a human for eternity, an unbreakable bond. And what was more binding than marriage?

Ruminations for later, first she wanted to kill that three headed imbecile. The bastard had the guts to notice her glorious presence without kowtowing in return. In her world, she destroyed the whole villages for something even less.

Last she knew that imbecile had gone right through these catacombs. Picking up speed, she gave chase to her prey. The wind cut across her crimson hair, cascading down her shoulders. It was one vanity she allowed herself. And anyways, her husband did like long red hair. She kept it well maintained in a neat braid. That was the only reason he had even paid that pinker sank any attention when young.

The catacombs were getting increasingly damp. Staccato sounds of feet rapping onto wet paver bricks echoed in the dungeons. There were always sounds. But no life around. No plants of any sort. No animals, no crept crawlies like the centipede or the snake that liked such places. No reptiles. Not even was an insect chirping.

For the first time she realized how horribly trapped she was in an ambush. There was no wind blowing against her pale skin, not even a light breeze. Which basically she was deep underground with not a single of the routes in front of her leading to the ground. She was not even sure how underground she was to try and make a way to the ground by boring her way away.

Kurama unsheated her hair from its braid, her Chakra seeping into it. The very force of nature made form reflected in her tresses as it circled her head like a ophidian aura. The fearsome presence of her sure made her aggressor make itself known.

It was another woman.

"Stand your ground monster. I am not here to harm you." The woman hollered out to her, standing ramrod straight. As if she hadn't done wrong or as of she was absolutely harmless.

Kurama knew better but. She was from a world of deceit and backstabs. This woman was very dangerous. Very dangerous. Otherwise she wouldn't stand before her, the monster of monsters without feeling even a bit fearful.

"Say your name girly. You seem to know me but I don't." She snarked. People these days. Absolutely no courtesy to foreign travellers.

"I am Hera. Goddess of women and marriage and fertility." She said with a sneer that screamed a spoilt upbringing. She said she was some kind of a marriage goddess, so maybe that was true.

"OK." Kurama drawled, drawing each letter to spite her other number and infuriate her even more. "I thought you were someone important what with all the pomp and splendour." She smirked inwardly when she saw a visible frown on the goddess' face. It was not everyday when you could just insult a spoilt goddess.

"I am also the Goddess of strength, bravery, trust and also the Queen of the Olympians. The reigning gods here." Now Kurama was impressed. Bitch sure did know the meaning of climbing the ladder. "Who are you, monster?"

Kurama crossed her hands. Even the gods themselves were mistaking her for a monster. When actually she was a demon. Just like Raiden and Fujin. But they became gods later on. Labels meant nothing in reality. Alas... People never learn. Will if she wanted to believe she was just a lowly monster out of the pits of hell then so be it. It was no skin of her back and it was always better this way. Easier to manipulate a Divine when she or he thought you were just a reformed monster.

"I know you came here through a portal. And that you bought two other with you. Now speak monster, or I will drive you back to the pits of Tartarus."

"Tartarus is not my abode." Kurama and was content to see the surprise on the other woman. "I am called the Nine-tailed demon fox. I have lost my way as I was thrown through the vortex along with a fellow traveller. The third was an adversary and we killed her." She supplied, changing the facts here and there a little to suit her needs. Which piqued the interest of the other as she realised her eyebrow and leaned as if to ask her a confidential question.

"And was this companion your husband?"

Kyuubi gritted her teeth. Of course, this woman was the fucking goddess of marriage. If anyone would know the real meaning of the Death reaper seal it would be Hera. Schooling her features into a look of shyness she forced our the required answer of her.

"Yes. Naruto is my husband who changed me so much that my and his kin exiled us."

"Where is he?"

"We got separated due to the vortex. And i can't find him now. I would be grateful if you could help me here. Help out a married woman and all."

The goddess materialised a table and some chairs in front of her and asked her to sit on it. The chair was comfy enough to not make the Demon Queen feel a loss of face. Only after sitting did she take a good look on her accoster. Plain round face, not even innocent like the Hyuga bitch. Plain straight black hair, not even lustrous or with seductive waves like that Yuhi bitch from Konoha had. Plain black eyes, not even shiny pits of onyx that some enviously had. Plain body with not much of a top nor a bottom. Like that pinkette of a bitch that she detested. Just the kind of a homely woman a simple man would want for a wife.

But when she opened her mouth, "Something tells me you're not telling me the whole truth." Kurama knew that there was a hidden blade of steel within this simple woman that made her far more rare than any woman.

"Why do you think so?"

Hera leaned in with a smirk, that awfully showed that she wasn't convinced even a tiny bit by her lies. It was written in the very curve of her lips. "First of all you haven't changed at all. You're still the bloodthirsty monster you were. Otherwise how did you fall in my subordinate's trap? Second, man is sincere. Not like us beings of immortal nature. If you had been separated and you were married and he loved you, he would have tried his best to find you." The smugness that she oozed practically made Kurama to gag. "I am the Goddess of marriage among other things."

Kurama snarled silently, angry that the goddess had found out her fibs. This woman was smart. Smart enough to outsmart the Demon of mischief and trickery. Or maybe she was just that strong in her domain.

Seeing no other way out, Kurama decided to come clean. Sometimes sacrifices are required. As the end always justifies the means. "I attacked his nation."

Hera tittered. But Kurama soldiered on, not minding the insulting guffaws.

"The Leader, his father couldn't contain me. So he devised a rune to bond me inside a human vessel, his son."

"And let me guess. The price for that was the human's marriage with you. As love and marriage is the strongest bond other than death. But live can't be created in an instant, but marriage can be." Hera whispered as if she was the only one with the secret to everlasting happiness. Not really, as she was the key to everlasting depression.

"Yes, bitch." Kurama ground out. "My marriage to the son in lieu of the father's life." She was annoyed that this total stranger had figured out the setup that not even millenia of study by the Uzumakis no less hadn't been able to decipher.

"And what made you stick by that decision?"

Kurama kissed her teeth as Hera had hit a particularly soft spot in her memories. Of her and her past. When she truly loved someone and that someone did all he could to seal her and her brethren away. She was a demon, no doubt about it. She had the youki to stake her claim on it. But she had a heart as well. And a heart, no matter its origins or type was needy. "I don't know you enough to give you that answer."

Hera schooled her features as the demon said her piece, the monster loved that human. Enough to feel defensive about it. It was a field day for her domain, so she let her question be unanswered. Instead she offered her a way out, "I'll help you but on one condition. If you fulfill that I'll help you in all respects. I can bless your marriage. I'll make your husband love you again. Or if he never did he will start to. You will have a good married life with all the perks a wife should have. Your man won't object to your shopping sprees. He will find whatever you cook to be paradise on earth. He will be wrapped around your little finger. And last but not the least, you will always win the disputes between man and wife."

"Name the price."

"I want you to kill someone. Or more like someones."

"Who?"

"Well, do we start with the easy ones or the hard ones?" Hera ground out, a temporary drop of her features and her anger simmered to the surface. Kyuubi realized that this was a scorned woman. A scorned woman with a kill list that she had to cross out. She wished it was long indeed. For she was bored.

"Hard. The easy ones would be just boring."

"First Artemis. My husband's bastard."

Oh this was a honor killing. Joy! She hated doing those. They were never worth the effort. But anything to get the reincarnation of her old lover back.

***Colossus***

Tony could feel it in his bones. He was nearing his quarry. Most of the demigods of Athena knew about the Greco-Roman divide. Due to Her being unable to bring about Roman demigods and also because she wanted to do justice to her Roman form.

According to Tony it was a waste of time. One of the reasons why he wasn't at good terms with his mother. He had refused the honor to bring back her godforsaken statue. He didn't see a point in it. And he was glad he did.

The sun was doing him wonders. He had lost a lot of belly weight. He could now even run a quarter mile without panting. Even bedded women half his age just by showing his private eye card.

He was the shit!

"Could you focus?" The Single most annoying female in his life, just after his wife growled out to him. Interrupting his much needed thinking time.

He made his dream come true. He was Tony Stuart. The Colonel who exited Vietnam with a survival rate of ninety percent amongst his troops. He was Tony Stuart, the private detective who had never had a single unsolved case against him. He was Tony Stuart who was even consulted by Senators and Governors for his extreme knowledge of human semantics and behavioural patterns and of course his uncommon level of proficiency in common sense.

"Hmmm. OK, Clarisse." He tried to annoy the bitch "Right after you tell me why should I?"

"Coz this is what my father ordered me to do."

"And this affects me?" Tony just blew her off. Little butch was still an amateur. It would take her centuries to match the great Tony Stuart. "Listen, little girl. Your father asked me for help and you're just an add on. If you want this to be done, you will have to play by my rules. Am I understood?"

Clarisse grudgingly had to accept. "Yes."

They were currently in a cafe where Tony had stopped to feed his gargantuan appetite. A recent convert from tobacco, he had only food to help fill the gap left behind. Moreover, he liked fine food. As his Major General Blucher always said. Three things you never compromise in life.

Fine food, fine clothes and fine women.

And he had stuck to that maxim to this date.

"Why are we here again?" Clarisse again complained. She was pissed off at the lazy attitude of this bastard who thought he was superior to her.

"The things missing on old Richie were his documents. Seems like this was the work of an immigrant who needed false papers. And as his papers were issued in Utah, our dear quarry will stay in Utah."

"So why are in a bar?"

Tony had an intense urge to smack his head out of frustration. How could she not get this? It was literally staring right back at her face.

"Little girl, what is Utah famous for?"

"Tourism." Clarisse ventured. She had seen those car license plates with the caption 'Life elevated' , 'Greatest Snow on Earth' and those other ones with the Delicate Arch. Utah's ski resorts, canyons, deserts and national parks attracted a lot of people. It was all due to its unique geography.

Utah got its name from the Ute tribes that inhabited the area since millenia. Probably ever since humans first arrived in the Americas. It lay at the confluence of three distinct geographical entities - The Rocky mountains, the Great Basin and the Colorado Plateau.

Even the Bonneville salt flats were here. The origin of the name for Triumph's Bonneville cruisers. Perfectly flat as it used to the bed for the ancient Bonneville Lake. And add to it the Rocky mountains range whose dry powdered snow is perfect for skiing.

"Right. And all we have to see is who has opened a new skiing resort. Our target's action leads me to think he is planning for something big. And that is the only big thing that comes to my mind in this place."

The perfect Snow. Utah.

"What would you like to have to drink?" The bartender asked acting as inky bartenders can as if they weren't privy to any conversation that just happened.

"One peg of Gentleman Jack for me. Add Sprite to it not water. And a lemonade for the young lady." Tony said quickly changing the topic. Seeing that he had made all the required setup, Tony leaned over the tabletop. Scratching on the wooden laminate so that the sound made sure to keep the bartender's attention, he asked the million dollar question.

"Any new ski resorts that I can hit up here?"

"The Ice Leaf. Said to be operated by some real estate firm. McCloud, Mercer and Thauvin or something. My patrons only say good things about the place. Mr McCloud is also quite a hit among the young ladies."

Now Tony was interested. "Why!" Complete with mock exclamation he asked further, "Is McCloud the Ryan Gosling of Utah?"

The bartender just shrugged. The skin cortorting his perfectly round bald head. It was a masterpiece in the history of bald heads in the history of the world. Perfect skin draped over a bony head. No stretched skin, no mottled flesh. Just perfect taut skin.

"I oil it with coconut oil everyday." the Bartender informed noticing the gaze of his patron. "And to answer your question he is. That is what my daughter says. As a father I would be extremely glad that you could prove that he is your quarry." The bartender rasped with exactly as much emotion as a dead chicken.

Tony racked his brains. Old Richie was never a hit among the ladies. A very gruff personality, distrust towards authority figures, remorseless attitude coupled with a face that had been pounder with a roadroller made him jailbait and chickbait.

"Can I get a picture of this McCloud?"

"sure."

Without notice, a photo of the McCloud guy was produced on the table. A blonde man with blue eyes of the purest azure. If he didn't know better, he would have said he was an Australian beach boy. Then he noticed a glaring aspect of the person that niggled his detective bone. His eyes were a bit slanted. Like nothing that a pure occidental origin man should have.

He was undoubtedly not born to American parents.

Looks like he got his target.

***Colossus***

"Why are you fretting over this? I told you I have accepted my fate?" The pinkette rasped in a gurgle, the sickly bile limiting her speech. "I am nothing without Chakra. You on the other hand.."

"Shut your trap." Naruto snapped at her outrageous reply. "You may be content to die out in a foreign land. But not me."

Sakura Haruno painfully tilted her head and gazed at her teammate from her death bed. They had grown up together. She was the shy little girl insecure about her forehead and hair. He was the dumbass only particular about rules if he had made it himself. Then she was the honor student while he was the bottomscraper. Then all of the sudden she was the team support and he was the combat specialist. Then she was a medic under the Head medic while he was the chief weapon of the said Head medic who also happened to be their leader.

They had changed a lot but one thing remained the same. She was a quitter he was a fighter. Even when he had no money and lived on state charity he aimed big. Now bug people were aiming at him.

"You are the fighter here. I am just a lowly medic. My absence won't be felt much as yours."

Naruto softened when he heard those words. She was accepting defeat. He kneeled down next to her. "You kick ass too Sakura. I just don't want to lose you as well."

"Don't lose yourself first, Naru." She nudged him gently with her fingers on the head. He might not have noticed it but the had grown a lot more aggressive coming here. He was a killer, always had been. But here he was a sociopath. "And think on why you alone of your group have not been feeling any adverse effects here."

Naruto frowned. Not liking this angle of thought. It made things to crop up which he didn't like to at all. Like his relationship with the demon of his life.

"I don't wanna think about it. My mother's genes seems to be helping me here as well. At the least she is being of some use to me in a way."

Sakura closed his deceiving lips with her trembling fingers. Even as a child he had remarkable conversational skills. He could even make the enemy to feel remorse and change sides after the attack. Well he did do it. A couple of times too much.

"The Kyuubi loves you."

"She doesn't have anything to do with this!"

"How else can you explain it away? There is a limit to the Uzumaki vitality mumbo-jumbo. If that was the reason, your blood should have kept me healthy."

That stopped his slowly rising ire. She was kind of right in a way. The Kyuubi was a demon through and through. She had stopped whispering in his ear orders for genocides only when she realized he wasn't listening.

"She doesn't love me or anything. It's the desire for a prey that has escaped your clutches. The forbidden fruit."

Sakura cozied up into her bed intent in relaxing before she eventually died. But first she wanted some answers. "When did you decide Sasuke wasn't worth saving?"

"When he tried to kill you and defect from the village." Sakura nodded at his answer. She thought so too. He was always protective. Of his friends and well-wishers. Guardian to his allies and death to his enemies. There was no middle ground for Naruto.

Their sensei had tried to inculcate a rivalry between him and Sasuke. Naruto didn't pay it much attention but it had festered in Sasuke the decaying sense of revenge. Until he became a raving lunatic. And then he killed him. Sasuke tried to defect and Naruto killed him at the Valley of the End. Like how their respective ancestors had almost a century ago.

"A traitor's reward is death. No matter if he is the last of the Uchiha or the son of the Hokage. It doesn't matter. Treachery should be paid with death and only death." The Namikaze continued. It was a surprise to her when Tsunade had declared him a Namikaze, son of the Fourth Hokage after the fallout from Sasuke's death. The council needed a scapegoat. And Tsunade was adamant that it would be Naruto only over her cold dead body.

'Naruto Namikaze. For that is your name now onwards. A man needs his father's name as his last name to show that he is ready to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders." The blonde Senju had said. There was a silent din in the council. The kind when you knew the pindrop silence was gonna be shattered any moment.

'Then let mine be Umino.' Naruto replied. Uncaring of the inheritance, he only repaid the one person who was like a real father to him. Tsunade flat out refused to concede and Naruto flat out refused to acknowledge. The blondes were more stubborn than a family of donkeys combined.

"What are you thinking?" Naruto gently prodded her, feeling that she had drifted off into her own lala world.

"Of home."

Sakura winced. She had decided on not telling her hunches to deaf ears. Instead, she will just talk about her feeling to the deaf ear.

"Come into bed. There is enough place here for two." She gestured for him to join her.

The blonde Namikaze slipped into the bed and immediately regretted. She was reeking of death.

"There is not enough place for me here, in this world." Naruto grouched, "This world hates me."

"Stop being melodramatic." Sakura snapped.

Naruto frowned.

And Sakura laughed.

***Colossus***

"We have been over this!" Kushina shouted at her boyfriend. "I don't know why or how I was saved. All I remember is that your Hokage saved my arse when I was six and brought me here."

Minato tried to calm his obviously hyper-ventilating wife. All he wanted to know was why she had no family. Even the refugees from Ame had relatives. And there was a god damn massacre in there conducted by both Iwa and Kumo. And if no relatives, at the least records, memories something. Somebody somewhere would at the very least have heard about Kushina's parents among the whirlpool refugee.

And so the blonde wonder tried to reassure his girlfriend and soon to be wife, "All I want is the best for you, Kushi-chan. If there is a family of you out there. I want my son to meet them. I will not have my son grow without knowing about his clan."

Kushina took a deep breath, to calm herself down. And to prepare for the truth, "I have told you time and again. My father was Arashi "Fine hair" Uzumaki. Mother was Kiyomi housewife. Both died in the rebellion. My paternal Uncle Ninigo was killed by Iwa. He was unmarried. Maternal aunt and kids killed by the rebels. That's all there was."

Minato blinked,"What about her husband?" By process of elimination he was still alive.

"He was the one who killed us." Kushina barked, tears falling from her eyes. Dabbing at her now soaked eyes she mumbled to her love, "I need some space." then she ran to the bathroom.

"Hey, I am sorry." Minato tried to apologize. "Kushi-chan please forgive me. I didn't want to..."

She shut off the door to the bathroom and to the sounds outside. This was her alone time. Here she could be herself.

The tiles were in purple and red. His choice. He said it suited her. Fine by her. She was never a forceful person. Nah...

She had always fought for approval from undeserving fellows and looked for appreciation in places she shouldn't.

Why else should she be here. In this foreign land. Far away from home. Far away from loved ones.

The last was a bit of stretch as after all there was one person who mag care about her even in the slightest manner. And that person had never seen her face.

This place. Konoha was good for her and her personality demons.

Coming back to why she had ran to the bathroom. Here she could collect her thoughts for one inevitable time that a person must go through at the least once in his or her lifetime. More so for a woman like her, who had Hud such a life-changing secret from her husband.

Husband. She will make Minato her husband. Come help our high water.

So this was it. That dreaded time.

It was Confession time.

"Honey I am really sorry okay. I know I shouldn't push you on this, but it means a lot to me. I was an orphan you see. So, I don't want my son to ever think or feel like me. Alone." Minato spoke with conviction as he breathed his feelings through the door. His feelings for Kushina were genuine and he knew it.

A ninja wasn't supposed to feel any emotions. A sharp tool to be used. But underneath all those jutsus, seals, runes, illusions Minato Namikaze was just a man.

"Babe you still there?" He questioned her, hoping without hope that she hadn't taken any drastic measures. Kushina had always been a bit erratic and unstable. Those were the things Minato liked in her in the first place. But he liked a lot of things which were unhealthy.

He liked to wear his ties too tight. He smoked on an empty stomach most of the times. He was blind to mortal dangers. Unscared of safety restraints or limits.

Or of beautiful men.

"Listen Minato, I need to confess something. That's why I cane here." Her voice jolted him from temporary shutdown.

"Confess?" He questioned a little fearful. He didn't know how he could take betrayal or cheating. Yet.

"Yes."

"What?"

"I am pregnant." Kushina blurted out. She couldn't wait any longer. Fuck the arrangement. Fuck the deal. This was her life. Nobody and nobody's river gets to control how she lives out her life.

Kushina gasped as Minato broke down the door and was inside. She gasped again, as she was picked up into his arms. She could see the love in his eyes. And she never regretted trading her shitty home for Konoha.

This was all she needed.

"Kushina Uzumaki." Minato said to her all solemn. She just wanted to giggle. Sombreity didn't suit his face. But she was dissuaded from doing so, with a nasty finger of her blonde wonder. "You just made me the happiest man."

"Shut up idiot." Kushina said with an atomic blush lighting up her face. "I am not asking you to marry me. But promise me one thing, will you?"

Minato nodded his head, intent on proving her first claim wrong just about tomorrow, same time. A seal from the top of the Hokage tower to broadcast 'Will you marry me?' should do the trick. Prior to it, he would have called her to training ground seven which had quite a good view of the said Mountain on a impromptu training request.

The Namikaze patted himself in the back for thinking of such a great idea. Ero-sensei would be proud of his student.

"I just want my son to visit his homeland once."

Minato frowned at the request of his love. "You refuse to meet you lr family, but you want him to visit his homeland?"

"I am sure there will be someone left there."

"Then let's go now." He offered. It made little sense to him as to why she was so scared of her own family. Unless the civil war had left huge wounds.

Kushina smiled, "I'll tell you one day."

"When?"

"At the time of my death."

"I wouldn't want to live without you, Kushina." the future Hokage said with almost certainty.

"I know. That's why I am making you promise for our child."

Minato frowned again. She was too smart for her own good. But whatever she wanted.

She was his red-headed goddess.

Chapter End

No witty comebacks or goodbyes this time. Just tired from my fucking job. A miracle that I could even complete this chapter.

Forgive any typos, didn't have time to proofread.

Talk soon,

Mushy

Frustrated Asst. Manager