Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto, Prototype, or anything else featured in this chapter. If I did I wouldn't be writing this shit now would I?

Ch. 2: Possible Revelations

Sorry I took so long! Enjoy!

Konoha: Two Days Later

The council chamber was full of chatter as the council members were chattering amongst themselves about recent events.

The talking was silenced abruptly as Tsuande Senju entered the chamber.

'This had better be good…' she thought to herself, although she had a very good idea what this was about. She was in no mood to put up with whining at this point.

She sat down in her usual position during meetings and propped her hands against her face and sighed.

"Alright" she said in a bored tone, "I'm here. What's this all about?" she asked.

Danzo Shimura, ignoring the Sannin's lack of respect, stood up, "It has come to our attention that Aoi Rokushō, a shinobi from Amegakure and a missing-nin from Konoha, was supposedly killed almost two days ago. Is this true?" he asked although he already knew the answer.

Tsunade sighed and answered, "Yes it is true" she said before continuing, "although no body was found the amount of blood left at the sight was an amount no one could lose and live to tell about it and the team that discovered the sight performed a blood test that confirms it was Aoi's" she finished. She had sent the team to defend one of the contestants of a race that was to be held there and, while the team was successful, they had stumbled upon the battle field and performed the blood test.

A civilian member was about ask something when Tsunade interrupted him, "No, the Raijin was not found at the site of the Aoi's death, only scorch marks, senbon needles, and a destroyed senbon umbrella", she told him, answering his unasked question.

The council member sat down with a disappointed look on his face. Pretty much the entire council also shared the same disappointment.

Tsume Inuzuka then spoke up. "About fucking time", she said aloud (blunt as always), "He should have been killed years ago", she said voicing the opinion of many of the other council members.

"Agreed, Tsume-san", the normally silent Shibi Aburame amended, "Do we know the identity of his killer?" he then asked.

Tsunade nodded, "Due to the lack of a body and the large amount of bloodshed on the sight it can only be assumed that the enigmatic entity known only as 'the demon' was responsible", She explained.

This came as no surprise. Whenever the beast attacked it would often leave behind only a pool of blood and nothing else left of the victim. Most assumed the person had been eaten, but there were no scraps of flesh, bone, or cloth left behind, so this might not be true. There was also never any trail of blood leading from the site of each death and so it did not carry them away either.

The council took in this information for a moment.

Finally, one civilian spoke up, "Hokage-sama, what will be done in light of this issue?" He asked.

"Nothing" she answered simply. The civilians and elders began shouting.

Kaede Haruno spoke up, "What do mean 'nothing'?" she asked incredulously, "we cannot let that…that…THING carry the Nidaime's sword!" she shouted, with several others agreeing with her.

Tsunade glared at the pink haired woman, "And what is it you suppose we do?" she asked.

"We should send hunter-nin to track the demon down, kill it, reclaim the Raijin and Raiga's Lightning Fangs, and take the demon's body for study", Kaede answered loudly. Many agreed with this decision, especially Danzo, who wanted to see the creature's ability's tested. It would make a valuable addition to his ROOT division if it could be captured.

"We can't do that" Tsunade said simply.

"Why not?" several members shouted.

"Do the words 'political shit-storm' mean anything to you? This 'demon' is an ally of Sunagakure, among others, and if we attack it without provacation they could sever their alliance with us!" Tsunade yelled back while muttering "idiots" under her breath before continuing; "Besides there is no guarantee that Aoi still had the sword to on him to begin with. He could have sold it to the highest bidder or he could have given it to Ame when he joined them, so it is entirely possible that the 'demon' never acquired the sword", she finished in a much calmer voice.

The civilians became quiet for a moment. Then Danzo interjected, "Hokage-sama, whether it has the sword or not we cannot just stand by and do nothing. How long do you think it will take for this…creature to become a threat to our village? I think we should place it in the Bingo Book and-"

Tsuande cut him off, "And do what? Put a price on the creature's head when it has done nothing to harm us in the long term?" she asked while glaring at the old war hawk, who shrunk back into his seat, "Besides" she continued, "You've all heard what it's capable of, I'm not going to give it a reason to harm anyone in this village" Tsunade then cleared her throat, "Unless it commits a crime against us directly, this 'demon' will not be placed into the Bingo Book and no hunter-nin will be sent after it", she declared with a firm conviction.

Several council members tried to argue but Tsunade slammed her fist down onto the podium in front of her. The impact shook the entire room. The council quickly shut up and sat back down in their seats.

Tsunade then sighed before continuing, "Now that that's settled, is there anything else that needs to be discussed?" she asked in a frustrated tone.

Once again, Danzo stood up, "Yes there is" he said before continuing, "It has also come to the council's attention that the team that returned from River Country, returned with a small boy who has a bloodline capable of neutralizing the Byakugan among other things" he finished and then waited for Tsunade's answer.

Tsuande nodded, "Yes, he was brought back so that I could help heal his disability before deciding what should be done with him" she told them.

Danzo smirked, "Fortunately, that council has already made that decision" he stated.

"What do you mean?" Tsuande asked.

"The elders, including myself, along with the entire civilian council, have agreed to keep the boy within Konoha and then, when he is older, to use him in order to breed an entire clan with his bloodline" he answered proudly.

Tsunade was furious at these words, "What?" she shouted, "He's just a child!" she shouted at him and then glared at the elders and civilians.

Danzo's smirk grew, "Be that as it may, we cannot allow a bloodline like this one to fall into another villages hands."

The elders and civilians agreed whole heartedly with this, but the clan heads were disgusted by it.

Hiashi Hyuuga, while concerned by the fact that the boy's kekkai genkai could negate his clans Byakugan, was particularly against this because he knew Danzo would use this in an attempt to gain a future advantage over the Hyuuga clan.

That can't happen.

Tsuande attempted to interrupt, "But-"

"My apologies, Hokage-sama, but the decision has already been made and is final" Danzo interrupted, "The boy will be kept locked up within this village until he is of proper breeding age and he will then be used as breeding stock" the war hawk stated triumphantly.

Tsunade, was even angrier at this but realized that she had no say in this. She quickly dismissed meeting and prepared to head over to the hospital in order to heal the disabled boy who would be used as nothing more than a tool by the council.

Forest near Konoha: The Next Day

Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze (aka, the Prototype) was leaping through the trees at a breakneck pace. He was fast approaching Konoha, his home. He decided to wait until he was about one mile away from the gates before shape shifting into an anonymous person and then walk the rest of the way.

While he ran, Naruto thought about how his powers had changed him in the last year.

His newfound abilities had caused a massive evolutionary upgrade to his entire being.

He was taller now; more so than any of his peers, and had lost all of his baby fat. His whisker marks were more defined and now had a rugged texture to them, rather than just being lines across his face. His hair was even spikier than before and it was slightly longer than before as well. This, along with his new clothing, made Naruto look almost exactly like his father. Kyuubi had been the one to point that out, to the blonde's glee.

As difficult as it was to believe, Naruto did not hate his father for what he had done to him. Well…he had at first, but when he looked back on what had happened and the sacrifice Minato Namikaze had to make in order to save his village, it really seemed like he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Naruto thought he would probably have done the same thing, were he in his father's place. Speaking of sacrifices, Naruto wondered if his father would have so readily given his life if he knew how ungrateful the villagers would have been.

As you can probably tell, Naruto's relationship with his inner demon has also improved. Kyuubi was absolutely thrilled with the amount of bloodshed his container was unleashing and was more than willing to play along with it. The beast had become something of an annoying older brother to the blonde, bitchy yet helpful at different times.

Naruto had made his mindscape larger, transforming it into a vast open field with a large forest, with Kyuubi's seal being transformed from a cage into a collar, so that he could roam freely. In exchange, Kyuubi taught his vessel how to show past events to others through a powerful genjutsu he had developed years ago. He called it: Demonic Genjutsu: Through the Eyes of the Mind. Each vision from this genjutsu was shown from an observational, almost cinematic, point of view and felt so real that it was nearly impossible for anyone to doubt whether the event actually took place or not. This was useful, especially in describing things that are almost impossible to explain in words. Naruto often used this genjutsu on himself, to look over previous battles and observe ways of how he could better improve himself.

Kyuubi had also told his vessel much of his past, but refused to explain his origin or why he attacked Konoha. He only told Naruto that it wasn't his intention, nor did he have a choice in the matter. The blonde decided to drop the subject, but planned to ask the biju in the future after they trusted each other more.

Along with the changes in his physical appearance, Naruto had also come a long way in overcoming his more troubling obstacles when it came to being a ninja. Where he once had piss poor chakra control, Naruto's body had now evolved so that he could control his chakra perfectly. He could now make regular clones perfectly with little to no effort. Also, where he once was impatient and brash, he was now calm and collected. His patience was now well controlled and he could think more clearly while in the middle of a fight instead of using just his instincts and spur of the moment strategies.

Naruto's physical abilities had also risen immensely.

His newfound physical strength was incredible. At full strength, he was almost as strong as Tsunade was and Kyuubi told him he was getting stronger over time.

His speed, agility, and stamina had also increased as well. He was now just as fast as Lee without his weights on and his already enhanced stamina allowed him to keep this speed going for days at a time.

He also found he had a Dojutsu, of sorts. His eyes remained the same but this new form of sight allowed Naruto to see the heat of all things, animal or human, when activated. This allowed him to see his prey from a distance and even allowed him to see them through walls. He could also see across vast distances in a telescopic-like vision that he could focus in or out.

Despite his adaptations, Naruto still found his newfound powers difficult to control. It took a great deal of concentration in order to will his limbs to change into the various weapons he now used. This changed after about two weeks of practice and now the changes come at will with minimal effort. So far he had six different forms his arms could take.

The first form he had discovered was the clawed form. This form increased the size of his hands greatly and provided a 30cm-long claw on each finger on each hand. The claws were incredibly sharp and were capable of cutting through almost anything, including steel. This was the form Naruto used the most.

The second form was a form he dubbed the "Hammerfist". When used, his fists would change into mallet shaped clubs that were immensely powerful. The hammers could smash through any defense with ease and could create powerful shockwaves that felt like miniature earthquakes. Unfortunately, they were also extremely heavy and unwieldy and thus only used to shatter defenses and create shockwaves in order to knock foes off of their feet. He was still trying to create a style that allowed this form to be of more practical use, but, so far, he had little success.

The third form took the form of a gauntlet that launched out a strong and sharp whip-like chain with a grasping claw at the end of it. This form had an amazing reach and could stretch incredible distances. Naruto decided to call this form the "Whipfist". Not only was it useful for grappling objects or people from a distance, it also provided a long range attack that was both dangerous and difficult to predict. The whip was razor sharp and could decapitate foes with ease.

The fourth form, the gauntlet/spear form, was an idea Naruto came up with on a whim. It provided lethal offensive blades while it formed strong defensive armor around the arms. It was still a work in progress, but Naruto decided to call it the "Spearfist".

The fifth form was his most recent form was called the "Drillfist". The blonde had gotten the idea for this form off of one of the members of the Shinobazu, who used a clawed gauntlet on his right arm to drill through practically anything. True to its name, the form involved transforming one of his arms into an actual drill, instead of the clawed-shaped gauntlet the missing-nin used. It had taken awhile, but Naruto eventually found a way to make the drill rotate and, eventually, spin. He proceeded to test it out on Raiga's Lightning Strike Armor, which proved successful, as it had not only pierced the armor, but also killed the man himself. That was the hardest substance he had used it against and, thus, Naruto did not know the drill's limit as of yet.

The sixth and final form was the shield form. Unlike the previous forms, the shield form is for the purpose of defense rather than offense. As the name states, the form provides an organic, iron-hard shield around either arm. This shield was reliable and had yet to be breached by any foe Naruto has faced off against, though he had to admit that Raiga had come pretty close with his Fangs of Lightning and Lightning Ball techniques. Even before that particular fight, Naruto was certain the shield wasn't impenetrable and often wondered when he would meet an adversary that could break it. He hoped that day wouldn't come for a long time.

Naruto had been able to cope with his weapon forms easily enough. He was trying to develop individual fighting styles for each form but he is still working on it.

Naruto's armored form and consuming ability terrified him at first.

The first time he had transformed into his armored form, Naruto almost fainted. He calmed down a great deal when he found that this change came at will and was easily reversed. He was pleased by how durable this form was and even more so when he discovered the amount of fear this form created in his foes. Naruto was in this form almost constantly (even while sleeping), partly because it provided him with an intimidating appearance and a solid defense, but mostly because he didn't want anyone to see his true form. If anyone saw him in his human appearance and lived to tell the tale, they would describe his appearance and soon his face would be all over the Elemental Nations, alerting Konoha to the fact that he was still alive.

That was something he could not afford and would not tolerate as it would hamper his plan of retribution.

There were, however, a few people he trusted enough to reveal himself to.

So far, the only people who knew the "demon's" (he hadn't come up with his new title back then) true identity were Gaara and his siblings, as well as Gaara's student Matsuri (whom he had rescued). Naruto remembered their mutual surprise and happiness to his sudden resurrection and their mutual anger when Naruto told them about Kakashi's betrayal. Gaara had offered to help his old friend and fellow demon container rip the cyclopean and his precious student apart, slowly, and even offered to completely cut off all ties with Konoha. Naruto declined these offers and told Gaara that his retribution was something he had to accomplish on his own. The idea for Suna to cut off ties with Konoha, however, was tempting and told Gaara he would think about it. He asked the Sand Siblings and Matsuri to keep his survival a secret to all, especially to anyone from Konoha. They agreed and wished Naruto good luck on his journey as he left.

Naruto smiled as he remembered the way Matsuri stared at Gaara. It reminded him of how he and Ino looked whenever they stared into each other's eyes. He could tell Matsuri truly loved the newly appointed Kazekage and hoped that Gaara would one day be able to find happiness with her, the same happiness he had found with Ino.

Back to Naruto's new abilities, the one he had the most trouble coping with was the ability to "consume" the dead or dying and gaining their memories and appearance. The first time Naruto did this; he had fallen to his hands and knees and thrown up, thinking he had just eaten the victim.

While attempting to forget about his grief, he kept his mind focused on happy memories from his past. As he did this he noticed he had other memories, different memories, memories that were not his own. He looked down at the pool of his victim's blood before him…and that's when he noticed that he looked exactly like the man he had just killed.

After he and Kyuubi searched his mind and memories, they came to the conclusion that the unknown memories belonged to the man he had consumed. Kyuubi explained that he didn't actually eat the victim, but rather assimilated or absorbed him into his own body and somehow gained his memories, talents, and skills as well as his appearance. Over the next few weeks, Naruto continued to consume more of his victims and soon began to see the potential of this particular skill. By consuming his victims he could gain a great deal of combat experience and skill through their memories. This means that, by consuming certain individuals that excel in certain fields, he could gain a lifetime's worth of experience in that particular field. For example, when Naruto consumed Raiga, he gained Raiga's level of swordsmanship and his control of Lightning Release, as if he had been the man himself his entire life. In short, where it would take a lifetime for most, Naruto could become a master of any specialty in an instant. In addition, he found that, by doing this, he would regain chakra and recover from any injury almost instantly.

He could gain the knowledge of anyone he consumed as long as the victims brain was intact.

The blonde thought about the various abilities and items he had gained from the people he had consumed. So far, the most noteworthy abilities and weapons he had acquired were, several earth, lightning, water, fire, and wind release techniques and affinities, the nail techniques he received from the thief Gosunkugi in Stone Country, the assimilation techniques he acquired from one of the members of the Wandering Ninja group in Bird Country, the summoning techniques and level of water control, the magnetic ninjutsu, and the ice ninjutsu he had taken from the Janin in Vegetable Country, the weaponry he had "appropriated" from the Four Celestial Symbols Men, the Shiin clan sound techniques and the ocarina he had acquired from Menma (the name Naruto had given his late friend), the wire, drill, and umbrella techniques he had acquired from the Shinobazu, Raiga's jutsu and Lightning Fangs, and, finally, the abilities of the Ame genin and Aoi, as well as the latter's stolen Raijin.

All and all, Naruto had acquired several lifetimes' worth of experience and abilities in a little over a year.

Anyway, back to the consuming ability…

At first, Naruto had difficulty sorting through the newly gained memories, but with Kyuubi's help he soon found a way to keep the memories from overwhelming his mind. He still had to be careful though, he couldn't consume too many people in quick succession. The pair agreed to wait at least five minutes between every two or three consumptions before continuing.

Speaking of Naruto, he had just arrived about one mile from Konoha and had stopped. He took the form of a bandit he had consumed during his massacre of the camp in Wave. This form wore average civilian clothes, had matching brown hair and eyes, and wore his long hair in a small ponytail. Aside from the large scar slashed across his face, he had an unassuming form about himself. After checking his appearance, voice, and fake identification, he exited the forest and began walking along the main trail to Konoha.

He soon arrived at the main gates where he was greeted by the two gate guards whom he gave his (fake) identification to. When they asked why he was here, Naruto decided to test their intelligence. He told them he was an aspiring writer who was writing a book about the different ramen flavors of the Elemental Nations and had heard that Konoha had some of the best. Amazingly, they bought his story and let him walk through the gates unhindered and told him to try Ichiraku's for the best ramen in the village. Naruto held in a laugh and told them he'd keep that in mind.

'Morons', he thought and looked around. Things hadn't changed much, if at all. He shrugged and continued forward.

After about ten minutes, Naruto decided to visit the Ichiraku Ramen stand, partly to see Teuchi and Ayame and partly because he was hungry.

He soon arrived at the stand and sat down. He saw Teuchi in the back cooking while Ayame approached him with a smile on her pretty face, but Naruto could see a look of sadness behind it.

"Hello sir welcome to Ichiraku's" she said cheerfully, "What can I get for you?" she asked.

"I'd like…a bowl of this 'Naruto Uzumaki Deluxe Special' that is shown on the menu." He answered politely, pausing to go over the menu. He had to hide his smile when he saw that an item on the menu was named after him, although he was immensely flattered by it.

Ayame's expression faltered a bit before she nodded and disappeared into the kitchen.

After a few minutes, he received his ramen and quickly finished it before saying "thank you" before leaving a 100% tip for them. Naruto left quickly before they realized how much money he had left them.

He continued walking and listening when he saw a hated but familiar face in front of him walking towards him. Someone who he barely able to restrain himself from murdering where he stood.

Kakashi Hatake. He was walking absentmindedly through the streets while reading his favorite Icha Icha novel.

Knowing the cyclopean moron always carried at least two of the novel series on him at all times, Naruto decided to ruin the Jonin's day. He walked straight towards Kakashi and deliberately bumped into him.

"My sincerest apologies Shinobi-san" Naruto said in a polite tone, "that was completely my fault."

Kakashi stared at him for a few seconds before giving off one of his signature "eye-smiles", "Don't worry about it, besides, it was my fault" the cyclops said, "I should have watched where I was going."

He then turned away and continued walking. Naruto smirked and kept walking the direction he was going, "Yes, you should have Shinobi-san" he said under his breath while looking at the cover of a certain orange novel he was holding, "You really should have" he finished while grinning.

It shouldn't be surprising that Naruto had been able to pickpocket to famous "Copy-nin" considering he was forced to steal and pickpocket for several months after he was kicked out of orphanage when he was five, before he gained his apartment.

After another 10 minutes of walking naruto, along with the rest of Fire Country, heard someone shout "WHERE IS IT? WHERE IS IIIIIIIT?" in anguish.

Naruto laughed to himself and kept going. He walked into a deserted ally and shifted into another identity in case Kakashi was able to connect the dots. Bumping into people is how pickpockets work after all.

After walking for a little while longer, he heard a commotion nearby.

"Beat it Sakura", he heard a familiar voice say before he sped up toward the location of the voice.

When he arrived he discovered a group of his friends standing outside of the BBQ place Ino had told him she and her teammates would hang out at after missions. The group consisted of Team 10 and Team 8 glaring down a surprised Sakura. Clearly, Team 8 and Team 10 had just emerged from the restaurant and Sakura had tried to speak to them. The voice he heard had come from Kiba. Naruto hid in the shadows of the alleyway he had emerged from, while using a camouflage technique he had received from another member of the Wandering Ninja (which also hid his scent from Kiba and Akamaru), and listened in on the soon-to-become argument, wondering why his friends would act so rudely towards his former teammate.

"Oh come on guys, it's been a year, surely you can't still be mad at me", Sakura said in a shocked tone.

Ino scoffed, "What did you expect? That we would just get over it and be glad it happened? We aren't heartless bitches like you", she spat the last word at her former friend.

Naruto's heart throbbed upon seeing the girl he loved so much standing nearby, no matter how angry she was and what she was angry about. He noticed that her hair had grown back to its original ponytail and couldn't help but smile and become slightly turned on by it, remembering what she had told him over a year ago.

Sakura was shocked, "What? You…you still have broken free of his control? It must be more serious than I thought", she said the last part mostly to herself.

"We're still here Sakura" Choji pointed out.

The pinkette sighed, "What does it take before you see the truth?" she yelled at them, "When are you all going to wake up and realize that he was nothing but a monster that should have been killed the day he was born?"

Naruto was shocked, 'Does she mean…me?' he thought to himself. He continued to listen.

Kiba and a slightly larger Akamaru growled at her, "You should leave now, Uchiha whore, before we decide to rip you apart where you stand."

The two teams unleashed an impressive amount of KI (Killing Intent) at the pink haired girl, who took a step back; she knew full well she was outnumbered.

After a moment of silence, Sakura regained her composure and shrugged, "Fine, if you all want to be under the Kyuubi's control that's fine," she said rudely, "and Ino-pig, if you and Hinata want to be demon whores that's also fine", she sighed, "it's a shame that you can't see Sasuke-kun for the hero that he is."

Naruto now knew it was him his former teammate was referring to. His anger was gradually rising.

"Sasuke isn't a hero!" Hinata shouted, "He's a selfish, spoiled brat, and you're nothing but his worthless bitch!" she shouted, spitting the last word at her. Naruto was surprised that Hinata had shouted such a hateful comment toward Sakura, and even more surprised that she had done so without stuttering. So surprised, in fact, that he had forgotten about his anger towards Sakura for a brief moment.

Naruto was not surprised at her defending him otherwise. He had long since figured out her feelings for him (he had banged his head up against a tree for about five minutes while muttering "stupid" over and over again after he figured it out, something that was so obvious to begin with). After thinking it through, he realized he cared for her too; it explained why he was so quick to encourage her during her fight with Neji and why he vowed to avenge her after she was beaten to near death by her cousin. It was also why he thought she was so adorable when she tapped her index fingers together and stuttered while embarrassed. He did not act on his feelings, however, seeing as he was already dating Ino at the time and didn't want to cheat on her. He decided not to tell Hinata and hoped she would get over him and move on, though this did not, and would not, change the way he felt about her.

"Take that back!" Sakura screeched back at the (formerly) shy Hyuuga heiress.

"Why should she?" Ino asked, "It is true after all."

The others laughed at Sakura who was sputtering uncontrollably at that last statement.

"You're in no position to pick a fight with us Sakura", Shikamaru pointed out after the pinkette began unleashing killing intent towards them; "You should leave…NOW, before you do something troublesome."

Sakura, while still angry, turned and left, but not before saying, "You'll see…you'll see how wrong you are and how Naruto being dead is a good thing. Then you'll come crying, begging for me to forgive your stupidity and apologizing for insulting Sasuke-kun."

At these words, Kiba was about to lunge before Shino put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Kiba reluctantly calmed down and left with the group. They didn't need any more trouble at the moment.

Naruto, meanwhile, was still fuming. 'I did everything for her', he thought, 'I help her overpower Ino-chan's mind switch technique, I saved her worthless hide from Gaara, and I defeated Sasuke for her…AND THIS IS WHAT I GET IN RETURN?' he began releasing a massive amount of KI. Though he was no longer in love with her, he still held Sakura in high regard and this betrayal was just as shocking and infuriating as the others.

Kyuubi quickly chimed in, "Kit, calm down! You're releasing KI laced with my chakra" he told his container, "If you keep this up the entire village will be able to feel it!"

Naruto nodded and slowly began to calm down. After a short while, he had gotten control of himself.

'So' he thought, 'Sakura is just like the others huh? Well then…I know just how to make her suffer…she will watch Sasuke die slowly before I make her beg for her own death' he concluded to himself.

Kyuubi nodded and mentally patted his jailer on the back, "That's the spirit kit" he said, "Just wait until the time is right and then…BAM!" he finished while laughing manically.

Naruto mentally laughed as well, 'Yeah your right' he thought, 'she will pay. When the time is right…She. Will. Pay', he vowed.

He then continued walking through the village, keeping his ears open for any useful information.

Meanwhile, he was thinking.

Ino had looked upset at his death when he saw her and he wanted to let her know he was alright so badly…

But he couldn't.

He could not risk revealing himself to anyone until he was ready to take his revenge, not even to her.

Though it hurt him to do it, he had to remain incognito until the time came.

While he thought this he heard someone whispering nearby, "Hey did you hear about that kid the Uchiha and his team brought back from River Country?"

"Yeah, everyone has…what about him?" another voice asked in a whisper.

Naruto located the source of the whisper, two unassuming men in shinobi garb sitting at a table outside of a café, and sat down on a bench on the other side of the street. He focused his enhanced hearing on the private conversation.

"The kid has a bloodline that can somehow disable the Byakugan", the first man said.

The second man was shocked, "Is that even possible?" he asked, still whispering.

The first man nodded "It would appear so the Hokages going to heal him and then Danzo-sama and the council are going to use him to breed a new clan when he's older" he said.

"So Danzo-sama will have yet another tool to bring the Leaf Village to glory" the second man mused.

"Indeed, soon the world will recognize Konoha as the supreme power throughout the Elemental nations under Danzo-sama's leadership", the first whispered proudly. It was at that moment that a waitress brought their order and they began eating.

Across the street, Naruto was fuming, but was keeping it under control. He knew of the boy they were speaking of. He thought the child, Ranmaru, was going to be returned to the village Raiga had enslaved people from.

He should have known better.

Now, Naruto had to ask himself…

Would he, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, the Prototype, the defender of the innocent and the slaughterer of the wicked, let these arrogant fools use a mere child as a pawn in such a heartless way?

Only three words went through Naruto's mind at that moment: 'No fucking way.'

He was not going to let this happen to anyone, especially to a child. He would not allow anyone, especially Danzo, a man whom he had always hated, to use this boy as a tool for their own ends.

Naruto waited for Danzo's men to finish. When they did, they got up and left in separate directions.

Naruto tailed the one who seemed to know more about the issue and bided his time.

When the man turned into an alleyway he went up in a cloud of smoke and reappeared in ANBU attire only his mask was completely black. There was a kanji for "root" printed on his ANBU vest and mask.

Just as the man was about to begin his patrol, he felt a strong hand clamp around his mouth and a blade pierce his body. The ROOT ANBU's cry of pain was nothing more than a muffled gasp, due to his mouth being covered, even through the mask. He looked down only to see what looked like a spear coming out of his chest.

The man then stiffened when he heard a voice whisper into his ear.

A demonic voice.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, you shouldn't have let your guard down" it said in a playful tone before chuckling.

Before the ROOT ANBU could react a swirl of dark red and black covered his entire body and began to pull him in.

The ROOT felt nothing but agonizing pain…

And then…he felt nothing.

Outside the Hidden Prison in Konoha, later that night:

A shinobi guard was standing outside the secret entrance to the prison. He sighed from boredom and whipped out a pack of cigarettes. He grabbed one out of the pack and lit it. He slowly took a drag from it before sighing again.

"Great" he complained under his breath, "just fucking great, out all the positions I could've gotten reassigned to it had to be prison guard duty" he said before he inhaled another breath of the cigarette and then exhaling it, "And it just had to be on the nightshift too", he finished sarcastically.

He suddenly heard a noise nearby and stood up. He looked towards the location of the sound.

All of a sudden, he heard a demonic voice behind him say, "The nighty-nightshift."

"Huh?" the guard turned around…and blacked out as an armored fist hit him in the face.

Inside the Prison:

Naruto, in his armored form, quickly made his way into the prison after knocking out the guard and began making his way through it. The hallways were dark, lit only by torchlight. They were also cramped so he used his chakra to stick to the ceiling, and began crawl slowly along it on all fours, freezing whenever guards passed underneath him.

He soon found a ventilation duct and slowly and carefully, opened it and crawled inside before closing it again.

Naruto then began silently crawling through the ducts, 'Now then', he thought, 'before I can release this kid, I have to find out where he is' he thought to himself as he continued crawling through the tunnels, 'from the look of that drone's memories, this place is huge. It could take hours to find him' he then had an idea, 'Unless… unless I consume a person who knows every detail of what goes on here. But who?' He couldn't just consume random guards…well he could,but it would be inefficient.

He then realized something, this place is a prison and all prisons have one thing in common. 'The warden!' he thought, 'he'll have the information I need…I just hope he deserves to die.'

After about ten minutes, of searching for the warden's office, Naruto found himself above the prison armory and decided to ransack it. He used his thermal vision to scan the area. 'Good' he thought, 'no guards other than the one outside the door ', he then opened the duct and carefully lowered himself into the room. He looked around at the room's contents before mentally scoffing, 'the security in this prison is shit', he thought to himself with Kyuubi agreeing with him, 'The vents are huge and easy to sneak through and they should have placed guards inside the armory as well. Oh well, easier for me' he said while grinning he began looking through the confiscated items.

Kyuubi was confused, "Why are you here?" the biju asked, "You are jeopardizing the prison break plan!" the beast finished.

'Because', he explained, 'I'm trying to find something that was used against my former team over a year ago, something that might prove useful in the near future…besides the less they have, the more we benefit' he finished. Kyuubi mentally agreed.

After a few minutes of looking, he found what he was searching for. He pulled out two large claw-like gauntlets that had shuriken chains within them.

Naruto smiled, 'These gauntlets once belonged to the infamous "Demon Brothers" Gozu and Meizu' he thought. He then opened up a scroll and sealed them, 'these should be wielded by a real demon' he thought. Kyuubi laughed at that last thought. Naruto leaped back into the vent silently and closed it after stealing a few more confiscated items (basic shinobi equipment).

After crawling for another fifteen to twenty minutes, Naruto found himself in the vent straight the warden's office. Shaking his head at the stupidity of whoever designed this place, he opened the vent quietly and stuck his head out. There, sitting at his desk was the warden. He currently had his feet up on his desk and was reading a familiar orange novel. Naruto was amazed; this man was read smut while he was supposed to be working. The blonde shook his head and then got an idea.

Warden Koben was sitting at his desk reading his favorite novel, giggling pervertedly every other moment or so. This year had been great, the demon that killed his wife was dead and he held a high position in Konoha that required little to no actual work.

All was right in the universe.

A sudden, light thud brought him out of his train of thought. He turned around in his chair to find small orange rectangle lying on the ground in front of him. Koben got up and walked over to this strange anomaly. It was an orange book. His eyes widened when he saw the title, Icha Icha: The 10th Year Anniversary Addition. He picked it up and examined it carefully and looked around. "Where did you come from?" he asked out loud. He couldn't believe his luck! This Icha Icha was incredibly rare, supposedly there were only fifty published in the world! He grinned and opened the book and giggled at it's content. "Where have you been all my life" Koben said as he walked back to his desk. That Toad Sage may be a demon lover, but damn was he a genius!

The warden was so absorbed by his new book he didn't notice a figure drop out of the vent above where the book was dropped behind him. The figure was silently creeping closer to it's target.

"Man the boy's at the bar aren't going to believe thi-!"

Before Koben could finish, he felt someone or something grab him from behind and place a hand around his throat.

"I can't believe how stupid you are" a demonic voice whispered into his ear.

The warden was panicking; the book was a trap and stepped right into it. The hand around his throat prevented from calling for help.

"Who are you?" he gasped out with the little air he had.

"The last thing you'll never see" the voice said before ripping the warden's throat open.

Before he could react to this, he felt himself being pulled in by an invisible force.

Naruto had performed a quick and clean kill. He had killed and consumed the warden so quickly that there was no blood left behind. He then closed his eyes as he felt the memories flood in.

Everything came in brief flashes but Naruto understood it all. Koben, he remembered that name. It was a name he had heard during one of his usual beatings he received as a child, he remembered the name being used to congratulate someone for hitting him in the leg with a kunai to prevent him from escaping.

It appeared Naruto had been right; this man did deserve to die.

Naruto searched deeper into the deceased man's memories, bypassing the deceased wife and the demon hating nonsense before he found what he was looking for.

Koben stood at the entrance to the prison waiting impatiently for the "special package" they were to receive. The sooner they got this over with the sooner he could get back to reading.

The doors to the prison opened and in walked in two armed guards carrying a frightened child between them.

"A kid?" Koben asked, unbelieving, "A fucking kid? You can't be serious."

One of the Anbu looked at Koben, "Completely serious, the council wants this little punk locked up tight until ordered otherwise. Is there a problem with that?" he said in a menacing tone.

Koben held up his hands, "Take it easy!" he said jokingly, "there's no problem here" he said before looking at two of the prison guards behind him, "You two!" he shouted. Both guards stood up abruptly. "Take our 'guest' down to D-wing and lock him up tight! If anything happens to him, I'm taking it out of your asses!"

The guards took the boy away from the Anbu and moved him towards D-wing.

Naruto shut the memory out and looked back at the desk. He saw the book Koben had been reading before he was distracted. He smirked and decided to leave a little parting gift for whoever came into the office. He picked up the wardens book and shifted one of his fingers into a claw. He then proceeded to carve a message on the cover before butting it back on the desk. Naruto then retrieved the book he stole from Kakashi and placed into a hidden seal on hand where he kept all of his "trophies". Naruto jumped back into vent, closed it, and then began moving again.

Soon afterward, he found the cell block he was looking for. He opened the vent and began climbing along the ceiling while moving down the cell block.

Eventually he found Ranmaru in cell D-13. Although he had the same clothes and hairstyle he had had from when Naruto had last seen him, the boy looked terrible, covered in grime; he looked like he had lost a loved one, which was true in a sense. Raiga had been the person who he cared about more than anything, and Naruto had killed him. The boy was also sacred of his surroundings and was shivering.

Shaking off the thought, Naruto quietly dropped to the ground in front of Ranmaru's cage. Though Naruto didn't make a sound, the boy saw him drop out of the corner of his eye and was shocked to see who it was. There, standing in all of its glory, was the creature who murdered his precious person.

The five year old boy backed up against the wall, "Y-you? W-what are y-you d-doing here?" he asked, frightened.

Naruto (still in his armored form) kneeled in front of the cell, "I'm here to break you out" he answered simply.

Ranmaru was confused "B-but w-why? H-haven't you d-done enough? You've already t-taken R-raiga-sempai, my p-purpose, from me, and n-now you wish to f-free me? You wish to f-further insult me?" the boy asked loudly while continuing to stutter.

"Shh", Naruto told him, "I came to free you because of what the village's council has planned for you" he explained.

Ranmaru was even more confused, "What do you mean?" he asked without stuttering this time.

Naruto sighed and told the boy about what Danzo, the other elders, and the civilian council intended for him to do.

Ranmaru was shocked but this did explain why the Hokage looked so guilty and why she had been so quiet while she healed him, "B-but why?" the boy asked, "Why would someone do something so horrible to a child?" he asked.

"Because they are selfish and will do anything in order to gain power, even exploiting an innocent like yourself" Naruto growled before calming himself and continuing, "But I can free you" he explained, "I can prevent this from happening, I can give you a home", he paused before continuing, "I am sorry I took Raiga from you, but I could not allow him to harm innocents any longer. You say that your purpose was to help Raiga? My purpose is to help the innocent, like you, and, if you wish, you can do that too. I will take you with me and teach you, raise you to do so. I can be the family you have always wanted. The choice is yours", Naruto finished.

Ranmaru was amazed, this being was willing to put himself at risk in order to save him from a fate worse than death and then offered to be his family? Ranmaru looked into his savior's demonic red eyes and saw no amount of deception in them.

Ranmaru then decided what to do.

"Okay", the boy said simply, "I will go with you and learn to protect others like you do…sempai" he added at the end.

Naruto smiled and stood up, "Alright then" he said grabbing onto the cell door, "Stand back, I'm going to rip this door open."

Ranmaru nodded and backed away from the door. Naruto then proceeded to use his superhuman strength to rip the cell door off of its hinges.

That was when the fit hit the shan (sorry, just a phrase one of my college professors uses).

An alarm started blaring loudly and red lights started flashing brightly.

"Shit!" Naruto yelled, "We have to go NOW!" he shouted before scooping up Ranmaru into his arms and proceeding to bolt down the corridor as fast as he could.

As he went he saw guards rushing to their posts, wondering what was happening.

He turned left and saw a group of guards, who were shocked to see him, head straight for him trying to prevent his escape.

"Hold on!" Naruto told Ranmaru who nodded and gripped onto his savior tighter.

Naruto dodged one guard by jumping off the wall while performing a spinning kick on another right in the face as he landed before he continued to run.

The guards of this prison had no hope of catching up to him at his current speed, but he kept going, trying to avoid the guards emerging from the paths in front of him. He made sure to memorize the trail he took and knew exactly how to get to the exit.

He dodged more guards while knocking aside others. When he turned the corner that would lead him to the exit, saw more than a dozen guards blocking his path, weapons raised.

Despite this, Naruto kept going. He then shifted Ranmaru's body to one of his arms, "Hang on! This is gonna be bumpy!" Ranmaru nodded and braced himself.

Naruto then shifted his free arm into a shield and held it out in front of him. The guards were shocked but couldn't react in time.

Naruto barreled through the guards, using his shield as a battering ram. Guards were sent flying in all directions, unable to match his strength.

Naruto had been right, it was very bumpy.

Naruto then smashed through the steel exit door he had entered, shifted his arm back to normal, shifted Ranmaru back into both of his arms, and then proceeded to sprint towards the village gates knowing he had no chance of sneaking out with a child in his arms while the village on full alert. He could already hear the alarms sounding.

He decided to speed through town, knowing the ANBU would not use dangerous jutsu if civilians were nearby.

Naruto then nimbly began to weave his way through the panicked crowds, not an easy feat to perform while still in his armored form.

"Scuse me! Pardon me! Coming through! Look out! Sorry 'bout that!" were among the things he said to the confused and frightened people ran past and weaved through.

He avoided hitting anyone and continued running.

Ranmaru, free of the cell that prevented him from using chakra, then used his kekkai-genkai in order to see behind them, "Sempai" he said loud enough so that his newly dubbed sempai could hear him, "There are about fifteen masked shinobi approaching us from behind!" he told his savior.

The boy was still astounded at how fast they were going!

"ANBU" Naruto stated simply before saying, "Hang on!" as he began to move even faster.

The ANBU following them were quickly finding it difficult to keep up with the duo. 'Damn, this thing is fast', they all thought to themselves.

Meanwhile, outside the Yamanaka Flower Shop, Ino had just locked the store up for the night and began walking home when she heard shouting coming from behind her. She turned to see a large figure holding something in its arms run straight towards her with several smaller figures following behind it.

Ino knew she could not get out of the way in time and braced herself for the figure to ram into her. But this did not happen; the figured leapt over her and flipped through the air. Time seemed to slow down as Ino looked up at…whatever this was that jumped over her and the small boy it was carrying. She looked into its eyes and it looked into hers. She also saw the little boy it was carrying mouth "Sorry". Time then resumed its normal pace as the being landed behind her while rolling to soften the impact before continuing to run without its speed decreasing in the slightest. A few seconds later the ANBU chasing it also blew right by her.

Ino was confused, to say the least, and continued to stare after them as they disappeared into the distance.

Ino Yamanaka had only one thought on her mind, 'What the fuck just happened?'

She never even noticed the alarms going off until now.

Back with Naruto, the armored teen could see the village gates before him.

"Hold on boy!" he shouted, "We're almost there!"

But just then more than two dozen ANBU stood in their way with the village gates closing behind them. Naruto would not be able to stop them this time.

"Shit!" he shouted, thinking there was no way out. He never stopped running all the while. 'I need a way out of this', he thought in that same second.

But as he shouted, he felt demonic chakra travel through his mouth. His cry of anger sounded like a banshee wailing and visible sound waves emitted from it.

The sound waves hit the crowded ANBU with a force that sent them flying back.

'Okay' the now shocked blonde Jinchuuiki thought to himself, 'that wasn't what I had in mind…but it'll do' he finished as he rushed through the dazed and scattered ANBU just as the gates closed.

He kept running for several more miles until he was sure they were safe. He then skidded to a halt and looked back.

Ranmaru looked up at him, "Are we safe now sempai?" the boy asked.

Naruto looked down at him and smiled, "Yep, we made it" he said triumphantly.

Ranmaru smiled before passing out. Naruto laughed. It had been a long day for both of them and it had taken its toll on the five year old boy.

Naruto took a deep breath before continuing forward, looking for a secluded place in the forest where they could make camp and settle down for the night while making a mental note to ask Kyuubi what that blast he had made was at a later date.

Konoha Council Chamber: The next morning

The council, as usual, was in an uproar. Why? Because the boy they had intended to use as breeding stock had escaped last night with the help of the infamous "demon".

Tsunade slammed her fists into her podium, "WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP!" she shouted at the suddenly frightened council.

The council soon quieted down before one civilian stood up, "Hokage-sama, we must send hunter-nin after the beast! We cannot let this monster steal what rightfully belongs to this village!" he said with several others agreeing with him.

This turned out to be a very poor choice of words.

Tsuande glared at the man, who shrunk back into his seat, "Belongs? You speak of the boy as if he were property!" she shouted at him.

Danzo spoke up "What the child is treated as is irrelevant, what is important is that he be retrieved and returned to the village, and the demon be killed, or better yet captured, for study", the old war hawk finished while getting agreements from the other elders and civilians. Danzo himself was more angry than usual, first one of his ROOT goes missing and now his latest pawn in his plan to overthrow Tsunade had escaped the village. Could this day possibly get any worse for him?

"You're all so troublesome" an annoyed Shikaku Nara sighed before continuing when he saw he had gotten everyone's attention, "This 'demon' broke into a maximum security prison, apparently killed the warden while leaving no trace behind, smashed its way through the prison guards, outran our top ANBU, and escaped the village all while carrying a small child in its arms and you want to send hunter-nin after it? It scattered almost 30 ANBU with a single attack. We have no idea what else this thing is capable of and sending hunter-nin after it could get them killed", he explained simply before leaning back in his seat while hearing the other clan heads agree with him.

The part about the warden made them shudder. After everyone had calmed down some of the guards checked his office wondering why he hadn't issued orders over the intercom during the prison break. When they entered his office, they found nothing. They noticed the orange book on the desk and saw that a message had been carved into the cover.

It didn't make him blind, but now he'll never see!

Strange words, to be sure.

Koharu spoke next, "It still makes no sense. Why would this thing break the boy out of prison after it killed his sensei?" she asked, "If it wanted to kill him it would have done so inside the prison."

The council members thought for a moment but came up with nothing.

After a moment, Danzo cleared his throat, "Whatever it's reasons may be, it has still committed crimes against our village and should be placed in the Bingo Book at the very least" he said, getting agreements from the other council members.

Tsunade sighed, "Fine." She said frustrated, "The 'demon' will be placed into the Bingo Book as an A-ranked nin with a 'capture on sight' order on its head. But there will be no hunter-nin sent after it until we have a better understanding of its abilities", she finished.

Danzo was mentally scheming, 'No matter' he thought, 'I've already sent my ROOT to capture the beast, they should be reporting back soon enough.'

"Now then" Tsunade continued clearing her throat, "We must also discuss the matter of the prisoners who escaped during the confusion last night" she said.

The council was shocked at this turn of events. No one had realized this fact until just this morning.

After a brief moment of silence Inoichi Yamanaka asked, "Who are the escapees?"

"The traitor Mizuki along with Fuujin and Raijin, the Legendary Stupid Brothers" Tsunade answered.

The council was even more shocked. A former subordinate of Orochimaru and a duo that rivaled, perhaps even surpassed, the Godaime Hokage in terms of strength? This wasn't good.

Homura spoke up, "What is to be done about this?" he asked.

"Two teams are to be sent after them later this afternoon with the goal of bringing them back alive" Tsuande answered.

The council seemed to agree with this.

On that note Tsunade dismissed them while being thankful that Ranmaru had escaped.

Inside a Cave: miles outside of Konoha: an hour later

Naruto (in his human form) had been awake for a short while and was watching a sleeping Ranmaru.

During the night he had learned from Kyuubi that the energy blast he had unleashed on the ANBU last night was an attack called the "Sonic Scream". This was an attack Kyuubi himself had used many times in the past before he was sealed. The attack took demonic chakra, condensed it into visable sound waves and was then launched toward the target(s) from the user's mouth. While earsplitting, the scream, it enough demonic chakra his used, can actually sucks the life out of whomever it is directed at (think the Silver Banshees cry from Justice League Unlimited) as well as deafen them. Kyuubi claimed that, at full power, it could flatten an entire village. Naruto had somehow awakened this power while he was frustrated, causing him to access the demonic chakra briefly.

Naruto was ecstatic upon learning of this new power he possessed. While he was thinking through the possibilities, he noticed Ranmaru beginning to wake up.

The boy looked around for a moment before he saw Naruto in his human form. He panicked at the sight of this stranger and backed away from him.

Naruto smiled, "Calm yourself child, it is I your sempai!" he declared proudly.

Ranmaru was confused, "B-but you-"

Naruto interrupted him "What you saw before was my armored appearance that I use to disguise myself" he explained, "What you see now is my true form." To further prove his point he shifts to his armored form before shifting back again.

Ranmaru nodded after recovering from his shock, "I-I see", he said quietly.

Naruto laughed, "Do not worry Ranmaru I will not harm you and I will make good on my promise to raise and train you" he told the boy. He then remembered something, "I haven't introduced myself yet have I?" he asked before clearing his throat, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, but others will soon know me as the Prototype!" he declared proudly.

Ranmaru stared at his sempai, not entirely sure he was right in the head.

Naruto then became serious, "My identity is one of my greatest secrets", he told his student, "If my enemies were to discover it, all that I care for would be placed in peril. I hope you will be able to keep this secret", he finished.

Ranmaru nodded, "I will sempai" he vowed.

Naruto smiled. "Good" he said and then walked up to Ranmaru.

"Now then", he said while looking Ranmaru over, "judging from the way you move, it will be quite some time before you can move your limbs properly so until then will focus on your recovery and then-" he abruptly cut off, sensing something outside of the cave.

"Sempai?" he asked worried, he then used his bloodline to peer outside of the cave. "There are five shinobi outside of the cave wearing black masks and have a kanji for 'root' on their uniforms" he told Naruto, "they know we are here and appear to be waiting for us to come out. I think they wish to speak with you" the boy concluded.

Naruto nodded, "Wait here until I return" he told Ranmaru who nodded and watched as his savior shifted into his armored appearance and began making his way toward the cave entrance.

Meanwhile outside the cave the five ROOT ANBU waited anxiously for the beast within to emerge.

"Remember not to attack it until it gives us its answer" the leader of the ROOT squad told his men, "We need to make sure this…thing is sentient and then give it Danzo-sama's offer first. Attack only if it attacks us or it refuses and remember to capture it…alive" he added, getting nods from the rest of the group.

They then felt the ground tremble slightly as large stomping noises were heard heading towards the cave entrance (Naruto is deliberately making his steps audible in order to intimidate the ROOT members).

Slowly, the stomping became louder as the beast came closer. Finally, after a few unbearably tense moments, the demon emerged.

The ROOT's masks hid their shock; this thing had to be at least seven feet tall. True to it's description, it was covered entirely with black armor-like skin, with blood red eyes, razor-sharp teeth and claws, a fox-like head and ears, as well as broad shoulders and a fox-like tail. It was currently hunched over slightly (trying to make himself look more beast-like to further intimidate them).

The beast glared at them for a few moments, shifting it unnerving eyes between each member of the group.

Clearly, it was not happy that they were disturbing it.

After regaining his calm attitude, the ROOT leader cleared his throat; "We are here to speak with you under peaceful terms" he told the beast. The demon then focused its glare upon him. The ROOT gulped before continuing, "Do you understand me?" He asked.

The demon tilted its head to the side for a moment before lifting its head back into proper place. The beast nodded.

The leader sighed internally in relief before continuing, "Are you the entity known as 'the demon'?" he asked.

The disguised Naruto found it funny that the ROOT needed to ask. "I am" he told them, "But I prefer to be called the Prototype."

The monster's demonic voice caused the squad to jump for a moment in surprise before they regained themselves. The leader spoke again, "Very well" he said before continuing, "We have come to deliver a proposition that you might be interested in…Prototype-san" he told the beast, adding the name and suffix at the end in an attempt to be more polite and, while curious about the name it gave itself, decided not to ask. He then waited for the demon's response.

The newly dubbed Prototype looked at each member of the group for a moment. Naruto was obviously going to decline whatever it was they were offering him, but decided to hear them out anyway. He straightened himself up and folded his arms across his muscular chest. "I'm listening" he told them.

The ROOT' let out a collective mental sigh of relief before the leader continued, "Our leader, Danzo Shimura, wishes to offer you a place in his ROOT division, a group we" he gestured towards himself and his squad, "are a part of, and help in his plans to…well you'll know more if you agree."

The Prototype thought for a moment before replying, "Interesting" he said, pretending to be interested, "And what, if anything, would I gain from joining this…what was his name again?" he asked, playing dumb so as to see just how devoted these fanatics were.

"Danzo Shimura" the ROOT told him, slightly annoyed, "a man who is a high-ranking member of our villages council and a man who will soon change the world as we know it" he explained, "And he can offer you power beyond your wildest imagination and you will be given a place in the new world he will bring" he finished in tone that resembled a man talking about his god.

The Prototype cocked one of his not-currently-present eyebrows, "'Change the world?'" he asked, "How? How can any one man change the world, let alone rule it?" he asked in a non-believing voice.

The ROOT started to become angry, "If you join us, you will see" he answered in an aggravated tone, "Now, do you accept or not?" he asked.

The Prototype pretended to think for a moment. He then proceeded to approach them slightly. The ROOT members backed up and reached for their weapons. The Prototype then proceeded to sniff the air around them. After doing this for a moment he stepped back and looked at the squad, "You all smell of (sniff, sniff)…Treachery (deep sniff)…your leader plans on betraying me...and making me into a mindless tool…like all of you (2)" he told them in a sure voice, "Thanks for the offer, but I know an empty promise when I hear one…and besides…power beyond my wildest imagination?" he scoffed, "I already have that and can gain more from the various wicked people I kill" he explained and decided to test their patience and continued to provoke them, "Hmm…I wonder if this 'Danzo' has anything I could gain by killing him…or you" he finished.

The ROOT squad was now infuriated, "You dare insult and then threaten Danzo-sama? The man who is making you an offer that only comes once in a thousand lifetimes?" the leader yelled while he and his teammates unsheathed their weapons.

The Prototype laughed demonically, "You speak as if he were a god" he accused them before continuing to laugh. He then sighed, "To tell you the honest truth (as there can be no other), I already know who your master is" he told them. The ROOT froze. "I only pretended not to because I wanted to know just how deluded you all really were" he told them before grinning, "I've always despised the crippled old freak and my disgust towards him grew after the things I learned from your fellow ROOT member yesterday when I killed him…Tenma, was it?"

The ROOT were stunned, "Y-you killed him?" the leader asked. Tenma had not reported back yesterday and an entire squad was sent to find him. The group was probably still looking.

The Prototype nodded while grinning, "Correct, and boy, did he share such secrets with me, secrets that are now mine to know…Etaino (3)" he finished, adding the ROOT leaders "name" that was given to him by Danzo, at the end.

Said ROOT leader's eyes widened behind his mask while he took a step back, "H-how-?" he asked, wondering how this monster had gotten Tenma to tell it what he knew without activating the seal that was planted at the back of each ROOT members throat. The seal prevented each member from spilling the division's secrets. The Prototype interrupted him.

"Oh, I learned many things from that pitiful little drone" he told the group and then grinned as he began to tell the shocked ROOT operatives what he had learned, "ROOT's secret underground training facility, Danzo's plan to become Hokage, even his involvement with Hanzo of the Salamander and ROOT's involvement with him to help quell an uprising in Amegakure, a mission that failed exponentially, I might add!"

The ROOT members were shocked and horrified. This thing had found out some of ROOT's greatest secrets. Secrets that would destroy the organization if they were revealed.

"B-but how?" the man known as Etaino asked in a panicked voice, "W-we all h-have s-seals that prevent us f-from t-telling anyone anyth-"

The Prototype interrupted him again, "What is that I hear in your voice? Is it…fear?"He laughed, "And here I thought that all ROOT were trained to suppress their emotions. Guess that lesson never took." He laughed a bit more and then sighed, "The answer to your question is simple really" he explained, "The seal is only effective while the person is still alive. When they die however, the seal disappears and then their secrets become mine" he told them while laughing manically.

"But how do you learn something from someone who's dead?" Etaino asked managing to hide the fear he and his fellows were trained to suppress.

The Prototype grinned, "You know those bodies of the people I kill that never turn up? The victims who only leave a shit-load of blood behind?" he asks them. They nod and he continues. "Well…those people die in a different way" he told them and briefly flashes a Genjutsu that shows him killing and consuming a victim, "When I do that to a person I gain that persons memories and skills" he told them before shifting into Tenma's form, to the ROOT squads shock, "I also gain their appearance as well" he continued in Tenma's voice, "With this power, I can gain a lifetime's worth of experience in an instant. I literally become the person I absorb into myself" he said before pausing to let that piece of information sink in and shifting back into his armored and continuing, "And once I consume you" he pointed to Etaino, "I will learn everything you know and I will kill Danzo using your memories, so that, in a way, you will be responsible for his death, oh that's right Etaino, it'll be all. Your. Fault" he told the man, saying each word separately so that they will sink in, and then snickering afterward.

Etaino and his fellow ROOTs lost it after that and charged the Prototype, shouting "DIE!" as they went, completely forgetting about their orders. The Prototype smirked and shifted his arms into their clawed form, "LET'S PARTY!" he shouted as he charged at them.

Five minutes (and several girly screams) later:

Ranmaru had seen the fight with his bloodline and was amazed at how easily his sempai had dispatched the five ANBU-level ninja so quickly after toying with them.

A few seconds later, Naruto entered the cave in his human form while dusting off his trench-coat.

"Too easy" he complained, before looking at Ranmaru's glowing red eyes before the boy deactivated them. Naruto realized that the boy had seen the entire fight. He sat down in front of said boy.

"I'm sorry you had to see that child", he told the five year old boy sincerely.

Ranmaru shook his head, "It's alright sempai" he told his mentor, "You did what had to be done."

Naruto smiled and ruffled the boy's hair playfully, "Good boy", he told him. "Now then", he said, while sitting back, "I bet you wish to know about the abilities I used out there?" he asked his student. Ranmaru nodded eagerly and Naruto began telling him about his past and his abilities. Ranmaru was shocked that people could treat someone so kind so cruelly but found that his sempai's past was very similar to his own; both were shunned for something they could not help. After a few hours, Naruto finished his story and suddenly discovered a memory from Etaino that he thought he should check out.

"Alright, my student, I just found a memory I need to look into" he told Ranmaru as he got up, "Sit tight. I'll be back in a bit."

Ranmaru began to protest, "Where are you going?" he asked.

"To visit an old acquaintance" the blonde answered.

"Can I come with you?" Ranmaru asked hopefully.

"No" Naruto told him firmly, "You're still recovering and I don't want you to get hurt in case I become reckless" he said a then looked into his sad student's face, "Don't worry" he told the boy, "I'm going to leave a group of shadow clones behind to guard you and you can talk to them as if they were me" he saw Ranmaru was still upset, "Come on, don't give me that face. I'll be back in a little while and then I can start teaching you. I'll make it up to you soon, I promise."

Ranmaru cheered up at that thought and smiled, "Okay sempai" he said eagerly.

Naruto smiled at him; "Good" he said before bending down and ruffling the boy's hair again. He then created three shadow clones, "I'll be back soon" he said as he left.

Once outside, Naruto shifted into his armored form and began leaping through the trees.

'You should have stayed in prison Mizuki' he thought while grinning evilly, 'I let you live once, but this time I will show no mercy. You thought I was a demon before? Wait till you see what I am NOW' he thought while sprinting through the trees, imagining the different ways he could kill the traitorous fool once and for all.

Konoha: the Hokage's office, two hours earlier

Team 10 (minus Asuma) and what remained of team seven stood before the Godaime Hokage, Tsuande Senju with her assistant Shizune (holding Tonton) beside her, waiting for their orders.

Tsunade cleared her throat, "As you may already know, three convicts escaped from the village's prison during the confusion last night" she told the two teams.

Kakashi spoke up, "Mizuki and the Legendary Stupid Brothers, right?" he inquired.

"Correct" Tsunade told him, "Your mission is to locate and then capture them; alive" she said looking at Sasuke.

Shikamaru spoke up, "Will we be escorting them back to prison?" he asked.

Tsunade shook her head, "No, you will only have to subdue them; the ANBU will take care of the actual prison escort."

Sakura spoke up, "Mizuki?" she asked, "As in Mizuki-sensei our old academy instructor?"

Tsunade nodded.

"Why was he in prison?" the pinkette asked, confused. Mizuki's arrest was never made public, rarely any arrests are.

The ones from Konoha anyway.

"More than a year ago, he tricked Naruto Uzumaki into stealing the Forbidden Scroll in an attempt to acquire it for Orochimaru" she told them. The genin were wide eyed at this.

Sasuke scoffed, "Typical" he said, "the loser fell for such an obvious trick."

Tsuande glared at him, "Watch your tone Uchiha, or I'll personally make sure you do nothing but D-ranked missions for the next five years" she told him. Sakura was about to defend him but the Godaime Hokage silenced her with a glare.

"As I was saying" she said after clearing her throat, "Mizuki tricked Naruto into stealing the scroll and was confronted by Naruto and Iruka Umino" she continued, "Mizuki incapacitated Iruka, and was defeated by Naruto soon afterward" she finished mentally grinning at Sakura's shock and Sasuke's anger.

Sakura was shocked because the "dead-last" had defeated a Chuunin level shinobi before even graduating. Sasuke, meanwhile, was angered that the "dobe" had beaten Mizuki, one of the academy's instructors. He calmed down and grinned, he would defeat and capture Mizuki and prove, once again, that he was better than Naruto.

Ino, meanwhile, was grinning, proud of what her late boyfriend had done.

"Who are the Legendary Stupid Brothers?" Choji asked.

"They were a pair of shinobi brothers who killed their own comrades for food" Kakashi told him. Choji went wide eyed.

Not even he was that desperate for food.

Kakashi continued, "Their strength is matched only by their stupidity, hence their name, and apparently the only reason they haven't broken out of prison until now is because of the food the guards gave them" he finished telling the amazed group.

Tsunade cleared her throat; "You all have your orders, depart the village within the hour" she told them.

They nodded and left.

Tsunade sighed and placed her head in her hands.

Shizune looked at her mentor with a worried look, "Tsunade-sama? Are you alright?" she asked, concerned.

"I'm fine Shizune" she told her student, "I just…I…" she tried to say.

Shizune understood, "You still miss him" she finished for her teacher. Naruto was always a touchy subject around Tsunade and she avoided talking about him as little as possible. The first month after his death, she had drowned her sorrows in sake (more than usual, at any rate). After she got out of her depressed stupor, she quit drinking almost completely (she still needed alcohol in order to deal with the council's bitching) and quit gambling entirely. She then vowed to continue to be Hokage and change the village in her surrogate son's memory. She, once again, wore the necklace she had given to Naruto, the only thing she had left to remind her of him. She also became quick to violence towards anyone who insulted the late blonde. Mostly, this involved trips to the hospital for the offending people, but that changed after a certain incident.

One of Tsunade's ANBU guards had the gall to whisper how glad he was that the "demon-brat" was gone and hoped he was suffering in hell. He whispered this to another ANBU. Fortunately, this particular ANBU held no particular ill-feelings towards Naruto and quietly told his friend to shut up in case the Hokage heard him, but the offending ANBU was certain she did not hear him.

He was wrong.

The poor man never saw the punch coming. Instead of being thrown back by force of the punch, the man's head splattered all over the place.

His head came apart like a watermelon being dropped from the top of the Hokage Tower.

From that point onward, no one ever said anything negative about Naruto around the slug-sannin again. Hell, some people were afraid to even think anything negative around her!

Tsunade nodded, "Damn gaki…he was…he was like a son to me", she said, her voice breaking, a small tear forming in her eyes, and a small sob escaping her.

Shizune put a hand of her mentor's shoulder who quickly shrugged it off, "I'm fine Shizune, I'm fine" she told her student, "I just…I just need to think positive! Like…" She thought for a moment before she brightened up and said "…maybe pinky and the Uchiha will get killed by Mizuki during the mission!" with a very positive look on her face.

Shizune was shocked for a brief moment before shouting "Tsunade-sama!" in a tone that resembled a parent scolding a child while pointing at her. She was barely able to contain her own laughter. Eventually, she no longer tried to.

They both laughed for a while, glad for the temporary distraction from their mutual pain.

Forest outside of Konoha: Present time

The Prototype (aka Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze) was leaping through the trees while hunting for an old acquaintance he wanted to kill.

Badly.

'Now then' he thought to himself, 'Now…where is the old punching bag? What little hidey-hole are you using Mizuki?' he wondered as he stopped and activated his thermal vision and looked around.

It didn't take him long before he spotted something.

He saw five people a good distance from himself.

At least he thought they were people.

Three of them were average enough in size but the other two were huge. They looked to be the size of himself in his armored form at the least and twice as wide. Their movement's seemed to be hindered at the moment.

He quickly leapt through the trees towards the sight at a steady pace.

Nearby battlefield: Team 10 vs. The Legendary Stupid Brothers

Team 10 was currently in a heated battle against the immensely strong Stupid Brothers. The two barely paid the group any attention to the trio at first, until Ino and Choji accidently destroyed the sibling's lunch, causing them to enter a violent frenzy. So far, the two brothers were unable to move due to Shikamaru's Shadow Imitation Technique and Raijin was currently being strangled by the Shadow Neck Bind Technique. Unfortunately, however, the brother's physical strength was making it difficult for the Nara clan heir to maintain the technique.

Fujin, confused by the gargling noises Raijin was making as he was being strangled, managed to lift one of his arms up and began shaking his younger brother, trying to snap him out of it.

"Brother? What's wrong with you?" Fujin shouted in a clueless voice as he shook his younger sibling violently.

Unbeknownst to Fujin, his shaking of Raijin was putting more strain on Shikamaru, who was barely able to keep his techniques together as it was.

"Ino!" he shouted to his blonde teammate, "I can't keep this up much longer" he told her grunting at the end under the strain.

Ino nodded, "Got it!" she told him, and made her family's heart shaped hand sign, "Mind Body Disturbance Technique!" she shouted.

Raijin froze for a brief moment and then turned to face Fujin. He then punched his older brother in the gut, making Fujin gasp in pain, before then punching him in the face. Before Fujin could recover, Rajin put his large, muscular hands around his brother's throat and began strangling him.

Ino smirked, her clan's jutsu was working well and, better yet, the Shadow Neck Bind was still strangling Raijin, preventing him from speaking. The end result? Fujin thinks Raijin has betrayed him.

Neither brother was capable of speaking at the moment so they couldn't accuse/defend their actions.

Despite this added technique, the two brothers were still overpowering Team 10. Choji, seeing his teammates in trouble, prepared his clans technique.

"Partial Multi-Size Technique!" he shouts. Both of his arms enlarge greatly. Choji then proceeds to grasp both brothers with each of his hands and, using his own enhanced strength, began crushing the two as tightly as he could.

The two idiot brothers were now very confused as to what was happening, but seemed to realize that the three Chunnin (Choji and Ino passed the exams earlier in the year) standing nearby were the source of their discomfort. They began struggling harder than before in order to free themselves.

Team 10 was soon finding it difficult to keep the two contained.

"It's no use", Shikamaru told his teammates, "We can't hold them forever", he concluded, grunting under the strain of holding the two.

"Then what do we do?" Ino asked, also grunting.

Shikamaru thought for a moment before speaking, "Start flaring your chakra", he told them, "Hopefully backup will arrive before they break free", he finished.

The other two nodded, and began flashing their chakra along with their teammate, trying to signal nearby Shinobi to assist them.

But no one came.

Finally, the Neo Ino-Shika-Cho! formation was unable to hold the brothers any longer and were forced to drop their clan techniques.

Without saying a word, Fujin and Raijin charged the three once they were freed, completely forgetting about their previous predicament where they had been forced to attack each other.

Raijin swatted Shikamaru and Choji aside. The two were were hurled into the nearby trees and were knocked unconscious. Fujin did the same to Ino except she managed to remain conscious.

"Now you will pay for ruining our lunch!" Fujin said.

The elder of the two siblings lifted up his arm and prepared to punch Ino again. Ino knew she was too exhausted and injured to dodge in time.

She braced herself for the devastating blow…

But nothing came.

After a moment Ino decided to open her eyes to see what had happened. She was shocked by what she saw.

There, standing in front of her, was a massive, demonic being. It was almost the exact same size as the two brothers. It had a large, muscular body, broad shoulders, and a fox-like tail. Though she could not see it's face, Ino knew from the description that this thing standing in front of her was the infamous "demon" she had heard so much about and had encountered the previous night.

The blonde genin was even more amazed to find that this…whatever it was had Fujin's fist clutched in both of it's own. The creature had caught Fujin's punch.

The Prototype stood in front of the shocked Stupid Brother and grunted under the strain it took to hold back the punch.

'God damn!' he thought to himself as he continued pushing, 'It's like catching and holding back cannon fire!' he thought.

He knew these two would be strong, but not this strong!

Fujin was confused as to what this creature standing before him was, but knew that it was stopping him from avenging his destroyed lunch. He lifted his other fist and threw it at the demonic beast in front of him.

'Shit!' the Prototype thought as the saw the punch coming, 'I can't stop it with only one arm!'

Nevertheless, instinctually, he moved one of his arms and held it up to catch the punch.

Then, something…unexpected happened.

Both of the Prototypes arms were covered in the same pulsating black and dark-red substance as before when his arms or body would change shape. But this time they changed into something he had never seen before.

Both arms and hands greatly increased in size and turned a grayish color.

To the Prototypes further astonishment, his enlarged fist caught Fujin's punch with ease.

He then realized that his other fist was holding back the brothers other fist easily.

Whatever this form was, it seemed to greatly enhance his strength.

Now the tide of the battle had changed.

The Prototype then tossed the second fist away and used the same arm to smash his enhanced fist into Fujin's face.

The brother would have been sent flying back from the immense force of the blow, but could not due to the Prototypes other fist, which was still clutching his other arm.

The Prototype then punched Fujin in the gut before unleashing an uppercut to the brother's chin.

Fujin went flying straight up and hit the ground, hard, causing an immense crater.

Raijin was shocked and afraid; no one had ever matched, let alone surpassed, the two brothers in strength before.

Fujin got up while rubbing his chin with one hand and holding his gut with the other, staring at the Prototype with fear in his eyes.

"Who…who are you?" Raijin asked while pointing at the beast standing a few feet away.

The Prototype glared at the two, "I? I am…your worst nightmare!" he shouted at the two, saying the last word with particular malice, "And you two", he said while pointing at them, "Will not lay a hand on my angel!" he finished, growling at the two with a sound that promised them an agonizing death.

Ino, who was still conscious, was stunned by what her monstrous savior had just said.

'Angel?' she thought, 'No one has ever called me that except-', and then she realized.

'No', she thought in disbelief, 'Could it be…him?' she thought.

Meanwhile, the Legendary Stupid Brothers were terrified of the being in front of them. They had no idea what they had done to piss this thing off but they were afraid of what it could, and probably would, do to them.

In the blink of an eye, the two very large siblings were on the ground, on their hands and knees, bowing before the beast in front of them.

"We're sorry!" Fujin shouted, his voice filled with fear.

"Please don't hurt us!" Raijin begged, equally as afraid.

The Prototype couldn't help but sweatdrop at this sight. Two of the (physically) strongest shinobi in existence were begging for mercy after only a few hits on one of them.

Ino, while still reeling from the shock of a (possible) revelation, also sweatdropped at the sight. These two were about to kill her and her teammates?

'How pathetic', she thought.

The two brothers continued to grovel at the Prototype's feet for a few moments. Finally, the annoyed Prototype rolled his eyes and spoke.

"Alright, fine, I'll spare you", he told the pair of imbeciles. They were so pitiful they weren't even worth killing.

The brothers looked up at him with a gleam of hope in their eyes.

"IF…", the Prototype continued in a serious tone, causing the siblings hope to waver slightly, "You both return to prison immediately" he finished.

The two brothers were about to say something before the beast in front of them continued, "And if you don't hurry up…", he told them with a climatic pause at the end, "You won't receive any dinner", he finished with a sadistic smirk on his face.

The brothers froze with terrified looks on their faces. The very thought of missing a meal of any kind was horrifying to them. The two jumped up and took off toward the prison with a speed that would make Guy or Lee jealous.

"A wise decision indeed", the Prototype said. He then shifted his arms back to normal and turned toward Ino…only to realize that she was still conscious.

"Oh! Hi! Uh…how, uh…how long have you been listening?" he asked her uncertainly.

Ino, though terrified of this thing at first, answered honestly and clearly, "Pretty much since you showed up", she told him.

"Oh! I, uh...did you, um…did you happen to hear a certain something I said a little while ago after I punched the Glutton in the face?" he asked. He had his fingers internally crossed, hoping she wouldn't be able to put the pieces together.

Unfortunately, she did.

"You mean the part where you called me 'Angel'?" she asked, "Yeah, I did", she told him in a matter-of-fact tone.

The Prototype said nothing as he saw the realization in her eyes.

After a moment of silence, Ino struggled, and eventually managed, to get to her feet. She took a few steps forward (while he took a few steps back), looked into his demonic eyes, and whispered only one word:

"Naruto-kun?" she asked, her voice filled with hope, remembering that Naruto's body was never actually recovered.

Was this him? Could this be him? Was it possible that this being standing before her was the man she loved so dearly? Was her true love still alive, standing only a few feet away from her?

The beast said nothing, but had a look of intense heart-ache in its blood-red eyes.

Finally, after a few moments, the Prototype whispered a single word:

"Angel", he said with a voice that was filled with longing and pain.

Before Ino could respond, a groan was heard nearby. She turned to see her teammates getting up. She heard Shikamaru mutter "troublesome" under his breath.

Choji groaned a rubbed the back of his head. He then looked up at his teammate "Ino?" he asked, "What happened?"

"I-", Ino was about to respond when she turned to where the Prototype had been…only to find he was gone.

"Ino?" Shikamaru asked, "What's wrong?" and then he realized something, "Wait! Where did the Stupid Brothers go? And how are we still alive?" he asked as he and Choji looked around and then at their blonde teammate expectantly, waiting for an answer.

The Yamanaka clan heir, meanwhile, was staring at the spot where her savior once stood. She was hurt that she didn't get an answer.

"Ino?" Choji asked again, "What happened?"

Ino thought for a moment and decided to tell her teammates the truth…leaving out the possibility that Naruto was still alive.

"That thing saved me", she whispered in an awed voice.

Her teammates were confused, "What 'thing'?" Shikamaru asked her.

Ino gulped. "The…the 'demon'", she answered him in a low voice.

The two boy's eyes went wide, "The 'demon'?" Shikamaru asked, "As in, the demon that has been sighted throughout the Elemental Nations? The demon that killed Raiga Kurosaki? The demon that stormed through our village last night? That demon?" he asked, getting a nod from Ino.

The two were shocked, "What happened?" Choji asked, concerned.

"I'm not sure", Ino told them, "One moment that big guy was about the punch me, the next the demon caught the punch and beat the shit out of the guy!" she told them honestly.

"What happened next?" Shikamaru asked, still amazed, yet in a worried tone.

"The two got really scared and begged it not to hurt them", she told them, "It said it wouldn't hurt them if they returned to prison. The two ran off, It stared at me for a moment, and then it left", she finished.

The blonde's teammates were stunned.

"Did anything else happen?" Shikamaru asked her.

Ino shook her head and he sighed, "Troublesome, lets head back and tell Kakashi-sensei what happened" he told the others.

As they were about to leave, the Cyclops himself and his team arrived. After seeing the devastation he looked at Team 10.

"Did we miss something?" Kakashi asked.

Cue sweatdrop from everyone.

Inside a nearby Secret Hideout: a few minutes later

Mizuki was currently waiting for the two Stupid Brothers anxiously, inside an abandoned hideout, on the top floor. Mizuki had changed only slightly since the last time he had been outside of prison. The only about him that changed was that he was far more muscular than before. This was more out of necessity than anything else; you didn't last long in prison unless you were strong enough to deal with the other inmates. He's also a bit…moodier these days. He had learned about Naruto Uzumaki's death a few months ago and had planned to break out in order to take revenge on the "demon-brat" for humiliating him and throwing him in prison. Of course, now that that chance had been squashed, he broke out only to escape. He could have gone after Iruka, but he wasn't worth it.

"Where the hell are they?" Mizuki asked impatiently, "They should have been here by now!" he said in an annoyed voice. If they didn't hurry up he was going to have to leave without them. He didn't want to head to Otogakure without backup to help deal with any hunter-nin that might chase after him, but he couldn't just sit around and wait for Konoha shinobi to come after him either.

All of a sudden, he heard a demonic voice echo throughout the room.

"Your flunkies have abandoned you", it told Mizuki.

Mizuki looked around the room, slightly afraid of what was happening.

"Who's there?" he asked while searching, "Show yourself!" he demanded.

"Up here", the voice called back.

Mizuki looked up and saw what looked like a demon from the deepest pits of hell. It was hunched over, leaning against a support column it was on. It was grinning, demonically and opened mouthed, at Mizuki. It then, while still keeping it's eyes focused on him, turned it's head to the right and clamped it's jaw shut with an audible snap, making it's smile even larger while looking even more demonic as it did so.

Mizuki was stunned, "Who…or what the hell are you?" he asked nervously.

"I am known by some as the 'demon'", he told the shocked missing-nin, "But that's too simple for my tastes…so! You may call me…the Prototype!" he declared proudly.

The silver haired Chuunin stared at this…thing in front of him. After a few tense moments, Mizuki decided to ask, "What do you want?"

The Prototype pretended to for a consider moment "A lifetime supply of ramen, to be with the people I care about and, oh yes, your life!" he told the traitorous chuunin with a sinister smirk on his face.

Mizuki started to sweat internally. "What? Why?" he asked, barely hiding the panic in his voice, "What did I ever do to you?" he questioned the beast. 'What the fuck is this thing?' he thought to himself. It was almost twice his size!

The Prototype jumped down from his perch, "Oh we met a long time ago Mizuki", he told his former academy teacher, "We last met over a year ago", he hinted to the frightened man in front of him.

Mizuki thought for a few moments, but couldn't think of anything he had done in the past that could have caused him to bring this beast's wrath down upon him.

"You really don't have a clue do you?" the Prototype asked, disappointed, but not surprised. He sighed, "Then I guess I'll have to…remind you as to who I am!"

Mizuki backed up slightly at the change in tone but quickly regained his confidence; he did have a power that his master, Orochimaru, had given him, but he hadn't been able to use it yet. Maybe now he would get that chance.

"You have guts, threatening me like that", he told the Prototype with a confident smirk on his face, "Don't you know who I work for?" he asked.

"No and I honestly can't say that I care either", he told the now angered Chuunin, "It doesn't matter either way. You're just another vile being I must rid the world of…though, considering our past, I think I'll enjoy this as well", he finished.

Mizuki still had no idea what this demonic creature was talking about but it didn't matter.

"You're right", he said, "It doesn't matter...", he then grabbed the fuma shuriken behind his back, "…seeing as how you're about to die ANYWAY!" he shouted as he threw the shuriken at the beast in front of him.

Though he could have easily dodged it, the Prototype did not move. Instead he waited until it was just about to hit him and then…he reached out and caught it with one hand…easily.

He looked at the shuriken for a moment and then looked at the shocked Mizuki.

"Well, that was...", he paused briefly while thinking of the right word, "…anticlimactic", he finished. He then looked over the shuriken with an expressionless look on his face.

"Catch", he told Mizuki calmly, after a few moments, before flicking his wrist casually, hurling the shuriken back at him.

Mizuki panicked at how fast his shuriken was coming back at him. Thinking quickly, he made a few hand seals before shouting, "Earth Release: Underground Projection Fish Technique!"

At these words, he sunk underground, just narrowly avoiding his own shuriken, which imbedded itself in the wall behind him.

The Prototype took up a fighting stance and waited…but nothing came.

He looked around for a moment.

'Hm', he thought, 'he's not coming at me from the left, right, or from above me, so that means he's coming from…below!', and, sure enough he jumped out of the way in time to dodge Mizuki, who emerged from underneath him, swinging a kunai at him.

The Prototype landed on the wall on the other side of the room and then launched himself towards Mizuki, hitting the silver haired man with a flying kick to the face.

Mizuki went flying across the room before hitting the ground, rolling before he stopped. He got up, holding his face for a moment, and then stared at the demonic being in shock and fear. It felt like he had been kicked by a horse!

"I certainly hope that wasn't the best you had", the Prototype told Mizuki, "Because if it was…you'd best submit to death now."

Mizuki growled in anger, "You want to see the best I have?" he challenged before the tattoo on his right elbow began to glow. His body then began to change, enlarging and becoming bulkier while black stripes began appearing on his upper arms and forehead. His appearance became more beast-like.

"You got it!" Mizuki finished, and then charged.

The Prototype jumped to the left just in time. 'Damn', he thought, 'his speed has increased greatly! It almost reminds me of the curse seal Sasuke used', he thought to himself as he dodged.

Mizuki then leapt toward the Prototype. The Prototype grabbed a hold of the man's wrists and the two began wrestling, trying to make an opening for another attack.

'God dammit, his strength has increased to!' the Prototype thought, 'Forget "almost", this is definitely like the curse seal!' he concluded to himself.

After a few moments, the Prototype sees an opening. He throws Mizuki's writs aside and then crouches before tackling the transformed man and running across the room while wrapping his arms around Mizuki's waist and carrying him. He reaches the other side and slams Mizuki into the wall, creating a small crack in it. The Prototype than backs away from the stunned Mizuki and grabs the traitors face with his hand. He then slams Mizuki's head, hard, into the wall three times (making the crack in the wall grow with each hit) before throwing him across the room.

Mizuki flew across the room and slammed into the wall on the other side, causing another crack in the wall. Mizuki stands up, holding his face while groaning from the pain. He then looks at his foe and growls before launching himself towards him. The Prototype is tackled to the ground, but manages to lift Mizuki's body up with his feet and launches silver haired Chuunin over himself while leaping to his feat. Mizuki flies into another section of the wall and slams into it.

Mizuki gets up and glares at the Prototype while growling at him even more angrily than before.

The Prototype grins, "That all you got?" he asks.

Mizuki roars in anger as his tattoo begins to glow again. Once again, his body glows and begins to change. He became larger and more muscular than before and grows razor sharp teeth and claws. His body changed color, becoming orange, while more stripes appeared, this time covering his entire body. When the transformation was over, Mizuki looked like a humanoid tiger. He roared an inhuman roar before charging.

The Prototype recovered from his shock and began grappling with the traitor once again. This time, however, he was easily overpowered and hurled across the room, slamming into the wall. He then looks up just in time to dodge a shattering punch from Mizuki and rolls out of the way.

The two combatants square off and began circling each other.

Mizuki stares at his demonic opponent and then begins to laugh, "DO YOU SEE NOW?" he asks in a bestial voice, "MY MASTER, OROCHIMARU, HAS GIVEN ME ULTIMATE POWER; NO ONE CAN STOP ME NOW, NOT EVEN YOU!" he yells before laughing maniacally.

The Prototype glares at his laughing opponent while thinking. 'He's right. He is stronger than me now…in terms of physical strength at least', he thinks to himself and then smirks, 'But I wonder if his speed has improved as well.'

At these words he lunges at the still laughing Mizuki and lands a powerful punch into his gut. Mizuki gasps and then grasps his stomach in pain. The Prototype then unleashes an uppercut on Mizuki's chin and sends him into the air, slamming him into the ceiling before falling to the ground. Mizuki got up a few seconds later and, while rubbing his chin, growls at his foe.

"THAT WAS A CHEAP SHOT!" he accused.

The Prototype shakes his head, "No it wasn't", he told the monstrous man before him, "You were distracted. I simply took advantage of that fact and turned it against you", he explained.

Mizuki, once again, growls before lunging at the Prototype.

The Prototype dodges. Mizuki tries again and the Prototype dodges once again. This process repeated itself.

The Prototype kept dodging Mizuki while smirking; he was right, Mizuki did surpass him in strength but not in speed.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty", he called, taunting Mizuki.

Mizuki was getting agitated and kept lunging at his foe, "HOLD STILL DAMMIT!" he shouted as he lunged again.

The Prototype dodged again while grinning, "Why?" he asks, "So you can grab me again? Sorry, not gonna happen", he told his foe before continuing; "You're a fool Mizuki. You are stronger than me physically, but you're much slower, and less agile, than I am. You should have known better. Sacrificing speed for power has never helped any warrior", he told Mizuki while laughing at the man's attempts to catch him.

Mizuki growls and launches himself forward. This time he grabs the Prototype around the waist. He lifts his demonic foe into the air and then begins crushing him, trying to break him in half.

"HA!" Mizuki says triumphantly, "I HAVE YOU NOW!"

The Prototype grunts under the pressure Mizuki is using while crushing him but quickly snaps out of it. His fists morph into his newly acquired muscular form he used on the Stupid Brothers.

"Oh yeah?" he asks Mizuki before slamming his enlarged fist into the man's face.

Mizuki loosens his grip and the Prototype slams his other fist into Mizuki's face causing him to let go and fall to the ground before getting up.

Mizuki holds his face for a moment before glaring at his foe again in shock and anger.

The Prototype smirks and holds his arm out, making a "bring-it-on" gesture with his middle and index finger.

Mizuki roars and lunges again, but this time instead of dodging, the Prototype grabs the man's fists and they begin wrestling for control again. This time, however, the Prototype easily holds his own against Mizuki.

"You're good", the Prototype told his opponent, "Very good. Better than last time at least", he told Mizuki.

Mizuki was getting tired of trying to figure out when he and this…thing had ever met before.

"I'VE NEVER EVEN MET YOU BEFORE!" he shouts.

The Prototype grins demonically, "Oh but you have…Mizuki-sensei", he answers in his real voice.

Mizuki's eyes widened in shock and he lessens his grip.

"No", he mutters in shock, "No…it…it can't be", he says, quietly for once, in his bestial voice.

The Prototype uses this moment of shock to end the fight.

(Play Rage of Sparta from God of War 3)

He quickly knees Mizuki in the gut. He then grabs Mizuki and throws him across the room. The Chuunin slams into the wall, hard, and causes yet another crack to form in the wall. The Prototype then rushes forward and begins pounding the tiger-like man into the wall with his enhanced fists relentlessly. The blows kept coming harder and harder and the wall begins cracking more and more. After a few minutes, the Prototype then pauses and stares at the badly battered and bloodied Mizuki. Finally, he cocks his fist back and slams it into Mizuki's face as hard as he could. A sickening crunching sound was heard from Mizuki's face as the wall finally gave out and Mizuki was launched through it, outside.

(End music)

Outside the hideout: a few minutes earlier

Teams 7 and 10 were all together now. Kakashi summoned Pakkun, who lead them to the hideout quickly.

The teams stop.

"There", Pakkun points to the hideout with his paw, "He should be inside that hideout and-", he pauses as he smells the air around him.

The teams stared at the little dog, "What is it Pakkun?" Kakashi asks.

"There's…something else here", he tells the others. He sniffs the air again and shudders, "Something dark. It almost smells…demonic."

Before anyone could ask what "it" was, they heard muffled banging noises come from inside the hideout.

"W-what's that?" Sakura asked, frightened.

"I'm not sure", Kakashi answered her, "But it sounds like it's coming from inside the hideout", he concluded.

As the teams kept staring, the noises were becoming louder.

"Look" Choji points at the second floor of the hideout, "There's a crack forming in the wall up there!" he shouts.

They all look to where he is pointing and, sure enough, a crack was forming. The noises were louder and coming more rapidly. The crack in the wall grew with each noise.

"Is something trying to break out of there?" Ino asked the others.

"Looks like it", Pakkun answered, getting more and more nervous with each noise.

The noises became more and more rapid and the wall was cracking even more. The teams prepared themselves for what was about to come…

Finally, the noises stop.

Teams 7 and 10 stared at the crack for a moment and take in the silence.

For a few more seconds, all was quiet and then…

BOOM!

The wall breaks open under a massive show of force and a figure is seen being launched out of it.

The body hit the ground and rolled over a bit before stopping, on its stomach, a couple of yards away from the teams.

Everyone stared at it for a moment. It was muscular and had long silver hair on its head. The body was orange with black stripes on it. It looked like a tiger, only without a tail and being more humanoid in appearance. There was a lot of blood coming from it, particularly where the face was, as well as a chunky, organic substance as well.

Before anyone could say anything, the body began to glow. It began to shrink in size and mass and the orange color and black stripes began to fade away. Eventually, it returned to it's original form, that of a muscular, silver haired man.

For a moment no one said anything.

Finally, Sasuke broke the silence, "Was that a…curse seal?" he asked.

Kakashi thought for a moment. It DID look like a curse seal transformation. "I think so", he told his student, "And I think that's Mizuki", he told everyone while pointing at the body.

Pakkun carefully approached the body and sniffed it, wincing slightly.

"Yep, that's him alright", the little dog told everyone, "But I think he's dead."

Kakashi walked towards the body and kneeled over it. The others followed him closely behind. The Cyclops checked the man's pulse. "Yeah, he's dead" he confirmed. He then flipped Mizuki's body over on it's back, in order to see his face.

Or lack thereof.

Everyone gasped as to what they saw.

If it wasn't for the man's silver hair and scent, no one would be able to recognize who it was. Mizuki's skull and been completely smashed into his head, the eyes, mouth, and nose were gone, the face completely obliterated. Blood and the disgusting substance were leaking from it. It wasn't long before they realized that the grey, blood-covered, meaty substance was what was left of Mizuki's brain. There were skull fragments as well.

Kakashi and Pakkun just stared at the remains in horror. It took everything Team 10 had to not throw up. Sakura actually did throw up. Even Sasuke, who had seen his entire family murdered, looked green at the sight.

"W-what could've done this?" Sakura asked in horror.

Everyone was asking themselves this question…but Ino already knew. She looked up to where the wall Mizuki had been blasted through was and saw someone…or something, standing there.

"Look!" she pointed at hole.

Everyone looked up…and their eyes widened.

There, standing in all it's glory, was the infamous "demon".

It matched it's description in the Bingo Book par none (he shifted his arms back to normal as well).

It was glaring at them with a look that shook them to their bone.

"Ino, is that-?" Choji began to ask.

"Yeah, that's the demon", she answered her teammate.

"Damn", Choji couldn't help but say, "Look at the size of that thing!"

"What is it doing?" Sasuke asked, after a few seconds of complete silence.

"I think it's scoping us out", Kakashi answered, "trying to see if we're any threat to it."

The demon glared at them for a few moments…and then jumped towards them, landing on the ground a few yards away, making a few cracks in the ground and shaking the earth slightly.

Kakashi gulped, "Alright, don't take your eyes of it. Everyone just back up very slowly and carefully, no one make any sudden moves. There's no reason to pick a fight with it", he quietly told the others.

Everyone nodded and they began, slowly, backing away. Sasuke was not as willing to move as the others but obeyed…reluctantly.

The demon glared at them as they went. It then got on all fours, like a lizard, and approached the body carefully. It then stared at it intently.

The demon continued to stare for a few moments.

"What's it doing?" Choji whispered.

"How the hell should I know?" Shikamaru whispered back.

Pakkun sniffed the air for a moment before speaking, "Something isn't right", he told the others.

Kakashi looked at the little dog, confused, "What do you mean?" he asked.

"It's scent…it's strange, but it smells like…several different people all at once", he told them.

"What do you mean?" Ino asked.

"Most of the scents I don't recognize, but I do recognize two of them", he told the blonde genin before continuing, "I smell multiple people that I've met before…ANBU, I think…two of them belong to exactly Raiga Kurosaki's and Aoi Rokushō and the other…smells familiar but I can't quite remember where I've smelled it before…" he said, trailing off.

They were brought out of their speculations when the demon spoke.

"Another wicked soul sent to the pits of hell, the never ending inferno", it said quietly, mostly to itself. It sniffed the body, "This one smells of…Treachery…to the ninth circle you will go. There you will suffer for your sins, accordingly."

The group was now very confused as to what was going on. The demon was now acting as though they two teams were not present.

Sasuke, meanwhile, was getting impatient. This was the second time that this demon had stopped him from fighting a strong opponent and now it had the gall to ignore him? He took a step forward.

Kakashi seemed to know what his student was thinking of doing. "Don't even think about it Sasuke."

"But-" he tried to explain, but Kakashi interrupted him.

"But nothing, do as I say!" he whispered sternly.

Sasuke nodded and reluctantly backed down.

The beast continued to ponder still ignoring the shinobi standing nearby. The beast stood up on two legs flipped the body over with one of it's feet and saw Mizuki's face.

"Jesus fucking Christ are you kidding me?" it yelled in frustration. The onlookers were jumped in surprise, shocked at the sudden change in tone, attitude, and the sudden shouting. "Motherfucking god! Damn! It!" it cursed, saying the last three word seperatly as it kicked Mizuki's body in anger. "Well this is great. Just fucking GREAT! I told myself to calm down and not damage the brain and what did I do? I damage the brain!" it then growled, "Great waste of time this turned out to be!" the demon then calmed down, "Calm down Prototype, don't get angry, take a deep breath" he did so and sighed, "Ah! Much better!" he said before looking down at the body, "besides, it wasn't like he had anything valuable, I mean his skills were in the low, right? So I guess I'm missing out on much. Okay! Job's finished, another pile of human refuse is dead, and I got a little payback myself! It's a great day!"

The humans and dog watching had their jaws dropped as they listened this powerful monster start out being philosophical, to throwing a tantrum, and then becoming cheerful.

The demon then looked at the six people, and one dog, watching it.

"Sorry about that! My doctor says I have an anger problem I need to work on. Good thing I didn't beat someone to death with their own spine like last time!" Now the on lookers were terrified. "You can hold on to that if you want, consider it a gift!" It told them gesturing towards the corpse "See ya around!" it told them, smiling, before shunshining away.

This form of shunshining was different though. The demon became covered in a dark-red and black substance and then disappeared.

The teams continued to stare at where the beast had stood.

"What…the fuck…was that?" Pakkun asked slowly. (3)

"I…don't know" Kakashi answered.

After a few more moments, the group managed to overcome most of their shock.

"Well", Choji asked, "Now what do we do?"

Kakashi shrugged, "I guess we head back to the village with the body", he concluded. He then quickly sealed up the body in a scroll and the teams left.

Ino, meanwhile, was thinking.

Was this "demon" her beloved Naruto? Was he still alive and, if he was, how?

'Naruto', she thought, 'is that you? If it is, what's happened to you?' she wondered, 'I don't care what you've become, I just wish I could see you again', she silently wished with all of her heart.

If he was alive, she was going to have to confront him about his temper…and introduce him to hers!

A/N: Damn that was long.

1: Yes, I took the idea of Naruto being able to smell a person's sins from King Minos in the divine comedy and the video game known as Dante's Inferno (I don't own either version) and will be using some of Mino's lines from the game. I figured since I gave Naruto The Judge of The Dead's voice, I might as well go all the way. Naruto can't actually smell a person's sins, he just knows enough about the persons past, history, and affiliations to get a good idea of what the person's (or people's) predominant sin is/are. He is aiming for a "divine judgment" kind of character. Much more frightening.

2: Name taken from part of a Japanese word meaning, "mysterious".

3: I told you Naruto was going to act crazy!

Please note that Naruto's personality will change from crazy and humorous to serious and wise throughout the story. Deal with it.

I'm also thinking of adding one or two more girls for Naruto's harem (the ones I have in mind aren't commonly used girls). If you have any suggestions for any girl (or girls), tell me but give me a valid reason as to why I should add that particular girl into the mix.

Bullshit excuses like "Because they look good together", "Because she's hot", or anything else along these lines aren't valid enough reasons for me.

Don't like it? Fuck you.