Hey there...I'm back with another chapter. I have no idea if my fics or even my profile will survive this drastic change , but I will continue to crank out new chapters for you for as long as I can. As usual, if you need a recap, read back a chapter or two to get a feel for it again.

AKATSUKI BASE OF OPERATIONS - LOCATION UNKNOWN

The team that tangled with the now named Saint Beasts had finally returned to their base of operations in varying states of injury. Kisame still had a deep wound in his shoulder, Itachi looked like he was trampled, Sasori's body was riddled with deep gouges, and Deidara's arm was perforiated. Pain was at first in disbelief that four of his stronger shinobi had been taken to task as their current states suggested and from Zetsu's report. The rest of the Akatsuki had gathered so they could properly discuss how they were going to deal with this new threat to their objective.

"So...These four were powerful enough to not only injure you four, but send you running?" Pain inquired in an annoyed tone.

"Keh he he! You got your sorry asses kicked!" Hidan jeered, drawing annoyed looks from the returning party.

"They are quite powerful." Black Zetsu answered.

"Taking them down will prove quite difficult." White Zetsu added.

"What do they want with the Bijuu?" Konan asked, Itachi answering.

"They say they are the Gods of animals and the Bijuu are great spirits. However, when they are sealed, they become nothing but chakra batteries for their containers to use. They want to use them to regain their powers." He answered.

"What is their goal? What do they want with the demons?" Pain inquired forcefully, his Rinnegan eyes narrowed.

"...Complete annhilation of humans. They view humans with contempt and to them, a Jinchuuriki is a dire insult. They will merely kill the hosts and absorb the Bijuu to restore their powers. The more they find, the more powerful they become." Black Zetsu replied, his tone grave. Madara, who was hidden in the shadows, over heard everything and couldn't help but become infuriated.

'These fools are of no use to me if they cannot defeat these upstarts. These...Saint Beasts need to go if my Moon's Eye plan can be realized.' The shadow leader of the Akatsuki mused as he went over the facts presented by his spymaster, but as he did, he remembered something he read once at the Uchiha Clan Shrine when he was still with Konoha...About the balance of nature prior to the rise of civilization as they knew it.

Before the dawn of the current civilization, there was a time when man and beast lived in perfect harmony with one another. After some time, relations between them had soured over the lack of space and food. Soon, the powerful Saint Beasts had had enough and were ready to go to war with the humans, setting the Tailed Beasts on them until the Rikudo-Sennin stepped in and intervened. He sealed all of the Bijuu within himself and sealed off the powers of the great Saint Beasts.

'If they are really the Saint Beasts, we are in more trouble than I thought. We must capture the Bijuu before them and prevent them from carrying out their goal. My Moon's Eye plan must be realized.' Madara schemed as the rest of the Akatsuki went over their plans and ideas on how to deal with this new threat.

"We must track them down and eliminate them." Pain ordered, turning to Itachi as he thought of something.

"Itachi...Did you try to utilize your Sharingan against them?" He asked. The reply he got chilled them all.

"Yes...And my Tsukuyomi had no effect whatsoever. It only seemed to make them angrier." The Uchiha slayer replied.

"...Then we have to overwhelm them and hinder them every step of the way." Konan announced.

"How do they know where the Bijuu are located?" Kakuzu inquired.

"It seems as if one of them can sense and home in on them over a limited distance. If a Jinchuuriki is near, they will be able to find them without fail. They were chasing the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki when Itachi and his team fought them." White Zetsu answered. Pain mulled this information over in his head before issuing a command.

"Zetsu. Keep tabs on them at all times and when they locate a vessel, alert us and we will send a combat team, such as Hidan and Kakuzu, to intercept them. We cannot allow them to interfere." Pain ordered as the meeting drew to a close.

SOMEWHERE SOUTH OF IWAGAKURE...

Trudging along the rocky and treacherous mountain paths of Earth Country we find the four Saint Beasts, who WERE hot on the tail of the Yonbi Jinchuuriki. Roshi, the Yonbi's container, was a hardened and wily war veteran ninja and therefore hard to catch and eventually, they gave up on him for the time being. The Gobi vessel had been found and they fought him, but he managed to fight his way out of their grasp and back to the nearby ninja village of Iwa, who sent out ANBU units to find his attackers.

"Dammit! These humans are a pain in the ass!" Gai complained as they made a quick escape from the pursuing forces. After an hour in a flat out running, they managed to outrun the units sent after them and rested for the moment, pouring over their options.

"These vessels are proving to be a real hassle to capture. They are all highly guarded or elusive." Rei surmised.

"I agree. On top of that, some of these shinobi are nothing to sneeze at, either. Especially those of the Akatsuki." Shin agreed.

"I don't care what it takes...I will NOT run from these filthy humans!" Gou roared in anger as he wheeled around to tangle with their pursuers again, but his younger brothers stopped him.

"Big Brother...Please listen to reason! These humans are not like anything we have faced in the past! They have become powerful and trying to take on a village full of them at once is suicide with our current powers!" Shin beseeched him. Shin was usually the voice of reason among them and got him to settle down...For now.

"Fine. In that case, we head back to Fire Country and hunt down the Nine Tails vessel. He is very young and more inexperienced than the rest of the vessels so he should be easier to catch." Gou ordered.

The rest of them sighed, knowing that in the mood he was in now, any argument would be met with swift and terrible punishment. They simply turned to the southeast and set course for Konoha again since they knew that it was where the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki would definitely be located. From the intelligence they could gather, he was shunned and hated by his home village, treated as a freak and outcast, meaning any resistance met while killing him would be light to none. The Akatsuki intercepting them was merely bad timing.

"Well...That is true. According to the reports, he is hated by his home village. This would be easier than the others for now, but we need to use caution." Shin warned.

"Why? We could tear that brat to shreds without breaking a sweat!" Gai boasted, but got cuffed by Shin.

"You idiot...Even though he is young, he still holds the most powerful of the Bijuu within him and if he can control even a portion of it's power, he will be dangerous." Shin rebuffed the youngest of the four.

"That's true. The last jinchuuriki we fought had full control over his Bijuu's power and we had trouble keeping up with him." Rei agreed.

"Agreed. We will use caution when taking him. After this is done, we can finally bring peace to our world." Gou added as they continued their trek back down to Fire Country.

MEANWHILE...IN THE HEAVENLY REALM...

The Goddess was watching the Saint Beast's movements with worry. They were greatly weakened by the Rikudo Sennin, but still a very dangerous threat, if how they fought off the Akatsuki was any indicator. The Akatsuki and the Uchiha boy alone were critical threats, but this only made things worse. She saw the night when the Uchiha nearly killed the girls, only for Naruto to take a killing blow for them and back up to take the insane Uchiha down. She was proud of how her Angels performed under pressure, backing each other up and Tsubasa fighting bravely alongside her master and especially of Naruto himself, for being willing to lay down his life to protect them. Then came how some of the good people that still existed in Konoha had come together to combat this threat from within.

Now, she turned her attention to the situation with the Saint Beasts and the subsequent revival of their leader, Gou the Azure Dragon. Eons ago, he was relentless in his drive to exterminate humanity from the face of the earth, down to the last man, woman and child. He even managed to somehow harness the massive power of the Nine Spirit Beasts and combined them into one being, the Juubi. The Rikudo Sennin, knowing what he had to do, tore the beast asunder in a great and cataclysmic battle that forever scarred the lands. He succeed in seperating the beasts from the whole and sealed them all away, along with the powers of the Four Saint Beasts within himself and took the knowledge of how to unlock them with him to his grave.

Unfortunately, humans had discovered how to capture the Bijuu and harness their destructive power...By sealing them into other humans and turning them into Jinchuuriki, Human Weapons. The poor souls that had been condemned to bear this awful burden had been ostricized from normal society for something they had no choice in, but they all now have much larger problems. Now, there was another group that desired the Bijuu, but for reasons that had yet to be revealed. The members of this group are very powerful shinobi who had turned their backs on their homes and went rouge, some of them commiting horrible atrocities in the process and afterwards.

Naruto Uzumaki, the boy in whom she had placed so much faith, is a prime target for both of these factions, but she has sent him some help in return for how much he had proven himself. She had now sent the final four of the twelve Angels whose lives were forever changed by the boy, who begged and worked hard for the chance to return to his side.

"Yuki...I have faith that you can rally the Angels and pull them in tighter. The storms in the village may have passed for now, but a much larger maelstrom is looming just beyond the horizon." The deity murmured as she continued to monitor how things went in her timeless realm.

SOMEWHERE IN RICE FIELD COUNTRY...

"!" Orochimaru screamed in unearthly pain as he thrashed wildly in his bed while Kabuto, his assistant watched on, not knowing whatelse he could do. His master was rotting away before his eyes and he, with his vast talents and skills in the medical arts, could do nothing.

"K-Kabuto...Where is the...Uchiha?" The half dead Snake Sannin demanded.

"My lord...I just recieved a report that he had been thrown in prison for attempting to kill his own teammate." The bespecticled nin replied.

"I d-don't care what it takes...Get me that boy...I am running out of time..." Orochimaru ordered as Kabuto swepted from the room to fulfill his master's wishes.

Marching down the halls of the hidden base, Kabuto found his way down to where the Sound Four resided. The Sound Four were Orochimaru's elite honor guard, his top lieutenants and strongest fighters next to Kabuto and Orochimaru himself. The reason for this is because they are four of the only people branded with the Curse Seal to ever survive it. The four in question snapped their attention to him as he marched into their midst.

"What the hell do you want, four-eyes?" Tayuya, the only kunoichi of the group and a fiery, foul mouthed red head, growled. Kabuto wasn't really a favorite around the base since he was Orochimaru's monkey boy.

"I came here to give you a mission from Lord Orochimaru himself." He shot back.

"Oh really? What would that be?" Sakon, the de facto leader of the four inquired with skepticism.

"He wants you to retrieve someone for him. The last Uchiha." Kabuto replied.

"What if he doesn't want to come? Can we rough that pretty boy up?" Jiroubo, by far the largest of the four asked.

"Yes you may, but nothing permanent. You know how the master hates bruised fruit. However, I doubt you will need to persuade him to come with you." Kabuto smirked.

"Care to enlighten us as to why?" Kidoumaru, the six-armed member of the group asked with uncertainty. He really didn't like it when he smirked like that.

"Sasuke Uchiha is currently a guest of the Konoha Maximum Security Prison system and would love nothing more than to see Konoha burn to the ground for it." Kabuto told them.

"W-wait a second...Maximum Security Prison? How the hell could we break him out even with our second level seals? We'd need a small army to breach the outer perimeter!" Kidoumaru exclaimed.

"Again...You needn't worry about that. Our...mutual business partner within Konoha's council will see to a gap in their security. All you would have to do is slip in and extract him. It's simple, really." Kabuto explained.

The quartet mulled it over for a minute. They knew that Orochimaru's body was going to give out and that if he died, the curse mark would vanish, but if he did die, then Kabuto would more than likely use them for experiments. It was a fate even worse than their current one, so the choice was clear.

"When do we leave?" Sakon requested.

BACK IN KONOHA

It had been over two weeks since the trial and sentencing of Sasuke Uchiha and things have finally started to calm down in the village...

FLASHBACK...

To start with, right after the trial, many of the Uchiha supporters were downright hostile to everyone, not just Naruto and the girls. Thankfully, they were few in number since many of them had been de-moralized by the public execution of the Civilian Counsel head, Atsugi Haruno. Add to that the fact that the supposed demon child had been willing to risk his life to save someone changed the minds of more than a few people, the small household had fewer problems than before, but Sakura was back from being catatonic and causing problems again, much to her mother's distress.

After the trial, Sakura was in near comatose shock from seeing her father killed in front of her, but it didn't last too long. After around two days, she was beginning to come around, but was shunning her mother in every way. One day, after around a week, Naruto came by to check on Kimi, who was a good friend of his and something of an aunt, Sakura came downstairs to find them having tea in the main room.

"NARUTO-BAKA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?" Sakura screamed.

"Having tea with an old friend." Naruto replied with a shrug, going back to his tea. After Naruto snubbed her, she completely blew a head gasket. Thankfully, her mother was an ex-kunoichi and a damn good one, still retaining some of her speed and knowledge as she hit a nerve cluster on her neck, knocking her unconscious.

"I think you had better go now, Naruto-chan. We can take tea another time." Kimi told him calmly.

The menace had also returned to the Academy with an even worse attitude than before. Her new rival and former bully, Ami, had heard about what happened to Sasuke and had only one thing to say.

"Good. If he was willing to kill innocent people, what would he have done to us?" She reasoned. It seemed as though she had gained some common sense along with slightly better grades and personality.

"You...TRAITOROUS BITCH!" Sakura shrieked as she threw herself at her now former rival, only for Iruka to take her down.

"HARUNO! That is it! Get out of my classroom! Consider yourself expelled!" Iruka roared, pointing at the door.

Sakura, being who or what she is, of course tried to yell back at him.

"M-My daddy will have you all killed!" She screamed and threatened the whole class.

"What daddy would that be?" One boy jeered.

"Oh yeah! The guy that got himself killed by the ANBU! What an idiot!" Another added, making the class roar with laughter as she ran from the room crying.

Ironically, this is what Naruto had to suffer through for years. But after a couple of weeks of it, Sakura was already tired of it. Sadly, her addled brain wouldn't make the connection as she tried to take out her frustration on the youngest of the girls Naruto had staying with him, Nana.

"You little brat...Sasuke-kun should have killed you and those whore sisters of yours!" She shrieked as she tried to slap the girl...Until a tall young woman around 18 years of age stopped her, three other girls with her.

The woman had long, silky jet black hair with crimson colored eyes along with milky white skin. She was also somewhat tall and dressed in a casual day kimono. The first of the younger girls had chocolate brown hair and almond colored eyes, her hair done up in a manner that reminded one of one of those Tanuki statues. Moving on, another had pink hair in a long, skinny ponytail like a monkey's tail, with wide brown eyes. The last had lime green hair done up in pig tails that went out to the sides, but it was the ornaments that would remind one of a frog's eyes.

"You will not touch that child." The woman declared in a firm tone, a frown marring her lovely face and tightening her decieveingly powerful grip.

"Who asked you?" She bellowed back until Kurenai showed up to diffuse the situation.

"Haruno-san...Why were you going to hit an innocent child?" The crimson eyed Jounin asked in a frosty tone.

"None of your business, you red eyed freak!" Sakura snarled until Kurenai hit her with a subtle Genjutsu to knock her out. She sighed and turned to the assualted girl.

"I'm very sorry about this. I'll take her down to the jail." Kurenai apologized for Sakura's abominable behaivor, but the woman waved her off.

"No trouble at all, miss. Have a good day." She said amicably as the Jounin flickered away to take the now former Academy Student to the jails. She then turned to Nana, who could tell that there was something familiar about these people.

"Thank you, lady!" Nana thanked her.

The woman knew exactly who the little girl was, but wouldn't reveal that bit until she got to where ever her master lived.

"You are welcome, but I would rather you avoid anymore trouble." The woman kindly offered.

"Yeah! Yuki-neechan can handle these people!" The youngest cheered.

"U-um...Yeah." The long haired girl added timidly.

"Yuki-onechan is really strong!" The brown haired girl finished as they continued on their way.

"Okay...Come along now, Ruru-chan, Momo-chan, Midori-chan." Yuki beckoned the children as they followed her while Nana ran back to the house.

Upon reaching the Uzumaki home, Nana burst into the door excitedly, eager to tell the others about her new friends.

"Nana-chan! Calm down and try again." Ayumi coaxed.

"I said that that Sakura meanie tried to hit me, but this lady stopped her and another ninja lady arrested Sakura and took her away! She had other girls with her!" Nana said a little more slowly, but at least they were able to tell what she was saying.

"What did the lady look like?" Mika asked, curious. Nana described her and the girls in great detail, but there was a knocking at the door. Tsubasa got up to answer it since Naruto was currently out on a day mission with a couple of Chuunin, doing border patrol. Upon opening the door, she was faced with the very woman that Nana had described to them.

"Excuse me? Is this the Uzumaki residence?" She asked to their surprize.

"Wh-What? Why are you looking for ma-Naruto-kun?" Tsubasa asked, almost blurting it out, but Yuki caught it easily.

"I would like to speak with him about something important...Sisters." She said, finishing the sentence with something sure to shock them and shock them it did. Ayumi, being the more observant one, gave each of the newcomers a once over and came to a surprizing conclusion.

"None of you are human..." She murmured, prompting Kurumi and Akane to take in their scents.

"She's right..." Akane whispered.

"They must be Angels, nano!" Kurumi chirped, just in time for the person they came to see to come walking up.

"Uh...Hey girls? Who are they?" Naruto asked. The eldest of the four smiled gently as she knelt down to see eye to eye with him, her hand cupping his whiskered cheek gently.

"Master...I know that I died when you were very young, but I hope you still remember me. I am Yuki, the Snake. I've come back to you, master." She explained to him. The realization hit him quickly. Yuki was his very first friend, so there was no way he'd forget her.

"I still never...Got to thank you for saving me." He choked out as he hugged her as tightly as he could. After getting himself sorted out again, Midori stepped up.

"Master...Remember how we first met? Y'know, with the paint cans? It's me...Midori, the Tanuki! I waited for so long to see you again, master!" Midori cried as she launched herself at him. He held her tightly, remembering the times he'd take her to Ichiraku with him and she'd snag some food and followed him everywhere...or how she would always sleep under the covers with him.

"I really missed you, too, Midori-chan." He replied as the next girl stepped forward.

"Um...Uh...I really...Missed you...Master...A whole lot!" Momo cried. Naruto remembered how he met her. She was a curious little monkey that came down the mountain and befriended him one day when he was on a hike. She was named for a peach she took from his bag. A tugging on his pant leg got his attention.

"Hey! Master! It's me! Ruru the Frog! I wanna play with you again, Master!" The little girl cheered. Naruto remembered how she hopped into his house one rainy day and would always come back, so he named her and always played with her.

All of this in one day was too much for the tired Genin, who promptly passed out.

"MASTER!" The girls all exclaimed as one, converging on the stricken boy. Ayumi and Ran both made sure to give him some breathing space as they checked him out. Thankfully, he was okay, just exhausted, so they put him to bed as they discussed what happened.

"The Goddess sent you?" Ran asked, being the de facto leader of the girls until now.

"Yes. In light of the Uchiha incident and from an impending danger looming on the horizon, she has sent the remainder of us down to Master's side. Allow me to formally introduce myself...I am Yuki, the Snake. I am a caster and fighter of the Senior rank." Yuki told them as she gave them a short, courteous bow.

"I'm Midori, the Tanuki! I'm a Tracker of the Middle rank." Midori said, Momo following suit.

"Umm...I'm Momo...A Healer...of the Junior rank...NICE TO MEET YOU!" Momo stammered out, blurting out the rest in a hurried bow.

"My name is Ruru and I'm a Caster of Junior rank!" Ruru said aloud, her arms crossed.

"Well...Now that that's out of the way..." Ran announced, the rest of them introducing themselves. Ran and Ayumi were glad that Yuki, a much more senior angel was there to help them and to take over the reigns of leadership amongst the girls, which they had been sharing, and that she could cull Mika whenever she went over the top like she had a habit of doing. The girls went on talking for a while longer until Shizune walked into the home.

"Hello! I'm here for the tutoring lessons!" She announced as she peered around the main foyer, seeing no one and getting no response.

"Hmm...That's odd..." She muttered as she ventured up the stairs, where she could hear voices. As she drew closer, she heard a batch of voices that she didn't recognise, so she zeroed in on it. The voices were coming from Naruto's room, so ventured inside. Once inside, she noticed that all of the girls were present...plus four more.

"W-what? There's MORE of you, now?" The Hokage's Assistant gasped. Yuki was now on edge. A human knew of them and nothing good could come of it. Ran and Akane caught her tensing and diffused the situation.

"Wait! She's a good human!" Akane called out.

"What do you mean?" Yuki asked, her eyes not moving away from the kunoichi for a second. This prompted the rest of the Angels to explain the situation and who could be trusted...And who knew about them. Yuki eased off and let out the breath she was holding in.

"I apologize for my error. I know of you, but not what you looked like. I hope you can forgive my caution." Yuki bowed, but Shizune waved it off. She realized that Yuki was probably the eldest of the girls, around 18 or 19 years of age, and therefore the leader among them.

"It's okay, really. Only myself and a select few know your secret and rest assured that it is safe with us. But I AM curious, though...What were you before you transmigrated and what types of Angels are you?" Shizune asked. Yuki was surprised that this human knew so much about them, but answered anyway, since she could be trusted with her master's wellbeing.

"Well...I was a Snake, Midori-chan was a Tanuki, Momo-chan was a Monkey, and Ruru-chan was a Frog. As for types, Midori-chan is a Tracker and Middle Rank, Momo-chan is a Healer, Ruru-chan is a Caster, while I myself am a Fighter and Caster." Yuki explained.

"You can be two different types?" Shizune asked, sounding impressed. Akane answered her.

"Well...It's really, REALLY hard to do, but it can be done." The Fox-girl replied as Yuki cleared her throat.

"Now then...I hear that you are training Ayumi-chan and Ran-chan in the healing arts? What kind of training are the other girls receiving?" She asked of the brunette.

"That is correct, Yuki-san. Since Lady Tsunade has her hands full trying to run the village, I fill in for her when called for. Also, Ran-chan and Ayumi-chan have been chosen to be her next apprentices, which is a huge honor. Lady Tsunade is known worldwide for her healing abilities, as well as a Kage-level ninja. Ran-chan and Ayumi-chan will inheirit all of it over time. The other girls have been training with other Jounin-sensei who can be trusted, but do not know of your secret. Two of them are our Taijutsu master, Maito Gai, and our Illusion Mistress, Kurenai Yuuhi." Shizune explained to the senior Angel, who nodded in approval.

FLASHBACK END...

Yeah...A lot happened over two weeks in the village and Yuki was getting settled into the village. The elder Angel met with Tsunade and the two came to an almost immediate understanding with one another. She knew that now the Angels on Earth now had some form of leadership amongst them and that Yuki wholeheartedly approved of her training the younger Angels to better protect themselves.

On top of that, Tsunade had to deal with Sakura's punishment. The girl had been raving and screaming at everyone she saw that she would get even with them one day from her cell until Inoichi was called in to deal with her. He performed a mental dive on the girl and found that her head had been really screwed with for sometime now, but he also found other things that she had seen in there…

FLASHBACK

Inoichi had just dove into Sakura's mind and was already regretting doing it. He could see from the condition of her mind that she had been on the receiving end of sexual abuse for several years at the hands of her own father. Apparently, he had been conditioning her to be slavishly loyal to the Uchiha in hopes of gaining an Uchiha grandchild as well as access to their coffirs and lands for himself.

Inoichi cringed as he saw what she had gone through during her father's "Re-education", which also included heavy hypnotism, and having her conditioned to the point that she would lay on her back for the Uchiha at his will and do whatever he wanted . Her mother knew about this and had tried to stop them several times, only wind up a victim herself.

Inoichi knew that Kimi was a strong and competent kunoichi in her day, nearly on par with Kushina, but he found out why she wasn't able to stop them. Her husband, while she was weak from giving birth, had strength sapping seals placed on her that left her physically weakened and cut off her chakra flow, preventing her from using any jutsu, giving him an ex-kunoichi to use and abuse as he saw fit. Kimi had also tried to rat them out, but no one would believe her and any investigation would be halted.

"That sick bastard…He got off easy when Yuugao offed him." He growled as he set to work on repairing at least some of the damage in her mind.

She had bore witness to several members of the Civilian Council plotting against the Hokage, her father himself killing people who raised their voices against them, and several other treasonous acts by other council members.

He gathered as much information as he could while sealing away her memories for the past few years and erasing them. He knew that she would now be a small girl in a young teen's body, but it was the only way to erase the programming that she was running on without doing irreversible damage to her psyche. He went ahead and did it and got the hell out of there.

FLASHBACK END

Tsunade and her Investigation Department now had a treasure trove of incriminating evidence against many of the trouble makers on the Council, which she could use to begin culling them and punishing them for the many crimes they thought they would continue to get away with. Also, Sakura's mind had been reset back to before her father started his cruel plan to ensure an Uchiha grandchild. They did test after test on her mind, ran several psyche test batteries to ensure that she was no longer a danger to herself or anyone else. Kimi was now trying to adjust her daughter to the way the world is now slowly. She brought in Ino and Naruto to ease her into her new life. Things were going smoothly for the time being, although it was a tad bit creepy for a girl that was seven months older than Naruto to act like a 6 year old again. Kimi also knew that the shinobi program was no longer an option for her daughter since she was too young mentally to understand. Tsunade struck her name from the shinobi roster, understandibly.

Kimi was overjoyed that all of the harm her scumbag of an ex-husband had inflicted on her daughter had been erased, but Jiraiya had been told about the seals that had been planted on her and he had a way to take them off. He managed to get rid of the seals and her full strength had been restored, making her able to be a kunoichi again with some conditioning, which she did every few days with Shizune. She was told that once she could perform up to par, she would be added to the roster once again. Normally age would have been a factor, but she was still young enough to pull it off, being Shizune's age of 28 and marrying at a young age at the behest of her parents.

On another note, Kimi's parents, who survived the Kyuubi attack, were always kept in the dark about what Atsugi had been doing with their daughter and grandchild...Until Atsugi was executed and the evidence was found. They were both shocked and appalled with what they learned and had much to make up for. Another positive thing that arose from this was the fact that her parents had accepted Naruto, seeing as how they figured out who his mother was and it was no secret that she was the previous holder of the Kyuubi, as was Mito before them. They came by when Naruto was visiting and offered a formal apology. He naturally asked why and they told him that they were in the wrong for everything they had done or unwittingly had a hand in, to their daughter, to their granddaughter, and to someone that was once very close to the family. Kimi had known that her mother was once a kunoichi herself, but what she hadn't known and was revealed that she was a student of Mito Uzumaki herself. She believed that she had betrayed her beloved sensei by shunning one of her kin that held the same burden as herself.

Kakashi had found out about the trial the day after it happened, due to going on a drinking binge that lasted for over a month. He had been disgraced in the worse way and even worse, he couldn't blame anyone but himself. His team had been destroyed, completely. Sasuke was now serving a life sentence, Sakura's mind now a shell of what it was, and Naruto refused to have anything to do with him, Jiraiya and Tsunade promising a harsh punishment should he interfere in his life again. He was now forced to watch from afar as Naruto grew from afar, with no chance for redemption in sight.

Akane had a couple more encounters with Kiba during this time period. After Hana dragged him home after the first time, she and their mother laid into him to leave them alone or the consequences were not going to be pleasant. Kiba's hormones and over-fed sense of pride had always been a fatal flaw in the Inuzuka heir, one that he himself never bothered to fix. This time, it was going to cost him dearly. A week after the trial, Kiba had been looking around for her and had been intending to put her in her place and claim her when he found her with two other girls.

Being cocky, he made his way over to them and attempted to yank her away from them, but she wrenched herself out of his grip and the other two girls were just as pissed as she was. Mika cast a binding spell on him to halt any further movements while Akane and Tsubasa proceeded to pound and stomp him for his actions, both past and present. Hana, who had been looking for him due to a request from their mother to "Drag his sorry ass back" and explain himself for some sexist comments he made to his sensei and kunoichi teammate when she happened upon him. Hana managed to coax them into calming down long enough for her to drag him back.

Once she got him home and told Tsume what he'd been up to, that was the final straw for the Inuzuka matriache. She gouged the marks on his cheeks, leaving an ugly set of scars in their place. This was an indication of shame and officially becoming the clan Omega, or their shamed one. He had been cast out of the line of succession for leadership of the clan and was no longer recognised as her son, an Inuzuka in name only. Even Akamaru had forsaken him, wisely choosing to side with the clan Alpha. Kiba was allowed to stay on Team 8, but would never be trusted again.

Things were now starting to stabilize after the trial that saw Sasuke Uchiha behind bars for the rest of his natural life. However, not everything was peachy.

The ones that hunted Naruto and his kind were drawing closer and closer. The Saint Beasts had been sighted less than a day's journey away from the village, prompting Jiraiya to relay the caution to Tsunade. In turn, she purposefully excluded Naruto from missions outside of the village, but he began to ask questions before long. Tsunade was tight lipped about it, but Jiraiya took him aside and told him about them. He took the boy to one of his safehouses within the village, where they would be undisturbed.

"What's up, Ero-sennin?" Naruto asked.

"Listen kid...You remember those two guy that attacked you when were looking for Tsunade?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yeah...One of 'em was Sasuke-teme's older brother, right? The Aka-whatever?" Naruto replied.

"They are called the Akatsuki and their goal as far as I can tell, is to extract the demons from hosts much like yourself, but the purpose or cause this is for is unknown. What we do know is that the extraction process is lethal, since there is no known way to separate one from it's host once sealed safely."

"Yeesh...These guys sound pretty horrible, then." Naruto grimaced.

"Naruto...That's not even the worst part yet. There is another group out there hunting down everyone like you and they have been spotted less than a day away from here. Tsunade already knows and it's time you knew, too." Jiraiya briefed him, telling him all that he had found out about the Saint Beasts.

It's a no-brainer that the boy was upset by this news. He was starting to get angry with Tsunade for not letting him go out on missions, having him stay within the confines of the village. He thought that she was just being over-protective, but this new information really shed some light on as to why she had been acting strange as of late. She was trying to protect him the only way she could from them in short of going out there and taking them on herself, which would almost certainly be a death sentence.

"By your silence, I take it that you understand?" Jiraiya asked.

"Y-yeah…I need to train even harder than before, now. I don't want to hide behind Baa…I mean, Tsunade-kaachan. I don't want her or the girls to get hurt or killed because I wasn't strong enough to protect myself." Naruto realised, making Jiraiya grin and think that maybe his student wasn't such a blockhead after all.

"Well…Training I can help you with and from what Shizune's been telling me, those girls of yours have your work-a-holic habits at times. I think that you will do fine as long as we prepare you the right way." Jiraiya told him, trying to give his student confidence.

Jiraiya started really getting down to brass tacks on training Naruto after he found that the Saint Beasts wouldn't dare try to invade another village again thanks to what some connections in Iwa told him. If they had that much trouble from Iwa, just imagine what Konoha would do to them? They wouldn't make it out without sustaining serious damage, if they made it out at all.

OUTSIDE OF THE VILLAGE

Walking along the paths that led to Konoha, the four Saint Beasts made their way to claim their third Bijuu. They had already claimed the Rokubi and the Sanbi Bijuu, stopping by Mizu no Kuni on the way to Hi no Kuni and killing and absorbing their power. Now, they felt confidant enough to face whatever the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki could throw at them.

"So...This is Konoha...A nicely wooded area and I can sense something special about the area, as if there is a heavy spiritual presense here." Shin commented.

"I agree. Once we eliminate the humans here, we may set up a residency here." Gou added as they got down to business.

"We will need to sneak inside of the village since we will need to identify our target and try to lure him away form the village. That way, even if someone would help him, they won't make it in time and I doubt he could put up much of a fight." Shin adressed his brothers.

The four Brother gods managed to steal away inside of the village and began to look around for the a boy of 13 years old with blond hair. They were soon frustrated when the only blond that age was female and didn't bear the possession marks. They searched in vain for another few hours until they came across some girls that gave them an odd impression...Tsubasa, Akane, and Yuki, who were returning from one of the training fields.

"Two of those girls...Our brides..." Gou breathed. He never would have thought it possible that even one of them would be here, let alone two and together.

"I agree...We must claim them before we do anything." Rei stated, Gou agreeing. Gai and Shin were about to object when two more familiar presenses made themselves known.

Tamami and Ayumi were just now returning from the market with dinner for the night, the two of them using their more developed intellects to haggle a good bargain. Gai almost ran forward to claim his bride now, but Shin halted him.

"What? I WILL claim my bride! That bastard human enslaved them!" Gai snarled, but a sharp glare from Gou cowed him into silence.

"We will need to do this right. Gai, you and I will intercept them before they reach their home while Gou and Rei will...take care of that girl with their brides. This will have to be done quickly and we can use them to lure the container outside of the village." Shin proposed. The idea seemed like it would work, so they went into action.

The brothers worked quickly before the ninja of the village noticed them and reacted. There was a good reason why the shinobi of this village were feared, even if the atmosphere didn't display that. Ayumi and Tamami were able to be taken without much of a fuss, seeing as how neither of them were oriented for physical combat very much, but the other two proved to be a bigger problem. At the outskirts of the training areas, Gou and Rei showed up in front of the girls.

"My Queen...Come with me...We can smash these humans together and we can bring forth a world without them for us animals." Gou declared to Yuki while Rei was working on Tsubasa.

"Won't you come with me, my sweet? We were meant to be together, you know?" He smirked.

Yuki wasn't really amused by these two and neither were her two companions, but Yuki rememebred that the Saint Beasts were out and about and a realisation struck home. She lashed out on instinct at them.

"You have some nerve coming here..." Yuki growled. Akane and Tsubasa following her lead.

"My bride, you wound me with such words...Please come with me..." Gou repeated.

"The two of you are the Saint Beasts, aren't you? You won't touch our master!" Akane yelled as she darted in to attack them with surprizing speed, attacking Gou.

The Seiryuu caught the blow easily and pulled her to his face.

"Any who resist...Will be destroyed!" He roared as he let loose with a powerful punch to her sternum, cracking it and launching her into a tree, giving her a concussion and a head wound.

"You bastards!" Tsubasa nearly screamed in rage as she and Yuki attacked the pair in tandem.

Tsubasa was fairly fast and was putting Rei on the defensive, but he was holding back to avoid hurting his bride, as was Gou. They fight dragged on and eventually, a member of Team Gai arrived and saw the fight.

"What is going on here?" Lee exclaimed, seeing his friends get attacked by these strange men.

"I am Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast, Rock Lee! I will punish you unyouthful fellows for attacking my friends!" Lee declared as he rushed into the fray. At first, he wasn't taken seriously, but a ridiculously powerful four knuckle punch to Gou's jaw made him think otherwise.

"You...INSECT!" The Seiryuu bellowed as he stopped holding back belting Lee with a powerful hook that could have taken his head off if he hadn't been toughened up by his sensei. Instead, he was knocked through a tree, but Lee got right back up and back into the fight to their disbelief.

"It will take more than that to defeat the Green Beast!" Lee bellowed as he darted back into the fight and engaged Rei, using his conditioning to pepper the Suzaku with repeated blows and began pushing him back.

Rei responded by goring his shoulder and gripping his head with his transformed talons, Gou holding Akane by her neck.

"Now...Come with us, or they die." Gou snarled, squeezing Akane's neck tighter.

"F-fine...Just don't hurt them or master...And we will come with you." Yuki relented, her fists trembling. Gou looked them in the eyes.

"That is no longer your concern." He told them coldly as they blacked out.

Lee and Akane were discarded roughly, the two Saint Beasts shouldering their respective brides while Gou had a Crow send a message to Naruto as a lure. After the pair disappeared, the rest of Team Gai showed up.

"LEE! AKANE! What happened?" Tenten screamed as she began to tend to their wounds while Neji and Gai pulled her away to get them to the hospital.

KONOHA HOSPITAL

Team Gai rushed into the emergency room with one of their own and Akane when Shizune, who was on duty at the time saw them.

"Get them into the E.R, NOW!" The woman bellowed out, giving commands to the other medics. The medics diagnosed a cracked sternum, ribs, and a minor concussion, while Lee had a large goring wound to his left shoulder along with a sizable concussion. Ran, who was at the hospital, was working furiously to heal her sister and friend while wondering what happened to them.

"Who? Who did this to them?" She wondered. She knew that Lee and Akane were no pushovers, so who ever did this had to have been quite strong.

NARUTO'S HOUSE

Naruto had just gotten home from helping Tsunade organise the mission archives, greeting those who were still at home. Mika took it upon herself to greet him in her own special way, by way of a flying glomp and face mashed into her generous bust.

"Welcome home, Master!" She gushed, the others coming now.

"I wonder what's for dinner tonight, nano?" Kurumi wondered hungrily.

"I dunno, but Ayumi and Tamami are late. They should have been home by now." Midori answered, making Naruto worried.

"Yeah...Come to think of it, Yuki, Akane, and Tsubasa aren't back yet, either." Mika added.

"That tears it. I'm gonna go look for them." Naruto declared as a crow began to peck at their windows.

"What the hell?" Naruto whispered as Mika opened the window and seemingly talked to it, but her eyes went wide with fear, her whole body trembling.

"W-what is it?" Naruto asked.

"The...four Saint Beasts...They're here in the village and they have Yuki, Ayumi, Tsubasa, and Tamami and they hurt Akane! They claimed them as their brides! They said if you have a problem with it, to meet them inside of Training Ground 44 tonight." Mika answered him.

"Those sicko's are gonna wish they were never born!" Naruto snarled as he bolted out the open window and into the rapidly approaching night at full tilt.

"Master NO!" Mika shouted, trying to stop him but her words were ignored.

"Big sister Mika...What should we do?" Nana asked.

"I...I don't know..." She muttered, slumping against the wall as she wracked her brain for an idea until it came to her.

"We need to ask Lady Tsuande for help! She's the only one that can help us now! C'mon!" Mika ordered, taking charge of the younger Angels and bringing them to the Hokage's Office.

TRAINING GROUND #44

Naruto arrived at the training ground quickly, scanning the area for any sign or trace of the four that claimed to have his precious people captive. He passed the area where he fought Orochimaru's giant snake, it's corpse still rotting there, passed the area where Gaara killed the group of Rain nin during the Chuunin Exams. Finally, he arrived at the tower in the center of the forest, the slight demoinc arua he was giving off driving away any would be preditors. He forced the door open to see the lights come on in the arena. Across the way, he saw the four girls standing still as statues with four males behind them, the smirks they wore pissing him off even more.

"So...Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune...You have shown yourself to us at last. I will admit that you have been the easiest to track down of all of your bretheren." Gou stated as he turned to the girls.

"Now...Brides of the Saint Beasts...Show your loyalty by killing this abomination!" He ordered, the girls eyes looking like they were possessed as they bore down on him with weapons to kill him as ordered. Naruto lept away from them.

"You sick bastards!" He bellowed as he ducked a swipe from Yuki's tanto and a stab from Tsubasa's.

"Just die, Jinchuuriki!" Gai yelled down at him as the girls fought on.

'Damn! I don't wanna to hurt 'em! What can I do?' He thought feverishly, trying to come up with a solution until one came to him. He quickly summoned some Kage Bunshin to aid him in restraining the four girls as he swiftly knocked them out without harming them. After setting them down gently, he faced them with a glare that could melt steel, his crimson chakra beginning to swirl around him.

"You bastards...You made me hurt them...You hurt Akane! I love them more than my own life! Now, you'll pay with your LIVES!" Naruto screamed, his roar of rage echoing everywhere as the demonic chakra began to coalesce around him, forming the Kyuubi Shroud with two tails swaying angrily behind him.

For a moment, the four wondered if they had bitten off more than they could chew with their current powers as the Demon empowered boy seemed to disappear from view and connected with a vicious punch to Gai and launched him into the base of a massive statue.

"T-that hurt..." He groaned as the other three jumped into the battle.

Gou managed to get behind him and smacked him with a punch that could shatter a boulder, embedding him into the ground while Shin fired off his shards to try and slow him down enough for Rei to crush him. The shards hit home and embedded themselves in his back, but they were shoved back out and Naruto intercepted Rei in mid air, spiking him back down to the ground.

"Errgghh...He's more difficult to fight than I thought." Gou snarled as he got ready to attack again.

"We just need to wear him down! He can't control the demon's power properly, so we just need to outlast him!" Shin yelled to his brothers as they began to launch harassment attacks to wear him down without taking too much damage.

This had gone on for a few minutes and they were taking more damage than they wanted to, but it was starting to work as his movements were beginning to slow down. Finally, Gou landed a rock shattering blow to Naruto's stomach, forcing the air from his lungs and knocking him out of Kyuubi Mode and near unconsciousness.

"You little abomination...You have been more trouble to us than we expected. Now...We will take the demon from you and cast you into Hell, where mistakes like you belong." Gou snarled as they advanced upon him.

BYAKURAI!

A bolt of light suddenly shot through the roof from the skies above, making the four gods back off. As the light died down, the Goddess herself stood there, her expression one of fury.

"You will go no further." She told him in a firm tone, physically shielding Naruto from them.

"So...You have decided to intervene. But what power do you really think you have over us?" Gou sneered at her.

"I may not be able to do much, but make no mistake. I will NOT let you harm this child! He is to become the second coming of the Great Sage and restore balance to the world!" She declared.

"Even more reason to kill him! He left the animals to be enslaved! He betrayed us!" Gai retorted.

"He was trying to prevent a war that would have killed EVERYTHING! Human, animals, everything!" She argued.

"ENOUGH! I refuse to hear anymore of these lies! You have always been the lapdog of humans, you traitor! Now...You can die as one!" Gou snarled as he lept in to attack, but...

IN THE VILLAGE, JUST AFTER NARUTO LEFT.

"WHAT?" Tsunade nearly screamed after Mika and the remaining girls told her what happened.

"We couldn't stop him! He's going to fight them on his own because he doesn't want to lose us again!" Ran cried.

"If master dies...I don't know what I'll do..." Akane whimpered, Midori clutching her for support.

"That little...SHIZUNE! I'm going out there! You and the girls track down Jiraiya and bring him to Area 44! MOVE!" Tsunade ordered as she seemed to disappear in an eyeblink.

"Let's go!" Shizune repeated as they all spread out to find the old pervert. Along the way, they bumped into Anko who was delivering a report at the time and she was told of what was going on.

"I'll go on ahead and help Lady Tsunade and the kid!" She told them she darted off.

After 10 more minutes of searching, they finally found Jiraiya around the Red Light District.

"Lord Jiraiya! You have to come with me!" Shizune pleaded.

"Whoa...What's got you so worked up?" He asked.

"The Saint Beasts! They're here in the village!" Shizune replied, in near hysterics. The old pervert's eyes went form shocked to cold and hard.

"Where are they?" He asked her coldly.

"Area 44! Naruto-kun is already there and fighting them! He kidnapped some of the girls to lure him out! Lady Tsunade and Anko have already gone ahead to help, but they will need you!" Shizune replied.

"I'm on my way." Jiraiya declared, vanishing in a gust of wind as the rest of them hurried back to the office to await further word.

FOREST OF DEATH

Tsunade and Anko had entered the forest, desperately searching for Naruto before it was too late. Finally, Tsunade could sense Naruto's chakra, faintly, but it was still there. They managed to home in on it and came to the Central Tower, he was unconscious but a mysterious woman was standing over him protectively, trying to shield him from four men they could only assume to be the Saint Beasts.

"So...You have decided to intervene. But what power do you really think you have over us?" Gou sneered at her.

"I may not be able to do much, but make no mistake. I will NOT let you harm this child. He is to become the second coming of the Great Sage and restore balance to the world!" She declared.

"Even more reason to kill him! He left the animals to be enslaved! He betrayed us!" Gai retorted.

"He was trying to prevent a war that would have killed EVERYTHING! Human, animals, everything!" She argued.

"ENOUGH! I refuse to hear anymore of these lies! You have always been the lapdog of humans, you traitor! Now...You can die as one!" Gou snarled as he lept in to attack...

"I DON'T THINK SO!" Tsunade bellowed as she intercepted Gou's attack, sending him flying back into his brothers with surprizing force. Gou stood back up shakily, since Tsunade had put quite a bit of power into that blow.

"W-what's this? Another lowly human coming to your rescue like before?" Gou sneered again.

"Don't think you can come into MY village and do whatever you want!" Tsuande declared, her chakra now flaring.

"All we want is the boy! If you just give him to us, we will leave!" Shin tried to reason with her. He had heard that the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki was hated by his village and if he appealed to their leader, she may just give him to them and be rid of him...But he couldn't have been more wrong.

"I WILL NEVER HAND HIM OVER TO YOU OR ANYONE! HE IS THE SON I'VE NEVER HAD AND I WILL KILL YOU ALL BEFORE YOU EVEN LAY ANOTHER HAND ON HIM!" The beautiful Sannin roared with fury.

"Then we'll just kill you and take him anyway, human trash!" Gai snarled and attempted to lunge at her, but he was snagged out of the air.

SENEI 'JASHU!

Snakes shot out and grabbed him in mid leap, grinding tighter and tighter. The attacker stepped out from behind a wall to reveal another kunoichi, the snakes coming from her sleeve and a killer scowl on her face.

"You're all snake chow, now." She told them coldly as she flung the Byakko back into his bretheren with crushing force.

"Snakes...You would betray your king?" Gou snarled to the snakes Anko had summoned.

"We bend no knee to you, Fallen One. How we conduct ourselves is none of your concern." The serpents Anko summoned answered as they lanced forward to attack, their mistress and Tsunade right behind them.

Tsunade opened up with a punishing taijutsu barrage that made Gou, physically the strongest of the four, falter back while Anko was keeping the rest at bay with her summons and her speed. Gai and Rei were both bitten by her snakes, their venom coursing through them while she engaged Shin who launched salvos of shards at her only for them to miss. Gou managed to evade a blow that would have taken his head off and countered with a punch to Tsunade's face that seemed to phase her only for a split second before she was on top of him again.

The Saint Beasts had to admit that these two women and the boy had put up more of a fight than the Akatsuki members they had fought before, but another presence made itself know to them in the form of an older man appearing in a gust of wind. He looked over to where his student and Godson lay, where a strange woman was trying to heal and protect him and the four girls, then looked to his attackers with cold fury building up.

"So...You are the Saint Beasts that I've heard so much about. You picked the wrong village to target and the wrong people. Now...I'll KILL you...Personally." Jiraiya snarled as he lept into the frey, using a summon to assist him in battle named Gamahama, who fought with large tekkou on his forearms.

Rei took to the air as well as the enclosed arena would allow him to and attacked the large battle toad, but was swatted out of the air by a metal clad fist and into a wall with enough force to render him unconscious. Gai howled with rage at seeing one of his brothers fall and blindly attacked the Sannin, but Jiraiya was also very fast and very skilled, moving out of the way of the blow and employing the Kawazu Kumete, or Toad Style taijutsu to good effect. Soon, Gai was also taken out of the battle, leaving just an injured Shin and an even worse off Gou.

"You...filthy humans...You may have won this round, but we will never give up until all of you are exterminated!" Gou roared, all four of them being encased in a blinding light and escaping the battle.

"Damn...I've gotten rusty." Tsunade panted as she dropped to one knee to catch her breath.

"Were they the ones, Lady Tsunade?" Anko inquired.

"Yeah...Those four bastards are the ones who are hunting down the Jinchuuriki and now we'd like to know why." Jiraiya replied, looking to the Goddess as he said this.

"I'd like some answers, myself." Tsunade added, she and Anko turning to the woman.

"I knew this day would come, and I am prepared to give you the answers you seek." The Goddess answered the three shinobi as she answered their questions.

She told them everything, including the true history of their world, not what they had been taught in school, and the true role the Rikudou Sennin played. This was a lot of information for them to take in and it was hard to believe. However, everything that was happening was telling them that they had stumbled into something of great importance to the balance of the world as they knew it.

"So...You believe that Naruto is the reincarnation of the Rikudou Sennin and that he will eventually bring balance to the world? The Toad Seer told me something similar to that...That I would become the teacher of the bringer of balance. At first, I thought that it was Nagato...Then Minato. Now...I think that old toad was talking about Naruto." Jiraiya surmised gravely.

"No...No no...I just took him in as my son...I will NOT put him in that kind of danger!" Tsunade responded vehemetly.

"I know how you feel, Hime. But you can't protect the boy forever. This incident just proved my point. I will need to step up his training. No more fooling around or research for now. Can you give me your cooperation on this, Hime?" The Toad Sage asked his old teammate seriously.

Tsunade warred within herself, her emerging maternal urges telling her to tell Jiraiya to take a hike were strong, but she knew that she wouldn't always be there to protect him, that he needed to be able to defend himself. He did a fair amount of damage on his own before they got there, but he is capable of so much more and her trying to shield him from the world would only stunt his growth. Jiraiya could see the conflict within her and spoke out.

"In case you're lost, you did the right thing in protecting him from the council. That is one area he can never have too much help with. I'm not telling you to cut him off or abandon him, just to let me train him so that if these people come back, and I know they will, he will be strong enough to face them." Kiraiya clarified for her, making her feel much better.

"I see...I'll agree to let you train him...But under one condition. I will NOT have him turning in to a pervert like you." Tsunade declared.

"Fair enough, Hime." He chuckled softly as they all turned to the Goddess.

"You hear that? You've got our support. I knew that brat was destined for greatness, but this blew my expectations out of the water." Jiraiya admitted.

"Thank you, Tsunade and Jiraiya of the Sannin, Anko Mitarashi. I have faith that you will make good on your pledge and help the future sage and the Angels achieve their ultimate goal. I must bid you farewell...For now." The deity told them as she was surrounded by a blinding light and vanished, looking as if she were never there.

"Wow...That was as first for me...Talking to a Goddess..." Anko murmured.

"Me too...C'mon. Let's gather them up and get them home for some rest. I bet Shizune and the other girls are worried sick right about now." Tsunade said as they picked them all up and headed back home.

A/N: That's it for another chapter. I don't know if or when any of my stories will be affected by this new turn or event on Fanfiction, but as stated before, as long as I have readers, I will continue to write for them. As always, Read and Review.