All right then, the next chap of Ageless Maelstrom.

Sorry I haven't updated this in so long, but work just sucks. Not to mention that i have debts from school I have to pay, which means I have to do more work to earn more money to pay them off. and while I make more than minimum wage, its not by much. So yeah, I'm kind of screwed for a while. And to make things worse, I get paid so little at work, that it will be years before i can fully pay off my debts. *Sighs* Well, thats life I guess.

Also, I would like to know what you guys think about this. I mean, how I write it. It being my first story, there are some problems with it. Now, should I go back to earlier chapters and give them a sort of face lift, or leave them as is? I wont be doing a full rewrite, unless of course that option gets enough votes in the poll for this, but I want to know what you guys think. Leave it as is, edit some of the chapters, or full on redo.

Also, someone pm'd me about something that you should all know. There is not going to be any Naruto/Hinata in this. There, I said it. Now apparently I didn't make it clear enough by making her the younger sister, and Hanabi the older one. So there it is. Sure she 'respects' Naruto and looks up to him for strength and whatnot, but she went all creepy stalker on him instead of going up to him and being his friend, when he really could have used one, being alone his whole life. And while some of you may argue that I could make her like her RtN counterpart, I've never seen that movie, and since I have no intention of even incorporating it into this story, I'm never going to. So there. No Naru/Hina. While I don't mind the pairing, there is very little chance of me ever doing it in my stories. And if you're one of those people who don't like a story simply because it doesn't have your favorite pairing, and that being really the only reason, then just leave right now because I'm not going to deal with that kind of bullshit.

Anyway, with that out of the way, lets get on with the story.

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It had been three days now that Naruto and company had set out for Wave country, not only to help the team that had been sent to protect a bridge builder, but also the request made by the clans formerly of Kiri. To not kill Zabuza Momochi, and whomever was working under him. While he really had no obligation to adhere to their request and could easily squash Zabuza like a bug, seven swordsman or not. But Zabuza, despite his bloodstained reputation, had tried to help these poor people from being killed because their former Kage thought them as abominations, and slated them all for slaughter, be it man, woman or child. And if nothing else, Naruto could respect the man for that. He tried to assassinate someone who was a great deal stronger than he, with only a minimal chance of accomplishing his task, but did so anyway so the bloodline users could escape.

And while Naruto had no idea what the man was doing in Wave and not with the resistance he had heard about in Kiri, he would soon find out enough when he confronted the man. Hopefully he wouldn't have to rough him up too much when he got to Wave. He was pretty sure a fight was going to be inevitable, as while he would like to avoid a fight, by the looks of things Zabuza was more than likely being contracted by someone, and as such he had to honor it.

However, thinking back to the time spent in Uzu he couldn't help but blush. That accidental kiss with his estranged sister had been strange, but it was nice. Not to mention what his mother said about wanting grandchildren did not help out at that moment either. Speaking of her, he was confused as to his feelings about her as well. During his time in the seal, spending those months inside of it with his parents had been incredible, and filled in the hole in his heart that desperately wanted the love of a parent. It was heart wrenching when he had to say goodbye after only a few short months of having spent time with them inside of the seal. But now he had somehow managed to get her back in his life, as she had managed to devour the creature summoned by the Shiki Fuin, and gained its power for her own. This unfortunately included the soul of his father Minato, meaning there was little chance of him being returned to this world.

And now that she was, he was getting confused as to these new feelings he was getting. He could not deny that he found his mother to be gorgeous, but somehow now she was even more beautiful now then he remembered from he met her inside of the seal. A while ago he had confided in Sienna about his strange feelings for Kushina, not knowing who else to turn to. What she told him didn't really help his situation. Apparently, as he had grown up alone for so long, it was hard for him to fully accept Kushina as his mother, and instead as a woman. Naruto, understandably didn't want to believe her as this was his mother they were talking about, but then she asked him how he felt when he saw her and Minato together back in the seal. And then he thought about it.

While he loved his father like any child would, deep down he had to admit he greatly hated his father for his complete ignorance in his choice in trusting the village. Not only that, but he felt that he didn't really deserve his mother either. This stemmed from the fact, that after he got the full story of how they got together, he couldn't comprehend how they actually did. Sure his father saved his mother from being kidnapped, but that sounded more like emotions that only came into existence because of that experience, and weren't really real. Not only that, but when Minato became Hokage, he had done nothing to even try and search for the Uzumaki clan. Sure he had no way of knowing that the clan had actually survived, and that all besides a few stragglers in hiding were now back in Uzu, the fact remained that Minato did nothing regarding them, not even having the 'super spy' Jiraiya look for them with his network.

I mean, for gods sake Minato had married Kushina Uzumaki, who was a member of a clan. What right did he have to have her take on his name? Minato was a no-name orphan with the last name of Namikaze for whatever reason, and so had no right to make Kushina take his last name when he should have taken hers, as there was a sort of rule that you were supposed to take on the last name of the person you were marrying if they were part of a clan, as you were marrying into that persons clan. And Minato basically spat on and disrespected the name of the Uzumaki clan by not only not taking on the name, but also making Kushina drop it for his. Honestly, he didn't know why his mother even agreed to such a thing, but now it was a moot point.

But now, Naruto had a choice. With Minato out of the picture, and his feelings as they were, he had two choices. Leave things as they were, as well as his feelings for Kushina buried in his heart, and continue with their relationship as mother and son. Or, he could act on his new feelings and try to form a more romantic relationship with her. Both options however did not come without problems. If he went with the first option, he would not only be plagued with the 'what ifs' for not acting on his feelings, but his mother would also be alone for the rest of her virtually immortal life as he highly doubted that no other man would could ever get close to her. The second option however, if he did pursue his feelings for her, he risked completely ruining their relationship altogether, which would leave him deeply hurt as well.

But he knew that even as things were now, their mother son relationship was rather strained. It was difficult and awkward, mostly due to him not having a parent in his life up to this point, and if he was being honest with himself, he couldn't even really see Kushina as his mother. A distant relative you've never met before yes, but without the emotional bonding that could only happen between a parent and their child when their young, Naruto could just not properly see her as his mother. It saddened him that he had come to this realization, but it was the truth. And on some level, he had a feeling that Kushina felt the same way.

Letting out a sigh, he stopped thinking of his confusing feelings for his mother, and got back to the matter at hand. They were going to be arriving at Wave shortly, and from what Sienna could sense with her Negative emotion sense, there was a lot of negative emotions coming from Wave. And not just the kind from humans. She couldn't properly describe it, but she could sense something that wasn't human there. More than likely, it was a Hollow. As much as they didn't want to think about that possibility, the fact of the matter is that Mikoto herself is a Hollow, so it would stand to reason that somewhere out there, there were other Hollows as well. And with Wave practically being drowned in negative emotions of every kind, it would be surprising to not run into any Hollows when they got there.

Which meant that getting to Wave before the Hollow, or Hollows devoured the team already there, or any of the citizens of Wave was critical. While there was little chance of anything of even the level of an Adjuchas level hollow.

"Naruto, are you all right? You've been strangely quiet the entire voyage." Said the emotionless voice of Choetsu. Naruto turned to her, and he couldn't help but wonder about her. She had chosen a beautiful and voluptuous body, and yet she had little understanding of emotions, despite everyone's best efforts. Hell, even Kyoka Suigetsu, the one who had spent the most amount of time with her, was unable to get even the tiniest of a twitch out of her. But considering the only people she interacted with was the crazy man who first made her, and that manipulating piece of shit who only used her, its not really much of a surprise why she did not show emotions.

"Sorry about that. I have a lot on my mind." He said, turning his head back to the wide ocean, as a gentle sea breeze caressed his face.

"I would imagine." she said, as she walked over to stand beside him. "After all, a few months ago, you were just a simply human being manipulated by people you thought you could trust. And now, your former human existence has ended, and have now everything you could want. A family you never knew you had, the power to get your justice on those who have wronged you, and a fiance in Sienna. Yet for some reason the two of you had not copulated your relationship." said Choetsu, getting a furious blush out of Naruto.

"Choetsu! Me and Sienna agreed that we would wait until we were properly married!" and embarrassed Naruto said.

Choetsu quirked an eyebrow at him. "Really? Because I would have thought you, essentially the lost prince of Uzushio returning home, as well as stopping the attempted Coup by the purist faction would have made a great time for the two of you to get married." she pointed out.

At this, Naruto froze. She was right. It would have been a perfect time to marry her. And now with the mission to Wave, it would be even longer because of the potential Hollow nest there, but also the promise he made to the clans back in Uzu to not kill Zabuza, and anyone who was working with him. There was also the issue of the man known as Gato, as he had received reports of the corrupt shipping Tycoon from Uzushio spy network, that the man had tried to expand his control to their island, no doubt thinking it abandoned and to pilfer what ever was left of value. So far they had been successful in making him believe there was a large sea monster roaming near the island, and he had stopped sending out men to the island.

But from the men they had captured, they found out that Gato was involved in just about any and everything in the criminal underworld. And while Naruto would love to kill the man and annihilate his soul, the problem was that if he did then someone else would take his place in the company, and they wouldn't have achieved anything. Which was why that when Naruto had found about all of this, he had sent word to Tsunade, who then told them she would be sending in someone who would be able to get the necessary information out of him, so that they could cripple his criminal empire, and take control of whatever was still usable.

So not only was there an entire nation to save from a corrupt businessman and Hollow infestation, but also dealing a crippling blow to the criminal underworld as well. There was too much at stake to screw this up. And since no one on the ship had the kind of skills necessary to get information out of Gato, without frying his brain or killing him accidentally, they would have to wait for the backup from Konoha to get to Wave.

Letting out a sigh, he replied. "I guess your right. And with the clusterfuck in Wave, she'll have to wait even longer before we can." he said, as his face turned depressed. "All I want is to show her how important she is to me, and how much I do love her. But there is just so much other shit that keeps getting in the way. Not to mention…" he trailed off, a scowl on his face now.

"The man who forced her to attack all those years ago, correct? He is still out there, and is still a threat. Back during that time, even sealed as I was, I could sense the continuous distortions in space and time caused not only by your father, and of the masked man. Truly, for the Sharingan to have such an ability is dangerous. And given what Mikoto has displayed with her Hollow variation of them, who knows what other kinds of abilities he has. As well as what modifications he may have had done to himself. After all, Orochimaru is known for his experiments, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for the masked man to have gotten the snake's help to make himself stronger." said Choetsu, making Naruto nod in confirmation.

There really was no telling what other abilities the man had with his Sharingan, or what possible experiments he would have undergone to make himself more powerful with Orochimaru on the loose. Not to mention, that Choetsu's power could have even affected him, or anyone across the elemental nations while she was sealed, as she had no way of controlling them or stopping them from affecting others, like when Mikoto awakened her Mangekyo Sharingan and used it to save the innocent member of the clan. Or her subsequent change into a Hollow.

"While that may be true, we're all standing beside you koi, so you don't have to worry so much. After all, It's a wife's duty to stand beside her husband no matter what, right?" said Sienna from behind them, making Naruto and Choetsu turn to see her, along with Akui, Kyoka, Kushina and Mikoto there as well.

"She's right Naruto, We're all here and ready to help. Besides, most of us want our pound of flesh from that masked bastard, so don't think your going to be facing him alone." Said Kushina, getting nods from everyone. Naruto smiled warmly at this.

"But Sienna, the two of you haven't tied the knot quite yet dear. If you don't hurry, someone else will snatch Naruto before you do. In fact, I wouldn't mind taking a shot…" said Mikoto, winking at Naruto, making him blush. There was another complicated subject for Naruto. Dealing with a very mature woman who was making her feelings for him quite obvious. While he did love Sienna, she had absolutely no previous experience in matters of love, with only the few bits of memories she viewed of her past hosts of Mito and Kushina to go by from how their relationships went for guidance. But Mikoto was a woman who knew how to play the game, and while she had been stuck in a loveless marriage with Fugaku and made sure the man never touched her, that didn't mean she didn't know how to put the moves on Naruto, who had no defence against Mikoto's not so subtle advances.

"Back off bird brain! I got first dibs on him! After we get married and have our honeymoon, then you can have your turn. Not before." said Sienna, giving Mikoto a heated glare.

"Oh really? Thats some big talk from some who lacks the 'experience' needed in pleasuring a man." shot back Mikoto.

"And pray tell, how do you have such 'experience'? I thought you never let Fugaku touch you. That is unless, you were a rather unfaithful wife." said Sienna, getting a furious look from Mikoto.

"I am not a whore you damn flea ridden rug!" yelled Mikoto, glaring daggers at Sienna.

Sienna was about to retort, until Naruto stepped between the two of them. Looking at Sienna first with a serious expression, she was about to tell him to stand aside so she could continue her 'conversation' with Mikoto, until he wrapped his arms around her, and brought her into a fierce kiss. This shocked everyone, especially Sienna as she was frozen, not expecting this at all. Her state of shock allowed Naruto to take control of the kiss, which Sienna soon melted into.

After a few moments, he pulled back and saw that Sienna had a dazed look on her face. Seeing this, he turned to Mikoto and did the same to her as well. This was even more shocking, as before Naruto had'nt openly admitted feelings for her as well. But Naruto knew that it was rather obvious that he had feelings for her, though it was a bit awkward at first considering he was a young child when he first had his 'crush' on her. But now with her back in his life, and him being older now, he could properly act on his feelings for her. Not to mention this was also a good way to get back at her for all the teasing she had done to him.

After about a minute of making out with Mikoto, which only lasted that long because Mikoto had put her hand behind Naruto's head to keep it there to extend the kiss, Naruto finally managed to pull back, both of them breathing heavy.

"That's enough of that you two. The both of you are very important to me, so can't you both just get along? Or at least try to? For me?" said Naruto in a pleading voice.

Sienna and Mikoto both looked at each other. While they both loved Naruto, they knew better than to potentially ruin things with him because of their fighting. So they silently agreed to get along… for the most part. Naruto of course did not notice their little stare down, as he glad that he avoided a potentially destructive fight between the two of them. Mikoto had not been able to fully use her Arrancar power, and Sienna had been wanting to test out her new body as well, and test its limits. Though considering either one of them unleashing their full power would cause mass devastation, they would need a rather large area to do that. Perhaps they could find a way to get to Hueco Mundo? No, that was a terrible idea. Hollows being in this world was bad enough. Opening a Garganta to the world of them without some kind of plan was just plain stupid.

Regardless of that, Naruto hoped they got to Wave soon and dealt with Gato, and the Hollow or Hollows that are likely there.

In Wave

Kurenai Yuhi sighed in frustration at how badly her mission, and things in general had been going. As a recently promoted Jonin, having a genin team would either help or hinder her career as a Kunoichi, based on how well or poorly she did with them, especially with how they were all clan heirs. Normally, a recently promoted Jonin should have never been entrusted with a clan heir, let alone three, but a recommendation from Hiashi Hyuuga helped that out, as she had helped his daughter Hinata as a sort of sister/mother figure. Though she wished that she had an easier team to deal with.

Shino Aburame was quite easy to deal with, as like all Aburame they were analytical and played everything close to the vest, making them look emotionless. She didn't honestly believe this was the case, and that for whatever reason they were just of a more analytical mind than most others. While it was good that he was intelligent, the problem was that this made it hard for them to connect with others outside of their clan, and their clans ability in using bugs made people avoid them.

The next member of her team was Kiba Inuzuka. He was quite the opposite of Shino in that he was quite brash and loud. Though that didn't mean he was stupid or arrogant, mostly. That was just how a lot of his clan was. They were also incredibly loyal, and considering that their current head Tsume was friends with Kushina Uzumaki who was now alive as well somehow, which by this point she stopped bothering to question how, the entire clan was backing Naruto. None of them held any ill will toward Naruto, it was just that the chakra of the Kyuubi inside of him was like a giant warning signal to their animal instincts, meaning that if they tried to take him in it would have caused problems, and the hounds would have been either deathly afraid of him or would have been overly aggressive against him. But despite that, the entire clan, Tsume and Kiba especially as they are friends with Naruto and Kushina respectively were on their side.

Then there was the last member of her team, Hinata's older sister Hanabi. Where would she start? The young woman was nothing like your typical Hyuuga clan member. She was more… intense. While she had usually kept up the look of calm indifference like they typically had, but she had an uncharacteristic temper about her, and fierceness when it came to her sister. But what was really concerning to the new Jonin was her stance on Naruto Uzumaki. After his change, once the subject of Naruto was ever brought up, she would visibly tense and only give a neutral response on him. Perhaps her clan was trying to push for some kind of marriage alliance with Naruto, and she was a possible selection? It was certainly a possibility, as it was something people of nobility to try and secure alliances. She only hoped that whatever was going on with her, it didn't get out of hand as it was obvious that Naruto had no problems with killing people, as evident by him personally executing the former Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Speaking of the old Hokage, his family and clan had been hit hard by what Hiruzen had done during his tenure as Hokage. The man had grossly overstepped his authority and power with his manipulation of Naruto, by trying to use him to take everything of the Uzumaki clan that rightfully belonged to him. Just the manipulation of a clan heir was a serious offence, but the attempt of stealing clan belongings and secrets? That was a whole nother issue altogether. Trying to steal anything from a clan, no matter how small or minor it was, had serious repercussions. But Hiruzen, and by extension the whole Sarutobi clan, had attempted to steal everything that belonged to the Uzumaki clan. While Naruto had executed the one responsible for all of this, the Sarutobi's reputation had been essentially dragged through the mud because of what he did. Asuma was doing his level best to try and keep things under control, as leadership of the clan fell to him after Hiruzen was executed.

This had essentially put her relationship with the man on hold, as Asuma had to try and keep his clan from falling apart. If things kept on like this, there wouldn't even be any relationship left with Asuma to salvage.

Not only that, but once Tsunade had taken over things in the leaf, Sasuke had been subjected to a full psychiatric evaluation, and the results had been disturbing. Apparently there was so much mental scarring in Sasuke's mind that was never dealt with properly like it should have been, the boy was dangerously close to completely snapping and becoming a sociopath. Of course, there were those that tried to argue that he was needed to help the village prosper, or whatever. But letting a loose cannon like that only spelled disaster.

This left Kakashi Hatake, who had been slated to take on Sasuke as a student, without a team of his own. Of course, the man's feelings towards Naruto Uzumaki had always been in question, considering how close he was to Minato before his death, so it was possible he resented Naruto for it, like a lot of the fools in the village did. Of course, its not like anyone in the village even had the power to stand up to him, as Tsunade was on his side, and somehow Jiraiya had essentially submitted to them after his part in the attempt to control him again.

But that didn't compare to the clusterfuck of what this mission was turning out to be. Her team had captured two missing nin, the Demon Brothers, and had sent word to Konoha for possible reinforcements in the likelihood of more dangerous ninja showing up. And of course, it had to be one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, Zabuza Momochi himself that showed up. They would have been completely screwed, had it not been for the arrival of Might Guy and his team. While Zabuza was strong, even he had trouble with someone as absurdly strong as Guy.

Of course, before they could corner Zabuza and take him out, a Hunter Nin appeared and took him out using two senbon. Of course, Kurenai and Guy were confused as to why there was only one and not a full team, they didn't really have time to as they hurried to the clients house as fast as possible. But Zabuza wasn't the only problem with this country. Apparently some fat little businessman named Gato was bleeding the country dry, and making life hell for the people. But even worse still, was that people had gone missing, and in some cases, both civilian and bandits that Gato had hired would be found dead, looking as if some large animal had devoured them. Tazuna told them that their country had no such animals capable of something like that.

So not only was there a A ranked missing nin with at least one accomplice, a man who would do anything to take control of this country, and some kind of unknown ravenous animal lurking around. This mission had gone from bad to worse. In fact, it had gone from its supposed B rank to a high A at this point. It could even go beyond that if Gato decided to hire some more missing nin, or even if the thing thats been eating people was actually under his control, and he decided to use it on them directly.

"Kurenai-sensei!" said Kiba, who came running in, breaking Kurenai from her thoughts.

"What is it Kiba?" said Kurenai, wondering what had gotten Kina all excited.

"Hokage-sama sent us news! She's sending us more backup!" he said excitedly, making everyone turn to look at him.

"More ninja? But surely aren't Kurenai-san and Guy-san more than enough to take on Zabuza?" said Tsunami, an attractive young woman with dark hair and fair skin.

"While that may be true, there is still the matter of the creature killing people, as well as the possibility that Gato might bring in more missing nin. Kiba, do you know who is coming to help us?" said Might Guy, in one of his rare serious looks.

At this, Kiba blinked, and chuckled nervously. "When I got the letter and I read we were getting help, I didn't finish reading it, and rushed straight over." he said slightly embarrassed, making everyone groan at this.

"Letter? Well, where is it?" said Kurenai, and Kiba began looking in his pockets for where he put it. Everyone sweat dropped at this, that is until his partner Akamaru came in with a scroll in its mouth.

"Aha! There it is! Thanks Akamaru." he said, getting a muffled bark from the dog. As he went to grab it, Hanabi had snatched it from the dog's mouth. Kiba went to protest, only to see that she was already speed reading through it. When she finished, she let out a small gasp, getting everyone's attention.

"Hanabi? What is it? Who is being sent?" asked Shino, wondering what had caused such a reaction in his teemate.

"Hokage-sama is sending someone to help deal with Gato. Along with Naruto Uzumaki and his entourage here to Wave." she said, making everyone in the room gape in shock.

Naruto and his group had been sent on a secret mission by Tsunade little more than a week ago. They had assumed it was dangerous, as Naruto himself had the ability to age people to death. And that wasn't counting the other people with him. While the rest of them were wondering why they were being sent all those powerhouses when only another Jonin or two would have sufficed, or in the case of Kiba were glad to get to see his friend again, some felt otherwise. Neji was angry that someone who was able to defy fate would be coming here, while Hanabi was now clutching at her chest.

"Naruto… is coming here?" thought Hanabi.

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And there it is people!

Man, this was a long time coming. And I am sorry for that. But like I said at the top, i'm getting screwed over on debts, and I have to work more to get enough money to pay them off.

So yeah, Naruto and them will be arriving at Wave soon. And Naruto and Mikoto's relationship had gotten deeper. Dont worry about me rushing it, as I'll go more into that later.

And about the Hollow there… did you guys really think Mikoto would be the only one to show up? Granted, she was a Vasto Lorde who had devoured quite a few other Hollows and souls of people who could have become Hollows, so there won't be a great deal of them. But they will be there.

So yeah. Read, review, all that good stuff. Bye!