Akatsuki no Naruto

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I own this.

Warning: This chapter is long. You have been warned.

Chapter 7: To the Sand village! Old friends reunited!

Naruto, without wearing his cloak and wearing his usual attire that resided underneath it, stood in the middle of a field with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. As the wind blew through his hair and the fields grass and the leaves of the nearby trees, Naruto stood still waiting for what was going to happen next.

Suddenly chains blasted out from the ground and came straight at Naruto, but the blonde quickly grabbed Shokan and effortlessly parried the chains. Naruto then ducked as multiple kunai sped towards him. As the multiple kunai sped over his head, Naruto noticed explosive tags tied to them. They exploded creating a plume of smoke. In the trees a person was waiting for Naruto to appear as they had a flute near their lips. Suddenly that person sensed someone behind her making her jump away in time to avoid being cut in half by Shokan.

Naruto glared at the person, but then he sensed someone above him making him move to the side just in time as someone slammed their hand down on the branch he was standing on as green chakra surrounded their hand. Naruto kicked the person away, but then he saw the chains from earlier coming straight at him. Naruto gritted his teeth as he then concentrated his chakra and then was sucked inside the branch, avoiding the chains that pierced the tree.

Naruto had then appeared back in the middle of the field, but then he was frozen in place as he heard a tune in his ears. Suddenly the person who jumped him earlier dashed at him and with their hand still glowing green, swiped it across all of his limbs as he then fell to the ground, motionless.

Two more figures then appeared next to the person as they smirked down at Naruto's motionless form.

"Looks like we won." One of them spoke, but then suddenly Naruto exploded, sending the three far away. As the three landed onto the ground they were captured by roots that came out of the ground and held them to the surface of the earth. As they tried to squirm, each of them had a tip of a large blade right next to their heads.

"What was it you were saying before, Tayuya?" Naruto asked as he smirk down at his elder cousin/older sister figure.

"You Stupid Piece of Shit! How Dare You Try and Blow Us Up You Fucking Little Bastard!" Tayuya shouted with her anime style pissed off face with sharp teeth. Naruto just grinned at her as he and his clones place their broadswords on their backs.

"Looks like I win… again." Naruto said with a shrug of his shoulders as his clones disappeared and the roots receded. "Nice try though."

"How come you're so good ani-kun?" Akane whined.

"He trains like crazy every day; what'd you expect from him." Karin said as she adjusted her glasses.

"I still call bull! I was a jonin back in Oto!" Tayuya complained with her arms crossed.

"Well if that's true then I should be a head ANBU chief back in Oto." Naruto said making Tayuya adopt her trademark anime pissed off look as her face turned red and steam came out of her ears.

"Well, I'm hungry, I'm getting myself some ramen!" Akane said as she ran back towards the house with her arms extended out to the side like when a bird spreads its wings.

"Well if she's gone then so am I." Karin said as she followed Akane.

"I'll get you next time." Tayuya said as she narrowed her eyes at Naruto.

"We'll see." Naruto said nonchalantly making Tayuya narrow her eyes even more.

"I hate you." Tayuya said as she then left towards the house. She became even more pissed as she heard Naruto chuckle.

It's been two whole months since Naruto saved Akane and brought her along with Tayuya to Akatsuki and things have been going good.

Under his and Kisame's tutelage, Akane had become an exceptional shinobi and kenjutsu expert. Surprisingly, Akane had actually went through Kisame's intense instructions with ease and was excited to learn more from him. Akane had become extremely skilled in kenjutsu, taijutsu and ninjutsu; she was even amazing in fuinjutsu and her control over the Senju kekkei genkai was astounding. She's a true prodigy.

Karin had become stronger along with Tayuya as well. Karin had become an expert medical kunoichi and had mastered techniques like the Chakra no Mesu. She had also discovered that she could summon chakra chains, but she wasn't as skilled with them as Akane or Kushina are; she was still at the level of a beginner over them, but in time she will become an expert.

Tayuya's skills over genjutsu had improved along with her control over her Doki (better known as those three ugly giants known as 'Raging Ogres' or 'Angry Demons'). She had discovered new jutsus after experimenting with new melodies with her flute, but thanks to some criticism from Naruto, albeit some that she responded to with her colorful language, Tayuya also improved in taijutsu and learned some regular ninjutsu.

Naruto had also improved (No duh). Naruto had gotten better control over the Senju clan's kekkei genkai and had become even more skilled in his kenjutsu. He had also learned new jutsu like the Bushin Daibakuha (Clone Great Explosion) from Itachi. Naruto had also become more skilled in using the sharingan and the Mangekyo Sharingan that he was starting to rival Itachi's, although he's not strong enough to outdo him, he was still strong enough to give him trouble.

Suddenly Naruto's head throbbed making him grab it. 'Ow! What the hell?' Naruto thought as the pain left.

"Ani-kun! Are you coming?" Akane called out.

"Yeah, don't worry about me." Naruto said as he followed the three, deciding to forget about the pain.

/

Rin was cooking a nice meal for the kids when they get back from training. Her stomach had grown even larger at the point that it was slightly noticeable whenever she wore her Akatsuki cloak. Obito and Naruto were going nuts at the growth as they started to try to do things for her, and even though she thought it was sweet of them, she was annoyed at the fact that they think she can't do things for herself even though she can.

Obito, who was sitting at the table waiting for the kids, felt that he should do something for his pregnant fiancé.

"You know Rin, I could-"

"Don't even go there Obito." Rin said with her eyes closed as she had an annoyed expression.

"But-" Obito then ceased his sentence when Rin picked up and raised Mr. Whammy. "I'll be quiet." Obito said with fear.

"We're home." Karin said as she and the others entered the house. As they walked in, Naruto noticed Rin holding Mr. Whammy, which made his eyes widen anime style with fear.

"Mr. Whammy's not here to greet me is he?" Naruto asked hoping the answer was 'no'.

"Don't worry; Rin's just using him as a warning this time." Obito said.

"Oh thank Kami." Naruto said.

"Anyway, after lunch, I need to discuss something with you kids back at HQ." Obito said.

"A mission?" Akane asked with excitement.

"That's right." Obito said.

"Yes! My first mission!" Akane cheered as she jumped up and down.

Now Naruto was worried. Akane is a strong kunoichi now, but as her brother, he's scared of what could happen to her during her first mission.

"Um, this mission does involve me right?" Naruto asked.

"Of course." Obito said.

"That's good." Naruto said with a smile, but then Tayuya punched him in the back of the head. "Ow! What the hell?!"

"Don't think I'm stupid to not see it. You're not our babysitter!" Tayuya said with an annoyed look and her arms crossed.

"What? Oh come on, that's not why I wanted to be on this mission." Naruto said.

"Ow! I cut my finger!" Karin said.

"I'll get some rubbing alcohol and bandages!" Naruto quickly said.

"Ah ha! Got you!" Karin said as she pointed at Naruto accusingly. "Don't think we're little kids baka."

"Fine, fine… but Akane's a different story." Naruto said with his arms crossed, but then he got punched in the gut by his sister. "Ugh! You're supposed to punch me in the head." Naruto said as he held his stomach.

"Is there a rule against punching him anywhere else?" Akane asked as she turned to her pseudo sisters who laughed at Naruto's misery.

"No, he's just being a pussy." Tayuya said as she and Karin laughed with Akane giggling.

/

Naruto, Akane, Karin, Tayuya and Obito made it to the base where Obito took his place next to Yahiko. Suddenly two golden flames appeared and once they vanished in their place were Mamoru and Unmei. The two had collars wrapped around their necks with Mamoru having a pendant with a fist icon in the center as it was surrounded by fire while Unmei had a pendant with a leaf icon in the center with fire surrounding it.

"Sorry we're late." Mamoru said as he and Unmei made their way to their partners.

"Hey guys, how was your time with the foxes at Hoboku no Yama?" (Grazing Mountain) Naruto asked as he and Akane picked up their fox partners.

"It was cool, but they really push your ass with the training they give you, especially with the intense gravity that certain areas of the place has where they build their training grounds." Mamoru said.

"Hm, I got to go there one day." Naruto said with a smirk.

"Well you better get used to being bullied by those huge ass foxes that live there." Mamoru said.

"But Jax and the others are regular sized foxes." Karin said remembering meeting the foxes.

"I'm not talking about them. Besides regular sized foxes, there are also freaking huge ones." Mamoru said.

"Seriously?" Karin said.

"Hell yeah! There are some that are as big as the boss."

"You're shitting me." Tayuya said surprised.

"Wish I was. Those giant bastards always liked to sit on me with their fat asses." Mamoru said with major annoyance as he remembered getting crushed by the rear ends of the giant foxes of Hoboku no Yama. Suddenly Yahiko cleared his throat making the Uzumakis and foxes look at him.

"If you're done swapping stories, I'd like to tell you about your mission." Yahiko said.

"Sorry oyabun-sama." Naruto apologized as he placed Mamoru inside his cloak's pouch along with Akane doing the same thing with Unmei with both fox kit's having their heads poke out of the collar.

"Anyway, we got a request from the people of Suna." Yahiko said.

"Suna? As in where Gaara lives?" Naruto said in shock.

"That's correct." Obito said.

"Apparently there are multiple accounts of disappearances of villagers in Suna. Recently suna-nin had discovered some oto-nin around their village, but before they could capture them, they were killed." Yahiko informed.

"How were they killed?" Karin asked.

"They didn't say. They have decided that they need assistance."

"But isn't Suna friends with jiji-kun and baa-chan's village?" Akane asked.

"Yes, but I'm afraid that they are having trouble within their walls themselves." Yahiko answered.

"What happened?" Karin asked.

"Apparently Konoha is having some disappearances of their own." Obito answered.

"So who's behind it? That homo-snake Orochimaru or that evil old fart Danzo?" Tayuya asked.

"Like Suna, they do not know, but unlike the villagers of the sand they feel they can solve it on their own." Obito said.

"Wish we could help." Naruto said missing his home.

"In time Naruto." Yahiko said. "What matters now is Suna. If this mission is done with success then Suna will agree to assist the Akatsuki in supplies. They've even agreed to develop a hidden base in Kaze no Kuni for a different branch of the Akatsuki to inhabit."

"So Akatsuki is finally expanding." Naruto said.

"Only if this mission is a success." Obito clarified.

"Alright. So who's going to lead?" Naruto asked.

"Nagato is going with you." Obito said.

"Wow! An all Uzumaki mission! Sweet!" Akane cheered.

"I'd like to see someone stop us now." Tayuya said with a confident grin. Naruto started getting excited, but then his head hurt a bit for a moment before it then disappeared.

'Dammit, what the hell? Kurama, what the hell was that?'

"Not sure." Kurama said wondering what was the suddenly pulse he felt.

'I'll have to get Itachi to check it out when we get back then.' Naruto thought still curious what the pain he felt in his head was.

/

Naruto with Mamoru, Tayuya, Karin and Akane with Unmei met up with their elder cousin who was waiting for them with his arms crossed.

"Nagato, I wanted to ask-"

"Only speak to him as Hashi, not as Naruto." Nagato said. Sometimes it scared Naruto how his cousin/older brother figure knew what he was going to ask.

"Hai." Naruto said with a bit of a down expression. Naruto really wanted to talk to Gaara as himself, but he understood the rule, but then a thought came to his head; what if Shukaku sensed his half of Kurama's chakra and blabbed it out loud to Gaara? Then he'd be free to tell him since his identity would be compromised and even if he wanted to deny it, not that he wanted to, then that would most likely cause distrust between Suna and his group, which is something he didn't want.

"If that's all then let's head out." Nagato said as he put on his straw hat along with the others, with Naruto and Akane putting on their lower half masks and putting their fox partners inside their cloaks' pouches. The group of seven then headed towards Suna.

/

After riding on one of Nagato's strange bird summonings, the five Uzumaki travelled to the Land of Winds and a little ways from the village of Suna, the five landed and then headed towards the village on foot.

"It's so hot~ how come it's so hot here?" Akane whined.

"Deserts are the hottest places in the world, Akane." Karin told her little cousin.

"Yeah, so you have to deal with it squirt." Tayuya said.

"I'm not a squirt! I'm the same height as Karin-nee-chan." Akane said.

"Yeah, which is why you're both squirts." Tayuya said with a smirk as the two other female Uzumakis glared at her.

"So how much farther is the village?" Naruto asked Nagato.

"Anxious to see your jinchuriki brother even though you'll be hiding behind a mask as you two speak?" Nagato replied.

"No, I'm just anxious to get this mission officially started so I don't have to worry about listening to these threes' mouths." Naruto said.

"Hey!" The three yelled female Uzumakis yelled.

"Too late. I instigated it." Naruto said feeling like a jackass.

"Don't worry. We're almost there." Nagato said.

"Um, Nagato-ni-san, we've all been wondering that since if we succeed in completing this mission and Akatsuki expands into Suna, does that mean that Sasori will be transferred to here?" Karin asked.

"Yeah, that thought's been bugging the hell out of me." Naruto added as he turned his head to Nagato.

"Well Sasori usually travels around the five nations with Deidara so there really isn't such a thing as a transfer, at least not from what I know of for the inner circle, but the choice of where he wishes to stay all depends on him." Nagato said.

"So we basically wasted our time asking you because you don't really know yourself." Tayuya said.

"Basically yes." Nagato said. There was then a pause of silence as the five continued to travel.

"Nagato-oji-san, are we there yet?" Akane asked. Tayuya laughed out loud at the 'uncle' comment with Karin giggling and Naruto smirking.

"I'm not that old." Nagato said.

"But you're older than mine and ani-kun's tou-chan and kaa-san." Akane said innocently.

"Holy shit, she's right! Ha! I can't believe I forgot! You really are the uncle of the group." Naruto said with a grin.

"And you're the smart mouth, dumbass younger brother who sometimes doesn't know when to not kick a man when he's down." Nagato retorted.

"Guilty." Naruto replied with a smirk.

/

The five made it to the front gates of Suna, with their straw hats on with Akane and Naruto wearing their lower half mask to cover their whisker marks and Nagato was wearing sunglasses to cover his eyes.

"Halt. State your names and business here." A guard ordered.

"Wait. Those clouds. They're to be expected at the kage tower." Another guard said.

"Oh, alright, go ahead." The first guard said allowing the five entrance into their village.

Once inside, the five made their way down the path to the Kage Tower. As they walked, Akane marveled at the sight of the village as this is the first time she's ever been in one.

"Wow~. Ani-kun, is Konoha like this village?" Akane asked her brother.

"Well not one village looks the same as the other, but Konoha is big like this one." Naruto said.

"I can't wait to go there. The first thing I'll do is hug a tree!" Akane said with excitement.

"But you always hug trees." Karin said.

"Yeah, you're literally a tree hugger." Tayuya said.

"I know, but that tree will be one from my home making that more special." Akane said with a huge smile on her face.

The five then made it into the tower and climbed up the stairs until they made it to the Kazekage's office. Nagato then knocked as a voice gave them permission to enter. Once they entered, Naruto immediately noticed Gaara along with his brother Kankuro, his sister Temari, and their sensei Baki.

"Welcome Akastuki." Baki said.

"You are Baki, yes?" Nagato started.

"That is correct." Baki said with a nod. "You know of our situation?" Baki asked.

"Yes. Our leader informed us of the disappearances and sightings of oto-nin." Nagato said.

"We've actually been sighting the oto-nin around a nearby stone mountain that is near an abandoned base. We believe that may be where they're residing." Baki said.

"So if you know where they are why don't you just go kick their asses?" Tayuya asked.

"We tried, but that only lead to casualties. We were lucky enough to get a few back with only one lucky enough to not have died in the hospital." Baki said.

"Damn." Tayuya said with wide eyes.

"So you called us for assistance because of our old run in with Oto." Hashi deduced.

"That's pretty much the reason." Baki said. "That and we heard of you Hashi no Shi." Baki added. The suna siblings eyes widen when they had heard that, shocked that they were standing in the presence of Hashi no Shi, but Gaara's eyes widened for an entirely different reason.

"Me? I hope it was all things good." Hashi said.

"We heard that you are the scourge of Oto. A sort of boogey man." Baki said.

"Oh~ my reputation precedes me." Hashi said with a smirk.

"What happened to you?" Gaara asked making everyone look at him. "I never expected you to go down the path of one who takes the lives of others." Gaara said. Naruto knew he was found out so he just acted like it didn't matter.

"Had to do something. When I heard this world is filled with creatures lower than scum I had a choice and I chose to do something about it, even if it meant doing something that I don't enjoy." Naruto/Hashi said.

"I guess even now you still continue to fight and endure for others." Gaara said. "Even so, it is good to see you again and to know that you are alive, Naruto." Gaara said shocking everyone.

"I guess Shukaku's been screaming in your head about sensing Kurama, huh?" Naruto said scratching the back of his head.

"Actually he sensed both halves from you and this one." Gaara said referring to Akane.

"We're found out! Do we kill them?" Akane asked.

"What? No. You really got to stop listening to Kisame." Naruto said to his sister.

"But I have to~ he's my sensei." Akane said.

"Wait, so the shrimp is still alive? And there's another half of the Kyuubi?" Kankuro questioned.

"First of all, I ain't no shrimp anymore, I'm practically your height. And second, yes, meet my long lost twin sister, Akane Uzumaki Senju." Naruto said as he introduce his sister.

"Hi." Akane said raising her hand as a sign of hello.

"A sister. I must say, I didn't expect this, but I am glad you're not alone in this world Naruto." Gaara said.

"Hey, since I'm found out, can I please take this mask off?" Naruto asked Nagato. Nagato sighed before answering.

"Fine, but only until we leave this room." Nagato answered.

"Thank Kami." Naruto said as he took off his mask and straw hat to reveal his scarred face. "Sometimes that mask itches, 'ttebayo." Naruto said.

"Holy hell! What happened to your face?! You look like something out of a freak show!" Kankuro said.

"This thing is the result of me willing to sacrifice myself for others." Naruto said pointing to the scarred part of his face.

"You look kind of weird like that." Kankuro said.

"I'm not going to acknowledge that from a guy who willingly paints his face in hopes of looking like the perfect wannabe geisha." Naruto said which made Kankuro glare at him and Temari giggle which annoyed Kankuro even more. "So Gaara, you still got trouble with the old obese Tanuki?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, and it doesn't help that your insults had made him raise his voice." Gaara said.

"I thought jinchuriki were friends with their bijuu?" Akane asked.

"Friends? They're savage beasts." Kankuro said.

"No, they're creatures who were originally created to establish and keep peace in this world, but were soon consumed by hatred at the fact that people only saw them as weapons to be feared and/or to be used for their own benefit for over thousands of years." Naruto said.

"Whoa… well when you put it like that I'd actually be pretty pissed off too if I was in their paws." Kankuro said.

"Excuse me, but when you said you thought all jinchuriki were friends, does that mean that you both have tamed your halves of your bijuu?" Baki asked in a surprised tone.

"What did he just say we did to Kurama-kun?! Now I'm steamed! Let me at him!" Akane shouted as Naruto grabbed her collar when she tried to charge at Baki and was still trying with her arms flailing around angrily.

"Not tame, made peace with. The Bijuu are just like a jinchuriki who has been consumed by hatred and distain. All they needed was a little love and someone to stand by them and consider them precious to them." Naruto explained shocking the four sand shinobi, but mostly Gaara.

'So oji-san was right. The answer is love.' Gaara thought as he thought about his uncle who even though tried to murder him out of anger still loved him all the same.

"Would that even work with Shukaku?" Temari asked.

"Yeah, he's just super crazy because he's still pissed off at Kurama's theory on the more tails you got the more powerful you are and weaker you are with the less amount you possess." Naruto explained as Gaara then heard Shukaku yell, scream and use profanity within his mind from hearing the theory he despised so much.

"Would that really send someone over the edge?" Kankuro asked.

"Well yeah, I mean hearing stuff like that is a common fact like how using puppets in battle is crap compared to using kenjutsu." Naruto said.

"What the Hell Was That about Puppets?! You Son of A Bitch, You Want a Fight or Something?!" Kankuro yelled with anger.

"See, I just proved that theory true." Naruto said.

"Well played." Temari said with a smirk as Kankuro glared to the side with anger at being used as a point. "But what about your sister's behavior? She acts like a hotheaded pain in the neck." Temari said bluntly.

"She hasn't been around the best people." Naruto said bluntly.

"Please forgive her, she's kind of new with, well, basically people and social interactions." Karin said.

"You mean the world. She's been cooped up in a single room her whole entire life. She didn't even know what the hell a tree, grass or even the sky was until two months ago." Tayuya said.

"So she's basically got the mind of baby?" Kankuro asked with surprise.

"No." Naruto said earning an appreciative smile from his twin sister. "The mind of a three to five year old is more accurate." Naruto said which made Akane do her trademark pout with her cheeks puffed out.

"Ugh, I'm getting bored here, could we just get this damn mission started already?" Tayuya said impatiently.

"Don't mind her she always acts like it's her time of the month." Naruto said earning a punch to the back of his head by Tayuya.

"My apologies for my team." Nagato apologized with a respectful bow.

"Don't, I'm sure dealing with four Uzumakis is quite a chore." Baki said.

"How'd you know that my sister and I were Uzumakis as well?" Karin asked as she adjusted her glasses.

"Well I am well educated, especially when it comes to a few things here and there about Uzushiogakure and its noble clan." Baki said with a small smile as he crossed his arms.

'Did he just call us noble?' Naruto, Karin, Tayuya and Nagato thought as they knew that their clan don't really fit into the category as 'noble'.

"What's noble?" Akane asked innocently as she tilted her head to the side.

/

"Stupid paperwork, stupid stress, stupid long ass tower with its huge ass structure and multiple rooms." Shizune mumbled as she glared with stacks of papers she was holding tower in front of her.

"Hi Shizune-nee-chan." Shizune moved her head to the side to see Sakura, Sasuke, Ino and Lee.

"Oh hi Sakura. Hey everyone." Shizune said as she walked ahead.

"Is something wrong Shizune-san? You don't sound enthusiastic today." Lee said.

"Well so what if I'm not? I don't see how it should be that concerning. It won't lead to the end of the world." Shizune said with disinterest. The others looked surprised at Shizune's new attitude.

"Um, do you need any help with those papers?" Sasuke asked.

"No, so why not take the time to help out your Hyuuga girlfriend instead." Shizune said leaving towards Tsunade's office leaving the four in surprise with Sasuke blushing from the girlfriend comment.

"The women of this village have been becoming more aggressive lately." Sasuke said with Lee nodding in agreement.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Sakura questioned as she and Ino glared at the two.

"Haven't you notice it lately? Even your mother is becoming more intense." Sasuke said.

"You don't understand women at all do you?" Sakura said with her arms crossed. Lee and Sasuke looked at each other with confusion.

"Is this a trick question?" Lee asked.

"Bakas." Sakura and Ino said with dull looks on their faces.

"Not our fault women don't come with instruction manuals." Sasuke said. (Ah Sasuke, now a nice guy, but still has his dickish moments.)

"The women around here are just getting intense because of reasons only women could experience." Ino said. "Even Naruto would have understood that."

Everyone then looked at each other before laughing out loud.

"Good one Ino." Sasuke said with an amused smile.

"I know. I noticed how stupid it sounded the moment it came out of my mouth." Ino said as she giggled a bit.

"But seriously, my mother is getting more intense for exactly what Ino had just said." Sakura said with her eyes closed as she crossed her arms.

"And what's the reason for her intensity?" Lee asked.

"Um… well…" Sakura blushed a bit as she looked down to the side.

"Ino, do you know?" Sasuke asked.

"No, she never told me and I probably don't want to know." Ino said.

"My mom's nature has nothing to do with anything like that!" Sakura exclaimed with an anime style pissed off face.

"Then what is it then?" Ino asked.

"Yes Sakura-san, tell us!" Lee exclaimed getting excited to know the answer.

"Um…" Sakura sort of said as she blushed deeper.

"We're not going to stop until you tell us." Ino said.

"Best just to fess up." Sasuke said. Sakura moaned a bit as she continued to blush before she decided Sasuke was right.

"Mu mu ii pwebwent." Sakura muttered.

"What?" Ino questioned.

"Me me mis pwebwent."

"I still do not understand." Lee said.

"My mwum mis pwegwent."

"Spit it out!" Ino shouted.

"MY MOM IS PREGNANT! DID YOU HEAR ME THAT TIME?!" Sakura screamed with an annoyed/pissed anime style face. Lee and Ino looked at Sakura with great shock while Sasuke was more composed with his shock as he stared at Sakura stoically.

"So have they decided names yet?" Sasuke said trying to break the silence.

"Shut up Sasuke." Sakura said with annoyance.

"Thank you for answering my simple question." Sasuke said sarcastically.

"Sakura I'm so happy for you!" Ino exclaimed with glee and a huge grin as she hugged her best friend.

"Yes! I am also happy for you as well Sakura-san!" Lee exclaimed with a great smile on his face.

"So I bet that's pretty exciting." Sasuke said.

"Actually… I'm kind of scared." Sakura confessed with a blush as she looked to the side.

"With what?" Lee asked.

"She's not sure if she'll be the perfect sibling for her mom's soon-to-be unborn child and she wants nothing more than to prove that she will be the best but is afraid of not being so and has low self-esteem in herself of being the elder sibling that child deserves to have in her eyes." Sasuke said with full understanding.

"Wow." Ino and Lee said in amazement at Sasuke's deduction.

"And how the hell do you know that?" Sakura asked.

"Did Itachi-kun tell you how he felt when he heard you were going to born?" Lee asked.

"No. When I was younger my mom believed that she might have gotten pregnant. I was preparing with so much excitement until apparently it was just pregnancy test scare." Sasuke said.

"Aw~ so you actually want to be an elder brother? That's so cute Sasuke-chan." Sakura said with a teasing smile as she pulled on the cheek of a blushing Sasuke.

"Stop it." Sasuke said but did nothing to stop Sakura.

"You're such a sweet guy Sasuke-kun." Ino said with a smile as she went a bit fan girl.

"No I'm not." Sasuke said starting to get annoyed.

"Hinata might say otherwise." Sakura teased with a grin as Sasuke then slapped her hand away as a tick mark appeared on his forehead making Sakura laugh.

"Would You Four Take Your Tom Foolery Somewhere Else?!" Shizune screamed from the hallway scaring the young genin, minus Sasuke.

"Jeez what's in her panties?" Ino said which made Lee blush at the words.

"Maybe she has the same problem as Sakura's mom." Sasuke said with a smirk as he started to walk away.

"What an immature joke Sasuke." Sakura said as she looked at Sasuke with a small glare. Sasuke then stopped as he slightly turned his head to them with a smirk on his face.

"Who said I was joking?" Sasuke said still smirking before he turned his head forward and left leaving the three who had their jaws slacked.

"NANI?!"

/

"Ugh, what noisy adolescences." Shizune said with narrowed eyes as she stopped in front of her mentor's office before she kicked her foot against it a couple of times.

"Go away." Tsunade said.

"It's me." Shizune said.

"Um… Tsunade's not here, it's only the fantastically incredible author of the amazing Icha Icha series." Tsunade said with her best Jiraiya impression. Shizune just kicked in the door to see Tsunade cowering behind a book that tried to teach one to maintain peace and tranquility to one's self.

"That must have been so hard for you to do." Shizune said as she made her way to Tsunade's desk and laid the stack papers on her desk.

"Yes it was." Tsunade said putting the book down. Tsunade then grabbed the top paper on the stack and then stamped it. "There I'm done for today." Tsunade said showing Shizune the paper before placing it on the desk and getting up to leave.

"Oh No You Don't! I Carried These Papers And My Ass All The Way Up Those Goddamn Stairs And You're Going To Sign All Of Them!" Shizune yelled with an anime style pissed off face.

"Watch That Tone! I'm Not Just Your Sensei But I'm Also Your Hokage!" Tsunade yelled with anger.

"An Old Bat Who Takes Both Titles For Granted Just To Drink Is More Like It!" Shizune shouted with rising annoyance.

"What Did You Say You Disrespectful Brat?!" Tsunade shouted with rising anger.

"You Wouldn't Still Be Alive Before Naruto And Jiraiya Found Us Without Me! You Would Have Suffered From Alcohol Poisoning Without Me Around And You Know It!"

"Apologized You Little Baka!"

"Like Hell I Will!"

/

As Sasuke, Sakura, Lee and Ino left the building they met with Jiraiya and Kakashi who were heading towards the tower.

"Off to see your women?" Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Off to see yours?" Kakashi rebutted with an eye smile making Sasuke glare at him with a blush on his cheeks and a tick mark on his head.

"I don't have a woman."

"Man then?" Jiraiya joked making Sakura giggle which pissed off Sasuke even more.

"I would castrate you if it wasn't for the fact that Tsunade might already be planning to do that." Sasuke said.

"No she wouldn't."

"It takes one more 'research' trip to the hot springs for it to become a reality." Sasuke said worrying the elder shinobi. Suddenly the six heard a ruckus from the top of the tower as Tsunade's desk broke out through the window making the six move back a bit as it landed in the center of their little circle.

"She really needs to nail that thing down." Ino said.

"You two better go deal with that." Sasuke said to his sensei and best friend's grandfather.

"I don't know." Jiraiya said with worry.

"There's a lot of good people who could get caught in the crossfire." Sasuke said.

'Damn I hate it when he's right.' Jiraiya thought with annoyance. "Alright Kakashi you're my back up."

"Fantastic." Kakashi said with sarcastic enthusiasm. "Well we'll leave you four alone. Have fun with your Hyuuga girlfriend Sasuke." Kakashi said with an eye smile as he and Jiraiya vanished from sight leaving a blushing annoyed Sasuke, a giggling Sakura, a pouting Ino and an ignorant Lee.

"See what you did? You're teasing lead to a contagious lie." Sasuke said as he turned and lightly glared at the smiling Sakura.

"But I thought you and Hinata were dating." Lee said bluntly making Sasuke blush a deep red as Sakura giggled making Sasuke glare at her even more.

"I'm going to train." Sasuke said leaving.

"Right, with your girlfriend, we know." Sakura teased even more with a grin.

"Ah! Of course! What better way to build better skills of teamwork then with whom who holds your heart! Excellent idea Sasuke." Lee said with a proud smile as he lightly pounded the side of his into his palm.

"Damare!" Sasuke exclaimed leaving a confused Lee with Sakura who started to laugh and Ino glaring to the side at the Hyuuga girlfriend thing.

/

Once Jiraiya and Kakashi made it into the room they were shocked to see that Shizune and Tsunade tore up the place with broken walls, flipped up furniture and of course papers scattered everywhere. Tsunade and Shizune were now wrestling on the floor, biting and clawing at each other.

Jiraiya and Kakashi stared at their lovers when Jiraiya suddenly smiled perversely as he started taking out his research book from his robe shirt.

"No." Kakashi said aiming a kunai at the book making Jiraiya frown as he put it back in his shirt. "Shizune-chan, why are you fighting with Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi asked his lover.

"That's Hokage-sama to you!" Tsunade yelled with a pissed anime style as she pointed at Kakashi.

"Don't you yell at him!" Shizune exclaimed as she slammed her palm against Tsunade's cheek.

"Seems like it's there time of the month." Jiraiya whispered to Kakashi.

"I heard that!" Tsunade shouted with anger.

"That was Kakashi." Jiraiya said pointing to Kakashi, but then Kakashi poked Jiraiya's arm making him feel pain throughout his whole arm. "Ow! Did Minato teach you that?" Jiraiya asked. Kakashi nodded in confirmation. "That's my boy." Jiraiya said with a smile as he remembered his son. "So why are you two wrestling?" Jiraiya asked as the two separated and were now on their knees.

"She started it!" Shizune said.

"I started it?!"

"If you just acted your own age and just sign the papers like a good Hokage then I would have no need to treat you like a child!"

"And I'm supposed to take that from a young child who doesn't even have as much experience in bed like me!" Tsunade shouted making Shizune and Kakashi adopt anime style shocked looks on their faces while Jiraiya had a perverted anime style face.

"Oh big talk from a woman who's first was with her perverted teammate and is her only sex partner!" Shizune shouted angering Tsunade.

"I like where this is going." Jiraiya said with a grin.

"Shut Up!" The two woman shouted at him with anger.

"Look can we just calm down please, we don't want to set a bad example if someone comes in." Kakashi said.

"You think we'd be bad examples?!" Shizune and Tsunade yelled with anger.

"No it's just… well… the last time an angry woman was in the Hokage's office it didn't end well, especially since Kushina-sama pretty much beat Minato-sensei for something about leaving the toilet seat at home up right in front of Homura and Koharu." Kakashi explained. The mentor and apprentice stared at him before sighing.

"Oh I remember that, that was back when she was pregnant with Naruto and Akane." Jiraiya said as he laughed at the story his son told him. The two males then noticed the women looking to the side with blushes on their faces. "What's wrong?" Jiraiya asked.

"Remember if there's something you need we're here." Kakashi said. The two kunoichi then stood up and shyly looked at their lovers before speaking.

"I'm pregnant." The two said in unison. Kakashi and Jiraiya had shocked looks on their faces as they did the only sensible thing a man in their positions would do.

Faint and remain out cold for hours.

/

"So there have also been attacks within the village as well?" Nagato questioned.

"Yes. Some of the stores in our village have been ransacked and leveled with the owners gone along with their supplies and goods." Baki said.

"What are goods?" Akane asked.

"We searched for clues, but nothing, however some of our investigators did find it suspicious that there was more char and soot there than expected." Baki continued.

"What's soot?" Akane asked.

"So what? Fire jutsu users?" Karin suggested.

"That's what we thought at first, but then we discovered that the damage was caused by an even more severe elemental jutsu." Baki said.

"Lightning maybe?" Tayuya wondered.

"Or lava." Naruto said earning looks from everyone as he glared to the side.

"Lava jutsu… that has to be it." Baki said finding Naruto might be correct.

"Where'd you get that idea anyway?" Tayuya asked. It was at this moment that Karin had figured it out and now she felt fear in her very soul.

"W-wait, Naruto you don't mean that he might be here, do you?" Karin asked as she trembled a bit at the very thought of this man.

"Maybe, but who knows maybe there is another lava style user that works for Oto." Naruto said.

"Who are you talking about?" Temari asked.

"A general of Oto named Dai Sukoto, but he goes by Dai Kuragasa now. He's a dangerous bastard who has incredible control over lava. He's definitely an S-rank shinobi, probably higher." Naruto said.

"A lava user who's S-rank? Damn." Kankuro said.

"Lava user? Wait, I think I know him. You said his name was Dai, right? Do you mean that big and tall man who wears big armor?" Akane asked.

"That's him." Naruto said.

"He scares me." Akane said as she trembled.

"After what I saw he was capable of, I don't blame you." Naruto said. "Anyway it's still a speculation, the only way we'll find out is through investigation."

"Agreed." Nagato said.

"I believe it's best to start the investigation tomorrow at dawn. We've already arranged hotel rooms for you five." Baki said.

"Understood." Nagato said. Naruto looked at Gaara one last time with a smile, happy to see his friend again with his fellow jinchuriki doing the same. After the only blonde in the group put his mask and hat back on, the five Uzumakis then left the office.

"So… should we tell Tsunade-sama that her grandson is still alive?" Temari asked.

"No." Gaara said as all eyes were now upon him. "He concealed his identity for a reason. If we were to inform Tsunade-sama an unforeseen consequence may occur. It is best to keep quiet. Besides, Naruto will reintroduce himself to the world soon enough; I know he will." Gaara explained with a small smile.

/

At night in Konoha, Kakashi and Jiraiya were drinking at the Drunken Monkey drinking sake to celebrate their accomplishment of knocking up their lovers, but also they were drinking to hopefully lessen the fear of them turning out to be bad dads when their children arrive.

"I honestly have no idea what to do. I mean don't get me wrong, when Shizune just blurted out the news, I felt immensely happy, but… I just don't know what to do when my child is born." Kakashi said feeling worried about not being a good dad to his future child.

"Just be there, listen to what the little gaki has to say and guide them when they need it even when they don't know it." Jiraiya said as he took a sip of his sake.

"Well that's easy for you to say, you did have a chance to raise your own even when you didn't know it." Kakashi said.

"Exactly." Jiraiya said with a cocky grin as he took swig of his cup of sake. "I didn't even know that Minato was my son back when he joined my team and yet I raised him right either way." Jiraiya said with a proud smile as he poured more sake into his cup.

"If your saying raise him in a way like I did with my team, then I'm not sure. I don't think you've heard, but I wasn't the best teacher to them." Kakashi said with sad eyes.

"I didn't say teach your kid, I said raise them like you did with Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. Like how you made them believe that bonds were the most important thing that exists. A teacher teaches new knowledge to others, not valuable life lessons and you gave them the best there is. So buck up." Jiraiya said lightly slapping his hand onto Kakashi's back. "Besides, if anyone should feel worried about what he'll be to his future gaki, it's me." Jiraiya said taking another swig of his alcohol. "I'm just a perverted baka who peeps on women at the hot springs when they're playing in water. That's not something I want my kid to acknowledge and desire to become." Jiraiya said looking into the reflection of the liquid he was drinking with slight disgust in his eyes.

"Jiraiya-sama you shouldn't feel that way. You've done so much good for this village. You've fought in countless battles and won, you help others, and you protected those precious to you."

"All except my own son, sensei and my grandson." Jiraiya said with sadness. Kakashi looked at Jiraiya with sad yet understanding eyes.

"You know… Shizune told me not to focus on the bad too much. A few deaths, even when they are very precious to one, cannot outweigh the lives that are still with a person." Kakashi said as he then looked at his own reflection from his liquid alcohol. "The losses of Obito and Rin consumed me so much that I became an ANBU operative to rid myself of the pain and when I lost Minato-sensei, I almost allowed myself to be consumed with the pain and thoughts of me possibly being able to do something that I almost turned on Sandaime-sama. From hindsight, I realized that I cannot let those who I love and then lost control my life or else those I still have would be the ones to suffer." Kakashi said as he now stared at an empty cup.

"Hm… such words to live by." Jiraiya said with a smile. "I think you'll do just fine with your kid."

"And I feel the same about your soon-to-be relationship with your child." Kakashi said with his own smile.

"Still I want him to look up to someone who deserves to be his role model. I mean I'm a pervert and Tsunade's a gambling drunk; who could be good enough to be his role model?" Jiraiya said.

"Maybe the one who takes Naruto's beliefs to heart the most." Kakashi said.

"You're talking about Uchiha, aren't you?" Jiraiya said.

"Why not? He's come a long way." Kakashi said as he filled up his cup with more sake.

"I guess… but I still wonder with that kid. I don't know, maybe it's because he's the apple of Orochimaru's eye." Jiraiya said scratching the back of his head. "Plus it does seem like his metamorphosis is caused by guilt."

"Trust me Jiraiya-sama, you've got nothing to worry about with him. Besides, unlike before, he now has a few things in the village that he can't live without."

"And by things you mean people?" Jiraiya asked earning a nod from Kakashi. "Alright, I'll take your word for it." Jiraiya said with a shrug as he drank from his cup of sake.

Kakashi just smiled as he thought about all the friends and precious people Sasuke had managed to make from staying within the village.

'Sasuke… I'm so proud of you. And I know that your entire clan would be as well.' Kakashi thought with a hidden smile as he placed his now empty sake cup back onto the table.

(Seriously, how does he do that?)

"Barkeep, we need a few rounds." Kakashi and Jiraiya turned to see Gai and Iruka walking to the bar and sitting next to them. "And, uh, better make them a bit strong." Iruka said.

"Hello you two, what's gotten you two in the mood?" Kakashi asked.

"I got Meiko-chan pregnant." Iruka said.

"Same here with Haruna." Gai said as his and Iruka's drinks were in front of them. Kakashi and Jiraiya looked at each other and blinked before smirk at the other two shinobi.

"Join the club." Was all Jiraiya said before all for then took a swig from their drinks.

/

"No fair! How come he gets his own room?!" Tayuya shouted with annoyance as she pointed at Naruto who was smirking.

"Well he can't just share a room with you three seeing as you're young women." Nagato said.

"Then what about you Nagato-oji-san?" Karin asked.

'Great, now because of Akane I'm going to be called uncle a lot more now.' Nagato thought with slight annoyance. "Don't you worry about me." Nagato simply said.

"Well, I'm getting some rest. Tomorrow's a big day after all." Naruto said as he stretched and then left with a smile on his face.

"He is right, we better get some rest." Karin said adjusting her glasses.

"Nagato-oji-san, could I have a glass of water?" Akane asked her 'uncle', but when she turned to him she realized he was gone.

"Well isn't he a responsible adult? I feel so safe." Tayuya said sarcastically.

"I heard that." Nagato's voice echoed which freaked the girls out.

"How did he… never mind, I'm going to bed." Tayuya said as she, Karin and Akane headed towards their room.

/

Naruto was laying on a large round bed with his cloak to the side and Shokan leaning against the side of the bed with a smile on his face as Sakura, Fu, Haku and Akiko, who were naked, were on the bed with him, touching and feeding him like he was an emperor. Lying on the floor were the battered and bloodied bodies of Orochimaru, Dai, Kabuto, Madara, Kimimaro, Kidomaru, Jirobo and Sakon and Ukon.

"Naruto-kun, you're so strong." Haku cooed with a smile and eye smiles.

"Yeah, I've never seen someone defeat nine people in just one taijutsu move." Fu said with a smile.

"You're the greatest shinobi and Akatsuki member ever." Akiko said with a gentle smile as she fed Naruto some grapes.

"Well what else did you girls expect from our Naruto-kun." Sakura said with a huge smile as she wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck.

"Ladies, ladies, it was nothing." Naruto said smugly with his trademark grin and some blood coming down his nose.

Suddenly the sound of an explosion occurred shaking the area.

/

Naruto immediately sat up from his bed as he noticed that earth was shaking with the items from his room were shaking and falling onto the floor. And after a moment or two, it stopped.

"Shit, what the hell?!" Naruto cursed as he quickly got dressed. "And just when I was having the best dream." Naruto said as he disappeared from the room.

In Naruto's bed, the covers moved and then out popped Mamoru.

"What'd I miss?" Mamoru questioned.

/

Naruto appeared on the roof where he found Nagato staring out at the distance where Naruto found that out that a few of the village walls and buildings on fire and destroyed. The rumbling from earlier most likely had to have been an explosion that caused all the damage.

"Wake the girls." Nagato said as he suddenly created ten kage bushin and then disappeared along with his clones. Suddenly Mamoru appeared next to Naruto from a Kasai shushin (Fire Teleportation).

"What's up?" Mamoru asked. Suddenly Naruto vanished. "Of course."

/

Naruto appeared in the girl's room as he then grabbed some pots and pans and started slamming them together, waking the girls up.

"Dammit, what the hell you little shit?!" Tayuya shouted with major annoyance.

"Suna's under attack so get dressed." Naruto said as Mamoru appeared next to him.

/

After the girls got dressed, the six (remember there's still Mamoru and Unmei) into two groups with Tayuya and Karin in one while Naruto, Akane, Mamoru and Unmei in the other.

"Regroup later at the tower!" Naruto called out before they all separated.

"So what do we do if we find any bad guys?" Akane asked her brother.

"Easy. We kicked their asses!" Naruto said with an excited grin.

"NARUTO!" Kushina yelled within her son's mind.

'Sorry mom.'

"Yeah! We're Going to Kick Their Asses!" Akane cheered thrusting her fist in the air with Unmei yipping in agreement as her head popped out of her best friend's cloak.

"Now Look What You Did!" Kushina yelled at her son with anger.

/

At a distant location, oto-nin were raiding a store of weapons and cash and also bodies of either deceased or still living people.

"Hey, feel this pair of eyes." An oto-shinobi said as he groped the breast of an unconscious woman.

"Not bad." Another said as he felt the unconscious woman's bosom as well.

"Hey! You young punks quit it and get back to work! There's still more bodies to haul. Besides, you can grope women back at Oto." An older oto-nin said, scolding the younger ones.

"Oh come on, those women would kill us if we tried this and it's a hassle to get them just to think about it." One said.

"Yeah, plus we weren't planning on going any further; we're not like some of the other shinobi of Oto." The other said.

"Just get back to work." The older shinobi ordered. Suddenly the two released the women as they were now frozen in place.

"Um… I can't." One of them said.

"Me neither." The other said.

"You two better get back to work or else I'll have some of the higher ups deal with you." The older shinobi threatened.

"No I mean I literally can't, I'm frozen in place!"

"Me too!" Suddenly the older shinobi and the rest of the oto-nin were frozen in place and the ones who were holding items or people released what they were holding.

"What the hell's going on?!" A random oto-nin shouted.

"I hear I strange noise!" Another random oto-nin said.

Suddenly a figure appeared in the area as it then swiped at all of them with their hand glowing blue. After swiping at the Oto shinobis bodies, they were suddenly unfrozen as they all fell to the ground twitching as they all groaned with pain.

The figure the stood it the center of the area as their hand stopped glowing and they adjusted their glasses.

'Got 'em all. I'm getting better.' Karin thought as she stared at all the fallen oto-nin. Tayuya then appeared next to her sister and eyed her work.

"You got 'em all. Not bad squirt. You did good." Tayuya said to her younger sister with a smirk. Karin looked up at her sister with wide eyes and a blush.

"I did good!" Karin exclaimed with much joy and a huge smile at the fact that her sister complimented her skills as a shinobi as she stared up at her sister with shimmering eyes.

"Yeah, you did. Don't overreact, you're ruining the moment." Tayuya said with half-lidded eyes and a bored lip as she stared at her sister who had her back to her as she hunched over in excitement and joy.

"Tayuya-nee-chan said I did a good job." Karin squealed as silently as she could with a huge grin and blush on her face, but Tayuya heard her which made the elder Uzumaki sigh at her behavior.

'Over-excited squirt.' Tayuya thought. Suddenly fire from a burning building flared making the two turn to the blazing element. "What are the chances that a shinobi who knows water style jutsu will come and put this out?" Tayuya asked her younger sister.

"From Suna? Slim… very, very slim." Karin said as she and her sister sighed and went through hand signs to perform a water jutsu.

"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" (Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique) the two sisters called out their jutsu as they spewed out water from their mouths as the liquid created from the two combined and rose high up to the sky and then came down onto the building, putting out the fire.

"Now that that's over, we should heal these people." Karin said. 'At least the ones who are still alive.' She thought as she went to the nearest person. Karin then placed her hands over the body as they then glowed green as she was then scanning the person's body for any injuries. As Karin was using her technique, she noticed that Tayuya wasn't assisting, instead she had an anime style bored expression on her face as she picked her ear with her pinky finger. "Aren't you going to help?" Karin asked her sister with half-lidded eyes.

"I don't know any medical ninjutsu." Tayuya said as she flicked some earwax from her pinky.

"What?! I thought you said you were going to learn from Rin!" Karin shouted with annoyance as she glared at her sister.

"Must have slipped my mind." Tayuya said with a shrug. Karin just growled at her sister as she had an annoyed anime styled look on her face before she return to the task at hand.

/

Naruto and Akane landed on the top of a building where they and their fox partners observed some oto-nin who were raiding a store.

"Okay, here's the plan, we're going to-"

"She jumped off the building." Mamoru said making Naruto's eyes widen as they saw Akane descending down towards the oto-nin.

"Kick Some Ass!" Akane cried out as she landed onto the ground and kicked an oto-nin away from a person and then sweep kicked another making him fall, before she slammed her elbow into his spine. She then dashed at another group and kicked one across the face with a jumping roundhouse and then slammed her index into another's torso, effecting his nerve, sending him down to the floor, paralyzed. Akane then aimed her hand at another oto-nin, who stared at her with wind eyes, as a chakra chain launched at him, wrapping around his leg and then in one swift motion, she dragged the oto-nin towards another bunch of them, sweeping them under their feet, sending them falling to the ground before she then rose the oto-nin she captured into the air and then slammed him into another oto-nin. Akane then noticed a group charging at her, so she took out Raijin no Ken and thrust it in their direction as a bolt of lightning hit them, causing an explosion that sent them flying and scattered. Akane then noticed that she was suddenly surrounded in a ring of multiple oto-nin, so with her quick reflexes and skills, she clenched her fists, cocked them back and then started punching them all in the Family Jewels. After all the oto-nin were punched in their sensitive spots, they held them on instinct and wailed and whimpered as they fell to the ground cringing from the pain. "Dattebane!" Akane shouted triumphantly as she thrust her arms in the air with Raijin no Ken glowing brightly.

Naruto, Mamoru, Kushina, Minato and Yang Kurama looked at Akane with wide eyes and slacked jaws at how incredible she was in combat.

"Whoa, she did way better than you did on your first mission." Mamoru said smirking up at Naruto. His response was Naruto flicking the side of his head. "Ow! Dick." Mamoru said rubbing the side of his head.

Akane then noticed that the oto-nins that she swept to the ground with one of their comrades earlier were bolting.

"Get back here! No mercy!" Akane shouted as she chased after them.

"I've helped create a monster." Naruto said as he stared at his sister who was chasing after the oto-nin.

/

As Akane chased the group of oto-nin only for when she believed she cornered them, apparently there were a whole bunch of oto-nin waiting for her.

"Well if isn't the lab rat." An oto-nin said with a smug smirk.

"Kabuto can't help you now." Another said.

Akane did her trademark puffed out pout before she then made a 'hoowah' noise (Like those martial artist say when they're about to kick ass) and then thrust her elbow behind her, slamming it into the stomach of an oto-nin that tried to sneak up on her. As a whole bunch of them surrounded her in a ring once more with kunai ready, Akane quickly grabbed the ankles of the oto-nin she harmed and then used her strength to spin him around, knocking out of the oto-nin surrounding her and then she released him, making the oto-nin fly into a building where he became unconscious.

"Dammit, attack!" The apparent leader of the group shouted, but then a rapidly spinning ball hit an oto-nin and bouncing from one oto-nin to another, and after several were defeated, the spinning ball landed in front of Akane only to reveal it was Unmei. "Kunais!" The leader shouted as they all threw their kunais at her. Akane and Unmei were ready, but Naruto and Mamoru appeared in front of them ready to take on the attack to protect them, but as the weapons neared, a giant mass of fire hit the kunai. "What the-" was all the leader could say before he was then hit with a grand amount of flame.

Then suddenly a streak of fire tripped a bunch of oto-nin before more slammed them down into the ground, leaving them burnt, and then serpent shaped flames constricted the rest as they then flew into the sky and exploded, sending their charred bodies down to the hard ground.

Naruto, Akane, Unmei and Mamoru stared at the scene with wide eyes as they could only comment (Unmei comments in her fox language) with four words.

"I didn't do that."

"No, but I did." The four turned to see a figure on top of a building holding what looked like a shakujo with the holder for the rings looking like a symbol for the sun.

"Who are you?" Akane asked.

"Who am I?" The person, a male, spoke with a smile as he then thrust his palm forward. "I am the fire that burns within the will of all great warriors." The guy then slid to the side with his knees bent and his hand still out. "The hidden flame disguised in the ocean." He then slid to the side as he now stood up straight on one foot. "The man who has become one with energy of the sun!" He then spun around to show the back of the cloak he was wearing that had a symbol for fire with the kanji for flame in the center of it. "I am the great and powerful Hinokami!" (Fire God) the young man exclaimed. He then quickly turned towards them with a grin to his crimson red hair that was spikey in the back and spiked up at the top yet had spikey bangs over his forehead, and red eyes, and he wore blood red cloak with a fur collar, had black pants and black shinobi sandals that stopped at his foreleg and black fingerless gloves that stopped at his forearms. "I am Rekka Akihiko!" The young male now known as Rekka exclaimed with a grin on his face.

Akane stared at Rekka in amazement with shimmer eyes and her mouth in the shape of an 'O'. Unmei blinked at the man's presence, not sure what to say. Naruto just stared at the man with a weirded out expression on his face.

'This guy's introduction reminds me of ero-jiji.' Naruto thought.

"Weirdo." Mamoru said with a blank look on his face.

"I have come a long way to find you Kaze no Kamisama (Wind God) Naruto." Rekka said with a smile. Akane gasp as she quickly turned to her brother.

"You're a god, ani-kun? I didn't know that!" Akane said with a huge smile upon her face. Naruto just stared up at Rekka with confusion.

'Kaze no Kamisama?' Naruto thought with major confusion. Rekka then landed in front of him to reveal he was only a few inches taller than Naruto. "Wait a minute, you're my age aren't you?"

"Nope, fifteen." Rekka said with a cool smile.

"Uh, thanks for the help, but why did you come to find me?" Naruto asked.

"I've been on a journey to find those who the prophecy talked about. The gods of the elements." Rekka said with closed eyes and a smile.

"Prophecy?" Naruto questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Gods of the elements? What are those?!" Akane asked with much intrigue.

"From the monks, I have heard that they are people in the world who will master a single element with great ability, skill and control like that of the Rikudo Sennin. I happen to be the one of fire, while your brother here is apparently the kami of wind." Rekka explained.

"Wait, how do you even know I possess such abilities?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I have my ways. I first discovered your abilities from hearing about your battle against Shuishi, the Hyuuga prodigy and his friend and those bodyguards of the snake sannin." Rekka explained.

"Summonings?" Naruto deduced.

"Wow, you really have changed from the baka of a dead last, haven't you?" Rekka said with a smile earning an annoyed glare from Naruto.

"What's a dead last?" Akane questioned tilting her head n confusion.

"The dead last is the worst in a generation." Rekka said.

"But ani-kun, I thought you said you just sucked." Akane said turning to her brother.

"Oh he did, he couldn't even hold a kunai properly; stabbed himself three times before he got it right." Rekka said.

"Hey, F you, you stalker!" Naruto shouted with anger, but then his eyes widened with fear as he saw a shadow over Akane's eyes as a purple aura surrounded her.

"So you were the worst ninja ever… ani-kun?" Akane questioned sounding slightly frightening.

"Um… well… um…" Naruto was so scared of his sister right now, he didn't know whether he was scared more of her aura, what she might do or her thinking he was pathetic. All three sounded blood curdling to him. All he wanted was for his sister to look up to him and love him like a personal hero, but now those chances might go up in flames thanks to this red haired weirdo with a stick.

"Ani-kun… you know what I think?" Akane said in her creepy tone making Naruto gulp as he sweated bullets. "I think… You're The Coolest Guy Ever!" Akane cheered with a huge smile and pair of eye smiles.

"Huh?" Rekka said.

"Nani?" Naruto questioned.

"My own brother went from being the worst to being the best! That's the coolest thing ever! You really are the best in the world ani-kun!" Akane cheered making her brother blush at her praise.

"Well I wouldn't say the best in the world." Naruto said with an embarrassed look as he scratched his left cheek with his index finger.

"You're right. You're the best in the galaxy!" Akane shouted with a huge smile making her brother blush even deeper.

"Careful now, you don't want your brother to get a huge head now." Rekka joked.

"Shut your mouth joker, this is a family moment." Naruto said pointing his finger at him and a glaring.

"Yeah, shut your mouth!" Akane exclaimed with a big smile, eye smiles and her fist thrust forward at Rekka.

'What a strange and unusual family.' Rekka thought with anime style half lidded eyes. "Anyway, I came to see if you would help me in the future."

"Depends on what you desire help with." Naruto said with a suspicious look on his face.

"To help protect the future." Rekka said.

"What kind of future?"

"Ah, excellent question to ask. Well my future, like yours Naruto, is for peace to roam the world, but I'm afraid that the world will be struck with war and death in the near future." Rekka said.

"War and death?" Akane questioned as she was now a little afraid.

"That's a pretty big accusation." Naruto said.

"It is what the prophecy says. The war will be started by a snake in human skin and a red eyed ghost from the past." Rekka said making Naruto, Akane, Mamoru and Unmei's eyes widen.

'Orochimaru and Madara.' Naruto thought with anger as shown by his demeanor.

"Fantastic, I knew the perfect couple would start a war." Kurama said with anger as he bared his teeth.

"From your demeanor, I see that you believe me." Rekka said.

"I wouldn't say that I believe this prophecy, but the two you just mentioned, I definitely believe that they'd be able to start a war." Naruto said.

"I know that we've just met, and yes, I do acknowledge by your character that you'd make a joke about my sexuality."

'Damn, he beat me before I could throw the punch. That 'I know we just met' would have been the perfect set up.' Naruto thought.

"But I hope that when the time comes that you would assist me to stop such a calamity." Rekka said. Naruto stared at Rekka for a moment as he tried to find any suspicious sign to determine if this was a trick. After sensing no lies from the fire user, Naruto gave him a nod as a yes to his answer. "Arigatou. Now, I bid you farewell, but be wary, your enemy has much more than these subordinates as his allies." Rekka said before vanishing into flames that soon dissipated.

Naruto, Akane, Mamoru and Unmei stared at the spot where Rekka once stood in momentary silence before any word was spoken.

"That guy was strange, huh ani-kun?" Akane said turning her head to her brother.

"You got that right." Naruto said.

/

Nagato was at a village wall where he assisted in getting people away from harm's way with some shadow clones. Once everyone was out of harm's way, he and his clones used water jutsus to put out the fires, but after the original finished his jutsu, he noticed a figure near one of the village walls. Using his heightened eyesight, he focused on discovering the identity of the person, only for his eyes to widen in grand shock and disbelief when he identified it as the third kazekage, who was staring right at him with a blank expression on his face, but his eyes were what shocked him the most.

"Nagato-san." Nagato was brought out of his dazed state as he turned to see Baki. "I hate to ask more from you, but we need more assistance in a different area of the village." Baki said. Nagato looked at Baki for a moment before he turned back to where he believed he saw the Sandaime Kazekage only to see that he was gone. "Is something wrong?" Baki asked noticing Nagato's behavior.

"Most likely." Nagato said in a low voice. "But it's not important right now. We need to save as many lives as we can." Nagato said turning to Baki who nodded in agreement before they vanished.

/

Meanwhile back in Konoha, Sakura couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned all night with so much on her mind. All that's been on her mind lately was her unborn younger sibling. Sasuke was right. She has been wondering if she would be a good sister to the unborn child.

'Am I going to be a good sister?' Sakura wondered as she stared up at her ceiling. 'I mean I know I shouldn't doubt myself, but younger siblings always have someone to look up to and from what dad said, my younger sibling's going to look up to me the most, and even I have to admit that I'm not the best example. I mean I'm a hot-head, temperamental loudmouth who always settles arguments and her anger with her fists; not to mention I was a major bitch to the man I love for the first few years ever since I learned he exist.' Sakura turned her head to where her balcony was and stared at the bright moon. 'I don't know.' Sakura then stared at her ring. 'What would you do?' She wondered.

"He would tell us to quit our whining!"

'What the?! Inner? Is that you?'

"You bet your ass it is!"

'But I thought that I got rid of you?' Sakura thought.

"Please. I'm a part of you; there is no way that you'd get rid of me that easy." Inner Sakura said. Sakura then stared up at the moon once again.

'You really think that Naruto would tell us to not worry about it?'

"Of course. He said he got along greatly with his sister and he mentioned that she's got the mind of a kid." Inner said.

'Still… I'm not sure…' Sakura thought. Inner just about had enough with Sakura's moody behavior.

"Look at your ring." Inner said.

'What will that-?'

"Look at it!" Inner ordered. Sakura then did what she was told and looked at her ring. "What do you think that ring symbolizes?"

'My future with Naruto?'

"Not just that, but what he expects from us and what would that be?" Inner said. Sakura then started to wonder what Naruto expected from her, but nothing came to mind except just being herself.

'Just being me.'

"Right. Now what does Naruto see us as?" Sakura then started to think more about the question.

'I… I'm not sure…'

"Oh For The Love Of- Do I have to spell it out for you?! He sees us as a confident young woman! We take no crap from anyone and if anybody doubts us, we teach them to never underestimate us! That's why Naruto wants to spend the rest of his life with us, because it's who we are that made him ask the question. Now buck up!" Inner Sakura said. Sakura couldn't help, but smile at her inner persona's words.

'Thanks inner.' Sakura thought with a smile as she continued to look at her ring. 'Still though… a girl can't help but wonder.'

"Ugh, you're hopeless sometimes. Just keep looking on the Brightside; I'm going to sleep." Inner Sakura said. Sakura sighed before she closed her eyes and rested her head on her pillow.

'She can be such a pain in the ass.' Sakura thought.

"I heard that!" Inner shouted making Sakura giggle before she fell asleep.

/

"I honestly don't think they are really needed around here." Naruto said to his sister as he and the group were jumping from roof to roof to get to the kage tower. It was already morning and the incident last night was contained and dealt with, but there were a few lives lost and more people missing.

"Aw~ but why not? This place looks like it could use some trees." Akane said.

"And by few, you mean a lot." Karin said.

"Of course!" Akane exclaimed with joy with a he smile on her face, a pair of eye smiles and her hands cupped together. Naruto and Karin just sighed at Akane's nature, but they still found it adorable.

Once the group made it to the tower, they quietly entered the tower and headed for the Kazekage's office; if only it had a Kazekage. Once inside, Naruto noticed Gaara touching the Kazekage's hat.

"You know, that hat would look pretty good on you." Naruto said surprising Gaara.

"I was just examining it." Gaara said placing it on the desk.

"Oh come on Gaara, even before I became an Akatsuki member I could read people's emotions like a book." Naruto said with a smirk and having his arms crossed. Gaara looked at Naruto for a moment before returning his gaze back to the hat his father once wore.

"Good, you're here." They all turned to see Baki, Temari and Kankuro.

"Gross, can't you just mask that ugly mug of yours?" Kankuro said to Naruto resulting in him getting slapped behind the head by his sister.

"I'm guessing we should take action then?" Naruto asked, ignoring Kankuro's comment.

"After last night it seems like the best option." Baki said as he stopped by the desk with the other two sand siblings standing beside their young brother.

"Great! So we go in and start giving them the ol' one-two." Akane said as she got into a boxing stance and started punching the air.

"This is her first mission, so my shimai is kind of excited." Naruto said.

"Then was it even smart to put her on this mission?" Temari questioned.

"She's the apprentice of Kisame Hoshigaki and the wielder of uncle Tobirama's Raijin no Ken." Naruto said nonchalantly causing Temari, Kankuro, Gaara and Baki to adopted extremely shocked looks upon their faces. "Plus she's also a prodigy in both our clans." Naruto added scratching the back of his head. 'Which now that I think about it, that would make me the black sheep of the family. What the hell?!' Naruto thought with annoyance.

"No, no, Naruto-kun, you're not the black sheep." Kushina said trying to comfort her son.

"Yeah, you just-"

'Tou-chan, kaa-san, please don't, nothing's going to make me think otherwise.' Naruto thought.

"Well not with that attitude, young man!" Kushina stated. Naruto then returned to reality to continue with the conversation.

"So when do we-" but right before Naruto could finish his sentence, an explosion was heard.

"What the hell?!" Tayuya shouted as everyone felt the trembling that was caused by the explosion. Gaara covered one of his eyes and focused on creating his Daisan no Me (Third Eye) to see what had happened. He saw completely cloaked figures with their faces hidden fighting with metal plates with the Oto symbol on them attached to their cloaks.

"More oto-nin, but these ones are completely cloaked." Gaara said.

"These attacks just keep getting worse!" Kankuro said with anger and annoyance.

"And they're getting more frequent." Temari said. Suddenly they all saw a giant black sand rise from the ground, forming into a dragon and roared. "Is that…" Temari said with shock unable to finish her sentence as she saw the giant dragon made of black sand.

"Is that Sasori-oji-sama's sand?" Akane whispered to her brother.

"No… Sasori's not capable of this much power over the Iron sand." Naruto said with utter shock.

The giant sand dragon gave another mighty roar as it charged into a section of the village, destroying it.

"No!" Baki shouted with fear and worry for his fellow villagers. Gaara then ran towards the window and jumped out of it with Naruto following his lead.

"Gaara!" Temari shouted her little brother's name.

"Naruto-ani-kun!" Akane shouted her brother's name as she shook her arms to the side up and down.

Naruto landed atop of a building and then started jumping from building to building as he headed to where the black sand dragon was. Naruto turned his head to notice that Gaara was flying beside him on a cloud of his own sand. Gaara then extended his hand towards Naruto as a cloud of sand appeared beside Naruto making the blonde smirk as he jumped onto the cloud. The two then floated onto their clouds as they headed for the black sand dragon that made a great roar.

"You know, I have been wondering for a while if Shokan can cut through the Iron Sand." Naruto said with an excited grin.

"Don't take it lightly." Gaara said to his fellow jinchuriki.

'After seeing Sasori in action I never can.' Naruto thought as he remembered a fight Sasori was in against a powerful oto-nin.

The black sand dragon roared as streams of black sand came from out of its body and charged at the two.

"Look out!" Naruto shouted. Gaara quickly controlled the sand clouds to dodge the black sand while Naruto used Shokan to cut the sand streams away that Gaara couldn't help him dodge. Once the sand that attacked them stopped, there was a pause as the dragon readied to send more. "Gaara." Naruto said his fellow jinchuriki's name making the red head look at him. "If things get too intense, let me handle things… understand?" Naruto said. Gaara nodded understanding that Naruto meant that if he feels Shukaku attempting to take control then he would take most of the heat off him until he retains full control over himself.

Naruto then jumped in front of Gaara and sent multiple slashes at iron sand that was coming for him. Gaara quickly created a sand cloud underneath Naruto's feet to help him stay in the air. Gaara saw more iron sand come their way so they took evasive action, while Naruto slashed at more sand. Naruto grinned at the action, but then he turned his head with a raised eyebrow as he noticed that iron sand behind them transformed into black spears. Naruto slammed Shokan into his cloud and sent his chakra into it and controlled it to turn him around, and once the spears charged, Naruto pulled Shokan out of the cloud and started parrying the spears.

Gaara noticed this, but then he noticed iron sand charge at them, so he sent his sand at them, but the iron sand's density was too great and burst through the sand easily. Gaara glared knowing that it wouldn't have worked, but he had to at least give it a try, but as the iron sand came closer, Gaara noticed that Naruto jumped over him.

Naruto quickly weaved through hand signs with a single hand. As his chest expanded, Naruto blew fire onto Shokan and as the metal then glowed red orange, Naruto slashed at all the iron sand, caused them to break apart. Gaara quickly created a sand cloud under Naruto as he then landed on it. Naruto then threw Shokan, as it then flew around the sky like a boomerang as it destroyed the incoming iron sand in front of them and then it flew around them, hitting more sand, and then behind them, destroying sand that was coming from behind. Shokan then came around and back into Naruto's grasp as he slashed at another stream of iron sand.

Gaara stared at Naruto with wide eyes, amazed at his skills. Naruto grinned as he then spun Shokan like a windmill in front of him as iron sand charged at them making the break apart and fly away. Gaara never expected Naruto to be so powerful, especially with a sword; he had changed greatly.

Naruto then stabbed into the cloud again as he controlled it with his chakra to speed towards the iron sand dragon. He continued to dodge more iron sand, until he was in front of the dragon's face. The dragon roared as iron sand charged at Naruto, but the blonde jumped off the cloud, letting it get destroyed by the iron sand. Naruto quickly summoned two shadow clones as he extended his hand up into the air. The clones quickly started forming a rasengan. As the rasengan grew, Naruto's hand glowed gold and as the blue sphere grew in size, it started turning gold from the ground up.

Down below, the others along with other sand-nin were assisting injured civilians and fellow shinobi, but then they all noticed the giant glowing gold spiraling ball in Naruto's palm that glowed as bright as the sun.

"What the hell is that?" Kankuro questioned with wide eyes as he stared at the sphere.

"Just another one of Naruto's incredible jutsus." Karin said as she stared at the sphere with amazement.

"I don't believe it." Temari said as she stared at the sphere with awe.

'Unbelievable…' Baki thought with wide eyes as he felt grand shock, awe and a hint of fear as he stared at Naruto's grinning face. 'Is this the same child from the chunnin exams?' Baki thought not believing how powerful Naruto was.

"Wow… you're incredible ani-kun." Akane said as she stared at the jutsu with shimmering eyes of awe and admiration. The Naruto clones then vanished leaving their creator. Naruto continued to grin as he held the giant golden rasengan in hand, ready to use it. Naruto then summoned wind around his body as he used it to make him charged at the sand dragon. Naruto then reared back the jutsu and shouted its name.

"Taiyobakudan Rasengan!" (Sun Bomb Spiraling Sphere) Naruto shouted as he slammed the giant golden rasengan into the dragon. The dragon was met head on with it. The sand tried to keep itself together, but as the jutsu dug deeper into its body, it couldn't stay strong anymore as it then exploded with the iron sand being devoured by an explosion of intense wind and golden flames. Everyone covered their eyes from the powerful light and tried to stand their ground as the wind hit. After a couple of moments, everyone uncovered their eyes as they looked up to see that the dragon was completely eradicated.

"Holy hell." A random sand-nin said.

"That was awesome!" A young chunnin shouted with amazement.

"That's my ani-kun!" Akane cheered. Nagato stared up at Naruto, who was now standing on another sand cloud, with a small smile on his face.

'His progress is coming along quite well.' Nagato thought as he continued to smile, but then his eyes widened again as his eyes found with their enhanced sight a familiar face that was starting to rise from the ground from a small patch of iron sand.

High in the sky, Gaara stared at a Naruto smirked as he floated next to him.

"Say Gaara, do you think you'd have control over the iron sand considering that you're Shukaku's jinchuriki?" Naruto asked his fellow demon container.

"I guess I could try." Gaara said. Naruto then he noticed a small patch of iron sand on the floor with something rising from it.

"Hey, uh, you seeing this?" Naruto said pointing at the iron sand making Gaara look at it as something rose from it. Once it stood up completely, the iron sand covering it then fell to the ground to reveal a person standing over the sand who was looking up at them.

It was a man with short messy, dark blue hair, yellow eyes and wore what looked like the kazekage attire.

Gaara's eyes widen with shock as he stared at figure.

"You know him?" Naruto asked.

"It's… it's the Sandaime Kazekage." Gaara said.

"I see." Naruto said as he then looked down at the man and activated his sharingan to enhance his eye sight to see that the man's sclera was black. 'Now it all makes sense. Oto you bunch of monsters.' Naruto thought with a glare.

Suddenly the sound of an earthquake was heard as the ground shook a bit. The Third Kazekage was then surrounded by iron sand as he then summoned them to rise him up to the sky. The iron sand then encased, and transformed him into an even larger black sand dragon. As the dragon stared at them, it roared loudly as Naruto and Gaara covered their faces from the specs of sand that came out of its mouth.

"Thank goodness sand doesn't smell or that roar would have been powerful enough to kill us." Naruto joked. Gaara stared at Naruto with confusion. "It was a joke." Naruto said.

"I don't get it." Gaara said.

'A lot of fun you are.' Naruto thought with a dull look on his face.

/

Hinata was leaving her clan's compound, but as she passed by the head training room, she was stopped by her father… again.

"Hinata, where are you going?" Hiashi asked his daughter.

"To see my friends." Hinata said before walking off.

"She seems to be getting more confident in speaking with you." Hiashi's father said.

"I've noticed." Hiashi said. Hanabi, who was on one of her knees, watched as her sister ran off with a bit of a saddened look on her face.

'Everyday… everyday Hinata-nee-sama keeps running off to spend time with the others, but mainly those two. The pink haired girl and the Uchiha. She always spends her time with them, but when it comes to the clan, the only one she really cares about is Neji-ni-san… and me… but we are just a small part of something bigger that she hasn't focus on.' Hanabi thought with a small glare.

"Hanabi! Rise!" Hiashi ordered. Hanabi rose to her feet as she prepared herself.

'I will become strong! For the entire clan!' Hanabi thought with determination as she glare ahead as she got in her Juken stance. 'I will… become stronger than you nee-sama!'

/

"So you just blew off your father just like that? Wow Hinata, I knew you changed, but I didn't think you had it in you." Sakura said to her friend as they walked down the streets of Konoha.

"Honestly I-I didn't b-believe that I could speak to tou-san that way either." Hinata said twiddling her index fingers.

"I guess you have your boyfriend to thank for that." Sakura said with a teasing grin.

"S-Sakura-san!"

"I get it, I get it 'I-I don't s-see him l-like that', I understand." Sakura said with her best Hinata impression in the middle of it. "But seriously, I see how you look at him. You're starting to like him; for real this time." Sakura said with a grin making Hinata blush.

"N-no, that's not it." Hinata said as she continued to blush.

"Then you don't like him?" Sakura said with a raised eyebrow.

"Th-that's not it either."

"Then which is it? Do you like him or not?" Sakura asked as the two stopped in their tracks.

"Well… it's just…" Hinata then looked down to the side as she twiddled her index fingers and her blush deepened. "I'm… I'm confused." Hinata confessed. Sakura looked at Hinata with some shock before smiling.

"We all feel that way at some point or another." Sakura said as she remembered how she once felt. "Hell, I've even been there before."

"You have?" Hinata questioned.

"… It was right after the incident a year ago… after I discovered the truth about something, I wasn't sure about my feelings at all. While travelling back home, my mind started to subconsciously flash through memories of my past. Most of them about someone who meant so much to me. Others about someone else, but those memories weren't as heartwarming. It took a while, but I then started to realize what my true feelings were. It wasn't easy to figure out, but the back of your mind knows somehow. It'll just take some time, but you'll know when you see it, but until then, it doesn't hurt to think about the good memories you had with others, especially the ones who became special to you." Sakura said with a smile.

"Yes… I agree." Hinata said with a smile. Sakura's smile widened as she saw Hinata's smile, but then she developed an annoyed look on her face. "I-is something wrong Sakura?" Hinata asked.

"What's with you three and spying on more experienced shinobi? Don't you trainees ever get tired of getting spotted?" Sakura said with her arms crossed as she turned back to see a square box with a pair of eyeholes and was designed to look like a rock. "And hasn't Naruto called you three out on the horrid disguise?" Sakura said with a dull look as Hinata looked at the box with a confused look on her face.

"Of course boss' girlfriend would see through our disguise." A voice spoke. Suddenly the box exploded with smoke, but what followed were three kids on their hands and knees coughing from the smoke. "Still too much guys." Konohamaru said to Moegi and Udon.

Hinata looked at Sakura with a questioning glance.

"Old fans of Naruto's." Sakura said earning an understanding look.

"We are The Konohamaru Corps!" The three young academy students exclaimed with much gusto.

"Why are you three spying on us?" Sakura asked.

"Because-"

"Well truth be told, we were spying on Sasuke, but that didn't go so well." Udon said, interrupting Konohamaru, who glared at the four-eyed shinobi in training.

/

Sasuke was in front of his koi pond of his mother's garden in lotus position with Tamashi in his lap. A square box designed to look like a rock with a pair of eyeholes was sneaking closer to Sasuke's position, but then Sasuke unsheathed Tamashi a bit to show off some of it's blade making the box jump a bit in fearful surprise before running away as 'discreetly' as possible. Once it was gone, Sasuke fully sheathed Tamashi as he then sighed.

"Children."

/

Sakura giggled a bit at this while Hinata sighed and shook her head a bit.

"Oh Sasuke-kun." Hinata said.

"Guess there are some things that never change." Sakura said with an amused smile. "So you three now became Sasuke's fan club, huh?"

"No way! Boss is number one! It doesn't matter if he's around or not! He'll always be the greatest!" Konohamaru exclaimed with genuine confidence and belief in his idol. Sakura couldn't help, but smile warmly at this.

"Well said." Sakura said with a nod.

"Besides, Udon was the one who wanted to spy on Sasuke." Konohamaru said making Udon blush in embarrassment.

"Why?" Hinata asked curiously.

"Udon, do you admire Sasuke?" Sakura asked with a knowing smile. Udon's blush deepened as he then shyly nodded.

"I should have known." Konohamaru said with his arms crossed and a bit of a miffed look. "Traitor." Konohamaru mumbled, but that lead to Moegi punching the young Sarutobi in the back of the head. Sakura couldn't help, but giggle at the young girl's action against her idiot friend.

"You know, I kind have figured since that time he saved Konohamaru from that idiot Kankuro, I remembered that you have a face with admiration written all over it." Sakura said making Udon's face blush even deeper. "You know, I'm sure Sasuke would be okay with training you when the time comes." Sakura said with a smile. Udon looked up with hope at this.

"Would he even bother training anyone? I mean he is an emo." Konohamaru said causing Sakura to laugh while Hinata sighed at this.

"Well back then he was a pain in the neck-"

"More like butt." Konohamaru mumbled.

"But he's actually changed. Nowadays he's just a big teddy bear." Sakura said with a smile.

"One with a giant knife." Konohamaru mumbled.

"Trust me, that thing is way too dangerous to just be called a giant knife." Sakura said remembering the prowess of Tamashi.

"I really wish I could use a sword like Sasuke can." Udon said.

"I'm sure he'll teach you." Sakura said.

"Are you 'really' sure about that?" Konohamaru asked still not sure about Sasuke willing to teach Udon.

"I know that he would." Hinata said. "Sasuke-kun has changed much. He is assisting in my training by helping me become a better kunoichi. In fact, he offered to help me."

"Seriously? Are we still talking about the same Sasuke?" Konohamaru questioned, not believing what he heard. Hinata nodded in confirmation which made Konohamaru's jaw drop.

"If you wish Udon-kun, I could speak with Sasuke-kun about training you in the future. Once you graduate from the academy that is." Hinata offered with a smile. Udon had a mild shocked look on his face before he developed a huge smile.

"Really? Arigatou Hinata-sama." Udon thanked the Hyuuga heiress with a grateful bow.

"Just Hinata is fine." Hinata said with a smile. Sakura smiled at this, but then she noticed the down look on Moegi's face, so she bent down in front of her.

"What's wrong Moegi?" Sakura asked the only girl of the group.

"Konohamaru plans on working on this new jutsu Naruto-ni managed to tell him about a year ago and now Udon's going to be able to learn from Sasuke-kun… I don't have anything planned for me to become strong like they're going to become. I feel like… that I'm going to be useless forever." Moegi admitted with sadness. Sakura looked at Moegi with shock as she saw a younger version of herself in Moegi. Sakura then smiled as she placed a hand on Moegi's shoulder making the young academy student look up at her.

"I don't believe that." Sakura said with a smiling shocking Moegi. "No one is ever truly useless. For so long I thought the same thing as you, but I've learned not to think of myself that way, and trust me, you are far from useless." Sakura said bringing some new hope to Moegi, but the girl still wasn't convinced that she mattered.

"I… I still don't think the same thing you do Sakura-nee-chan." Moegi said looking to the ground with sadness and low self-esteem. Sakura had a bit of a melancholic look on her face as she stared at Moegi's face, but then she came up with an idea.

"You know… it does seem unfair, what with Udon being promised to be Sasuke's future apprentice and Konohamaru going to learn Naruto-kun's strongest jutsu and follow in his footsteps, while you don't have anything planned to make you stronger in the future. So I'll tell you what…" Sakura said making Moegi look up at her with curiosity. "How about when the time comes where you finally become a kunoichi, I'll teach you everything Tsunade-shishou has taught me." Sakura said pointing a thumb to herself. Moegi looked up at Sakura with shock as she saw the pink haired kunoichi in a new light. "Sounds like a plan to you?" Sakura said with a smile.

"Mm hm." Moegi said with an enthusiastic nod and genuine happy smile.

"Good." Sakura said with a nod and a grin. Sakura was really happy that Moegi agreed; in truth, she felt her and the little academy students were kindred spirits.

Up on a building, Sasuke was watching the whole scene. He closed his eyes and sighed as he developed a smirk on his face.

"Guess I better be prepared to take on a new student." Sasuke said still smirking.

/

Naruto fell from the sky as he controlled the air around his body to lessen the speed of his fall. Once he made it to the ground, he placed his hands on the floor as he then bounced off them and landed on his feet. When he looked up at the dragon, he had his lower jaw mask and straw hat on as he glared at the elemental creature.

"Alright bitch, round three." Naruto said, but then he suddenly heard crying making him turn to see a little boy on the floor lying on his stomach crying as a beam was on his bleeding leg. Naruto then noticed a few oto-nin on the roof of a small building who also noticed the boy. "Oh shit." Naruto said as he quickly made his way to the kid.

"Another one for the collection." An oto-nin said as another oto-nin went for the kid, but just as he was coming down next to the boy, Naruto appeared below the oto-nin as he reeled back Shokan with the blunt side facing the oto-nin as he was preparing for a swing.

"Batter Up!" Naruto shouted as he then swung Shokan, hitting the oto-nin, sending him far into the distance, flying far into the sky.

"Dammit!" An oto-nin cursed. The oto-nins then threw kunais and shuriken at Naruto, so the masked shinobi then spun Shokan windmill style by the handle, parrying all the kunai. The oto-nins then charged at him with kunai and sickles ready. Naruto prepared to take them all on and protect the child, but then suddenly Mamoru landed next to Naruto with his front paws touching the ground first, creating a summoning seal as a large cloud of smoke appeared.

Suddenly a giant paw with sharp claws stomped in front of the oto-nins making them cease as they looked up to see a large grey black with white furred underbelly and tail tip and golden slit eyed fox that growled at them. The oto-nin were then sent flying by a whack from the giant fox's tail. Naruto looked up at the fox that was over them like a protective shield.

"I wondered where you were." Naruto said turning to a smiling Mamoru. Naruto then turned to see Hiroyuki and Akio lift the beam up from the young boy's legs as Hiroko and Izanami pulled the boy away from it. Izanami then made her way to the boy's legs as she wrapped her tail around the boy's legs as royal blue green chakra surrounded her tail. After a few moments, she unwrapped and pulled her tail away as Hiroko then licked away the blood. Naruto then knelt down to the kid.

"Feel better now?" Naruto asked earning a nod from the young boy as tears continued to fall from his eyes.

"I'll find him shelter; put him on my back." Akio said. Naruto nodded as he picked up the boy and placed him on the big fox's back.

"By the way, where's Jax?" Naruto asked. Suddenly he heard a war cry from the sky making him look to see Jax roared as his tail glowed white. With great speed, Jax went diagonally across the giant iron sand dragon, cutting it in half as he then had a victorious grin on his face.

"He always likes getting his paws dirty while we do the saving." Izanami said as she stared at her fellow fox in the sky.

"Makes sense seeing he pretty much expresses an aggressive nature." Naruto said as the iron sand then fell to the ground. "I'll leave assisting the civilians to you lot." Naruto said as he dashed at where the iron sand was falling towards.

"Apparently Naruto's the same as well." Akio said.

As Naruto was getting closer, he saw the Sandaime Kazekage rise from the iron said as he stared at him. Streams of iron said was then sent towards the masked blonde, but Naruto then slashed at the sand destroying them as he went to slash the zombified kage. The deceased kazekage lifted his hand as iron sand surrounded it and then grabbed it ceasing it, Naruto then went to grab the kazekage's face and use his wrist blades to stab at his jugular, but the deceased shinobi grabbed his wrist, so Naruto went for a forward flip kick against his jaw, but the kazekage released him and backed away from the attack.

The kazekage sent more streams of iron sand at Naruto. Right before he landed Naruto quickly took out his father's old Hiraishin kunai and threw it a little behind the sandaime kazekage and used Shokan to destroy the streams, but some sand still pierced and cut his skin making him bleed a bit as he gritted his teeth. Naruto was about to use his father's jutsu for the first time, but he then saw the iron sand ready to grab it.

'Dammit, no!' Naruto thought, but then suddenly javelins made of sand pierced the kazekage making Naruto's eyes widen, but he then noticed that Gaara had done it from above as the red haired jinchuriki was still on his sand cloud. Naruto quickly took the opportunity and concentrated as he tried to connect with the kunai's seal. 'Come on. Concentrate, concentrate.' But Naruto felt he wasn't getting anywhere as he suddenly felt the iron sand surrounding his body. 'Concentrate you son of a bitch! Now!' Naruto's thoughts screamed as he suddenly opened his eyes wide as his/Madara's mangekyo sharingan appeared as the sand encased him.

Naruto then suddenly appeared behind the sandaime kazekage in a golden flash and then sliced him in half right across the torso. As the top half fell to the ground, Naruto panted as he sweated a bit and his sharingan disappeared as some blood came from his left eye.

'Got it… I finally did it… on my own…' Naruto thought with a weak grin as he felt his limbs ache and feel like sand bags. 'Well sort of…'

"Naruto-kun~ what was it that you called yourself earlier my darling sochi? A son of a what?" Kushina asked her son in an overly cheery tone. He can only imagine the grin and closed eyes that went along with it.

"Oh crap." Naruto said with wide eyes as he started sweating from fear. Suddenly he noticed the top half of the Sandaime dispersed into dust and ash before the material grew from the lower torso and reformed the top half of the Sandaime Kazekage who looked at Naruto with a blank expression. "Oh double crap." Naruto said. Suddenly the kazekage sent a spike of iron sand that stabbed right through Naruto's shoulder.

"Naruto!" Kushina and Minato screamed within their son's head. Away from the battle, Akane felt something happen making her turn towards the direction.

"Akane, I need some help." Karin said as she and Temari helped getting people out of some rubble, but then the young jinchuriki ran off towards where she sensed the sudden sensation. "Akane! Dammit."

Naruto gripped his shoulder as he glared at the zombie kage as he his sharingan returned, but then he felt his head hurt again. Naruto gripped the left side of his head as he felt immense pain within his skull. The sensation felt like needles piercing his brain.

"Triple crap!" Naruto exclaimed through his gritting teeth. 'My head! So much pain! Goddammit! What's Going On?!' Naruto then screamed as he felt his head pulse with immense pain. Naruto then released Shokan and threw his straw hat to the ground to reveal his blood red hair that soon turned back to sun kissed blonde as he then fell to his knees and gripped both sides of his head with his hands as he felt the searing and excruciating pain within his brain.

"Naruto!" Gaara shouted his friend's name as he tried getting closer, but some iron sand hit him and his cloud of sand making him fall towards the ground. Akane made it in time to see her twin brother scream in pain as she saw blood come from the side of his left eye and nose.

"Ani-kun!" Akane shouted her brother's name with great fear and worry with her eyes reflecting her emotions. Within Naruto's mind, his parents heard their son's cries with pained expressions on their faces.

"Kurama, you have to do something." Kushina pleaded with tears forming from her eyes, but she got no response from the beast but a growl. "Kurama!" Kushina screamed as she turned towards the giant fox, but then she gasped making Minato turn to see Kurama holding his head as well with his eyes closed as he felt the intense pain, but what caught the blonde's eyes were the markings that were forming on Kurama's left arm.

'Are those… seals?' Minato thought to himself as he stared at the markings with shock.

"MY BRAINS ON FIRE!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs as his voiced echoed throughout the village. Naruto's eyes then opened to reveal his sharingan but instead of blood red, they were golden yellow.

"Naruto!" Kushina screamed her son's name as she heard her own son scream bloody murder.

Akane watched her brother scream with a helpless expression. She started shedding tears, not knowing what to do. She could fight and take down any opponent, but she didn't know how to help her brother with the pain he was feeling.

"Ani-kun…" she whispered with great sadness as more tears were shed. She then noticed the black haired man in front of her brother raise his hand as black sand rose from the ground and transformed into a long sword that was aiming for Naruto's neck. "No!" Akane shouted as she took out her uncle's Raijin no Ken and charged forward to help save her brother. "You leave my ani-kun alone!" Akane shouted as she was readying to attack the kazekage.

Then suddenly the vast amount of flame came speeding at the kazekage, hitting him and sending him flying with itself in the process. Akane stopped as she turned her head to see Rekka with his hand out and gripping his shakujo tightly as he had a small grin on his face.

"Did someone say fire?" Rekka said with his grin. Rekka then disappeared and reappeared in front of Naruto and placed his hand atop of the blonde's head and his thumb on his forehead. Rekka let breathed in air through his nose as his thumb and other digits glow white as Naruto's hands fell to his side.

Gaara managed to keep himself from crashing into the ground by having sand surround him to hold his body weight and then levitate a few inches above the ground. Gaara then placed his feet onto the ground as he quickly made his way to Naruto, only to find a mysterious young man who seemed a bit older than him and Naruto with his hands atop of Naruto's head. Gaara lifted his arm and opened his palm as he was about to command the sand to attack the young man, but then his wrist was gripped making him look to see Akane who shook her head. Taking it as a sign that everything was fine, Gaara brought his arm down after Akane released him.

As the two red heads watched their fellow red head doing whatever it is that he is doing, they noticed Naruto's eyes became blank which worried them, but then they glowed blue before they became normal again. Naruto's eyes closed as he and Rekka breathed out air from their mouths. Rekka then released Naruto, allowing the blonde to grab Shokan and stand up as his hair became blood red again.

"Thanks Rekka." Naruto thanked the pyrokinetic as he wiped away the blood coming from his eye and nose.

"Anytime Kaze no Kamisama." Rekka said with a smile.

"Oh thank Kami… my baby's fine now." Kushina said as she tried drying her eyes with a tissue in her hand that came out of nowhere. Minato turned towards Kurama to see that the giant fox spirit was trying to ease his breathing.

"Are you alright Kurama?" Minato asked.

"I'm not sure." Kurama said. He then looked at his left hand and arm to see the seals still reside on them making him narrow his eyes. "But at least I don't feel pain at the moment."

"Besides, I could not bear to see the tears on your gorgeous sister's face!" Rekka proclaimed.

"Nani?" Naruto, Kushina and Minato said as their left eyes twitched.

"I am a man who has seen many wrong and horrid things in this world, but nothing is more horrible to see than a beautiful maiden feel pain both to their bodies and to their souls. My dream which involves peace also is to protect every maiden of this world so they can never feel pain again! Akane, Temari, Karin, Tayuya and yes, even your dear Sakura-san! I only wish for their safety! For their bodies, hearts, minds and souls to be unscathed!" Rekka proclaimed with much pride as he raised a hand to the skies and his shakujo pressed tightly onto the ground with light from the heavens shined down upon him.

'Perverted motherfucker! I'd oughta chop his head off!' Naruto thought with an anime style glare as his left eyebrow twitched.

"If he thinks he's going to do anything with my daughter, nieces and future daughter-in-law, then he's got another thing coming!" Kushina said with an anime style look of anger as her hair rose into the air and took the form of nine tails as she started rapidly punching the air.

'Being the father of a boy, the only thing you got to worry about is him getting too banged up. However being the father of a girl brings too much stress to one's self… even if I am a piece of my old spirit.' Minato thought with an anime styled tired look on his face. Kurama chuckled at this whole scene.

"Mortals." The kyuubi said with a grin.

"What Was That You Overgrown Furball?!" Kushina yelled with her anime angry face as she pointed accusingly at the giant fox spirit who just looked to thee side and picked his nostril with his pinky. "And Quit Picking Your Nose! That's A Disgusting Habit!"

Gaara looked at Rekka as he groaned with annoyance when he heard him say his sister's name. Gaara then noticed Akane have a confused expression on her face as she tilted her head to the side.

'I'm not sure if it's best she doesn't know what he said or do.' Gaara thought.

"Akane!" The four turned to see Temari a little away from them. "We need you back at helping us. There are many civilians that need our help. Even your pet fox is doing more work than you right now." Temari said.

"She came all this way to tell her that?" Rekka questioned.

"Nah, I bet she took this opportunity to see if her little brother over here was alright too." Naruto said pointing his thumb towards Gaara.

Suddenly the ground started to shake making them look around until they saw more iron sand rising from the ground.

"Where the hell does this stuff keep coming from?" Naruto said as the vast amount of special sand then took the shape of a muscular upper body with the head turning into a dragon's head with a beak as it roared causing the wind around the area to pick up. Temari, Gaara and Akane tried to stay their ground while Naruto and Rekka just stared up at the creature with the blonde possessing a glare while Rekka kept a stern face.

"Wow! That's huge!" Akane exclaimed as the wind ceased and she stared up at it with shock.

"Akane." Akane turned to see Naruto and Rekka making their way towards her and Gaara with stern looks on their faces. "Go with Temari and help the villagers. Save as many as you can." Naruto ordered. Akane nodded as she had a new determined look on her face and ran towards Temari.

"Let's Go!" Akane exclaimed as she ran passed Temari.

"Temari." Temari turned to see Naruto looking at her sternly. "You have to move quickly in saving everyone, and if you see any oto-nin, don't kill them, just send 'em flying. More bodies is exactly what they're looking for." Naruto said. Temari stared at Naruto for a moment before nodding understandingly before running off.

"Gaara, you're with us." Naruto said earning a nod from his fellow jinchuriki.

"Now this shall be a fight to remember. The Hinokami, the Kaze no Kamisama and the strongest son of the late Yondaime Kazekage, fighting together against a legend. Now this will be interesting." Rekka said with his arms crossed and a grin.

"Hell yeah." Naruto said with his own grin as he slammed his fist into his palm and cracked his knuckles. Gaara then controlled the ground beneath them and turned it into sand as he then formed sand clouds underneath their feet. "Let's Go!" Naruto gave a battle cry as the three then flew towards the giant iron monster.

/

"How has your progress been? Any disappearances?" Baki asked some sand-nin.

"We've been rounding up as many civilians as we can, but there's too much chaos caused by oto-nin. I'm afraid we lost some to them." One of the sand-nin said. Baki gritted his teeth with anger as his fist trembled with rage. Baki then felt a hand on his shoulder making him turn to see Nagato.

"We'll focus on the disappearances later. Right now there are still people who need our assistance." Nagato said. Baki narrowed his eyes towards the floor before nodding in agreement.

"Nagato-oji-san! Nagato-oji-san!" Nagato and Baki turned to see Akane and Temari running up to them.

"Akane, where have you been?" Nagato asked as his fellow Uzumaki stopped in front of him.

"Naruto-ani-kun-"

"There's the squirt!" A voice shouted making them turn to see Karin and Tayuya making their way to them. "Where the hell did you go?!" Tayuya shouted as she placed her hands on her hips and gritted her teeth with half lidded eyes.

"I sensed something earlier. It was Naruto-ani-kun in pain." Akane said with worry.

"Well boo-hoo, so the baka stubbed a toe or something, big whoop!" Tayuya said with annoyance.

"No! Ani-kun's head! It's been hurting him real bad! He was screaming because of his head hurting really, really bad now!" Akane said as she flailed her arms up and down to the side.

"That scream was because of his headache? They've gotten worse then." Karin said with worry.

"What do you mean they've gotten worse?" Nagato asked the spectacled Uzumaki.

"Lately, Naruto's head has been hurting him. He keeps waving it off as nothing, but when he was asleep one night, I used my chakra to scan his brain for abnormalities, but I found nothing. No injuries. However, I did sense something wrong with his mental state."

"The kid's already mental." Tayuya said as Kankuro appeared next to her.

"No, I mean more than usual. It's like something's growing with every time he feels pain in his head." Karin said. Nagato kept his stoic look, but he took this new information very seriously.

"Once the mission is over, I'll have the others look over him. Maybe they can find something." Nagato said.

"But what if ani-kun's head keeps hurting?" Akane asked with worry as she continued to flail her arms up and down.

"He'll pull through. Naruto's always been a fighter and a survivor." Nagato said.

They all then looked up when they sensed warm and immense chakra in the air to see the iron sand monster putting its arms in an X block to lessen the damage from the giant plum of fire that Rekka was shooting to it from the palm of his hand. Rekka was allowing Naruto to build up Kurama's chakra into Shokan as the blade was then covered in golden flames.

"Doraibu!" Naruto shouted as he swung Shokan down sending a slash golden of golden energy down onto the iron sand behemoth, cutting apart it right side.

"Yeah, no shit." Tayuya said as they all stared up at the air battle.

"If we're still on the subject of Naruto; he told me that we have to save as many people as quickly as possible. He said Oto's goal is collecting bodies, so don't go killing their comrades or they'll just used their bodies as well." Temari said.

"What?" Karin questioned with shock and wide eyes with her sister possessing the same expression. "You don't mean-"

"Oh fuck no! Goddamn that forbidden jutsu!" Tayuya shouted with anger.

"Forbidden…" Baki then realized what Oto's goal in these attacks and kidnappings was. Baki looked at the ground with wide eyes as his face had fear written all over it; his whole body trembled as he thought of the fate of all of his fellow villagers. "Those monsters… what they've been doing… what they've done… to my people…" Baki said as tears rolled down his eyes before he gritted his teeth and tightened his fist as he glared ahead. "Oto will pay for this." Baki said with so much rage as his chest clenched with anger.

"Citizens now. Oto's fate later." Was all Nagato said to him. Baki still felt much and anger and rage, but after breathing a few times he managed to calm himself down and nod at Nagato before they all went back to work.

"Wait!" Akane yelled making everyone look at her. "Where's Unmei-chan?" Akane asked. She then noticed Unmei dragging three people from some debris. "Oh, never mind." Akane said as she headed towards her best friend.

/

Up in the sky, Naruto, Rekka and Gaara were dealing with the iron monster. With the right side of cut apart, Gaara took Naruto's suggestion and went down towards the ground to try and collect the iron sand, but spikes of iron sand came rocketing at him. Lucky for Gaara, Naruto came down by manipulating the wind element in the sand cloud through Shokan being stabbed into it, so he managed to get in front of the spikes and then slash at them with Shokan. The sand quickly reformed a bit behind Naruto with miniature spikes, but the blonde quickly turned around and spun Shokan windmill style quickly destroying them.

Gaara managed to get near the iron sand on the ground and started to collect the iron sand. Naruto guarded Gaara from more spikes and streams of iron sand while Rekka continued to send his immense and flames at the iron sand monster. Naruto continued to slash and destroy the sand, until he heard the okay from Gaara.

"Let's just hope the Sandaime Kazekage doesn't steal this sand from me." Gaara said. That sounded like an 'okay, I'm good' to Naruto.

"Ikuze!" (Let's Go!) Naruto shouted as he and Gaara flew towards Rekka's side. Rekka jumped off his sand cloud as a fist of iron sand flew straight at him, destroying the cloud. Rekka concentrated fire to his feet as fire surrounded his feet making him float in mid-air. "Did not see that coming." Naruto said with a dull look. "Rekka!" Naruto shouted earning the fire manipulator's attention as he made his way to Naruto and Gaara while dodging some iron sand attacks.

"Got a plan?" Rekka asked.

"You and I keep the iron abomination occupied while Gaara collects some of its sand to weaken it. Less quantity, the better." Naruto said.

"I like it." Rekka said with a smirk.

"I'm not sure I can do this." Gaara said.

"Tap into some inner strength." Naruto said.

"Or you can just tap into Shukaku's power." Rekka said.

"Yeah, that'll lead to a new problem if the fatass tanuki actually manages to make Gaara into super psycho revisited." Naruto said with an anime style dull look. "No offense."

"None taken." Gaara said.

"Yes, that would be a problem if one of us wasn't skilled in an ancient art of mind healing." Rekka said with a smirk as his fingertips glowed white causing looks of surprise to appear on Naruto and Gaara's faces before the blonde of the two smirked as well.

"Gaara." Naruto said making the ichibi jinchuriki look at him. "Don't be afraid to go all out." Naruto said as he grinned behind his mask. Gaara still was unsure about this, but he trusted Naruto so he nodded in response. "Let's move!" Naruto ordered as he stabbed into the sand cloud as he and Rekka rocketed towards the iron monster as it grew a thin iron sand arm as it growled as Naruto and Rekka charged at it. Naruto then went through some hand seals as his chest expanded greatly. "Futon: Daitoppa!" Naruto shouted as he let out a giant gust of wind from his mouth.

"Kokuo Ryu Dama!" (King Dragon Bomb) Rekka shouted as a sphere appeared in the palm of his hand, clenched his fist and then thrust it forward as a giant flame in the form of a dragon as it combined with Naruto's wind jutsu, making it become even greater in size and more intense in heat and power. The iron sand monster grew another thin iron sand arm on its right side as it used the two thin arms and its massive left to form an x-block as the fire slammed right into it.

Gaara quickly flew next to iron sand monster keeping to a lower level as to not get caught in any danger. Gaara tried to collect the iron sand, but he could only summon small amounts of grain from the monster.

'Dammit! I knew it. I'm not strong enough to take control of the iron sand.' Gaara thought with a glare.

"Summon me, Gaara. Summon My Power!" Shukaku shouted from within Gaara's mind.

'No… I can do this on my own. I just need to try harder.' Gaara said within his mind.

"Your friend and the perv told you that you can use my power. All I want is a little freedom!" Shukaku argued.

'No! I won't let you take control of me! Not ever again!' Gaara shouted within his mind with pure determination and some anger.

"Look at those two, Gaara!" Shukaku shouted. Gaara looked towards Naruto and Rekka to see Naruto was smacked from the side by a skinny arm, sending off his cloud as he was then gripped by the massive left arm and started squeezing Naruto making him scream from pain. Rekka sent more fire attacks as he went to save Naruto, but the iron sand monster roared as streams of sand rocketed towards him. Rekka summoned fire to surround him like a shield, but the iron sand still managed to cut him up a bit. "Oh~ and what about her? That girl down there." Shukaku said making Gaara looked towards the floor to see his brunette student Matsuri helping an elderly woman who was coughing into her old fist. "Don't you care about your little teacher's pet, Gaara?" Shukaku said as Gaara developed a worried look, scared of Matsuri getting hurt, but then his fear was realized as some of the iron sand from the monster shot towards her and the elderly woman in the form of spikes. Gaara watched as Matsuri looked up in fear. The thought of her getting hurt angered Gaara as he then roared as the ground started to shake.

Suddenly a giant plume of sand shot out from the ground in front of Matsuri and the old woman as it took the attack of the iron spikes. Matsuri looked at the giant sand to see it take the form of a giant golem with its arms in an x-block. Matsuri started to move as she then looked up at Gaara with a smile.

"Gaara-sensei! Arigatou!" Matsuri called out to him. Gaara looked down to see that Matsuri and the elder woman were safe. As he saw his student's smile, Gaara then gave her a rare genuine smile of his own. Matsuri's eyes sparkled as she saw him smile down at her. 'He smiled at me. Gaara-sensei smiled at me!' Matsuri thought with joy.

Gaara was happy that Matsuri was safe, but then his eyes widened as he saw some of the iron sand from the monster moved aside to reveal the Sandaime Kazekage looking at Gaara with a blank expression. Gaara stared at the zombified kage's face as iron sand then shot from near him and stabbed Gaara right through his chest.

Matsuri eyes widened as she saw the horrifying sight.

"Matsuri!" Temari called out the sand genin's name as she hurried to her, but then she followed her line of sight as she gasped at the sight of her brother being stabbed through the chest. "Gaara… no…"

"GAARA-SENSEI!" Matsuri cried out.

Naruto continued to grit his teeth as he felt the iron sand dig into his skin, but then he heard someone cry out Gaara's name making him look at his fellow container only for his eyes to widen in shock as he saw Gaara with iron sand stabbed right through him. Naruto then developed a furious glare as his teeth became elongated as they were gritted tight. Naruto's body then picked up chakra as the iron sand surrounding him started to shake. Naruto then roared as golden red chakra burst from his body, destroying the iron sand surrounding him. A now kyuubi chakra Naruto, who was instead covered in a red orange chakra cloak, as he ran up what was left of the skinny iron sand arm as he started cutting up and slashing any iron sand that came across his path as he roared with an angry expression on his face.

Gaara gritted his teeth as blood came from his mouth and his sand armor from his neck chipped a bit. Gaara's eyes looked down to see Temari and Matsuri shedding tears as they shouted his name.

'No more…'

"GAARA!" Temari screamed as tears continued to fall from her eyes.

'No more…' Gaara then noticed Naruto roaring as he was on the iron sand monster's shoulder and quickly slashed at incoming iron sand at top speed as he was covered in a red orange chakra cloak with black markings on him. 'I do not want to see… the people I care for… hurt anymore!' Gaara thought as his chakra grew as he stared at Matsuri sorrow stricken face as many tears were shedding from her eyes.

"GAARA-SENSEI!" Matsuri screamed his name at the top of her lungs.

Gaara then roared as he exploded into sand. Temari's eyes widened with shock as she saw what had happened to Gaara.

'Oh no… not again… Kami no, not this again.' Temari thought with fear. In the sky Gaara growled as half of his body looked like Shukaku's with one of his eyes being golden with four stars around his pupil. The Sandaime Kazekage's eyes widened as he stared at Gaara, before returning to his blank expression. Gaara roared as he used his Shukaku arm to grab the Sandaime Kazekage making his eyes widen as he was pulled out of the iron sand monster. As Gaara held the deceased kazekage by the neck, iron sand suddenly went to Gaara's human arm and started to surround it and then went behind his back as it covered his gourd in iron sand before hardening and becoming a new gourd.

Rekka noticed Gaara's transformation and saw that the iron sand was now becoming a part of him.

'At least that'll help a bit. I think.' Rekka thought, but then he noticed Naruto slashing at the sand monster's head as he screamed with anger. 'But now I've got to deal with two jinchurikis… I wonder if going to meet the Chikyu no megami (Earth goddess) would have been less problematic.'

The iron sand monster was shrinking in size as it felt its sand being taken away and it didn't help that Naruto was cutting its face up like a made animal.

/

From afar, Dai was looking at the battle that was taking place with an oto-nin sitting next to him in lotus position.

The oto-nin wore a leather jacket that was zipped up to their chest with a belt wrapped around the lower midsection of the jacket, black pants and a pair of black shinobi battle ready sandal boots that extended to a little below the person's knees.

"They're not so bad." Dai said. "Up the ante would you Hisa?"

"Of course general." The person known as Hisa said with a female voice as she was then surrounded by red violet chakra.

/

As the iron sand continued to enter Gaara's new gourd, Gaara growled through his maniacal grin with his eyes on the Sandaime, but then suddenly the Kazekage's eyes widened as the iron sand became much fiercer as more started coming from the ground as it became one with iron sand monster, growing it in size. The kazekage then surrounded his legs in iron sand and kicked Gaara away as he then became one with the iron sand monster again.

Gaara flew high into the sky as he then roared loudly. Rekka dashed straight up the Gaara and quickly placed his hand atop of Gaara's head and his thumb on his forehead as his digits glowed white.

'Gracious… so much rage and anger mixed with insanity and bloodlust. It's vast.' Rekka thought with a serious expression as he concentrated on easing Gaara's mind. Suddenly iron sand charged at the pair. 'Darn it! I need total concentration! Kami, please assist me to save this young man's mind by sparing me from such an interruption.' As the sand came closer, Naruto appeared in front of the two red heads as he slashed at the iron sands, destroying them, windmill style. 'Arigatou, Kami-sama.' Rekka thought with a smile as he concentrated on cleansing Gaara's mind.

After making sure Matsuri and the elder woman were safe, Temari went back to see somebody with his hands on Gaara's head as his fingers glowed white. Thinking that something bad was happening to her little brother, Temari was ready to use her fan to fly up and defend him, but then she noticed that the sand around the right side of his body, started to fade away.

"Temari-senpai!" Matsuri called out as she ran up to the dirty blonde haired girl, but then she looked up to see Gaara change back to normal as a teen held onto him in midair making sure he didn't fall. "Gaara-sensei." Matsuri said as her lip quivered with joy.

"Is Gaara alright?" Naruto asked Rekka as he noticed Gaara's eyes were closed.

"He'll be out for quite a while." Rekka informed.

"I'm fine." Gaara said as he cracked open his eyes.

"Wow… you're stronger than I thought." Rekka said.

"Oh shit." Naruto said making Rekka and Gaara turn to him to see that he was staring at the iron sand monster that grew greater in size.

'It's getting bigger.' Temari thought with new worry as she stared up at the growing sand beast. Temari then placed a hand on Matsuri's shoulder making her look towards the eldest sand sibling. "We have to move." Temari ordered.

"But Gaara-sensei."

"He'll be fine." Temari said as she took the young brunette by the hand and dragged her away. Matsuri continued to look up at Gaara with worried eyes.

'Please be safe, Gaara-kun.'

Up in the sky, Naruto, Rekka and Gaara stared at the sand creature as it transformed into an even bigger entity with four muscular looking arms, two rows of large spikes coming from its back and developing a new head with a pair a sharp spikes coming from the back of its head, four eye holes and razor sharp teeth and to complete the transformation, a pair of bat-like wings.

"Holy hell." Naruto said with shock.

"I heard that the sandaime kazekage was powerful, but I never expected his control over the iron sand to be this incredible." Rekka said as he and Gaara stared up at the creature with shock evident on their faces.

'How the hell did Sasori beat this guy?!' Naruto wondered as he noticed the kazekage's upper body appearing out of the iron sand creature's skull. Naruto glared at the zombified kazekage's blank face as he came up with an insane and incredibly risky idea. "Oi, Rekka." Naruto said earning the elder teen's attention. "I got an idea."

Down below, Temari and Matsuri stared up at the behemoth and the three young shinobi.

"We're here to help!" Akane exclaimed as she and the others arrived only to notice the now grand giant iron sand beast. "Whoa~, it got bigger." Akane said as she looked at the creature in awe.

"THAT'S A TERRIBLE IDEA!" Rekka's voiced echoed into the sky. Naruto picked at his ear with his pinky as he felt his ear ringing from Rekka's loud voice; he could only imagine the pain Gaara had to endure from being in point blank range.

"Well it's the only one we got right now." Naruto said taking his pinky out.

"But it's suicide! What would your mother think?" Rekka argued.

"She's yelling in my head right now." Naruto said nonchalantly with half lidded eyes. Rekka just stared at Naruto as if he were a crazy person… which he is.

"I honestly can't think of anything better. Especially since I don't have much strength in me left to do any major damage upon something of that scale. I'm going to trust Naruto." Gaara said earning an appreciative smile from Naruto behind his mask. Rekka groaned at this as he honestly couldn't think of a better idea either.

"Son of a… monkey… fine I'll go along with this, but if you suffer from this remember it was your reckless plan in the first place." Rekka said still feeling worried. Naruto just grinned dangerously behind his mask.

"What are they planning?" Baki questioned.

Suddenly Gaara summoned a sand cloud underneath him and Naruto created some kage bushin as they all charged at the beast and started sending attacks at it.

"A frontal assault." Karin said.

"You got to be kidding me! Is this shorty's idea? The idiot." Kankuro said.

"I guess some things never change." Temari said.

"No." Nagato said earning the sand shinobi's attention. "Naruto is not the same from back when you both took the Chunnin Exams back in Konoha."

"How'd you…" Kankuro said as he and Temari were shocked that Nagato knew when they first met Naruto.

"Naruto is much different from back then." Nagato said.

"Yeah… but's he's still a reckless baka." Tayuya said.

"That I can't deny." Nagato said.

As Gaara and the Naruto clones attacked the iron monster, Jax suddenly appeared alongside the clones.

"Sup blondies." Jax said with a grin.

"Jax, where the hell have you been?" A clone asked.

"After I did my thing against this ugly bastard, I started cutting up some oto-nin. I left 'em to bleed, when I saw the power up this bastard got I came here. Anyway can I help?"

"Well the boss is planning something big to take this asshole down." A clone said.

"You mind keeping his attention on us?" Another asked.

"Is this plan incredibly reckless, risky and one a complete insane dumbass would come up with?" Jax asked.

"Pretty much." A clone said.

"Let's do it!" Jax shouted with new vigor as he and the clones started slashing at the beast. As the monster was busying attacking Gaara, the Naruto clones and Jax, the original Naruto flew high into the sky. Rekka watched Naruto fly high above the creature with a Naruto clone beside him.

'Kami, please let this miraculously work.' Rekka prayed, still feeling worried for Naruto's safety. Once Naruto was high over the monster readied Shokan for the final smack down.

"Now!" Naruto shouted. The Naruto clone next to Rekka hurried through multiple hand signs as his chest expanded greatly.

"Futon: Yaketsuku yona kaze no taiho!" (Wind Release: Searing Wind Cannon. Personal creation.) The Naruto clone proclaimed as he shot out a powerful, intense, hot air straight up towards the original Naruto.

"O ryu no ikari!" (King Dragon's Rage) Rekka proclaimed as he held up his shakujo in front of him and sent his flames through the hole where it expanded into a gigantic, powerful, intense blast of fire that mixed with the clone's jutsu. 'I really hope this works.' Rekka thought as he continued his jutsu.

The original Naruto readied Shokan in front of him as the combined jutsus hit him head on.

"What the hell?!" Baki shouted as everyone, but Nagato looked at what had happened with utter shock.

"Oh my Kami, what the hell was he thinking?!" Temari shouted as she was shell shocked.

"Is He Crazy?!" Kankuro shouted with his eyes as wide as saucers.

"I'm going with the obvious answer and say 'yes'." Tayuya said still in disbelief at how idiotically reckless Naruto was.

Gaara and Jax looked up at the sky with wide eyes as they saw Naruto willingly engulf himself in flames.

'Damn… the kid's both seriously stupid and has the biggest pair I've ever seen.' Jax thought.

"Is that enough?" Rekka asked the clone Naruto, hoping it give him any indication of a yes.

With the original Naruto, he felt the intense heat all around himself, but he felt Shokan's temperature rise as it absorbed the fire, wind and chakra of the combined jutsu. Naruto saw his broadsword glow red, like it was being freshly made once again.

'Time for the new technique.' Naruto thought. He then controlled the wind around himself as he then rocketed down towards the giant iron sand behemoth.

"Look!" Matsuri shouted as she pointed towards the sky to see a large red aura of heat rocketing down towards the iron sand behemoth.

"No way… that can't be…" Kankuro said with shock as everyone stared up at the aura that reminded them all of a meteor raining from the heavens. A top of a building, Mamoru, Unmei and the rest of the summoned foxes stared up at the raining attack.

"That kid is as crazy as Jax." Hiroyuki said.

"Probably crazier." Izanami said with a tired smile.

"Yeah! For sure!" Hiroko exclaimed as she stared at the awesome attack.

"That's my best friend." Mamoru said with a grin with Unmei yipping in agreement.

Naruto rocketed down towards the iron sand beast with Shokan aimed down, ready to stab at it.

"Now for the show-stopper!" Naruto shouted as he was about to land on the behemoth. "Doraibu: Sashimasu!" (Drive: Stab) Naruto yelled as he then slammed into the beast.

"Unless you're a clone, move your ass!" Jax shouted as he, Gaara and Rekka flew away as the Naruto clones dispersed as the behemoth sent iron sand to attack the original Naruto.

Naruto and the iron sand beast roared as the both delivered their attacks, with Naruto entering inside the beast through its mouth. Everyone stared as it seemed like Naruto was completely consumed, but then after a few moments, the iron sand behemoth glowed bright orange from its stomach as it then exploded in an explosion of scorching heat, and with one last roar, the monster collapsed into itself from the consuming blast like a neutron star.

Everyone stared at the blast with shocked expressions. Gaara, Rekka and Jax landed onto the ground safely as they stared up at the attack with one though on their minds.

'I can't believe that worked.'

Nagato kept his stoic expression, but in truth, he was impressed with his cousin's handiwork. 'Reckless and out of his mind, all for the sake to protect others. He's a true Uzumaki alright, through and through.' Nagato thought as the powerful light from the attack showed a bit of his rinnegan that were hidden behind his sunglasses.

/

Dai and Hisa stared at the glowing aftermath of the enemy's latest attack. They kept stoic looks on their faces, but on the inside they were a bit surprised and impressed.

"Such a reckless child. Created a technique that causes a miniature supernova blast as if it were from that of a star." Hisa said.

"That's the descendant of the most powerful yet irrational shinobis in history." Dai said.

"Well he's off to a great start at becoming a dangerous powerhouse like his family, I'll give him that." Hisa said.

/

As the miniature supernova slowly faded away, falling from a great height was the body of the kazekage as bits of dust and ashes were falling from his reanimated skin.

'Incredible. I may not be able to move my body as I wish, but after an attack like that, I'm not sure if it'll work after that.' The Sandaime Kazekage thought as he continued to descend down to the ground. 'So that was the power of the current Kyuubi jinchuriki… this new generation sure is impressive. Especially the Shukaku's jinchuriki… given the power of the most unstable beast there is, he activated his power through love for others, not through surrendering his sanity. He still has a ways to go, but… dare I say it… he might have a future as this villages next kazekage.' The Sandaime thought as he continued to fall, but then he heard someone giving a battle cry making him look to see Naruto roaring as he rocketed towards him and then stabbed Shokan right through his torso. The kazekage gritted his teeth as he was sent rocketing down towards the ground until they both hit the ground hard, causing a dust cloud.

"Naruto-ani-kun!" Akane shouted as she ran off towards where her brother landed.

"Sugoi~" Matsuri said with amazement, but then she noticed Gaara making his way towards Naruto. "Gaara-sensei!" Matsuri called out to him as she quickly ran towards him.

"Oh boy, there goes the fan girl." Kankuro said as Temari left eye and eyebrow twitched with annoyance.

Gaara and Rekka appeared next to Naruto as they saw him rise while Shokan was stabbed into the ground with the Sandaime Kazekage being rooted into the ground by the double bladed broadsword.

"Put the Sandaime Kazekage on the list of people getting the sharp end of Shokan." Naruto said as they stared at the zombified kage.

"Sochi, I'm so happy that you're safe. Because Now I Get The Chance To Throttle You For Doing Such An Idiotic Life Risking Move!" Kushina shouted with anger directed at her son.

'Aw shit.' Naruto thought.

"Language!"

"Ani-kun!"

"Gaara-sensei!"

Naruto and Gaara turned to see Akane and Matsuri run up to them with the brunette hugging Gaara. Gaara was shocked by the sudden contact.

"I'm so happy you're okay." Matsuri said as she cried on his shoulder. Gaara was shell shocked that Matsuri cared for him; he was even blushing from the contact. Gaara then Naruto giving him a pervert grin as he wiggled his brows at Gaara meaning 'congrats on getting lucky' making the ichibi jinchuriki's blush deepen.

"Ani-kun, that attack was amazing!" Akane praised her brother with a huge smile.

"Thanks shimai." Naruto said with a smile.

"I have to agree with her. That last attack may have been reckless and life threatening, but it was impressive and it sure got the job done like you said." Rekka said with an impressed smile.

"Thanks Rekka." Naruto said with a smile.

"You were awesome too Rekka-kun!" Akane praised the pyrokinetic.

"Why thank you fair maiden." Rekka thanked Akane with a bow.

'And now he annoys me.' Naruto thought with a dull look on his face.

"Well I'll be damned." Kankuro said as he and the others made their way to them as they all saw the defeated form of the kazekage. "You actually beat him." Kankuro said with shock.

"Well I had some help." Naruto said with a smile. Karin then ran up to him and punched him in the noggin. "Ow! What the hell?!" Naruto exclaimed as he held his head in pain.

"That's for using that stupid technique!" Karin shouted with an angry and worried expression.

"Kind of harsh, wasn't it?" Kankuro said.

"Eh, someone had to knock some sense into him. I'm just pissed that it wasn't me. Had the opportunity too." Tayuya said.

"Where's my straw hat?" Naruto questioned as he looked around the area. They all then heard chuckling making them turn to see it was coming from the late kazekage. "What are you laughing about?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You three… you really are something." The Sandaime said with a smile no less.

"Huh?" Naruto said as he, Rekka and Gaara stared at the late kage with curiosity.

"This new generation… I am glad that this era has you three along with many others like you. I'm glad I got to see a glimpse of it, even if it is in this disgusting state. Please… carry my will." The Sandaime said as he then look towards Naruto. "The warrior who protects the innocent." Then he looked to Rekka. "The monk who prays for all beings and life to continue on." Then he looked towards Gaara. "And the next kazekage, who will bring a new era to our home." The Sandaime said making Gaara's eyes widen with shock along with his siblings and Baki. "I am glad that I had gotten to meet you all." The Sandaime said as he then rested his eyes as he started to fade into ash and dust that blew away with the wind. Everyone watched as they dust became one with the wind.

"Whoa… freaky…" Naruto said.

"Can someone explain to me what the hell just happened?" Tayuya asked upset with not understanding what had just happened. Suddenly Rekka closed his and brought his hands together in a praying sign as he had a smile on his face.

"He is at rest now." Rekka said still smiling as he gave a small prayer for the kazekage.

"At rest?" Temari asked.

"Those who have been summoned from the dead can go back to the afterlife in peace after something special that touched their hearts with such sincerity and hope that they feel that they can rest in peace, having no ties that bind them subconsciously to this world. We gave him what he desired to see and feel and now he is back with his fellow spirits." Rekka said as he continued his prayer.

"… Hell, I'll take it." Naruto said with a shrug.

Gaara still felt shock at what he had heard Sandaime said about him.

"You know." Gaara looked at Matsuri to see her smiling at him warmly. "I think that you'd make a great Kazekage." Matsuri said still smiling sincerely with warmth. Gaara looked at his student with wide eyes before giving her a genuine smile himself.

"Arigatou… Matsuri." Gaara thanked her making Matsuri's smile widen.

"Ahem. Uh, not that I mean to interrupt your moment, but we're not done yet." Naruto said getting surprised looks from the other's except Nagato who remained stoic.

/

Dai continued to look off into the slightly destroyed village as a seal around Hisa glowed purple then vanished as she then stood up from the ground.

"What now, general?" Hisa asked.

"Let's wait a few seconds." Dai said earning a nod from Hisa. The two then stared off towards the damaged village. "Nice work on manipulating the Sandaime Kazekage, Hisa." Dai complimented. Hisa looked at Dai with her eyes slightly wide. "You've actually gotten the hang of the Edo Tensei quicker than Orochimaru-sama. Even your control is better. Keep it up and you'll surpass him in using this forbidden jutsu." Dai said. Hisa stared at Dai as a small blush appeared on her cheeks; luckily for her she was wearing a mask that only exposed her eyes and some of her brunette hair that poked out from the back of it.

"Arigatou, ippai-sama." Hisa thanked the Oto general with a small bow.

"Am I interrupting a moment?" A voice asked making the two turn to see and upper body come out from the earth as if he was fused with it. It was a slim yet muscular man who wore a completely black long sleeved shirt with the hands still inside the ground, while he wore the classic oto mask with the metal plate that had the oto symbol on it sewed onto his mask's forehead, but he head red goggles over his eyes with the lens also doubling as sunglass lenses, and he had strands of black hair coming from out of the mask's bottom at the neck.

"The moment ended before you spoke." Dai said. "Report Kurora." Dai ordered.

"We have enough from this village, and everyone is in position for our little visitors." The man known as Kurora informed.

"Good. Regroup." Dai ordered.

"Hai, ippai-sama." Kurora said with a small bow as he fused once again with the earth.

"Forgive me for asking, but if we collected enough bodies, then why are we staying to even face these opposers?" Hisa asked.

"To test them of course. One of the best way to prepare for an inevitable war is to always get a taste of what your enemy possesses. Understand?" Dai explained.

"Of course, my general." Hisa said with a slight bow.

/

"What do you mean finishing it?" Temari asked hoping Naruto didn't mean what she thought he meant.

"You know what I mean. We know where they are, so we send these bastards on a highway trip to hell." Naruto said.

"What's a highway?" Akane asked with a confused expression tilting her head to the side.

"I don't even know what that is." Kankuro said.

"You realize how reckless and irresponsible that is." Karin said with an annoyed look on her face.

"True, but at least with most of us we can get oto to back off Suna for a while and maybe retrieve some capture villagers." Naruto reasoned.

"But it's still stupid." Tayuya said.

"You're just saying that because it came out of my mouth." Naruto said with a dull look.

"Yeah, because you're a psychotic idiot." Tayuya said.

"It's not the best idea Naruto." Temari said.

"No offense, but we're Akatsuki, we've been dealing with Oto a lot more often nowadays than any of you suna-nin; we can take care of a couple of Oto, but I will admit that we do need some help." Naruto said as he then turned to Gaara.

"It would be an honor to help you, Naruto." Gaara said.

"Gaara, I'm sorry, but this is where I draw the line!" Temari exclaimed worrying about her brother's safety.

"I agree with Temari. From what I heard oto is after jinchuriki." Baki said. "Is that true?"

"It's true." Akane said.

"Akane! That's confidential!" Karin exclaimed.

"What's that?" Akane asked tilting her head to the side.

"It's true that they're after jinchuriki."

"Naruto!"

"But we'd have more of an advantage if Gaara came along. After all, he has the home court advantage." Naruto reasoned.

"Well if Gaara's going so am I." Temari said finality in her tone.

"Same here. I'm not going to lose my brother, even if you just took down the Sandaime Kazekage, shorty." Kankuro said.

"Call me shorty one more time and then we'll see the height difference after I cut your legs off." Naruto said in a frightening tone with a dull/serious demeanor. This caused Kankuro to hide behind his sister in actual fear of Naruto, which brought a look of annoyance to Temari as she looked at her brother's cowering form.

"Nagato, this is kind of tough to say since you're the leader of this mission, but… I'm going to need you to stay in the village with Baki." Naruto said. Nagato stayed silent, but Naruto could tell that he didn't like the idea, especially since Naruto was technically doing insubordination for asking such a thing, technically making it an order. "I know, I know, I'm technically doing insubordination, but you saw what just happened. If the Sandaime Kazekage caused all this mess, then imagine what more of Suna's deceased shinobi could do, like Pakura… or Rasa."

"He's got a point. If the Hero of Sunagakure or dad came around, we'd be screwed." Kankuro agreed.

"Since you're the strongest of us all, then it's best that you'd stay here and deal with any harm that comes to the village." Naruto said.

"He's got a point; which is something I hate to admit. Who better than a man who's a one man army to defend a village while the others take on a bunch of chumps?" Tayuya said.

"Plus, this we can call for back up. As much as I hate to admit it, we probably need some… help with this." Naruto said feeling like he could throw up any minute from uttering that he needed 'help'.

"Aw~ what's wrong? Got a stomach ache?" Tayuya teased with a smirk.

"Only from looking at the look on your face." Naruto said earning an annoyed look and glare from Tayuya. "That's better." Naruto said with a smirk.

"Naruto's right. We could use some back up." Karin said.

"I agree with ani-kun too!" Akane said with a huge smile.

"Um, if you don't mind, I'd like to come along and help in any way possible." Rekka said.

"See? We can handle this." Naruto said. Nagato still seemed unconvinced. "I'm not letting this go. I will keep pestering you for this."

"That doesn't work on me." Nagato said.

"Well, we all agree to this, and we're all as stubborn as Naruto." Karin said backing her brother figure on his idea. Nagato stared at Karin for a moment before sighing.

"Fine. Naruto, you're in charge while I stay behind." Nagato ordered.

"Sweet!" Naruto said with a victorious grin.

"What?! Why him?!" Tayuya shouted with annoyance.

"Aw~ what's wrong nee-chan? Not happy that your otouto is in charge, again?" Naruto said with a fake innocent tone making Tayuya adopt an annoyed look as she flipped Naruto off. "Very lady like, I love it." Naruto said nonchalantly with a small smile. "Zetsu!" Naruto shouted making the suna-nin and Rekka raise an eyebrow, but then suddenly coming from out of the ground was a large Venus fly trap that then opened up to reveal a person whose body was half white and half completely black with the eyes being yellow and the hair being green; the black half had nothing for a face, but his sole yellow eye and green hair while the white half had a mouth, eyebrow and sclera.

"Hello! ~" White Zetsu chimed with a grin freaking the sand-nin out.

"I see you noticed us." Black Zetsu said.

"You've really gotten better at chakra sensory." White Zetsu said. "We'll get back up, but well…"

"The closest ones are Deidara, Sasori and Fu." Black Zetsu said.

"Sasori!" Baki shouted as he, the sand siblings and Matsuri were shocked to hear that Sasori is a part of Akatsuki.

"Are they done with their mission?" Naruto asked.

"Yep. With flying colors." White Zetsu said.

"Sasori's a part of your group?!" Baki shouted with some anger.

"Best to go domino, this might get hairy." Naruto said to Zetsu.

"Good call." Black Zetsu said as they started to descend back into the ground, becoming one with it.

"So long, good luck~" White Zetsu said as him and his other half vanished into the ground.

"Sasori of the Red Sand… the man of who murdered the Sandaime Kazekage… an unforgivable act." Baki said as his body tremble with anger.

"I understand that you're pissed, but you can focus on that later. Now where's the hospital? We need some herbs and stuff. Kind of banged up here." Naruto said.

/

After being healed, Naruto with his mask and straw hat, Akane, Karin, Tayuya, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro and Rekka were at the village gates with Matsuri and Baki there to watch them off.

"But how come I can't come with you?" Matsuri asked.

"Trust me kid, better you stay here, this isn't a mission for a genin." Naruto said.

"You're technically a genin too, aren't you?" Kankuro said with a smirk.

"I'm part of an organization filled with A to S rank shinobi who taught me to be the perfect assassin. My experience is a different story, but villages don't give big missions like this to genin." Naruto said.

"But I want to help!" Matsuri argued; she was really worried for Gaara's sake. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder making her turn to see Gaara.

"I feel it's best you stay here Matsuri." Gaara said. Matsuri still wanted to come along, but she couldn't argue with Gaara since he's her senior.

"Hai, Gaara-sensei." Matsuri said but her eyes still showed disappointment.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure your boyfriend comes back safe and sound, kid." Naruto said with a cool smirk and demeanor making her and Gaara blush, but then he was punched in the arm by Karin. "Ow." Naruto said rubbing his arm. Then he got punched in the other arm from Temari. "Ow!" Then he was punched in the gut by Akane. "Ow! Why did you do that?!"

"Everybody was doing it." Akane said with a shrug. Suddenly Tayuya punched Naruto in the back of the head. "See."

"We better go now." Temari said.

"Good luck to you all." Baki said with his arms crossed.

"Let's go then." Naruto said still rubbing his head as he turned and started to leave with the others, but suddenly Matsuri grabbed Gaara's arm.

"Promise me you'll come back, please." Matsuri said as she stared into Gaara's eyes. Gaara stared into Matsuri's eyes to see something he did not expect to see directed towards him by her; so much genuine care, concern and… love? Is he mistaken? Are his eyes deceiving him? Or is it that… his heart knows exactly what it feels from the intense emotions reflected into the stare? "Please… promise me." Matsuri said with seriousness. Gaara stared into her eyes before he grabbed her hand making her blush.

"I promise." Gaara said. "Matsuri… chan." The suffix Gaara put at the end of her name made her blush as she stared at Gaara with a shocked look before smiling with much joy. All the while, Temari, Kankuro and Baki's jaws dropped as they had heard this. Naruto had a grinning smirk at this while Rekka chuckled.

'And people say I'm unpredictable.' The blonde thought.

/

Naruto and the others rode upon a giant grey fox as they were getting closer towards their location.

"Halt." Naruto said as the giant fox stopped. Naruto jumped down from the fox with everyone following their lead. "We'll travel from here. Thanks Takayuki." Naruto said patting fox's leg. After giving a nod, the fox then vanished in whirlwind of leaves.

"Man, those foxes are skilled." Kankuro said. The group then started to head out as they continued towards their target.

"I'm impressed that you've earned such trust from their community." Rekka complimented.

"After dealing with Kurama, I think I can establish any positive relationship with a fox." Naruto said with a smile as Kurama grumbled at the comment.

"By the way, where's your little fox friend?" Rekka asked.

"I figured him and the others foxes should stay behind at the village and protect it from any more attacks." Naruto said.

"Ani-kun, why did your head hurt earlier?" Akane asked as she walked by her brother with her arms out to the sides.

"I don't know." Naruto answered.

"How come you needed the sharingan to use tou-chan's jutsu?" Akane asked shocking the sand siblings to hear that Naruto has the sharingan and can use his father's Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God).

"Something messed me up. Wait, how did you know I was using the sharingan to use the Hiraishin?"

"Is Shokan really strong enough to cut iron sand?" Akane asked, ignoring Naruto's questioned which annoyed him.

"Yeah, it is."

"Why did your sharingan eyes glowed yellow?"

"Yellow?" Karin questioned with shock.

"I'm not sure really."

"Why did you have to almost kill yourself to beat the kazekage?"

"Because he was one tough bastard and it was cool."

"Does kaa-chan want to hit your for it?"

"Yes." Naruto answered with his shoulders slumped down and a worried and fearful look on his face.

"Not that this isn't interesting, but could the both of you shut the hell up." Tayuya said with annoyance. There was then silence which Tayuya really enjoyed.

"Why were you red instead of yellow in your chakra mode?" Akane asked her brother.

"Oh for the love of-"

/

The group made it to the abandoned base, which was a in the inside of rock formation with a circular area as in the middle of the formation before entering a building that was carved into the rock formation.

"Wow~ it's so cool! ~" Akane said with awe as she marveled at the place.

"Some base. Why was it abandoned?" Tayuya asked.

"This was a private base for those who were trusted with important private information from the Shodaime Kazekage, but after its first ever infiltration by the infamous Sasori, it was condemned." Temari explained.

"Doesn't that seem a bit over board for their first failure?" Karin asked.

"Sasori gained many secrets from here, and since there existed more powerful shinobi than him, they wanted to be safe than sorry."

"Pussy move." Naruto said with a dull tone earning a glare from Temari.

"Well not all of us can be as strong as you Naruto." Karin said.

"True, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't have tried harder. Like they say, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Naruto said nonchalantly.

"But what if someone like Kisame came?" Karin asked.

"Then they better hope that they're not there for secrets; makes evacuating the place quicker since guys like Kisame are more interested in fighting than taking paper with a secret written on them." Naruto said.

"That's Kisame-sensei for you." Akane said with a smile as she continued to walk with her arms out to the side.

"I still can't believe a child minded gaki like you could take being trained by Kisame Hoshigaki so easily." Kankuro said still in disbelief of the fact.

"She's been through worse; trust me." Tayuya said nonchalantly.

"Yep, I remembered one time some oto-nin tried giving me a Glasgow smile and wanted to rape me. Lucky Kabuto-kun was there." Akane said with her cheerful smile as she continued to walk, but the others stopped and looked at Akane with shock.

How she went through something so horrible and most likely scarring and continue on with a cheerful personality was incredible.

"Every oto-nin I find in this place will have their heads on pikes when I'm done with them." Naruto said with half lidded eyes as a threatening aura surrounded him.

"I'm not one for taking others' lives… but crippling them does sound tempting." Rekka said.

The group traveled into the circular area large in land and covered in sand, but Naruto found something odd about the sand; it looked like something was underneath it.

"Careful people, there might be some traps set here." Naruto said.

"Why's that?" Kankuro asked.

"This sand… there's something underneath it." Naruto said. Suddenly Rekka stopped his footing making everyone turn to him to see that he had a horrified look on his face as he gripped the left side of his chest. "Rekka, what's wrong?" Naruto asked with a stern look, knowing that things were going to get dark.

"Kami-sama… dear ruler above… why have so many fallen? Why is this land tainted with the long gone?" Rekka started saying with dread and sorrow as tears started forming in his eyes.

"Rekka, what's going on? What do you mean?" Karin questioned with worry, even though she and the others knew what he was saying.

"This land… it's filled with death… this center is a graveyard!" Rekka cried as he fell to his knees. Everyone had horrified looks on their faces, except Naruto and Akane who only had their eyes widened a bit.

Naruto looked down to the sand with a raised eyebrow. Naruto reached his hand into the sand and gripped something and pulled it out to reveal an arm catching everyone's attention before pulling out the rest of the body. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he noticed something with the body.

"Temari, you think you can use your fan to blow away the sand covering this area?" Naruto asked.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Temari said as she then grabbed her fan, opened it up and summoned wind to clear the area to reveal numerous deceased bodies of sand-nin.

"Oh my Kami." Kankuro said with wide eyes of horror as they all looked at the deceased shinobis.

"Karin." Naruto said the four eyed kunoichi's name gaining her attention. "You noticing these bodies?"

"Uh, yeah, we all notice them dumbass." Tayuya said.

"I meant what's with them." Naruto clarified. Karin looked around at all the bodies only to have her eyes widen in great horror.

"Oh my Kami… the victims… they're blood's been sucked dry from their bodies." Karin said shocking everyone else.

"No way." Kankuro said as he looked at all his fellow suna-nin's corpses. Naruto suddenly took out a kunai and cut the back of the corpse's hand that he was holding and then tore off the skin to reveal dry and clean hand bone with little muscle that was extremely dried up.

"The skin comes off so easily and even the muscles had their blood sucked out." Naruto said examining the hand while Kankuro and Temari looked disgusted. Kankuro then suddenly lost his lunch as he vomited onto the land below.

"That's seriously gross man!" Kankuro shouted at Naruto with a glare.

"Oh suck it up; at least you never seen a man's opened torso while he was still alive." Naruto said only making Kankuro throw up again.

"The question now is what caused all this?" Temari wondered.

"Maybe some shinobi who's like a vampire?" Tayuya said.

"I highly doubt that."

"We've got a guy in the Akatsuki who kills people by taking control of their blood, if that's possible the same could be said about this." Tayuya retorted.

"Well what good would sucking someone's blood do for a shinobi?" Kankuro questioned as he wiped away the leftover vomit on his mouth with his gloved hand.

"Naruto ani-kun put his blood within his sword so he could control it with chakra from the blood, maybe they did it to get chakra." Akane said.

"Not a bad theory, but there are other ways to get chakra; ones that are less disgusting." Temari said with a bit of a disgusted look on her face. Akane's cheeks puffed out as she pouted and looked down to the ground. 'Aw~ what a cute pout.' Temari thought, thinking Akane's look looked adorable.

Akane then noticed something on the neck of a deceased body. She crouched down and looked at it closely.

"Ani-kun look! I found a clue!" Akane said with a proud, adorable smile. Naruto looked at the body she was pointing at and noticed a bump that she was pointing at. Naruto crouched down next to his sister and stared at the bump with a raised eyebrow.

"A bump?" Naruto questioned.

"What the hell's a bump doing on a dead body's neck?" Tayuya questioned.

"Hey there's one on this body too." Kankuro said pointing to another body's neck.

"This one as well." Gaara said looking at another body.

"They all have bumps all over them." Karin said as she looked at all the bodies noticing the bumps on their bodies. Naruto used his kunai to stab the bump of the first body only for a clear liquid to ooze out. He touched the liquid with his index and middle fingers and brought it closer to his eyes.

"Eh, yuck." Tayuya said with disgust.

"What is it?" Akane asked becoming fascinated with the liquid.

"Karin, do you know what this is?" Naruto asked extending the liquid on his fingers to his surrogate sister. Karin adjusted her glasses as she took a closer look at the liquid.

"I believe I've seen this before somewhere." Karin said. Suddenly they heard a smacking sound making everyone turn to Kankuro who was looking at something on his gloved hand.

"Stupid mosquitoes." Kankuro said with a glare.

"That's it! This is mosquito saliva!" Karin exclaimed.

"How the hell can a few stupid bugs do all this?" Tayuya said thinking the theory was retarded.

"Look! I think a baby cloud is being born!" Akane cheered with a smile as she pointed up to the sky. The other's looked up only to have shocked looks upon their faces. Above them were mosquitoes forming together to form an army.

"Oh shit." Naruto cursed.

"It's a small army of mosquitoes." Karin said with new worry.

"Oh, so mosquitoes are baby clouds?" Akane questioned as she turned her head.

"I just said they were bugs a few seconds ago, you dumbass!" Tayuya shouted with her anime style pissed off face.

The mosquitoes suddenly charged at everyone, but Naruto quickly went through a series of hand signs as his chest expanded.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he blew out fire from his mouth like a flamethrower, burning some mosquitoes. The mosquitoes circled around and charged at them again from behind.

"Winged Devils! You Shall Pay!" Rekka shouted with anger as he quickly stood up and shot a wall of fire at the mosquitoes, burning more of them. The remaining bunch flew into the air as they regrouped. They flew all the way to the roof of the entrance of the base where a man was standing.

"We… have different views of these angels." The man said as the mosquitoes surrounded him. The others saw the mosquitoes enter his clothing, going straight into his body while a few decided to stay on his skin.

The man was tall and extremely skinny and had red goggles over his eyes, while he wore a black long sleeved shirt with a high collar that covered his mouth which was masked, black baggy pants, black tape red tape wrapped around his ankles and forelegs and black shinobi sandals. His hair was spiked back spiky hair.

"What the hell?" Kankuro said with a shocked expression.

"The mosquitoes, they… they went into his body." Temari said with shock.

"So you are the man who has killed these innocent shinobi!" Rekka shouted with fierce emotion as he glared at the man. Naruto also glared at the man as his eyes narrowed a bit.

"Innocent? Is… any shinobi innocent? Innocence… can never last. These men were willing to kill. They were not innocent. They were… as guilty as I am." The man said.

"Who are you?" Naruto demanded an answer.

"My name… is Chi." The man now known as Chi said.

"Wow, your parents were right to name you after blood." Akane said.

"Akane, it's a code name." Temari said.

"What's a code name?" Akane asked innocently.

"Hm… I sense… much innocence from her… compared to the rest of you." Chi said.

"So let's get to the point. We know that the reason that you've been kidnapping people from Suna was because to use their bodies for the Edo Tensei." Naruto said as he took Shokan from his back and pointed it at Chi. "So let's just get down to business."

"It is… true that we capture these… villagers for the jutsu… but there is much more to it." Chi said.

"Why are you stopping in mid-sentence? You retarded or something?" Tayuya questioned.

"Nee-chan, watch it with that word!" Karin scolded her elder sister.

"Let me guess, it's because those things inside you suck on your blood that you feel weak." Naruto said.

"Involuntary speech impediment… a side effect of my deal with… the mosquitoes. I let them… live inside of me… and give them blood… my own and others… and I eat sugar… for the males… in return… they assist me in battle… and keep my organs working." Chi explained.

"So like an Aburame." Naruto said remembering the details about Shino's clan back at the Chunnin Exams.

"Sort of, but… I keep my chakra and they… give me theirs… I just give them blood and sugar… that is all they need." Chi said.

"If that's all, then…" Naruto suddenly grinned as he then dashed at high speed towards Chi as he was about to summon Kurama's chakra to Shokan, but then suddenly something fell from the sky and landed hard in front of Naruto, creating a crater with a cloud of sand erupting from it, making Naruto jump back. Naruto glared ahead, but then suddenly something dashed towards him. Naruto quickly brought up Shokan as a sword clashed against the black broadsword.

"Nice blade." The owner of the other blade said with a shark-like grin.

"Thanks." Naruto said with his own grin with a pair of fangs. The two then jumped back with the blonde getting next to his team while the other swordsman was near a figure who looked like a silhouette in the cloud of sand. "So, who might be the one that I have the pleasure in facing in a battle of blades?" Naruto asked with a grinning smirk as he placed Shokan onto his back.

"The name's Suigetsu. Suigetsu Hozuki." Suigetsu said with his own grinning smirk. Suigetsu is a lean-built young teen around the same age as Naruto with straight white hair with light-blue tint to it, almond shaped purple eyes and has pointed teeth. He wore a purple, sleeveless shirt with blue pants, brown shinobi sandals that covered his ankles, a belt around his waist with water bottles attached to it and a gray cloak wrapped around his shoulders. He also wore another belt strapped to his chest which he used to carry his sword, which was a large blade that looked like a giant knife with the hilt looking like a rapier's hilt.

"S-Suigetsu?" Karin said the white haired teen's name with new worry. Suigetsu looked at her with a raised eyebrow until he realized who she was with a grin on his face.

"Hey, Karin, long time no see." Suigetsu said with a grin.

"You know him?" Naruto asked his cousin with a raised eyebrow.

"He was captured and experimented by Orochimaru, but he's supposed to be trapped inside a tank in one of Orochimaru's bases." Karin explained.

"The snake offered me a deal. I fight for his side and I get my freedom, so I took it." Suigetsu said.

"From what I can tell, he was from originally from Kiri seeing as he's got those shark-like teeth, but what about the other guy?" Naruto asked.

Suddenly out of the dust cloud came a young teen who was tall and muscular with spiky orange hair, red-orange eyes. He wore a pale blue shirt and pale green shorts with the same cloak as Suigetsu. The left side of his body was dark beige-like color that soon turned into normal skin color as the darker color skin receded back into a bracket-shaped symbol on his left palm which made Naruto raise an eyebrow.

"J-J-J-J-Jugo!" Karin said the other teens name with new fear.

"Oh shit! Anyone but him!" Tayuya shouted with worried etched all over his face.

"I'm guessing he's the real threat in the bunch." Naruto said.

"H-he's completely unstable! Orochimaru captured him because of his unique and dangerous power." Karin said still feeling fearful.

"Unique power?" Naruto questioned.

"He's the source of the curse mark. Orochimaru developed it from his DNA." Karin explained shocking everyone but Akane who was more astonished then shocked at the news. Suddenly Naruto's held his left eye as his head hurt a bit, but then he started to chuckle like a giddy maniac as his teeth became a bit elongated, ripping through his mask a bit and worrying his comrades.

"A man who's like an Aburame, a swordsman from kiri, and the original holder of the bastard mark." Naruto then looked at the three enemies with an excited, menacing grin behind his mask and his pupils becoming slit. "Now this is a real treat." Naruto said still grinning.

"N-Naruto wait-" But before Karin could finish, Naruto dashed at Suigetsu and Jugo.

Suigetsu grinned and dashed at Naruto with his sword ready while Jugo roared as his skin on the left side glowed orange red as he charged. Once Suigetsu was in front of Naruto, he went for a horizontal slash, but Naruto ducked underneath it and went for an upward slash that sliced Suigetsu in half. Naruto then hopped over Jugo's now humongous dark colored stone looking fist and firmly placed his hand atop of Jugo's head, balancing himself atop the tall teen's head and was ready to stab him with Shokan, but the blonde noticed that Suigetsu was in the air, ready to cut him up, so Naruto blocked the knife blade with Shokan and kicked the ex kiri-nin away before jumping off of Jugo's head before his stone hand grabbed him.

Once Naruto landed on the ground he saw that Jugo's left eye turned pale yellow and he had a crazed, murderous look on his face. Suigetsu dashed at Naruto and went to cut him, but Naruto parried the sword and punched Suigetsu in the gut, but after doing so, Naruto's fist was stuck in his gut. Naruto was shocked, but now he realized how Suigetsu survived Naruto's first strike.

'Liquefaction. Just great.' Naruto thought as he glared at Suigetsu. Suigetsu grinned as he lifted his sword up high and was ready to cut Naruto in half, but Naruto's eyes widened as he sent a pulse of chakra to his fist that was stuck within Suigetsu, sending him flying back. Jugo punched through Suigetsu, turning him into water again as the orange haired powerhouse came flying at Naruto at high speeds. Not having enough time to dodge, Naruto brought Shokan up to him, pointing towards the ground, as he used it like a shield and placed his left arm against it as he poured charka into both Shokan and his arm to make them more durable. Once Jugo slammed his fist against Shokan, Naruto was sent skidding back as Jugo continued to push him back with his fist. Naruto sent chakra to his feet as he slowly stopped skidding until he halted completely.

Suigetsu jumped over Jugo and went to cut Naruto with a downward slash. Naruto quickly pushed Jugo's fist away and blocked Suigetsu's attack. Jugo tried to deliver another punch, but Naruto quickly went through a series of one handed seals quicker than the human eye.

"Futon: Renkudan!" Naruto shouted as he shot a wind bullet at Jugo, making him skid back a bit, but not enough as he only was pushed back a few inches away. Naruto noticed the crazed and murderous look on Jugo's face as the dark skin of the left side of his face grew. Naruto quickly pushed Suigetsu back and went through and series of one handed seals as his chest expanded. "Katon: Idaina Kasai no Nami!" Naruto shouted as he blew a wave of fire where Suigetsu landed as the ex kiri-nin screamed with pain. Jugo charged at Naruto with a roar and his stone fist cocked back. Naruto quickly blocked the fist with Shokan and sent a wind enhanced fist at Jugo, but Jugo used his other fist to block Naruto's. Naruto and Jugo glared at each other as they had crazed grins on their faces; both fighting for dominance.

"Impressive… he is… able to keep his own against the two… no wonder general… Dai is interested in this… one." Chi said as he stared at the two insane teens who were still fighting for dominance over the other. Chi then noticed a shadow over him making him look up to see Rekka ready to strike him down with his shakujo. Chi moved back from the attack as it destroyed some of the roof. Rekka balanced himself with the shakujo, but Chi blocked hit with his arm which was surprisingly sturdy. Chi moved back as Rekka pulled away and tried to send a flame at him. Rekka quickly sent a blast of fire at Chi, but he jumped into the air and was flying in the air, but then Chi's cheeks puffed up as he moved his mask down. "Hiden: Kuro Doku!" (Secret Technique: Black Venom. Personally made technique.) Chi called out as a stream of black sludge came at Rekka. Rekka quickly sent a plume of fire from his hand that clashed with the venom, causing an explosion on the roof.

As this went down, a puddle formed a bit away from the fire that Naruto created and coming out was Suigetsu who charged at Naruto with his sword ready to slice at Naruto, but as he neared them, he was halted as his blade ceased to follow. Suigetsu looked up to see sand gripping it, making him look at Gaara to see he was ceasing his movements. Temari then prepared to use her fan against Suigetsu and then shot a bullet of wind, sending him away. Suigetsu landed on his hands and jumped off of them and quickly went through a series of hand seals before landing.

"Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!" (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique.) Suigetsu shouted as he shot a vast amount of water from his mouth as a giant dragon was formed and charged at the group, forcing them to jump away. Suigetsu dashed forwards as he jumped and grabbed his sword from the sand and dashed at Temari, ready to cut her up, but a pair of puppets dashed at him. Suigetsu threw his sword in the air as he allowed the puppets to strike him, turning him into water, but he quickly reformed himself and jumped in the air, grabbed his sword's hilt and was coming down on Temari, ready to cut her, but he was suddenly shot out of the sky by a strike of lightning making him scream in pain as he fell to the floor, skidding to a halt.

Temari turned to see Akane with Raijin no Ken out.

"Hiya!" Akane exclaimed as she stuck a crane pose. Temari couldn't help, but giggle at Akane's cuteness.

"Dammit." Suigetsu groaned as he gripped his sword's hilt, but a foot stomped on his hand making him look up to see Karin glaring at him with her kunai pointing at him with a bomb tag attached to it. "You wouldn't." Suigetsu said with a grin.

"Try me. I'm not useless anymore." Karin said with a serious tone.

"I like the new gutsiness that you're showing, but even if you blow us both up, I can still rebuild myself." Suigetsu said still grinning.

"Good point." Karin said as she brought up her left hand and made a few one handed hand signs as her hand was then covered in green chakra. "Recognize this from Kabuto?" Karin asked rhetorically.

"Is that the Chakra no Mesu?" Suigetsu questioned starting to get worried.

"Good boy." Karin said with a smirk as she neared her chakra bladed hand towards Suigetsu's face making him sweat a bit.

"Jeez, when did you get so sadistic?" Suigetsu questioned with a nervous grin.

"I've learned it from some good company." Karin said.

"You know, I don't think I ever told you this, but I always did think that you were pretty cute." Suigetsu said with a grin and wiggling his eyebrow a bit. Karin blinked her eyes a couple of times as she stared at Suigetsu.

"Nice try."

"It was worth a shot." Suigetsu said with a shrug and grin.

"Too bad, I kind of thought you were cute too." Karin said with a smirk.

"Do you want some chap stick before you slap a wet one on him?" Tayuya teased.

"Tayuya-nee-chan!" Karin exclaimed her sister's name with a red blush.

"I wouldn't mind sucking face with you." Suigetsu said with a grin, but that earned him getting stomped on his face by Karin, turning his head into water.

"Ero-baka!" Karin shouted with an anime style pissed off expression with sharp teeth as Tayuya chuckled at her behavior.

Suddenly flying above them was Chi being chase by Rekka.

"You shall pay for causing all these casualties!" Rekka shouted with an angered glare.

"Young monk… you should not feel… obligated to finish their work." Chi said as he continued to fly away.

Down below, Naruto kicked Jugo away with a wind enhanced kick making the tall teen skid back. Jugo then noticed that Naruto was above him with Shokan reared behind his right shoulder, ready to slice him, but suddenly Naruto was hit in the neck by a dart making him lose him momentum, allowing Jugo the opportunity to back fist him to the side making him tumble onto the ground with his straw hat falling off.

Suddenly all of Naruto's comrades were hit with darts making them all fall to the ground unconscious, except Gaara, who was saved by his sand armor. Gaara watched as everyone fall to the ground and Rekka fall from the sky into the sand creating a cloud of sand. Gaara was about to create a sand dome, but someone appeared behind him and put him in a sleeper hold. Gaara tried to resist, but his sand armor around his neck was cracking as the enemy behind him put pressure to the hold. Gaara quickly summoned sand to attack the mysterious attacker, but after one swift motion by the attacker, Gaara's eyes widened one last time before he was rendered unconscious. The attacker released him as the sand fell and then placed his finger onto his masked ear as Chi landed next to him.

"Ippai-sama, they are all captured." Kurora said.

"Don't let your guard down with the blonde one." Dai said on the other line.

"Understood Ippai-sama." Kurora said as he then retracted his finger away.

"That one… is dangerous." Chi said.

"Which one? The blonde or the tall one?" Kurora questioned.

"The first." Chi said.

Suddenly Naruto quickly stood up as he roared with red yellow chakra bursting from his body making Kurora, Chi, Suigetsu and Jugo look at him. Naruto then glared at them with his eyes becoming blood red. Jugo charged at him, but Naruto disappeared and reappeared in front of him and decked him in the face making him fly back. Suigetsu was shocked by this, but he then noticed Naruto staring at him, so he grabbed his sword and readied to battle. Naruto suddenly appeared in front of him as he brought Shokan down on him. Suigetsu quickly brought his sword up and blocked the black blade, but the amount of strength and pressure Naruto put behind it made a crater around him and the kiri swordsman. Suigetsu tried to push back, but Naruto was clearly showing dominance.

Chi raised his hand to the two's direction as mosquitoes shot out of his hand as they charged at the blonde. Naruto jumped back and blew fire onto Shokan as he then quickly spun it windmill style, killing some of the mosquitoes while the rest regrouped back to Chi. Suddenly a few darts hit Naruto's body making him roar as chakra burst from his body, shooting the dart out from his skin.

Jugo roared as he charged at Naruto at high speeds. Naruto quickly parried the fist and slammed his forehead against Jugo as the two glared into the other's eyes. The two moved back a bit as Naruto revved back Shokan and Jugo revved back his fist as the other turned to stone as well, then the two suddenly started sending barrages of attacks at each other; both being equal in their speed and power.

Suigetsu gave a battle cry as he charged at the two, then jumped over Jugo and went to stab Naruto, but then blonde moved back as Suigetsu's sword stabbed into the sand. Naruto then grabbed Suigetsu's face and slammed it into the sand as he then stabbed Jugo in the shoulder making him bleed. Jugo glared at Naruto's maniacal face and grin as the blonde licked his lips. Suigetsu then exploded into a plum of water making Naruto and Jugo jump away. Naruto then was pierced by more dart making him roar as he started slashing at more incoming darts with some hitting him. Jugo then jumped into the air and tried slamming his fist onto Naruto, but the blonde moved away only to parry Suigetsu's blade. Naruto then parried another attack from the kiri-nin, before back flipping over Jugo's arm which extended, and slash the orange haired teen's torso, before ducking under Suigetsu's horizontal slash and then sliced his arm off before sending a wind enhanced palm into Jugo's stomach sending him back a bit and then slicing off Suigetsu's head before kicking him away and ducking underneath Jugo's fist and sending a chakra enhanced uppercut to his jaw before throwing explosive kunai at him as they then exploded after making contact.

Naruto then started parrying more darts sent at him, but then he was stabbed in the chest making him look to the ground to see a Ki no senshi (Wood Warrior. I changed the name to make it easier) coming out from the sand below, stabbing him in the chest with a tranquilizer dart. Naruto roared as he grabbed the warrior by the head, rose him high and sliced his head off and kicking the head away. Suigetsu was starting to rebuild himself, but Naruto suddenly stabbed him in the torso and roared as Shokan exploded with red orange fire chakra, making Suigetsu explode into water.

Jugo charged at Naruto and sent his fist to him, but Naruto ducked under it and sent wind chakra to his fist and punched Jugo hard in the gut making him spit out saliva and sending him high into the sky. Naruto then jumped him above him and stabbed him in the torso as they both fell fast and hard into the ground. As they were on the ground, Jugo grabbed Naruto by the neck and lift him high into the air by extending his arm. Jugo grabbed Shokan by the blade and threw it to the side. Naruto quickly stabbed Jugo's arm with two explosive kunai, and as they then blew up, Naruto came down on Jugo, gripped him by his next and stabbed him in the throat with his wrist blade, but Jugo was still full of vigor as well as Naruto as the two then started using their free hand, clenched them into fists and started punching the other's face.

As they both continued to punch each other in the face, more darts started hitting Naruto in the back, but the blonde just continued to punch Jugo in the face, ignoring the darts hitting him in the back. The two then started to lose energy, Naruto from the darts' liquid and Jugo from blood loss, but continued to punch each other in the face. Naruto tried to stay awake, but his vision was fading, and after a minute or two, he fell to his side, finally unconscious.

"Incredible… he…"

"Was fighting on pure instinct." Kurora said. Chi turned his head to Kurora making the fellow masked shinobi look at him. "Sorry, did I interrupt?" Kurora asked.

Suddenly four figures along with a group of ki no senshi landed in the area.

"Ippai-sama." The two greeted their general with a bow.

"You artificial bunch, go give your chakra to the tall one." Dai ordered the ki no senshis. The bunch obediently followed Dai's order as they dashed to Jugo. Once they were next to him, Jugo grabbed one by the leg and absorbed it, healing his body and then repeated the process as his body continued to heal.

"He took nearly thirty five darts into his body… no way he's human." A man with a skull mask said. He had a black fedora, black jacket, black armored shirt, black armored pants, black sandals and white tape wrapped around his ankles said.

"Shi." A shorter woman said. She wore a metal mask that cover her mouth, a pair of black goggles, metal torso armor, long sleeved white robe shirt, black baggy pants, black sandals that went up to her knees. She had red hair that reached her waist that had a pair of small ox horns at the top of her head. (You know those things Chun-li from Street Fighter has.)

"No, his body's just been altered too much to be considered a regular human body." Dai said.

Suigetsu finally reformed and noticed Shokan on the floor. He grinned as he made his way to it, but right when his hand was reaching for it, a stream of lava hit it and retracted it to Dai.

"Eh heh… guess it's yours now, huh?" Suigetsu said with a nervous grin.

"A blade made from a meteorite that possesses the Senju and Uzumaki blood and the Kyuubi's chakra within it. Not known to the world and yet is legendary in its own right." Dai said eyeing the sword in his grip.

"Damn… and I was so close to holding it in my own hands." Suigetsu mumbled to himself really wishing he could hold the broadsword.

"Front and center." Dai ordered as a whole group of oto-nin landed in front of Dai. "Take them prisoner." Dai said as the group rounded up the prisoners. As Suigetsu and Jugo made their way to Dai and the other five, they noticed the sleazy and excited looks on the faces of the oto-nins taking the prisoners away. The two looked at Karin's face one last time before walking up to Dai.

"Hey, uh, they're not going to rape Karin or the other girls are they?" Suigetsu asked.

"I don't care." Dai said.

"What?!" Suigetsu exclaimed with shock evident on his and Jugo's faces.

"But that isn't right, I don't think that-" But before Jugo could finish his sentence, he and Suigetsu were gripped at the throat by Dai and slammed against the sand.

"I don't care what you two think. Question me again and you both will die. Understood?" Dai said as his hands started to burn their necks.

"Crystal." Suigetsu said as his neck started to bubble a bit.

"Yes." Jugo said.

Dai then released the two leaving two new scars on their necks.

"Hisa, prepare to use the Edo Tensei." Dai said.

"Hai, ippai-sama." Hisa said with a bow. The five then vanished leaving Suigetsu and Jugo alone.

The two looked at each other, staring into the other's eyes for a moment or two before nodding.

/

In the village, Nagato was on the kage tower looking out in the distance as he observed the village.

"Anything?" Baki asked appearing next to the red headed Uzumaki.

"No." Nagato said. After a few moment of silence, Nagato decided to speak. "I have a question." Nagato said making Baki turn to him. "Why did you ask for our help? Why not Konoha? You have an alliance, correct? Why contact an organization like the Akatsuki?" Nagato asked. Baki sighed as he had a feeling that he would have to tell.

"We tried, but we think our messenger hawks had been compromised. We thought of sending a messenger on foot, but he never came back. We believe he had been caught by Oto. Soon enough we were out of options, but a person in one of your cloaks appeared and told us about your organization and said that you could help. We made a deal that we'd give a base for your organization to expand and in return, you'd help us with our problem." Baki explained. "I just never expected that only a few in numbers could provide such support."

"I understand." Nagato said. Suddenly Akio appeared in front of them. "Is something wrong?" Nagato asked the tall fox.

"The others and I caught the scent of dust and earth. We believe the village is going to be under attacked." Akio informed.

"I'll sound the troops." Baki said as he then left.

"Akio, prepare the other foxes and call for reinforcements." Nagato ordered.

"Hai." Akio said with a bow before disappearing.

Nagato quickly summoned a giant pale green bird with rinnegan eyes and rode it, flying into the air. Nagato scanned the area above the village only for a large plume of sand to almost hit him and his summoning. As the giant bird flew back, the sand became one giant tower and out from it came Reto, the Shodaime Kazekage. Nagato and Reto stared at each other before Reto extended his arm, shooting a dragon made of sand at him. Nagato aimed his hand at the element creature before calling out his jutsu.

"Shinra Tensei!"

/

Naruto's head hurt. He felt sick. He felt his muscles ache. He felt like shit.

Suddenly he heard crying. He started to open his eyes.

"Check it out, he's awake." Naruto heard. Naruto's eyes opened to see a man in Oto attire, but without his mask. "So this is the demon that is the bane of Otogakure? A kid? How pathetic." The man said as he suddenly slapped Naruto across the face. Naruto growled as he tried to assault the man, but he was halted to notice that he was chained down to the floor. He also realized that his mask was gone and his henge was down.

"So many dead, by your hands… Naruto Senju." The oto-nin said.

"Where are my comrades?" Naruto asked glaring at the man.

"I didn't hear a please."

"Where The Fuck Are They?!" Naruto demanded answers only to get kicked upside the jaw.

"You don't make any demands here." The oto-nin said.

"Ani-kun!" Naruto heard his sister's voice making him look only for his eyes to widen as he saw oto-nin groping her with her cloak on the floor while a whole small army of oto-nin surrounded them. "Leave my ani-kun alone!" Akane exclaimed.

"Shut it oni-bitch!" An oto-nin said punching her across her face making her bleed from her mouth. Naruto suddenly roared as he tried to attack the oto-nins, but the chains ceased his movements.

"Let My Sister Go!" Naruto yelled.

"Yeah, sure, after we're done." The unmasked oto-nin said. "Get her ready boys." He said as the oto-nins placed Akane down onto her back. "You just watch and see your sister become a woman." The oto-nin said with a smirk as he made his way to her.

"No!" Naruto shouted. He watched as the oto-nins then tore off Akane's shirt and stared groping her breasts.

"Nice sizes for a kid." An oto-nin groping her breast said with a sleazy grin. Naruto teeth became elongated as he gritted them and his eyes became blood red. His mother was wailing, begging Naruto to do something. Naruto tried summoning Kurama's chakra but the chains were sucking them up. Naruto panted, but then he noticed that Akane's legs were wide open. Naruto's eyes widened with rage, but suddenly his head started to hurt. Naruto then noticed that hands were nearing his sister's panties. The rage build up inside of Naruto, along with the pain increasing, becoming more intense. As Akane's panties slid down, Naruto felt like his head was about to break open.

Inside Naruto's head, Kushina's wailing grew while Minato's chakra surrounded him intensely as he gritted his teeth hard, but unknown to the two, Kurama was breathing hard as he gripped his arm. Kurama noticed the seals grow and spread on his left arm.

'What's going on?!' Kurama thought with worry and… fear… actual fear.

Naruto's head pounded as his left eye was becoming a yellow orange. He then saw the unmasked oto-nin over her zipping down his pants until his penis came out.

"YOU LEAVE HER ALONE!" Naruto screamed with anger.

"Ani-kun…" Naruto looked at his sister's face to see a sad smile on her face as he saw bravery in her eyes as tears came down her eyes. "It's okay… it'll all be okay… as long as you'll be safe." Akane said shocking her brother. "I'll be fine… as long as your safe… my ani-kun." Akane said with more tears.

"Shut Up!" An oto-nin exclaimed as he punched her in the face.

Naruto's eyes widened as the world stood still.

He felt a flurry of emotions. Through his body, but the most evident was anger and rage.

Anger and Rage.

Anger and Rage.

Anger and Rage.

Anger and Rage.

Anger and Rage!

And… bloodlust…

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Naruto screamed as his eyes turned golden and red golden chakra burst from his body destroying the chains.

Everyone turned to see Naruto's roaring as red gold chakra surrounded his very being. Naruto stood up and he stared up at the roof.

"… A-ani-kun?" Akane said as he brother's chakra diminished. Minato and Kushina were worried about what was happening, but then suddenly Naruto started to chuckled, but then it started to become a full blown laugh. "Ani-kun?" Akane called out to her brother once again. Suddenly Naruto stopped laughing and after a few moments, black claw mark-like (think Jurassic Park III claw marks) patterns appearing down the left side of his face with his whisker-like birth marks become more dark and defined and becoming one with the claw patterns.

Naruto then suddenly chuckled and as his head whipped down, Naruto laughed like a maniac revealing his golden slit eyes and the black patterns coming from the side of his eyes, covering his cheek and the bridge of his nose.

Everyone stared at Naruto with fear. As the crazed blonde continued to laugh he appeared behind the unmasked oto-nin and punched him through his behind and right through his junk. Naruto held the oto-nin's junk until red flames consumed it, turning it to ash. Naruto then ripped his fist out as the oto-nin grabbed his non-existent junk on reflex before falling to his side.

Naruto's now sharp teeth grinned as he stared at the oto-nins holding his sister which made them release her as they moved away, but Naruto then suddenly appeared next to Akane's left side as he punched an oto-nin's head, causing it to explode into little chunks from how powerful the punch was, with some falling on Akane's now fearful face.

Naruto then punched right through the chest of the other oto-nin with golden chakra bursting from the fist that caused a giant hole in the now dead oto-nin's torso with some of his rib cage showing. Naruto retracted his fist back and as he was hunched over, he started to laugh maniacally until golden chakra danced around his skin again as he then whipped his head up into the air before he charged at the still breathing oto-nins and started to slaughter them all.

Akane looked on in horror as she saw her brother started slaughtering all the oto-nins.

Naruto went for a horizontal chop across an oto-nin's neck, decapitating him. He then hopped in the air and slammed his heel against the scalene muscle of another oto-nin with such force that it broke apart the spine bone underneath, killing the victim. A brave oto-nin tried to kick Naruto, but the blonde just grabbed his leg and with great strength, he used the oto-nin like a blunt weapon to beat his fellow oto-nin.

After whacking a few with the oto-nin bat, Naruto then ducked under a kunai slash from an oto-nin and then with his elongated nails and wind manipulation, Naruto sliced off the man's legs making him scream as he hit the floor. Naruto then started repeatedly stomping on the legless oto-nin making him cough blood, staining his mask. Naruto the whacked a pair of oto-nin, who tried to sneak up on him and then grabbed the legless oto-nin by the head and raised him up from the ground.

"OH GOD IT HURTS! SOMEONE KILL ME! JUST FUCKING KILL ME!" The legless oto-nin cried as he felt the pain of broken bones, damaged organs and internal bleeding. Naruto then suddenly bit down on his neck with much pressure making him scream, and then he slowly tore his head off as he screamed until he ripped the head along with the spinal cord from the rest of his body.

Naruto then gripped the end of the spinal cord and started swinging the spine and head around like a new weapon, all the while he was laughing like a maniac.

Akane stared at her brother with fear, horror, but most of all sorrow.

'I did this.' Akane thought as she bit her bottom lip.

Naruto started beating more of the oto-nins with both the whole body and severed head and spinal combo. After hitting an oto-nin across the face with the whole body, he slammed it down to the ground as suddenly numerous red chakra claws came out of his back and started grabbing and cutting up oto-nins. The oto-nins tried to run, but the claws continued to grab them as they screamed bloody murder. Naruto then started piling them up into a small mountain of corpses that he climbed while dragging both the whole, and most likely dead, oto-nin and the severed head/spinal one up the pile of bodies. Once he was at the top, Naruto stared down at the rest of his 'cattle' as some red claws held up living and dead oto-nins up in the air.

'I'm responsible… because I was too weak… I was weak and now my ani-kun became a monster…' Akane thought as she stared at her crazy brother with tears shedding like crazy from her eyes. 'I'm so sorry… Naruto-ani-kun… I'm sorry I was weak…' Akane thought as she grabbed her cloak and hugged it tight as she closed her eyes tightly. "I'm sorry" Akane whispered as she shed more tears.

Naruto the brought a living oto-nin up to him and stared at his fearful eyes with his golden maniacal, bloodlust one, before releasing the whole body and then stabbed his hand into his left chest making the oto-nin scream in pain before he ripped his heart straight out of his chest.

Naruto then raised the heart high into the air as he roared/laughed, creating intense wind and a pulse of chakra.

/

Suigetsu and Jugo were sneaking around the abandoned base, when they felt the incredible and frightening burst of chakra.

"What the hell? What kind of chakra is that?" Suigetsu questioned. He then noticed Jugo frozen in fear which worried him. "Oi, man up. We have to hurry and find Karin and the others." Suigetsu said, but Jugo was still in a fearful trance, so Suigetsu punched him in the arm getting his attention. Suigetsu motioned for him to follow which he nodded as the two hurried their pace to find the captured shinobi.

/

Karin groaned as she started to wake up. When she opened her eyes she saw that everyone was tied up and awake with Rekka trying to bite off the rope tied around Kankuro. Karin noticed that she was tied up as well, but also that she along with the others had chakra suppression seals on their wrists and foreheads. She also noticed that the sand siblings weapons were gone which could mean that they were taken away from them.

"Glad to see that you're awake squirt." Tayuya said. Karin looked around to notice that two of their party members were gone.

"Where are Naruto and Akane?" Karin asked with new worry.

"Those disgusting mask monkeys took them. They even had that devilish look when looking at the two, along with that disgusting perverted gleam in their eyes when they looked at Akane." Tayuya said as she felt building rage. Karin bit her lip as she glared at the floor.

"I feel so useless." Temari said glaring at the floor.

"Yeah, well join the club sister." Tayuya said still feeling furious. Suddenly Rekka gasped as he stared off into space with great fear written on his face and in his eyes.

"Oi! What's going on?" Kankuro questioned.

"Death… I sense death… so many are dying…" Rekka said with great fear and despair.

"If it's those oto bastards then good!" Tayuya said with gritted teeth, hoping it was the oto-nins.

"But the source of their demise… it's horrifying… so much bloodlust… insanity… no remorse… only slaying as its sole instinct." Rekka said as his breathing rate increased a bit.

"All the more reason to chew through my ropes, now hurry!" Kankuro exclaimed.

Suddenly a door opened making them all look up to see Suigetsu and Jugo.

"Oh great, piss water and maniac the kid; just what we needed." Tayuya said with an annoyed sneer.

"What do you both want?" Karin asked, but with no malice behind her words.

"I'll give you a hint." Suigetsu said as he made his way to Karin. Once he was over her, he took his large sword from his back making Karin's eyes widen.

"Get The Fuck Away From Her!" Tayuya shouted with new rage. Suigetsu sent a quick slash at Karin, who had her eyes closed, but when she opened her eyes, she felt her restraints fall off of her body. Karin then noticed Suigetsu offering her his hand. She looked up at him with shock at what he was doing.

"You going to take it or what? I don't have time to stay here forever." Suigetsu said with a grinning smirk. Karin slowly developed a smile as she then took the ex-kiri-nin's hand as he helped her too her feet. "Jugo, break the seals on Karin's body, I'll let the other's loose." Suigetsu said as he made his way to the others.

"Why are you both doing this?" Karin asked as Jugo grabbed her wrist.

"We don't approve of Dai or the others and their ways of treating their captors." Jugo said as he rid the seals on Karin's wrists. "We don't have to be genius' to know who the bad guys are." Jugo said.

"Speak for yourself big guy." Suigetsu said as he cut Temari loose.

After releasing the group of their restraints and seals, they were all ready to leave.

"We have to find Akane and Naruto quick!" Karin said as she dashed for the exit, but Suigetsu grabbed her by the collar, ceasing her movements.

"Unless you haven't noticed, we are in an abandoned base filled with oto-nin led by the most dangerous general you'll ever meet; we need a game plan." Suigetsu said. Karin glared at him for a moment before sighing, knowing that Suigetsu was right.

"Alright, fine… let's come up with a game plan." Karin said, but suddenly there was a bumping noise making the group get into their fighting stances.

"What was that?" Rekka questioned.

"A bumping noise, what else?" Tayuya said being a smartass. Suddenly the noise started getting louder and the rate was becoming more frequent.

"It's coming from that wall." Temari said as she noticed some bricks coming loose from a wall. The wall was becoming looser as the noise became louder.

"Everyone get ready!" Tayuya said taking charge.

"We've been ready." Suigetsu said.

"Shut up!" Tayuya shouted. Suddenly the wall was broken down and as some dust settled, they all saw bloodied bodies of oto-nin entering the room, and lying midway on the broken wall, but what shocked them the most was who was at the hole.

There standing was Naruto with a maniacal grin with elongated teeth, crazed golden slit eyes and black claw-like marks coming from his left eye and covering half of his face while golden chakra surrounded his body; and all the while he held the head of a battered oto-nin in one hand with claws finger nails digging into the victim's skull and held the spine of another oto-nin in his other hand with the head still attached.

"N-N-Naruto?" Karin said with horrified shock as Naruto chuckled with bloodlust joy before he laughed maniacally as his golden chakra became even more intense.

"What the hell is wrong with him?!" Kankuro questioned as he and the others looked at Naruto with fear.

"Your friend got marked." Suigetsu said as he and Jugo gritted their teeth as they glared at the clearly insane Naruto.

"Marked? Marked with what?" Temari asked as she sweat a bit from Naruto's dangerous glare.

"The curse mark." Karin said as she started developing tears from her eyes. 'How?' Karin thought as she bit her bottom lip. 'How did he gain the curse mark? Who marked him?!' Karin then fell to her knees. Suigetsu turned to her to see here crying. "Why… why you Naruto? Goddamn Orochimaru... why can't he just die?!" Karin said as she continued to cry.

Suigetsu felt uncomfortable seeing her this way. It wasn't because it was distracting, it was just that he didn't want to see her cry. He could ignore someone crying, but for some reason it just didn't sit right to see Karin cry.

"Ugh, I don't like seeing this. If I knock some sense back into him would it get you to stop crying?" Suigetsu said. Karin looked up at him to see a little bit of what looked like… care. "I'm going to need an answer." Suigetsu said. Karin wiped away her tears and was about to answer, but then she saw Naruto dash at him.

"Suigetsu, look out!" Karin shouted. Suigetsu turned with wide eyes as he saw Naruto's grinning maniacal face in front of his own making him gasp. As everyone turned to them, they suddenly saw Jugo grab Naruto's left wrist that was immediately in the air and was ready to claw off Suigetsu's face.

'So fast.' Kankuro and Temari thought.

Half of Jugo's body had already turned into a darker hue with his right arm, which was gripping Naruto's wrist, became bigger and more creature like. Jugo gritted his teeth as he glared at Naruto, but then Naruto slowly turned his head as his right eye stared at Jugo, making the tall teen sweat a bit from the insanity and bloodlust he could see in the young blonde's eye. It was like seeing an even bigger psychotic version of himself.

Naruto then suddenly grabbed Jugo's arm, the one that was gripping his wrist, then raised the giant over his arm and then slammed him down on the floor, creating a crated in the ground. Suigetsu managed to grab Karin and jump away as he saw Naruto repeatedly slam Jugo on the ground like he was a ragdoll, before flipping him in the air and slammed his fist in Jugo's gut making him spit up saliva before he was sent flying into the wall, where Naruto reappeared in front of him and slammed his fist in his gut again making him spit up more saliva. Naruto then started sending flurries of punches and claw slashes at Jugo's torso making the tall teen bleed and bruise.

Suddenly Kankuro's puppet, Karasu (Crow), came from behind Naruto and grabbed him, then pulled him away from Jugo. Jugo held his stomach and looked up to see Naruto being held up in the air by one of Kankuro's puppets.

"Calm Down Dammit!" Kankuro shouted with a glare.

"Where did that come from?" Tayuya questioned.

"I sealed Karasu into the back of my neck in case we'd get captured or if something like this happens." Kankuro said. Naruto just grinned as he breathed in a vast amount of air through his nose and then shot out a giant gust of air, slamming him down to the floor, crushing Karasu. Naruto then turn around to Karasu and then started clawing at the puppet as he laughed maniacally, having fun at his actions as he tore apart the puppet and then he tore of Karasu's head and then with his mouth with elongated teeth, he bit off Karasu's face and chewed on the wood. Naruto then chuckled as he let the wood fall to the floor with his gums bleeding a bit before repairing themselves with his enhanced healing factor. Kankuro, Temari and Tayuya stared at Naruto with wide eyes, shock and horror. "Whoa." Was all Kankuro could say as he stared at Naruto with fear.

Naruto then charged at Kankuro with an ecstatic roar and his claws ready. Kankuro was frozen in fear as he stared at Naruto, charging at him for the kill, but then the blonde was kicked across the face by Suigetsu, but it didn't send him flying, it had only ceased his movements. Suigetsu gently gritted teeth as he glared at Naruto, but as the blonde slowly turned his head, he got a shiver down his spine as Naruto grinned at him with maniacal excitement.

'Oh shit.' Suigetsu thought as he sweated a bit. Naruto then grabbed his head and slammed it down onto the ground causing it to burst into water. Naruto grinned, but then he sensed Jugo behind him with half of his body transformed with his right eye turned pale yellow and his left fist grown bigger, and as Jugo's fist came closer to the blonde, Naruto used his free hand to grab the fist, stopping it. Jugo kept his serious composure, but he was sweating with fear at Naruto's power.

It was immense and grand, fearful even. It was like Naruto wasn't even human anymore, but instead a demon who hungered for more blood and death by his claws.

Naruto then slammed his forehead against Jugo's causing the orange haired teen's eye to widen with pain and become blank white while his mouth widened from the pain. Naruto then tossed Jugo's arms to the side and raised his leg high and slammed it down onto the back of his head, crushing his face against the floor. Suigetsu quickly reformed and went to slash at Naruto, but the blonde quickly somersaulted back and land on his hands and feet before dashing right through him, exploding him into water. Naruto grabbed the beaten oto-nin corpse and once Jugo, whose face and mouth were bleeding, charged at him, the blonde smacked him across the face with the corpse.

Naruto then repeatedly beat Jugo with the body, but then Suigetsu appeared in front of Naruto and sliced the corpse in half, with the legs and bottom half of the torso fall to the floor with the bowels and some intestines while the rest of the intestines and the stomach hanging from the top half. Naruto looked at his 'weapon' with a raised eyebrow while Suigetsu went for a slash, cutting Naruto's chest causing it to bleed. Naruto looked at his chest with his eyebrow still raised. When he looked at Suigetsu, he saw his sword come straight for him, but Naruto bit down on the blade, ceasing its momentum, shocking Suigetsu and the others.

Naruto then opened his mouth a bit and bit down on the blade, breaking it apart. Suigetsu brought up his sword as he and Jugo stared at the broken blade with shock.

"Oh crap." Suigetsu said with new fear and nervousness, when suddenly Naruto's claw hand came right through his torso and grabbed Jugo's face on the other side and quickly brought the orange haired teen right through Suigetsu, tearing him apart. Naruto started slamming Jugo's face against the floor, before he rose him high and started pounding his face with his fist.

Karin stared in horror at Naruto's actions. None of it was his fault, she knew that, but she couldn't help, but see him as a monster at this moment. Suddenly a sonic wave of sound came straight at Naruto, hitting him, which made him cease his movement. Naruto looked at his now bloody and cocked back fist with confusion before his eyes then looked at Tayuya, to see that she was playing her demon flute which was the reason why he ceased. Tayuya then played another tune making Naruto release Jugo. Once Suigetsu formed, he grabbed Jugo and brought him towards the group.

"I got this." Karin said as she went towards Suigetsu and Jugo. Once she was in front of them, she stared at Jugo's bloodied and battered face. She stomached the sight of it and then concentrated charka to her hands, making them glow green as she brought them to Jugo's face and started to heal him.

"I'll handle calming Naruto down." Rekka said as he took a few steps toward the blonde, but then suddenly Naruto stomped his foot, shocking everyone. The blonde had an insane bloodlust look on his face along with grin as he took another step towards them and then another and then another.

'No way… even though he's still struggling with nee-chan's jutsu, he's still has the strength to come towards us. It just isn't humanly possible!' Karin thought as she stared at Naruto with a look of fear as the blonde continued to make his way to the group while the wound Suigetsu gave him fully healed up. 'What am I thinking? It's Naruto… of course he would do the impossible.'

"What are you waiting for?! Calm him down!" Kankuro called out to Rekka.

"I can't! I need perfect concentration. In this state he'll stab his hand right through my torso." Rekka said with worry. "We need a better jutsu to restrain him."

"If only I had my fan." Temari mumbled, but then she noticed that her younger brother was concentrating on something. "Gaara?"

As Naruto continued to make his way to them, he was only a few steps away from Tayuya, which caused her to sweat.

'I never thought I'd go out by your hands... kid.' Tayuya thought as he eyes narrowed a bit with concentration. Naruto chuckled through his grinning fangs as he was getting closer to Tayuya, until he was in front of her. Tayuya watched as Naruto's claw hand rose high into the air. She closed her eyes, not wanting Naruto's uncontrollable bloodlust to be the last thing she'd see.

She'd rather see complete darkness when the final blow was dealt instead of seeing the blonde boy that she actually cared for to be in an uncontrollable insane state deliver to her the final blow.

Suddenly she heard a strange sound, and after a few moments she decided to open her eyes, to see what was the delay of Naruto's attack, only to see Naruto's body, from the bottom of his chest to his ankles, covered in sand and iron sand, with the insane blonde's raised arm being held back by the sands.

Gaara then suddenly released a relieved breath at the sight.

"It's done." Gaara said as some of the sands placed Temari's giant fan in front of her and Kankuro's bandaged puppets in front of him.

/

A little while ago, with Dai's group, atop of the abandoned base near the edge of a cliff; the skull masked nin and the iron masked red head had the weapons of the sand sibling next to them, with the red head playing with Temari's mask, swinging it around.

"Shi, quit playing with that thing." The skull masked said to the read head.

"Shi." Shi said.

"I'd rather that you'd be silenced." The skull masked man said. Suddenly Gaara's gourd exploded with sand and iron sand making the skull masked man jump away, while Shi was swept up in both sands. The rest of the group turned to see the sand consume, Shi, the giant metal fan and the bandaged covered puppets before moving away and into the abandoned base below, leaving Shi, who was lying on the ground, as the sand moved off of her body and followed the rest of it into the base.

Shi sat up and looked at the other before speaking.

"Shi?"

"My guess is someone freed the Ichibi jinchuriki." Kurora said.

"This was already foreseen which I find completely annoying. Why is it that we have to wait for Kabuto to extract the bijuu when we have the thief of over thousands of jutsus with us?" The skull masked shinobi said.

"My guess… even she can't… do it all." Chi said with his hand motioning towards Hisa who then glared at the living mosquito hive. "And I also am… guessing it was also… those two younglings… from earlier."

"Correct." Dai said staring off into the distance, facing where the cliff ended.

"I'm… actually surprised by… this." Chi said.

"Shi? Shi shi." Shi said.

"I'm not surprised… about the young swordsman… but I expected different… from Jugo." Chi said.

"It's seems his heart isn't completely consumed by the kindness Kimimaro displayed to him." The skull masked shinobi said with his arms crossed.

"That's exactly… what surprises me." Chi said.

"Kimimaro is loyal to Orochimaru. Jugo never was." Dai said.

"Shi. Shi shi shi, shi shi shi?" Shi asked.

"Actually… I lied. I do care, but Orochimaru expected me to let them be considering the more alive the better." Dai said.

"Shi." Shi said as a long black metal staff came out from her left sleeve as a pair of scythe blades appeared from the tip with the bottom one being a little small than the top and attached to a long metal cable. "Shi shi shi?" Shi asked as she gripped the snath (which is what you call the staff-like part of it) with both her hands.

"Hm… why not. We won't need them after the mission is considered complete. When that happens, they'll be all yours Shi." Dai said.

"Shi shi shi shi shi." Shi chuckled evilly.

"Kurora, followed the sand." Dai ordered.

"Hai, ippai-sama." Kurora said with a bow before becoming one with the ground below, disappearing from the group.

Left alone, Dai stared out towards the distance with his arms crossed and Shokan tied to his back. Shi came closer to his back as she stared at the broadsword. Shi then tried to reach for the blade to touch it, but then her wrist was gripped making her looked up to see Hisa staring at her. Hisa shook her head to Shi which meant 'it's not worth it'. Once she released her grip on Shi, the red head's, well, head hung with sadness along with her shoulders being slumped.

/

Kurora came out from the ceiling with the rest of his body below the bottom of his chest was still a part of the ceiling. He stared down at the captured shinobis to see that the sands were holding back Naruto who appeared to be struggling to harm Tayuya.

'Now why is he trying to harm his cousin?' Kurora thought with curiosity, but then he noticed the black claw mark-like pattern on the left side of his body. 'Those marks… could it be?' Kurora thought having a hunch that the claw marks were of that of the curse mark.

"Do it now!" Temari shouted to Rekka. Rekka nodded as he quickly made his way towards Naruto as Tayuya moved away from the blonde. Rekka placed his hands atop of Naruto's head with one of his thumbs on the blonde's forehead. Kurora watched with much curiosity as the end of Rekka's fingers glowed white.

Rekka concentrated on Naruto's mind, but as he did he saw some flashes of Naruto's past, with some of them being beatings from his fellow villagers back at Konoha. Rekka's lip quivered and his closed eyes had gotten tighter as he felt he could have cried at the flashes of Naruto's past.

"You poor man." Rekka said.

Suddenly Naruto roared as his raised arm broke free of the sand.

"Rekka look out!" Karin shouted. Rekka's eyes opened wide as he saw Naruto's claw hand was coming down on him. Naruto had an open mouth grin as he was about to badly wound Rekka, but then he heard something.

"Hey there's that demon bitch!" A voice shouted. Naruto stopped his attack as he had a shocked look on his face making everyone look at him, surprised that he stopped. "Look what she did! Kill that red haired whore!"

"Ani-kun!" Naruto heard Akane yell his name making his eyes widen as he growled. Naruto then roared as golden chakra burst from his body sending the sands off of him as he dashed out of the room through the hole.

"I think I just saw my life flash before my eyes." Rekka said with relief that he wasn't killed.

"Now you know how I feel when he came at me." Kankuro said.

"Move it!" Tayuya exclaimed as she pushed pass Rekka and ran out the hole.

"What's with her?" Kankuro questioned.

"Wow. Nee-chan is doing something selfless for people she actually cares about." Karin said as her eyes twinkled with much admiration for her elder sister.

'I'm guessing that's rare… shit.' Suigetsu thought with half lidded eyes.

"We'll go after them, Karin, you stay here and heal Jugo." Gaara said.

"Hai." Karin said with a nod.

"I'll stay here and keep her safe from any more Oto freaks." Suigetsu said. After a nod from Gaara, he, his siblings and Rekka ran out through the hole leaving Karin, Suigetsu and Jugo alone.

"You know… you didn't have to stay behind to protect me." Karin said to Suigetsu.

"I know. I just figure someone should keep you company." Suigetsu said with a smile that made Karin smile.

/

Akane was running towards where she sensed her brother's presence, but a group of oto-nin were hot on her tail.

'I have to find him! I have to help ani-kun be ani-kun again!' Akane thought with worry for her brother, but then she was grabbed by the hair as she was pulled by an oto-nin.

"Little bitch! Time for your punishment." The oto-nin holding her hair said. Akane held her head as she started to cry with her lip quivering.

'I failed… I wasn't strong enough to help ani-kun… I'm sorry ani-kun.' Akane thought as she started shedding tears. Suddenly she heard the oto-nin whimpering making her open her eyes to see an angry curse marked Naruto glaring at them as he growled through his gritting fangs.

"W-what the hell?" An oto-nin said as the one who held Akane's hair released her.

Naruto then suddenly roared as golden chakra burst from his body.

"Let's get the fuck out of here!" An oto-nin screamed as they all ran away, but Naruto charged at them at high speed and started slaughtering them. Akane closed her eyes tightly as she heard the screams of the oto-nins and the massacre her brother was creating. Once they stopped, Akane's lip quivered until she felt a hand on her head making her turn to see her brother still in his scary state, but he stared at her with a blank expression. Akane stared at her brother, thinking that he might have returned to normal, but when she saw Tayuya, Rekka and the sand siblings run towards them, she saw the insane grin on her brother's face as he stared at them.

'No.' Akane thought with worry. Naruto then took a step forwards as Tayuya prepared her flute. 'No.' Akane thought as she saw Naruto take another step forward as the others got into their battle stances. 'No.' Naruto then started to chuckle with excitement. 'No.' Naruto then started to burst with insane, psychotic laughter as his head shot up to the sky. 'No.' Naruto was then ready to charge at his friends. 'No ani-kun! Don't!' Akane thought as Naruto started to charge at them. As Naruto came closer to them, he suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around his torso as he felt warm liquid against his back. "No more." Akane said as she started to sob. "No more ~" Akane sobbed. Naruto slowly turned his head to see Akane crying onto his back. "No more ani-kun. This isn't you! I want Naruto ani-kun back!" Akane cried. Naruto stared at her as she looked up at him with tears being shed as her lip quivered and some mucus coming from her nose. "I don't... *sob*, I don't Hashi." Akane said causing Naruto's eyes to widen. "I don't want Hashi… I… I want Naruto ani-kun." Akane said as she continued to sob. Naruto continued to stare at her as she started sobbing against his back repeating "Ani-kun." Over and over again.

"… A… Akane…" Naruto said making her cease sobbing as she looked up at him. Suddenly the black marks started receding back behind Naruto's left eye and then Naruto's eyes became cerulean blue again with the pupil returning to normal and his claws and fangs turning into regular nails and teeth. Naruto's shoulders were slumped and his arms were hanging along with his head. "I… I was… so scared…" Naruto admitted shocking Akane. "Of what they were going to do to you… but… I was more scared of hurting you and all those who are precious to me." Naruto said as he shed a single tear from his left eye.

"My baby's back to normal!" Kushina cried as tears started pouring from her eyes like a fountain with tissues in her hand as Minato tried to comfort her.

"About damn time." Kurama mumbled. The fox spirit then looked at his arm to see the curse seals still on it making his eyes narrow.

"It's over. I just want to go home with you." Akane said as she held her brother tighter. Naruto stared at his sister as Karin, Suigetsu and a now healed Jugo hurried up next to the others.

"Karin… Tayuya… take Akane back to Nagato." Naruto order. Akane looked up at him to see he was standing up straight and had a serious demeanor. "The rest of us will handle Dai and his friends." Naruto said.

"No! I wanna stay! I don't want to leave you!" Akane whined.

"Don't fight with me on this. My decision is final." Naruto said looking at his sister.

"You realize that it's suicide to go up against Dai, especially when he has a group of dangerous shinobi with him." Karin said.

"Yeah, but I'd rather do something then let all this crap go on, and besides, if we fail, I'd fell better that Akane was still out of Oto's grasp." Naruto said.

"Didn't you hear me? I said I want to stay with you!" Akane exclaimed.

"Suigetsu, catch." Naruto said as he tossed Suigetsu a scroll. "Inside that scroll are the blades known as Kiba. Figured after I bit your sword in half that you'd need a replacement." Naruto said getting out of Akane's hold as Suigetsu unsealed the twin swords.

"Well, I'd rather prefer a big sword like Zabuza-sama's, but these'll do for now." Suigetsu said with a smirk.

"Ani-kun, quit ignoring me~." Akane whined as she hopped in place.

"Karin, Tayuya." Naruto said his clan member's names.

"Right." Karin said as she and Tayuya walked up to Akane and took her away.

"No! I wanna stay! Ani-kun!" Akane's voice called out.

"Well… let's get my sword back and kick these bastards' asses." Naruto said as they all then headed out towards the nearest chakra signatures. "Oh and Kankuro, sorry about your puppet." Naruto apologized.

"It's alright, I guess." Kankuro said looking down at his sealing scroll that said 'Karasu'.

"You know, I'm on good terms with Sasori. I could ask him to repair him for you." Naruto said.

"… That would be nice." Kankuro said.

/

Nagato was panting as he stared at Reto who was now lying on the ground in half.

"So that was the power of the Shodaime Kazekage. Definitely legendary." Nagato said.

"Nagato!" Nagato turned to see Izanami. "Baki wished for me to inform you that more zombified nin are attacking the west side of the village." Izanami said.

"Hai, continue to scan for more survivors and heal them if you can." Nagato said.

"Of course, I am a medic fox after all." Izanami said before vanishing. Nagato quickly summoned another bird summoning and flew towards the west side of the village.

'This is escalating dangerously. Young ones, please hurry.' Nagato thought thinking about his fellow Uzumakis and the others.

/

"Let me go! I need to be with ani-kun!" Akane exclaimed as she struggled to free herself from Tayuya's hold, who held the younger Uzumaki over her shoulder.

"No way shorty, we're taking you out of here." Tayuya said as she and Karin continued to run through the base. After running for a bit, the two stopped with Karin gasping as they both had shocked looks on their faces as they saw countless dismembered and shredded up deceased oto-nin. Everything was bloody and gruesome and it disturbed the sisters, but not as much as knowing that this was all done by Naruto. Karin tried holding in her lunch, but she vomited on the floor at the sight. "Nice." Tayuya said with some disgust at her sister's action.

Akane bit down on Tayuya's hand making the elder Uzumaki of the bunch release her from the pain. Akane then noticed her cloak, as she made her way to it and picked it up. She stared at the cloak, some blood drenched on it, and thought about what her brother thought of the symbol.

Naruto believed in what he felt the Akatsuki stand for so much that he had gained so much strength from it. She wanted strength too, but only because she wanted to be strong enough to fight alongside her brother, to stand by his side as they both fought. She wanted to be strong now more than anything, but at the moment she still felt too weak to help her brother.

"Come on Akane, we have to go." Karin said, but then Akane had an idea. After jumping away from the site of the small massacre of oto-nin, Akane quickly got into a lotus position and closed her eyes as she quickly entered her mind.

"What the hell is she doing?" Tayuya wondered with a raised eyebrow. It took a moment, but Karin's eyes widened with shock as she felt Akane tap into her Kyuubi chakra.

"Oh no, Akane you're not." Karin said as she stared at the younger Uzumaki.

/

Akane's eyes opened as she looked around to see that she was in a dark cave with ankle high murky water on the floor and stalactites dripping with dark murky water that fell to the floor.

Akane looked up at them wondering what they were, but then she felt Yin Kurama's chakra, so she spread out her arms and started running towards where she sensed the dark furred fox king was.

/

Naruto and his team made it to the top of the base to meet with Dai and his team, with Dai's back turned to them while his team stared at them.

"Hey shithead, give me back Shokan." Naruto order, pointing to his sword that was on Dai's back.

"If you desire it back." Dai grabbed the handle of Shokan, turned around and pointed it at Naruto. "Then you'll have to take it from my grip." Dai said.

Naruto just had a bored expression with half lidded eyes as he raised his hand and then waved his hand forward making Shokan fly out of Dai's hand and then into the smirking blonde's hand. The other's, minus Dai and his team, stared at Shokan with shock.

"That is officially the coolest sword I've ever seen." Suigetsu said.

Naruto spun Shokan in his hand and pointed it in Dai's direction.

"You and I have some business to take care of." Naruto said with a grinning smirk as Dai just stared at him with disinterest.

"None of your efforts will matter." The skull masked shinobi said with his arms crossed.

"Please, it's seven against five." Kankuro said, but then suddenly out from the ground came Kurora who stood next to the skull masked shinobi and Shi. "Okay, now you have six, but we still outnumber you!"

"Hisa." Dai spoke the masked woman's name. Hisa nodded as she made a hand sign as a large seal appeared under her. Suddenly two clouds of smoke appeared in front of her to reveal two deceased suna-nin, but then dust and ash started forming around the two as they transformed into two completely different people. The bodies stood up and stared at the now shocked young group.

"Oh shit." Naruto said as they all stared at the zombified bodies of Pakura of the Scorch Release and Rasa, the Yondaime Kazekage. "Anyone want to take these guys? Cause I'm saving my strength for Dai." Naruto said.

"I'll take Pakura." Temari said with a smirk as she grabbed her fan. "Be a good opportunity to see how far I've come in being a kunoichi."

'A kunoichi with wind release willing to up against a legend who possesses scorch release… and people say I'm crazy.' Naruto thought.

(You Are Crazy!)

"I shall deal with father." Gaara said as he stared at his zombified father.

"At this point I think you're the only one who can deal with him." Naruto said.

"Shi?" Shi asked turning her head to Dai.

"… Go crazy." Dai said.

Shi then suddenly dashed at the group at high speeds that the young shinobi had a hard time following. Naruto quickly activated his sharingan in time to see Shi was in front of him with her special scythe ready to gut him. Naruto quickly blocked the weapon with Shokan and pushed her back. Shi jumped into the air, spinning her double bladed scythe in her hands.

"SHI! ~" Shi gave a happy battle cry as she swung her scythe down onto Naruto, but Kankuro's puppet, Kuroari (Black Ant) block the attack. "Shi?" Shi questioned as she tilted her head.

"Your fight is with me!" Kankuro said with a determined look and a glare as Kuroari pushed Shi back, but the clearly psychopathic red head then started to laugh which freaked Kankuro out.

"Shi hahahahahahahahahah!" Shi laughed with excitement. (Yes, that's her laugh.)

"Um… anyone want to switch?" Kankuro asked starting to have second thoughts.

"As exciting as she looks, I still want to kill Dai." Naruto said nonchalantly.

"I'm not one for harming maidens, no matter how evil and psychotic they are." Rekka said.

"Gaara and I already called our choices." Temari said.

"I actually want to take on the skull masked guy." Suigetsu said with a shark-like grin.

"What about the big-" Kankuro was then interrupted as they all heard a roar as Jugo was above the skull masked shinobi as he then slammed his giant dark skinned fist against the man causing a giant dust cloud. "Guy…"

"Dammit Jugo, I called that bastard!" Suigetsu shouted with an annoyed anime style face. As the dust cloud disappeared, everyone was shocked to see that the skulled masked shinobi was holding Jugo's giant fist with his whole body intact. "Uh… what?" Suigetsu said which shock.

"Hiden: Kotsukoka." (Hidden Technique: Bone Hardening) The skull masked shinobi said. He then cocked his free hand back, tightened it into a fist and then slammed it against Jugo's gut, sending the giant towards the others. Naruto sent chakra and wind element to his hands and caught Jugo, albeit still skidding back a bit.

"Damn." Naruto said as he stared at the skull masked shinobi. "You okay, Jugo?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, I'll heal." Jugo said still feeling pain in his gut.

"Like I said, I'll take him on." Suigetsu said, but he failed to notice the pair of hands coming from the ground that were ready to grab his ankles.

"Look out!" Rekka shouted pointing to the hands.

Suigetsu jumped away, but then Kurora shot from the ground as black spikes came out of the palm of his hands, ready to stab Suigetsu. The two then stabbed into each other, with the spots where Suigetsu was stabbed turned into water and the spots where Kurora was stabbed by Kiba were holes through his body that spared him from getting stabbed.

"Well that's new." Suigetsu said with a grin.

Suddenly fireballs rocketed towards the others forcing them to scatter.

Temari then blocked a kunai slash from Pakura with her giant fan.

"Pakura of the scorch release, I have to say it's an honor to be able to face you in battle." Temari said with a smirk.

"Honestly I never thought that I'd face a fellow suna-kunoichi after Rasa's and Suna's betrayal." Pakura said.

"Betrayal?" Temari questioned as she and Pakura jumped away from each other.

"Shakuton: Shuryo Akuma no Batto!" (Scorch Release: Hunting Devil Bats. Personal creation.) Pakura shouted as she thrust her hands forward as three fireballs in the form of bats rocketed towards Temari

(She only has two known and recorded techniques so I'm pretty much going to spice things up with some personal created jutsu.)

Temari quickly took out three kunai tied to bomb tags and threw them at the bats that caused an explosion, but that only grew the size of the jutsu.

"Dammit." Temari cursed as she ran to the side to try and avoid the technique.

"This jutsu will follow you until it comes into contact of a living organism, and it absorbs any kind of heat. I'm afraid there's no way of avoiding this jutsu." Pakura said.

Rekka dashed at Chi who flew into the air with the help of his mosquitoes, so Rekka followed after him as fire shot from his feet.

"For all the lives you've taken away in that graveyard you created, I will see to it that justice will be brought!" Rekka shouted as he glared at Chi.

"Justice… is what one… makes of it. To me… this is only you showing… personal issues." Chi said as he dodged some fireballs Rekka sent at him.

"Seriously, if anyone wants to tag out, I'm okay with it!" Kankuro shouted as he tried his best to block all of Shi's attacks with Kuroari, but then suddenly a rod slid out of Shi's sleeve as two scythe blade appear at the end of it as Shi then started sending more slashes at Kankuro forcing the black clad puppet user to quicken his pace of blocking the attacks. "Anytime now!" Kankuro called out as he sweated with fear.

"Sorry, I'm busy trying to kiss some ass!" Suigetsu shouted as he sent slashes at Kurora, who parried the slashes with his black spikes and sent slashes at Suigetsu who parried them as well.

Jugo roared as he charged at the skull masked shinobi, extending his arm to great lengths as he sent it to strike the side of the shinobi, but all the skull masked man did was block it with his arm, not moving an inch from the attack. Jugo quickly stretched his other hand as it became a fist, but the skull masked shinobi grabbed it, however Jugo quickly slingshot his way up to the man as he then head-butted his in his forehead. Jugo glared at the man with his teeth gritted as his forehead became bruised.

"Big mistake." The skull masked shinobi said as suddenly sharp bones shot out from his body, forcing Jugo to jump back, but was a bit wounded from the attack.

"That attack… it's just like Kimimaro's." Jugo said with shock. "Does that mean that you're-?"

"I am Kotsuzui… and it is true… I am a part of the infamous Kaguya clan." The man now known as Kotsuzui said. Jugo gritted his teeth as his wounds healed a bit.

'This is going to be extremely difficult then.' Jugo thought.

Gaara stood across from his father with his arms crossed. The two stared at each other in silence, neither moving a muscle.

"Hello Gaara." Rasa spoke with a stoic look.

"Tou-san." Gaara simply said. Rasa blinked his eyes, surprised at Gaara's calm attitude.

"You… changed." Rasa said.

"It was all thanks to my friend." Gaara said.

"Friend?" Rasa said with wide eyes. "You… have a friend?"

"Yes. His name is Naruto Uzumaki, or as he's better known now as Naruto Senju. He is the heir of the Senju clan and the son of the late Yondaime Hokage." Gaara said as his eyes looked at Naruto who was walking towards Dai. Rasa stared a Naruto and sensed the power of a bijuu inside of him.

"Is that him?" Rasa questioned getting a nod of confirmation from his youngest son. "He is the Kyuubi jinchuriki, isn't he?" Rasa asked.

"He felt the same pain as me, yet he was able to avoid the same state that I was in through others. Fighting for them. He had received their kindness that they had become precious to him. He saved me by showing that hate can be overcome through love." Gaara said. Rasa stared at his son with sad eyes.

'Love… that is what changed him, huh? I guess you were right Yashamaru. Maybe that was what Gaara needed.' Rasa thought as black rings appeared around his eyes before he slammed his hands onto the ground, creating golden sand that burst from the ground beneath and surrounded the area. Rasa looked to his son's feet to see that it was surrounded by the legendary iron sand. 'The iron sand! How does Gaara have control over it?!' Rasa thought as he was once again shocked. The golden sand then took the form of twin dragons as Gaara's iron sand took the form of a golem. "Gaara… show me how much you've grown. Show me your worth. Can you defeat me or can't you!" Rasa said as his and Gaara's sand creatures clashed.

Naruto continued making his way towards Dai with the masked general staring at the blonde sternly; the two ignoring the other battles.

Naruto then stopped a few feet away from Dai as the two were in a stare down.

Hisa looked at the two with intense eyes, wondering who would make the first move.

"Dai-sama, do you wish to settle things alone or do you request that I summon another shinobi to deal with him?" Hisa asked the general.

"I shall deal with him myself." Dai simply said.

"Hai, ippai-sama." Hisa said with a small bow.

"Getting confident because of last time?" Naruto said as his eyes narrowed.

"Hardly. I only desire to kill you myself." Dai said as his eyes narrowed and bubbling lava started to form at his feet. "After I do away with you, I'll be a step closer to completing my ambition." Dai said as the ground stared to shake a bit.

"Ambition, huh?" Naruto said with a smirk. "Well then, I guess we have the same thought." Naruto then pointed Shokan at Dai. "Whoever kills the other will be closer to their life long goal." Naruto said with a smirk.

"Agreed." Dai said.

Suddenly the two dashed at each other with Shokan clashing against a blade made of lava.

/

Akane continued to run down the path of the cave with her arms spread out as she made bird noises.

"Tweet, tweet, tweet." Akane said as she continued to run down the path, but then she passed by a separate path. After realizing that was the path that lead to Yin Kurama, Akane started walking in reverse with her arms still straight out to the side. "Beep, beep, beep, beep." Akane said before running down the new path. "How come I knew how to make that sound?" Akane questioned.

After running for a bit, Akane made it into a spacious part of the cave where there was a giant cage across from Akane. Akane made her way up to Yin Kurama's cage and stopped right in front of it.

"Hi Kurama-kun!" Akane said cheerfully.

"Kittling, why are you here?" Kurama asked.

"I came here to-"

"Free me and officially be partners." Yin Kurama said.

"*Gasp*… How did you know?" Akane asked with wide shimmering eyes.

"Because I already knew why you were here. I can read your mind." Yin Kurama said.

"Really? What am I thinking about right now?" Akane asked.

"Cinnamon." Yin Kurama said.

"*Gasp*… Wow~." Akane said with shimmering eyes that reflected awe.

"You should realize that to free me that you must first face your dark side." Yin Kurama said.

"Oh, then I pass then! Because Rin-chan says I'm so sweet that in another life I could be a giant bag of sugar bigger than any tailed beast." Akane said with a huge warm smile as she hugged herself and twisted side to side. Yin Kurama stared at her with dull eyes.

'If I didn't sense it, I would probably believe her.' Yin Kurama thought. "Sadly kittling, everyone has a dark side, even you." Yin Kurama said.

"Aw~ does that mean I'm not as sweet as a giant bag of sugar?" Akane asked with a quivering lip and puppy dog eyes.

"No, it just means that even the sweetest of all kits can have a dark side within themselves." Yin Kurama said.

"Even me?" Akane questioned with the same sad look.

"I'm afraid so." Yin Kurama said. Akane's lips started shaking as she started developing tears in her eyes. 'And here come the water works.' Yin Kurama thought expecting Akane to wail with sadness.

"Then where is she? I'll beat her silly until she looks like road kill that's filled with throw-up!" Akane exclaimed as she put on a determined face and started jabbing at the air as she danced on her tippy toes. Yin Kurama blinked at her response, a bit shocked that she'd act this way instead.

'Well at least I'm spared to deal with someone's feelings.' Yin Kurama thought. "She is right there." Yin Kurama said pointed at Akane's feet.

Akane looked down at her feet to see her own reflection staring back at her.

"Where? I don't see her?" Akane asked as she leaned in closer. Then suddenly her reflecting punched her in the face sending her a bit away and landing on her rear end as she rubbed her nose. Akane then heard giggling as she saw her own reflection that was still in the same spot have a mischievous smirk on her face and then suddenly it rose from the watery ground to reveal a mirror image of Akane, but with black sclera and red iris in her eyes. "AH! Black Magic!" Akane screamed as she rapidly moved her arms up and down, anime style.

"No dummy, I'm your dark half." Yami Akane said, sounding very rudely.

"… But… your skin is light." Akane said, confused why this 'her' is called dark.

"BAKA! Baka, baka, baka! I'm called that because I'm all your anger, rag and fury!" Yami Akane shouted.

"… I have those?" Akane questioned tilting her head to the side.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Yami Akane screamed as she dashed at Akane. Akane went 'eep' as she started running away. "I Hate You! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" Yami Akane started shouting as she chased Akane.

"AH! Help me Kurama-kun! Help me!" Akane shouted with worry as she continued to run around, avoiding her dark self.

Yin Kurama looked at this, not knowing whether this is disappointing as he expected more from Akane facing off against her dark self or funny at how she was acting.

"You are such an idiot!" Yami Akane shouted.

"Rin-chan says it's not nice to call someone names!" Akane called out.

"Well she's a stupid bitch!" Yami Akane shouted making Akane gasp and skid to a halt and turn towards Yami Akane who stopped in front of Akane.

"Don't you ever call Rin-kaa-chan that!" Akane said with a glare to her darker half.

"And why not? She never loved Obito?" Yami Akane said with a smirk.

"Yes she does!" Akane shouted as she waved her arms rapidly up and down with her hands tightened into fists, anime style.

"Not at first. She loved that dumb Bakakashi guy." Yami Akane said with a smirk.

"But she loves him now!" Akane retorted.

"Only because she owes him for bringing her back to life. Just like how that Sakura bitch only loves Naruto-baka-kun for saving her life!" Yami Akane said.

Akane's eyes then turned red as she gritted her teeth, then she gave a war cry as she charged at Yami Akane and jumped at her.

"Never say that about Naruto-ani-kun and Sakura-nee-chan!" Akane shouted as she and Yami Akane rolled on the floor.

Yin Kurama was chuckling a bit at the little fight. Not only was Akane mentally like a child, but she also fought like one at times.

"She fell in love with an Uchiha and then she convinced herself that she's in love with Naruto-ani-kun. What a whore!"

"Don't call Sakura-nee-chan that!" Akane shouted.

"Why not?! Just because she's nee-chan's fiancé?!"

"Of course!"

"Baka! You think just because Naruto-baka-kun asked her to marry him that she'll love him forever? All of that happened because of her stupid forehead! I bet that if somebody else compliments her forehead she'd leave him!"

"Never!" Akane screamed as she then bit down on her darker self's neck making the other yell in pain before kicking Akane off.

"Why do you think that? Because Naruto-baka-kun says so?" Akane said standing up.

"Of course!" Akane said quickly standing up with her fists to her chest and her cheeks puffed.

"Bologna! You always take Naruto-baka-kun's word! 'Akatsuki is good, Sakura-chan is the greatest, Sasuke's really a nice guy, peace can happen'; all bullcrap! Akatsuki kills people! Sakura was a bitch to him! Sasuke was an emotionless loser! Peace Can Never Happen! All of It Are All Lies!" Dark Akane shouted with anger. Akane stared at her dark self with an unreadable expression, but then her lip started to move. Yin Kurama and Yami Akane thought that Akane might cry, but then suddenly Akane started to giggle confusing the two, then she started to laugh. "W-what? Why are laughing? What's so funny?!"

"What you just said. 'All of it are all lies'. Ani-kun would never lie to us, you know this." Akane said.

"And how would you know?!" Yami Akane shouted with anger.

"Because he has no reason to." Akane said shocking her darker self.

"No reason to? What makes you say that?!" Yami Akane shouted with a glare.

"He saved us." Akane said.

"And just because he saved us that makes you think that he would never lie to us?!"

"Uh huh." Akane said with a nod and a smile on her face.

"And why's that?!"

"Because he didn't have any other reason to expect because he wanted to. Is that something a bad person would do?" Akane said.

"But that doesn't mean he's not a liar!"

"I know." Akane said still smiling as she twisted in place with her hands behind her back.

"Then why would you believe him?!"

"Because I choose to." Akane said with a smile surprising her other half. "Ani-kun might have done some bad things, but he's done so much right, and a lot of good to us. Maybe he lied to us, but I wouldn't know, but I wouldn't even care because he still does good by us, better than the people from Oto and that's what I like. Ani-kun's given me a home, a family, love and a new chance and I didn't even have to ask, because he gave it all to me happily. I'd believe a person like ani-kun any day, no if, ands or buts about it. Akatsuki's good, Sasuke is super nice, peace can happen and Sakura-nee-chan is the greatest!" Akane said with a huge smile on her face.

"But… but…" Yami Akane started to tremble with her teeth gritting. "How can you believe him? Believe Anything He Says?! WHY DO YOU TRUST HIM SO MUCH?!" Yami Akane screamed as she charged at Akane.

Akane just stood there still smiling, but when her yami half was at arm's length, she hugged her and said.

"Because we love him." Akane said still smiling shocking her dark half. "We'll always love him and that's enough to believe in him and the world. I will walk through this world with a big smile on my face, because ani-kun's words will be the light that'll keep me that way."

"But… but… what if… what if…"

"Whether he's by our side or not… his words and his heart will always radiate in our heart. Now tell me… do you believe in him?"

Yami Akane suddenly start crying as her eyes transformed to look like Akane's.

"Yes… Yes I do." The other Akane said as she hugged the original back before disappearing.

Yin Kurama smiled at this; happy with what the young Uzumaki had done.

'Good job kit.' Yin Kurama thought with a smile.

"Aw~ I miss her now; just when I finally got her to believe in ani-kun." Akane said with her trademark pout.

"Don't worry kit, she's always within you." Kurama said with a small smile.

"Thanks Kurama-kun, that makes me feel better." Akane said with a cheerful, beaming smile before running up to the cage. "Now I'm going to make you feel better." She said. Once she made it to the cage she floated up to the seal and ripped the tag off to reveal the lock. Akane rubbed her hands ready to unlock Kurama's cage, but then a thought came to her head. "What did the key look like again?" Akane questioned with her finger to her chin. Kurama moved his hand to the small amount of water below to reveal an image of the seal that unlocked his prison. "Oh, thank you Kurama-kun!" Akane thanked with a huge smile.

"Don't mention it." Kurama said, but then he put up his finger when he saw Akane open her mouth to speak. "It's an expression." Akane then smiled with a nod before the seal appeared on her arm.

/

Tayuya and Karin stared at Akane, with the first having a raised eyebrow and her arms crossed and the latter with a worried expression and biting her thumb. Akane had been in her position for a while now with the two waiting for her to awaken; well Karin really, Tayuya wanted to know what was supposed to happen.

"So, isn't something supposed to happen?" Tayuya asked her sister, but then suddenly Akane burst into golden flames shocking the two. Akane opened her eyes to see Tayuya and Karin staring at her with shock. Akane stood up was about to dust herself off when she noticed that her whole body was golden with black markings on her body and it looked like that she was also made of fire.

"Wow! Look at me! I'm like the fire on a candle ready to light the way!" Akane said with a huge smile on her face with her arms spread out to the side and standing on one foot.

"You… you awoken your chakra mode? And after all the crap that's happened?! Unbelievable." Karin said with shock and amazement written all over her face.

"Whoa." Was all Tayuya could say as stared at Akane with same expression.

"Come on! Let's go help ani-kun!" Akane exclaimed, pumped with new determination and vigor. She quickly ran towards where she sensed her brother's chakra, but she skidded to a halt when she noticed that she was a couple of feet away from Tayuya and Karin. "Wow! Check me out! I'm super-fast!" Akane exclaimed with delight as she suddenly vanished. "Now I'm here." She said appearing next to Karin. "Now I'm here." She said as she appeared behind a pillar. "Now here!" She cheered appearing above the two. "Now here." She said appear a little away from the two in a crouch position, before vanishing and then appearing behind Tayuya with locks of the elder Uzumaki's hair in her hands. "Look, I'm playing with Tayuya-nee-chan's hair." Akane said with a playful smile and a pair of eye smiles while Tayuya had a dull look on her face. The older Uzumaki went to grab Akane, but the younger one quickly side stepped away from her grasp. "Nice try." Akane teased with a teasing smile before vanishing again and appearing a little away from the two. "Catch me if you can." Akane said with a cheeky grin before dashing away at high speed.

The two looked to where Akane ran off to with Karin sporting a mildly surprised look and Tayuya having a bored expression on her face.

"Did she actually just forgotten about-"

"It sure looks that way." Karin said adjusting her glasses.

"Just making sure what I saw really happened." Tayuya said still sporting her bored expression.

Suddenly Akane appeared in front of them with her hands to her cheeks and a worried look on her face.

"Oh no! I forgot that Naruto-ani-kun needs me!" Akane said with worry before standing up straight with a new battle ready look upon her face. "Let's move!" Akane ordered pointing to the roof before vanishing from sight.

Karin and Tayuya remained in that same spot with their expressions being the same as before.

"We have strange family, don't we nee-chan?" Karin asked.

"It took you this long to notice?" Tayuya asked still looking bored.

/

Naruto skidded back to a halt as he then looked up at Dai to see lava dancing around the bottom half of his body and his left forearm.

'Damn, he's harder to beat than I thought.' Naruto thought as he wiped away some imaginary fluid from the side of his mouth.

"Your sword still impresses me. Too bad it's in the hands of a young gaki who doesn't know how to wield it." Dai said.

"Let's see you say that in a few minutes." Naruto said before charging and started slashing at lava tentacles Dai was sending at him.

Rekka started sending flames at Chi, but the human hive kept dodging it as he sent some of his blood sucking friends at him. Rekka dodged them, but after dodging a few, he noticed that a small army of them started charging at him.

Rekka quickly spun in the air as fire started to surround his body like a cocoon. The mosquitoes flew passed Rekka as to not get burnt and went to return back to Chi's body. Chi quickly went through some hand sign as he pulled his mask down. "Hiden: Kuro Doku!" Chi shouted shooting black sludge from out of his mouth, hitting Rekka's jutsu, surprisingly encasing Rekka making him fall to the ground with his entire torso covered in the black substance.

"What? How?!" Rekka questioned with shock.

"The black venom is… stronger than any… fire jutsu there is… it is… unique… to say the least." Chi said as he landed a little away from Rekka.

"Unique? Yes. Stronger than any fire jutsu? I don't think so." Rekka said as he started rising his body temperature making his skin a pinkish red hue. The black gunk surrounding his body started to bubble from the heat. Chi stared at this with interest at what was happening. Rekka growled a bit before he roared as red chakra burst from his body making his hair move wildly as the black slime was destroyed. Suddenly streams fire came from his body as they took the shape of tentacles. "Katon: Yaketsuku Yona Shokushu" (Fire Release: Searing Tentacle. Personal Jutsu.) Rekka called as eight fire tentacles fully formed with four of them surrounding him surrounded like a shield.

"… Interesting… to say the… least." Chi said.

Suddenly a few of the tentacles charged at him. Chi moved his upper body back far back, avoiding a tentacle, then reached his arm further back placing his hand on the ground then raised his feet and spun around to avoid two tentacles that went to hit him, but instead broke the ground, then flipped off the ground to avoid three ore tentacles and then shot more black gunk from his mouth to hit two more tentacles coming at him making them explode, ceasing them for a second to allow Chi to land on the ground in a split to avoid a pair of tentacles from stabbing straight through him. Chi then slammed his fists against the ground.

Rekka sensed danger from below, so he jumped away as mosquitoes shot from where he was just standing, then the parasites flew back towards Chi before they were hit by any of the fire tentacles and receded back into Chi's body through his skin.

"Boy… those are some powerful insects." Said to himself.

"Shall we… continue?" Chi asked as his chakra healed his skin cells, closing the holes in his skin that the mosquitoes created.

"Let us! I am the insect repellent that shall destroy you bugs!" Rekka shouted.

"… Idiot… bug repellent doesn't kill." Chi said with an anime sweat drop.

"Not unless I keep spraying you!" Rekka shouted.

"That doesn't even-" Rekka then suddenly gave a war cry as he charged at Chi with fire surrounding him. "… Baka."

Pakura observed Rekka's fighting prowess and was impressed at his incredible abilities and control over fire.

'Incredible. I've never seen so much power of the element of fire in my life, and I don't even think he possesses a kekkei genkai. It's too bad I didn't get to face him.' Pakura thought, but then she turned to see Temari jumping over her. Temari skidded a bit away and had her fan opened and quickly sent a gust of wind at her just as her fire jutsu went over her. 'But this kunoichi is amazing as well.' Pakura though just as the wind jutsu hit the fire bats making them expand and explode from the touch of Pakura's reanimated body and warm chakra.

"Hey, good one Temari!" Kankuro exclaimed as he then used Kuroari to block Shi's scythe. "How about lending your favorite brother a hand?" Kankuro asked being creeped out by Shi's chuckling.

"Sorry Kankuro, but my fight's not finished yet." Temari said as she saw Pakura exit out of the smoke from the jutsu. "And who says you're my favorite brother." Temari said.

"That's cold." Kankuro said.

Gaara's iron sand and Rasa's gold sand clashed with each other, both trying to fight for dominance.

'Such control.' Rasa thought.

"Six father." Gaara said catching his father's attention. "You made six attempts to kill me and each time my fear and hatred for you increased, but I no longer harbor any hatred for you father. I believe… I'm beginning to understand why you did it."

Rasa then started to remember the past, mostly those that had to do with his actions. Karura's death because of his haste of sealing the Shukaku, the attempts on Gaara's life, sending Pakura and Yashamaru to their deaths and agreeing to team up with Orochimaru and his village. Actually he felt he never really understood himself or the reason behind his actions.

"Now, Suna Arare." (Sand Hail) Gaara said as he extended his hand to the sky as balls of iron sand came rocketing down towards Rasa. Rasa raised his hands above his head, controlling a vast amount of gold sand to create a shield above him. As the iron sand hit the gold sand, Rasa concentrated hard to keep up the shield, but then he noticed Gaara's regular sand at his feet and start to encase Rasa's body.

'Dammit! The sand hail was just a diversion. He used it to make me lift up the gold dust!' Rasa thought, impressed by his son's move. As the sand was encasing Rasa like a cocoon, Rasa managed to bring up his hand to smash the gold dust atop of Gaara, but Gaara's sand suddenly formed a pair of hands over Gaara, protecting him from the sand. Rasa suddenly realized the form of the cocoon around him and the form the sand that was protecting Gaara with a shocked look on his face. 'Karura… you still live on inside this child?' Rasa thought with shock.

Temari and Kankuro glanced at their younger brother and father's fight to see Rasa restrained, but they also were inwardly shocked by the form of the sand encasing Rasa and protecting Gaara.

"You have truly grown up in such a short time… Gaara." Rasa said surprising Gaara a bit. "What parents need to do is believe in their children." Rasa said looking down to the ground with shame and sadness.

Suddenly Naruto came rolling away from Dai and stopping next to Gaara, to reveal that his zip up shirt had a hole at the chest to reveal Naruto's now burnt chest.

"Don't mind me, just trying to catch my breath." Naruto said as he glared at Dai.

"That one simple thing… is the real treasure." Rasa said making Naruto look at him then at Gaara to see the shocked expression on his face. "Isn't that the whole truth of it Karura? Now I see it clearly. I didn't possess the ability to judge the true value of things." Rasa said looking up.

"What do you mean by that?" Gaara asked still a bit shocked.

"No matter what the sand will always protect you." Rasa said looking up at the sand that was protecting Gaara. "But that is not Shukaku's power. It belongs to your mother. It's Karura's." Rasa said shocking Gaara and Naruto. Naruto looked up to see that the sand that was protecting Gaara was in the shape of a woman. Rasa then started to remember Karura's final moments.

/

Lying on a medical bed, Karura was breathing heavily as the doctor's monitored her heart rate. A doctor held a premature infant Gaara in his hands, showing him to his father, Yondaime Kazekage Rasa, and Lady Chiyo, Suna's best medic-nin.

"He's so small. He's premature. Are you really sure he's going to be alright?" Rasa questioned.

"I'm not certain, but he is adapting. This is the third child, so far he's the only one that's compatible. His upbringing is going to require a good deal of care." Lady Chiyo said.

"Please let… let me see my… baby's face." Karura said as she panted between her words.

"Are you alright Karura?" Rasa asked with worry for his wife's health. A doctor placed a premature baby Gaara's next to Karura's face. Karura looked at baby Gaara with a small grin.

"He's so… just so tiny." Karura said. She then suddenly held Gaara gently in her hands. "No matter what happens… I will always protect you… Gaara." Karura said. Suddenly the sounds of a machine was heard.

"It's Karura-sama's heart rate, its dropping sir." A doctor said to Rasa alarming him greatly.

"Then do something about it now!" Rasa exclaimed, but then the machine's beeps were getting higher, shocking Rasa as he turned to Karura. "Karura, no!" Rasa shouted with fear, but then the flat line was heard. Rasa stared at his wife's cold, dead face. He stared at her with great shock and started to develop tears. 'What have I done?' Rasa thought as he fell to his knees and dug his face into the bed and started to cry. 'Karura… forgive me.' Rasa thought as he continued to cry as he felt Chiyo's hand placed onto his back in a comforting manner.

/

"No matter what happens… I will always protect you… Gaara."

Rasa heard Karura's final words echo within his head.

"Your mother… loved you." Rasa confessed shocking Gaara immensely as the young red head's eyes widened from his father's words. Naruto stared at the sand women that were protecting Gaara and holding Rasa in place and figured that they must have been Gaara's mother's spirit.

Hisa stared at the scene with confusion as to why her jutsu stopped working.

"That's strange. My control over the Yondaime Kazekage's body has been cut off." Hisa said with confusion. Dai looked at the scene, inwardly surprised by what was happening.

'There's never been anything from the record books of this on Edo Tensai.' Dai thought continuing to watch on. "Hisa."

"Yes ippai-sama?"

"Father did… did you really just say mother loved me?" Gaara asked, still in shock at what his father had told him. "But that day long ago… when Yashamaru came after me."

"You were never loved Gaara. Never." Yashamaru's voice echoed within Gaara's head.

"I told Yashamaru to lie to you then. He was merely following orders." Rasa confessed. "I had to see if you'd lose control of the tailed beast inside you if you were distraught. For the sake of the village. If there was anyone Yashamaru truly hated… it would have been me and not you. I'm the one who forced Yashamaru's pregnant older sister, Karura, to suffer the sealing of Shukaku the sand spirit, but Yashamaru was of consummate shinobi; he was loyal to me and a reliable ANBU black ops for Suna. He followed my orders for the sake of the village."

Suddenly Naruto punched Rasa across the face shocking Gaara and his siblings, who were still fighting.

"Naruto, what the hell?!" Kankuro shouted.

"No… he was right to do so." Rasa said as Naruto charged at Dai with Shokan ready in his hands. "Everything I've done was a mistake. Gaara… I burdened you unnecessarily. I arbitrarily decided that you held no true value to our village or to anyone. I took away your future by making you a jinchuriki, robbed you of your mother, and poisoned you against her. I took away everything. Your ability to know or love others. I even tried to take your life. In the end, as a parent, there is only one thing I gave you. The only thing you got from me was a broken heart." Rasa said looking at his son's saddened face with his own melancholic expression.

Suddenly Gaara started to remember something from his past. The day when Yashamaru taught him about the pain of the heart and how to heal it.

/

"I know I'm not bleeding… but lately I've felt a lot of pain in here." A young Gaara said gripping his heart with a knife in his hand.

His uncle Yashamaru took the knife from Gaara's hand and cut his finger, shocking Gaara.

"You wound your body and blood is going to flow; following fast is the feeling of pain, but as time passes the pain eventually fades away and with a little help from medicine it can heal even faster… but even more dangerous is a wound dealt to the heart, because there is nothing that has more trouble healing." Yashamaru explained.

"A wound to the heart?" Gaara questioned.

"Wounds to the heart are a little different than wounds to the flesh. Unlike an injury to the body there is no medicine for a wounded heart and sometimes it never heals." Yashamaru said making Gaara feel sad. "But don't worry. There is one thing that's capable of mending a broken heart." Yashamaru said earning new interest from Gaara. "But that cure is a very complicated remedy." Yashamaru said as he looked at a picture of his sister. "And it can only be administered by another person."

"… What is it?" Gaara asked, desperately wanting to know the answer.

"… It's love Gaara." Yashamaru said with a smile.

"It's love?"

"Yep."

"But… but how am I supposed to get it?" Gaara asked wanting to know how to gain love.

"Don't you know Gaara? It has already been given to you." Yashamaru said surprising Gaara. Yashamaru then looked back at the picture of Karura with Gaara doing the same. "My mother."

"There's no question that my older sister always loved you. Shukaku the sand spirit is a living soul bent towards the purpose of war… but when the sand that you wield automatically rushes in to protect you that is your mother's love. I believe your mother's will is carried within every grain of that sand."

/

Gaara then started to shed tears, staining the ground below as the sand Karura was still protecting him.

"My sister… even after death… wants more than anything to protect you."

Rasa stared up at the figure of Karura, still shocked that her will continued to protect Gaara through every grain of sand that he possessed before he then looked down with shame.

Gaara continued to cry tears of both sadness and joy. After all he's been through after all the pain that he was give that hurt his heart, especially taking his beloved uncle's life, he felt a sense of happiness, because he now knew that his uncle was right all along. His mother did love him and continued to protect him all this time after her death.

'Karura.' Rasa thought with sadness.

Temari and Kankuro had heard everything and it hurt them that they couldn't go and help heal Gaara's pain, but suddenly a small melody was heard as the bodies of Pakura and Shi were frozen in place. The two noticed that Tayuya had joined the battle and froze the two in place with her demonic flute.

"Time to end this!" Kankuro shouted as he unsealed his damaged puppet, Karasu, and with collaboration with Kuroari, the two broke apart, with Kuroari's body trapping Shi in a wooden casing with Karasu's limbs and head with all of them having sharp blades at the end of them, stabbed right into the wooden casing. "Kurohigi Kiki Ippatsu!" (Black Secret Technique Machine One Shot A.K.A Iron Maiden) Kankuro shouted as blood came out of the casing.

Karin suddenly appeared behind Pakura and placed a seal on her body.

"Huh… I guess I lose." Pakura said as her body was frozen in place.

"Gaara!" Temari called out her brother's name as she and Kankuro ran up to him. The two made it by his side with Temari hugging him and Kankuro placing his hand on his little brother's shoulder.

Rasa stared at his children, shocked that his children were so close, but also proud, even those his face only expressed remorse and regret.

"Mothers are powerful." Rasa said.

"Yeah, ain't that the truth." Naruto mumbled before he blocked one of Dai's magma covered punches with Shokan.

"Yours believed in you and protected you, even after death. She's the one who made you what you are today… and I can see that you will become even better with her watching over you. She allowed you friends and gave you bonds with your siblings. All the things that I took away from you. And as your father… all I ever did was torment you… I don't even deserve to be called your father." Rasa said with sadness.

Kankuro and Temari were surprised by their father's behavior. Never before have they seen this side of him or seen him so sincere. Gaara wiped away his tears with his sleeve and look at his father.

"My mother is amazing." Gaara said. "Thanks to her I have now received medicine from you father." Rasa then became shocked as tears started to form in his eyes.

'Gaara…' Rasa then saw what looked like a clear picture of the future. His three children, now older, standing side by side. 'My son.' He smiled as he saw the kazekage hat on future Gaara's head. "You surpassed me long ago… my son." Rasa said as his tears slide down his cheeks. "I leave the village to you, Gaara, as Suna's kazekage." Rasa said shocking Gaara and his sibling. "Make me proud my son… I-" suddenly Rasa glowed gold as his body suddenly exploded shocking the sand siblings.

"Pawn eliminated Dai-ippai-sama." Hisa said.

"What did you just do?!" Kankuro shouted.

"Sacrificing a useless chess piece." Hisa said as if what she did was nothing.

"You bitch! I'm going to kill you!" Kankuro shouted as he took out a scroll. Kankuro opened the scroll and unsealed his large puppet Sanshouo (Salamander). Kankuro hopped atop of the puppet as a metal frill that looked like an oni's face a bit, covering Kankuro from any frontal attacks. Kankuro then made Karasu's body parts separate from Kuroari and brought the damaged, but still working puppet next to him and Sanshouo, but when he was about to connect his chakra threads to Kuroari, blades appeared between the hatch that was Kuroari's torso which shocked Kankuro. 'No way.' He thought with new fear. The hatch opened up and then after a moment of silence, a foot stepped out of the puppet and then another until a bloody Shi was revealed. 'No one's ever survived that move… How?!' Kankuro thought with growing fear, but then suddenly Shi's started to chuckle as she then lowly turned her head to Kankuro. Once her head stopped, Kankuro's eyes widened with intense fear as he saw Shi's mask had fallen off to reveal elongated teeth that looked like fangs, grinning fangs, and that her left goggle lens was broken to reveal her crazed crimson red eyes. 'Mother of Kami… Is she some sort of demon?!' Kankuro thought with major fear. Suddenly Shi appeared above Kankuro, ready to slice him up with her scythes with a maniacal and bloodthirsty look on her face.

"Shi!" Shi called out her battle cry as she was about to commit an X-cross slash on Kankuro, but she was suddenly kicked away by a double kick. Kankuro looked to see that it was Akane who was now glowing gold with black markings on her body and she appeared to be made out of fire.

"Whoa." Was all Kankuro could say.

"Where the heck have you been squirt?" Tayuya questioned.

"I accidently took a wrong turn." Akane said with a pout.

"Shi!" Akane turned to see Shi appear right up to her and started sending slashes at Akane. Akane just effortlessly dodged all the attacks.

"Miss me, miss me, miss me." Akane said treating the whole thing like it was a game. A chakra fist then came out from Akane's torso and punched Shi away. "Ah! Oh wait, that's just my chakra." Akane said with a relieved smile. Suddenly Akane heard something making her look only to gasp in horror as she saw Naruto banged up and being held by the neck by Dai who had Shokan in his other hand. Her eyes widened from the horror but then she heard Naruto screaming as she saw that Dai's hand was concentrating heat against his neck, creating new burn marks on his body. "Naruto Ani-kun!" Akane screamed as she then dashed towards her brother and Dai. Shi was suddenly above Akane, ready to slice her to pieces, but a torrent of water came rocketing passed Akane and head towards Shi. Suigetsu, who was the torrent itself, came at her with the swords Kiba in his hands and sliced Shi in half across the line where her torso and legs and crotch met, while he was cut up, but since he was made of water he was okay. Akane ran passed the two with the Raijin no ken in her hand. Once she appeared in front of them, she was ready to stab at Dai, but Dai went to stab her with Shokan, but as the tip of the giant broadsword came closer, she disappeared as Naruto was then replaced by a clone of Akane who stabbed her clone of Raijin no ken into Dai's arm, electrocuting him. "Are you alright ani-kun?" Akane asked her brother, who was in her arms as the clone Dai held blew up into a fiery explosion.

"Y-yeah, I'll be good." Naruto said with a grinning smirk.

"Looks like she saved your butt." Suigetsu said reforming in front of the two. "Didn't expect that she'd be better than you." Suigetsu said with a grinning smirk.

"She's a true prodigy, what else can I say? I'm proud of her." Naruto said with a smile shocking Akane.

"Y-you're proud of me ani-kun?" Akane asked with shimmering eyes. Naruto just grin and nodded making her squeal with joy as she hugged her brother.

"Say how did you ditch that other guy?" Naruto asked Suigetsu.

"Bakuhatsu Mizu Kuron (Explosive Water Clone. Personal creation; I double checked to make sure it was.). I pretty much came up with it from that Bushin Daibakuha technique that I've heard so much about." Suigetsu said with a smug grinning smirk.

"Nice, but I think he's still alive." Naruto said pointing towards Hisa as Kurora rose from the ground until he stopped at halfway up his body, so only his legs were a part of the ground.

"Fuck." Suigetsu said with an annoyed look on his face.

"*Gasp* He said a bad word!" Akane said with shock as she pointed at Suigetsu.

"Seriously? After everything you've been through you're going to judge me for saying a curse? Man, you're strange." Suigetsu said, but then suddenly he was cut in half diagonally, shocking Naruto and Akane, but they became even more shocked that it was Shi who was still cut in half, so she was standing on the bottom part of her torso.

"Shi hee hee." Shi said with a grin. She then jumped in the air to slice the twins apart, but Akane quickly used her Raijin no Ken.

"Lightning powers go!" Akane exclaimed as she shot a bolt of lightning at Shi, sending her flying as she went 'Shi~' all the way until she hit the ground.

"What the hell?" Naruto questioned. Suddenly a blast of golden sand blasted passed them as Kotsuzui was being pushed back until he was shot away, skidding back on his feet until he stopped next to Shi. Naruto looked behind himself to see Gaara controlling the golden sand. "Nice. That's three sands you can control." Naruto said with a smirk. Akane helped he brother up as his body was already healing. "Looks like your warm chakra is helping my cell regeneration." Naruto said to his sister.

"Happy to help ani-kun." Akane said with a smile and a pair of eye smiles.

"What's with that chick over there? The one who's missing her legs." Tayuya asked as she and the others stopped next to Naruto with Suigetsu suddenly reforming.

"Yeah, I thought I killed her." Suigetsu said.

"Oh no." Karin said with new fear catching Suigetsu, Tayuya, Akane and Naruto's attention. "Look what's around her neck." Karin said pointing towards Shi's necklace only for Naruto and Tayuya's eyes to widen, however Akane was tilting her head in confusion on what the fuss was about.

"No way." Tayuya said with shock.

"A necklace?" Suigetsu questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"I believe I've seen the pendant attached to it somewhere before in a book." Jugo said walking up next to Karin.

"That's the symbol of Jashin." Naruto said.

"Oh, you mean the religion Hidan-senpai follows?" Akane questioned getting a nod from Naruto.

"What's Jashin?" Suigetsu asked with raised eyebrow not getting the big deal.

"Jashin is a religious cult founded by a man of the same name. The practice they have is to kill and spread utter destruction. There's a member in the Akatsuki who is a part of the cult and somehow thanks to the cult he became unkillable; an immortal being, but now apparently he wasn't the only one who was given the same ability." Karin explained.

"Whoa." Suigetsu said with shock as his eyes were wide, but then he raised an eyebrow as a thought came to his head. "Wait, if your organization fights for peace then how come a murder loving, mayhem addicted psychopath was recruited into your ranks?" Suigetsu asked.

"I wondered the same thing, but I never got a clear answer." Karin said with an annoyed look on her face, still confused as to why Hidan was recruited into Akatsuki.

(I know I'm going to have to explain someday.)

"Look out for the legs!" Temari shouted making the two turn in time to duck away from Shi's legs that tried to jump kick them, then ran towards Shi after failing with Chi landing next to her pair of legs.

"Thanks for the heads up." Karin thanked Temari as the blonde stopped right in between Jugo and Tayuya.

"Anytime." Temari said. Rekka made his way next to Akane and Naruto with Sanshouo stopping next to him with Kankuro standing atop of it and controlling it along with Kuroari and the damaged Karasu.

"An all-out brawl between our generation and the best of oto." Naruto said with a smirk as he stood from the ground feeling his body healed just enough. "This should be interesting." Naruto said with an edgy, excited grin with a pair of fangs.

"Agreed." Dai said narrowing his eyes.

"No." They all heard as the genin were surround by a shadow making them look up to see Gaara's three sands over their head with Gaara standing atop of the vast grain. Naruto whistled, impressed by the feat. "This battle it over. Leave now." Gaara said with his arms crossed.

"Hn." Dai uttered. Suddenly a bone spear from Kotsuzui towards Gaara, but suddenly both his sand and the gold dust came in front of him, forming a pair of hands, defending Gaara from the attack.

"What the? Did the gold dust defend Gaara?" Kankuro questioned as he, Temari and Naruto looked up at the sands with the two sand siblings' eyes widening as they saw figures of both their mother and father, with the latter being made of gold dust. "Is that… tou-san?" Kankuro questioned with shock.

Gaara glared at the group of oto-nin, but then looked up at the gold dust figure of his father as the words he spoke before rang through his head, right before he was destroyed.

"I leave the village to you, Gaara, as Suna's kazekage. Make me proud my son… I love you."

Gaara had shed a single tear as he remembered what he managed to hear from his father when he exploded.

"I am the Kazekage of Sunagakure and because of your actions you have now started a war between Suna and Oto, however I am allowing you this one chance to take all your men and return to your village. Either take this chance or face me and my comrades." Gaara spoke.

Dai stared up at Gaara for a moment before closing his eyes.

"Hmph. I am not so easily intimidated. War had begun long before this mission. Everyone is just too headstrong for peace to realize it." Dai said as he then aimed his finger at Naruto's heart and then shot a lightning fast senbon of lava at him.

"Ani-kun!" Akane cried as she pushed her brother out of the way, only for her to be hit in the chest by it. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw his sister fall to the floor as her chakra mode deactivated.

"AKANE!" Naruto cried as he quickly knelt next to his sister with wide eyes.

Gaara's sands charged at Dai who ordered for his subordinates to scatter and as they quickly jumped away, Dai's body exploded with lava as a golem of magma brought its arms in an X-block and took the sand head on.

"To possess a variety of sands plus the power of Shukaku is an impressive feat, however magma is still superior then grains of broken down earth element." Dai said as he appeared in front of the Golem that pushed the sands away.

'Damn, his elemental power is still superior to mine. I can't defeat him.' Gaara thought with a glare. Suddenly Gaara's eyes widened as he sensed a powerful spark of energy. Gaara noticed that Naruto was surrounded by red energy. 'Such anger, but this doesn't feel like chakra. Is this…'

"So much…" Rekka said as he stared at Naruto. 'So much killer intent.'

Naruto's face was twisted in anger with his teeth becoming fangs and his eyes shadowed by the bangs of his hair. Naruto picked up Akane bridal style and handed her to Tayuya.

"Go… now. All of you." Was all Naruto said as he turn back towards Dai.

No one argued with Naruto, instead they just left to distance themselves from the intense battle that was going to ensue. Naruto's fist trembled with anger as he raised his other hand towards Dai's direction as Shokan flashed out of Dai's hand, shocking him, and then appeared in a golden flash in Naruto's hand.

"Naruto, let us help you." Minato said within his son's mind.

"Yeah! I Want To Destroy This Bastard For What He Did To My Little Red!" Kushina yelled with great anger as her hair rose in the air and took the shape of nine tails.

"Don't bother with your request. He's too enraged to hear your words." Kurama said. "Besides… he's about to use my power."

Naruto continued to shake with great anger as Dai stared at him.

'I tire of this.' Dai thought as he raised his fist with the golem mimicking him, readying to smash it's fist against Naruto, but then Dai heard a hissing sound making him look up to notice that a small amount of steam came from the fist. "Hm?" Dai then noticed that clouds were forming around the area making him raise an eyebrow. 'Queer. There was not supposed to be any rain today.' Dai thought. Rain drops then started to fall to the ground and hitting against the golem causing steam to arise from its body. Dai noticed that many rain drops landed around Naruto's feet, which seemed very odd to him. The rain then started getting more intense, the rain coating the dirt below in its liquid and the magma golem to produce more steam as the liquid hit against its shell. Dai watched as Naruto's body start to twitch as his red aura grew more bit by bit. "I'm done with your fit of rage." Dai said as he brought his fist back and brought it down towards Naruto.

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Naruto screamed with anger as his whole body burst with crimson red chakra surrounding him and out of it came a large skeletal golden hand that grabbed the magma golem's fist surprising Dai. Everyone then stared at a giant crimson skeletal figure surrounding Naruto with shock.

The skeletal being was made of pure crimson red chakra. It had two pairs of horns with one of the pair being smaller than the other pair and being located under the larger ones, had a spike on its chin and two pair of fangs with one pair being at the bottom row next to the other pair that was at the top row.

'I don't believe it… the Susanoo!' Dai thought with wide shocked eyes. Dai then noticed the red gleam in Naruto's right eye meaning only one thing. 'Of course; how could I forget? The brat possesses Madara's original eyes. I should have expected nothing less.' Dai thought with narrowed eyes. Naruto growled as his Susanoo's other skeletal hand moved back as muscles started to surround it, before he then thrust it forward only for it to be grabbed by the golem. Dai stared at Naruto, trying to anticipate what his next move will, be when a giant claw shot from Naruto's Susanoo's torso, attempting to claw at Dai, but the high ranking oto-nin jumped away in time to dodge the attack. "Two can play at this game." Dai said as another fist came out of the magma golem and headed straight for the Susanoo, but then Naruto looked up at it as a large tree burst from the ground, taking the hit. 'What?!' Dai thought with wide shocked eyes. As the tree melted away, Dai sensed something from below making him jump back as a crimson claw came from, but that was only to force him back as a wooden spike impaled him in the torso. The others thought that Naruto had won, but the clone turned into magma that fell to the floor.

Naruto took this chance and started to raise his voice as his power grew. The Susanoo then developed muscle on both its arms and some on its back and the side of its mouth. He then slammed his hands together into a snake hand sign as wood came from out of the ground below and started to encase Naruto's Susanoo.

The Susanoo now had wooden armor, however only its left arm, the back, most of its torso and head were covered by wood. The wood armored arm had a claw like Shukaku's with the forearm having spike, the elbow having an extended rectangular pillar of wood coming from it and a hole on the bicep area revealing the crimson muscle, the torso was mostly covered in muscular looking wooden armor and, however the stomach area was exposed to reveal the Susanoo's spinal cord and rib cage, the back had large jagged spikes coming out of it with large ones sticking out of the top while the spikes had gotten smaller down the back, but the upper back was all clear of wood and was showing that the Susanoo was hunching, and finally the head which was like a helmet looked like Kurama's head, only deformed a bit with the left side of it looking jagged and broken off, same with the left ear that looked mostly torn, but still had a bit left, small fangs of wood element and eye holes that were dark, but had golden pupils within them; the wooden armor also had black carvings on them and flames danced around where the creature stood.

All and all, the thing looked frightening.

"My Kami… it's monstrous." Temari said with eyes of shock and a hint of fear.

Akane cracked open one of her eyes just in time to see the Susanoo cock its head back and then roared with a booming volume causing the earth to shake, the lava from the golem to ripple and force everyone around to cover their ears. Akane smiled at her brother's power as she stared at him with shimmering eyes of admiration.

'Go get him ani-kun.' Akane thought.

"Admittingly an interesting feat." Dai said as he appeared standing atop the golem's head. "But more doesn't always guarantee something better." Dai said as his golem's fist was cocked back along with Naruto's Susanoo's left arm and then the fists collided against one another creating a large shockwave that made the spectator's fight against it to stand atop their feet, but Kankuro, Temari and Karin fell on their butts while the others stood their ground as the shockwave had ceased.

"Damn man." Kankuro said with major shock.

The two goliaths' fists continued to push against one another in a fight for dominance.

"I will lay you to rest like your sister."

"Oi~ I'm not dead yet, so quit pretending I am!" Akane called out as she waved her left arm up and down for Dai to notice that she was very much alive.

"Then after you both are dead, I will finish the Senju bloodline by finishing off your grandmother as I had intended to all those years ago." Dai said with an angry glare.

"DON'T YOU DARE EVEN THINK ABOUT HARMING MY FAMILY ANYMORE!" Naruto screamed as flames engulfed his armored Susanoo's body, yet it did not burn the wooden armor. Back up with his new anger, Naruto pushed Dai's golem's fist away with his Susanoo's fist and then bit down on the golem's shoulder before stabbing the claw arm right through the magma creature's torso. Dai was shocked to find that even though the wood was melting, most of it was holding up against the intense lava element.

'This wood… obviously it's stronger than any regular wood, but to withstand against my lava element is quite impressive. However…' Dai thought as the magma golem grabbed the wooden Kyuubi head and ripped its jaw off its shoulder and then ripped its bottom jaw off its hinges. "Wood can be broken." Dai said, but then wooden spikes burst out of the wooden armor, impaling the golem all over its body and keeping it in place. Naruto then shot out of a wooden spike in front of Dai as he tried to slice him in half with Shokan, but Dai moved aside and stuck Naruto in the crick of the back of his neck with his elbow only for him to disappear in a cloud of smoke, meaning that he was a clone.

Suddenly clones of Naruto came from out of the wooden spikes like they were a part of it, and then started attacking Dai, however the masked Oto general continued to dodge that attacks and send ones of his own, destroying the ones who had attacked them before his body burst with lava, destroying the rest of the clones, but then a clone came from above with a Futon: Rasengan in hand, but Dai grabbed the clone's wrist and slammed it against an invisible being in front of him, which was another kage bushin, making them both disappear in clouds of smoke, but Dai managed to notice that the Susanoo's right eye was that of a sharingan, which could only mean that the invisibility act was a part of a genjutsu.

"Changing the eyes of a Susanoo into that of a sharingan. I honestly didn't think such an ability could exist." Dai said as the eye of the Susanoo transformed back into its golden pupil. "You truly are the most unpredictable shinobi there is." Dai said with a smirk behind his mask.

"Whoa. Who would have thought such a feat was possible?" Karin said with shock as she adjusted her glasses.

"That blonde knucklehead really is something, that's for sure." Tayuya said with a smirk on her face.

"Yeah… that's my ani-kun." Akane said with a smile.

"Alright then." Dai said as he placed his hands against each other as the magma golem then grew four extra pair of arms. "Let's see how good you are against this attack." Dai said.

Naruto's Susanoo's claw receded from the golem's torso as a wooden arm grew out from the pronator teres muscle (you know, where the bicep and forearm meet) and from out of the shoulder with the left arm mimicking the other.

"Bring It On!" Naruto yelled out as his and Dai's titans cocked their fists back.

/

Meanwhile in the village, Nagato and Baki were sweating as they continued to face off against the zombified bodies of Toroi of the Magnet Release, Chen: the strongest taijutsu specialist in history from Konoha, Gengetsu Hozuki: the Nidaime Mizukage and Yagura: the Yondaime Mizukage and last vessel of the Sanbi no Kame (Three Tailed Turtle).

"I have to say, you both are a pair of excellent shinobi." Gengetsu Hozuki said with a smirk.

"I never would have thought that I'd be facing two kages at once along with two other shinobi legends." Baki said as beads of sweat went done the visible part of his face.

"Legends? Trust me, what a person like myself did in his life shouldn't be considered a legend, after all anyone would fight for their village." Toroi said.

"Speak for yourself, kiddo. Legend sounds like the correct status for a dynamic guy like myself." Chen said with a cocky grin.

"I was speaking for myself." Toroi said. Suddenly multiple square shaped shuriken appeared in Toroi's hands and then threw them at Nagato and Baki.

"Shinra Tensei!" Nagato called out as his invisible force field reflected the shuriken away. 'The constant use of my shinra tensei is taxing my reserves, but against Toroi's shuriken, it's the only way to deflected them without falling prey to his magnet jutsu. I may be able to dodge them, but I'm not sure about Baki and I don't want to take the chance.' Nagato thought. Toroi then summoned more shuriken and then threw them at the two living shinobi again. Nagato was preparing to use his jutsu again, but then the shuriken was intercepted by multiple figures.

"Looks like you bunch need a little assistance." A voice spoke. Landing next to the two was Granny Chiyo who had her Shirohigi: Jikki Chikamatsu no Shu (White Secret Technique: The Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets) out with Toroi's shuriken in their hands. "Can't have you youngsters have all the fun now can't I?" Chiyo said.

"Chiyo-sama, you shouldn't be out here in the midst of a battle against these dangerous characters." Baki said to Chiyo, concerned for her health.

"Shut it already. I'm old, not dead, as long as I breathe I'll be-" but then Chiyo fell to her knees as her puppets fell to the ground looking lifeless.

"L-lady Chiyo!" Baki exclaimed her name with great worry and fear for the worst. After a few moments of silence, Chiyo's head looked up as a cheeky grin was on her face.

"Gotcha. I'm still alive." Chiyo said as she laughed at her little joke.

"That's still not funny!" Baki shouted with annoyance at Chiyo's 'joke'.

'You mean she's done this before?' Nagato thought with dull eyes.

"Konoha Ryujin!" Nagato turned to see Chen using an upward spin kick creating a giant tornado that took the form of a dragon with ling whiskers that then charged at Nagato.

'Dammit!' Nagato thought as he extended his arms out. "Shinra Tensei!" Nagato shouted as his force field fought against the ultimate taijutsu technique.

"Well, this doesn't look to good, wouldn't you say, Yagura, is it?" Gengetsu said.

"Yes. After being controlled by a wielder of the sharingan before I figure I'd gain peace through death, but that only lead to harming shinobi trying to protect a village and its people." Yagura said.

"Usually I'd say don't be so pessimistic, but I really can't think of an upside here." Gengetsu said.

As Chen's technique was managing to break through Nagato's jutsu, albeit at a slow pace, suddenly a few shadows appeared above Chen making him look up to see white ceramic spiders that then surrounded him and the other dead summonings.

"Art is an explosion! Hm!" A voice echoed as the clay spiders caused a vast explosion. Nagato dropped his jutsu and started to pant as he sweated a bit. "Sorry to keep you guys waiting, but we had gotten into a bit of trouble earlier." Deidara said as the giant clay bird he was riding hovered above them.

"Better late than never." Nagato said. The Uzumaki then from the smoke of the explosion a strange looking silhouette, until the smoke cleared to reveal a giant clam. "A summoning?" Nagato said as the clam's mouth then opened to reveal Gengetsu completely unharmed.

"My, that was a fancy trick." Gengetsu said.

"Damn. Wait, aren't you the Nidaime Mizukage?" Deidara questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes I am." Gengetsu said with a smile.

"Tetsu Panchi!" (Iron Punch. Forgot what soko meant so we're going with this.) Fu cried out as she slammed her fist down atop of Gengestu then jumped off her hands and landed next to Nagato. "You don't look so good. Here." Fu said as she took out a pill and gave it to Nagato.

"Thank you." Nagato thanked Fu as he took the pill and felt his chakra sky rocket. "Incredible." Nagato said in amazement at the pill's result.

"I made it myself. It helps to know a few medical-nin and herb collectors in Akastuki." Fu said with a smile.

"Look out!" Deidara shouted making the others turn to see Yagura dashing at them with his large hooked staff ready to attack them, but Yagura was then slammed into the ground by a figure. "Hey, hey~ about time you joined the party Sasori my man." Deidara said with a smile.

"It's a shame that these enemies are zombies." Sasori said as he walked up next to his grandmother making her and Baki look at him with shock at both his presence and that his appearance as a young man had never changed. "They would have made excellent puppets for my collection." Sasori said calmly as the puppet of the Sandaime Kazekage retreated back to his side.

"Still got that little bit of darkness within you, huh?" Deidara said.

"What member of the inner circle of the Akatsuki doesn't?" Sasori retorted.

"Good point, hm." Deidara said.

"Sasori of the red sand." Baki said as he narrowed his eyes at Sasori.

"Baki was it? You've gotten older." Sasori said calmly.

"Can't say the same to you." Baki said as his eyes then looked at the puppet of the Sandaime Kazekage. 'He's still using that puppet after what he had done. How disgusting.' Baki thought.

"Sasori." Chiyo said her grandson's name.

"Hello, baa-san." Sasori said with a small smile.

"What happened to Hiruko?" Nagato asked.

"It has been damaged greatly." Sasori simply answered.

"Yeah. We had to deal with that Shuishi guy that Naruto killed back at Taki; he ended up smashing Sasori's puppet armor to pieces." Deidara said. Suddenly a kunai with a bomb tag stuck to it hit Deidara's clay bird. "Oh shit." Deidara simply said before jumping off as the bird exploded.

"You know, you really should never turn your back to techniques like the Edo Tensai." Toroi said as he and the other zombie shinobi had reformed themselves.

"Question. How exactly do we get rid of these zombies?" Deidara asked. "Because I don't think that chopping their heads off will work in this case."

"It's a complicated thing to be rid of, but completely sealing the body is the most affective." Nagato explained.

"Then do you happen to have any seals on you?" Fu asked Nagato.

"Sadly no." Nagato said.

"Suna does have a team that specializes in seals." Baki informed.

"Then go get them and we'll cover you." Deidara said. Baki nodded and was about to leave when they all sensed an intense force of power coming from afar.

"Whoa. What the hell is that power?" Deidara questioned.

"That's… that's Naruto! I just know it!" Fu exclaimed with a smile.

"Of course. How the hell can I be such an idiot not to realize that baka's handiwork?" Deidara said honestly feeling stupid about not thinking that the cause of the powerful chakra source was the unpredictable knucklehead. Suddenly there was a poof sound making everyone look to see that Nagato create a kage bushin.

"Baki. Go on ahead and find these seal specialists; my clone will be your back up." Nagato said.

"Right." Baki said with a nod before he and the Nagato clone ran off.

"Such a waste. We'll probably be done by then." Sasori said as he prepared his puppet. "Knowing Naruto after all, he'd be done in no time."

"Yeah, but it doesn't hurt to take a chance." Fu said.

"I heard that." Deidara said as he reached into his pouch so his hands' mouths could chew on the clay to create a new form for it.

Nagato looked off towards the distance of where the chakra signature that most likely Naruto was giving off.

'Hurry up, child of prophecy.' Nagato thought before his mind returned to the battle at hand.

/

The two goliaths controlled by the blonde assassin and Oto general were delivering punch for at each other with shockwaves being created as both the giants' fists collided with one another.

Every tried staying their ground as they watched as the two titans continued to clash one another's fists against each other. They were worried to see that Naruto's wooden armor started to break apart a bit and that his Susanoo's muscles were being torn apart a bit.

"He's losing. There's got to be something we can do!" Temari said.

"Just let the little dork continue on." Tayuya said, believing in Naruto.

After a few more punches, the fists collided all together with an extra pair of the lava golem's hands grab the wooden armored Susanoo and kept him in place before the other free pair slammed right through its body creating holes in its body.

"Melt." Dai said as his golem's hands started melting the parts of the Susanoo that they were in contact with. Naruto growled with anger as he stared at Dai with much rage, anger and hatred.

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Naruto screamed as his left eye became golden as black claw marked patterns came out of it. Suddenly the eyes of the Susanoo transform with the left being golden yellow as the Susanoo developed black claw mark patterns from it and the right eye transformed into a sharingan that had a slit pupil that was surrounded by a black ring of fire (similar to Kyo Kusanagi's clan symbol that's usually on the back of his jackets) and four stars surrounding that ring of fire. Suddenly more wood attached itself to the Susanoo and more muscle started to develop as the Susanoo developed an extra pair of arms, then grabbed the golem's hands that were inside its body and pulled them out of its body as it quickly healed its wounds.

"No matter how much you add to your Susanoo it still will not defeat my golem." Dai said. The golem and the Susanoo cocked their fists back, but suddenly Naruto brought his hand up into a ram seal and shouted as the lava golem's body suddenly had multiple implosions in its body, leaving large craters around its body with parts of it breaking apart like its arms and torso while steam came from the craters.

'What?! When did he-' Dai then realized that while his golem and the Susanoo were sending punch for punch to each other, Naruto summoned water element into his Susanoo and then transferred the element into his golem with every blow, leaving to expand and then release series of explosions within the golem, ridding most of the lava that made up the golem. 'An impressive move. Obviously it trained him of his chakra, but because of it my golem is now defenseless.' Dai thought as he glared ahead. Naruto's Susanoo then started sending punches into the golem, the first seeming as if moving in slow motion to the assassin and general, but then they reach Mach 5 speed as the golem was starting to break apart.

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Naruto cried out as he continued to deliver multiple and insanely fast blows against the golem. Dai's eyes became completely white as he gritted his teeth through the attacks. The pain he felt from the force and shockwaves from the Susanoo were incredible, but he took them nonetheless.

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Dai cried out as a pair of lava serpents formed from the shoulders of the golem, then bit down on the Susanoo's body, as three extra pairs of serpents formed from the golem's body and wrapped themselves around Naruto's Susanoo's body and arms, ceasing it's attacks, but then suddenly a giant pair of red chakra claws came out of the Susanoo's back and wrapped itself around what was left of the lava golem's bod with the other arms doing the same when they were close enough to the golem. Then suddenly Naruto appeared in front of Dai and wrapped him in a bear hug shocking the masked shinobi. "Nani?!" Dai questioned, but then he heard something from above making him look up only for his eyes to widen in shock to see three Naruto's forming a giant Rasengan, but this one was completely different from any he's seen before as it developed what looked like a fierce dragon's face. 'This was his plan all along! He kept my attention on his Susanoo while his clones developed this jutsu!' Dai thought with shock. Naruto's above were finished with the two beside the middle one disappearing into clouds of smoke as the remaining Naruto cocked his jutsu back, ready to use it. 'I won't allow you to-' but then suddenly Dai was impaled by multiple wooden spikes, creating holes through his armor, that came from the body of the Naruto bear hugging him, then wooden vines wrapped themselves around Dai's body as he then felt his chakra start being drained from his body into the vines. 'M-my chakra.' Dai thought with wide shocked eyes.

"Mokuton: Richibudou." (Wood Release: Leech Vines. Personal creation.) The Naruto holding Dai in place said the jutsu's name. The Naruto above then summoned vast wind element into his jutsu as he was about to release it against Dai.

"Futon: Rasenryu!" The Naruto above shouted his jutsu's name as he then shot his arm forward as a large spiraling dragon roared as it rocket towards Dai. Dai's body trembled as he gritted his teeth with his eyes becoming completely white.

'I… refuse… I refuse… I refuse…' Dai's body started to bubble as steam came out of his pores with his skin turn a reddish pink hue. 'I REFUSE TO LOSE TO ANOTHER SENJU!' Dai's mind screamed as he roared causing his body to burst into lava with a lava dragon's head surrounding his body right before the jutsu connected.

The explosion was massive with a giant sphere of intense wind expanding from it. The golem and Susanoo were being destroyed from the force and power of the impact along with ground below as a crater started to form.

The genin tried to hold their ground, but the technique was too massive making them fly away. Suigetsu stabbed one of Kiba into the ground to stay in place and managed to grab Karin, keeping her from flying away, Jugo's arms became massive and expanded far and dug his nails into the earth to keep himself from going any further back; he managed to save Tayuya and Akane by using his body and arms as a net for them and Gaara had used his three sands to save his sibling and Rekka from flying away.

Dai's team was protected by a violet barrier created by Hisa, but the force of the explosion caused cracks in the barrier. The group remained stoic as they awaited to see the result of the attack.

After what felt like ages, the explosion ceased, but the aftershock still gave the genin trouble, but after a while it also died down. Once the attack was over, everyone looked at where they giant being were only to see that they were gone and in their place a giant crater. Everyone regained their footing and awaited to see who had won.

"Naruto?" Karin called out.

"Naruto ani-kun?" Akane, who was now being carried by Jugo bridal style, called out her brother's name.

"Yo blondie, are you dead?" Tayuya called out.

The young shinobi started moving closer to the crater to see who had won or at least if anyone was alive.

(BTW, I know they're all not genin, but it seemed easier to call them that at times.)

Suddenly out of the crater came Dai, who's mask was torn a bit to reveal some of his black hair that was poking out from the bottom of the back and some on the right side, holding Shokan in one hand and what looked like a lifeless Naruto by the neck shocking all the younger shinobi.

"No…" Karin said with shock and fear at seeing Naruto's lifeless body.

"That's one Senju dead. Now to continue on with the rest of that monstrous clan." Dai said as he released Naruto's body and then slice him in half with Shokan freezing everyone with pure disbelieving shock.

"No…" Akane whispered still in shock at what she just saw.

"Now for you oni girl." Dai said as he made his way to the young shinobi. Akane stared at her brother's deceased body with wide eyes she started so shed a mass amount of silent tears.

"No…" Akane said. "He can't be dead." She said still in disbelief. Dai continued his way towards the now fearful genin, preparing Shokan. "He can't be… He promised that we'd go back to Konoha together someday." Akane said as more silent tears were shed from her eyes. "I can't go back without him. He promised." Akane said as Dai got closer to them as he added his magma element to Shokan, transforming the blade to be coated with pure lava. "He promised that we'd go back… that he'd marry Sakura-nee-chan… that he'd become Hokage… that we'd all be a big happy family." Akane said as her tears continued to shed as Dai was a few feet in front of him. "He promised me… he promised me everything… every word he said." Akane said as Dai raised Shokan, ready to strike her. "He… he promised." Akane said as her lip started to quiver and she couldn't take it anymore. "YOU CAN'T BE DEAD! NARUTO ANI-KUN!" Akane screamed at the top of her lungs.

Suddenly the ground next to Dai burst as out came an enraged Naruto with his eyes being crimson red with slit pupil, his whisker marks being darkened and more defined and his hair being more wild, his right arm bleeding and in his right hand a glowing red rasengan.

"Nani?!" Dai said with shock. Naruto glared at Dai with pure rage and fury as he readied to finish him off with his final attack. Tayuya noticed that Dai was about to slice Naruto in half with the lava infused Shokan, so she quickly took her chance and took out her flute and quickly blew out a sound wave that hit Dai's ears, paralyzing him. 'That Uzumaki! She's using her chakra to concentrate the sound waves of her flute into my ears, paralyzing me! Dammit!' Dai thought as his body wouldn't respond to his command. Dai saw that Naruto's red glowing rasengan took the shape of what looked like a demon's face, looking like Naruto's Hashi no Shi mask, but with larger and longer horns on the head and smaller, yet still long, horns on the face's jaw looking perfectly aligned with the top horns making it look like an X.

"Oni Rasengan!" (Demon Spiraling Ball) Naruto shouted as he slammed his jutsu straight into Dai's torso, breaking through his armor and shredding his clothes, and when it met his skin, Dai's stomach got sucking in a bit before a giant torrent of red chakra went through his stomach before the rasengan exploded, sending Dai tumbling back until he stopped near the cliff's edge. Naruto panted as the blood from his right arm dripped to the ground as the 'Naruto' that Dai sliced in half melted into a pile of blood. 'Chi Bushin (Blood Clone), a double edge sword at times, but a perfect way to fool your enemies.' Naruto thought as the rain then stopped.

"Ani-kun!" Naruto turned as Akane jumped at him and hugged him tightly. "I thought I lost you! I'm so happy that you're alive!" Akane said as she cried onto her brother's chest. Naruto placed his hand on his sister's head making her look at him to see a smile on his face.

"Of course I'm alive. After all, like you said, I promised you every word I said, remember?" Naruto said still smiling with Akane nodding with her own smile on her face.

"Man." Naruto turned to see Suigetsu extending Shokan that was now back to normal to him with a large unnaturally muscular arm. "You really are something baka-swordsman. You're harder to kill than a tailed beast." Suigetsu said with a grinning smirk. Kurama wasn't sure whether he should call that comment B.S. or accurate.

"Thanks." Naruto said with his own grinning smirk as he took his sword back. Akane's eyes widened in amazement as she saw Suigetsu's overly muscular arm transform back to normal.

"How'd you do that?!" Akane asked, separating from her brother, with new excitement as she looked at Suigetsu's arm with child-like curiosity and interest. Suddenly Karin hugged Naruto tightly, surprising him.

"I'm so glad you're okay." Karin said with tears of joy, but as she then separated, she wiped away her tears and slapped Naruto in the back of the head. "Don't do something so dangerous and stupid ever again!" Karin exclaimed as she scolded Naruto a bit.

"Geez, why don't you tell me not to be a man next?" Naruto said with a joking smile.

"Baka. You're luck Rin-chan isn't here." Karin said with her arms crossed. Tayuya then suddenly ruffled Naruto's head with a smirk on her face.

"Nice job blondie." Tayuya said smirking.

"Thanks; you helped me out back there. I probably would be dead now if you didn't use your flute on him." Naruto said with a smile.

"True. Looks like you owe me one." Tayuya said with a smug smile and her eyes closed.

"I owe you one?! I've saved your ass multiple times before and yet you told me the day you owe me anything is if I ever shit out gold bricks!" Naruto argued with an annoyed anime style look on his face.

"Um… guys." Kankuro said catching everyone's attention as he pointed towards Dai making the others eyes widen with shock as he was standing up from the floor with his torso being revealed now having a scar on his stomach that was in the shape of an X.

"Oh my Kami…" Temari said with great shock.

"He's been impaled… was in the center of a giant explosion… and had a deadly A to possible S rank jutsu slammed into his stomach that also brought about internal damage… and yet he's still standing." Karin said with utter shock and disbelief.

"Damn… he's one tough son of a bitch." Suigetsu said with shock at how strong Dai was.

'Dammit… I used up the last of my chakra in the last attack. Now what?' Naruto thought as he gritted his teeth and glared at Dai who glared back.

"Amazing… truly amazing, Senju. So much you have grown, however I am still in a league greater than yours." Dai said.

The young shinobi group felt fear, except Naruto, Gaara and Rekka, as Dai stared at them, then he started making his way to them.

"What do we do now?!" Karin asked with worry.

"So far that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth." Naruto said shocking Karin at what he said and getting an angry look from Tayuya at what Naruto said to her sister. "We fight until we breathed our last breath… that's the way of the Akatsuki." Naruto said glaring ahead as gold chakra started to dance around his skin.

'Oh my lord… his chakra was almost empty; where did this come from? It's not even Kurama's! What is this?' Karin wondered as she stared at the energy that was dancing against her cousin's skin. 'Whatever it is… it makes me feel safe.' Karin thought.

"Oo, oo, oo, oo!" Akane started saying as she hopped up and down making the others look at her. "Look! A giant birdie!" Akane exclaimed as she pointed a flying figure in the distance.

"We're about to go up against a lava wielding monster in a man's skin and your mind still thinks about crappy nature?!" Tayuya shouted with an annoyed anime look on her face.

"Nature's not crappy!" Akane argued with her trademark cheek puff pout.

"Wait a minute. That's not any regular bird; that's one of Deidara-senpai's giant clay birds! It's our backup and Nagato's with them!" Karin exclaimed with relief, sensing their fellow members' chakra signatures.

'The wielder of the Rinnegan is arriving. Guess Hisa has reached her limit. Still she kept it up for nearly a day, definitely impressive.' Dai thought as his team appeared next to him.

"Hey look. Bone man has a crazy pack." Suigetsu said with a grinning smirk as he pointed at Shi, who was tied onto Kotsuzui's back while her legs stood next to him. Shi growled at his comment as she moved one of her scythes sporadically towards Suigetsu's direction, desiring to cut him into bite sized chum.

"Kuro Oto (Black Sound), leave. I shall deal with this." Dai said.

"I'm afraid that's an order we cannot follow, ippai-sama." Hisa said.

"Hm?" Dai said with a glare.

"Kuro Oto would cease to exist without you, so we will not leave you behind." Hisa said.

"She is right. Many can be replaced, but not you ippai-sama; you are the back bone of Oto; a main pillar that hold up the bridge of our villages future. Letting you face odds such as this alone, even when you know that you might die, is something our special ops will never do." Kotsuzui said.

"Shi." Shi said in agreement.

"Besides… we have obtained… more than enough bodies… than what was requested." Chi said.

"We don't even need the rest that are hidden inside. We have done more than enough for Orochimaru-sama." Kurora said.

Dai looked at his entire team with narrowed eyes.

"So your decision is final?" Dai questioned. The group nodded in response. Dai stayed silent for a moment, but then he sighed. "I guess I cannot have the final say all the time." Dai said.

"Shi! Shi!" Shi shouted making everyone turn to see that Gaara's sand was ready to crush them.

"Well this doesn't look good." Kurora said.

"Shi shi shi." Shi said taking out her other scythe.

"A blaze of… glory? Fitting." Chi said.

"… I wouldn't have it any other way." Dai said looking up at the sand.

"Gaara, don't… let them go." Naruto said shocking everyone.

"What?! Are You Nuts?!" Kankuro shouted thinking Naruto was nuts... well he is, but still.

"Senju. Why are you making such a decision?" Dai questioned with narrowed eyes. Naruto stared at Dai for a moment before answering.

"Do you remember Tsukiakari? My teammate, Sakura Haruno?" Naruto asked.

"The pink haired banshee. How could I forget?" Dai said. Naruto's fist tightened as he glared at Dai at what he called Sakura.

"She said that when the day comes that she'll be the one to finish you for everything that you've done. So I'm letting you live. After all, I don't want to take away something so important to my future wife." Naruto said with a grin as he scratched his head. Kankuro and Temari's jaws dropped at that while Gaara looked surprised.

Dai stared at him for a moment before closing his eyes, going 'Hm.'

"Hisa."

"Hai." Hisa said with a nod as she went through a series of hand signs and slamming her hand against the ground, creating a seal that covered them in light and then vanished along with them.

"Future wife? No way." Kankuro said, but then Akane suddenly took off Naruto's glove to reveal an engagement ring.

"Way." She said with a smile, pointing at the ring making Kankuro, Temari, Karin and Tayuya's jaws dropped, while Gaara was even more shocked, but then smiled at his friend.

"Akane!" Naruto exclaimed taking his hand back with a blush on his hand.

"When did this happen?!" Karin exclaimed with shock.

"The night ani-kun saved me." Akane simply answered.

"So that's where you went, sneaky little turd." Tayuya said with a grinning smirk.

"Just please don't tell anyone! Last thing I need is another whack from Mr. Whammy and a torturing training session!" Naruto begged.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me, but I better be the godmother of your child." Karin said with a smile.

"Well I don't know about keeping my trap shut; I mean it's never nice to lie to people otouto." Tayuya said with a sleazy grin.

"You Better Not or I'll-"

"What? Kill me? Go ahead." Tayuya said with a cocky smirk as Naruto glared at her, but after a moment his head had hung in defeat along with slumped arms.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked.

"I always get the first and the last piece of bacon ever breakfast time." Tayuya said.

"You Witch!" Naruto shouted with a pissed off anime style look.

"Oh look, Nagato's almost here." Tayuya said with a smirk.

"Okay, okay, you win." Naruto quickly said.

"Huh… some family." Kankuro said with Temari nodding in agreement. Suddenly Naruto felt a hand on his shoulder making him turn to see a smiling Gaara.

"Congratulations." Gaara said still smile.

"Thanks." Naruto said with his own smile.

"Aw man~" Deidara said as his clay bird landed. "Looks like we missed out on all the fun." Deidara said.

"Naruto!" Fu exclaimed as she flew up to him and gave him a tight embrace.

"Hey Fu, good to see you again." Naruto said with a smile as he hugged her back, but then he noticed that his hand with his ring was still exposed, so he quickly grabbed his glove from Akane and put it back on before Fu separated from him.

"Looks like you held your own quite well." Nagato said.

"Was there any doubt?" Naruto said with a grin.

"Karasu." Sasori said noticing his old now damaged puppet that Kankuro was still controlling.

"Yeah, sorry about that… shit happens." Naruto said feeling bad.

"You did that? Geez rugrat, didn't think that you'd kill puppets too." Deidara said with a smirk.

"That's not funny." Sasori said.

"You're Sasori of the red sand? You look so… so… young." Kankuro said with surprise at how young his idol looked.

"Try not to think about how too much." Naruto said as he and Karin had a shiver down their spines remembering how come Sasori looked so young. "Anyway, Kankuro wanted to ask you something."

"Huh? Oh yeah, um, do you think that you can rebuild it?" Kankuro asked getting off of Sanshouo.

"I see no point." Sasori said surprising Kankuro. "After all, I'm not Karasu's master anymore. I feel a puppet should be rebuilt from its true own." Sasori explained making Kankuro smile from his words.

"Excuse me, but I had heard from the one who can become one with the earth below that there were more people hidden inside the base." Rekka said.

"Yes there is." A voice spoke making everyone turn to see Zetsu come from out of the ground.

"What the ever fucking hell is that?" Suigetsu questioned with a slightly disgusted room.

"That's Zetsu." Naruto said. "And where are they?"

"Below where you are standing." Black Zetsu said.

"They all have suppression seals on their person so no one could detect them by their chakra signatures." White Zetsu spoke.

"Smart way to keep the cattle a secret." Naruto said.

"Naruto!" Karin exclaimed with a disapproving tone at her cousin's choice of words.

"What? Oto did consider them cattle." Naruto said with a shrug.

"True, but that doesn't mean you should call them that!" Karin scolded while adjusting her glasses.

"My mouth, my say, my rules." Naruto said crossing his arms.

"However there are thousands of people below; how exactly do you plan on getting that many back to the village?" White Zetsu spoke. Suddenly Naruto wrapped his arm around Gaara's shoulder making the red head look at him.

"I think I know just the person who can pull off such a feat." Naruto said with a grin.

/

At the village gates, Baki waited for his students and comrades to return.

"You know you don't have to wait around for them out here. They'll be back." Chiyo said walking up next to Baki.

"I know, but I want to be here for my students." Baki said.

"Including Gaara? He's a jinchuriki, and a tough one at that, he doesn't need such care." Chiyo said.

"Hold your tongue!" Baki shouted glaring at Chiyo.

"… You care for him much don't you?" Chiyo said with it being more of a statement than a question. Baki looked at the ground with sad yet caring eyes.

"Gaara is not the same as he was before the Chunin exams. Truth is I believe what he is showing himself to be now is what he truly was hidden behind all that anger. I felt it deep down in my soul and yet I did nothing to help." Baki said feeling like trash.

"It's not like you had a choice. Rasa wanted Gaara to be separated from others as to make him stronger." Chiyo said.

"Stronger yes, but not in the best way. Now that things have changed, I want to be there for Gaara to repent on my views on him as just a monster before." Baki said.

"Well… I don't know how I really feel of the child, but I know that I never saw him as a monster, but even so I should probably be the one working for redemption towards him; after all, I had no problem making him into a jinchuriki." Chiyo said.

"Maybe, but you were ordered as well." Baki said.

"True, but I'm just a hot headed, overconfident, slightly unfeeling old bag."

"I don't know, I always thought you were a bit kind." Baki said.

"That's very sweet. It brings me peace." Chiyo said as her head then hung down looking like she was lifeless.

"You're not fooling me this time." Baki said to her.

"No way!" A guard shouted making Baki and Chiyo look up ahead to see a shocking sight.

Ahead were Gaara's sand carrying thousands of villagers along with his teammates.

"Well… that's something you don't see every day." Chiyo said.

"Get more shinobi here on the double!" Baki ordered.

"Hai!" A guard said as he shushined away.

"Well done Gaara." Baki said as he smiled at his student.

/

After the mission was considered a success, the team, along with Jugo and Suigetsu, got cleaned up and were now in the Kazekage office waiting for the Suna siblings and Baki.

"So you're offering us a position in your little group?" Suigetsu said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. Karin vouched for you two. You get to go on missions and beat the ever living crap out of people, or just kill them and Jugo will get help to control his little berserker modes and help ease the effects of his special ability. Well you know, after we examine it so we can learn more on the curse mark and how to repress and prevent the negative effects it presents." Naruto said.

"Well hell, sounds better than just wandering around, plus I get to tear people apart." Suigetsu said with a grin.

"You're going to love Kisame-sensei and Zabuza-senpai then." Akane said with a bright smile.

"Seriously? There in it too? Wait, Zabuza-senpai's alive?!"

"Can the Akastuki really help me?" Jugo asked.

"I guarantee it." Naruto said with a smile.

"Sounds good then." Jugo said with a small smile and a nod. He did feel bad that now it meant that he and Kimimaro would be enemies now, but he felt better to help people reach for peace than work for a village filled with horrible killers and rapists.

"Well, I must be off." Rekka said with a smile.

"You know Rekka, you can join as well." Naruto said.

"Thank you, but I have a journey to complete, but here." Rekka handed Naruto a golden badge that had the kanji for god on it with a pair of angel wings attached to it. "Place chakra into it and we shall meet again quicker than you can say 'dazzling maidens'." Rekka said with a smile.

"Uh, thanks." Naruto said with a smile.

"Ja ne." Rekka said with a smile, a wave and a pair of eye smile before vanishing in from a plume of fire.

"Weird guy." Suigetsu said.

Suddenly the door opened to reveal the sand siblings and Baki.

"So how was your meeting with the council?" Karin asked.

"… Life changing." Gaara said with a bright smile surprising the Akatsuki members. Gaara made his way to the table and grabbed the kazekage hat and stared at it, before he placed it on his head shocking them even further while Nagato managed to smile at this.

"No way." Tayuya said with shock.

"Oh yes! You did it Gaara! You're finally Kazekage!" Naruto cheered with a huge grin.

"The youngest ever to boot." Karin said adjusting her glasses, still in shock.

"I have my father to thank for this; leaving the village in my care, but I also thank you all for assisting my village. As per our agreement, you may develop a base in Kaze no Kuni." Gaara said.

"Arigatou Kazekage-sama." Nagato thanked Gaara with a bow.

"Say Sasori-senpai, we were wondering when we were getting here, does this mean that you will being living in Suna now that there's going to be a base here?" Akane asked.

"No. I am still a missing-nin."

"That reminds me. For assisting the village in its time of need, I pardon you Sasori for all your past crimes." Gaara said.

"You know that's probably going to bring some problems with the council." Sasori said.

"Who gives a shit? Gaara's word is law now. Not like the council has any control over him and his decisions; they're just a bunch of advisors who's only real job is to advise like they were meant to." Naruto said.

"Kind of a bold statement, don't you think?" Deidara said.

"I don't really trust councils that much that to Konoha's for making my life crappy." Naruto said with his arms crossed.

"If the council has a problem I shall take the heat for it, but I know that you deserve it." Gaara said.

"Arigatou Kazekage-sama." Sasori thanked Gaara with a small smile and a bow.

"Never thought you'd say that again, huh Sasori, my man?" Deidara said with a smirk.

"Are you sure you don't have a crush on Sasori-senpai, Deidara-senpai?" Akane asked.

"Yes! Like I Told You For The Last Two Months I'm Not Gay!" Deidara shouted with a ticked anime style expression on his face and it didn't help that Naruto, Tayuya and Suigetsu to burst out laughing while Temari giggled and Kankuro and Karin stifled his own laughter, not wanting to insult Sasori, who just stayed silent.

"Then why do you call him your man?" Akane asked tilting her head.

"It's A Saying!"

"I know you that, but I'm asking why you say it."

"ARGH!" Deidara groaned. Suddenly Mamoru and Unmei jumped through the window of the office, meeting up with the others.

"Sorry we're a bit tardy. Now what was that about Deidara finally coming out of the closet?" Mamoru asked with a smirk.

"Oh for the love of- Screw You Plush Toy!" Deidara shouted.

"Oh yeah I'm definitely a plush toy; girls just love hugging me against their globes." Mamoru said with a smirk.

"Why would girls hug you while holding a pair of toy earths?" Akane asked. "Oh wait, Unmei come here!" Akane said with excitement. Unmei traveled to Akane and jumped onto her lap. Akane held Unmei and closed her eyes. After a few moments, the two transformed into entities of pure golden flames with markings on their bodies shocking Nagato, Baki, Deidara and Sasori. "There! Now you're as fast and powerful as me and you can now learn to talk!" Akane exclaimed with joy with Unmei yipping in joyful agreement.

"When did she managed to unlock Kurama's power?" Nagato asked.

"Hours ago." Mamoru answered.

"How did you know that?" Tayuya asked. "You weren't even there."

"I know because Naruto and I are connect through a telepathic link and he informed me of it a while after he saw it." Mamoru answered. Nagato stared at Akane, who exited her chakra mode along with Unmei, with a faint smile on his face.

'She truly is a prodigy.'

/

The next day the members of the Akatsuki, Suigetsu, Jugo and the sand siblings and Baki were at the village gates.

"This place was great! But you guys really need to plant some trees around here." Akane said.

"We'll keep that in mind." Temari said.

"I wanted to give you Uzumakis something." Baki said as he handed a sealing scroll to Naruto. "In there is many scrolls and books with the knowledge and records of five Uzumaki criminals who were considered the most powerful of their clan; written in them are not just their history, but the many techniques they had used when they were alive. Ones that's scale and power are beyond comprehension. I felt they would be useful to you lot seeing as they can only be used by the Uzumaki clan for their amazing chakra reserves and life energy." Baki explained.

"Nice! Thanks Baki!" Naruto said with a grin, glad that now he could learn new techniques to kick more ass.

"I didn't know there were Uzumaki criminals." Karin said adjusting her glasses.

"Well it's been many years since Uzushiogakure's destruction and they lived long before the dreadful day." Baki said.

"So anyone in hear you remember?" Naruto asked.

"I know of one of the five who went by the name of Goro."

"Goro Uzumaki? He was known for murdering half of both Kumogakure's and Iwagakure's shinobi population during the first shinobi world war." Nagato said shocking everyone else.

"Damn. Now I really want to read more on these guys." Naruto said with an excited grin. After putting the scroll away, Naruto looked at Gaara and said. "Well… I guess this is goodbye." Naruto said. Naruto then felt small grains of sand move his hand, extending it to Gaara who grabbed it as the two then shook hands.

"It was good seeing you again, Naruto Uzumaki." Gaara said with a smile.

"You too, Gaara." Naruto said with his own smile. After the two finished their hand shake, Deidara created a giant clay bird as he and everyone else then got on, the bird rose from the ground. "I'll see you soon Gaara." Naruto said as the bird then flew off.

Gaara continued to smile, before he then turned with his siblings and Baki and headed into the village, but then within it, they met with Matsuri who was panting.

"Matsuri… you look exhausted." Gaara said.

"Well I… I was looking for you. I want to make sure that you were okay from yesterday's trouble." Matsuri said looking down to the ground with a blush on her cheeks. Gaara's eyes widened a bit in surprise, but then he smiled as he placed his hand on her shoulder making her look up.

"Thank you." Gaara simply said, and that was all he needed to say to make her smile.

/

On the clay bird, Naruto was laying back on the surface of the huge ceramic bird with his arms behind his head while Akane started poking his scarred face. She was always fascinated by his scar and the story behind it, but Naruto had to admit that she could get rather annoying whenever she repeatedly touched it.

"So… you ever thought of healing that thing?" Suigetsu asked.

"You can't heal a scar dumbass." Tayuya said.

"Actually I can heal it, but Naruto just refuses to let me do so." Nagato said surprising everyone.

"What? Then why do you keep it that way?!" Tayuya questioned thinking Naruto was dumber than she thought before.

"It's too precious to me." Naruto said.

Yep, dumber than she originally thought.

"Why ani-kun?" Akane asked.

"Because of the way I got it. I was willing to sacrifice my life to save my true love and best friend. Because of that, I consider it the most beautiful thing I've ever seen next to Sakura-chan." Naruto said.

"That's retarded." Tayuya said with a dull look on her face.

"Nee-chan!" Karin exclaimed at her sister's remark.

"No, she's right; that's retarded." Suigetsu said with his own dull look.

"Well say what you unfeeling bastards want, because this right her." Naruto said pointing to his scarred face with a prideful grin. "Is priceless."

The others smiled at this, even Tayuya and Suigetsu.

"Still looks nasty though." Suigetsu said.

/

Once making it to main base, Naruto and the others had given their mission report to Yahiko and Obito, except for one thing, but Karin refused to keep it silent.

"Well good work you lot." Yahiko said with a smile.

"Um, leader-sama, there's something else that we need to inform; something very critical." Karin spoke up.

"What is it Karin?" Yahiko asked.

"Well…. it's… it's…" Karin then felt a hand on her shoulder making her look to see that it was Naruto. Naruto then looked at Obito and Yahiko as his left eye then suddenly turned golden yellow as black claw mark patterns come out from him. The all the adult Akatsuki members eyes widened as shock was evident on their faces at what saw.

"No." Obito said horrified by what happened to Naruto.

/

Rin scanned Naruto's mind and found that he indeed has the curse mark.

"It's there..." Rin said as she started to shed tears.

"This isn't good." Obito said.

"Don't worry about it, thanks to Jugo now being a part of Akatsuki, we can study the curse mark and create a seal to eradicate it from the ones who were branded with it by that homo-snake-teme." Naruto said.

"The baka's right; no need to worry." Tayuya agreed shrugging.

"No… there is a need to worry." Rin said surprising the people. "The curse mark had somehow been branded into Naruto's brain. If any attempt on ridding it were to occur it would lead to completely damaging the brain and causing a vegetative state. I'm sorry Naruto-kun… but for the rest of your life you possess the curse mark within you." Rin said as she placed her hand over her mouth as she cried for her surrogate son's new burden that he was force to possess.

Everyone was completely shocked by this, but none more than Naruto.

He managed to accept being Kurama's jinchuriki, but now he has a new burden.

The Curse Mark.

"H-how… how did this happen?" Karin asked desiring to know how such a horrible burden was placed on her surrogate brother.

"Madara…" Naruto said surprising the other. "That bastard… He Placed It On Me When I Was Trapped In His Genjutsu!" Naruto shouted with anger as he gritted his teeth with tears of anger and sadness going down his eyes. "That Bastard! I'm Going To Kill Him!" Naruto shouted as an aura of dark yellow surrounded his body as his left eye started turning gold. "I'll See Him Dead At My Feet!" Naruto yelled with growing anger as wind started to pick up.

"Naruto, calm down." Obito ordered.

"Why?! I got branded with a mark that'll haunt me 'til the day I die! I have every right to be mad!"

"But at the expense of everyone else's lives?" Obito said with a stern expression. Naruto's expression became one of realization as he then looked to the ground as his aura died down and his marking receding back behind his eye that now became cerulean once more.

"I need to take a walk." Naruto said as he then left the base.

"Naruto." Karin tried reaching out to him, but Obito placed his hand on her shoulder making her cease her action.

"He just needs some air at the moment." Obito said.

"I'll make sure nothing bad happens to him. You know, just in case." Mamoru said as he then hurried up to Naruto. Once outside, Naruto was thinking about how terrible things had now became. He didn't worry so much about having it before he returned, but now that he knew what the cost was if he tried getting rid of it, he felt so much despair in his heart. Mamoru looked up at his friend with a sad expression, not liking the state he was in. Mamoru opened his mouth trying to say something, but then kept it shut rethinking his words, before he realized what could cheer him up. "You know what you need? A little loving." Mamoru said with a smile.

"I don't think that's going to cheer me up, but thanks for the offer." Naruto said with a melancholic tone.

"I wasn't talking about me buddy." Mamoru said earning a raised eyebrow from his best friend.

/

In Team 7's old training ground, Sakura was training in her physical prowess. She sent jabs, hooks, kicks, etc. She then jumped high into the air and then slammed her fist straight into the ground, creating broken and jagged rocks that rose from the ground, then she started spinning in place as a green chakra made tornado surround and spun with her as it sucked up the rocks and destroyed them on contact. She then stopped spinning when she sensed a couple of things hitting the ground.

"You realize that whenever a kunoichi of the leaf like myself is training that academy students should stay as far away as possible, you three." Sakura said turning to the Konohamaru Corps with her hands on her hips.

"But we were far away." Udon said.

"Yeah, we were in that tree." Moegi said pointing to the tree behind them.

"It doesn't matter, the training I just went through could have sent you three to the hospital." Sakura scolded the three who now had timid looks on their faces, except Konohamaru who had narrowing eyes as he stared off at the side. "Konohamaru, are you even listening?" Sakura said to the young Sarutobi. Suddenly the academy student took out a kunai and charged off to the side with a battle cry.

"Konohamaru-kun! Where are you going?" Moegi called out, but then they heard him go 'oof' making them all be on high alert. Sakura got into her fighting stance, but then her eyes widened and heart fluttered as she saw Naruto coming out from behind a tree, holding Konohamaru by the back of his shirt.

"Geez, is this how I'm going to be welcomed back into the village every time I pay a visit? That hurts my feelings Konohamaru." Naruto said with a smirk as Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon stared at Naruto with utter shock.

"N-Naruto-ni-san?" Konohamaru uttered still in shock.

"The one and only. I mean who else has this handsome mug?" Naruto said with a grin. Konohamaru's lip started to quiver as his eyes started to shed tears of joy. "Ni-san!" Konohamaru cheered with so much joy as he then jumped at him and hugged him like there was no tomorrow. "I missed you so much." Konohamaru said crying into Naruto's chest as Naruto hugged him back.

"It's good to see you too Konohamaru." Naruto said with a smile.

"Naruto-ni-san!" Naruto heard Moegi shout out as she and Udon ran up to him and tackled him to the ground giving him a pair of hugs making Naruto laugh a bit as he hugged them as well.

"It's good to see you both as well, Moegi, Udon." Naruto said with a big smile. Naruto then looked up to see Sakura. "Sakura-chan." Naruto said as the Konohamaru Corps released him letting him stand up.

"You know, you could get in trouble if you're seen by anybody else." Sakura said moving a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Well yeah, but…" Naruto then grabbed Sakura's hand and said with a smile. "Some people are worth the trouble." That made Sakura smile as well.

The two then held each other, leaned in and shared a passionate kiss, shocking the Konohamaru Corps.

"Aw gross!" Konohamaru exclaimed with disgust as he and Udon covered their eyes as to not see anymore, but Moegi just sighed dreamily as she grasped her hand together and pressed them against her cheek.

"How romantic." Moegi said with a dreamy expression on her face. Once the two separated, Konohamaru decided to speak.

"So ni-san, does this mean she finally is your… you know." Konohamaru then raised his pinky.

"Oh she's more than that." Naruto said taking off his glove along Sakura to reveal matching golden rings making the jaws of the Konohamaru Corps drop.

"Y-y-y-y-you're… engaged!" Konohamaru shouted with shock.

"Have been for the past two months." Naruto said with a smile.

"So tell me, what's my future husband doing back in Konoha?" Sakura asked with a smile as she placed her hands on Naruto's muscular chest.

"I came to visit the future Mrs. Uzumaki-Senju of course. I hope she enjoys my presence." Naruto said with a smirk.

"Oh I'm sure she does." Sakura said with her own smirk as she kissed Naruto on the lips.

"Okay, enough with the mushy lovey dovey stuff; there are children here, remember?" Konohamaru said with annoyance.

"This stuff may be disgusting to you now, but wait until you're older and you get a girlfriend. You'll be doing mushy lovey dovey stuff like this too." Naruto said as he wrapped his arm around Sakura's waist.

"Ugh, as if." Konohamaru said with disgust. Naruto and Sakura noticed that Moegi looked said after Konohamaru said his words.

"Never say never otouto. Besides, maybe your future wife is closer than you think." Naruto said with a wink. Konohamaru and Udon may have thought that the wink was directed to Konohamaru, but Moegi noticed that it was directed at her making her smile with a tint of pink on her cheeks.

"Yeah right." Konohamaru said looking to the side with his hands in his pockets.

"So Naruto-ni-san, I can see that you definitely survived that incident." Udon said referring to Naruto's scarred face. "But where have you been this whole time?"

"And what's with this cloak? And where can I get one?" Konohamaru asked pointing to Naruto's Akatsuki cloak.

"It's a long story." Naruto said.

/

After explaining the whole thing about Akatsuki and his profession, the Konohamaru Corps, who were sitting cross legged on the ground, stared at Naruto with awe.

"Wow. You're so badass ni-san." Konohamaru said still in awe.

"Yeah, I guess I am." Naruto said with a grin as he rubbed his nostrils with his index finger.

"Don't get too cocky baka." Sakura said lightly punching Naruto in the arm.

"Sorry Sakura-chan, but I am the best at what I do." Naruto said still grinning. "But you guys got to promise not to tell anyone about me being alive until I make it known myself, okay?"

"Hai, ni-sama!" The three academy students said with a mock salute.

"Excellent." Naruto said with a grin.

"So how is it like having the Yondaime Hokage inside of you?" Udon asked.

"Well parents can get annoying, that I definitely learned." That earned him a punch in the head. "Ow."

"Be nice to your parents." Sakura scolded him.

"I was going to say that it's nice to have them always be with me though, geez." Naruto said rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, I just remembered, before I forget, I have great news that's going to shock you and your father with so much joy." Sakura said with a huge smile.

"Hm? What is it?" Naruto asked as he and his parents were now curious.

"Tsunade-shishou is pregnant!" Sakura exclaimed with a grin shocking Naruto, his parents and the Konohamaru Corps.

"NANI?!" Naruto screamed in shock.

/

Sitting cross legged in front of his mother's pond, Sasuke was enjoying the peace when he heard someone scream.

"NANI?!"

Sasuke's eyes shot opened as he recognized that voice anywhere.

'Naruto?'

/

"I don't believe it!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I know, isn't it great?" Sakura said with much glee.

"No, I mean I really don't believe it, I thought a woman of her age would have already hit menopause by now. How is this possible?" Naruto questioned not understanding how his grandmother got pregnant again since woman usually begins menopause at 52, which was how old Tsunade was now, and with the levels of stress she had been through in the many years of her life that probably should have made it come around by now.

(You know since stress is one of the things along with weight gain and smoking that cause early menopause.)

"Well that's what I thought two, but apparently Tsunade-shishou's jutsu that causes her to appear young had also had the side effect of keeping her sexual hormones functioning for an added number of years, so she's able to produce eggs for a while." Sakura explained.

"I don't know what you just said Sakura-nee-chan, but it somehow grosses me out." Konohamaru said feeling disgusted by the explanation.

"So… so… I'm going to have an uncle or niece?" Naruto asked still in shock and disbelief at the whole thing. Sakura smiled and nodded her head in confirmation. Naruto started to smile and shed a tear at the fact that his family was going to get a new member of the family. Inside, Minato was still shell-shocked that he was going to be a big brother. Suddenly his emotions started to get the best of him as he grinned and his chakra started to rise from his excitement. "Y-y-ya-yatta!" Naruto cheered. Suddenly a golden flaming figure appeared behind him shocking the others.

"I'm going to be a big brother!" The golden Minato cheered then dissipated from reality.

"Whoa~" The Konohamaru Corps said in awe.

"Well that was new." Naruto said, surprised by the sudden appearance from his father.

"Was that your father?" Sakura asked with wide eyes.

"Apparently so." Naruto said.

"Sorry, I'm just so excited that I'm going to be a big brother." Minato said within his son's mind, continuing to grin as he wiped away a joyful tear.

"*Sigh* Sweet, sweet, Baka-Minato." Kushina said in a loving manner with a smile as she kissed her husband on the cheek.

"Either way I got to go buy some new baby clothes now." Naruto said with a grin.

"Baka, you said you can't be seen by others." Sakura said.

"Not if I drop them off anonymously." Naruto said still grinning.

"*Sigh* Sweet, sweet, Baka-Naruto." Sakura said with a loving smile as she kissed Naruto on the cheek.

'Once again, these love birds deserve each other.' Kurama thought.

Suddenly a rabbit ran passed them as Mamoru chased it.

"Well that was random." Udon said.

"Oh come on Mamoru, just let this one be the one that got away, there are children here who shouldn't see a bunny's death." Naruto called out.

"Like hell!" Mamoru shouted back.

"Did That Fox Just Speak?!" Moegi shouted with shock.

"So that's the famous Mamoru, huh? Cute." Sakura said with a smirk as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, when he's not being a little asshole." Naruto said.

"I heard that!" Mamoru shouted, but then he stopped allowing the rabbit to get away. "Uh oh."

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked concerned about why his best friend stopped chasing the rabbit.

"Tall, dark and brooding duck ass haired emo's coming this way." Mamoru said running up to Naruto.

"Oh crap." Naruto said as he sensed Sasuke closing in. Naruto and Mamoru ran back into the forest and hid inside just in time as Sasuke landed in the middle of the training ground.

"Sasuke, what a surprise." Sakura said putting on a smile as she acted innocent. Sasuke closed his eyes and started sensing for another presence. He then opened his eyes and started head towards the forest. "Uh, hey Sasuke, how about a spar? I bet I can finally knock your block off!" Sakura said with a grin and gripping her bicep.

Sasuke ignored her as he started approaching a tree as he gripped Tamashi, ready to unsheathe it.

Naruto started to sweat a bit as he hid behind a tree with Mamoru. He knew that Sasuke was going to come around and find him; he had to think of a way out of this situation without alerting Sasuke of thinking that there was an enemy in the village. He could put on his Hashi disguise since Sasuke despised that side of him and would chase him to the end of the world just to kill him. Sasuke was right next to the tree, ready to discover who was behind it with Naruto sweating with fear as he believed himself to be screwed.

As Sasuke got closer and closer, he then dashed around the tree with Tamashi unsheathed a bit, but he calmed down when he only saw a small fox kit.

"Yip." The fox kit said as Sasuke sheathed Tamashi and sighed as he stood up straight.

"Guess I overreacted over nothing." Sasuke said as he walked away towards Sakura and the Konohamaru Corps. "Sorry about that. I thought I heard someone scream around here earlier." Sasuke said.

"You heard that all the way from the Uchiha compound?" Sakura questioned with surprise. 'Wow, Naruto's gotten louder than I remembered.' Sakura thought. "Anyway, thanks for being our 'protector' but while you're here I wanted to tell you that Hinata and I were discussing something earlier and we were kind of hoping that."

"I'll train Udon a few weeks after he officially becomes a genin, no earlier, no later." Sasuke said surprising Sakura, Konohamaru and Moegi and shocking Udon greatly.

"Were you spying on us yesterday?! Weirdo." Sakura said with an annoyed glare.

"This coming from the girl who constantly makes out with her picture of Naruto." Sasuke said with a dull look.

"W-w-what?! You Stalking Creep! Just get out of here before I bend you into a pretzel!" Sakura shouted with an anime style pissed off face.

"Hn." Sasuke went before turning to the Konohamaru Corps. "Careful learning from her. You three don't want to learn any bad habits." Sasuke said.

"You No Good Teme! Come Here!" Sakura yelled as she tried to wring Sasuke's neck, but he vanished in a blue flash. "Damn bastard." Sakura said with her arms crossed as she glared at the spot where Sasuke had stood not a moment ago.

"That's what I've been saying." The four heard making them turn to see Naruto coming out of the tree that he apparently merged with.

"Whoa! How'd you do that ni-san?!" Konohamaru asked with excitement and awe.

"I don't know. My clones did that before, but that was when my anger took over and my body went on auto-pilot." Naruto said as Mamoru walked up next to him.

"It must have been your Senju DNA. It must have subconsciously merged with the tree that you were leaning on." Sakura deduced.

"So now I can become one with trees and no one can sense my chakra when I do? Freaking sweet!" Naruto said with a grin.

"Man, ni-san, you've gotten so much cooler!" Konohamaru praised as he, Moegi and Udon stared at him with amazement and admiration shining in their eyes.

"Thanks." Naruto said, but then a thought came to his mind as he wanted to now speak privately with Sakura. "Uh, guys, can I have a moment alone with Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Sure boss." Konohamaru said as he and his friends covered their ears and closed their eyes. Naruto then grabbed Sakura's hand and dragged her deeper into the forest.

"I still can't believe I'm going to be taught by Sasuke-san." Udon said with a smile.

"I didn't hear what you said, but I don't think I like it." Konohamaru said.

"What?" Udon asked not hearing Konohamaru correctly.

After walking a bit away from the trainees, Naruto released Sakura's hand and was trying to find some courage to speak what's on his mind.

"So what is it you want to talk about?" Sakura asked.

"About the future." Naruto said looking to the side feeling a bit timid as a tint of pink appeared on his cheeks.

"What about it?" Sakura asked.

"You… you plan on getting stronger, right?" Naruto asked.

"What kind of question is that? You know better than anyone that's my goal besides being the best wife there is." Sakura said with a smirk.

"Yeah, but… I mean for… 'Others'." Naruto said blushing a bit more.

"Others? I'm already doing that to protect those who are precious to me."

"I know, but I mean for future others." Naruto said earning a confused look from Sakura. "You know… others… who have the Uzumaki-Senju… and Haruno bloodline." Naruto said with a full on blush. Sakura blushed red as she finally understood what he's been trying to say.

"O-oh. W-what made you ask that?" Sakura asked as she looked down to the ground.

"My mission… I heard from someone that mothers are strong, and I completely believe in those words. I mean, tou-san did tell me once that the mother is the most important person in a family and, well, I just wanted to know that you're planning on being the strongest woman in the world… you know, for our future kids." Naruto said blushing redder. Sakura smiled at Naruto for his explanation.

"Of course." Sakura said with a nod.

"G-good. I of course expected nothing less from my Sakura-chan." Naruto said with a grin.

"Shinachiku." Sakura suddenly said.

"Huh?" Naruto asked with confusion.

"If we ever have a son… I want his name to be Shinachiku." Sakura said with a smile. Naruto stared at her with shock before developing a smile, blush and a slightly bashful expression on his face.

"I… I understand… and I really like that name." Naruto said lightly scratching his blushing cheek. He then heard Sakura giggling making him look to see her back to him as she held her cheeks that were blushing.

"I can't believe we're actually talking about our future kids. It makes me feel so embarrassed, but happy." Sakura said with a smile and her eyes closed as she moved her hips side to side. Naruto smiled at this, happy to know that Sakura was willing to go so far with him in the future. Suddenly Sakura jumped at Naruto and wrapped her arms around his neck as she moved her legs in the air with excitement, while Naruto was trying to keep himself from falling as he hugged her back.

"Aw~ my sochi and Sakura-chan are talking about or future grandkids. How romantic." Kushina said with a big smile and her eyes closed while holding onto her cheeks and moving her hips side to side.

"Yeah. Honestly didn't expect this talk until the future." Minato said with a smile as he scratched the back of his head. Kushina then suddenly jumped into Minato's arms as she kicked her legs in the air with excitement, like Sakura was doing with her son.

"I can't wait for the future!" Kushina cheered as Minato then chuckled at his wife's words.

"Mortals." Kurama said shaking his head with a smirk on his face.

"Naruto… thank you." Sakura thanked Naruto confusing him.

"For what?" Naruto asked. Sakura then separated from him and stared into his eyes with her own that reflected much joy and affection.

"For still being her for me and thinking only the best for me." Sakura said with a big loving smile that Naruto couldn't help, but return.

"I would always come back for you and give you all that you could ever desire until I give you the universe, my Tenshi Hime (Angel Princess)." Naruto said with a smile.

"I love you, Naruto-kun, my Shugo Tenshi (Guardian Angel)." Sakura said hugging Naruto again.

"And I love you as well, Sakura-chan." Naruto said returning the hug.

The two then looked into each other's eyes, leaning in and shared a passionate kiss and as their lips were connected, their rings glowed golden as their chakra had gotten warmer. After minutes of sharing their kiss, they were forced to separate to catch their breath.

"Ew~" The two turned to see Konohamaru Corps spying on them. "I mean… we're not here!" Konohamaru quickly said.

"Baka!" Moegi exclaimed as she punched Konohamaru over the head.

Naruto and Sakura looked at them then looked at each other as they then started laughing at the scene that they saw. Mamoru just smirked as he made his way to the two.

"Sorry for interrupting your moment, but Naruto we have to go before they send a search party for us." Mamoru said making Naruto sigh.

"Right, right. Man trying to remain a dead man sucks." Naruto said with a down expression.

"Don't worry, I'll always be waiting for you." Sakura said with a smile making Naruto smile as well. "And when you come back for good." Sakura said with a blush making Naruto raise an eyebrow, but then she leaned in next to his ear and whispered. "We could start on making our family bigger, if you know what I mean. Shannaroo." Sakura said making Naruto's nose shoot out blood as he had a huge beaming smile on his face.

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-" Mamoru then grabbed a rock and threw it at Naruto's head, fixing him. "I would like that very much." Naruto said with a big red blush making Sakura giggle as she took out a handkerchief out of nowhere and wiped away the blood from his nose.

"Whoa. Looks like Sakura-chan has a perverted side to her." Minato said with an amused smile.

"Just like red here." Kurama said pointing to Kushina.

"Oi!" The red head Uzumaki shouted.

"I… I guess I better go." Naruto said with a frown.

"I'll wait for you." Sakura said with a sad smile.

"And I'll long for you." Naruto said with his own said smile as he and Sakura then shard another passionate kiss.

"Oh come on~" Konohamaru whined at the lovey dovey sight, only to get punched in the head by Moegi again. After the kiss was finished, Mamoru jumped atop of Naruto's head, ready for travel.

"Ja ne, my true heart." Naruto said with a sad smile before he vanished.

"Ja ne, my soul." Sakura said with her own sad smile as her hair blew in the wind.

"Oh wow. That was like something out of a romantic movie." Moegi said with shimmer eyes and a dreamy expression as she placed her fists against her cheeks.

"Love. Being a shinobi should be important to us first." Konohamaru said with his arms cross as he looked dully to the side. Moegi looked at Konohamaru with a blush.

"Yeah… maybe we can focus on that after we become genin." Moegi said as she thought of a future with Konohamaru.

/

As Naruto travelled away from Konoha, he stopped atop of a branch and spoke.

"I know you're there Zetsu. No reason in hiding since you helped me be one with that tree earlier." Naruto said as the plant being came out of the bark of a tree.

"You know, you're breaking a lot of rules for sneaking back into Konoha~." White Zetsu chimed.

"So you going to snitch?" Naruto questioned.

"No. We are only here to observe and the only thing we report is information that assists the Akastuki in its goal for peace, not small personal things like your visits to Konoha." Black Zetsu said.

"In other words, our lips are shut." White Zetsu said.

"Does that other half of you even have lips?" Mamoru questioned.

"Let's just hurry before Obito kicks my ass." Naruto said as he continued travelling back to base.

"He's a wild card that one." White Zetsu said as he and his other half watched Naruto's retreating figure.

"True, but he still proves useful for many occasions." Black Zetsu said as he and his other half sunk back into the tree.

/

Once arriving back to base, Naruto found that Suigetsu and Jugo had received their cloaks from Obito.

"Black actually looks good on you both." Naruto complimented with a smile.

"Thank you." Jugo thanked Naruto with a polite bow.

"I already knew that." Suigetsu said with a grin.

"So what now?" Naruto asked.

"Now they assist the others in your place." Obito said shocking Naruto.

"Huh?!"

"Yahiko, Nagato and I figured that you should be off from taking anymore mission for a while, until you get better control over your emotions that awaken the curse mark." Obito said. Naruto opened his mouth to argue, but he decided to keep it closed, feeling that Obito was right; last thing Naruto wanted was to go crazy on a mission and hurt his precious people and comrades like he almost did before.

"I understand." Naruto said. Obito placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder as a sign of comfort.

"Don't worry. I'll help you with this. After all, who else better to help a little psychopath with controlling his emotions than one who's been through it before, ne?" Obito said with a smile.

"Who are you calling little?!" Naruto shouted with an anime style pissed off look making Obito laugh a bit.

"You're back!"

"Ani-kun!" Naruto was then enveloped into a tight embrace from his sister as Karin stopped next to Suigetsu. "Where have you been?" Akane asked with Unmei, who was on Akane's head, yipped wondering the same thing.

"Just went for a walk." Naruto simply said. Akane then sniffed him making her brother raise an eyebrow at her actions.

"Why do you smell like perfume?" Akane asked.

"Oh, well this little shit." Naruto said referring to Mamoru who hit him in the face with his tail at being called a little shit. "Had hit me with some nature stink so I stopped by home and… used some of Rin-chan's perfume bottles to hide the stench." Naruto said with a small blush as Suigetsu laughed at that. It was a price to pay so no one would know about him being at Konoha with Sakura. "Anyway, I heard that these two will be taking my jobs for a while." Naruto said pointing to Suigetsu and Jugo.

"Yeah. Sorry Naruto, but we're just worried for you." Karin said feeling bad for her surrogate brother.

"It's alright. I understand." Naruto said with a small smile.

"Hey look on the bright side Karin." Suigetsu then wrapped his arm around her making her blush and look at him in surprise. "You and I get to spend some time together." Suigetsu said with a sly grin, but then his arm was sliced off by Shokan, turning it into water. "What the hell man?!" Suigetsu shouted.

"Keep your arms to yourself." Naruto said with an anime glare causing Obito to laugh out loud while Akane and Unmei giggled, Mamoru snickered and Jugo chuckled a bit.

"Is he always this overprotective?" A pissed Suigetsu asked, whispering it to Karin.

"To the point that you want to strangle him." Karin said with annoyance and an anime style expression that reflected the feeling.

/

Dai stared at his bandages with a stoic look as he remembered what Naruto had said.

"She said that when the day comes that she'll be the one to finish you for everything that you've done. So I'm letting you live. After all, I don't want to take away something so important to my future wife."

'… Damn brat.' Dai thought with anger.

"Still angry?" Orochimaru asked.

"I feel like a disgrace for not finishing him off." Dai said narrowing his eyes.

"Don't worry about it. The mission was a success either way. You'll have a chance to rid the Senju bloodline in time." Orochimaru said.

"Unless a real threat comes and beats you to the punch." Dai turned to notice a figure appear in the room, but what shocked him was his red sharingan.

"Uragiri… how disappointing of you to show up." Orochimaru said with disdain in his tone.

"I heard your golden boy lost." Uragiri said with a smirk.

"He never lost. He could have killed him if he wanted to." Orochimaru said.

"Either way I consider that a chance for me to take on this thorn in the balls and showing that I'm truly superior to you useless lot, especially you pedo-snake." Uragiri said with a grin. Dai shot lava at Uragiri, but the sharingan wielder stuck out his hand as a small black hole appeared at the palm of his hand and completely absorbed the lava shocking Dai. "Oh~ nice try. You got two more chance to win a prize 'gaki'." Uragiri said still grinning.

"If you truly feel that confident in your skills, then be my guest at taking a shot at him the next time he has a mission." Orochimaru said just to shut him up.

"Sounds like a deal from Kami that is if the creator was an ugly pale, transvestite geisha with a fetish for snakes up his hole." Uragiri said angering Orochimaru even more. "When the gaki and I meet, I'll make sure he never forgets my eyes." Uragiri said with a dangerous grin as his Sharingan transformed, looking like a pupil surrounded by a ring of black magatamas.

End of Chapter 7

Omake

Hinata was in front of her small garden, tending to it. She always enjoyed this little hobby of her own. Seeing the flowers she had planted grow to be strong healthy flowers that produced more young ones made her feel at peace; like the whole garden was a big family. Kind of like a village's residence in a way.

"They're beautiful." Hinata turned to see Sasuke.

"Oh, hello Sasuke-kun. How may I help you?" Hinata greeted the Uchiha with a warm smile.

"I… well I…" Sasuke took a deep breath as he focused on the task at hand. "I wanted to give you this… for your garden." Sasuke said extending to Hinata a small stock flower that was in a small pot.

"A stock? Why?" Hinata asked.

"I… well for some reason I thought of you when I saw this flower." Sasuke confessed looking to the side with a blush on his cheeks. Hinata looked at Sasuke with shock as she developed some red on her cheeks, but then she smiled at took the flower from his hands.

"A-arigatou, Sasuke-kun." Hinata thanked Sasuke. She then planted the flower into her garden and gave it some water. "Sasuke-kun."

"Hm?"

"Do you know what a stock means?" Hinata asked.

"Not really, but does it really matter?" Sasuke asked.

"I guess not. Its presence is all that matters." Hinata said with a smile. "Arigatou."

"Anytime." Sasuke said with a small smile. "Anyway, I have to go. Tsunade-sama requires me for a mission."

"I understand. Good luck." Hinata said with a smile.

"Arigatou." Sasuke thanked her with a bow. "I'll see you when I get back." Sasuke said with a small smile before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

"Yes. When you get back." Hinata said still smiling. Hinata then looked back at the stock as she developed a blush again. "The stock. A flower that means 'bonds of affection' and to tell someone that 'you'll always be beautiful to me.'" Hinata said staring at the small flower. "You're now my favorite from my whole garden." Hinata said with a bright and happy smile as she blushed deeper.

Omake End

Finally I'm done with this chapter! It's definitely long as hell. Sorry for the length, but you guys and gals got to admit it was a pretty damn good chapter. This week has been good to me. I got to finish this story, I discovered Toshinobu Kubota and his song Love Rain (which sounds amazing, especially when you're reading the romantic parts in this story), I have J-stars Victory Vs + for PS3 (I AM TOTALLY GEEKING OUT! I HAVE BEEN KICKING ASS AS NARUTO!) and 4th of July is here!

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hoped you guys liked the chapter and the omake that I based off of the one with Asuma and Kurenai.

Later.

Takeshi1225, out!