House of Blades

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.

Italics: Thoughts

Chapter 1 – The Man with the Fireseal

Thirteen years after the incident with Kyuubi, Konoha met another disaster. The Hidden Sound and Sand Village combined forces under Orochimaru and invaded the Hidden Leaf Village. Konoha suffered a huge blow on that day and has not been able to get back on its feet. The reason behind their current dismay is due to insufficient funds. The Leaf had no money to rebuild or pay its ninjas for their continued services. Many lords and businesses began to turn away from Konoha and set their eyes on other ninja villages and organizations. One such organization that benefited from the Leaf's tragic event was the House of Blades.

By orders of the Fifth Hokage, Shikamaru was to lead a team to recover a priceless gem that would save Konoha. The gem is the sister half of the one that Tsunade inherited from her grandfather, the First Hokage. The gems are very unique because there are only two that existed in the world. Just one of them is able to buy three to four large mountains. The Leaf has already found prospective buyers however there is a deadline. While all Jounins were all off on dangerous missions, Tsunade chose the brightest of the Chuunins she has on staff.

Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji, and Lee were currently hidden within the Umenokouji Clan's Main House. They have surveyed the area for two days and have noted everything down that would help bring success to their mission. The plan was very simple. Shikamaru would use Henge no Jutsu to turn into the head clan's brother, Umenokouji Taski and threatens his brother for the lock code to the treasury vault. Then he, Ino, and Lee will head to the vault while Chouji separates and secure the exit. Once the gem is retrieved, they will meet up with Chouji and exit the compound. After that, they meet up at Cow Village where Tenten is waiting with a secured location readied.

Everyone had used Henge no Jutsu to transform into different Umenokouji Clansmen with the exception of Rock Lee. While Lee was hidden on the rooftops, the other Leaf-nins were slowly closing in on the head of the clan, Umenokouji Nakago. It seems like Nakago is a very busy man and likes to stay in his office alone during the afternoon. Fortunately, Nakago was incredibly busy this week because he was going to be wed in three days. The Leaf-nins had also checked the story out and it seems that Nakago had kidnapped a beautiful girl in the village to become his wife. Ino was extremely pissed about the situation however Shikamaru reminded her of the important mission and her duty.

Nakago was sitting along in his office and Shikamaru decided now was the best time to proceed to the plan. Moments later, Shikamaru got out of the room and signaled his comrades to proceed to the next plan. Chouji splits off while Lee and Ino followed their team leader.

It was at this time that sounds of combat could be heard coming in from the front of the compound. The battle cries got near and nearer. Ino stopped running and jumped on the rooftops with Lee. One of the other plans they discussed is to have Lee and Ino stay behind if something seems wrong to draw attention away from Shikamaru. The two Leaf-nins watched below them and saw many Umenokouji Clansmen started backing out from the arc corridor. Then came out the main source of the problem, which was a man dressed in black with yellow hair.

The clansmen all charged at the newcomer but were killed off by streams of fire. The newcomer continued to walk deeper into the compound and notice Lee and Ino on the rooftops. Suddenly, the man disappeared and reappeared by the two Leaf Chuunins. The two were quite shock at the newcomer's speed.

Ino was staring at the man in front of her. He was handsome and looked really cool with the dark expression he had on. Being a ninja, she was use to those types of expressions since she too has it sometimes. The stranger wore black clothing as in black pants, shirt, combat boots, and trench coat. The only other color present on his clothing is orange colored strips. Looking at the man closer, he gave her a strange feeling like she knows him from somewhere. Then it dawned on her. It was a face that everyone in Konoha had seen at least once a week. It is the fourth face that was carved onto the mountainside of Konoha. "The Forth?" she asked quietly.

Lee examined the newcomer closely. Fastened on the stranger's belt was a large sword that hid behind his coat. The stranger showed great skill when he killed those men below. His body quickly reacted when he sense killing intent from the stranger. He maneuvered his body in front of Ino and took out his nunchaku to block the incoming attack. Seconds later, his weapon became two separate pieces.

"You got skills whoever you are," said the man. "You are ninjas from the Hidden Leaf, judging by your forehead protectors. Did Nakago hire you as bodyguards for the wedding?"

"No," Lee answered. "My team and I are on a mission here to retrieve an object. You have some skills too. I was wondering where the flame came from that you shot out. So it comes from the sword you wield. I am the Leaf's Proud Azure Beast, Rock Lee. May I ask who you are?"

"I am Uzumaki Naruto of the Seven God Swords of the House of Blades. If we are not enemies then it would be senseless that we fight each other. I have my own mission as like you do so it's best that we part for now. I can tell you are a good fighter. Let's spar the next time we meet." Naruto turns towards the girl and says his goodbye in a manner of a gentlemen. He then continued to go further inside the compound away from the two Leaf-nins.

"So he's Naruto of the House of Blades," said Ino. "He doesn't look much older than us. He is probably around the same age as me and his name is already feared around the ninja circuits."

Lee just nodded to his teammate. "The sword he has is the legendary Fireseal Sword. Now it belongs to one of the three elemental swords of the Seven God Swords. Let's continue with the plan and meet up with Shikamaru." He was about to move when something strikes him. "Doesn't that guy look familiar to you?"

"Yeah, that was what I was thinking too. He looks a lot like the Yondaime but this guy has whisker marks on his cheeks. Anyways, let's move it."

The mission was about a half way done as Shikamaru held the gem in his hand. He neatly tucks the gem inside his pouch and started running on the rooftops with Lee and Ino to Chouji's location. Unfortunately, trouble awaits them. As they got to the premises, Chouji was seen battered on the ground. Standing ten feet away from him was a shinobi of the Hidden Rain.

"I certainly didn't think there were anymore rats but I guessed I was wrong," said the Rain-nin.

Lee dashed forward delivering a round house kick but it was evaded by the enemy. The Rain-nin flipped backwards and slashed the ground with his umbrella to disengage the incoming shadow jutsu.

"A shadow user," the Rain contemplated. "You there must be from the Nara Clan of the Hidden Leaf while you with the unsightly clothes is Maito Gai's son."

"I'm not sensei's son you idiot," Lee corrected his opponent. "Maito Gai is my sensei."

"You seem to know a lot about us from our attacks," Shikamaru stated.

The Rain-nin began to laugh. "It won't hurt me to tell you but I was originally from your village. I am Aoi, a missing-nin of the Leaf and present Jounin of the Hidden Rain." Aoi jumped up again to avoid another attack made by the ninja girl. "And you are from the Yamanaka Clan I presume. I know your fathers well before I betrayed them."

Lee launched another attack against Aoi with a variety of combos. Shikamaru and Ino took this to cover Chouji and see to his wounds. Unknown to them, three other Rain-nins came out from their hiding.

Lee jumped upward and uses the momentum of the fall to slam his fist on his opponent. The attack missed but now in his crouch position he spun his right leg into a 360 degree sweeping motion. "Konoha Reppuu!" The hit connected and the opponent began to fall, however Lee was not done attacking. He quickly got on a handstand position and pushed his body off the ground and smashed his feet onto Aoi's chin.

Aoi's body started to become paralyzed from the hit to the chin. He didn't expect Gai's student to be this good. It was then that his allies started their genjutsu attack.

Shikamaru was busy concentrating at the fight between Lee and Aoi that he didn't notice the genjutsu being used on him. Dozens of Mist ninjas appeared from the ground and started throwing kunais at him. He tried evade but then remembered his friends are behind him. He quickly got a handful of shurikens from his pouch and launches them at the incoming weapons and hope they deflect each other. To his surprise, all of his shurikens went through the enemies' kunais and continued its way towards him. He braced himself for the impact and got hurt in the process. Several kunais were seen stabbed to his legs and arms.

Before Shikamaru gets hurt from another attack, Ino pulled him to safety. He looked back and saw that Chouji was already bandage by Ino. The attacks continued and Chouji was forced to enlarge his left arm and use it as a shield to protect his friends. Chouji's bandages ripped apart as he received new wounds.

"Must be some kind of genjutsu," Shikamaru stated. "The real ninjas must be hiding somewhere and launching their attacks simultaneous with their illusions. We'll have to find the real ninjas and deal with them to dissipate the genjutsu."

"Didn't think I was alone did you?" Aoi asked. The Rain-nin was now back on his feet. His head was still slightly dazed from the hit to the chin but he had worse. While Lee was distracted by seeing his teammates in danger, Aoi tried to stabilize his body. "We are hired by Umenokouji Nakago to guard him and his estate till after his wedding. What are you Leaf-nins doing here?"

Seeing his friends in trouble, Rock Lee knew he had to end the fight quickly. He made several punches but they were blocked by the enemy's umbrella. Lee had to flip backwards to avoid Aoi's counterstrike and engage the opponent again in seconds.

The fight stopped when yells could be heard from all over the compound. The bride had been kidnapped and the assailant was escaping at the west side of the compound.

"There are more of you?" Aoi asked. He didn't think the Leaf Village of sent so many ninjas for a job like this. "You three look for the bride while I take care of these guys."

The three Mist-nins nodded their heads and went in search for the missing bride.

At the same moment, Lee charged up his chakra to open his First Gate. Immediately, Lee hits the ground with his right fist with all his might. The ground shook hard and broke apart from the impact.

Aoi began to stumble around as the earth beneath him broke away. He was forced to jump away from the area so he wouldn't be swallowed by the ground. As he does so, he noticed that Lee had disappeared. A sweat drop appeared as he couldn't believe how strong that man was. He immediately surveys his surrounding in case of a sneak attack. He was use to doing that sort of thing and knew how important it was for him to be on guard at this moment. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he turned and faces the other three Leaf-nins.

"Did that man actually leave you three behind to save his own ass?" Aoi continues to bombard them with his laughter. Aoi lowered his umbrella and gotten three needles from his main weapon. With a flick of the wrist, he let the needles sail towards his opponents. A shock expression came on his face when the needles tag nothing but logs. "Kawarimi no Jutsu?" Without a second to lose, he quickly pursues them before losing their trail.

The Leaf-nins ran as fast as they could as they hop from building to building. Shikamaru then motioned his team to stop as he and Chouji couldn't keep going anymore.

"We have to stop running and patch up our wounds," said Shikamaru. "Running is no good at this point especially when we are leaving a trail of blood behind us." The man from the Nara Clan surveyed the area quickly and chose the house west of them to hide in. The house had their window closed which is the ideal place for them to hide.

The team agreed and followed their leader's orders. As they got to the house, Lee broke apart the doorknob and open the door. A man and a woman were standing their shocked and was going to run away, when Lee stopped them.

"Please, we mean no harm," Lee stated. "My friends are injured and we need a place to hide from our enemies. Please help us."

Unfortunately, the Leaf-nins didn't act quickly enough as Aoi landed behind them. "You killed my men! Those three followed me for years now." Aoi stepped towards them then noticed the lady inside. "And it seems I found Nakago's bride too. This makes things much easier."

The Leaf-nins were confused by Aoi's accusations until a figured stepped out of the house.

"The Fourth?" Shika and Chouji murmured.

"All of you get inside while I take care of this," said Naruto. "I and the man here have some unfinished business."

Aoi looked at the newcomer and immediately remembers him. "You are Naruto from the House of Blades. You and your brother stole the Sword of Raijin from me."

"You mean the Thunderseal Sword?" the blond mercenary asked. "It's currently in my brother's hand so you'll have to ask him for it."

"Impudence!" Aoi yelled. He flings his umbrella into the air and opens it. "Jouro Senban!" The umbrella started spinning around and releasing handful of needless in all direction.

Naruto looked towards his left and right and saw some water barrels. He directs his hands to those barrels and seconds later the container explodes and water began to collect on Naruto's palms. As the mercenary felt it was time for the attack, he quickly shot forward powerful blast of water knocking the needles and umbrella away.

The remaining Rain-nin backed a few stepped as he watched the technique displayed in front of him. "So that is the House of Blades' Cloud Palms." He watched as Naruto shot forward another water blast at him and evaded it. The water blast instead destroyed a wooden post behind him.

Naruto waved his arms around and used his chakra to gather more water into the palm of his hands. He sucked in the water that spilled from the barrels and from moisture in the air which formed a sphere of liquid. He added some chakra into the water so that it would stay in the shape of a ball until it makes an impact. The blonde's palms were now like a dark cloud holding water. Naruto began to build up chakra in his arms then unleash it with maximum force. The sphere of water that was in his palms shot forward.

Aoi got his umbrella ready and opens it to shield himself from the water blast. Technically, an umbrella is made to block water. While he holds it, Aoi taps a button hidden on the handle to release a spray of needles from the center of his weapon. Unluckily, the sphere of water knocked the needles aside and went through the umbrella. The sphere immediately exploded as soon as it made contact with the Rain-nin.

Naruto then grabs hold of the Fireseal's handle and dashed forward with inhuman speed. As he was within range, Naruto brought out the sword from his side and slashed Aoi in half.

"Was last attack really necessary?" Aoi asked.

"No it wasn't. I thought that you being a swordsman would rather die by the blade."

Aoi nodded. "That technique, was it Battoujutsu?" Aoi asked.

"The blade is too huge and I need a scabbard," Naruto answered softly. "It's just a normal diagonal slash using my strength and speed. Sorry about your men, but you'll meet them soon."

"Everything taken cared of?" Lee asked when Naruto walked into the house.

Naruto simply nodded his head.


Author's Notes:

This is a Naruto with a Final Fantasy like story to it. You may have noticed that I borrowed a few things from a couple of games and comics. Anyways, here is what happened. Jiraiya took Naruto and the Forbidden Scroll of Seals away from Konoha and left them with a trusted friend. The trusted friend adopted Naruto and lets him in the House of Blades, an organization made up of mercenaries that he belongs too. Naruto grows up and learn techniques from the House of Blades instead of ninja stuff. He knows Kyuubi is inside him from a chance encounter. Anyways, continue to read the story as I will explain more stuff next time. Have fun reading!

Fireseal Sword – Guilty Gear

Cloud Palms/Wind Kicks/Frost Fists – Storm Raiders

I may even use Final Fantasy summons instead of the Naruto summons.