The Dark Tower

A Lost Guardian Series

Chapter 1: An Unexpected Return

It's been two years since the disappearance of Uzumaki Naruto, a boy, nay a man, who was a missing member of a thought to be mythical race of people known throughout the world as the Guardians. It had almost been a year when the Fourth Great Shinobi War had been only a whisper on the winds of fate. It came with a sudden force that many didn't believe it had started even a month later.

Within the first four months Jaraiya had been lost in a battle with Orochimaru, Tsunade blamed herself even though she'd been busy fighting Kabuto and several of Orochimaru's 'less than perfect' Cursed Seal wielders. She had only survived thanks to the 'Naruto Family' coming to her aid.

Now Hinata stared out across the field, her once soft lavender eyes now held an edge like diamond. She surveys the damage of the most recent battle, the Sound and Iwa had joined forces for the latest sortie against Konoha. The battle had been long and disastrous, many civilian and Shinobi lives had been ended, yet Konoha came through thanks to the return of their strongest Ki fighter Lee. With a few well placed ki blasts he had opened windows into the enemy ranks allowing the ANBU and Jounin to take control of the battle in an instant.

Now the battle was over and Hinata was on watch, her Byakugan blazing in the fading light watching for any enemy Shinobi who might sneak up on her squad as they looked for survivors. There is a blur of motion to her left and back and Tenten appears, bladed weapons of various types strapped to her body so thick it was almost armor. An armor that could turn deadly in an instant. She looks around the area, her eyes as hard if not harder than Hinata's. "Report…" Normally the word would be as hard and cold as her eyes, but it always softened for those in the so called 'Naruto Family.'

Hinata takes a moment to collect her thoughts, the members of her squad sending hand signs. "We've found only three survivors, two are mortally wounded and the third sustained minor damage combined with a concussion from a earth jutsu." Tenten nods, her eyes softening as they ask a wordless question. Hinata smiles, her own eyes softening as she looks at one of her most precious people. "I'm fine Tenten-chan, my shift is over in a little while." Tenten nods, her eyes and face hardening once again as her clothes begin to ruffle and she takes off into the air, her ki bright around her as she flies back towards Konoha. Hinata watches her for a split second before returning to her duties.

Another fifteen minutes reveals no more survivors, all enemy Shinobi either mercy killed or taken prisoner. A sigh escapes her lips as everyone begins filing back to the village. Finally she follows her squad, her eyes not missing anything with six hundred yards, wishing she could simply fly home. But there was no way in hell she was gonna leave her soldiers alone, Naruto would never forgive her if she did.

Tsunade looked out over the village from the window in her office. If one first met her this day they wouldn't have any doubts to her age. Her Genjutsu was still up but it made no difference as the lines on her face were deep, her eyes sad and hollow with pain. Faces flash through her mind on permanent replay as all the Shinobi she felt she'd failed crossed in front of her mind's eye. One face in particular continued to haunt her, a fool's face with red line tattoos on his cheeks and long spiky white hair, a goofy grin on his face as he runs from her fist.

A tear trails down her cheek as she remembers her lost team mate, a man who she had realized she loved only after his death. Suicide had been on her back ever since but she knew she could not; he would be ashamed of her if she let the monkey take control and go through with it. His name whispers past her lips, inaudible to all, even herself. As if the silent name was a signal an explosion rocked the ground, shaking all the buildings in the village, almost making Tsunade fall as she tried to regain her balance on the wobbly floor. "What the hell was that?!" ANBU appear from thin air around her, one in a cats mask stepping forward hurriedly.

She bows quickly before reporting, "Hyuuga Hinata's team has been attacked! Reinforcements are already on the way! Iwa, Sound, and Lightning are charging towards the East Wall!" Tsunade heard the panic in the young woman's voice, a panic she herself was feeling a hundred times over the moment the words 'Hinata' and 'attacked' came out in the same sentence. "Send the Family to the East Wall; get Kakashi's ANBU Team out to Hinata immediately!! Sound the alarm, all Shinobi to their stations!!"

Hinata sighs as the explosion rips apart her team's ranks, three died instantly, two seriously injured. The rest pull out their preferred weapons, watching the incoming enemy Shinobi with a firm resolution her team was known for. A Sand Shinobi, one of Gaara's newest Chunin if memory served, ran through four hand seals creating two sand whips that he begins lazily flipping forward in preparation.

She hears the cry of a Lightning Jutsu, her Byakugan flaring instantly as she dodges the lightning bolt that blast the ground where she'd just been standing. A lavender ki ball forms in her hand before she slams her palm forward blasting into the idiot who'd tried to fry her. Landing on her feet she flips out a kunai in each hand and charges towards the incoming horde, her team hot on her heals.

Her blades sing with the chakra/ki mix flowing through them, blood raining down on her as she slices limbs and throats in a methodical dance of death. Her eyes widen as a Sound Shinobi levels his palms at her, a familiar hole in his hands bringing back memories of a long past Chunin exam. A blast of sound and wind rockets at her, heavily laden with chakra. Fury overrides her normal thought processes as he ki flares to life, a roar of refusal to die blasting past her lips as she drops the kunai, two large energy orbs forming in her hands before slamming her palms together. The two balls of energy becoming one before blasting forward in an energy wave that fries the enemy Shinobi in front of her, ripping through the Sound Ninja's attack like tissue paper. He only has time to widen his eyes in surprise before he is incinerated along with all those to slow to move from behind him. The lavender of her Byakugan eyes starts to darken as her fury grows and she starts firing small orbs of energy in rapid fire succession, her scream of defiance not faltering once as she begins to kill and kill and kill. Her team stands back to back with their leader throwing jutsu in all directions, the enemy horde flowing around them like an endless ocean. Sweat begins to drip down Hinata's brow as her ki begins to waver and drop.

Grabbing her kunai again she rushes into the gap she'd created, her kunai once again flashing through flesh and viscera. She takes a step back, her left hand supporting the back of the right kunai before slamming forward, the blade of the kunai sinking into an Iwa shinobi's forehead with such force flesh, bone and brain matter blasts from the back of his head. His eyes roll back, his mouth opening and closing in a silent denial of his death. A sword cleaves a path through the air aimed at her throat and with the flexibility only capable by a female she leans back leaving the kunai in the dead shinobi's head. Her feet launch up slamming into the flat side of the katana with such force it flies from the attacker's hand. She lands on her feet, her legs bent before kicking off the ground and slamming her other kunai into and through the attacker's throat, watching in an iceberg like cold as he chokes on his own blood, his hands clawing at the kunai in an attempt to live. Hinata was already moving on, a new pair of kunai in her hands.

It was at moments like this, when her blades sliced through enemy flesh, that she can't believe her lack of use of the Gentle Fist style. She had been trained in the style since she was a child, barely able to walk. Had finally started to master the damn style after Naruto had left for the Guardian Village, but in the first sorties of the war she'd found the kunai were better for her then simply blasting her chakra through enemies. It had made her father furious, after all the entire clan, save a few here and there, believed the style was the ultimate weapon and the only one needed for a 'true' Hyuuga. Heh, fuck those old geezers and their stupidity of never changing. She knew the Gentle Fist wasn't the strongest; Naruto had beaten it after all hadn't he? Even after being hit with one of the strongest techniques of the style! She wasn't that stupid. The grin that spread across her face at the thought of finally doing what made her happy and Naruto's grinning face sent shivers through the few enemy shinobi, right before they died by the hands of this blood soaked Goddess of Death.

Their fear was replaced by a cocky sense of assurance as their ranks parted revealing two figures that brought a minute sense of fear to Hinata. Standing there like the field was already theirs was none other than Uchiha Sasuke and Kabuto. Her fear was instantly replaced by such a blind rage her ki flared to life greater than ever before, her hair forced to stand up from its pressure. The ground started to crack as rocks and pebbles lifted from the beneath the topsoil until the pressure became too much and the ground cratered beneath her feet. The ground rips apart as she blasts forward at these two betrayers of Naruto, one he'd loved like a brother.

Sasuke smirked as he unfastens the cloak and whips it forward, Hinata's fist ripped through the cloth revealing Sasuke was gone. "Nice Hinata-san, but not good enough. You telegraph too much…" Sasuke's amused and reproachful voice made her anger rise another notch, little bolts of lightning arcing across her ki. She knew her power was nowhere near Naruto's, not according to the descriptions she had from her lovers who'd seen his power first hand. But at this moment she felt invincible, she could feel her ki increasing the speed and strength of every muscle in her body. Her chakra was leaking from her tenketsu making a double flame around her body of blue and lavender. Sasuke's grin diminishes as he looks at Hinata as she slowly straightens, her double energy flaring around her body made him extremely nervous. The power coming off this girl he'd known as a shy loser was almost staggering. Never in a million years did he think she would reach even half this strength. He knew she could match him without his cursed seal, but she seemed to be steadily getting stronger, if this continued he might have to use Lvl 2 and he really didn't want to resort to that. He unsheathes the blade he had come to love, lightning crackled across its razor sharp edge as he dashed in for a one hit kill on this confusing girl.

His speed is beyond impressive as he seems to simply disappear, his form is perfect, his heart cold. In his mind he'd decided this girl simply had to die, no ifs ands or buts about it. Why then when his blade was a mere centimeter away did she just vanish? His eyes are wide as he stumbles, having expected a solid body to stop his blade as it sunk into flesh and bone. "Uchiha Sasuke…" His temper is sparked as he recognizes the tone she used, seeing as he had been using it on her not more than seconds ago. "I'm not that pathetic and weak Uchiha, not against someone as lame as you…" Sasuke grins evilly, his eyes shadowed, the cursed seal spreading across his skin. Hinata grins, her excitement rising. "Now this should be fun…"

Both blur from sight, their fists slamming into each other with such force it blasts the ground under the impact area. The shinobi around the two combatants watch this clash of titans in awe, some in fear as they realize they wouldn't last a second in a fight with either of these two. Blood spurts from Sasuke's mouth and Hinata's nose as both attacks land. Sasuke recovers first as he loads a kick and launches the spinning side kick into Hinata's head sending her careening through the gather Shinobi towards Konoha. Right about then Kakashi appears catching the now stunned Hinata forcing himself to dig deep with his chakra in order not to fall back. He looks back the way she'd flown, his mask not hiding his anger as his eyes land on the traitor Sasuke. First he had seen this battle was not going good, many allied Shinobi were being killed and now that bastard shows up and hurts Hinata. His anger at the situation was growing by the minute as it seemed this was going to be the end of Konoha. With a snap that was almost audible his anger went over the edge and his ki flared to life in such a brilliant blast it slammed a crater three times larger than Hinata's into the ground and forced people on all sides to be sent flying.

The battle was not going well for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The combined forces of Iwa, Sound, and Lightning had made one grand attack on the East Wall. All of Konoha had jumped to their places instantly, bringing pride to all, but it was in vain as the enemy unleashed their most powerful techniques with their strongest warriors. This was definitely meant to be an all or nothing battle meant to wipe Konoha from the face of the planet. Tsunade fought alongside her strongest Shinobi plowing a major dent in the enemy forces, but the horde was never ending. They were quickly growing tired and there was no end in sight. It seemed all was lost on all fronts as Tsunade got reports of her Shinobi falling over and over, fear crept its cold fingers into her heart as she looked on, knowing that the very best were being saved as the coupe de grat(?), the finishing blow.

It seemed all was lost in the near future when something she knew would be talked of for years to come happened. In a blast of blue and red fire an orb swirling with power erupted over head. Hope was lost as Tsunade thought like all of Konoha that this was some massive destructive technique from the enemy, while the enemy thought it was the same from Konoha. One of them was right…

The enormous orb which had to span hundreds of feet in diameter slowly lowered, Shinobi of every village running and screaming as it neared the ground. Slowly the orb started to condense growing smaller and smaller until it touched the ground and erupted into a thick layer of condensed blue and green smoke. Everyone watched in fear and awe wondering when the killing blow would come. It came in a thunderous blue energy arc that incinerated a long trench of enemies, the points of the attack ripping through the sides of the border Shinobi with so much force it rips them completely in half. A small breeze blows the wind slowly away revealing a silhouette of two people. It clears further revealing a man holding a sword in his right hand, the blades tip pointing to the side. A loose cloak is draped over the figures form with a flat western styled cowboy hat hiding his features. The arm not in the cloak looks powerful with lean cut muscle. Behind him is a girl with long black hair pulled back into a ponytail that reaches past her waist. In her right hand is a large and strangely shaped fuuma shuriken, armor over her opposing shoulder and knee with extremely short shorts and a green long sleeved shirt with leather straps across it, the bottom of it short enough to show her mid-drift. In her left hand is a smaller version of the man's weapon. Two thick, wide leather belts criss cross across her hips, the cross section right in front of her waist, strange metallic kunai fill slots up and down the belts. At their feet lie three leather bags that seemed to have been just dropped.

The man speaks; his voice hard and cold, holding such hatred it put instant fear in everyone's hearts but a few Konoha Shinobi who recognized it instantly, even with the aged and harsh tone to it. "Fucking Sound …" The man looks up revealing long blonde hair with red streaks and deep black eyes that resembled icebergs at the moment with slits, the once simple lines on his face resembling whiskers were now thick clefts into his skin and looked more like whiskers than before. The once babyish looking face was now hard and muscular, the baby fat completely gone revealing a chiseled and dominating face. With speed that was scary to all who saw it both people flashed into action, their blades slicing through bodies with such force the blood, cartilage and bone was flung back in a shower of gruesome rainbows.

The fast and bloody death of shinobi was like hitting the instant restart button on the battle. At the first sound of his voice Hinata had went straight from semi-conscious to conscious in a heart beat, her battle fury returning full blast as she killed enemy Shinobi in an attempt to reach her Naruto, knowing exactly where he was no matter where he moved.

In other parts of the battle Tenten and Kurenai were in the same state as Hinata but holding their duty firmly in their mind or else they'd being doing exactly like Hinata. Their attacks, however, were more vicious and unforgiving as they sought to end this stupid battle to see their Naruto-kun.

Yuffie dashed through the enemy ranks, her mind chanting a mantra over and over again. 'Leaf and Sand, kill the rest, especially the Sound…' Over and over her eyes located the headbands, slashing and dodging in a gruesome dance of death. After a while the Konoha and Sand who hadn't seen her with Naruto earlier realized she was an ally and stopped attacking. She simply dodge attacks and killed the enemy with her sword or slashed them with her Shuriken.

Naruto was having a hell of a time, both of his swords slashing and hacking limbs and heads off bodies like an unstoppable force of nature. He leaps in the air, a perfect Rasengan forming in an instant surrounded by a halo of reddish gold ki. He slams his palm forward launching the Rasengan like a ki blast. It slams into the middle of a thick group of enemy shinobi ripping the shinobi apart as a tornado forms on the ground with razor sharp whips of ki slashing out and slicing bodies into tiny pieces. He lands on the ground, his swords crossing across his body before he slashes out sending dual arcs of ki, chakra and another energy none of these people had ever seen before. Dual paths are cleared through the thick horde with such force those not in the 'danger zone' were blown off their feet. One 'lucky' shinobi gets up close on Naruto's back only for him to points his index finger over his shoulder before a small compact beam of energy slams through the shinobi leaving a perfect dime sized hole through his head. With a grin of pure malice Naruto rushes forward sheathing both swords, his hand coming to his sides and cupping the air before two Rasengan form his hat being slung off his head as his bright golden ki flares to life, his hair going from its blonde and red look to pure gold as the ground shatters beneath his feet. He slams the two Rasengan together, struggling for a moment before the two orbs of powerful wind and chakra merge together into one big orb with an extremely small, almost marble sized, Rasengan in the center. He frowns as the one he'd sensed appears in front of him, a cocky smile on his bespectacled face. "Well hello Naruto-kun, been a long time hasn't it?" Naruto straightens, the battle going on in a ten yard circle around these two warriors. "I see you've gotten at least a little better. Do you think your any good against me?" Kabuto smiles that cocky smile, his chakra scalpels flaring to life around his hands as he ducks down into his fighting stance. Naruto simply stares at him with his cold blue eyes. A fierce and somehow primal grin stretches itself across the young man's face sending a cold chill down Kabuto's spine. Kabuto never blinked, his eyes never left Naruto's, and in one moment Naruto was there, then he wasn't. No flash, no fazing out, nothing. Just there one second gone the next. The attack was done with such speed Kabuto didn't register he'd been attacked even as he was flying backwards, a large Rasengan having blown him backwards working its way into his abdomen pulling the marble sized Rasengan closer to his body. As his nerves registered the intense pain of being severed with lethal severity the marble of power connected. There was a pause, in time and space itself, everything seemed to stop. The battle slowed as the combatants felt something bad was about to happen, something beyond their understanding and imagination. As time started to speed up again everyone felt as if they were pushed, yet they never moved. Later they would come to understand that space itself had been warped around the impact zone. None could comprehend the immensity of the attack created by Naruto, none but Kabuto who would never again be able to explain anything to anyone.

Naruto nodded as a crater was simply gone from the battlefield, no explosion, no debris, just an orb of bent time and space and then… a crater. Pulling his blades out of his sheathes, the metal making a sound only a well honed blade pulled from its casing can, before turning to a now terrified enemy horde. The primal grin never leaving his face he dashes forward into the army, his laugh of pure joy striking an animalistic fear into their very souls.

His swords cleave a bloody path of destruction through the ranks of enemy soldiers, his eyes bright with happiness as he whirls the blade around himself stabbing and cleaving, blood never coming close to his body before his ki burned it to nothingness in mid flight. His happiness ends in seconds as his eyes catch sight of Sasuke ripping his blade from a Konoha Shinobi and is replaced by unbridled fury. His mouth opens as a roar mixed with a name rips forth. "SASUKE!!!!!!" The fury, pain, and animalistic roar stops the battle like cold water dunked on a drunken man's head. All heads turn to Naruto as his eyes begin to glow red, his ki growing by the millisecond by leaps and bounds. With a blast his Lvl 2 Guardian form flares to life as blue lightning whips against the ground ripping it apart. Boulders shake loose from the ground and rise into the air, and Sasuke felt a very human shiver of fear run down his spine. How is Naruto so powerful? Where had he gotten this power?! But Naruto wasn't done yet as he unbuckled his sword belt after flinging the cloak off revealing a strange seal on both his arms. The swords flash white and disappear with their belts, his ki growing more as his power continues to climb. His hair begins to pulse gold, his eyebrows fading as his muscles suddenly grow twice as large but leaner and more compact. Naruto crouches slightly, his primal roar growing louder and louder as he begins to unleash every ounce of power he has in his body. Red streaks begin to stretch through his hair, his fangs growing longer. His tail unwraps from his waist and begins to twitch at the pressure Naruto was exhibiting. Chakra, ki, and other powers no one here had ever felt before began swirling around Naruto's form until in a blast of multicolored light he disappears, a dome of power rising high and stretching forth ripping at the ground.

Lightning rains down from the sky forcing various people to jump or die. Yuffie merely watched all this with a smirk on her face, Tsunade huffing and panting behind her with dead enemies lying around them. "Naruto…" Pride and love suffuse her voice making Tsunade stare at her in surprise. "Show them all what you have become my love…"

Sasuke watched all of this with an intense terror written across his face. Naruto was way to powerful, way more powerful than he in his level two cursed seal. He couldn't believe the power his once friend and surrogate brother now possessed, and the variety of power he sensed that he'd never sensed or heard of before. His mental armor began to crack and his excuses about not being able to gain power in this village began to crumble. Just how powerful would he have become if he'd stayed? With the kind of power Hinata and now Naruto were exhibiting there was no telling just how powerful he might have become. The dome swirled with powerful malevolence before it began to shrink, the swirl picking up speed as it condensed in on the man within. As the smoke began to clear with the shrinking of the dome Sasuke began to see a silhouette and terror began to enter his heart deeper than before.

The dome was gone now, residing in its entirety within the being standing emotionlessly there in the deep crater he'd formed. Everything was different and the people of the Elemental countries saw for the first time why Naruto was feared in one of the most ruthless universes residing in the multiverse. Long spiky white hair flowed down to his waist; a single blue line ran down his cheek under his left eye. He wore white loose pants taped at the bottom with white biker styled boots. A blood red vest covered his torso with nine white lines running from the sides and meeting up on the back at a kanji which read simply 'Heaven'. His skin was just as tanned as before, his muscles the same size and strength as before but with more force held within. He opened his eyes and seemed to look into Sasuke's very soul as silver met red Sharingan. Naruto sighs while closing his eyes, four wings such a dark red they were almost black seemed to open from thin air and spread out behind him, his tail waving back and forth in peace. Many who saw him fell almost instantly into an awed admiration of this beyond beautiful figure who you could tell just by looking at him held more power than any one person should be capable.

There was no blur, no blink of motion, no movement at all it seemed, yet Naruto was simply gone and beside Sasuke in a motion that could only be described as several times faster than instant. "Uchiha Sasuke, your mind has been clouded by Evil though not of your doing…" He places a hand on the cursed seal and to Sasuke's immense surprise he can feel the cursed seal shrink away from that hand as if it was a living entity instead of merely a seal. An intense burning sensation slams through Sasuke's body as a silent scream rips from between his lips. His eyes roll back in his head as Naruto pulls his hand away from Sasuke's shoulder, a dark purplish vapor coming after his hand. "Be free, brother…" The vapor stops as Sasuke collapses to the ground in pain and exhaustion.

Naruto lifts his hand and looks at the swirling ball of vapor now residing in the palm of his hand. "Filth…" With a clench of his hand the vapor disappears and with it the seal on Sasuke's shoulder. Naruto flicks his hand as if throwing something disgusting away before turning on the shinobi who had been attacking his village. He raises his voice, no emotion in his tone, his wings and tail twitching with the anger his eyes and voice do not reveal. "I am Naruto, Shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Any who wish to live the rest of their days leave now, or suffer for eternity in the Pits of Damnation…" Blank looks meet his statement before a mad dash of shinobi rush to leave the killing grounds outside of Konoha before this messenger of death could knock on their door. Mere minutes later the various enemy villages were completely gone leaving shocked and awed Sand and Leaf Ninja alone staring at this Angel of Death that had saved their lives.

He knew it wouldn't last though, this awe and appreciation of him. Soon the villagers and some shinobi would be crying for his head again. Doesn't matter, I have my lovers and that's all I need…His wings folded, disappearing as they closed, and he took a step towards the four women who were now rushing for him. Tears begin to flow from his eyes as Kurenai, Tenten, Hinata, and Yuffie rush at him. His arms wrap around them all as they plaster his face with kisses. Yeah, these four are all I need…

AN-Well, Naruto's returned at last. What journey is he about to start now?

Jon