Hey everyone. Sorry about the long wait, I had a lot of school work to take care of. A paper to write here, a project to do there, and a bunch of homework to turn in everywhere, can drive anyone crazy. Hmm.. let's see now, only six reviews? Meh, oh well, only two chapters out so far, and the comments sound pretty good so I guess it's safe to assume that I'm doing an alright job.

Chapter 3

"Ugh..." Kaze groaned, as he tried to stand. Jumping from universe to universe wasn't exactly the easiest thing to endure. The machine that is responsible for the universal jump splits a person's molecules into little tiny pieces, so that it can enter the wormhole. So much for futuristic technology, seriously, you'd think they'd make a way to jump from one universe to another without having to experience so much pain, right? Kaze stood up, un-dusted himself, and smiled, feeling the pain from the universe jump already gone. If this was how it felt like to be a half-god, how much cooler would it feel to be the actual thing? Being fully recovered, he took a sight at his surroundings. Never in his life had he seen so much... green. Trees here, trees there, mountains even farther along the road, was this the right area? Kaze glanced at his wrist watch and watched as the information appeared as a holographic image.

"Yep, this is it alright," he said as he sighed. It's a good thing this was the last version of himself that he needed to kill. The previous ones were no challenge. Kaze, being raised in a different era where everything was operated using machines, never really got much of a challenge in anything. But this time, the last one that he had to hunt, possessed the same powers as he did. It sort of stung in the pride that he killed the other versions of himself just so this last guy could attain the same powers as he did. He was nobody's slave, but at least this was the last one, and then ultimate power would be at his grasp.

"Just one more..." he thought to himself, barely noticing a few deadly black stars coming his way. Not that they would hurt him or anything, but it was good to dodge them anyway, at least to keep his reflexes sharp. Kaze arched his back to dodge the throwing stars. The stars zipped an inch away from his nose. Kaze turned his head to the side. Incredible strength, and super speed, weren't the only perks of being a half-god. He also had heightened senses. Kaze could smell, hear, and see beyond the usual distance that other normal people could. Why he didn't sense the throwing stars until it was about to impale him, he didn't know, maybe one of the after effects of a universal jump?

Four people emerged from the bushes with deadly steel knives on their clutches. They stared at the black clothed man in front of them. Kaze took a long and hard look at them all. Normally, he could sense his other selves if they were nearby, and he was getting nothing from these four. He raised an eyebrow as he noticed what they were wearing. Sandals, brown pants and sleeves, a light brown vest, bandages over their heads, and an odd looking headband tied over their foreheads with a weird looking symbol in the middle. Kaze scoffed, must be a little cult thing in this universe. Kaze pulled out his gun and set it to stun mode. Having only six bullets in his gun, he needed to conserve them, just in case he needed them. The gun that he had was a modified version of the kinds that the police officers had back in his universe. This one had unlimited ammunition if set on stun mode. The half-god took advantage of this feature and pointed his weapon at the men at front.

"Who are you? What village are you from?" asked one of the men.

"Put your kitchen knives down and I might tell you," replied Kaze, clearly mocking the weapons held by the men. The men looked at each other and nodded. They placed their weapons away. Kaze placed his gun back inside his vest.

"I'm just a wanderer from the western lands. My name's... uh..." Oh great, he didn't know the name of his other self in this universe. As he quickly thought of a name, the man in front of the three others stepped forward, a smile crept on his face.

"Naruto... back from your travels I see," said the man. Kaze narrowed his eyes. What the heck was a Naruto? Was it the name of his other self in this universe? The man that spoke, took another step forward but sensed that this blond before him probably didn't remember him. Well, after traveling the world for so long, perhaps old faces would be forgotten. "I'm sorry. You've just returned from your travels, have you? You may not remember me, so, my name is Baki, jounin of the village hidden in the sand."

What in the world was going on here? A village that was hidden in sand? Ok... other than that, at least now he knew the name that his other self went by. Seeing as though this Baki fellow seemed to know his other self, maybe he wouldn't kill them yet. Perhaps he could get them to show the location where Naruto currently resided. He'd have to be careful though, he wouldn't want anything to go out of hand if they found out that he was out to kill Naruto in order to gain godlike power. Kaze smiled, the plan was set. For now, his new identity would be Naruto. If anyone asked why he was acting out of character, or why he didn't know them, his excuse would be his travels.

"Ah yes, Baki. It's nice to see you again," said Kaze. "I was just on my way home to visit all of the people that I haven't seen since my travels."

Baki nodded. He stepped forward and shook "Naruto's" hand.

"By the way, since I haven't been in these parts in ages, mind pointing me to the direction where I live?" Kaze asked. Baki nodded again and pointed to the east.

"Just walk down this road and you'll eventually see the village hidden in the leaves," said Baki. Kaze narrowed his eyes once more. What was it with the people in this time and these villages hidden with strange things? Sand, leaves? How could entire villages be hidden in sand, much less leaves? Kaze shrugged, not like it mattered much since his only mission here was to kill Naruto. Kaze followed the path. After he had walked a few paces, he turned around to face Baki and waved his good bye. Baki waved good bye as well and took his gennin squad back to the village. A sadistic smile crept on Kaze's face.

"I'm coming Naruto, I hope you're ready...

Naruto, head walking down the streets of the leaf village, just randomly sneezed.

"Geez, I hate it when people talk about me..." he grumbled, but there were more important matters to attend to. First and foremost, what were the godlike powers that were hidden deep within him? Jutsus were easy cheesy material, but ancient godly power that allowed him to do things that no other human could? That's a bit intense. According to Shin, he and Kaze possessed these powers, but the sad part was, only Kaze knew how to control them. The other sad part was, he could be coming here at any moment, in fact, he could have already been here now. Naruto quickly shook his head. Kaze was no shinobi and couldn't perform the transformation jutsu, so scratch that idea. Maybe he could worry about him another time. Right now, there was the issue of controlling his power in order to defeat another half-god, besides himself.

Naruto sighed to himself as he trudged on. Orochimaru wanted Sasuke in a perverted and gay-ish sort of way, Akatsuki wanted him, Akatsuki also wanted the other tailed beasts, Jiraiya was a legendary pervert, Tsunade had boobs that could feed all of Japan, and Kakashi did nothing but read his smut novels. Naruto shook his head and shut his eyes.

"Why can't I meet someone normal for a change?" he asked himself as he arrived at team seven's former training spot. The blond glanced at the tree stump in the middle of the other two and instantly received flash backs. Oh, those were indeed the good old days. But enough reminiscing, there was work to be done. Naruto formed the hand sign for the shadow clone jutsu, when he sensed someone behind him. The blond ANBU turned around to see Hinata, hyperventilating.

"Naruto, you're got to come with me," she said. "Some guy that looks exactly like you entered the village and demanded to know where you were. He's killing everyone that gets in his way, and knowing our village, that's everyone."

'Shoot, here already?' he thought to himself. 'Well, it can't be helped. I can't be the Hokage of a village with no citizens in it, now can I?' Naruto pulled out a three pronged kunai and threw it behind Hinata's direction.

"I'm going to try and stop him. Hinata, I'll need you to call for Kurenai-sensei and the rest of your squad. Hiraishin no jutsu!" he shouted, as he zipped to the direction of his kunai. Hinata nodded and leaped away.

Kaze gripped the throat of one very unlucky Kakashi, slowly draining the life that remained in his hopeless body. Who the hell was this guy? And why did he resemble Naruto? To make matters worst, he had unreal powers and strength that made Tsunade comparable to a young puppy. The futuristic half-god had seen a lot of crazy things in different universes, but the magic tricks that these guys did were actually kinda cool. Water style: water bullet jutsu? Earth style: head hunter jutsu? It's amazing what the people of this universe could do, but sadly, Kaze lacked the time or the attention span to play with these people. Baki said that this was where Naruto lived. These people seemed to know Naruto but why were they protecting him? Do they know of his plan to become the one? Kaze shook his head, that couldn't be it. No way these people would even know that. Kaze glanced at the silver haired man that was gasping for breath. He wasn't exactly in a foul mood as of yet, so maybe just killing this guy and releasing him from any further pain, would be a neat way to contain his mood. Just as he was about to crush Kakashi's neck, a kunai whizzed passed him, as well as a fist connecting to his face. Kaze released his grip from Kakashi and was flung through a building.

Naruto appeared through a puff of yellow smoke and caught his former sensei before he fell on the ground. The blond took a glance at his fist. Why did that guy's face feel like a wall of solid steel? There was no mistake, that guy was definitely that Kaze person that Shin warned him about. Naruto was about to place Kakashi down on the ground when Kaze emerged from the destroyed building, and charged at the ANBU. Naruto released his grasp of his former sensei and moved away to dodge the kick that would have cleaved his head from his shoulders. While still suspended in mid air, Naruto dashed towards Kaze and aimed a punch at him, only to have it blocked with Kaze's free hand. The crazed blond from a different dimension threw Naruto up in the air and quickly pulled out his gun. He aimed it at Naruto's head and pulled the trigger. Being up in the air, there was nothing he could do. Kaze formed a smirk but it instantly vanished. Naruto landed on the ground with one of his kunai blades in front of him, blocking the bullet that Kaze had just fired.

"Not bad Naruto," said Kaze, as he too landed on the ground. "It seems you've learned to control the speed that you and I both share."

Naruto had no idea what he had just said until he saw Kakashi's still floating body. Naruto narrowed his eyes. Kakashi's body should have fallen on the ground when he let go of him to dodge Kaze's attack, and that was several seconds ago, yet there it was, falling ever so slowly through the rifts of time. Naruto was indeed amazed at the speed that they were both moving, it was unreal.

"You must be Kaze then," said Naruto. Kaze nodded. "I've heard a lot about you from Shin. I expect that you know him." Kaze nodded again and smiled.

The futuristic blond charged at the ANBU once more, this time changing his gun to stun mode, as to not waste the last five bullets that he had left. Kaze fired his gun many times but Naruto's kunai blade blocked them all, even at the speed that he was going. Kaze twitched, bothersome blades, but thought of an idea. What if he attacked while shooting his stun bullets? There was only one kunai blade right? Kaze nodded at the thought and charged at Naruto, who just stood there with his arms crossed over his chest. The brat was cocky, thought Kaze, and that would be his downfall. Kaze fired a stun bullet but ran passed it. The kunai blade blocked the bullet, but at the same time, Kaze threw a punch at Naruto. Instead of flesh meeting flesh however, Kaze's fist connected with a chunk of steel. Another kunai blade appeared. What the hell? He had two of those accursed things? Kaze's eyes widened as he noticed the kunai blades trying to attack him. Naruto watched his mini squad attack with ferocity. Honestly, he felt bad for Kaze. Not many really escaped from his kunai blades. Kaze jumped back, fired two bullets, and attempted to try the same thing. The two bullets were blocked by the two kunai blades, but as he threw a kick at Naruto, it was blocked by a third kunai blade.

'Shit, how many does this guy have?!"' Kaze thought to himself as he dodged the flurry of slashes made by the overgrown blades. He jumped back and glared at Naruto, who still hadn't budged from his position. Kaze placed his gun away, which made Naruto a bit surprised.

"Well, obviously, I can't even touch you, what with all those annoying blades of yours. Don't worry though, once I find a way to counter those things, your head will be mine," he said as he turned away. "I'll be back another time when I'm ready to fight you. Obviously, those kunai blades, despite their size, are fast enough not only to block my bullets and my attacks, but are also able to move as fast as we do."

"I'm going to retreat for now, I can't get near you while you possess those kunai blades."

"What, that's it? I thought you'd be the kind of guy that would finish what he started," said Naruto. Kaze turned his head slightly.

"Don't be stupid Naruto. Think logically, why would I fight a battle I know I can't win? It's absurd," he said. "Just make sure you stay alive until I return, not that anyone in this pathetic universe could kill you anyway. That pleasure will be all mine."

With that, Kaze vanished, leaving Naruto and his kunai blades surrounded by the destruction that Kaze caused earlier. Naruto sighed and looked around him. Houses demolished, buildings destroyed, bodies laying on the floor, what a mess. The blond didn't even know if they were alive or just plain knocked out. Naruto walked over to the nearest body to him, his former sensei, Kakashi. He knelt down to him and placed his fingers to the upper side part of his neck. There was a pulse, so he was alive. Just as he was about to tend to everyone, team Kurenai arrived and saw the horror. Naruto picked up Kakashi's motionless body and slumped it over his back. He turned to his friends.

"Hey guys, mind helping me out?" asked Naruto, as he impaled Kakashi's vest on one of his kunai blades. The blond walked over to Gai and Lee and also impaled their vests with his two remaining kunais. He then picked up Ten-ten and Neji. "Just help me carry them over to the hospital and we can rebuild the damages later." Naruto walked towards the hospital with Neji and Ten-ten in his arms and his three kunai blades beside him, carrying Kakashi, Gai, and Lee. Team Kurenai nodded and carried as many people as they could and followed Naruto to the hospital.

--

The eyes of the once unconscious silver haired jounin, started flipping up. Kakashi opened his eyes only to find that he was laying down on a bed in the hospital. He looked around him and saw several other leaf ninja in a similar condition as he was. Gai and Lee had bandages all over them, Ten-ten and Neji didn't look all that great either. Team Asuma were pretty banged up too. Kakashi sighed as he fell back on his pillow. That guy who looked like Naruto possessed indomitable strength and unreal super natural power. Not even his Sharingan could track that guy's speed. It was interesting that he had the same strength and speed as Naruto possessed. Lately, Naruto had been getting stronger and stronger. Perhaps it was the Kyuubi inside him that fueled him with such power, but it if it were the Kyuubi, there would be obvious signs of scars or burnt marks. Before he was able to think on it more, Kakashi witnessed the door to his right, open. It was Sakura, holding a clipboard. Sakura looked at her former sensei.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you ok?" she asked as she stood next to him, writing some notes down on her clipboard.

"Besides my neck feeling like it was almost crushed by a giant python, I think I'll live," he said. "But that guy that looked like Naruto... who was he? His strength almost god-like."

"Well, we questioned a visitor who says he came from a different dimension. His name is Shin, and he told us to watch out for someone that looked like Naruto, by the name of Kaze. He also explained something that's so long that I think you'd get bored through half of it so I'll just sum it all up," said Sakura.

Kakashi smiled through his mask.

"I've taught you well, Sakura."

Taking her eyes off of her clipboard, she pulled up a chair and sat next to the copy-nin.

"To put it simply, Kaze is sort of like Naruto's other self, only he's from a different dimension. Also, Kaze possesses almost all of the powers of a god," Sakura explained. Kakashi nodded. "Shin advised that no one take him on except for Naruto, since Naruto also has the same power that Kaze has."

"I see," Kakashi replied. "But you said 'almost' all of the powers of a god. What do you mean by almost?"

"I mean that, he doesn't possess immortality, but he has everything else. Strength that would make Lady Tsunade seem like a helpless kitten, speed that would put Gai-sensei and Lee, even with their gates opened, to shame, and some other powers that we currently don't know about."

The leaf-jounin sighed.

"Why can't we have a normal enemy for a change, hm?" Sakura shrugged.

"Well, I have to check up on the others. Apparently, you were the one that wasn't hurt too badly, Kakashi-sensei. Lee and Neji suffered the most amount of damage, but they'll be just fine," said Sakura, as she stood up from her seat and checked up on the rest of her patients. Seeing as there was nothing better to do, Kakashi closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.

After Sakura had finished checking up on the rest of the patients in the room, she was about to bid her former sensei farewell when she noticed him already asleep. Sakura smiled. Having no remembrance of her own father, the sleeping copy-nin was almost like a one to her. If anything happened to her father-figure, there would be hell to pay for whoever caused it, even if it was Kaze. Sakura exited the room and closed the door behind her, only to find Naruto leaning on the wall next to the door. His eyes were closed his arms were crossed over his chest, and his feet were crossed together as well. He looked like he was asleep, but through all the years that they've known each other, the medic-nin knew that he was awake, probably in deep thought about something. The ANBU captain slowly opened his eyes and turned to his former teammate.

"So how's Kakashi and the others?" he asked in a neutral tone.

"They'll be fine. Just a few days of rest is all they'll need," Sakura replied. Naruto nodded and removed himself from the wall. He then turned around and began to walk the other way. "Where are you going, Naruto?"

Naruto stopped for a moment but this time, didn't turn to face her.

"I have to learn how to use these powers that lay inside me, and I have to do it fast. None of this would have happened if I knew how to control my power. I could have defeated Kaze right there, but I was clueless about what's lies dormant within me," he said. Sakura approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You can't blame yourself for what happened, we only met Shin today anyway. Even if you had started training on how to use your power, Kaze would have come anyway. You should thank the Kyuubi for giving you your kunai blades. Without those, Kaze would have slain you and then what? Not only our universe, but all of the other universes will have a crazy god to fear," Sakura said sincerely. Naruto turned to face her. "Kaze won't be back until he can find a way to counter your kunai blades. Until then, you can use that time to train your powers."

Naruto shook his head.

"But how? It took Kaze years to master what he knows today..." Sakura rolled her eyes and smacked him on the head. In an instant, one of Naruto's kunai blades came to his rescue. The blond ANBU captain raised an eyebrow. "Sakura?"

Said medic-nin sighed and retracted her hand from the kunai blade.

"Use the method you used to master your Rasenshuriken jutsu," she said. Naruto narrowed his eyes for a second until the thought processed into his mind. His frown was immediately replaced by a very wide grin. The blond took Sakura's hand into his own and gripped it tightly.

"You're right, Sakura! I wonder why I didn't think of that sooner!" Naruto exclaimed.

'I'm starting to wonder how you were even promoted to ANBU captain...' Inner Sakura complained. 'It's a good thing you're a solo captain and don't have any lives to worry about...'

"Yeah. Now that you know what to do, go and do it, Naruto," said Sakura. Naruto nodded and vanished. Sakura sighed, picked up her clipboard, and walked away.

Naruto appeared at team 7's old training spot. He formed a hand sign and conjured at least 100 shadow clones.

"Alright listen up!" the real Naruto shouted. "We have hidden power deep inside us and we need to find a way to unlock and harness it and we have to do it fast! Kaze can show up at any minute. If we can't defend ourselves from him, then every universe will be in danger of his wrath! Now get working!!"

Yay, update completed. Sorry it took so long, I was very busy with school work. It's a good thing though because I'll be graduating really soon! At summer vacation, I'll be able to write to my heart's content D

Odama Rasendori