Turbulent Tides

by tomhunt98

*Still continuing. Just hard to write right now 9/9/13* Lady Akasha is in a panic. Having received Shinso blood, she is the heir of Lord Shinso. However, a jealous family pulls a very dirty trick, betraying her. Shunned and nowhere to go, she runs to the human world. Now she must live in a world where she is the only of her kind. Immortal Naruto, super powerful Naruto

3. Chapter 3: Revenge is Bitch

I would just like to say beforehand that I was blown away at the sheer number of reivews and not just a few words but full thousand word plus ones. So thank you to those who took the time to answer my questions at the bottem. Your input is very welcome no matter what is said.

Please read the Author's Note at the bottom in case you missed anything or have any questions about the story. Review or message me if you have any questions about the story if they persist after reading the note.

I decided to keep the chapters at around 30k each. Most people seem to prefer it even though it means slower updates. It ensures that people get a full dose of Turbulent Tides and not some filler chapter.

*just a warning, this is mostly a discussion chapter and not that much fighting. It mostly explains a ton of what happened/happens.*

Chapter 3: Revenge is a Bitch

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Thump-Thump Thump-Thump Thump-Thump Thump-Thump Thump-Thump Thump-Thump Thump-Thump Thump Thump-Thump-Thump Thump-Thump Thump-Thump Thump-Thump Thump-Thump (think really fast heartbeat like around 150 or so)

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Fire bathes the tomb in heat, melting it, suffocating it. It burns through the dirt, rock, and stone. The top of the tomb falls away, reveling a blond teen, wrapped in fiery red yoki. Suddenly the teen sits up and gasps for air. Its job done, the yoki retreats into the boy's stomach.

Naruto gasps for air as his need for air makes itself know, filling them with the delicious nitrogen/oxygen mix. He looks around, not recognizing the surroundings at all. But wherever here is, it is clear there was a fight. A big one. There are smashed trees both splintered and pushed over, craters as deep as his arms are long, dried blood everywhere. Not to mention the giant crater off to his left that stands as deep as he is tall.

"As much as I would enjoy just sitting here, I suggest you move."

Naruto jumps as a voice at the voice in his head.

"Who…who are you?" he asks shakily, wondering if he has gone crazy.

"It doesn't matter who I am right now. You need to move from this location. I had to use some yoki but that means that people who are going to kill you know where you are at. So MOVE!" the voice booms.

Naruto clutches his head in pain at the booming voice.

"Ok, note to self, don't piss off the headache inducing voice."

After the pain goes down, he tries to get up out of the grave but fails. His legs just won't carry his weight. He tries again, only to fail a second time. It takes him five more tries to stand and crawl out of his grave.

"Where am I and what happened to me?"

He looks down at himself and sees a hole in his clothes, right underneath his heart and dried blood on the clothes around it. He suddenly clutches his head in pain as a memory surfaces of a beautiful girl sitting in his lap, kissing his neck. Then the girl moves from kissing his neck to his lips. He feels that he knows this girl, but for the life of him, can't remember where from.

"Akasha," is the small voice used sound the name of the girl. He takes his fingers and brushes them over his lips where he felt hers. He doesn't know how he knows her name or even who she is, but he knows that she is someone very important to him.

"Where is she? I need to find her!" Driven by his need to find her, he stands shakily. He takes a step, one becomes two. He grits his teeth in determination as his legs resist his commands. Before he knows it, he is walking down the tree line at a steady pace.

The voice inside his head remains silent, just happy that the boy is moving away from that place.

After a good hour of walking in a random direction, the voice in Naruto's head stops him.

"Stop here. This is a good place."

"I can't. I have to find her."

The voice sighs. "I know you do but what I have to say will make it easier to find her."

Naruto grumbles but sits on a stone off the path.

"Alright so what is it you want to talk about?"

The voice…growls?

"Show some damn respect boy for the one who saved your sorry ass."

"Wait what?"

The voice sighs again.

"Look kid, I'll be blunt with you. You died at the hands of a race I know very well. It has been ten days since then and…well you have brain damage as well as a flurry of other things wrong with you right now."

Naruto sits there for a second and abruptly begins to laugh.

"Ah, this is too much. A voice in my head telling me I have brain damage."

The voice growls again.

"Fine! You want me to prove that you're not crazy?"

Naruto, for one isn't expecting anything to happen, so when he blacks out and wakes up in a sewer, he is extremely surprised. He looks around at the massive sewer but something is wrong.

The walls are cracked, crumbling, or even completely destroyed, random sparks fly from cut electrical conduits. A few doors along the side are blocked by rubble, others almost sheered in half and hanging off the hinges. A few of the paths are completely blocked by rubble, making the contents of the passageway inaccessible. He looks into a door that is destroyed only to see complete darkness on the other side and is severely tempted to find out what is inside the darkness.

"I wouldn't do that," a voice booms.

Again, not expecting anything, Naruto starts. He whips around but loses his footing on a brick and falls backwards into the inky darkness.

He feels like he is falling but it is so dark that he can't confirm or deny that, his senses giving him contradicting readings. After a solid minute he hasn't hit bottom or seen a single thing. Then without warning, he hits solid ground. He looks around and sees the streets of some village. He feels the ground and hears the sound his feet make against the stone streets, the chill of the night air. He even smells the pies from the baker across the street. He feels the caress of the wind on his face as it gently flows through the winding buildings.

All of a sudden, he sees a blond boy of about five or six running into the street from an alleyway and across the street. In quick as a flash, the boy is gone as he ducks into another alleyway. Naruto feels compelled to follow for some reason.

He takes off after the boy, and has no trouble keeping up after the smaller boy. He pulls up beside the blond and looks to him.

"Hey kid, where you going?" he asks.

The only response is the blond boy looking over his shoulder at some unknown enemy and speeds up. Naruto starts to get a sickly feeling, making his stomach clench and churn for an unknown reason and a pit of fear to sink in to his stomach. Suddenly the blond boy duck and avoids a shadowy figure with a long black object, trying to slash him.

Naruto fallows the boy as he turns sharply down another alley, narrowly avoiding a second figure. However, the boy slides to a halt at a third figure.

The boy and Naruto look behind them to the end of the alleyway but the two previous figures are standing in the way. All three where blank, full face masks and long dark cloaks, hiding whatever unique features they have.

None of the people in black speak and Naruto feels that sickly feeling again, only this time it is worse, much worse. A wave of…something washes over him and suddenly he feels very afraid, very vulnerable. If he wasn't so sure he was wearing clothes, he would swear that he was naked from the feeling of being so exposed.

Suddenly the three figures charge. One grabs a long, pointed object while the other two just use their fists. Naruto, not knowing what to do, he falls down into the fetal position and waits for the end. As he falls, one of the two men from behind them closes the distance at an incredible rate.

Naruto isn't going to make it to the ground in time. He tenses, ready for the impact that would knock him over and for the beating that is about to occur.

But the man passes trough him. Naruto hits the ground and the boy continues to dodge as much as possible, but stands no chance. Naruto watches in horror from the ground as cuts and bruises start to form on the boy. Naruto gives an enraged snarl; the fear and the sinking feeling in his stomach are replaced with anger, filling him with determination and courage.

He rushes forward to help but phases through all three of them when he goes to tackle them. He tries again and again but nothing works.

"This is one of your earliest memories," a sad voice says from beside him.

Naruto whirls around, ready to defend himself, but stops when he sees a translucent red fox with nine tails sitting quietly beside him, watching the blond boy. Naruto tenses for a fight.

"Relax boy. I'm not here to fight you. I'm here to retrieve you. You fell into a memory and you won't be able to get out until you wish to be gone or I come and get you."

Suddenly behind Naruto, a wall of water emerges and rushes forward at the three assailants. One jumps out of the way, but the others are caught in it. Somehow the water manipulates around the boy, leaving him completely dry.

A stream of electricity then rushes into the water, electrocuting the attackers; leaving their bodies smoking and well done on the inside. The last one jumps to a roof to try to get away but a large flash of lighting goes off and the assailant's body drops to the alley with a large hole in his chest.

A man with silver hair in a white mask drops to the ground and picks the boy up and disappears in a cloud, indicating a shunshin.

"Come. My real self awaits you."

The fox levitates above the ground and wraps four of its' tails around Naruto. They begin to ascend into the pitch darkness and before Naruto knows it, they are in the sewer again.

The fox puts Naruto down and starts to walk off.

"Follow me and don't fall into any doors again. That memory was relatively easy to get you out but others are not so cooperative. With your brain having damage like this, some of your memories may trap you inside them where not even I could get you out."

"You mean to tell me that the boy that got beaten just now was/is me?"

The fox doesn't stop walking. "Yes. You have many memories like that. You were hated, scorned, beaten, and trampled on. People hated you because of me and what I was tricked to do."

"What happened to the bo…me?"

"That Anbu took you to the hospital where you stayed for two weeks recovering. While you have a faster healing rate due to the nature of the seal, it still takes a while for you to heal. It would go faster if you had more access to my yoki, but it is a mute point now."

They walk through the maze of doors and passageways, most damaged. He passes one door way but something makes him stop. This door is different than the others. Instead of cold, black steel it is golden. Naruto looks around, but the fox is just gone, having already gone around the corner.

Then Naruto feels an immense urge to open the door. Naruto struggles to understand why he needs to open this door, but he fails and finds himself wrenching the door open. He jumps inside without hesitation.

The fox sags its' head behind where Naruto was just standing. The fox jumps after Naruto as the door closes.

Inside the room, Naruto looks around in wonder. There are hundreds of screen like things hovering in the air, each one playing something different. Yet in all but a scarce few, they all have a girl with black, sometimes light blue, hair.

"This room is where you keep your most precious memories."

Naruto whips around to see the fox beside him.

"As you can see, you treasure this girl. Look here."

The fox directs one of its' tail to one of the higher screen. The tail touches the screen and it expands, hiding a good quarter of the other screens. It contains a memory of this girl sitting in his lap, sleeping, her light blue hair cascading down her back and side of her face. They hear a slight snoring coming from the sleeping beauty.

Naruto can't help but smile genuinely as he reaches out to the hologram to pull a hair out of her face as the Naruto in the memory does the same thing. He had always wanted to do that, to be loved, to have someone to love on.

"This was a day before you got the scrolls from the Kumo library. You two were doing recon on the cities' patrols and defenses. That was the third time in your life that you have felt happy like that. The first was when the perverted old man said he was going to train you. The second was when you kissed the very same woman in your lap."

The fox becomes quiet and both watch the endearing memory. It becomes fuzzy for a second before it starts over at the beginning.

"Come. We don't have much time."

Naruto follows the fox out who phases through the door and out into the damp sewer. He follows the fox a few more turns and then Naruto sees it.

Naruto looks to see a cage with thick, golden bars stretching into the inky blackness of the ceiling. But something is wrong. Some of the bars are missing, the metal of the bars looks tarnished and rusted. Water drips from the ceiling and even more fissures in the walls stretching to where the door is anchored to the wall. Keeping the doors shut is an extremely corroded paper.

"Come closer boy," a voice booms.

Naruto walks closer to the cage, a little cautious. When he is standing right in front of cage, the transparent fox pushes him, flat up against the cage.

Naruto is about push back when a man, completely naked and (cough) fully awake, comes out of the darkness behind the cage. The man throws himself around Naruto, the arms going through the bars of the cage and holding Naruto flush up against the cage. Naruto can feel every part of the male hugging him.

"Naruto-kun, I love you! Now come here after so many years of having to masturbate on my own! Now we can do a Double Dutch-Rudder and blow each other! Oh man, we could do a 69 or fight each other's one eyed snakes, or…or…OR WE COULD GO ANAL!" The man starts jumping up and down and grinding his…he doesn't even want to think about that.

Naruto, not knowing what the hell is going on, tries to fight against the man, who is bringing his lips closer to Naruto's. Naruto fights, somehow feeling like he is cheating on someone, but despite the man's lithe frame, he possess enough strength that Naruto can't even move away an inch.

Naruto turns his face away from the man and right when the man is a centimeter away, the man dissolves into red chakra that rushes back into the cage along with the fox that was pinning him.

Naruto hears chuckling that is being forced to just be a chuckle and not outright laughter.

"Oh man. You should have seen your face! You thought I was serious!"

Naruto feels like he is the butt of a very bad joke.

"Who are you?" he shouts.

"Not in the mood to play? Come on. After sixteen years of the same walls, I can't take advantage of a debilitated host and have a little fun?"

"I asked you who you were?" Naruto demands.

"I'm sorry to say boy, but I'm straight. I am, however, not above making other people thing I'm not for the simple pleasure of seeing them think is true what is not. What can I say, it's in my nature."

"I'm not going to ask again. WHO ARE YOU?" Naruto bellows.

"Oh, so feisty and stupid. Well, not really all that surprising since most of your memories are damaged and so your personality reverts to the obnoxious brat that you were." The last part was more muttered to itself. "But that makes two times you owe me. One for saving your childish ass from death and sure you didn't get lost in your own mind just now.

"As for me, I'm known as Kyūbi…or as you people call me the Kyūbi no Yoko."

The fox emerges from the back of the cage, regal in every detail. The massive tails waving gently behind the beast. Overall it is a majestic sight…if the Kyūbi wasn't the harbinger of death. Naruto involuntarily starts backing up.

"Don't turn away. I harbor no hostile intent with you, but that doesn't mean I'll allow you to walk away without fulfilling the purpose of you coming in here."

Caught between his instincts to run and his curiosity to stay, Naruto chooses both. He sits right where he is, right near the exit out of the chamber, ready to leave at a moment's notice.

"I guess that will do. All joking aside, listen and listen well. I will not repeat myself. I come from the dimension your girlfriend came from. In her world, there are all manners of creatures of legend. Succubae, dragons, ogres, werewolves, phoenix. You think it, it probably exists there.

"The point is, your girlfriend is from there, and it is possible that she returned there."

"Then let's go! I have to find her."

"Easy now. You are in no shape to fight or even begin looking properly. You need time for my yoki to heal you."

"What exactly is wrong with me?"

"Um…how about you look around? Do you think things are supposed to look this way? You have brain damage, necrotic tissue all over your body, gaps in your memory. My yoki will heal these in time, but it may take years for you to get all your memories back. After you get your memories back, I am going to train you as the next Nine Tails."

"Wait…the next? What about you?"

Kyūbi sighs. This is going to take awhile. "Look, the seal your father placed on me was designed to contain me and my yoki. As a failsafe, if you were to die, the seal would merge me with you, in the process kill me. However, something else happened as well that your father didn't anticipate.

"The seal draws power from your life energy. While at full strength, it completely suppresses my yoki, only letting something like .001% through to bolster your reserves and healing rate and even that is purified several times over and turned into regular chakra. I had no idea what was going on until the seal suddenly started to weaken once your life energy was no longer powering it.

"It took three days for the seal to weaken enough to where I could revive you. While you were dead, I was pumping your blood and turning my yoki into air and nutrients for you as well as keeping your body warm. You were clinically dead for three days. It took another week for your brain to regenerate enough from the lack of oxygen to even be conscious. During that week, I took a stroll down your memories and learned all that you know, or as much as you do now.

"The function of the seal is now merging us together, meaning I will die and you will absorb all my tails and maybe some of my memories as well. But I don't mind. I've lived my life and have only a few regrets. That is why I will train you because if you don't train, you won't be able to handle the stress of my yoki."

"So if the seal was weakening, then why not let it fail and then you would be released and how did you do that with just your yoki?"

"Because the rate of it weakening is slower than the rate of you absorbing me. You already have three of my tails but the others will come at a much slower rate. And before you ask, that is because I was constantly pushing my yoki through you which sped up the process. I will be holding back my yoki as much as possible to stave off me dying as quickly. And now you are part fox and mostly human but that will change the more of me you absorb.

"Oh if you haven't noticed that I have limited control over this place and I can let my chakra out in corporeal form. I can other things but that is the greatest advantage. It allowed me to view your memories and make sure you don't get lost.

"As for how I was able to keep you alive, I have very thick yoki. It can take on the shape of anything that I wish it too and since the seal instantly weakened, I was able to convert my yoki into things that you need to survive such as air. Although I have to concentrate to keep such a conversion steady or else it will go away so I will keep it within you so your body doesn't feel the side effects of suddenly having nothing to power itself with."

Naruto takes all the information in stride.

"So what now? I have to find Akasha. I don't know why but this deep feeling in my chest throbs and aches at the thought of not finding her."

"Whoa, slow down there. You aren't in any shape to find anybody. Not only is your body incredibly weak right now and injured, but your skills are messed up due to your chakra/yoki supplies being ten times larger than they were before you died. Even if you manage to avoid the hunter nins and mercenaries to even get to my world, you aren't strong enough to deal with the Vampires or other creatures that are as strong as Vampires. You need a crash course in training and to learn how to control your new powers."

"But…"

"I will help you look for her after you are ready for such a journey. I can detect yoki easily so I will know if we get close. I promise you that she will not die before you are ready to look. She is the daughter of the single most powerful being in my world and yours and she inherited all of his abilities. So don't worry about it."

Naruto grumbles but stays quiet.

"Good. Now when you get out of here, go southeast until you hit the coast. I'll direct you from there."

"Just where are you taking me?"

"A place that nobody even goes near. It used to be a hidden village but was destroyed before you were born. It is actually the place where the Uzumaki clan came from. Uzu no Kuni (Land of Whirlpools). You might find some wreckage still intact their and maybe even some scrolls too. Also you can use the scrolls you stole from Kumo to help as well.

"I will warn you that it is not an easy place to get to. It is a few miles off shore so you will either have to swim to get there which I don't recommend with your injuries or you're going to have to get some semblance of control to water walk."

"But I can already water walk. It shouldn't be that difficult you do it." Apparently that memory survived.

Kyūbi chuckles. "Oh you will see. Now wake up and get moving. We can't afford to delay here any longer lest we get caught."

Time Skip – 3 months

Once he had arrived in the Land of Whirlpools, Kyūbi set him on an easy schedule. His movement was improving and so was his memory but it would be a long time before his mind is as it was. Kyūbi started him out working on just moving around and thinking, probing to see the extent of the necrotic tissues then worked up to a light workout.

Not a few hours went by without him asking Kyūbi if they could search for Akasha, but each time Kyūbi squashed those questions and eventually snapped. He ranted and raved but in the end, he told Naruto that he will tell him when he thinks it is time.

After a few weeks, Kyūbi suggested that Naruto search the ruins of Uzushio, scavenge to find something of use. At first he didn't have any luck, most of what was left was chunks of rock and stone, but he eventually found an underground passage on the outskirts of town. He nearly passed it but the rain had washed away the soil on top. That passageway lead to a door with a blood seal on it. He was surprised when the door opened. Though he was even more surprised with what he found.

Flashback-Two Months after Re-Birth

He found a good sized room with a low ceiling, just high enough that he doesn't have to stoop to walk. He looks around and sees a sparsely furnished room with a kitchen, living room that doubles as a dining room. He sees two doors, one closed with a very intricate seal on it and the other a bed room. The bed room is medium in size with a futon on the ground…with a heavily decomposed body under the covers.

The body is of a female, judging by the length of hair and the clothes and is clear that it wasn't sixteen year old body decay. It was a few years at the most. He has to put his shirt over his mouth and nose to keep from passing out or throwing up.

He staggers out of the room and shuts the door and breathes in fresh air again. He wonders about that but sees a thin seal around the door frame, probably cleansing the air, taking out the smell as well as the microbes that would have molded the place up.

He walks to the living/dining room and sees a hastily scribbled note on the table.

To the Uzumaki that finds this… My name is…was Fortuna Uzumaki.

Behind the door lies all of Uzushio's greatest secrets, our history, our pride. Please do all in your power to protect it. I am too old and am growing weak. I will not be able to continue.

As long as an Uzumaki lives, so shall Uzushio…

Naruto puts the paper down and walks over to the door with the seal on it. The only part of it he recognizes is the blood seal at the very center.

"I guess I will have to wait for the rest of my memories of Fūinjutsu before I can open this."

"I'll get started on that. Meanwhile, you should move in here. It is defendable, hidden, and most importantly it is a good shelter. Although I wouldn't sleep in that bed if I were you…"

Naruto chuckles and uses his wind manipulation that Kyūbi had recovered to circulate the air in the bedroom into the purification seal. Only after did he step in to the room again to find it bearable. He moves the body outside where he digs a grave for the woman a few hundred feet into the outlying forest.

After that, he hunts for meat and fruit. He has a few ideas to renovate his new place but it will take awhile to do.

End Flashback

Ever since then, he has been training with increasing amounts of difficulty. He is running further and faster, all the while sorting through new memories that Kyūbi is fixing. Most are of the last eight years and have to do with training but some are of his time with Akasha. A day still doesn't go by without at least ten thoughts of wondering how she is doing or what she is doing at that exact moment.

Kyūbi has him running, walking at first, around the ruins to get in shape and fixing buildings to build strength and endurance. So far he has half a house built up. The next part is the roof which requires a pulley and rope and a lot of strength. He may even have to use multiple pulleys to decrease the amount of force needed. But the one thing that evades him is how to make sure the roof stays in one piece. The houses originally had one giant solid block of stone half a foot thick but with the destruction, most are broken into several dozen pieces.

Right now Naruto is running his fifth lap around Uzushiogakure. His necrotic tissue, while mostly gone, is causing his muscles to burn and ache, almost making the muscles fail but he pushes through the pain, him mind set on a goal and nothing will keep him from it.

"Kid, stop after this lap. Once you cool down, come inside and into the mindscape. I'm going to fix a few of your more…disturbing memories."

Kyūbi had told him how he was treated and when told that those memories would be coming back as well, he asked why.

"Because those memories have as much to do with your personality as much as your other ones. It is a vital piece of who you are and to deny yourself that piece means you will be incomplete. Don't worry, I will help you through them as much as possible."

He doesn't want those memories but he does feel…lacking. Something is missing and hopefully these memories will help him with that.

Time Skip – 3 years

(The year is 1482)

"Alright kid. I deem you well enough to travel and search. Don't forget that you get your fifth tail sometime in the next year so you need to get to an isolated area when you feel it starting.

"I also recommend stopping by Konoha to get your clan scrolls. That Hiraishin would be most helpful as you can leave markers all over the place and just travel in the snap of a finger. Also it would be a good time to gather just what is going on around the Elemental Nations."

Naruto thinks for a second. "Yeah, let's do that although we will have to sneak into Konoha. I don't want to alert them to my continued existence."

Naruto walks around Uzushio for the last time. Over the years, he has completely rebuilt the entire area, making it haunting just how big this place was and now so empty. He looks to the buildings with sad eyes, knowing just how many people died in this very village.

He shakes his head, clearing himself of those depressing thoughts. Now is time for action, not mourning the dead. He finally has been granted the ability to search and for that, he feels very, very giddy but his self control makes it so no more than a fat grin is visible.

He suddenly gets an idea and goes to the center of the village. He very quickly makes a seal in the air, using his thick yoki from the tails he has gained to draw a visible seal in the air. Then manipulating the seal, he slams it down onto the ground, scorching the ground into the seal design. He channels yoki into the seal and records a small message to whoever finds the village. He finishes by making a power transfer seal on the roof of a nearby building (he has melted the stones together using lighting chakra and yoki) that would absorb the power of the sun and transfer it to the seal with the message.

His work done, he sets out from Uzu no Kuni, only looking back once at his home of three years, his ancestral land and village, before taking off to the mainland of Hi no Kuni.

(For a map of how the Elemental Nations is. I suggest you go even if you think you know. This is what I'm basing my story off of. Go to (dot)com/wiki/Geography )

Several hours, he reaches the outskirts of Konoha as the sun is setting. He stops, and gathers nature chakra around him. While he doesn't have the Toad summons anymore due to the fact that was dead, he is still able to draw nature chakra because it is a technique.

He expands his awareness and encompasses the entire city and then some.

'26,586 chakra signatures, approximately 3,000 of them are of shinobi levels. Approximately 300 Anbu level, 3 Kage, and 1,000 Jōnin. It looks like Konoha has come out ok in the war.'

Without hand seals or muttering of any words, Naruto casts an illusion over himself. This isn't because he practiced this jutsu to be able to do this. It is because this technique comes from Kyūbi's world…Akasha's world. There they don't have hand seals or names for techniques as they just do them. And having two separate sources of power, Naruto can chose between a yoki/chakra mix or pure yoki, allowing him to completely close off one of the sources or use both at the same time.

Now that he is completely hidden, he draws on his yoki to power the illusion as it takes far less to be able to do this than chakra, allowing him to completely shut off his chakra signature. Another reason why he chose yoki is because humans are not naturally attuned to yoki and therefore need greater amounts of it to be able to sense it. That is how Akasha got around so easily. Unless she is in a fight, she closes off most of her yoki and is virtually undetectable unless someone is a very detailed sensor or has access to nature chakra.

Knowing he wouldn't be detected unless he made a mistake and made a sound, Naruto walks right through the eastern gate. A wave of nostalgia passes over him and he is very tempted to go and see his sensei and the old man. But it is a temptation he must resist. He knows that they would force him to stay here and not allow him to look for Akasha and that is something that he cannot allow.

Shaking these thoughts out of his head, he swiftly moves through the village and when faced with a crowded area, he jumps to the roofs.

He travels quickly to the Namikaze estate. He lands in front of the gate and is about to put his blood on the seal when he stops, his eyes picking up the details in the low light.

'Son of a bitch!' he rages in his mind, waking up Kyūbi in the process.

"What's the matter?" he asks with a semi-serious tone. Over the past three years Naruto seriously mellowed out as more and more memories came back. Even know there are still a few gaps but those are becoming few and far in between. And now when Naruto yells it means he is really, really excited or something must be seriously wrong.

'Some bastard changed the seal and now it accepts different blood. Someone has been in here and knows enough to change this.'

"Can you get through?"

'Does a monkey throw shit? Of course I can! This seal isn't worth shit compared to the things the Uzumaki have come up with but it may draw some attention as I will have to take it apart and someone will definitely know I've been here if they have any expertise in Fūinjutsu.'

Using his yoki and solidifying it in the air, Naruto draws a complex seal and superimposes it on the existing seal. He whispers the name of the seal at it takes effect.

"Uzumaki Fūinjutsu: Masuta Toppako Fūin!" (Uzumaki Sealing Technique: Master Breach Seal!)

The seal under his sizzles at it tries to combat the overseal but it gives out and the door swings open. Naruto swiftly makes his way inside the gate and closes it.

'Damn it! I've been detected by a sensor inside the compound,' he thinks as his nature chakra picks up a chakra spike. Suddenly six shinobi drop from the top of the estate into the courtyard.

"I thought you said someone is here?" one asks.

"There is! I felt the chakra surge right outside and then the gate opened and closed by itself. Don't question my abilities."

The lead shinobi walks between the two. "Can you find him now?"

The sensor is still, eyes closed and concentrating. Naruto lowers his yoki as far down as it takes to power his illusion. The main difference between an illusion and a Genjutsu is that a Genjutsu affects the mind directly while an illusion is something that does the same thing but without it requiring a mind to affect, in a sense making it real.

"No the signature is gone."

"Well, I guess we scared him off," says the first shinobi.

"No, spread out. He is using a cloaking Genjutsu or he really is gone but either way we are not taking a chance."

The six spread out as the sensor remains perfectly still, searching for an errant signature.

Naruto quietly slips past them and hops in through an open window into the kitchen. He makes his way through the hallways, remembering the twists and turns and makes his way to the jutsu library. This too also has a new seal on it, the same one as the one at the gate. Whoever did it must be good to override the extremely powerful blood seal.

However, he can't do the same thing twice as that sensor would surely detect him again. He quickly draws a plan and creates a clone and has the clone slip out of the compound. Once the clone is about thirty feet or so from the gate, the clone drops the illusion around himself and channels chakra.

"Fūton:Daitoppa!" (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!)

The wind speeds towards the estate, alerting the sensor that a jutsu has just been used. The wind moves until it hits a barrier. The flash of lights the barrier creates illuminates the entire area as it combats the jutsu. Eventually the jutsu gives out, and the clone launches another one to keep them busy.

The sensor is yelling for back up and that they were under attack. Dozens of shinobi and thugs move from the estate into the courtyard.

But by this time, Naruto has already moved into the library and away from peeping eyes. He drops the illusion and puts up three barriers that keeps his chakra/yoki signature in the room while not having to consciously keep it under wraps, keeps whatever sounds he makes from getting outside the room, and keeps anyone from entering the room without the proper key (as in molding chakra in a specific pattern).

He walks through the rows of shelves and becomes enraged. Whoever was here cleaned out his family archives. All of it, not leaving a single scroll.

"Calm down before your yoki becomes too much for the suppression seal to handle and alert others that you were here. Search the private office as that is where the Hiraishin would be. It is also the most guarded so it would be the least likely to be broken into."

Naruto forcibly calms himself as he eyes his suppression seal. It has gotten dangerously close to breaking as it turned purple, the last color before it shatters under the stress of too much chakra/yoki.

Naruto walks to the end of the long room to a small door. On this door is the most complex array of seals that he has ever seen in use and not just in theory. Naruto takes a full ten minutes to examine the seal, looking for anything that might be wrong or different than last time.

Luckily there isn't so Naruto just opens the door like Jiraiya did by using blood and the correct 'key' plus voice recognition. Jiraiya added him to that right after they came in here.

Naruto searches the large office and eventually stumbles across something he missed before.

'Shiki Fūin?'

"That is the seal that holds me here. The pervert snuck it out of here when you first came here as he needed your blood to enter the door. Otherwise he would have made sure not to leave it around. I guess he thought since you were dead that it belonged here.'

Naruto nods sadly but soldiers on, pocketing away Shiki Fūin for later study. He searches for the next few minutes before finding his prize.

"Kid, take a few of those three pronged kunai with you. Those are the 'markers' that make the Hiraishin work. While you shouldn't use them in battle, it is a good starting point to learn. It is probably just like learning a jutsu without hand seals, it just takes enough practice."

Nodding at Kyūbi's assessment, Naruto changes his mind and takes everything. He creates a storage scroll and seals away everything. He backs out the door and closes it and draws another seal.

"Uzumaki Fūinjutsu: Fuhen Nankan!" (Uzumaki Sealing Technique: Impenetrable/Everlasting Barrier!)

The seal superimposes on the door and Naruto turns to leave now that the door will never be opened again. The Fuhen Nankan is the ultimate 'lock without a key'. Once that seal is in place, nothing will get through it, or at least nothing anyone has tried has gotten through it.

Naruto then exits the basement, and stealthily makes his way up stares. He goes around collecting his family trinkets, pictures, anything that either of his parents owned. When he gets to the study, he sees a good deal of scrolls around. He creates a few clones to sort through the information before moving on.

He gets to the master bedroom…his parent's bedroom and opens the door. Before he died, he had only been in here a few times, just to see what things were like in here but was too overwhelmed with emotion each time to stay in the room for very long.

Be quietly opens the door and instantly the smell of sweat and fluids bombard his nose as well as hear the sounds of two people, mainly a man, making noises inside. Naruto creeps inside and sees a man in his late twenties thrusting in and out of a woman with high speed. Naruto would have gotten an erection if not for the tear tracks on the woman's face and the tape over her mouth. Her arms are tied back with chakra cuffs as well as her legs, making it so that this woman couldn't do a thing but whimper and endure it.

"Yeah, you like that you whore? I bet you do just like the slut you are!" the man says as he smacks the woman's face.

The sight makes Naruto's blood boil. He quietly sneaks up to the bed. He then grabs a kunai and elongates his nails and grabs hold of the man's chest, his sharpened nails digging into the muscles, as Naruto rips the man off the woman and onto the floor.

The man screams but the kunai at his throat as well as the furious look in Naruto's eyes makes him stop.

"Who are you?" Naruto asks.

"It doesn't matter. You fuck with me, you fuck with my master."

Naruto is about to ask who his master is when the female he was just raping jumps his back. Naruto rolls with the tackle and faces the woman who has a feral look in her eyes.

"You dare touch MY mate? I'll kill you!" she snarls. That's when Naruto notices the red triangular tattoos on her face, marking her as an Inuzuka.

Naruto ignores the fact that the woman is very well endowed and also very naked and opts for a more important question.

"Why are you in my house?" Naruto asks.

The woman scoffs. "Your house? No one has lived here in years. No, this is my house now and all its' contents are mine as well. For your crimes of trespassing and assault, you are judged and found guilty! Now die!"

The woman launches herself at Naruto, fangs and claws flashing dangerously. Naruto barely avoids the very fast swipes and back peddles, distancing himself from her but not before a claw hits his hand with the kunai, severing several tendons which makes him drop the kunai.

"How dare you soil my parent's room!" he shouts, infuriated that someone would dishonor his parents like so. His eyes flash from blue to red as he unconsciously uses his yoki.

The Inuzuka woman just charges instead of responding.

"Gatsūga!" (Fang Passing Fang!)

Naruto hopes out of the way and dodges the very powerful attack that he remembers well from his Inuzuka friend.

The woman stops her spinning, faces Naruto, and spins again. This time Naruto stands his ground and raises his hand.

"Fūton: Renkūdan!" (Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet!)

The Inuzuka woman get hit with the compressed ball of air right in the stomach, throwing her into the wall. Her head hits the wall with a dull thud and she goes limp. Turning back to the man, Naruto does the same technique which hits the cowering man and also forces him into unconsciousness.

Naruto turns his attention back to the woman as she stirs. He goes through a few hand seals before saying, "Raiton: Dendo ko Sokuryoku!" (Lightning Release: Electric Binding Force!)

The woman's arms are forced behind her and her legs lashed together by strips of lightning chakra. Even though it is touching skin, it only shocks when the user either wishes it or the person being held tries to forces their way out.

The woman growls as she is shocked over and over again as she tries to break free but no avail. Naruto has enough and puts enough chakra into the jutsu that when the woman tries to break free again, the electricity interferes with her nervous system, rendering her legs and arms useless for now.

"Let me go you bastard!" she shouts, thrashing around as much as possible. That has the side effect of making her large breasts bounce all over the place. Naruto forces himself to look at her face, which he can't see because of the darkness and the deep shadow.

"You don't get it do you? This is MY house and YOU are intruding. Now I will be the one asking questions here. But first I would like to see just who I am speaking with."

Naruto goes over to the wall and flicks on the light switch and gasps.

"H…Hana-san?"

Hana looks right at the blond, her eyes as big as dinner plates. "Naruto-san. You're dead!"

Naruto deadpans. "Well obviously not. Why are you here?"

Hana snarls. "Oh so the prodigious Naruto returns after years of everyone thinking he is dead and waltzes in and expects everyone to bow down and answer his questions. Well I don't think so!"

Naruto is taken aback by her highly nasty attitude. He had met her a few times when he would go over to Kiba's to either practice or play. She was always nice to him, always smiling and never sent even a glare at him.

"What happened to you? Why are you so…angry?"

Hana glares at him. "You don't have the right to know me as I am today, not after you abandoned this village and left us to fend for ourselves. Because of you…because…you…"

At this point she breaks down and cries. "E…everyone is dead thanks to you! Ka-chan, Kiba-chan, Anko-chan, Kurenai-chan! They all died because you left us! My entire life died when they did…" Her words become too slurred with tears to make them out.

Naruto is shocked into silence and a profound sadness washes over him like a wave of ice cold water. "W…what happened?"

Hana gives him a teary eyed glare. "Aft…after your team didn't report in when they should have, Sarutobi sent out a recon party to go find out what happened. Ka-chan, Kiba-chan, a few Hyūga, and Anko-chan were assigned to it but when they got to Lightning Country, they were ambushed by Kumo Anbu. They…they didn't make it. And…Kurenai…she died while on border patrol a few hours later by an invasion force.

"I…I…I didn't know how to take it. My family gone along with my best friends…and it's your fault!"

Naruto looks down at the ground, not knowing what to say but is saved when Hana continues. "After…after Kumo's invasion failed, I was discharged from the Shinobi Corps because of 'mental instability' and 'conduct unbecoming of a shinobi' and kicked out of the clan. In the span of three days, I lost everything."

"I…I'm sorry Hana-san," is all he can say.

"You…you're sorry? Sorry? Yeah because saying sorry makes everything better doesn't it? Erases your guilt and makes us best of friends again right? Bullshit! While everyone was mourning you and your team, my family was completely bypassed. People started to whisper about me being the 'crazy bitch' and 'dog whore'. For two years, I faced ridicule and whispers, no friends, no family, no one to care."

Naruto is about to say that he understands that but Hana continues. "But then he found me. He cared for me, talked to me, made me feel accepted, fell useful. After a month, I accepted him as my mate. He took me to his boss and I had a renewed sense of usefulness. "

"Who was his boss?" Naruto asks, genuinely curious.

"Orochimaru."

Naruto's face goes from curious to anger, to rage, and finally to confusion. "And what did Orochimaru want?" he growls out.

Hana snarls again. "Don't speak of him with such disrespect! He gave me purpose, a new live with Rinji and I will not have someone disrespect him!"

Naruto narrows his eyes at the man, still crumpled on the floor, before turning back to Hana. "Fine, but what does Orochimaru want with you and the village?"

"And why should I tell you that? You don't care about the village or me or anyone! You should just go and go back to being a selfish little backstabber," she says viscously.

Naruto sighs. "Fine, have it your way but I will be dropping you off at the Hokage office and I doubt they will be as understanding of what you went through as I am or as gentle in getting that information."

Naruto walks over to her and fishes out a shirt and shorts for her. He moves the shirt over her, making sure not to touch her breasts, and with ease, slips the shorts up. He then helps her up by an arm and walks her to the door. He creates a clone and repeats the binding jutsu for her mate and carries him right behind the real Naruto.

As they move through the hallway, Hana's mind keeps going over what he had said and decides to ask.

"What did you mean by you understand what I went through?" she asks.

Naruto sighs. "I do understand your pain but my situation was exactly the opposite of yours. I was born an orphan as you know. But what I didn't know or many other people is that I am the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Yoko, the same Bijū that attacked this village nineteen years ago."

Hana's eyes go wide. She was three when the Kyūbi attacked and remembered quite vividly the feeling the Kyūbi's yoki. She had been taught, like everyone else, that the Yondaime had defeated and killed the Kyūbi, so this is quite a revelation for her.

"Because of my 'status' I was beaten, spit on, yelled at, denied service at almost all business places here in Konoha as it was 'leaked' that I was the Kyūbi incarnate. So yes, I understand exactly how it feels to be ostracized by this village. As for friends, most of the parents made sure that their children held their same disposition against me, even if they didn't know why. I never really had a friend until Kiba. I'm…I'm very sorry Hana about him and your mother."

Hana becomes extremely rigid as Naruto hugs her and blinks as she feels her shirt dampen. Naruto is crying not just for her but her family as well.

"Kiba was my first real friend, Tsume was like a mom to me, and…you a sister. I found what I always wanted in you guys…a family."

Hana is shocked, no literally as she had attempted to return the hug, by his confession. Sure she thought he was a nice kid, a bit of an annoyance like her little brother, but she never thought of him as family as well. Looking back on it now, she could see his desperation for positive attention, he need for physical as well as emotional stability. Against her will, her eyes tear up as well.

"I'm…I'm sorry too."

Naruto gains control of himself and stops hugging Hana as the clones sent to the office comeback, storage scroll in hand. "Here it is. Most of it is plans for an invasion and plans to cripple Konoha's major defenses before the initial invasion."

Naruto nods and takes the scrolls and dispels those clones before marching Hana down the stairs.

"Well, it seems I don't need information from you. This has enough information in it to put you on the executioner's block. Come on, the Hokage will want to know about this."

Hana stands there, making Naruto stop and look at her. He is about to pull her along when her voice stops him. "Wait…if you unbind me, I won't run away or fight back. I…I want to know where you have been this whole time and why you abandoned us."

Naruto sighs and sets her down on the kitchen chair. But as he sits, another clone comes up and hands him another scroll before nodding to the clone, who leaves into the back of the house.

'When did he create that clone?'

"What was that?" she asks.

"The scroll? Oh that was just me collecting my things from around my place," he answers nonchalantly.

"Where did your clone go to though?" she asks, genuinely curious.

"Oh him? He is setting explosive seals all around the place. You see, when I came here to claim what was mine before resuming my journey and I found my entire library had been cleaned out, I figured that nobody is going to use my or my father or mother's work again. So I'm going to make this estate disappear."

Hana is wide eyed. "You…you would destroy your own house? Why?"

"Because I don't plan on staying here. There is someone I have to find and I was just stopping by here. I don't feel like leaving people to steal and thrive off of my inheritance."

Naruto turns a harsh eye to Hana, who returns it just as fiercely. She may be tied down but her pride as an Inuzuka won't let her become completely submissive.

"As for releasing you, how can I know that I can trust that you won't try to run or attack or anything besides talk?"

Hana looks down. "I guess you don't but if it means anything, you have my word that I won't." She looks up at the last part, looking right into his crystal blue eyes.

Naruto searches her eyes and body language for any hints of deception but only finds curiosity and pain. He breaks eye contact and releases the jutsu. Hana lets out a sigh of relief and puts her arms through her sleeves.

"That's better. Now I have told you my story so spill yours."

Naruto nods but cocks his head to the side as a clone dispels, informing him that the seals are ready. "Alright, it seems only fair. First of all, I didn't abandon the village, not at first."

Hana listens to Naruto's story of the attack by the Vampires and his death, though he didn't tell her they were Vampires, just relatives of Akasha. He ends with him leaving Whirlpool to come here to find the Hiraishin.

"So you died, came back due to the Kyūbi, left to recover at Whirlpool under the direction of the Kyūbi, and then came here to find a jutsu that would help you later on. On top of that, you are merging with Kyūbi which will turn you into the next Kyūbi, do I have everything?"

"Well, I did single handedly rebuild Uzushio but other than that, yeah that's the gist of it."

Hana looks down in thought but Naruto beats her to a question. "So what about this guy is so special?" he motions at Rinji.

Hana smiles. "He is…wonderful. I…I don't know what I would have done if not for him."

Just then Rinji recovers and wakes up, hogtied with the electric bindings. He looks to Hana then to Naruto then back to Hana. "Hana, what the FUCK are you doing with him? He just beat you and me up and your sitting having fucking tea with him? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Naruto raises an eyebrow at Hana. "Well, he can be foul mouthed sometimes, especially when agitated," she says sheepishly.

Rinji prepares another string of curses when Naruto slaps a tag on his face. Rinji's mouth moves but no sound comes out.

"That's my Oto Fuin (Sound Seal). Perfect when you don't want to listen to someone's bitching. Anyways, if you love him so much then what was that when I came into the room?"

Hana blushes. "Oh…that…we were...role playing. He always has a fantasy about forcing himself on a woman so I played along."

Naruto gawks at her. "And you think it is fine that he wants to force himself on women? From what I've seen of him, he is a scum bag who prayed on your emotional weakness."

Hana's infamous Inuzuka temper flares. "Shut up! You have no idea what you are talking about or anything about him!"

Naruto doesn't back down. "Oh yes I do. I was in your exact position thirteen years ago so don't think I don't know how starved you were for attention, even if it was the wrong kind. Does he hit you? Does he berate you? Does he threaten to leave you if you don't do as he wants? He called you master, but are you sure that it isn't you who are emotionally slaved to him?"

Hana blinks, thoughts going around her head a million times a second. He looks down as he has hit the nail on the head about six times with that one statement.

"And as for knowing him, I've seen his kind before and I know his true master. You think that Orochimaru will allow you two to be together after your usefulness has ended? You say he gave you purpose, but what happens when that usefulness is at an end?

"And before you even ask, I was the same as you only I found someone whose intensions were purely to help me. Jiraiya is like a father to me. I latched on to him so tight, he could have asked me to kill everyone in the Village and I would have done it in an instant, just to keep him from leaving me. Orochimaru will toss you out like garbage. Look at Anko! You spit on her grave by allying yourself with Orochi-teme! You will be no different that she was to him!" he practically yells.

By now tears are streaming down Hana's face.

"No…no. That's not true!"

Naruto pushes. "No, it's you who don't have the truth! You sit here and dance on the graves of your family and think that you are doing nothing wrong!"

Hana hides her face, her fingernails leaving red marks on her face. 'It…it can't be true!'

"I am ashamed to have thought to think of you as my sister! And here I thought that Inuzuka pride themselves in loyalty above all else!" Naruto slams his hands down on the table and she loses it. She lurches across the table and latches onto Naruto, shedding tear after tear. Powerful sobs wrack her body.

The whole while, she is whispering how much of a fool she has been. 'How…how could I have sunk so far? They would all be ashamed of me!'

Naruto returns the hug full force. Naruto pulls her into his lap and rocks her back and forth, holding her and comforting her. He doesn't say a word but continues to rock her like a child in the arms of a parent. After ten minutes or so, Hana has nothing left to cry so she just hiccups. She snuggles closer to him, trying to practically melt with him.

"It's ok Hana-chan. I'm here. I'm not mad, I just wanted you to see the error of your ways," he whispers to her. Hana's only response is to hold tighter to him.

They sit there for a good fifteen minutes before Naruto dislodges Hana but sits her down in the chair next to him.

"So what happened with your clan? Why did they disown you?"

Hana wipes her red and puffy eyes. "My…our Ka-chan was the Clan Head and I was supposed to be next as she would have named me her successor but when she died, she hadn't named me yet so the Inuzuka Council voted in another. Joishi (Joe-ee-she) Inuzuka took the Clan Head spot and he is known for hating my family so his first thing he did was to kick me out.

"The worst part was that I couldn't keep my partners. He said, 'They are the property of the Inuzuka Clan and as you are no longer apart of the clan, you have no rights to keep them'. My partners pitched a fit at that and tried to run away but they were no match for the other Inuzuka."

"I'm sorry Hana-chan. It must have been very difficult for you."

Hana nods and wipes her eyes again. "It was the second most painful experience after learning my family was dead. They kept calling out to me at night but there were always guards and I could never get close enough to even see the walls of the compound."

They both are silent for a few minutes. Neither knowing how to break the silence.

Naruto hears a tapping and sees Rinji struggle only to get shocked again as his mouth is working furiously in an attempt to reach Hana. Apparently the Oto Fuin doesn't extend to his hands or feet.

'I'll have to fix that.'

"Come on, were going to the Hokage. Bring him along," Naruto orders the clone, which the clone does while leaving the sound seal on him.

They open the door, Naruto ready for a fight but stops at the sight in front of him. The bodies of the two dozen shinobi lay scattered all over the ground and the gate is on the other side of the compound. Hana and Rinji stop and stare wide eyed at the gruesome spectacle.

Naruto looks to his clone, who has enough decency to look sheepish.

"What the hell happened?" Naruto asks.

The clone rubs the back of his head. "Well, I was throwing jutsu after jutsu at the barrier to distract the shinobi like you said but by curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to see just how much it would take to break the barrier so I put more and just chakra into the jutsu. Finally I got fed up and put a tail's worth of just chakra into it and it…kinda went through the barrier, the wall, the shinobi, and the bushes before I dispelled the technique…Sorry."

Naruto waves at him. "It's ok. You saved us a fight anyways. I'm just glad you didn't use yoki otherwise the estate wouldn't be standing here right now."

The clone nods and dispels itself. Naruto looks to find Hana looking at him, shocked.

"Hana, please stop staring. Or do you like what you see?"

Hana blushes deep, deep crimson and turns away. She does think that he is very handsome and not to mention powerful to boot.

"Hey, follow my lead when we get there, ok?" He sees Hana nod. Naruto turns to the clone. "Knock him out."

Rinji starts to protest but another seal on the back of his head forces him into unconsciousness.

"Here goes nothing," he says before putting a hand on Hana's shoulder and shunshins away.

Hokage Office

The Hokage's office is at piece. The paperwork is done, the village is at peace, the bathhouses are open, there is a giant plume of fire in the middle of the office…wait fire?

"What the hell?"

The fire suddenly dies down standing there is Naruto, Hana Inuzuka (in short-shorts and a t-shirt two sizes too small), and a man bound in lightning binds. If it were any other time, Jiraiya would have a nose bleed from Hana's very pronounced breasts in the extremely tight shirt. But right now, a ghost from his past is right in front of him.

"Who the…N…Naruto?"

'Naruto' shakes his head.

"Guess again!"

Jiraiya growls. "Kyūbi…what the hell did you do to Naruto, why do you have Inuzuka-san here, and who is that man? Anbu!"

Suddenly they are surrounded by two dozen Anbu, all of them with their weapons drawn. Jiraiya discards the robes and makes a Rasengan in both hands as he prepares for battle.

Naruto ignores them completely and starts to draw a complex seal in the air while everyone else watches in fascination as the red yoki solidifies in the air. But it is very foolish to let anyone finish an unknown technique.

"Uzumaki Fūinjutsu: Ban'yuuinryoku!" (Uzumaki Sealing Technique: Universal Gravitation!)

Suddenly all of the Anbu and Jiraiya find it increasingly hard to stand much less breathe. Hana looks on in awe at what a 'simple' Fūinjutsu can do to the most powerful man in Hi no Kuni.

"Wh…what the hell did you do to us demon?" Jiraiya roars.

Naruto looks impassively at the struggle. "The name of the technique should speak for itself. However, I didn't come to fight you nor to pose as a threat to the village itself. But be warned that I will not tolerate being attacked for no reason.

"Now when I let up the gravity, you will send away all of your Anbu away and then we shall talk…unless you don't want my help in which case Konoha can burn to the ground."

Hana's eyes go wide and turn to Naruto. She is about to say something when she sees him give her a tiny wink that the others misses because most of them are on the ground while the others are just struggling to breathe.

"Now…do I have your word as a shinobi and as Hokage that you will do as I have said?"

Somehow Jiraiya musters enough strength to completely stand and look Naruto/Kyūbi in the eye.

"Yes, you have my word."

Naruto nods and releases the seal. Almost instantly a blade finds its way at his throat but the user is impaled on a kunai that went straight through his heart.

"Stand down all of you! Leave us…Now!" he shouts. In two seconds everyone in the room except for Jiraiya, Naruto/Kyūbi, Hana, and Rinji. Even the dead Anbu is gone. Jiraiya sits behind his desk, no doubt where the panic button and kunai are stored. Naruto and Hana sit across the table from him while the unconscious Rinji is dropped roughly at Naruto's feet. Hana winced at the impact as she hasn't quite sorted out if she still likes him or not.

"Thank you. Now then we have much to discuss. First of all, this is not Naruto nor is it his body. This is me but in his image. In a way he will live on forever with me using his image. I now use his image as my human form and most likely will for a very long time.

"But first I would like some answers to a few questions. Where is the 'old man' that Naruto referred to as the Sandaime?"

Jiraiya's face fell a little. "He died defending the village when Kumo invaded. He named me Godaime even though I wanted Tsunade to take the title but he wouldn't hear of it saying that, 'she is no longer fit to be Hokage since she has tried to defect to another nation with which we were at war with'."

Naruto made no outward reaction but on the inside he was extremely sad that he died.

"I'm sure Naruto would be sad by that. Just how did the war end?" he asks next.

Jiraiya glares. "And why should I give up any information? We owe you nothing!" he spits.

Naruto glares back. "Because I am trying to save this pathetic village from destruction you imbecile! You owe me a few charity cases anyways for being locked up with only the sewer for company anyways for sixteen years!"

Jiraiya doesn't let up the glare but when Naruto/Kyūbi starts to access the yoki, making a tail appear, Jiraiya feels that it is best to not piss off the strongest of demons.

"Well after we beat back Kumo, we launched a campaign that immobilized their remaining Jinchūriki and we took the fight to Kumo. After a week long siege we finally conquered Kumo and made a treaty that ended the war. They aren't happy about the treaty but 'to the victor goes the spoils'. And they weren't really in a place to refuse, so that helped."

Naruto nods. "Next question. I felt three Kage level signatures in the village. I assumed that they were the Sannin and the 'old man' but since he is dead, who is the third one?"

Jiraiya eyes Kyūbi for a second before answering. "That would be Yugito. After Naruto saved her from Kumo, she has been quite the help from defeating the Hachibi during the invasion to leading the assault on Kumo. Although she was quite depressed when she heard of Naruto's death. I believe that she was very fond of him for obvious reasons."

Once again, his outside shows nothing but Naruto feels very guilty for making Yugito suffer like that. He hadn't considered her when he left or even in the years following.

"What happened to that duck ass after Akasha's…ex family showed up?"

Jiraiya gazes at Kyūbi, trying to discern the reason behind his asking.

"Why do you want to know?" Jiraiya is genuinely curious as to why.

Naruto shrugs. "So I can wipe his face in the ground that even without me, Naruto was way better than he ever was. And to tell him to imagine what it would have been if he had actually been able to use my powers as a last resort. Oh, I can imagine the ass kicking right now."

Jiraiya smiles sadly at that. "I would like to as well but Sasuke died, his head was detached from his body at the same time as Naruto, though we still have yet to find his body. We recovered his body and the materials you all stole during the mission, so technically it was a success."

Naruto nods. He really doesn't care that much, but he wanted to know what happened to him or if he was still alive.

"Last question and think carefully about this one. What wasn't Naruto informed of his burden? Why was it kept from him?"

Jiraiya's face drops once more. "That was Hiruzen's idea. He thought that if Naruto knew then he would be emotionally unstable and completely lose his emotions. He was close enough when he learned of his parents so Sarutobi decided to keep that from him.

"I was against it, but he overruled me. He even had me go so far as to hide all materials in Minato's office and library that concerned Shiki Fuin. I didn't want to but I wasn't given a choice."

'Kyūbi' drills into Jiraiya's soul. "We all have a choice and you made the wrong one. He would have wanted to know whether some old man said not to.

"That is all my questions…for now. But let me answer a few of your questions before you ask them.

"One: Naruto is dead. He died in Kaminari no Kuni. How I am free is because the Fourth was brilliant in his own right but he forgot one thing. The seal was reliant on Naruto's own life energy to power it. Once he died, the seal failed and allowed me to be free, but not unscathed. I was forced to leave behind five tails inside Naruto's body which made him explode.

"Two: After I was free of the seal, I needed someplace to recuperate, so I went to Uzu no Kuni. There I met an old man and he taught me the arts of Fūinjutsu. That is how I know the seals that I do.

"Three: Hana-san is here with that because she has information on Orochimaru and his invasion. She was manipulated by this," he gives Rinji a kick. "…to participate in the development of those plans.

"And before you say anything, Hana is innocent as someone played off her when she was emotionally distraught. She is free of blame because when her family was killed, her best friends were killed, her clan removes her and takes her partners she had nothing left and was left to the wolves known as the villagers.

"That man, Rinji, is a spy for Orochimaru and used her for his gain. He talked to her, 'cared' for her, didn't believe what the villagers said and because of that held great hold over her. He would threaten to leave her if she ever she ever went against his wishes. She was in the state like when you began training Naruto. He was so emotionally dependent on you that he would do anything just to have you not leave him.

"As for how I found them, Hana-san here was using the Namikaze Estate as a base while she and her…manipulator came up with plans to destroy Konoha. I went there to check up on the place when I noticed that the seal had been tampered with. So I investigated and found her. Oh that reminds me."

Naruto snaps his fingers and a very large explosion can be seen just over the Hokage Monument. Jiraiya puts the position of the explosion against what he knew was around there and turns and glares at Kyūbi.

"Why did you just blow up the Namikaze Estate?" he seethes.

Naruto waves aside Jiraiya's anger. "Calm down Jiraiya-san. There was nothing of monetary value in there as all the library had been cleaned out."

Jiraiya slams his hands down. "That isn't the point. You just destroyed a landmark and the treasures of everything Naruto held dear to him!"

Once again Naruto waves aside Jiraiya's anger. "You make it sound like Naruto is alive and cares. All I saw was some taking advantage of an isolated building to destroy this very village. I knew Naruto wouldn't want that and I acted accordingly."

Hana gives a guilty look to Naruto before returning her gaze to Jiraiya. Said man calms himself before he jumps over the desk at Kyūbi, making a fatal mistake. He forces himself to sit in the chair and looks at Kyūbi before he does just that. Though he settles by staring at Kyūbi, hatred clear in his eyes.

"Why are you helping Inuzuka-san so much? I would admit that I am curious that you would destroy the memory of your container so easily but care for someone you hardly knew."

Naruto glances at Hana. "Actually Naruto knew Hana quite well. He would go over to the Inuzuka compound and train or just hang out with Kiba and came to think that Kiba's family was his family. So in essence, I am saving Naruto's sister from herself and that." He gives Rinji another kick.

"And as for 'destroying Naruto's memory', I am in his form so his memory will live on through me. That was a plot of land, of tangible goods. Hana-san here is a living person who Naruto cared about and would have wanted me to help her rather than let some musty old house alone for more people to squat in."

Jiraiya seems satisfied with the answer but still doesn't like it. "Now if you would please leave so Inuzuka-san and I to discuss just what Orochimaru has planned for Konoha." Jiraiya looks at his desk and starts looking for a few forms or whatnot.

"No."

Jiraiya looks up from his desk as he was clearly thinking that Kyūbi would definitely leave.

"No…what?" Jiraiya asks, his brain not exactly working right now.

"I will not leave. Hana-san and I still have much to discuss. If you pardon Hana-san and allow her to walk with me, I will give you the notes and plans that I found in the Estate. If you decline you will face my anger."

Jiraiya takes that exactly as it is intended. A threat.

"Are you threatening me in my village or do I need to remind you of how you were sealed in the first place?" he asks darkly.

Naruto scoffs at the threat of Shiki Fuin. "I do not threaten. I promise."

Naruto and Jiraiya stare into each other's eyes for what seems like hours before Jiraiya breaks contact.

"Very well. Inuzuka-san, meet me in my office at ten tomorrow morning. Those plans if you will."

Naruto tosses the proper scroll to Jiraiya before Naruto and Hana leave via shunshin.

'How the hell does he get in through the barrier?'

"Neko," Jiraiya calls out.

A purple haired Anbu appears in front of him.

"Yes, Lord Hokage?"

"Follow them from a distance. I do not want them knowing I'm keeping tabs on them."

Neko gives a low bow before disappearing.

Jiraiya unseals the contents and gets to work. Right after he calls another Anbu to take Rinji to the T&I department for 'debriefing'.

With Naruto and Hana

"Why did you lie to him?"

Naruto and Hana are walking down a random street, ignoring the fact that Hana is still in 'sleep wear'.

"Because I didn't want to be known that I was still alive. If they knew then I would be tied down to the village and that I something that I cannot be."

Hana looks to Naruto very confused. "And why is that?"

Naruto stops walking and looks to the sky. "Because I am looking for someone. Someone very important to me."

Hana stops too and looks at Naruto. "What's her name?"

Naruto answers without looking away from the sky. "Akasha Shinso."

Hana starts. "You…your teammate?"

"She and I…we complete each other and we finally realized it just before that last mission. And we would be today had her damn relatives not gotten in the way."

Neither says anything after that but Naruto starts walking and Hana walks beside him, completely ignoring the fact that she is barefoot. They share a comfortable silence when they chance upon a bench and Naruto finds a seat, Hana right beside him.

"So what will you do now?" Naruto asks.

Hana looks nervously at Naruto. "I…I want to follow you. I know you're going to be looking for your…girlfriend but I don't really care. Please let me come. There isn't anything left for me here."

Naruto looks at Hana's hopeful face and sighs. "I can't do that."

Hana's crestfallen face nearly breaks his heart as well as almost making him give in. "Listen Hana-chan. It isn't because I don't like you or I don't want to be your friend. It is quite the opposite. I don't want you to go from being emotionally dependant on one guy to the next, even if the man has good intentions. You're stronger than that and following me around will just give into that dependency.

"I'll tell you what. I'll write every week and in that letter, I will say where I will be in two weeks. That will give you time to get my letter and send them off. How would that be?"

Hana just sits there, not knowing how to feel. She can't go with him but at the same time he isn't abandoning her either. Oh how she wishes she could just go with him.

"No…no, I want to go with you!"

Naruto finds Hana's arms around him and her well endowed chest squashed against his chest…again, making it hard to focus. Instead of pushing her away, he gently strokes her hair.

"Hana-chan, you need…no you are stronger than this. Where is your fiery spirit, your incredible will power. The Hana I knew could overcome anything and this is just one more hurdle for you to conquer. I believe you can do it. I know you can do it and come out much better than using me as a crutch."

Hana looks into his eyes and sees the passion behind his words and how he truly believes them.

"I…I guess that's fine. But who would I address it to? I can't very well put Namikaze Naruto on the letter could I?"

Naruto chuckles and shakes his head. "No guess you can't. How about you put…I don't know. Maybe Kazama… Arashi. Yeah, that name sounds pretty badass." [btw…I have no idea where people get that name from. It is used fairly often as a substitute for Minato's name.]

Hana giggles at his childish nature showing itself.

"That it is."

"Hana-chan, I know things are going to get rough again but I want you to know that whenever you need help, don't hesitate to ask. I'll leave a kunai here so that once I learn that jutsu, I'll explain how to use it. Also, here is some money that I had on me when I was undercover in Kaminari no Kuni. It isn't much but it should be enough to get you a hotel for a few weeks until you can get a job somewhere."

Naruto looks to Hana to find her crying again. He is taken aback, thinking that he has done something wrong and is about to apologize when she hugs him tightly.

"Thank you Naruto-kun."

Naruto hugs her back. Kyūbi just so happens to wake up at this moment and feels that Naruto has an impressive chest pushed up against him…and it is cold outside.

'Hmph. Wouldn't know what to do with them anyways.'

Naruto hugs Hana for a few seconds before letter her go.

"You should find a hotel now. I need to leave now before the village sees me and assumes that I'm still alive."

Hana nods. "I understand." Both stand but Hana does want him to leave. In two short hours, she went from spy/saboteur to homeless but back on the right track. And all thanks to her 'brother.'

Before Naruto can do anything, Hana moves forward and kisses him. Naruto's eyes go wide and pushes her away.

"What was that for?"

Hana puts her arms around Naruto's neck and leans her head on his chest. "For everything you've done for me tonight. Maybe…maybe now when I die I can face my family and friends. Thank you so very much, Naruto-kun.

"I think I love you. So for just one night, you could have me if only just to let me thank you," she says desperately.

Naruto awkwardly rubs his back before stepping away. He shakes his head at her. "I don't mean to trivialize your feelings, but you don't love me. You may like me but love comes from years of knowing someone, getting closer to each other. But I would never, ever, take advantage of you or any woman like that. Plus it would be cheating on Akasha. She doesn't know I'm alive but I know she is and as long as I know she is alive, I won't betray her trust."

Hana gets a sad but understanding look in her eyes. She disengages herself and scoots away to a respectful, but distant distance. Naruto feels bad about turning her down like that but this is for her own good.

"Oi, Anbu-san. Come out here please."

Neko starts and curses herself for getting caught but the cat's out of the bag now. [ha, I made a funny!] She shunshins to Naruto and Hana.

"Can I help you Kyūbi-san?"

Naruto growls, making Neko afraid that she just pissed the Kyūbi no Yoko off with her disrespect. Naruto smirks, smelling the fear roll of the Anbu.

"Anyways, Neko-san, I would like it if you and Hana-san would become friends. She needs some good ones and I know that you can be trusted. You watched over Naruto when he was young and always intervened before it was absolutely necessary."

Yūgao is taken aback by Kyūbi's admittance of remembering her. She never felt any disposition towards Naruto but she was only doing her job right. But apparently her fellow Anbu did only what was required and just because she did her job that Kyūbi trusts her enough to entrust an important person to her.

"I…I accept," she stammers. She takes off her mask and holds out her hand to Hana. "Yūgao Uzuki."

Hana looks to Naruto, who nods, and Hana tentatively takes the offered hand. "Hana Inuzuka."

Naruto claps his hands. "Well, now that you are taken care of, I must go now."

Naruto begins to walk off but Hana jumps his back.

"I don't want you to leave," she chokes out, trying to hold back the tears. Yūgao is shocked that anyone in their right mind would hug the Kyūbi of all things, the harbinger of death here in Konoha.

Naruto turns around after Hana lets go. "You know I cannot stay and you cannot go with me. It is best if you stay here. I am not abandoning you but I'm not staying either. You must understand that this village would never accept me as I am."

Hana looks down and nods.

"Yūgao-san. Please find a hotel for her. I must be going."

Yūgao nods and gently leads Hana away. Once they get a few feet, Naruto engages his illusion to hide himself.

'Now onto something far better for her.'

Time Skip – Next Day, Noon

Yūgao had dropped her off and had instantly fallen asleep from sheer mental and emotional exhaustion. She had awakened with a start as Yūgao knocked on her door the next morning for her meeting with Jiraiya. Luckily Yūgao had brought clothes with her so that Hana had more than rags on her.

Her meeting with Jiraiya was more of an interrogation than a meeting. He picked her brain and threatened to have her go to Ibiki if he thought she was leaving anything out. Needless to say, she told him all about Orochimaru. But when he got onto the subject of Kyūbi saving her, she stuck to the story Naruto had put in place.

After two exhausting hours, Jiraiya had let her go on the condition that she must be followed around by Anbu for two months. With good behavior, he will lift the surveillance of her.

Hana slumps onto her cheep hotel bed and instantly starts to fall asleep but a crinkling noise gets her attention. She searches for the source and finds a piece of paper underneath her pillow.

Hana-chan,

There is one last thing I would like to give you. Go to the clearing next to the Namikaze Estate.

Kyūbi

Hana is confused but if is from Naruto, then it must be ok. She quickly heads over to the mountains and to the Estate, or ex-Estate. When she reaches the ruins, her amplified hearing picks up barking.

'There shouldn't be dogs over here.'

She starts to walk in the direction of the barking but something is off. She can understand what they are saying.

'Hana!' they are calling. Yes, she can now hear three distinct voices…or barks.

She speeds up and the dog's barking gets louder and more excited the closer she gets. She suddenly she is in a clearing and waves of emotions overwhelm her.

Standing there are the Haimaru triplets, her partners, her ninken (ninja dogs).

She falls to the ground and starts to cry in tears of joy of even seeing her partners again. Suddenly she is tackled by the three dogs and they all begin to lick her and howl in joy. The joyful reunion lasts for a good while before Hana stops crying.

"H…how?"

"It was Naruto. He came by early in the morning and bought us from that poor excuse for an Inuzuka. He said he wanted to start a kennel and that idiot fell for it," one says.

"I think he just wanted to get rid of us. We weren't exactly cooperative after he exiled you from the clan, Hana-chan. We don't accept a pack leader except you," another says right after licking her face.

"We smelled you on him so we decided to trust him and he took us here and told us to wait for you," the last one says excitedly.

Hana can't believe her ears.

"I missed you guys."

The dogs sense that she needs something to hug right now and they calm down and sit and let Hana do just that. She cries and hugs them to her, all the while scratching their ears and nuzzling them and stroking their softer than ever fur.

'Thank you Naruto.'

Time Skip – 30 years

It has been a quiet three decades, well as quiet as the Elemental Nations can get. After the failed attempted invasion of Konoha, the world simmered down and while minor skirmishes pop up every now and then, no major wars have started. For the Elemental Nations, it is the longest period of sustained peace between the countries.

Naruto kept his word and didn't miss a single week without writing to Hana. Even when he would gain a tail, he would write early. He lived the life of a Ronin, independent ninja doing odd jobs here and there under different henges and names all the while looking for his love. Nobody really bothers him as he usually goes by the name Kasama Arashi to hide his identity and he has no real enemies.

Naruto still physically looks the same, having stopped aging at twenty-two. Though he wears less conspicuous clothing and a half mask to cover his whisker marks, he almost doesn't have to seeing how most people wouldn't know him. Most of his friends from Konoha have either passed on or have families of their own and wouldn't expect Naruto to look so young.

By now Naruto is the new Nine Tails as of a few months ago but Naruto just wouldn't let a friend die for him…he is not that kind of man who abandons his friends to 'fate' or 'destiny' or whatever the hell people want to call it.

Flashback – Minutes Before Full Assimilation

Naruto is in a desert clearing, far from anything remotely civilized. This tail will be different, so says the previous owner of the tails. This one will be much larger in size and strength so just getting in a clearing away from everything isn't an option.

"This…this is it kit. After this…I will be no more," comes the tired voice of Kyūbi.

'Don't strain yourself. You should be asleep.'

"Hmph! Your thousands of years younger than me and your giving me orders? Come on now, I thought we were past that."

Naruto sags his head. Even at death's door and almost weaker than he was at birth, Kyūbi has an ego the size of a planet.

'I'm not ordering you around. It's just that you are my best friend…a friend that is about to die and I don't want you to rush it,' he thinks with a sad tone.

"Look kit…all things die and I am no exception. It may take me longer than most but all things end. I'm not worried about it so you shouldn't be either."

Instead of answering, Naruto concentrates deep within himself, feeling for when the last conversion would take place, making him no longer human.

'I still have a few minutes. I should start setting things up.'

Naruto rolls out a large scroll and Kyūbi looks on in interest at what Naruto is doing.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I did some research and worked on it while you slept and I've had plenty of time to do so with you being more and more tired with every tail I absorb. I don't know if it will work and I will have to time it exactly right for it to even have a change to work," he says out lout as he unseals a large paper with the most intricate seal Kyūbi has ever seen on it.

"Don't do this! I'm ok with dying and if you mess with this, there is no telling what may happen to you!"

"You may be ok with dying but I'm not! I don't abandon my friends, especially one that has been there for me for more than thirty fucking years! So shut up and enjoy the ride."

"…I'm sorry but I can't do that," Kyūbi says quietly.

Naruto feels Kyūbi use the last of his yoki, forcing the conversion to go earlier than it should have.

"Kyūbi! What are you doing?"

"Making sure you survive, like a friend should."

'Damn it!'

Naruto hurries with his preparations. He hurriedly stakes down the paper/tarp with spikes made of yoki and quickly gets to the middle and begins a very long series of hand seals, in upwards of seventy-five. Naruto flies through the seals with practiced caution, knowing that one slip up will result in disaster.

But time is not on his side. Kyūbi forces the very last of his yoki, forcing the conversion.

"Goodbye Naruto…and thank you. I enjoyed having a friend like you."

"GOD DAMN IT!" Naruto shouts and throws all caution to the wind and goes as fast as he can through the hand seals all while trying to hold back his transformation.

Naruto finishes the last hand seal and slams it down as the transformation takes place, filling the desert with a very large dome of red yoki before that dome falls in on itself and a massive explosion occurs.

…

…

…

Naruto wakes with a groan, albeit a very deep groan. He sits up but instead of sitting on his butt, he sits on his hind quarters and paws…wait paws?

He looks down and finds he is more than ten stories tall! He has red fur, paws, a snout. He looks behind him and sure enough, nine swirling tails are swaying in the wind.

"Hahahaha! This feels incredible!" he booms.

"You mind keeping it down? Some people like to sleep a little," a peeved voice shouts.

Naruto looks down to see a red headed male, completely naked, lying on the now glass surface of the desert.

"Oi, Kyūbi! Wake up!"

Kyūbi just turns over and continues to sleep. Naruto sighs but get an idea. He stands on all paws, a weird experience to say the least, crouches down and takes a deep breath before roaring right in Kyūbi's ear.

Kyūbi flies up and jumps about twenty feet in the air before landing on the hard glass.

"Wha…what the fuck!"

"Good morning to you too, dear," Naruto says sarcastically.

Kyūbi whirls around and his jaw falls. He suddenly looks down and sees that he is a normal human being.

"Wh…ho…wha…"

Naruto chuckles at Kyūbi's stunned state.

"Look, I'll be more than happy to discuss the details with you but first we need to get going. That yoki blast isn't going to go unnoticed."

Time Skip – 5 Hours

Naruto, human formed Naruto, and Kyūbi walk into a hotel in a town a few miles from 'ground zero' as Naruto calls it. Locals are calling it the Glassy Dunes as many came out to see what caused the explosion. After checking into a room and then getting to said room, Naruto seals the room.

"Before you ask, I will explain what I did as I'm assuming is what most of your questions are.

"In essence, I copied your brain's electrical patterns and forced them only an existing pattern of a living human. A used another seal to transfer your memories to your body so as you are right, you are Kyūbi…a human."

"I…I don't know what to say…"

"Then don't. I'm not done with your body. I plan on turning it into a hanyou, more specifically a fox hanyou. I know how much you wanted a family but never could because of the war, so I'm giving you a second chance to do just that. On top of that, if I do it right, you won't be immortal. You will have a human life span, so you can die with your lover and not have to grieve for her.

"Your children will be hanyou as well. In essence, you will start a new species here that have a little longer life span than humans but have most of the advantages of a Kitsune. Just like normal Kitsune, you can mark her and that will make her a hanyou as well, making your life spans match.

"Or at least that is what I plan on."

Kyūbi, for once, is speechless. He has no idea what to say or how to react to that. He stammers, his brain not really coping with what Naruto has done and what he wants to do for him.

"Go to bed. Sleep on it and collect your thoughts. You have been through a lot today."

End Flashback

When Kyūbi awoke, he profusely thanked Naruto. It is true that he always wanted a family but never could because of the Yōkai Wars. After the wars ended, there was no way he could return to his own world, so he stayed here but the people here are ignorant and uncaring for the most part and nobody once they found out who he was wanted to be with him. Eventually he stopped trying and just let people hate him.

For the transformation, Naruto's chakra network is completely obliterated now that he is pure Kitsune. That happened because instead of Naruto's soul absorbing Kyūbi's, Kyūbi's overpowered Naruto's, making Kyūbi's the primary soul. How Naruto is still Naruto they don't know, but neither of them are going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

As for Kyūbi, Naruto gave him three tails worth of yoki, making him a three tailed fox/human hybrid with no chances of gaining another tail. Kyūbi will live as long as the body he is 'squatting' in doesn't give out. With his yoki regenerating his body constantly, he will live around a hundred years. His regeneration can't keep up with the natural decay of cells but it will stave off death for quite some time.

Naruto and Kyūbi are still traveling together, Kyūbi teaching him everything about being a Nine Tails and the responsibilities that goes with it. While Naruto absorbed about a third of Kyūbi's memories, most of them are about the Yōkai Wars and the right after. Kyūbi also helps Naruto with his forms and can now go from his human form to his hanyou form and to his full fox form directly from human in ten seconds.

Right now, he and Kyūbi are headed back to Konoha for a surprise visit to Hana. He would visit her every few years under a few different henges and on special occasions, like when her ninken died. Each one died at a different time, a few years apart and he showed up for each of their burials to give her support.

For Hana herself, after Naruto saved her, her life drastically improved. She got several new friends from Yūgao and they got together multiple times a week. She got herself a job at the non shinobi veterinarian and established quite a reputation for herself. So much so that even Inuzuka would come in and have their dogs looked after.

The Clan Head who kicked Hana out still held a deep hatred for her. He ordered the clan to stop going there and went so far as to threaten the clan council. That got him removed from the position. The next Clan Head had offered to reinstate Hana but she refused, saying that she would rather stay a private citizen rather than be someone's lapdog.

Now she is the ripe age of fifty-three. Her daughter is now married and has a few children of her own that she spoils rotten every chance she gets. Her daughter, Tsume Inuzuka in honor of her own mother, was the result of so much unprotected sex with that bastard she once called a mate. She drew heavily on Yūgao, her triplet ninken, and especially Naruto for support and Naruto was there to see her daughter born and was named her godfather.

Tsume is a twenty-one year old Jōnin and looks like a younger version of Hana with soft eyes and smooth hair unlike most Inuzuka. Most could confuse her with Hana, like Naruto did once. Tsume grew up never knowing her father but Hana made up with that with more than enough love for the both of them. You could hardly keep them apart.

Now she is married with triplets that Hana helps take care of and babysits them all, reminding her of the times she had with her daughter. Hana and Tsume, husband and kids, live in the same house. Naruto over the years sent her money and with her work at the vet, which she now owns, she had more than enough to build a huge three story house on top of the remains to the Namikaze Estate. [I'm too lazy to name the husband and children just so you know]

Her once mate was in prison until his death a few years later, committing suicide. For Orochimaru's plans, Hana put on a charade and set him up with a meeting with Naruto. That was the last day that Orochimaru took a breath. Naruto even went so far as to bring her Orochimaru's head and they both buried it together right on top of the Sandaime's head (i.e. the monument).

Anyways, Naruto and Kyūbi are jumping through the trees towards Konoha from River country. His search still hasn't produced any results and now Naruto is almost at a loss for what to do next. He literally has searched the entire continent, whether it was in broad daylight or sneaking into Iwa and Kumo's prisons to check if she was there. He has nothing to show for his efforts.

Naruto and Kyūbi are three hours outside of Konoha when both of their heads snap to the right. They both feel the explosion of yoki coming from the north, but that amount of yoki isn't subsiding but instead growing more intense each minute that passes. They share a look and kick it into high gear and tear off in that direction.

Time Skip – 2 Hours

Naruto and Kyūbi arrive at the forest around Takigakure after two hours of solid sprinting using yoki to enhance their speed. They both follow the source of the yoki to a pair of trees. Both know instantly what it is.

"So this is a portal that goes to your world?" Naruto asks, just to be sure.

"Yes, though I don't know where it will bring you. I doubt anyone is coming through but to think that this opened from just the ambient yoki…dear god. Just think about the person or people outputting that much yoki."

Naruto blanches at that. There is a lot of yoki coming through that portal. People in Kaminari no Kuni could feel it.

"So if I go through this, I go into your world, right?"

Kyūbi smacks the back of Naruto's head. "I said it once already and I don't like repeating myself!"

Naruto grins sheepishly. "So what will you do now? You said that you aren't coming back to your world."

Kyūbi thinks for a little. "I honestly have no idea. I guess I could find a woman and raise a family with her. Maybe go and populate Uzu and keep it safe. I don't know but I'll figure it out."

Naruto nods and hugs Kyūbi. "I have no idea how long it will take to find Akasha but when I do, I'll come back here and check on this place."

Kyūbi returns the hug. "Wait, aren't you going to say goodbye to Hana and her family?"

Naruto smacks his head. "I knew I was forgetting something. Hang on a second."

Naruto draws a seal in the air, then manipulates it to the ground. It burns and carves into the ground.

"There now that the marker is here, I won't need to walk. See you there."

Naruto disappears in a flash of golden light followed by Kyūbi disappearing in a red light.

Konohagakure – Hana Inuzuka's House

Naruto and Kyūbi appear less than a second apart, scaring the bejesus out of Hana who was doing laundry.

"God damn it! What have I said about just jumping in unannounced like that?" she yells.

Despite being in her fifties, Hana still looks like she is in her thirties. Time has been very kind to her and she is still very beautiful.

"Normally I would do so but something has come up," Naruto says quickly to get out of trouble.

"What is it?" she asks, immediately serious.

"It is nothing immediate but it does concern me. You should get Tsume down here too.

Hana eyes Naruto and calls Tsume down. Naruto hears someone walk down the stairs followed by the clear sounds of dogs.

Tsume walks in the kitchen holding one of her three month old children with two dogs following her, each with a child strapped to their backs in a harness.

"Hey Naruto-nii-chan! When did you get here?"

Naruto smiles at her. "Only a few moments ago. I have something important I have to tell you and Hana-chan."

"Well then why don't we move this party to the living room," she suggests.

"Excellent suggestion Tsume-chan," Kyūbi says. Kyūbi had a crush on Tsume despite her being married from the moment he saw her in his human form…three months ago. Meaning that Kyūbi is either into pregnant woman or Tsume is just that beautiful to grab the attention of a demon older than the major villages put together while pregnant and in the middle of labor.

The Inuzuka women find a seat on the very comfortable couch, next to each other. Since Tsume gave birth, their bond has only grown stronger.

Hana grabs one triplet and Tsume grabs the third, making her have two of the three. "Alright spill it. What is so important that you Hiraishined here?"

Naruto paces nervously back and forth. Kyūbi, who is sitting on the other couch, gives him the 'go ahead' sign.

'This is going to suck'

"Well, Kyūbi and I were on our way here when we felt this huge wave of yoki from the north. So we decided to check it out. It turns out that the yoki was…" Naruto gulps and gathers his courage.

"You found what?" Hana asks, a slightly dangerous edge to it.

Naruto sighs and decides to get it over with. "We found a portal that leads directly to Kyūbi's world."

"You mean that you two found a way to get to Kyūbi's home world and that is most likely where Akasha has gone? Right?"

Naruto nods.

…

Naruto pulls himself out of the wall, his face burning from the punch to his face. When he looks back he sees an angry Hana, the third triplet safely in Kyūbi's arms.

"You…office…NOW!"

When Naruto doesn't move, Hana leaps forward and drags Naruto by a foot to the office on the second floor. Kyūbi cringes every time Naruto's head hits the stairs.

Tsume looks to Kyūbi in a state of shock.

"Do you think he'll live? I don't think Ka-chan has ever been that angry before," she asks genuinely worried.

Kyūbi waves her worry aside. "He'll be fine. If anyone can convince Hana-san to cool down and see reason, it's Naruto."

Tsume nods and looks at the stairs before looking back at Kyūbi. "You know the reason why she hasn't even tried to find another mate and reject even the ones that fell into her lap, right?"

Kyūbi looks down at the child in his arms and tickles him. "Yeah I do. If Naruto weren't so in love with Akasha, he would have returned your mother's love for him and they would have had a happy and content life. But Naruto's heart belongs to Akasha and her alone. Naruto is unable to look at Hana any more than a sister."

Time Skip – 3 hours, Portal Between Worlds

After two hours of yelling, screaming, clawing, and much explaining Naruto, Hana, Tsume, and Kyūbi are standing in front of the portal.

"Are you sure Naruto-kun? You can always stay here with us," Hana practically begs.

Naruto hugs her tightly, which she returns full force. "I have to. I have to find her. I'm sorry that I never returned your advances. I know we could have had a happy life but…I would have been forced to watch you die. That is the reason I made it so Kyūbi isn't immortal."

Naruto steps away from Hana and forms a familiar seal.

"Kagebunshin no Justu!"

They wait and nothing happens. They all look to Naruto who has his face scrunched in concentration, still holding the seal.

Suddenly a puff of smoke and a clone of Naruto appears.

"I've pumped as much yoki as this clone can handle without overloading it. I don't know how long this clone will last but it will be years before it dispels because of the lack of yoki."

Naruto hugs Hana again. "I'm going to miss you," he says quietly.

"I'll miss you too."

Naruto disengages from Hana. "Be happy. And please don't cry over me. You know I can't stand it when you or any woman for that matters cries for sad reasons."

Hana puts on a smile for him, even though she doesn't feel like it. "I'll try."

Naruto moves to Tsume. She also hugs Naruto fiercely. "Be safe nii-chan."

"You too. And take care of the tykes for me, ne?"

She breaks the hug and ruffles his hair. "I'll just have to tell them a few stories of their uncle Naruto."

Naruto laughs and moves onto Kyūbi. Kyūbi holds out his hand but Naruto bypasses the hand and wraps him in a brotherly hug.

"I'll miss you the most. You have been there for me since day…well however many days it was until I died. I'm glad to have known you."

"Just get going brat. I'm not good with goodbyes despite my age."

Naruto takes out a scroll and hands it to Kyūbi. "Give this to her after I leave and take care of Hana ok?"

Kyūbi nods and Naruto turns away and walks to the portal before turning around.

"Take care of each other. I hope to see you all again one day."

Instead of answering, Hana whistles loudly. A dog Naruto has never seen before bounds into through the trees and stops in front of Naruto. The dog is large…very large with dark grey fur on top and a white belly. The dog/wolf has rows of very sharp teeth and sharpened nails.

"This is Guremaru (grey perfection), part of the same family as Kuromaru (black perfection), my mother's ninken. Tsume-chan here acquired him a year ago and I trained him in the Inuzuka arts. He knows human speech, Gatenga (Fang Rotating Fang), Gatsūga (Fang Passing Fang), water and tree walking, plus a few fire jutsu for backup.

"We got him just for you for helping us out so much. I know you don't want to take him but he will help you so just take him or we would have spent all that time for nothing."

Naruto doesn't know what to say. They took a huge risk by teaching Guremaru the Inuzuka arts. It could have gotten them jail time or worse. Clans are very touchy about who learns their clan techniques so people who have been removed from the clan can't even teach their children the clan techniques. For the Inuzuka, that applies to the ninken as well.

"Why would you risk all that you had for me?"

"Because you idiot, you mean a lot to these ladies. From what I gathered you have saved them and helped them through tough times. It is what you call family," Guremaru says out loud.

The group stares at Guremaru, well minus Hana and Tsume as they trained him to speak human language.

"Alright, I like this dog already," Kyūbi laughs.

"Please, Naruto-kun. It is our way of saying thanks for everything you have done for us," Hana pleads. She even goes so far as to make 'the face'. The one thing that Naruto can never say no to. The puppy dog face. With her soft hair and large, round eyes, it is super effective against Naruto's will meter.

'I can't say no to that face.'

"Alright, alright. Just stop making that damn face at me."

Hana and Tsume get one last hug from Naruto, who positions himself right in front of the portal. He turns to the group.

"You will remember this day as the day you almost caught Capt…"

Guremaru jumps up and pushes Naruto into the portal, headfirst as he was falling backwards.

"Brat. You would think after living for nearly fifty years he would mellow out some."

Kyūbi and Hana sweatdrop. "That was mellowed out. You should have seen him when he was ten," Hana deadpans. "Anyways, you had better go. Take care of him Gure." She pets his head and scratches him for the last time along with Tsume.

"Of course. I will help out in any way possible."

Guremaru turns and jumps into the portal.

'I'll be strong for you, Naruto-kun. I'll wait for you to come back.'

Shinso Castle – 33 Years ago

Lord Shinso walks the halls of his castle, his footsteps making no sound whatsoever. He turns the corner and opens a door on the immediate left. He opens the door and walks into a pitch black room.

"Akasha-chan, how are you feeling?" he asks.

He hears movement under blankets but nothing more. He sighs and moves through the darkness with ease before ripping apart the extremely heavy and dense drapes, bathing the room in bright sunlight.

A groan is heard from the other side of the room and Shinso turns to his daughter. During the past three months since her return, she has been extremely closed off, barely coming out of her room. Her weight has dropped dangerously low and she isn't eating regularly.

"Go away," she says weakly before drawing the sheets over her head.

"It's been three months. How long are you going to wallow in pity?" he asks. Before he can even blink Akasha in front of him, her eyes cross slitted.

"Don't speak of his…death like some trivial matter. You have no idea what I felt. So don't go judging me," she hisses.

Shinso doesn't budge but takes this opportunity to see how she is fairing. She is wearing the bare minimum, pretty much a t-shirt and extremely short-shorts. She smells like she hasn't bathed or even left the room in weeks. But what gets him is her hollowed cheeks, her ribs poking through her shirt, and her far more than normal pale skin.

"No your right. I don't but that isn't my fault. I've tried to get you to open up but every time you do, you withdraw into yourself and become unresponsive. Now, get dressed and meet me in the dining hall in twenty minutes."

Akasha looks blankly at him. "I'm not hungry."

Shinso fixes her with a hard stare. "That wasn't a request. You will be down in twenty or I will drag you down there myself. Am I clear?"

Akasha looks off to the side and doesn't answer.

"I didn't hear you. Do you understand me?"

Akasha looks towards him for a second. "Yeah."

"What?"

"I said yeah," she says in an annoyed voice.

"Yes," he says firmly to her, but it isn't really a statement, more of a challenge. While she may be his daughter, he will not tolerate disrespect, even if she is depressed.

Akasha stares him down, hoping he will just leave her alone, but her father just keeps staring back at her with his gaze, begging her to challenge him.

"Yes, I understand," she says in a defeated tone. While she may be more powerful than 99.999% of her kind, her father is the .001% that can still hand her ass to her on a silver platter. Challenging his authority would be suicidal and she knows it.

Shinso immediately lighten up. "Good. I'll meet you there," he says flatly like they didn't just have a stare down. He promptly leaves the room and ushers in his servants to make Akasha presentable.

The servants immediately rush to disrobe her but she fights them off, stating that she did it for eight years and she can certainly do it now. The maids wisely backed off and prepared her bath instead.

Being a shinobi, Akasha learned to take exceedingly quick showers or baths, so within ten minutes, she is completely washed and her hair is clean too. She has mixed feelings about it being back to pink, simply because for so long, she had to dye it black just to stay alive. It also represents Naruto in the fact that he had to die to get her hair this color again.

She gets out and uses a fire jutsu to dry her extremely long hair within seconds, making it slightly frizzy, which she easily corrects with wetting it slightly and combing it down. Her maids help her into a corset and dress and put her hair in an elegant bun. They then apply a generous amount of perfume.

Without looking in the mirror, she exits the room and slowly makes her way through the twisting halls that she once walked through as a seven year old. She eyes the paintings and art that caught and held her attention all those years ago.

To her, they are just as beautiful as when she first saw them, but she has lost interest in them. In fact, she has lost interest in everything.

She starts when she bumps into the dining hall doors, too deep in her thoughts to realize that she had arrived at her destination.

She opens the doors and sees her father sitting at the far end of a long table. She notices the spot next to him has heaps of food.

"Come, join me for lunch, musume (daughter)."

Knowing not to say anything, she moves quietly to her designated place. Once there, Shinso stands and pulls out the chair for her, a silent order to sit.

Once seated, Akasha gazes at the food with disinterested eyes.

"Eat"

Akasha continues to sit there.

"Eat"

Akasha looks to Shinso. "I told you I'm not hungry."

Shinso slams his hands down on the table. "I said to eat. I will knock you unconscious and force feed you if you continue to fight me. Do not test my patience any further. Now eat!"

Akasha stares into his green eyes and for the first time, she sees his eyes slitted like hers and directed towards her. It scares the living shit out of her.

Slowly, Akasha reaches forward and puts food on her plate. It isn't much but Shinso seems satisfied.

"Good. Now then, we have some business to discuss. From now on, you will spend every moment you are not sleeping, bathing, or dressing outside of your room. You will eat four meals a day until you are back up to the weight you came back at. You will exercise and run every day. You will be social and courteous to the servants as they are instructed to engage you in conversation at every available time.

"These things are required and not an option. If you do them without complaint or fighting me on them, I will have a reward for you in two months time."

Akasha pauses eating. "What kind of reward?" she asks with sarcasm.

"Oh, I don't know. Just leading the punishment on the Bloodriver house."

Akasha's fork drops and hits the plate with a clank. "You…you would hold my revenge over me as a form of coercion?"

Shinso just stares blankly into her eyes. "Yes. You have forced my hand with how you have been acting these past months so I decided to put something on the line that will motivate you to stop moping around."

Akasha stands suddenly. "You have no right to deny me my revenge."

Shinso's eyes turn again, making Akasha take a slight step back. "I have EVERY right. As your father, it is my duty to do what I deem is best for you whether you agree or not. Now sit down and continue eating."

Akasha turns her head and starts to walk off. "I'm finished eating."

Before she can even register what is happening, Akasha is going face first through the table. Out of sheer reflex, she rolls over her shoulder before she can hit the ground and comes up in her Hebi (Snake) stance. But what she sees makes her second guess talking back.

Shinso is pissed. Nobody, not even his own daughter, gets away with such blatant disrespect. Around him, a viscous black aura surrounds him. His eyes are so cold that they might as well be frozen.

"It seems, musume, you need a little discipline!"

For the next hour, Akasha is beaten into the ground, the walls, the ceiling, the ground again, through the thick stone walls into the next room, and the process repeats. By the time Shinso is done, Akasha can't even stand, much less fight back. She had tried to fight him, but it was like a human baby fighting against a fully grown grizzly bear defending her cubs.

Shinso, however, looks like he did before, not a single scratch or speck of dust on him. He isn't even breathing hard.

"Now, musume, you will comply or we will have this 'lesson' every day until you do what I say without question. And my reward still stands, so think on it."

With that Shinso leaves the ruined hall and walks away, leaving instructions that under no circumstances are the servants to help Akasha for the rest of the day.

Time Skip – 2 Months

Akasha exits the limo right in front of the Bloodriver Estate, well compound of mansions. She is wearing a tight pink dress that comes down to mid thigh, has short sleeves, and shows a fair amount of cleavage. Her pink hair is tied up so that not a single strand of hair is free of the extremely intricate bun. Akasha's shoes click on the ground as she briskly walks forward towards the assembled Bloodriver house.

As she approaches, she recognizes several people. Her biological mother for one and the other is her now thirteen year old brother, Hikaru. He stands with the arrogance of a thousand Sasuke [yes because Sasuke is now a unit of measurement]. Straight back, superior expression on his face, eyes wide with distain and hate for others.

As Akasha approaches, the lined up servants all bow, showing respect. When Akasha finishes climbing the steps, Belicia holds out her arm in welcome.

"Welcome back Shinso-sama. I hope your stay at the Bloodriver Estate will be a pleasant one."

Akasha just waves her off but stops suddenly. "Where is Isario, master of the Bloodriver house?"

Belicia starts to sweat and bows low to cover it. "My sincerest apologies Shinso-sama but Isario had demanding business to deal with. He sends his regards and his regret that he is not here to welcome you into his house."

'I'm sure he does…in his grave,' thinks Akasha.

"And does he not consider a visit from his Lord's daughter to be…how did you put it, 'demanding'?"

Belicia is cursing her daughter now. She thinks quickly to keep from insulting her ex-daughter.

"Of course not. However, this problem does require his presence."

Akasha waves her off before marching into the Bloodriver house. "I will be staying here a total of a week. Please see to it that a room is prepared and ready. Now I just hate to dictate to the master of the house about the schedules but seeing how he isn't here, we will be dining at times I dictate."

Belicia stifles a growl and puts on a smile.

'Damn her. She has a lot of power both physical and political and she knows it. This will not be a good week.'

"Of course Shinso-sama. When would you prefer to eat?"

"Six in the morning, three in the afternoon and nine at night. At no other times are meals to be served."

'That should make them irritable. The meals were always at the same times, no matter what. It will get them off their game and make them very prone to mistakes,' Akasha thinks cruelly.

Belicia hides her horrified expression. 'That is two hours earlier than it normally is and way longer than it should be between meals. Just what are you up to?'

"If you would indulge my curiosity Shinso-sama, what is the need for such drastic changes to our eating schedule? I'm sure…"

Akasha's head snaps to look at Belicia. "Do not question me or my methods. Everything I do is for a reason so still that tongue before it no longer will serve its' purpose."

Belicia immediately bows. "Very well, Shinso-sama. If you would please follow this maid, she will show you to your room."

Akasha nods and follows the maid to the top of the stairs but when the maid goes to the left, Akasha stops.

"Where are you going?" Akasha asks the maid.

"To your room as directed Shinso-sama," the maid replies, bowing very deeply.

"But that is the way to the guest quarters. My room is the Master Bedroom."

The maid pales and looks to Belicia who is trying not to charge up the stairs.

"What is the matter? Why are you not bringing Shinso-sama to her room?" Belicia hisses dangerously.

The maid goes even paler and stumbles over her words, trying to think of a way not to get herself killed.

"Sh…Shinso-sama…re…requests the…the Master Bedroom, Madame Bloodriver," the maid finishes and gets on her knees and presses her forehead to the ground in submission, silently praying that her head wouldn't be rolling on the ground. Instead the maid finds herself buried deep within a wall via Belicia's foot.

"Now then, Shinso-sama, what was the request?"

"Once again, I hate to be a burden but I would prefer the Master Bedroom," Akasha says with an edge to her voice. Belicia took it as 'say no and there will be consequences'.

A bow and very fake smile are forced from Belicia. "Forgive me Shinso-sama but we were not prepared for that. It would take several days for our staff to prepare another room for myself and Isario when he returns. Is there some kind of compromise we can make?"

Akasha squares her shoulders. "Then that is your problem. Perhaps you should kill your staff for being incompetent as to not be able to ready a room in a few hours at the most. The Bloodriver standard has really fallen in these last years."

Akasha begins to walk off, leaving a fuming Belicia. The maid, having pried herself from the wall and the rest of the staff stand there in complete shock at what just happened.

With an angry snarl and a snap, the staff all begin moving at once, bumping into each other, knocking others to the floor in haste to get out of the second Lady of the House's way.

"Prepare another room and make it snappy!" she shouts.

Down the hall, Akasha smirks to herself at hearing Belicia's angry snarl. 'Phase 1, get under the skin of Belicia and disrupt their daily lives: complete. Phase 2: find out how they betrayed Lord Shinso and myself: underway.'

Time Skip – 2 Days

It takes Akasha two days to get into Isario's study without being noticed. There is always a 'servant' watching over the room, making sure that nobody who doesn't belong inside. Not to mention all the security barriers and seals on the door. Akasha slips out of the Master bedroom and casts a high level Genjutsu over the guard, making him believe that it is time to change shifts.

Akasha now forces the lock open after melting the lock and makes her way inside and disables the security seals just like she was taught by Shinso. She turns on a low light lamp and shuffles around the immaculate office. Along one wall is the main desk. It is several meters in length and has a multitude of drawers and cabinets. She searches each one, looking for clues of deception and treachery.

She searches for a good half hour before finding a hidden compartment right in the side of the desk. She pulls out a leather-bound book and opens it.

It is a diary of sorts…or an event logger for those men not secure enough to admit that they have a diary. Akasha sits in the chair and reads through a great number of the entries until she finds one of interest.

Oct. 10, 1462 – I have met with the Nine Tailed fox and the meeting was successful. As per the arraignment, he will attack the town of Konohagakure no Sato of Hi no Kuni in the alternate dimension on this day next year in exchange for our continued overlooking his blatant breach of the treaty that ended the last Yōkai War.

I have also informed the "Fire Shadow" of this threat as an anonymous helper, so that he may prepare and seal away the Nine Tails into a human baby. Hmph, the very thought of the mighty Nine Tails being held prisoner by a mere human child is extremely laughable and humiliating at the same time.

Akasha turns the page with interest. She skips down several entries until one catches her eye.

Oct. 11, 1463 – All has gone according to plan. The Nine Tails is now sealed within a human child, that child being one Uzumaki Naruto, the Fire Shadow's own son. Now the next phase of the plan is underway now that the Nine Tails is out of the way.

Akasha rereads the entry over and over. Her lover had the Nine Tails, one of the creatures of legend, said to be able to fight her father on equal grounds, sealed inside of him.

The first thought running through her mind is pure awe. The fact that if her lover could have accessed that power than he could possibly take on most Vampires and beat them into the ground. A Vampire is always using battle as a means of judging the worth of a mate, so his potential just shot up even more. The more powerful, the more powerful heir he or she can give you.

But then that thought also brings an enormous pang to her chest. 'Even in death he continues to make himself a better mate. If only Isario wouldn't have come.'

The next emotion is betrayal. How could he not tell her of such a thing? 'Hi, my name's Naruto and I have a massive fox sealed in me!'. How lame. He must have had a good reason not to tell her.

'Maybe he didn't know he had it? If he did, he would have used it right before he died or right after, which would have saved him.'

Akasha forces down her emotions and reads on. She finds the entry where she was named Shinso's heir. True to fashion, he was pretty pissed. He even tore the page from writing so hard.

And then she gets her evidence.

June 6, 1470 – Akasha's little stunt left me with a broken arm for two weeks. Ungrateful brat. Belicia and I both agree that a change in attitude is needed.

Let's see how the bitch likes this.

I paid off her tutor, well more of asked a favor. He is an old friend of the family and has taught Bloodriver heirs for generations. I asked him to stunt her studies however possible but make it appear as if she is the one that is incompetent.

I also bought off her favorite maid, Elizabeth, to stab her in the back and to do whatever she pleases to her when the time comes.

We also told Hikaru that his sister died and that Akasha is trying to replace her as his sister. We have encouraged him to sabotage her and just make her life miserable. He was crushed by the 'news' and has sworn revenge for his lost sister.

I look forward to many frustrated screams from her in the near future,

Akasha's grip on the desk makes said object crack under the increasing pressure as she read further down the entry.

'So it was him. If her weren't already dead, I would kill him right now…or maybe I can go back to…Naruto's world and ask the Nibi to bring him back just so I can kill him again.'

Akasha flips through the rest of the diary, reading interesting entries. Most are of his day to day plots of how to aggravate her or of how she screwed up something. There are several entries marking annoyance at the sheer number of letters he has to intercept to and from Lord Shinso, making Akasha's eyes glow with anger.

She reads another entry and is instantly interested.

July 1st, 1471 – The Kitsune clan have agreed to my proposal. In exchange for their land back before the Yōkai Wars, they have agreed to cast an illusion over a scroll that Lord Shinso sent to 'his' daughter. This will be the final breaking point for her. After this, she will be ours to do whatever we like.

July 7th, 1471 – Damn the brat. There she goes again and screws with our plans again. This time, she attacked Elizabeth and ran away. Now we don't know where the hell she is or even where to begin looking for her. I swear that I will drag her back here by her disgusting pink hair if I need to.

There are a multitude of pages ripped out of the book, meaning that the eight years she was gone, is lost to whomever tore them out. There is one final entry that marks the day her 'father' left to come retrieve her.

August 25th, 1479 – At long last I have found her! That devious little bitch when to the one place nobody thought to look for her…the alternate dimension that the Nine Tails is in. I will gather fifty clan members and attempt to track her down.

My confidant tells me that she is in an area to the east of where the gate is located, in a country named Kaminari no Kuni. He included a recent picture and what a looker she has become. We shall see in a few days when I drag her back here to be a bloodbank and baby factory for us.

'So that's what he wanted of me. I wonder who this confident is. Only Anbu or above could have gone into the records of an A-rank undercover operation while it is still in progress. Oh well. Not my problem anymore.'

Akasha takes the book and leaves the office. She slips out of the room and quietly goes to her room. She sends the book to Shinso Castle via a transportation seal. She waits for a good minute before a poof and a note left on the floor.

Do not begin the next phase yet. I will initiate the next phase when I arrive.

-Shinso

Akasha frowns. Phase three is the complete and utter destruction of the Bloodriver house, a fitting punishment for those who conspire against their Lord. But according to her father, it is to be delayed until he personally comes.

Does that mean he was using her to get the information and had no intentions of letting her go through with avenging her lover? The mere thought sends her anger into a frenzy. She will have her revenge, with or without his approval.

She has worked hard over the past couple of months to gain that privilege. She ran long and hard, ate every scrap at her meals, and even answered some of the more personal questions that were asked of her. Of course there were some that were too personal and sent a few of the servants into walls when they pushed too far and too hard. There are just some things she doesn't want to talk about yet.

There is a large puff and suddenly Shinso is standing in front of her.

Shinso pulls himself out of the wall, thanks to Akasha's fist, quite unfazed by the hit he just took.

"You pervert! Jumping into your daughter's room without warning. What if I had been naked?" she hisses, mindful of just where they are.

"Then I would have gotten a free show," he shoots back, completely undaunted by Akasha's verbal tirade or by the extremely pissed look on her face. He merely dusts his clothes off while staring impassively at his daughter.

"Hmph, only one person was allowed to see me like that…" she slaps her hand over her mouth, but it is too late.

"Hmm, perhaps I can call in a favor with the Death God and have him deliver the soul of your lover so I can 'meet' him."

Akasha pales but at the same time is intrigued. Pales because she knows that by meet he means to beat the living…or dead shit out of him. Intrigued because then she could possibly bargain for his soul to at least see him again.

"You cannot do as you are thinking. The Death God only can be summoned by offering your soul in exchange for a service. But that service doesn't include giving up what he has already claimed. I may summon him only once as he owes me a favor but I will not waste it on that when you should be moving on," he says warningly.

Akasha slumps at his words but returns to the matter at hand. "So what happens now?" she asks, the business side of her beginning to assert itself.

"We do what we planned. We raise hell here. I will take care of the staff and your ex-brother while you handle your mother and old teacher and the rest of the Bloodrivers. Oh, and remind me later that I will have to have a word with the foxes when this is over."

Akasha nods ad drops the illusion around her. Instead of her pajamas, she is in full battle gear, one of her battle kimonos along with several kunai and a temporary storage seal on her right hand to pull a kunai out of the seal in a reversed position, ready to attack or defend. Her hair is back in the normal tight bun that leaves no hair lose, eliminating that potential liability.

Her steel toed sandals make no sound as she walks out of her room, not even trying to be discrete. A guard comes around and is about to engage her in conversation when she plunges her hand into his chest. His eyes widen as she rips out his heart and decapitates the Vampire while he is still staring at his own heart.

As she walks, she stops restraining her yoki and lets it naturally flow…turning her into a beacon that wakes the entire house with the explosion of unrestrained yoki that very few can match. Her black yoki surrounds her, suffocating the area with it. She walks with calm determination, taking down random guards that appear in her path with just one hand. She takes her time and aims herself down the main foyer.

She turns the corner and the corner of her mouth turns into a smirk. Right in front of her is about sixty percent of the Bloodriver house in various states of undress, having just woken up, ready to defend their house. By now her yoki has traveled through the entire house, and Akasha isn't about to let it go to waste.

"Fools…this is your punishment for betraying your lord and Master and you defy him again by taking up arms against him? You shall be an example for all those who plot behind his back!"

Using her yoki as a conduit much like the Kirigakure no Jutsu, her voice booms throughout the entire house. The Vampires in the foyer share a confused look but more than that, they are practically are shaking where they stand. The cross-slitted eyes make them nearly shit themselves.

Akasha has a number of ways she can deal with the assembled Vampires. She can suffocate them using her yoki, which tactically speaking would be the quickest and most efficient way, but no…these beings don't deserve such a quick death. No…she must feel their blood on her face as it sprays from a wound, feel the blood dripping off her fingers. She will take them down in their own territory…hand to hand.

The Vampires all watch her nervously as she decides what to do but suddenly she disappears. A scream of pain from the side of the group gathers their attentions.

What comes next can only be described as a massacre but even then it would be an understatement. Of the one hundred fifty Vampires in the foyer, none survived. Zero, zilch. No one but a Vampire drenched in the blood of her old clan walks away.

But it wasn't just the number of Vampires that died. No, it was the way she did it. Limbs literally pulled from the body, heads ripped off by a set of fangs, claws going through ribs, spine, and tender flesh. Blood drips from every surface of the foyer, even the thirty foot ceiling and chandelier. Anyone would have thrown up, even battle hardened elder Vampires from the Yōkai Wars would have been sick from the amount of brutality and sheer amounts of blood and torn flesh.

Akasha wrings out her hair of the blood before she walks down the hall feeling a lot better. She had put most of her bottled anger and frustration into that. And it shows.

She fells for the remainder of the Bloodrivers and feels a bunch of them rallying together in a backup ballroom.

'I guess their thinking that they shouldn't spill blood on their best ballroom floor and walls. Tsh…such politicians.'

She makes her way to the ballroom, dispatching any guards she finds or those that foolishly seek her out. Despite all the annoying bugs that get in her path, she reaches the ballroom quite quickly. With a normal kick, she destroys the door in a shower of splinters, nailing three Vampires that were right behind the door.

The room goes silent and still, making it very easy to identify those in the room. And there stands her primary target, one of the reasons she left this world. Her birth mother, Belicia.

"Akasha, what is the meaning of this?" she bellows. She is standing over a table with a seal on it. Right over it is a holographic model of the mansion and one giant red dot right where the room is.

"Ah, a tracking seal. It measures the ambient yoki in the area and makes an approximation of the strength and location of the user of the yoki. It would normally be most useful for defending a position such as this but against me is it irrelevant. My yoki is different and beyond measure."

Akasha disappears and reappears right inside Belicia's guard.

"And didn't I say to address me as Lady Shinso?"

Belicia finds a fist in her stomach as she is launched upwards. She hits the ceiling and craters it. And there she stays, the hit being enough to lodge her into the ceiling.

"Mommy!" a voice rings out.

The crowd looks to Hikaru, who is looking at the hole his mother is buried in.

'So much for taking care of him,' Akasha thinks dryly.

"Don't weep for that temptress. She is beyond contempt," Akasha declares, drawing Hikaru's attention to his sister.

"Why? Why did you attack her?" he asks with large tears in his eyes.

"Because she deserves it. She brainwashed you to believe that I, Akasha, am not your sister. That I am an imposter who killed your real sister."

"NO!"

Akasha dodges a wild swipe from Belicia, who gets between Akasha and her son.

"You will not touch my son!"

Akasha scoffs at the woman. "So you do have motherly instincts. I was wondering when, if at all, those would kick in."

Belicia glares at Akasha. "And what would you know?"

Akasha laughs at the woman's audacity. "You question my opinion on your parenting skills? How about using your own flesh and blood to get at your other child? Or didn't you tell him that you and Isario lied to him about his sister dying."

Belicia glares even harder at Akasha.

"Go on. Tell him how you deceived him into sabotaging me at my every turn. Tell him how you bought off my servants and teachers to get me to leave so you could tell Lord Shinso that I ran off so you could use me as a blood bank. Tell him how you and Isario kept Lord Shinso's letters and messages from me so I would think that he doesn't care.

"Well, what are you waiting for? TELL HIM!" she bellows, making the entire crowd of Vampires back up a step involuntarily.

When Belicia doesn't make a sound or even move, Akasha takes out the transportation seal and poofs back the leather bound diary. At the mere sight of that book, Belicia pales and curses Isario for keeping a record of their dealings.

"Leave my son and family alone you monster."

Akasha raises an eyebrow. "You call me a monster yet you plot against your own flesh and…well I guess blood isn't something we have in common anymore. But you can't deny the fact that I am the daughter you once had that my father decided to take me from and treat me right. All you do is scheme, like that bastard Isario, may god burn him in hell over and over again."

Belicia's mind turns over what she said and a light bulb goes off. "Where is Isario? What have you done to him?" she roars.

"I did what he deserved. He killed my…potential…mate, my love, right in front of me just to get me to come back. I killed him and the fifty Vampires he brought with him. I ripped off his limbs and drained his blood. He got his just desserts and you will too."

Belicia sheds a tear for her mate but steels her resolve. She smirks as her plan has been put into place.

"I'm afraid that you aren't going to be going anywhere."

Suddenly a barrier is erected all around Akasha. When Akasha touches the barrier, she is shocked by a bolt of electricity.

"Bow be a good girl while we extract your blood for our benefactors. They will reward us handsomely for this."

Before Belicia can get a needle, Akasha starts laughing. She wipes a tear away before her face becomes stone again.

"Do you really think that this pathetic excuse for a barrier is going to contain me?"

Akasha flares her yoki, black inkiness shooting out and hiding Akasha from view. Most of the Vampires fall to their knees.

'Dear god, just how much yoki does she have?' Belicia thinks from the floor.

Suddenly the barrier fails and the black yoki rushes forward encasing the entire room in darkness. Belicia and Hikaru huddle together in the darkness, as they try to clear the yoki by flaring what little they had in comparison. But it is like to hold back a tidal wave with a spoon.

The two of them freeze when they start hearing screams. Everywhere around them, loud, blood curling screams are heard then the sound of flesh being torn and ripped followed by blood dripping from the ground. Belicia covers Hikaru's ears but it leaves her own open to hear every sickening detail.

Suddenly the yoki clears and the two are standing right in the middle of a pile of bodies and severed limbs. Hikaru looses it and throws up right then and there with Belicia not far behind him.

They hear walking and find Akasha striding towards them, covered in fresh blood, her eyes glowing with her cross eyes. Belicia loses control of herself and shrieks and runs, leaving Hikaru to fend for himself.

Before she can make it ten steps, Akasha has her by the throat and lifts her off her feet.

"Now you will face my judgment. There will be no hiding behind your dead husband, your schemes, and your 'benefactor'. What a pitiful existence. Going from scheme to scheme just to power. How does it feel to have your plot turned against you? How does it feel to be helpless against your own flesh? To know that you could have prevented this by being a good mother to your daughter."

Belicia looks into Akasha's cold eyes but Akasha suddenly drops her. Belicia crumbles to the floor, gasping for air. Akasha stands over her, glaring at her.

"Stand like a proud Vampire. Fight for your life like a true Vampire instead of crawling on the ground like vermin."

Belicia growls at the insult. She is instantly on her feet and swinging sharpened nails at Akasha.

"That's it. Give in to your instincts. Fight for your life, not hide in cowardice behind plots and words."

Akasha moves around Belicia's easy to read movements, her slow strikes. She barely moves, just enough to dodge her strikes. She hears Belicia hiss in frustration and her attempts get wilder and more out of control.

Akasha reaches in and strikes Belicia on the chin, forcing her head back and Akasha slams an open palm into Belicia's stomach. She flies back at the intense hit and collapses on the ground. Akasha walks over to her and kicks her in the stomach.

"Get up you worthless piece of blood and bones! You fight like a child. What pride do you have now? Your plots? Your pans? What of them now? Time spent plotting should have been time spent training and with your children."

Belicia snarls.

"And what would you know? You abandoned us, the Bloodriver name. Yet you stand here and judge me."

Akasha looks on in disbelief.

"I took the offer because you and Isario treated me like an object. I was an experiment, a number and you treated me like so. I was ostracized and because of that, I felt like my parents just had me to learn what happened when you crossed blood.

"So don't you say that this is on me. Don't blame me for your failings as a parent or justify why you conspired against your own daughter."

Belicia looks like she has been hit by a ton of bricks. Had she really been the cause of Akasha's desertion?

Belicia looks like she is going to say something but Akasha cuts her off.

"I tire of this banter. I came here for retribution for the one I loved and I will have it. Now get up and face me like a Bloodriver should."

Belicia again opens her mouth but Akasha kicks her in the stomach and sends her across the ballroom.

"I said enough talking."

Akasha strides over to Belicia who is trying to get up. That kick shattered four ribs and broke the rest. She gasps as she tries to breathe. Akasha hauls her up by her hair and forces her to stand. She looks into Akasha's cold eyes with sorrow.

"Ak…Akasha…I'm…I'm sorry," she whispers. But it has the opposite effect.

"You're sorry? Sorry? Now you try to make amends after I slaughter you kin, your friends, your mate, after my lover died? It's too late for sorry and apologies now. You had your chance at redemption and you missed out on it eight years ago."

Akasha draws her hand back and tightens her grip. Belicia sags in Akasha's grip, accepting her fate.

"I see…I understand," she says, closing her eyes in anticipation for the final blow that would end her life.

…but it never comes. Belicia's eyes open to Akasha in tears with Shinso holding her arm. Akasha drops Belicia to the floor where Hikaru rushes to her and hugs her fiercely, which makes her wince in pain but she returns the hug fully, as Akasha does the same with Shinso.

"Shhh…it's ok musume. It's ok that you can't kill your own mother. It shows that you are indeed not of the Vampire mentality. I'm proud of you."

Akasha continues to cry into Shinso's chest, drawing comfort. But she suddenly looks up at him.

"Whatever happened to you taking care of Hikaru?" she asks quietly.

Shinso looks sheepishly. "Well, he is a slippery little bugger, wouldn't you know?"

Akasha glares at him. "I'm sure," she says sarcastically.

Belicia looks at the Shinso family with fear and gratitude.

"What…what will happen to us now?" she asks timidly.

Shinso glowers at her. "You will undergo trial for conspiring against me and my kin, for which you with either die or spend the rest of your life in servitude should you provide of some use. Your son however is free of any blame in this matter and will have the chance to prove himself useful and loyal.

"But as of this moment, the Bloodriver house is no more. This shall be an example to the other houses and to all the Yōkai to not disobey and plot behind my back."

Belicia and Hikaru tremble at the prospect of what will happen should they disobey further. Shinso sends them a cold glance before turning to Akasha and his gaze lightens considerably.

"Come musume. We leave this place to the rotting corpses as monument to their treachery."

Time Skip – 33 years

(The year is 1512 for those not keeping up)

Akasha walks down the hall of Shinso mansion having just returned from a meeting with the Succubae over territory and new mating rules now that their numbers are dangerously low. Before they exclusively mated with each other but with numbers that make extinction extremely likely, they are forced into desperate actions. They asked for and are granted the rights to expand their villages to the other side of the world where they can copulate with humans to bolster their numbers.

Akasha is now forty-nine years of age and very much so breathtakingly beautiful. There doesn't go a day in which she doesn't receive an invite to a dance or a marriage proposal. Most of them are laughable but some are more…crafty than others, saying that an heir to the Shinso bloodline must be produced and the like. But neither Shinso nor Akasha are having any of that. They, well Akasha at least, vehemently decline every suitor, every proposal with finite authority. But the fools don't listen.

Back to the matter at hand, she takes down her elaborate hair and lets it fall in a fountain of sill and satin. Most turn their head only to bask in her beauty. From her long, pink, silky hair to her legs that stretch for miles. She is the personification of perfect beauty.

However, she is very much so a rose. All the beauty in the world but it is behind the largest thorns in the world, impenetrable and untouchable. For viewing pleasure only.

Not many have been stupid enough to try to touch the rose petals but those that dared are never heard from again. It is said that her body is protected by God himself, made divine and holy ground.

Of course such rumors are nonsense. Akasha just isn't interested in Vampires. They are too self centered, too controlling, too…schemey. She constantly has to worry about assassination or ulterior motives. That and nobody is actually willing to get to know her as she is. All they want is the title of having bedded her, the heir of Lord Shinso, and gaining power and prestige.

Akasha sighs and pushes those thoughts away. She has a report to give to her father.

Beside her, a man materializes and walks a little behind her, keeping pace with her.

"Shinso-sama, I must inform you that Lord Shinso wishes to see you immediately," he says curtly.

"I was already on my way to see him so why would he send you?" she asks.

"Begging your forgiveness, Lady Shinso. But he says it is of most pressing concerns," he says respectfully and would have bowed if not for their fast pace.

"Very well. You are dismissed."

"As you will it," he says before fading from view.

It turns out Hikaru has quite the skill and talent for illusions. He can match and sometimes beat Akasha in a pure illusion contest, but she beats him in every other category, especially Genjutsu. Akasha and Shinso decided to keep the secrets of manipulating yoki outside the body to Shinso heirs only, meaning no Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. But that doesn't mean he is a slacker by any means. He is the best minus Akasha and Shinso himself at fighting due to his Bloodriver and Tenmai blood.

He is officially designated as her bodyguard is her own personal…everything. He fetches things, gets her dinner, makes suggestions on attire, a sparring partner, security detail. He literally does everything for her minus helping her change and bathe. Just there he was a messenger.

Akasha stretches out her yoki and finds Shinso with ease. Next moment, she is walking through the doors into the study, having used a shunshin to get there.

"You wished to see me?"

Shinso turns from his enormous desk to see Akasha sit in the most comfortable chair in the world, second only to the one sitting on the other side of the desk.

"Yes. I have found something interesting. It seems we have a traitor in our midst."

Akasha is stunned. In all her memories, she can't think of a single on that would willingly betray Lord Shinso in his own castle.

"Who and what have they done?" she asks with caution.

Shinso sighs. "It appears to be my head researcher. He had been stealing samples of my blood for years. I believe that he works for the same benefactor that Belicia refused to give up."

Before trial, Belicia was interrogated and asked to spew what she knew. However she didn't give up anything of use, saying that she is dead either way. So she was condemned to death and the execution carried out the next day, making Hikaru extremely sad but he wasn't as attached after seeing his parents in a different light after the destruction of the Bloodriver house.

Akasha thinks for a second before responding. "So what do we do now? He may not have been the only one that infiltrated the castle and there is no telling how many others he may have converted. The only real solution I can think of is to closely monitor his actions and find just how deep the rabbit hole goes. It may also lead us to whomever is paying him."

Shinso nods. "I also came to the same conclusion, though I do not like the thought of my blood being out in the open. You were correct in not trying to save your lover by turning him into a Vampire. It may have worked with normal Vampire blood, but as you know, ours is considerably more potent. It would have ripped his body apart quite painfully and if by some miracle he did survive, the blood would control him and turn him into something worse than a goul."

Akasha looks down, still haunted by questions of 'what if' and 'if only'. She had thought of that one but knew deep down that there was nothing she could have done different to change the outcome. It had just been a bad time when they had been low on chakra.

'Yay, my love is dead because of random chance, a roll of the dice. Makes you feel so…insignificant.'

Shinso leans across the desk and taps her head, getting her attention.

"The time for those thoughts is not now. We need to concentrate on finding who he might have recruited. Send for Hikaru to follow him as he is the best at illusions and I highly doubt that he would betray you, his only family. That and he is trying to make up for sabotaging you when you were eight."

Akasha grunts in frustration. "How many times do I have to tell that idiot? I forgave him like twenty years ago! He was nothing but the pawn of his parents."

Shinso chuckles at his daughter's frustration. "Either way, inform him of his assignment. Then I want you to meet with the Werewolves. They are a new clan looking for recognition. Test them and rank them of their abilities. Then come back with their numbers, strengths, weaknesses, current territory, and other useful information so that I may make a decision."

Akasha stands, knowing the dismissal when she hears it. "Alright. I'll head off in a few days as I tire of constant travel and wish to relax for a few days."

Time Skip – 3 Months

So the Werewolves are the next race to join the exclusive S-rank club, joining the Vampires, dragons, and Phoenix clans. Kitsune used to be on this list, but with the current restrictions of four tails, they can only be considered a B to A-rank based on who exactly the person is.

Of course, Akasha has yet to see neither hide nor hair of her Hikaru who is still on his assignment. Suddenly said man appears in front of her while she is lounging in the kitchen area in a shortish dress (for that time period anyways) that comes just above the knee, sleeveless, and moderate as it shows no cleavage at all.

"Begging your pardon Lady Shinso, but Lord Shinso says there is an emergency and your presence is required."

Before Akasha can wonder what the meeting is about, both feel a massive yoki signature wash over them from outside the castle. The weird thing is that the signature feels like her own and her fathers. Her eyes widen as she pieces the parts together.

"We go to him NOW!" she says authoritatively.

Hikaru bows and places a hand on her shoulder and both shunshin, via Akasha, to the study. Shinso is busy looking over a few pieces of paper while pacing in the room.

"Father, why is there a Shingo signature outside the castle?" she asks, walking right up to him.

Shinso turns his emerald eyes to her. "That, my dear, is because it looks like that mole took enough of my blood over the years to turn someone into a Shinso Vampire and has been taken over by the blood. Hikaru, what is the status on your assignment?"

Hikaru bows low. "My Lord, I have tracked down ten further moles stemming from my target but I have yet to deduce who he is sending the materials to."

Shinso nods. "Very well. Round up the traitors and put them in a cell including the ring leader quickly. And search for suicide items like ropes or a bag. I will get information from him myself but right now we have bigger problems."

Hikaru bows and vanishes from sight.

"Akasha, I need you to put together a team and face this monster. Take the most powerful members of the Houses of Origin and face that creature. It is a danger not only to the Yōkai but to the entire world."

Akasha is stunned. "Wh…why trust me with this? Surely you could beat it single handedly."

Shinso chuckles. "Probably but that isn't the issue. I grow tired of having to watch my back constantly and what is the point of having an heir of she never gets to hold the reigns? Take this as a test to see if you are ready to take hold and command the entire Yōkai world."

Akasha is flabbergasted. Her? In charge? "I…I appreciate the sentiment but I'm only fifty. How could I be ready to rule all the Yōkai?"

Shinso reaches over and pats her shoulder. "It is because you feel you aren't ready that I feel that you will do just fine. Besides, you know that if I didn't feel like you were ready, then I would have said so.

"I am very proud of you musume and what you have accomplished and overcome during your life so far. But one word of advice: It is lonely at the top, try to find someone to share your life with as I would know that being alone is not all it is cracked up to be."

Akasha digests his words. 'I…I guess that I have to get past Naruto at some point but is it too much to ask for someone who truly loves me and doesn't have an ulterior motive?'

"I'll…I'll try," she says quietly. Even now, Shinso knows that her love is a touchy subject, even nearly half a century later. But even this is a big step forward. Before she would just reject the idea outright.

Shinso smiles warmly at her. "That's all I can ask. Now go. You have a monumental task ahead."

Akasha nods and takes her leave.

Time Skip – 3 days

Three figures overlook the carnage. One is of a beautiful woman and the other two are young men, not even one hundred years old yet, one from each of the remaining Houses of Origin. Touhou Fuhai, of the Fuhai house, blessed with knowledge of seals. Mikogami Tenmai, blessed with the control to use seals to their greatest potential. Both are the most powerful of their houses, despite their young age, each a prodigy in their own rights.

Touhou is a master of both the black arts and seals. He even created his own ultimate technique using a combination of both, the Jigen-tou. He also has a great deal of yoki, more so than half of the Fuhai clan put together.

Mikogami took the sealing arts like a bird to the air. He sucked at it at first but once he found the correct teacher, he quickly went through the ranks of seal masters. He, like Touhou, possesses a lot of yoki but his greatest asset is his mind, the way he thinks past problems.

In front of them is the largest creature in the world minus an elder dragon in true form. Well, no that isn't right because as the three of them watch, this creature is doing battle with the dragons at this very moment. And the three of them are appalled at what just took place.

Not a moment before, the leader of the dragons, a ten thousand year old dragon, swept down from the sky and tried to grapple with the monster, only for the dragon to be devoured by the creature. Literally, the creature opened its' maw and clamped down on the dragon and in mere seconds the dragon is devoured, adding the dragon's power to its' own as well as increasing its' size.

The three watch the fight when Hikaru appears beside them.

"Lady Shinso, I have word. Lord Shinso cracked the spy and got a lot of information from him. The benefactor's name is a group called Fairy Tale and has been collecting blood from Lord Shinso in small quantities for decades now. That creature is, or was the head of Fairy Tale. Its' name is Alucard, a vampire having escaped the Bloodriver purge as he was away. He wanted revenge and injected himself with the full amount of blood, resulting in this grotesque transformation and destroying the headquarters of the group.

"Alas, I do not see any way of defeating this beast," he finishes. All three males watch Akasha go through weird shapes with her hands before shouting something.

"Ninpō: Ikazuchi no Kiba!" (Ninja Art: Fangs of Lightning!)*

The clouds darken and all the Yōkai look up as the menacing clouds. Lighting begins to arc between pitch black clouds.

The three males gawk at the scene. Then they see Akasha point at the creature.

"Hakkei!" (Release!)

Suddenly lightning strike after lightning strike slams into the creature, in upwards of twenty lightning bolts. The creature roars in agony as its' nerves are fried and repaired an instant later. Akasha flares her yoki out, getting the attention of the dragons and Alucard.

"By order of Lord Shinso, Alucard, you are sentenced to death. Many thanks to the dragons for holding it here but your assistance is no longer required and you will only get in the way," she booms out.

Alucard roars as it finds a source of yoki that meets and exceeds his own and correctly designates her as the primary threat to itself.

"Mikogami and Touhou, provide back up and long range support. Do not get within close quarters with it. It will only assimilate you."

She gets nods from the two of them. "Hikaru, return to the mansion or stay and watch. I don't care either way but just stay out of the fight."

He bows deeply. "As you wish, but please be safe sister."

She gives him a smile before her business face resets. "Come, we have a creature to slay."

…

…

…

Five days, eleven countries, and copious amounts yoki. That is what it took. By the end of it, village after village had been trampled on and destroyed, thousands of human lives lost and along with hundreds of Yōkai. But the deed is done.

Alucard is no more. Not sealed, not asleep. This vampire is no more, it has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its' maker. This is a late creature of the night. It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace. If it hadn't been incinerated it would be pushing up the daises. It's run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible (angels). THIS IS AN EX VAMPIRE!**

Wait…wrong movie but you get the point.

Akasha is doubled over, breathing very hard and utterly exhausted. The last time she was this tired was when Anko first started her out on training. Beside her, Mikogami and Touhou are passed out long ago from having virtually no yoki left and that is after Akasha had filled them up in excess of thirty times. Filling up her comrades and fighting Alucard for five days straight has left her without 95% of her yoki.

She stumbles over to the two unconscious males and touches their foreheads and pushes just enough yoki into them to make the conscious. She stumbles and falls only to be caught by Hikaru as Mikogami and Touhou awaken tiredly. She looks up to him with gratitude but there is something wrong.

His eyes are cold and calculating, something that only is on his face when he is fighting someone.

"H…Hikaru…what…what's going on?" she asks tiredly, wanting nothing more than to go to sleep.

"This? Only just the revenge I've waited for so long. Now I can avenge my house and my parents. Goodbye Akasha, say hello to my sister for me!"

He stops when Akasha chuckles. "Just like a true Bloodriver. Always plotting and scheming then taking advantage of someone at their weakest, so weak as to not be honorable and challege them when at full strength. I'm glad that band of murderes and plotters is no more."

Hikaru backhands her across the face. "Shut up! You have no idea what you are talking about!"

He rears back his hand and Akasha makes one final move to get away by kicking Hikaru in the thigh, putting what was left of her yoki into the kick. The leg shatters and he drops Akasha to the ground, clutching at his now useless leg.

Akasha's world goes dark as she loses consciousness, smiling at Hikaru's pained face

Time Skip – 3 weeks

Akasha wakes in an extremely comfortable bed. She groans as the sunlight hits her face and she has to shield her eyes with a bandaged hand. She then opens her eyes and finds herself in her room at the Shinso castle. She hears a soft chuckle somewhere in the room and recognizes it.

"Wh…what happened?" she asks with a dry throat and even dryer lips.

She hears movement and Shinso comes into view and sits on the edge of her bed.

"Welcome back musume. You gave me quite a scare for a while."

Akasha blinks in confusion.

"Here, drink these," he says, producing ten packets of blood that are gone within thirty seconds.

"I know you have questions but first let me tell you what happened after you fought Alucard."

Akasha nods and Shinso begins. "After you defeated Shinso, your brother tried to kill you. I was close by in case something went wrong or you found yourself overwhelmed by Alucard. I arrived too late to stop him from trying to kill you but you did your part in that.

"After you passed out, I took the four of you back here for medical treatment. You had less than one percent of your yoki left inside of you and your system almost shut down because of it. If I hadn't refilled you enough to stabilize you, you would have died. Touhou and Mikogami are just fine. They recovered enough to leave last week. You on the other hand, took much longer since your yoki reserves are astronomical compared to the others.

"As for Hikaru, well you just finished what was left of him. It turns out he was just acting for the past thirty years and waiting for the right moment when you were too weak to defend yourself. Coward. I killed him just yesterday after I extracted what he knew and had his blood stored just for you."

Akasha nods and tests her voice out now that it has had something to parch it. "So what happens now?"

Shinso smiles. "For now just rest. When you are better then we begin your reign as a Dark Lord."

Scene Shift – Battlefield

Naruto walks to in the wreckage of the monumental battlefield a few days after the battle ended.

"Damn, I can only imagine those who fought this."

"Indeed. I have five distinct people that were all over the place but one isn't as prominent, like an observer. One is of a foul stench and the other three smell of herbs."

Naruto nods. "There are three, no four, signatures. Two are very close and extremely strong which is permeating the entire area but still different enough to be considered a different person while the others are much smaller. I can't tell where they lead off to as they all end a few hundred feet further up."

Guremaru sniffs and suddenly breaks into a run, Naruto right on his tail…literally. "I smell fire and burnt flesh up ahead."

Naruto and Gure skid to a halt and see a very large patch of blackened earth, craters all around before them. It is easily a quarter of the size of Konoha and patches of melted rock.

"Dear kami…just what the hell was killed here?"

"I don't know but I don't want to meet the person that could do this," Gure offers up.

Naruto draws in nature chakra and extends his senses out. There is something familiar about one of the signatures.

"So she was here."

Gure looks at him weirdly. "And how would you know such a thing?"

"Because I know of only a few people who could make a fire dragon that big and destructive and one of the signatures feels familiar and I know only one person in this realm."

Gure looks around and tries to catch a scent. "I can't get a scent. There is too much ash and burnt flesh that is covering up her smell. Looks like we are back to square one."

Naruto looks around. "Not completely. We know for certain that she is alive now instead of a wild goose chase for someone who may have been dead. We might as well start asking around."

Gure nods and he locates a village not too far from their location and begin the search anew.

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End Chapter 3

AN: thank god, it's finished. Damn, that took a long time to write. I started writing it but I didn't like where it was heading and I made Naruto look like a dick, so I scrapped a good chunk of it. I had originally intended to time skip until he got to Akasha's world and then have flashbacks about how he faired and got to the world, but I decided it would be better for it to not do that and just show in real time what was going on.

The bit with Hana was completely made up, totally unplanned. I had meant for Naruto to just jump in and out of Konoha and blow the house to bits without talking with anyone but I felt that it needed more to it. Everything was unplanned after the first time skip in the chapter minus Kyubi being saved and being left behind when Naruto crosses worlds. Guremaru, Hana, Tsume (Hana's kid), Orochi-teme, Yugoa. Everything was unplanned and just came as I wrote it. I hope it was ok.

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* The justu "Ninpō: Ikazuchi no Kiba!" (Ninja Art: Fangs of Lightning!) is different in this chapter because Akasha found a better way to do the technique without drawing attention to herself by shooting large streams of lighting into the air. Now she can charge the clouds with just her yoki while she is on the ground.

It is like Kirin but doesn't require fire jutsu to create the clouds and can use more bolts with slightly less power depending on how much chakra/yok is put into the technique.

** cookies to whomever tells me what this quote originally came from. I realize that is isn't verbatim but I changed it to suit my needs.

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Some of you might be wondering why Naruto didn't use his Toad Summons to help look for Akasha or to help in his recovery. The answer to that is that he no longer possesses the contract to summon the Toads. When he died, it automatically took his name off the contract, a sign that the truly is dead. And while Naruto could have gone back to resign the contract, it would require taking it from Jiraiya and that would let him know that he still lives.

...

In case you didn't get why Kyubi didn't interfere until after Naruto died, it was because the seal stopped his yoki from coming out more than .001% of Kyuib's total yoki. When Naruto dies, the seal will absorb Kyubi's yoki into the corpse and force the body to explode, killing the Kyubi in the process. However, Minto forgot one thing: the seal is powered by Naruto's life force. So once Naruto's body ceased functioning, the seal started weakening little by little, allowing Kyubi to suppilment Naruto's needs like oxygen and nutrients into the bloodstream as well pumping Naruto's heart for him, which circulates the blood to the organs so they didn't die. However, Naruto's organs did get damaged from oxygen deprevation before Kyubi could help him.

Once Kyubi was able to restart Naruto's heart, the seal became powered again but no where near the strength it was. But the seal's absorption function is still active, but far slower than it would have been. The more yoki Kyubi forces through the seal, the faster it absorbs it, so Kyubi held back his yoki as much as possible without killing Naruto in the process.

...

To answer a big question about why Naruto didn't know about Kyubi is because Jiraiya and Sarutobi suppressed all knowledge of them and kept Naruto in the dark. When Jiraiya went with Naruto to Minato's private study, he saught out all matierals pertaining to Shiki Fuin and sealing Biju. Some say that he would know from being a seal master, but the Shiki Fuin is something made by Minato after being taught by Kushina and Jiraiya. It is unique and no one besides an trained Uzumaki and the maker would know be able to decifer it without knowledge of it beforehand.

Also all of his questions are either deflected or outright not answered. Sarutobi was adamant that Naruto not find out and made every effort to keep Naruto from knowing to the point where he actually enforced his law and killed people for breaking it.

...

Another big one is people say that going against Vampires in Taijutsu is stupid...well it is but with fifty enemies all swarming you at the same time, there really isn't time to go through hand seals or channel chakra/yoki outside your body. Vampires are faster than humans are so standing still and taking the time to go through hand seals is stupid because you would be dead in seconds. They had to move and dodge and strike back.

Also Naruto died from no longer being in Sage Mode. He couldn't create more clones in the middle of a fight as they would be taken out immediately and he can't gather nature chakra while moving. He couldn't summon because the couldn't find the time to make the hand seals and bite his thumb at the same time.

...Another big one is why Akasha didn't try to save him by turing him into a vampire. Here it is incase you skipped over the important dialog:

You have to remeber that with the Shinso blood is extremely potent, even to a normal vampire. It breaks down the body and boosts the Vampire's normal regeneration rate, which make the body heal almost instantly. But to a normal human, it would literally destroy them from the inside out. The same would have happened to Naruto, even with his slightly above normal healing abilities. A human cannot go from being just a human to Shinso vampire willy-nilly. Moka injects her blood into Tsukune, which the Shinso blood is suppressed to the point of almost non existence and she has yet to awaken her Shinso blood (in cannon a second time). So for all intensive purposes, Tsukune is having normal Vampire blood injected into him.

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Points of interest:

-What did you think of this chapter?

-What do you think of Hana's situation and do you think that Naruto should have at least had sex with her once?

-Was Naruto's reaction to Hana's situation was it should have been?

-How accurate was Akasha's depression? I'm not really sure, but I think that she acted the right way after loosing someone you love.

-Shinso's response to Akasha's continued depression.

-The story behind Alucard and Fairy Tale? Does it make sense?

-Akasha's revenege against the Bloodriver family. How was it? Did it make sense for Akasha to not be able to kill her own mother despite her actions?

-Any suggestions about the future?

-Any complaints about character development, plot, or just issues with holes in the story?

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One that I forgot to put in Chapter 2:

-How was the 'Search for Tsunade' mission? Different yes?

-Reishu means cold sake. Was that a fitting name for the brother to 'Moka'?

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Thanks again for reading my story. Until next chapter,

tomhunt98