Yo..

I was very very amused by some of the theories my guest reviewers had about my plans for Naruto, the girls, relationships, etc. It was quite interesting, even if a few of them sounded quite aggressive.

One thing I will clarify right now: There will be no Kaguya in this story.

Most of you know, I extremely hate that character, Kishi can do whatever he wants with his manga...but in this story I call the shots, and I am not bringing that stupid "mute" bitch into my story. Her name may get referred once or twice, but the opposition will be Akatsuki and the Empire.

With Madara as their leader.

Do we even need another villain when we have EPIC Madara as the boss? I can just imagine the moment where Naruto and Madara meet...I sometimes find myself in a dilemma, whether I like Naruto more or Madara?

Enjoy the chapter....


Chapter 3

Changing Tides


(Few Hours Later)

Kenshin sighed tiredly as he lay beside an unconscious Naruto. The angels that had saved them were now gone, and both of them were now left alone in the snow covered cemetery and the deserted village that was once known as Konoha.

While happy for being rescued from hell, Kenshin had no idea what the current state of this world was.

Not to mention how much time had passed since both him and Naruto had been dead. Considering the 300 years of torture the Shinigami put Naruto's soul through, and the "vegetable" remark from Ashura made him extremely worried for the boy.

And he had valid reasons behind such concerns.

Their only sanctuary in the world was nothing more than a ghost village, with their comrades and families missing.

Neither they had any resources or even clothes to survive in this cold winter. Also, he had no idea about the condition Naruto was in...

Granted the boy was alive and seemed stable, but then again the same could not be said for his mind and soul. Kenshin only hoped that whatever Ashura did would be enough to let the boy survive in this changed world.

"Kenshin..."

He froze when he heard that voice, it was weak but still familiar.

Turning around he saw Naruto was awake, and was calmly staring at him. He expected the boy to flinch on waking up in a snow covered cemetery but the boy seemed extremely calm...

"Where are we?"

His question brought the former Blacklight Commander out of his dilemma, as he approached his fragile student. Kneeling down, he checked the boy's body for any signs of fever, all the while avoiding the stoic gaze the boy was giving him.

"You seem fine. A little weak, maybe..." suggested Kenshin, and was intrigued when he received no response from the boy.

The Naruto he had known would have asked probably 5 questions by now or tried to assess his surroundings. But the person before him seemed to be completely different...

"Pick me up..." said Naruto flatly, neither it was an order or a request.

Regardless, Kenshin passed one of his hands beneath the boy's back and slowly lifted him up, followed by placing one of the boy's hands over his own shoulders making him stand properly.

Silence followed between the two as Naruto simply stared at the deserted village around him, and the destroyed buildings.

Kenshin saw the boy narrowing his gaze when he saw the crumbling Hokage faces, specifically the monument of the fourth. But the intrigued look was soon hidden behind the stoic face which the boy had adopted a few moments ago.

And it unnerved the former Blacklight commander...

No matter how much Naruto tried to hide his emotions in the past, Kenshin had always been able to read his emotions just by looking at his face or in his eyes. But he could not feel the same thing from this boy...

He seemed cold...

Not that he blamed him, after what happened with him down there...Kenshin doubted Naruto would even be sane without Ashura's help.

Deciding to give him sometime, Kenshin started walking towards the exit of the cemetery. After all, they just could not stay in the open when such a cold atmosphere was lethal for their survival. They had to find someplace warm...

And some good warm clothes too.

They had just arrived outside the cemetery when Naruto stiffened, and Kenshin too sensed the uneasy feeling.

"We are surrounded. It's a trap..." said Naruto calmly, and it was quite unnerving to see the once hyper active boy so calm and collected.

Soon enough they found themselves surrounded from all directions. Their assailants were dressed in dark black colored samurai armor, and judging from their swords in their hands left little doubt about the type of warriors they were.

Kenshin looked towards his student only to find him giving a small nod, and without another word he sat down on the ground.

"Slacker..." muttered Kenshin, on seeing his student's lack of interest in dealing with their supposed enemies.

"You have committed the crime of trespassing on a restricted area. By the power vested in us, by the Imperial Empire...we will execute you right here" announced the leader of the mysterious samurai.

"Duh, if only you knew we fucking rose from our graves..." thought Kenshin bemusedly, but refrained from passing this information.

He saw Naruto's eyes narrowing on hearing the word "Empire", the interest in the boy's eyes was enough to show Kenshin that either the boy had some information about this new order, or was familiar with the word. After all, it was the first thing that had interested the boy...

Kenshin was grateful to Ashura once more, the divine deity had restored his strength. While not strong enough to wield chakra, he at least had the physical strength to fight a taijutsu battle with these samurai.

He saw at least 10 of them, including the leader who had just announced their ''execution'' sentence.

If only the fool knew who he was messing with...

"What are you going to do? I'm useless right now..." replied the boy casually,

Kenshin did raise an eyebrow on the blatant statement, this was certainly not like his student. Naruto would rather die, then admit he was useless in a fight. Something was indeed off about him...

He was being more honest and straight forward...

Was this the effect Ashura had warned him about? The entity had only said Naruto was a ''vegetable" right now...

Whether he meant it in terms of his physical strength, mental capacity or what?

"Stupid divine entities and their stupid riddles..." thought Kenshin in frustration,

"Try not to kill all of them. I want their clothes..." said Naruto nonchalantly, and Kenshin face palmed on hearing the boy's blatant demand.

"I'm not your servant!" scolded Kenshin, as Naruto raised one of his eyebrows.

"Then don't take their clothes..." replied Naruto carelessly, and shrugged his shoulders.

"What do you think we are? We are great Samurai of the glorious empire...you dare insult us, boy" yelled the samurai leader furiously, how dare this brat insult his men and their strength so easily?

They were a part of the Emperor's forces, no one had dared to defy them till now.

But even now the boy looked at him with severe disinterest evident in his eyes.

"You're boring..."

That was it!

Kenshin cursed his idiotic student, when the Samurai leader signaled his soldiers and all of them charged towards them at once. To his surprise, Naruto idly sat on the snowy ground patiently observing the murderous enemy forces approaching towards him.

Maybe the boy didn't value his life, but Kenshin had sworn to protect him. To be his shield...and he intended to do that.

Gathering his energy, he quickly kicked the ground sending snow straight into the eyes of the incoming Samurai. It was a cheap trick, but then again they were ninjas.

Naruto curiously watched as his teacher jumped towards the group of Samurai and delivered a strong roundhouse kick sending 4 of them enemy assailants sailing away.

"Not bad..." complimented Naruto, bringing a small smile on Kenshin's face.

"...for a zombie"

The young Namikaze got a small smirk on his lips, when his teacher's eyebrows twitched violently, and he took out the newly found anger by grabbing a nearby Samurai in a headlock before mercilessly crushing the man's neck.

"Touche..." teased Naruto, and chuckled when Kenshin lost it.

"Will you stop it?" asked Kenshin irritatedly, he was supposed to be a mature 28 year old man...but this 20 year old brat was easily getting under his skin.

"Nope..."

For once, he wished he could have that brooding, emoish Naruto back.

He was not given much time as another 2 samurai tried to stab him from both sides, but he easily caught the incoming sharp weapons. The former Blacklight commander was quite surprised with the strength of these samurai...

They were certainly not pushovers, as they pressed harder to stab his body from both sides. While he saw another samurai jumping high in the air and descending towards him.

"Shit" cursed Kenshin, as the man was mere inches away from his chest and the shining sword was certainly enough to kill him once again.

BAM!

A hard snowball was sent straight in the man's face that made him lose momentum and fall flat beneath Kenshin's feet. From a corner of his eye, he saw it was Naruto who had made that strange attack.

Using the moment, Kenshin crushed the man's skull with a strong kick splattering the man's brains on the snowy surface.

But it weakened his grip on the swords that the Samurai beside him were trying to stab in his chest, as the weapons grazed his skin he quickly back flipped high in the air and in a flash stole the weapons of the surprised Samurai.

They were not given any time to get over their initial shock, as Kenshin severed their heads.

"4 down, 6 more to go..." said Kenshin excitedly, maybe it was the thrill of battle or the rush of adrenaline in his body.

But he was loving this battle...

He tightly grabbed the 2 swords in his hand as he charged straight towards the group of 4 Samurai who had just managed to get up back on their feet, after the severe kick he gave them that had sent them sailing away.

The first one tried to launch a horizontal slash from his sword, but Kenshin used his greater speed to evade the incoming strike while parrying another sword from the next samurai.

The enemy soldier was surprised when Kenshin suddenly dropped the sword, making the ancient warrior slide towards him. Apparently, the man had been applying too much force, and the sudden loss of resistance made him lose balance.

And it was all the former Blacklight commander needed, as he stabbed his free hand clean through the man's chest.

The man coughed up blood violently, before his shoulders slumped. The sudden demise of their comrade paralyzed the samurai whose sword Kenshin had parried, utilizing the advantage he gave a harsh kick breaking the man's neck in a flash.

"Die!" yelled the remaining 2 samurai, as they tried to stab the fierce blacklight commander from behind.

At the very last moment, Kenshin used the man he had stabbed with his hand as a shield making the enemies swords pierce the dead man's chest.

He quickly removed his bloodied hand from the man's chest and jumped over him, as the surprised Samurai looked at him in fear.

It was all over in a moment as he cracked their skulls with a sickening strike from his elbows, the lifeless bodies falling down on the ground with a resounding thud.

However his eyes widened in shock, when he saw the Samurai leader and his remaining lackey about to chop Naruto's head off.

"I won't make it in time..." thought Kenshin worriedly,

SLASH

Metal pierced skin as blood flew in the air, the swords of the Samurai were strongly grabbed by Naruto's hands.

The enemy forces were trying hard to just slice the hands that had fiercely grabbed their weapons, but what happened next completely shocked them and Kenshin.

The swords were broken in half as Naruto applied a little more force, and without waiting he stabbed the broken blade in the last 2 samurai's heart.

Kenshin quickly rushed towards his student as the enemies collapsed on the ground, what unnerved him was the lack of expression on the boy's face.

It was as if he didn't even care...

"Are you alright?" asked Kenshin worriedly, as he glanced at Naruto's bleeding palms.

He saw the boy mysteriously glancing at the bodies of the now deceased enemy forces. Kenshin just couldn't understand what was going through his student's mind...

The wounds on the boy's palm slowly started to heal, as he got up from the ground as Kenshin immediately moved to support him. His student gave him a thankful nod for the help.

Whatever questions Kenshin wanted to ask were left alone as Naruto averted his eyes from him.

Understanding the unsaid message of leaving him alone, Kenshin decided to focus on more important matters. He offered one of his swords to Naruto, as the boy accepted the blood stained weapon without any kind of hesitation.

He was worried...

Not because they had just been ambushed, or because some ''empire'' was somehow linked to the current state of his village. Rather he was more concerned with the changes in Naruto...

He was so different from the young boy he once knew, but he also knew what the boy went through down there.

His soul was ripped apart, tortured, maimed, and so much more horrible things had been done to him which Kenshin didn't want to remember. Naruto's helpless screams still terrified his heart...

The Death God had not shown any mercy, even when his student had completely broken down. The boy was tortured till there was nothing left of him, and just when he thought everything was over...

The torture would start again...

Again

Again

Again

During the first 50 something years of torture, the boy had helplessly screamed for his mother, his brother, his father. For somebody to arrive and rescue him from hell, but alas his cries went unanswered.

It was not as if Kenshin had not tried to save his student, or even request the Shinigami to show him mercy or at the very least reduce his suffering.

And he was given the same answer which Indra received a few hours ago...

That everyone was equal in the eyes of the Death God, and those who had sinned would be punished severely regardless of their noble intentions. The cold bastard didn't believe that the end justified the means.

Naruto's only sense of relief would be the occasional moments when Kenshin visited him in his dungeon, when the Death God was busy torturing someone else. Even then the merciless god kept harassing the boy through various nightmares.

For his part, Naruto remained strong for at least 180 years. Enduring the atrocities committed on his soul, but after that he broke...

He just became numb, lost all sense of reality.

Devoid of Emotions.

Just an empty soul.

He had been in that state for the past century at least, until they were rescued by Indra and Ashura. Kenshin didn't even want to think about the fate of the boy if he had not been rescued. If he had been forced to stay in hell...

Whatever cheerful attitude, or the mischievous jabs he was trying to give were just an upfront. A mask which the boy was using, or was it something else?

"You were quite the fighter back there. You did the right thing..." complimented Kenshin, trying to start a conversation.

"I'm no warrior, sensei. I just want to live a normal life..." said Naruto seriously,

"You want to find out about this empire? Why they are so secretly guarding this place?" asked Kenshin curiously, he knew he had to take things slowly. He didn't want Naruto to snap suddenly and disappear.

But to his surprise, the boy refused.

"It doesn't matter, I rather prefer we go into hiding and live a normal life. But that's my choice..." suggested Naruto frankly, and didn't flinch when his teacher narrowed his gaze at him.

"But-"

"You can go if you want. I don't want to be a burden anymore than I already have..." answered Naruto frankly, as a tired sigh escaped from his teacher's lips.

"You're not a burden to me. And like it or not, we will stick together. No matter what choices you make, I'll be by your side" said Kenshin confidently, his eyes shining with determination.

And he meant it.

When he had vowed to protect the boy, he had forsaken all his previous vows to Konoha and Fire Country. Besides, there was no Konoha anymore...

And things had changed in the past few years, he found himself caring more about Naruto's well being than that of an extinct village. Maybe because Naruto was his favorite student, or it was due to their shared experiences in hell that he wanted to be helpful to the boy.

"Thanks..."

The former Blacklight commander was surprised when he heard that word, and looking at the faint smile on Naruto's face made him smile too.

"There maybe some warm clothes in that store. Should we check it out?" offered Naruto, and Kenshin recognized the shop down the right corner of the street.

Giving a nod to his student, both of them walked towards the abandoned place while carefully keeping an eye on their surroundings. As soon as they reached the door, Kenshin made a quick scan of the store but found it completely empty.

Grabbing Naruto firmly, he opened the door and entered inside.

The place was empty, the counter was broken and the place where the store owner would have stored his money seemed to be broken and barren. But there were a lot of clothes left in that store, good quality material.

Either the people were in a hurry, or just didn't care about saving their investment.

Whatever the case, it turned out to be beneficial for them.

Kenshin idly wondered how did the Samurai sense their presence, maybe it was due to the gigantic chakra explosions between the two angel brothers and the Death God. That kind of disturbance was likely to gather a lot of attention.

If that was the case, then more people would be arriving here to check it out.

The question was: Were they enemies or friends?

In any case, he didn't want to wait here to find it out. He scanned the different racks of clothes, trying to find something that would suit his tastes.

And there it was.

He quickly grabbed a white colored shirt and a dark black pant, if they were in enemy territory then these clothes would help him remain invisible most of the time. The color of his shirt would sync in perfectly with the snow, while his dark pant would hide him during night travel where he would take his shirt off.

Kenshin also picked up a pair of gloves and boots.

As soon as he was finished dressing in his new attire, he turned around only to find Naruto standing patiently in a corner. And the boy's choice of clothing amused his teacher...

Instead of any shinobi clothes, the boy was simply wearing a pair of dress shoes, a black suit, a buttoned white-striped dress shirt accentuated by a beige trench coat. His face was hidden behind a dark blue colored face mask, and so were his eyes behind those dark sunglasses.

The boy's new outward appearance was radiating a natural calm and serenity which would certainly put people at ease, he didn't look like a person who could kill. Rather he looked like a plain working class civilian.

And the face mask, and sunglasses would do well in hiding the boy's true identity.

Naruto sensed the strange look his teacher was giving him, and it irritated him a little bit.

"What?"

"You look strange..." said Kenshin awkwardly, as the boy simply shrugged his shoulders.

"They're warm and soft..." replied the boy easily, silencing any further comments his amused teacher wanted to pass.

He didn't miss the slight narrowing of his teacher's eyes, as he gave him a warning signal. Grabbing his sword he quickly took cover behind a rack of clothes, with the same action repeated by Kenshin.

They saw a couple of ninja dressed in familiar uniforms arriving outside in the street...

It didn't take Kenshin more than a second to recognize that uniform. Of all the people, he never thought the struggle between the divine gods would have attracted the attention of his old special ops units.

It was Blacklight.

He looked towards Naruto in order to ascertain the boy's reaction, but the boy's face mask and sunglasses prevented him from seeing it.

Strangely his former students/comrades were not wearing their traditional masks, or any masks as a matter of fact. They were dressed in their Blacklight uniforms, and had the familiar 3d gear and kunai launcher with them.

"There are 7 of them..."

He silently communicated the information to his student who was carefully observing the small squad out in the street. Kenshin was not sure, but he sensed Naruto's gaze fixed on one of the soldiers.

Before he could find out who it was, the Blacklight squad busted through the store and pointed their weapons towards him and Naruto.

"Drop your weapons!"

Kenshin chuckled on hearing that idiot's voice, and confidently got up only to come face to face with a terrified Izumo Kamizuki.

"Impossible..."

"It can't be..."

"Captain, this is..."

"Shodaime!"

Ignoring the shocked sentences of his comrades, he shifted his gaze towards the familiar tall blonde girl who was staring at him. Trying to determine whether he was real or not...

Another sound was heard, as the squad cautiously shifted in the east direction as Naruto came forward. He was still clutching the sword in his hand, but it didn't look like he wanted to attack.

"Easy there, Rangiku. He's a friend of mine..." said Kenshin bemusedly, he was just waiting for her reaction.

Kami, knew the girl had a thing for his student, which had slowly transformed into something much deeper.

She had certainly matured in appearance and strength during these past few years...

Rangiku was now almost as tall as Naruto, she had long wavy blonde hair that were reaching up to her back. Her sharp, piercing blue eyes were now shifted towards Naruto, while her full lips were closed in order to prevent the boy from ascertaining her reaction.

There was a small beauty mark located under the right side of her mouth, her Blacklight uniform tightly sticking to her body. However it did little to hide the busty rack which the girl had developed over the years.

If Kenshin knew better, he would say they were almost as large as Tsunade's.

There was a sword strapped on her back, and a kunai launcher in her arms while the 3d gear was hanging loosely around her legs.

The appearance was certainly befitting for "Rangiku- The Flash", but Kenshin didn't know that his former student was now one of the prominent members of the Resistance and one of the most powerful soldiers that was opposing Madara's empire.

But what happened next was something which Kenshin had never expected in his wildest dreams. Naruto slowly removed his sunglasses, and judging from the shocked gasp escaping from the girl's lips was enough to show she recognized the person standing before her.

However, that was to be expected...

What intrigued Kenshin was the words that escaped from Naruto's lips...

"Who are you?"


Author's Notes: End of chapter.

Hope you guys liked it. See you next chapter...

PLEASE LEAVE LOTS OF REVIEWS XD!