If it feels like I'm butchering canon with the things that I've written here, I just want to say sorry. First of all, the lore behind Naruto is not that solid. The story telling itself is average, but the lore that the story is built in is just too damn vague. For example, during the Second Shinobi World War, who led Iwagakure? Was it the Second Tsuchikage? Or was Onoki already a Kage during that time? See, there are no dates detailing the settings of these specific events yet I can't blame the creators, because doing so will make things harder for canon.

As such, for this story, I will build the lore myself. If it seems like I'm missing out important facts and in-lore history because of my pure ignorance and poor knowledge over the topic, I apologize. Then again, this is fiction, so that doesn't really matter much. I want to create a story that's entertaining and fun to read, with the lore to build up the atmosphere of this whole damn journey. I hope that you guys will understand why I'm doing this.

If you spot mistakes, official canon lore mistakes that I make, please tell me; I will try my best to make them work out.

The Land of Fire is famous for its tropical and sunny climate as well as the thick and luscious leafy forests that make up most of its geography. The Land of Fire is not as mountainous as the Land of Earth nor is it as foggy and humid as the Land of Water. It has the perfect combination of both tropical rainforests and flowing rivers and direct sea access on the eastern area of the country. The Capital of Fire Country is located at the heart of the land, a few days' worth of travelling from Konoha.

Konoha itself is considered to be as good as the Capital, if not slightly more efficient. Ninja villages all over the world have separate political and militaristic doctrine, but when it comes to their status as a Ninja village as a whole, there's several similarities. The big five, Konoha, Iwa, Kiri, Kumo and Suna; implement shinobi needs before their civilian. The Kage of each respective village has the right to decide how many shinobis he or she wants in the village as a Kage holds the highest form of authority when it comes to his village.

The only one who rivals a Kage's authorities are the Daimyo themselves. A Daimyo is the political leader of the country, he is responsible for all the political decisions involving his country, from alliances to treaties and even the budgeting. A Daimyo is a governor, he is a monarch of his country as his command is considered to be the highest – even higher than a Kage – no matter who you are. Whether you're a Shinobi, a Royal Guard or even the common folk, your Daimyo is your King.

Though this isn't exactly the case. There are several other cases when a Kage overrules a Daimyo. During the Second Shinobi War, the Land of Earth's Daimyo gave full authority to the Tsuchikage regarding the protection of the entirety of Earth Country. This delegation gives the reigning Tsuchikage at that time, the Second Tsuchikage, a position over every military branch in Earth Country, not limited to Shinobi only. He became the Commander in Chief over every armed force that Earth Country have. Shinobis, Royal Guards, Earth Country's armadas… everything.

Ultimately, this gives the Earth Daimyo no position at all in the military, but this was done by the Daimyo's own consent and approval.

Konoha is much different. While being one of the biggest and considered to be the strongest Ninja village when compared the rest of the Big Five, Konoha's Fire Capital is not as heavily militarized. It only has a sizeable amount of troops, most of them are city guards and few of them are the Daimyo's own personal guards. But that is not a problem. Unlike the rest of the Hidden Villages, the Fire Capital actually prefers shinobi rather than normal foot soldiers. Quality over quantity. This is shown by the existence of the Twelve Fire Guardians, the Daimyo's personal shinobi guards.

As for naval operations, Fire Country's Combined Fleet is under the command of the Daimyo himself since Konoha has no need for a fleet, or a use for one in the first place since there's no direct sea access from Konoha. The nearest port city from Konoha is the Land of Waves and even so, there's still no need for a fleet since ninjas almost never battle at sea, unless if it's a full blown invasion from Kiri or something.

This complicated system, no matter how flawed, strict or ever-changing it is, is what has been keeping the Shinobi World running.

But that's not an excuse to murder an entire town just because they have been supplying the enemy.

"…" Naruto is strangely quiet. He is usually quiet, but not from overthinking. Usually, he's quiet because he's too damn lazy to think of anything aside from sleeping, practicing calligraphy, creating new seal matrixes or eating ramen. Now, he's quiet because his brain is still trying to accept the order that he has been instructed to do.

Currently, his team and he are en route to the rendezvous point with Squad 53 at sector 6-A-2. From all the studying he's done with Kuu about coordinates, that's near the Konoha-Taki border. They should not have any trouble reaching the rendezvous since the cover of night protects them and the route they're taking is secretive and since this is ROOT, secrecy is guaranteed.

"Heads up, we're here." Rei's voice breaks out the silence that has been accompanying the group and Naruto's own personal musings. The five of them jumps off the tree tops, landing on the forest's floor. Naruto lands at the most rear part of their formation – diamond formation – and his black cloak shifts from the motion of landing.

Nothing seems to happen, since the only thing they can feel is the soft wind that comes from the south. Suddenly, a voice breaks their silence.

"An honest lie…"

Squad captain Rei finishes, "…is a false truth."

Four cloaked figures jump down to join them, dressed with the same cloak and blank masks. One of the four masked group – no doubt the Squad captain for Squad 53 – steps forward. "Sister, we have been waiting." A man's voice, muffled by the mask he's wearing, bleeds through the mask.

"Report, brother Umbra." Rei says.

"Our mission is not top priority, but Danzo-sama has personally ordered us to spy suspicious movements along this sector." Umbra reports in a lackluster, emotionless tone.

"Do you have any results in your findings?"

"We saw four team of Taki shinobi patrolling the border. They do not seem to be from a formal border patrol team." Squad 53's leader unwraps a map he has kept inside his cloak, letting Rei and the rest of Squad 69 see it. There are circles, lines and writings written all over the map with red marker, all of them seemingly important. "We scouted them further and we found them to be planting explosives along here," he traces his finger along the border up to a certain point. "and landmines around this perimeter." He points out to the circled area.

"These are all the ANBU's patrol routes." Rei mutters suspiciously. "This is all specifics we're looking at, how were they able to figure this out?"

"Unknown." Umbra shakes his head. "Our investigation has not enlightened us with that information yet." Umbra rewraps the map, pocketing it inside the tactical pouch on the vest he's wearing underneath the cloak. "ROOT DEVGRU unit Squad 69 is to assist ROOT Combat Platoon 2's Squad 53 in this mission."

Everyone from Squad 69 nod. "We'll follow your lead, captain." Rei says as she surrenders all authority to the man.

"We will assist Squad 69 with their mission, but for now, our mission is to defuse all traps planted by the suspicious Taki nins." The captain's subordinate steps forward. "These are Sol and Helios," he gestures to the two male ROOT standing beside him. "I want you" he points to Iyo. "and you" then at Shi. "to assist them with scouting the patrol, keep in touch via comms."

The four ROOT disappears, doing as they're ordered to do.

"The rest of you," Umbra gestures to the remaining three members of Squad 69 and the last member of his own squad, "follow me, we are going to defuse whatever traps we could." Everyone nods grimly.

Under Umbra's lead, his team is heading towards the area where the mines are planted at first. This is critical because they cannot reach the area where the rest of the explosives are planted.

"Captain," Rei speaks. "why do you think Taki ninjas are doing this?"

"I do not know, Rei." The temporary leader shakes his head. "If they are going to go and ambush ANBU patrol routes, then they would have done way more than just planting explosives. Aside from the wire traps they rigged to presumably slow down advances, they did nothing more than that. Secondly, the traps are placed too neatly for them to called traps in the first place."

Uncharacteristically, and surprising for Naruto, Kuu speaks. "…what do you make of the traps?"

"The mines are your standard pressure mines, judging by holes they've dug shallowly on the ground." Umbra answers. "We weren't able to identify their specific details, but expect them to be highly lethal."

Naruto wonders, then he decides to voice his thoughts. "How many of them do you think are there?" he asks, then realizes what he's doing wrong. "Captain?"

"Unsure, but they've covered an 8 mile radius of the perimeter I've shown before."

"Do we have any means of defusing them?"

"We do, but since we are unsure of the material, sensing them with chakra sonars might be a risk."

Naruto gulps. Shinobi are tacky people who somehow manage to fit chakra into everything they create. There's chakra sensitive paper, chakra resistant metal and even chakra absorbing weights. Not that this is a bad thing, but in this scenario, it's bad. So bad. Chakra sonar is a sensory ability that allows the user to create, as the name suggests, sonars by distributing a concentrated amount of chakra from their feet and letting it flow to the ground. Since most shinobi built mines are built with chakra sensitive materials, using chakra sonar will cause them to accidentally explode, this jeopardizing this whole mission. It's a bitch, basically.

"Why are you so nervous, kid? This is basically child's play for you, someone who's been rigging traps ever since he mastered sealing."

'But the situation's different, you ninny.' Naruto grumbles to his tenant. 'This isn't something I come up with, so I can't help but feel uneasy okay?'

"Bah, that's the whole point of putting you here. They're testing whether or not you'll crack underneath the pressure and if you managed to do something that'll impress them, they'll lay off your back for a while."

He finds truth in the Kyuubi's words. '…shit, well, we'll just have to see it until we get there.'

The team then halts when the leader stops.

"Here we are and watch your steps." All of them land on the ground, but not landing anywhere near Umbra. The clearing before them is as suspicious as they thought it would be. There are no dig marks, or any sign of land tampering at all. The trees around here are not thick enough to provide any solid cover, so they should be in the clear. "They planted the mines around this area and I don't want anyone accidentally stepping on one to screw this whole mission up."

Everyone does not react.

"Spread out, but stick to the trees and look out for something that sticks out and report to me."

Naruto jumps on a tree branch, and he begins thinking.

Before him is a clearing, a perfect ambush spot and also a perfect spot to lay out some traps. The captain, Umbra, is confident that the enemy had planted mines all over the clearing. That's logical, since there's a perfectly good clearing before them and the ground's just the right texture to plant mines on. Based on what he read about ninja weaponry, shinobi landmines are so chakra sensitive that even activating a jutsu that requires a small flare of chakra like a transformation will set them off, even if they're two feet underground. This is a bitch, which means he's restricted to moving and jumping around with his legs. He cannot use chakra too.

There are two types of mines that shinobi use. One is the pressure mines, these are bulky, round shaped disks filled with gun powder, a fuse and the tendency to prematurely blow up when not rigged properly. If he's to take the consideration that the mines were properly rigged, then he shouldn't worry about them blowing up suddenly. There's a flaw in that design, but flaw won't help him here. Their flaw is their high chakra sensitivity, one that he's fully aware of. It's actually beneficial for the planters because enemies like them who're aware that there're mines nearby won't be able to use chakra to detect them because they'll blow up.

The second one are pin mines. The design may look the same, but they're flatter and explodes when their pin is released. Usually, these type of mines are rigged with wires to create an exploding trip wire trap but these are not always the case. The pin that prevents the mines from exploding is intentionally designed to be poor in quality, meaning that they're unstable and may just explode if you're holding them the wrong way. They were a pain in the ass during the Third Shinobi War, such a pain that the Big Five reduced their production drastically. But these are useful when rigged properly. Instead of using the trip wire method, one can activate them from a distance by simply unlocking the pins by a simple use of chakra.

Lethal, but risky. Then again, what's lethal and not risky?

"Kilo, are you okay?"

Snapped out from his musings, Naruto almost forgets that he's been assigned a codename. "I'm fine, captain." He responds to Rei's call. "I'm just figuring this whole thing out."

"I see. Then care to share your thoughts?"

Well, hope she wouldn't mind him babbling.

"Let's speak as we move." Rei suggests.

The two begins to patrol along the perimeter, looking for anything that might just shed a light into this mine problem.

"What's on your mind?" Naruto, Kilo, shakes his head with uncertainty, one that Rei is able to quickly find out.

"Aside from the obvious question of why in the hell would Taki ninjas plant mine along our borders, I'm just figuring out what to do when we figure out what type of mine they're using." Naruto explains.

"Wasn't Umbra clear enough before? He told us that they were pressure mines."

"Not to disrespect or saying that he's wrong, but I don't know…" the blonde shakes his head. "It's riskier to use pressure mines rather than the infamous pin mines."

"Pin mines… the one that has a high reputation of being so unstable when handled because of its intentional poor design?"

It seems that the captain knows her stuffs, good for her. "Yeah. Contrary to what you may believe, but pressure mines are a lot more unstable than pin mines. The design of pressure mines made sure that there's a low chance of the thing suddenly exploding while the user's rigging it, but of course, that's a fifty-fifty thing since the chances of it blowing up if not handled properly is just as high as it not exploding when handled. We know that they – pressure mines – are made out of chakra sensitive alloy that pretty much makes the thing famous for what it's supposed to do. But why do you think they named it 'pressure mines' instead of 'chakra sensitive mines'?"

"Because that second one's too long for them?"

"That…" a look of realization creeps up his face. "actually make sense, but, it's not pressure that's actually doing the job. It's chakra all along." Naruto concludes.

"But what does that have to do with this?" Rei narrows her eyes underneath her mask.

"I'm getting to that." Naruto speaks quickly. "Basically, the word 'pressure' here does not mean the pressure that our feet produce when we step right on top of them. It's actually referring to the amount of chakra that's taken in by the capacitors. Whether it's intentionally or not, those capacitors are filled halfway with chakra and all it takes is a little bit more of chakra from our environment, a sonar wave disrupting their capacitors or a careless mistake from one stupid ninja who did a jutsu for it to do its job of causing a literal explosive mess in the form of flying steel shrapnel capable of fucking everything up within a 55 yard radius."

"…"

"Captain, are you following me?"

"Ah, yes, I was just thinking on how well versed you are in these." Rei says with a hint of amazement. "Do you read often?"

"Well, kind of, I've also tinkered with a few duds in the past…"

"Then can you disarm them?"

"What?" Naruto's mask nearly falls from his face.

"You can." Rei doesn't even let him answer. She denies the boy's attempt of speaking when her communications device activates. "Captain?"

"Regroup on my position, I've found one of them barely sticking out from the ground. Looks like I was right, these are pressure mines. I'll flare my chakra so get to my position asap."

"NO CAPTAIN WAI-"

Too late.

Everything explodes into white, and what follows next is an ear piercing noise of mines going off.

"What is it that drives you, Uzumaki Naruto?"

I remember hearing Kurama say that the first time we met face to face. At that time, I was so scared shitless of the humongous demonic fox that easily towered over me inside that locked cage of his. At that time, I just realized of my status as a Jinchuriki. At that time, I was still my old self. I remember not answering him for several long minutes, but he waited patiently, almost as if he was too interested in hearing my answer.

"Drive? How can I do that when I don't plan on going anywhere?"

He's hearing this from the eight year old who just made a complex sealing matrix that not even the most skilled seal master has ever done. Of course, he looked at me as if I was a being out of this world. In his head, Kurama must've thought things like 'is this kid for real?' or something along those lines. Then he laughed. He laughed. The fox laughed, practically rolling inside the tiny space that's his prison, clutching his stomach like he's heard the world's most hilarious joke.

"You're sick kid, let me see those eyes of yours. Ah, so empty… so much potential."

I was just confused. Why was a demonic being, the Kyuubi itself, being friendly with me?

"Alright kid, starting from today, you're my friend. We talk to each other, we shout at each other and we roast each other dark."

The way he said it, it never really did give me a chance to refute his claim. We're still talking about a powerful primordial being which could easily banish my existence here.

So, being the puny human I am, I pissed my pants.

He wakes up to a familiar sight. Kurama's prison has a very large gate that's seemingly made out from iron, but even so the one thing that's keeping the gate closed is actually the large paper seal sticking to it. Kurama told him once that his father, the Fourth Hokage, was the one who sealed him into him.

His mother, Kushina, was Kurama's previous host. Because she was going through labor, the seal weakened drastically and that was what caused the Kurama to escape the seal. The moment the seal broke, Kurama told him that he felt an incredible rush of negative emotion from the world and since he is a being completely made out of chakra, he was easily affected by the surrounding's negative energy.

That was the reason why he went berserk…

Or so he says.

Naruto knows that it's not the real reason. There has got to be something major that Kurama's hiding. That or the damned fox was just making things up for him. Either way, Naruto does not mind. If Kurama wants to keep secrets from him, then let him.

"…looks like things didn't go so well after all."

From inside the dark cage, Naruto can see Kurama's pearly whites. The fox's red eyes are mocking him, but a playful one. The blonde shakes his head, before giving the fox an accusing glare.

"It's your damn fault for always saying 'it might just go well after all' and things like that… you jinxed it." The reaction that he gets from that is a set of shallow laughter from the fox.

"Fufufu… perhaps I did. But that's not our utmost concern, isn't it kid?" Naruto suddenly becomes tense. "You're dying. Again. And this time, it was because the fault of some unimportant side character who thought that he knew what to do."

"Oi!" Naruto reprimands. "Even side characters have feelings."

A shrug from the fox. "Even so, you're basically dead at this point. Your skin is crisp, your eyes melted from the heat and your meat's just how I like my steak; rare." The large grin stretches wider.

Naruto sends him a disapproving glare. "You never had steak Kurama, don't lie to me… anyway, if I'm in a state of such fucked up-ery, I suppose that you're going to do something about it?"

"Me? Oh no, I actually think that letting you die like this is hilarious." But the boy is not buying him, so he sighed. "Fine, fine, just give me a sec."

Red pools of chakra emerges from the gaps beneath the gates. They are like waves rushing for Naruto and when they reach him, they envelop him. They shroud him in red, letting the boy feel a sensation of heat. After a while, the redness dissipates and he is normal once again.

"Get out from here kid, I'm eager to see how you will un-fuck this whole thing up."

All Naruto does is cast one nasty glare at the fox. "Ass." He disappears.

"Yeah, yes I am…"

"K…o!"

His head feels dizzy.

"Ki…lo!"

Pain. Hot, searing pain. That's all he's feeling all over his body. His ears are still ringing, he's not sure whether his body is still intact or if they're charcoal. He manages to open a set of blurry eyes, blinking increases his chance of returning back to unconsciousness. He can't scream despite the pain, when the explosions went off he must have been blown back far and hard enough to hit something, either that or something went and hit him.

He feels his body being lifted into a sitting position by a pair of feminine hands. He then manages to straighten his vision, getting a clear view of the fiery landscape before him.

"C… Captain…?" he utters slowly, the dizziness prevents him from speaking normally. "What happened?"

"A mistake happened." Rei replies urgently. "The explosion set all of the mines simultaneously and everything beyond there is literal hell." As she speaks, the forest area in front of them is still burning. They have a clear view of the fire and the smoke that rises to the air.

"I'm sorry… I…" he is silenced.

"It's not your fault." Rei says. "Umbra was at fault and he paid the price. But unfortunately, we have to pay the price for his mistake." The heat they are feeling is quite something, the wind must be carrying it to them.

"What do we do now?" with the help of his captain, he gets back up on his feet, finding it easier to overlook the fire that is spreading. "And where's Kuu-san?"

"We regroup." Rei says quietly. "I sent Kuu back to headquarters, Danzo-sama needs to know that both missions are a fail. And while you were unconscious, I contacted Shi and Iyo, they should be he-"

A sudden buzz on both Naruto's and Rei's earpiece disrupts their conversation.

"Captain requesting back up! We're overwhelmed by Taki nins, probably scouts sent to check the explosion!" Shi's voice is practically hissing, cluing that she's in the middle of an engagement.

"We'll be right there." Rei dismisses the intercom hurriedly. "Let's back them up, follow me, Kilo!"

The duo, with Rei doing the leading, rushes to where the fighting is currently going on. Rei is a good sensor, she can locate her two fighting teammates from this distance and they are not far. That's both good and bad news. It's good because they should be able to reach them in time before anything bad happens, but it's bad because the threat is closer to Konoha.

On the short days he's been with ROOT, Naruto is told of one important thing.

Any sorties or missions done by ROOT are secret. Not even ANBU knows when or where're they moving to. That large explosion definitely set off the alarms in both Konoha and Taki, which means those ANBU response teams are probably already deployed by now. They will need to act fast. The moment the two reaches the battle area, combat is already engaged.

Rei draws her blade and picks up one unaware Taki shinobi who is too busy preparing a jutsu to notice Rei's presence. Her blade sinks right through the man's neck, she then slides the blade to the side, decapitating him effectively. Rei jumps to find another target, but this time, everyone is pretty much aware of her and Naruto's presence. A Taki ninja throws his shuriken at her, but they are easily dismissed by a simple dodge. Rei's hands blur into a set of many seals, she jumps back.

"Raiton: Inazuma!"

Static electricity sparks in the air, then it transforms into lightning. Beams of lightning are sprayed all over her range, frying any Taki ninjas to death. Those who were untouched were blinded by the flash and this is where Naruto comes in. With blade in hand, he swipes them at the stunned Taki ninjas, hitting them right at their vital spots. His surprise attack results in the death of three Taki ninjas, all of them weren't aware of his surprise attack due to the effects of being stunned.

"Captain!" Iyo and Shi regroup with Rei and Naruto. "What should we do? There's too many of them!" she's engaging an enemy as she's speaking.

"We fight till the last man!" Rei shouts, whilst ending the life of a Taki shinobi by stabbing her blade right through his gut, twisting it to ensure his death. She then dodges a fireball aimed for her unsuspecting form, quickly moving to the side. "Give them hell team!"

Iyo and Shi do not need to be told twice. They pick up their pace and their fighting becomes even more aggressive. Naruto, who's picking off enemies in his own steady pace, could not help but be amazed and terrified at how quick his teammate change by a mere order. He's here taking his own time killing Taki ninjas slowly, but Shi, Iyo and the captain has already killed about half of the enemies that were here a while ago.

"Simply, they became weapons, kid."

'What?'

"They shut down their humanity to become the most effective killing machine. Something that you suck at doing."

'Well…!' he flips back to avoid a flimsy slash from one Taki ninja who thought that he got him unaware. 'Sorry for being bad at being…' In mid-air, Naruto positions himself on top of his attacker, his blade pointed down to strike. '…what I'm supposed to be!' he begins to fall; his blade is pointed down at the Taki ninja. Naruto lets gravity do the rest and the sharp end of his sword lands on the man's back. The blonde slides his sword off the man's dead body, flinging the blood away with a simple flick of his wrist.

"Oh, not bad… but your dad's move was so much better."

Naruto does not know why, but hearing that coming from Kurama really pisses him off. "Hearing that from you really pisses me off!" he snarls with an uncharacteristic anger. He flicks his fingers and six paper tags appear in between the spaces of his fingers. There are Taki ninjas rushing at him with the intent to kill, but sadly for them, Naruto feels the same way. "Eat schnitzel in hell!"

He throws the paper tag the incoming squad of men. The paper tags he's using are not an ordinary bunch, much like the rest he has in his arsenal. The paper is so much lighter and thinner, making them fly at a much to their targets almost instantly. The Taki ninjas shield their body; some even try to evade the range. But they did all that thinking that these are normal explosive tags. Sadly for them, they aren't. An explosion six times larger than what Naruto caused in his spar with Shi occurred and disintegrates all Taki ninjas in range. However, Naruto is caught on the explosion itself.

His clothes are already ruined from the first explosion that was caused by one careless ROOT, so he is not able to get maximum protection from his own explosion. The blast singes his clothing and cause burns on his exposed skin. He's gritting his teeth hard to ignore the burning sensation, but after what just happened, it's not as painful anymore. The blast manages to send him off crashing to a tree, though.

"Kid hate to break it up to you and all but… you're not fucking Wolverine." Kurama says with a matter of fact tone. "Don't get pushed around especially by your own damned attack."

"Quit nagging…!" the blonde hisses as he struggles to get up from the ground. Using his hands and his back on the tree as support, he manages to stagger back to his feet. "I suppose if you want to actually see me kick some ass, lend me a help would you?"

"Sheesh fine… you underdeveloped main protagonist."

Naruto, who really wants to give a number on Kurama, feels a sudden rush of power coursing through his body. This is both familiar and unfamiliar to him. His chakra reserves, while being pretty damn big for someone his age, is not potent enough to create eighty percent of the unique seals he made in his free time. The method of making a particular seal is like baking a cake, but backwards. First you do the decorations; this is mirrored on how one should start with writing in ink when making a seal. Secondly you bake the seal, this is process is the waiting process. It takes time for a seal to even form, depends on how complex the seal is and it may even not work. Finally, is the mixing stage. Basically, when you got everything written on the paper, wait it out for it to take form you mix your chakra into the 'batter'. A reverse cake recipe.

And a lot of times, he's been using Kurama's chakra instead of his work. Of course the first few trials were… unsuccessful to say the least but after those failures, he's able to create stronger and better seals. Not to mention, Kurama's basically like an endless supply of chakra.

"You asshole."

However, this does not come without a consequence. Kurama's chakra is vile. Repulsive, potent, evil, dirty, corrupted, filt-

"Okay, okay I got it!"

So to prevent those things from causing the seal to explode – note that failure is not limited to explosions – or tearing a seam in the time-space continuum, he needs to filter them away. How? Using his body, duh.

Right now, he's basically doing that, but instead of skimming the scum out and putting the raw useful chakra into a paper, he's distributing it into all parts of his body.

"Kurama… I'm feeling it man, I think… I think…" his eyes flash red, glowing like a lantern in the seas of hell. "I think I'm going super saiyan!"

The boy disappears in a flash of gold, black and white. He lost his cloak during the explosion, so there's nothing constricting his movement. He moves like pinball from the arcade, bouncing here and there with no way to track his movements or predict them. His blade is carried freely in his right hand in a reverse grip, glinting dangerously underneath the pale blue moon. He sees fighting up ahead and it seems that there're still quite a few Taki ninjas that need taking care of.

He's like a bouncy ball made for murder.

He launches to one ninja, taking his life by using his blade before jumping off to another one. Occasionally, he would also throw in several explosive tags into the mix, causing streaks of never ending explosion that terrifies the enemy. Parrying a lousy kunai swipe with his sword, Naruto delivers a counter attack, slicing off the man's arm before slipping a tag into his chest and kicking him back to where his friends are at and then only to explode. He senses multiple flaring of chakras.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no jutsu!"

"Katon: Housenka no jutsu!"

Two combination attack of fire and water results in scalding steam enveloping the area. This hinders the Taki ninjas' vision and their enemy… probably. Five of them remains out of the fifty that were sent here. All of them are jumpy and paranoid, especially after a masked psycho joins the fray.

"C-Captain… I don't sense anyone!" one of the five Taki nins whispers nervously amongst the group.

"Keep your guard up men, we don't want them to catch us by surprise." The captain says firmly to prevent his men from losing morale.

The mist is thick and it's hindering their view, whoever used a suiton and katon will get an earful later. The captain of the Taki ninjas cannot sense anything, just as his subordinate says. But this does not mean that he's lowering his guard. His arms are on the ready, twitching at the slightest hint of movement that the mist makes. The mist, after several seconds of silence, shows no signs of disappearing.

"Hiro, check the area again." The captain orders.

No response.

"Hiro?" realizing what's happening, the captain waves his hand around to get the mist clear. A breeze coming from the south clears the mist away from him, and when it clears he sees four masked and cloaked figures standing over the corpse of his dead team members, including Hiro. All of them died from stab wounds, presumable by the swords that the masked figures are carrying.

"S-S-Stay back!"

They do the opposite of the man's demand.

The members of Squad 69 – sans Kuu – approach the terrified man slowly, their shadows looming over his form.

"N-N-No… NOOOOOO!"

"What happened out there was a complete mess."

Kneeled down on one knee, Squad 69 cannot say anything as Danzo chews them off. They are back at headquarters, each of them tired and exhausted in their own way. Shi and Iyo suffers from mild chakra exhaustion, muscle strains and several minor cuts and slashes. Rei suffers from chakra exhaustion, a broken rib and a second degree burn. Kuu suffers naught a single scratch, since she was not fighting. Naruto is still trying to ignore the exhaustion, multiple muscles sore and the Kyuubi's corruption of his chakra system. He can collapse and faint any moment now.

"The amount of disappointment I'm feeling equal to the number of Uchiha that were killed by one of their own." The aged war veteran's words are like a blizzard itself, cold and unforgiving. "But, I suppose, this was not your mistake. Umbra of Squad 53 paid the price with his life, and his two surviving squad members will join him for this disappointing result."

The two hidden ROOT hiding underneath the cover of darkness at the corners of the room disappear to carry out their order hinted by Danzo.

"This was not a complete failure, fortunately." Naruto gets the feeling that he's referring to them. "The explosions that went off will be seen as Taki's attempt of attacking Konoha, and from the reports of our scouts and the bodies of their own men on the area, we can brew out a story and say that this is self-defense. You also left no witnesses, even if there are, Hiruzen's men will do the cleaning for us."

A wave of relief hits the members of Squad 69.

"All of you are dismissed. Except for Kilo."

Kilo remains while the rest of his team dismisses themselves.

"Rise, Kilo."

Naruto does so.

"Open your mask."

He does so again, holding his mask with one hand as Danzo takes a good look at his face.

"After one mission and you're already making that kind of face." It's hard to trace the amusement in Danzo's voice, but it's present. "In the history of those I took in, only three people has made that kind of face." Danzo says in his uncaring and indifferent tone. "Uchiha Itachi, Hatake Kakashi and Namikaze Minato himself."

It takes everything Naruto is to not flinch when he hears that last name.

"The face of pure hate… the look of restrained anger and sorrow… the look of someone who's sure he's going to kill me…" what Danzo is describing is reflected on Naruto's face and the other way around. "I'll tell you what I told those previous three. You can try, but you won't. Even if you are strong enough to kill every single person in your own family, even if you are considered to be the strongest shinobi in the nation and even if you managed to become a Kage… you will not kill me."

Naruto is no longer standing still. He's shaking. He's livid.

"At least today, you didn't have to murder innocent lives… I can see the relief in your eyes, but this now and what happens tomorrow will be different." Danzo's tone is anything but kind. "I will make you feel what I made those three feel, I will build you but doing so I will have to break you just like I broke them. I do not care about what Hiruzen said, because the moment you entered ROOT, you are my soldier."

He lets the words sink into the boy's mind.

"Dismiss." He twists his swivel chair, turning his back to the blonde.

"Hai, Danzo-sama."

That night, Naruto feels a part of him has died.

Omake

How Naruto deals with Kurama's antics.

He sees several images of skulls, death, rivers and sycthes being conjured into his thoughts.

"Uh… Kurama, what are you doing?" in the middle of eating his ramen, Naruto asks his tenant a question.

"I'm thinking of… stuffs… mumble… mumble…"

This prompts a curious tilt from the boy. It's rare for Kurama to actually think of something, since he would just voice it out in his head. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking about this seal… this seal summons the death god, right?"

"That's what you told me about the night dad sealed you." Naruto nods.

"So, basically, Minato summoned Hades."

"Wah?"

"But, in my opinion, it would've been waaaaay cooler if he summoned Zeus. Yeah… I can just picture that happening."

"I… I don't even…?"

"Oh, what about Athena? Dayuuum she's hot…"

"Come on, that was that one movie we watched… and she's not that good looking either!"

"Hey! Opinions man, opinions! Even Bijus' have them!"

How Naruto deals with Kurama's antics?

He doesn't.