For all of those who want to know. Yes I am very much alive, and thank you for asking. Between living on a farm, work, and my family's desire to keep me from writing fanfics, it has been quit hard to write this chapter. And just so you know, this chapter was a complete pain in the ass for me to write due to how I tried to get it perfect, and I still feel like not up to what I expect of it.


"Its time," says an ancient man standing on a cliffs edge looking out into the sunrise. "They'll attack today; I'll do my best not to be noticed."

And with that turns to the right disappearing like his body suddenly collapsed into itself leaving no trace that he was there whatsoever.

"Ugh my head," grumbles out a blond hair boy wearing an orange jumpsuit. "What hit me?"

"That would be the memories of the clones you used yesterday, now you know why I told you not to go any higher than twenty", Excalibur says without any form of pity or anger in his voice. It took him a while but he finally figured the boy out, on the outside he was happy and energetic but on the inside he was a whole mess of negative emotions that he kept bottled up. "I hope my Lady will find a way to help him," Excalibur says shielding the boys mind from his thoughts so he wouldn't hear him.

"Anything you can do for the headache?"

"Give it a minute and that damn demon will have it fixed in no time, just be glad he can be used for something useful. That also brings up something I wanted to talk to you about."

What is it, Naruto asks nervous about the sword would bring up; I mean what if he didn't want him to wield him anymore because of the fox.

"Alright, stop that thought in your head right now! You are the only one noble enough to wield me, until you give me up, die, or become corrupted by evil I will never leave your side. What I wanted to talk to you about was about the demons chakra, I don't want you to use that ever!"

"Yeah sure, but why don't you want me to use its chakra when I can use it to get stronger?"

"Because using that things chakra will corrupt and possibly weaken the seal the Fourth trusted you with to destroy the fox," the sword explains calmly knowing that it wouldn't due any good to get excited due to the boys upbringing. "Using that things chakra might force me leave you. And before you ask, the Lady gave me ability to teleport if my wielder became corrupter by evil or has passed on and nobody will or will be able to return me to her. Its only under those circumstances, and a few others that are not worth mentioning, that I will be able to teleport."

"Damn," curses the blond made at not being able to use such ability.

"I know how you feel, a few of my past wielders were quit immature in how to use my power, fortunately if they don't grow up after a warning from Merlin then I get leave and never go back."

"Who's Merlin," asks the blond.

"He used to be my, how can I say this, guardian. Originally I was just an ordinary sword with a few minor enchantments, but over time more enchantments were placed onto me. Before I was given the ability of conscious thought and teleportation, I relied on Merlin to make sure I was in the right hands and guide them, just like I'm doing for you."

"Will I get a chance to meet him?"

"I don't know I haven't seen that old goat in over two thousand years when my last wielder died. Hes what you would call odd, hes been known to come and go as he pleases. Usually he goes to where he is needed the most, that's one of the reasons why he doesn't have that many people hes close to."

"That's sad," Naruto replies.

"That's just how things are, sometimes we can change and other times we cant. But lets forget about that; go check on your team, they should have woken you up at least an hour ago."

"Yeah that's right, were supposed to all go to the bridge together today," Naruto shouts out excited running down the stairs. Halfway down the stairs he hears a loud ruckus coming from the kitchen where he knows Tsunami usually hangs out at.

"Hey let my mom go," shouts out a young boy by the sounds of it running out of the house.

"That sounds like Inari," Naruto says.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Someone to scream out 'save me', go and see whats going on," Excalibur shouts out to the boy making him move.

Following the swords advice, Naruto takes off out of the house knowing that at least from the sounds of things it was quickly heading outside. Flying down the stairs and out the door he finds two of Gatos thugs one of which had Tsunami in his grasp. Taking another look at the situation he realizes that one of the thugs, more than likely a ronin, trying to cut Inari in half with sword, who had charged the thug like an idiot.

"Dam it!" growls out the blond. "That kid has completely ruined the situation, if I save him then they could kill Tsunami, but if I don't save him Ill never forgive myself. Man this sucks!"

"Hey! You two leave that kid and his mom alone," shouts a male voice coming from who knows where. Thus causing everyone to stop in their tracks, even the thugs were still as statues thinking that all of the ninjas were at the bridge facing Zabuza.

"Show yourself or Ill kill this woman," shouts out the thug holding Tsunami bringing a knife to her throat.

"Sheesh, I'm down here. Even though its been a few thousand years since I had contact with humans, you think at least there still would be some form of manners," says the voice attracting their attention and everyone elses downward. Slithering there before them was a green snake like creature with arms and crocodile like snout.

"What the hell are you," the other thug asks, Inari long forgotten, pointing his sword at the creature, having heard of the ability to summon strange creatures that the ninja possess.

"Now that is just plain rude. And for your information I'll have you know that I am a dragon," the dragon says greatly insulted at how the thugs reacted to him.

"You a dragon don't make me laugh," booms out the thug holding Tsunami at knife point his blade lowering due to his laughter.

"More like a snake if you ask me," barks out the other not knowing that one of the greatest insults you could make to this particular breed of dragon was to mistake them for some type of lizard or lizard like creature.

"That's it! Ive had it up to here with your insults and rude behavior," roars out the dragon growing from barely one foot of length to at least forty from where Naruto was standing, and that was only the part of his long serpentine body that was touching the ground. The rest was up in the air holding his head up at least twenty feet up in the air, his mouth looking like it could at least three people whole with no problem what-so-ever.

"What the fuck," was the only coherent thing that Naruto was capable of saying.

"Well, that's a first. I mean Ive seen dragons before, and I mean thousands. But I have never seen this type before, heard of yes, but seen never,' Excalibur says slightly shocked at seeing of the most rarest type of dragons to ever exist, the Ryuujin the most magically powerful and intelligent breed of dragons to ever exist. If claims were true, then a fully grown Ryuujin in his prime could easily hold his own against the Kyuubi and possibly even win. Though powerful and smart, the Ryuujin have one vice, they're ridiculously lazy. Hence why they're known to crash at palaces until the lord of the palace gets tired of pampering the lazy beast and kicks them out for being a free loader once the shock, amazement, and wonder of having a dragon in your palace wears off and nobody cares anymore, because of how lazy and boring the damn thing is.

"What the heck, Excalibur what should I do," Naruto asks the sword.

"Nothing, just let him do the work, and don't worry this type of dragon usually wont hurt anyone unless someone does something to agitated it. Which I need to tell you is really hard, if what I know about these types of dragons is true."

"What do mean?"

"They're lazy, too lazy to fight most of the time. Because of that they have no territory, and no territory means, no food and nesting grounds. Resulting in this particular breed to die out, last I heard there was about only twenty left in the world and that was because certain temples would take them in as guardians. Even though they would be better off with dogs then these types of dragons. Though they do like to read, and are really nice to have an intelligent conversation with, but really annoying. If what the monks in their writings say is accurate, then all you have to be is slightly polite and friendly and hell return the same to you and maybe give you some helpful advice."

"Well, that's kinda off," Naruto says confused. "You know that really doesn't really make any kind of sense. I mean aren't dragons supposed to be prideful and, ah well you know vicious or something."

"Most are, but there are quit a few out there that are as diverse as most humans can be, and you how diverse you humans really can be," Excalibur says pointing out how different many of the humans are different from one another either by skin tone, beliefs, religion, attitudes, bloodlines, and many other of the differences that divide and separate people.

"I guess so, but what should I do. I mean this guy pretty much has it handled," Naruto asks the sword.

"Head towards the bridge, if these fools are here, then that means that Zabuza has made his move and your team is probably fighting for their lives."

"Huh? Shouldn't Kakashi be able to handle himself against Zabuza?"

"Yes he should, however if Zabuza is even half as dangerous as he really is then he would have something planned, and has more than likely brought help. That false hunter Nin will be there for sure, and we have no clue as to how powerful he is."

Following the swords advice, he takes off running towards the bridge as fast as his legs can carry him hoping that his team will be alright when he gets there. Getting to the bridge he notices a fog covering the entire bridge, thick enough were he probably couldn't even see his own hand waving in front of his face. Without even thinking he creates three clones.

"Alright guys I need one of you scout the bridge, while one of you scouts around the bridge, and the last one scouts the surrounding area to make sure that Zabuza doesn't have any reinforcements. And remember, before you dispel yourself to make a clone to replace yourself, I made sure to give you guys enough chakra to make two clones should you guys need it," Naruto says ordering his clones around taking Excalibur's lessons to heart about strategy and how its better to plan ahead than to charge in like an idiot, as he would have if he hadn't come into possession of Excalibur.

Following his orders his clones take off one towards the bridge, the other the immediate area around it, and the third one running off into the woods all three using the stealth that he was known for when he painted the Hokage Mountain in broad daylight.


(Scene Change)


He was beaten and he knew it. His team arrived at the bridge a few minutes earlier and knew that something was wrong the moment they arrived at the bridge. It was Zabuza and his accomplish, the fake hunter Nin, shown themselves both ready for combat.

And it was clear that they were here to fight when Zabuza circled his team with his clones made from water. Using his newly acquired chakra control and additional training that his sensei has given, he puts it to good use by destroying all of Zabuza's clones in a burst of pure speed. Kakashi then decided to split up, Sakura being the last line of defense being a shield for Tazuna, Kakashi-sensei taking on Zabuza one on one, and he himself taking on Zabuza's masked friend.

At first both of them were evenly matched, or at least Sasuke thought he was until the masked Nin decided to stop holding back on Zabuzas orders. And with the masked Nin deciding to go full out, Sasuke was struggling to just survive the onslaught.

Then things went further down hill when the masked Nin decided to reveal her most powerful technique. Sort in all he was screwed he thought to himself, looking all around him knowing that he was trapped with no way to escape. It was getting even worse when the fake hunter Nin started using senbon needles to hit pressure points making it even harder for him to move.

And for a while he had thought he was finished until he and his opponent heard a whistling sound coming there way forcing both of their attention to outside of the mirrors made of ice. Sticking her head out of the mirror and out of the protection of her group of mirrors that made up her jutsu, looking of the source of the whistling she begins to scan the immediate area. And as the old saying goes 'curiosity killed the cat', or in this case stunned the ninja as a rock about a size of a fist smashes into her face temporarily stunning her.

"Hurry up Sasuke," someone says grabbing onto the Uchiha's arm trying to drag him out of the situation he was in. "Let's go."

"What," Sasuke shouts out surprised that Naruto was in there with him in the mirrors. "Naruto you idiot, what are you doing in here."

"Well, I was going to get you out of here, but now look," Naruto pointing to one of mirrors showing that the fake hunter Nin was back in her mirrors. "You just had to open your mouth and not move, and they say that I'm the dead last."

From then on it was hell for both the Uchiha and the demon vessel of Konoha, in just a span of a few minutes the fake hunter Nin rained senbon down onto them aiming for pressure points that either disabled or caused pain for the two Konoha ninjas.

"Well this is just great," Naruto says taking a few more senbon making his left arm completely useless now. "Got any ideas genius?"

"What! Why are you asking me?"

"Well it is you fault."

"My fault," Sasuke argues.

"Yep, if you had kept your mouth shut then we wouldn't be in this mess. So any ideas, so far I can't come up with anything," Naruto says to his teammate. "Excalibur is there anything I can do that I haven't thought of yet?"

"Sorry kid cant think of anything, senbon is a first for me too. And unfortunately you're not in any shape to use me yet."

"Hey Sasuke, do you have an eye infection? They're all red," Naruto asks his teammate.

Hearing this Sasuke looks into a puddle and sees that his eyes are indeed red with one comma looking mark in one eye and two in the other.

"The Sharingan, Ive finally unlocked it. I'm one step closer now," Sasuke says to himself attracting the attention of his teammate and enemy.

Haku, though she did not know much of the Sharingan knew that it would be dangerous. And adding to the fact that this jutsu of hers was eating up her chakra quickly, and she also had to go help Zabuza as Kakashi was giving him quit a hard time.

"I'll have to end this fast," she says to herself picking out her targets going a quick win that should only knock them out for a few hours. She decides to go for the blond as hes in the best of shape at the moment; taking her aim she throws her senbon with precise accuracy.

However the needles never found their intended target as Naruto found himself on the ground with Sasuke taking the attack for him. Shock went Naruto's mind at the actions of his teammate, the very one who he always thought of as a cold selfish bastard, had just saved his life by putting his own on the line.

This shocked Haku as well, however she decided not to put a good opportunity to waste. "That was very noble of him," she says hoping to disable him on words alone by using his grief for his teammate who he thought dead. Even though she knew that she ended up hitting a pressure point on him that faked death completely by accident. "He sacrificed his life for you and..." she would have gone further if wasn't for the vile chakra that started to fill the air. In all her memories of all her time spent of this earth she had never felt this type of feeling before. She new it was fear, but it was a type of fear on a deeper and primal level, like how an animal instinctively fears the creatures that prey upon it. It shook her to her very bones and got even stronger by the second.

"Kid, Naruto, stop this. You need to calm down," Excalibur screams out to the boy trying to get him stop calling for the fox's chakra. "Kid if you don't stop, Ill be forced to leave. My Lady, Merlin, please somebody help him."

"Shut up all of you," Naruto growls out like rabid animal ready to attack, the fox's chakra already corrupting him warping his mind into a far more violent and blood thirsty version of his usual self.

"I wont be able to hold on anymore," Excalibur says saddened at seeing such potential being corrupted by evil. A bond was already starting to form, extraordinary considering how many others took years for him to form with most if not all of his previous wielders. It would one of the strongest yet shortest bonds he would ever share. "I'm sorry Naruto," Excalibur says feeling the boy slipping away from him a sure sign that his ability to teleport was awakening preparing itself to take him away never be with Naruto ever again.

For Naruto he knew what was going on, and he was scared. He tried to fight it, but its hard to fight a form of evil that feeds on fears, hate, and insecurity using them to make him stronger. He could feel its power flowing through him making him stronger, and like a drug it was becoming hard to resist the power the demon was offering. His thoughts were turning into mud making even harder for him to concentrate on his struggle, especially with the death of Sasuke on his mind.

He was losing that he knew he could feel it. The rage, the primal rage was slowly taking over his mind turning him into an animal. Knowing what this would mean tears fall from his eyes; he had just lost a teammate and mentor all in the same day. He had failed then.

When it had seemed that the fates had eternally cursed the boy, something happened. At first it was a presence, a complete opposite of the fox's allowing the boy to clear his mind. And soon a soothing but powerful song broke throw the dreary air encouraging hope through all that was in its presence pushing the fox's chakra back within the seal from which it came.

"It couldn't be," Excalibur exclaims surprised recognizing the presence right away. "Ha this day is just full of surprises. First a dragon and now a phoenix whats next Merlin himself. Boy, Naruto you sure do have some luck on your side today."


I hope that you enjoy this update. I'll try not to take so long next time, but I can't make any promises. And as you already know, if you have any ideas to help with this story then please share them with me. I'm hoping to update True Sensei next, but will see how that turns out. As I mentioned before, this chapter was a pain in the ass. So sorry if I completely messed up this chapter.