A Wolf and A Tiger

Chapter 4

Time to Die

Zen-Aku was walking into the hospital, he had been in there many times when he was a little boy and the doctors would actually treat him after his usual beatings by the village, most assumed it was only glares and being ignored, but it was actually a lot of things. He would never tell Alyssa this of course, she may have already figured it out, but she would never say anything so that he could avoid all of those bad memories, just one of those things that puts her on the same level of caringness as back on Earth. As he was walking up to the receptionist to find out what room she was in though, he saw someone he hated, it was a snooty receptionist that never liked him, during the attack of the nine-tails, her father was one of those eaten and she held a grudge.

"May I please have the room number of one Hinata Hyuga," Zen-Aku asked in the most polite and toned-down voice he could, he still remembered all the times she tried to slip him cyanide when she thought nobody else was watching.

"You can only visit if you're family, and you don't look like a Hyuga, also, no masks are allowed to be worn inside the hospital," she said in that way he hated to hear, but he didn't really have to think of a way to get the information out of her.

"It's alright, he doesn't have time to be visiting her anyways," Kakashi stepped out from a hallway and approached him, of course, where else would he be but keeping an eye on Sasuke when he was in such a vulnerable state and could be attacked.

"I actually do, I'll only explain after I've seen her and made sure she's fine, if you want answers, that's the only way you'll get them, and you know it, so you might as well lead me to her," Zen-Aku suggested, Kakashi actually sighed, he did know it.

"Fine, follow me," he said, and they made their way through the many hallways, against the protests to the receptionist, and finally came to a halt outside of Alyssa's room, Kakashi stepped aside and let the duke org through, he saw a sight that made him growl.

She was hooked up to tubes and wires that measured her heart beat, it was steady and growing steadier, the deer zord was doing its job and healing her as best it can, progress was moderately slow compared to what he'd seen it do before though. Then he got an idea about how he might be able to make it go faster, if only a little bit, he walked fully inside and stood next to her bedside while Kakashi studied what he was doing, he either didn't notice or didn't care that the cyclops was watching. He summoned forth his dagger flute in a quick moment and brought it to his mask's lips, or would have if Kakashi didn't grab his wrist and squeeze, he maybe should have explained beforehand, better late than never though. "I'm not going to do anything with this other than play a song, you may not believe me, but you should," Zen-Aku said, Kakashi seemed to study him for a moment before noticing that the dagger did have a place like a flute would, so he allowed it.

What came next was the most beautiful song Kakashi had ever heard, it had no lyrics to it, but he felt like it should, but the music that was made with the flute alone was quite beautiful, it made him think about the time he had with the boy's father and his old team. All those happy memories, all those times they trained, the missions, the beautiful moments, not a single memory he had was a sad one, no death, just pure happy and beautiful memories, all from the music that seemed to have reflected that very feeling as well. The song ended and Kakashi felt a little disappointed at that fact, and the fact that he now knew he knew nothing about his sensei's own son, regardless of everything, he just felt a little bit more of a failure now then before his genin started playing. "That was beautiful Naruto, where did you learn to play like that," Kakashi asked him, he might as well start to get to know him, it couldn't hurt anything, and he might not see himself as much of a failure when all of this was over.

"I remember it," was his answer, that obviously got Kakashi confused if his slight raise of the eyebrow was anything to go by, "I guess now would be an appropriate time to explain what happened in the forest of death, you might want to call Kurenai, I won't tell this again." They waited for Kurenai to get back from visiting Kiba's mom and updating her on his condition before Zen-Aku began to explain everything he could, minus the parts that only Alyssa knew, and by the end, both jonin didn't know what to think. "I know it's a lot to take in, and Alyssa has yet to explain her side of the story yet, and don't worry, I'll be in here each day to play the song so that the deer can heal her faster, but in the meantime, I should get to training, I still have much to test."

"Wait," Kakashi called out before Zen-Aku could even stand up fully, "Zen-Aku was it, I get you must be strong, but I still think you need a trainer to help you out, and I'm going to have my hands full with Sasuke, since he's going against Gaara and all. I though that I'd call in Ebisu at first, but then I thought that you might take that as an insult since you clearly won't take his boasting about being an elite jonin, so I'll see if I can have who I'm thinking of meat you somewhere."

"That sounds good, I need someone that can work on chakra control with me, before I could use the water walking technique, but with my chakra system out of sorts, I need to see if I can still do it, I'll be at the hot springs," Zen-Aku said before walking out.


Hot springs

Zen-Aku was at a part of the hot springs not used often, or ever it seemed like, it was in the center of everything, so he knew he could also keep an eye out for who Kakashi got as his trainer for the duration of the month-long break, hopefully not a joke of a sensei. He took off his armor and revealed the darker and furrier form he held underneath it, it was also well toned and well maintained, with help from a proper diet and such, not a single ounce of fat could be seen, he left his mask on though. The duke org practiced the water walking for a little while, and even though he already knew it beforehand, it was still difficult to get a few steps out before falling into the hot spring, and he did not want to fall, he was hoping that the incentive would be enough. He was on his twenty fifth try when he heard the unmistakable sounds of perverted giggling and caught a glimpse of white hair before he fell back into the hot spring, this was getting ridiculous, he needed to find some way to remove the five-pronged seal.

When he finally got out of the hot water, he looked over at what the distraction was, and he finally got a good look at who it was, it was Jiraiya of the sanin, the sage of Mount Myoboku, and his own godfather, that better not be who Kakashi sent as his trainer. He got dressed and walked over to the man and stood there until the sage finally seemed to sense his presence behind him and turned to see the form of a wolf-based humanoid, "hello godfather, I thought you were off whoring around outside the village," Zen-Aku said venomously.

"I don't know what you're talking about beast, I don't have a godson, now leave, you're interrupting my research," Jiraiya stated before turning back around and peeping while writing things down in his notebook, oblivious to who was standing behind him.

"Minato Namikaze," that got the man to freeze up, "Kushina Uzumaki," and that got him to raise his head up, "I know I don't look much like my parents, but a cursed mask that permanently fuses with your soul can do that to you, but why say you don't have a godson."

"Kakashi never told me you look like a humanoid wolf, or that you have a horn," the sage said with a sigh before he stood up and turned to the duke org who stood a little below his head with the fused body he currently had, "and security reasons on the godson thing."

"Understandable on the last account, don't like it, but understandable, and he must have wanted you to see for yourself how I looked, now, I need you to get rid of this five-pronged seal, after that, we can go back to not speaking to each other again," he offered.

"I'll release the five-pronged seal, but I'm also staying, I had to check in with my spy network, not whoring about, not all the time at least, but I also need to teach you a few things about your father that you probably don't know," Jiraiya informed.

"I know how to make the rasengan, I haven't gotten it yet, but I'm working on control first, but if you want to teach me how to get a three-way summoning, then I can take your offer," Zen-Aku offered, the part about the rasengan wasn't all true, but enough. He does know how to make it, he knows all the steps, but he's stuck on the third step, all that training he did when he wasn't with Alyssa or his team wasn't just for show after all, he was studying and doing all he could to become strong. How he got a hold of how to do the rasengan was simple, the third gave him books his mother and father left him to have when he got old enough, or found out the truth, it wasn't just the rasengan of course, but you need to start somewhere.

"A three-way summoning, not many even have one, let alone two, but three is just way too out there, out of curiosity though, what were you thinking of getting," he asked, if it was possible, he'd have to go ask the toad bosses about it.

"Wolf, hammerhead shark, and an alligator," was the duke org's answer, he knew it wouldn't be the exact same as his old dark wild zords, but it might be possible to get a variation of them back, that should give his dagger flute more power.

"The wolf will be easy, toads and wolfs don't usually mix, but they do have an alliance for peace, so they can be contacted, the hammerhead shark falls into the shark category, so I can more than likely get you that since it has water element like toads. The alligator is another story though, that's reptile, they aren't known for working with the other two, in fact, the reptile animal summons all hate the reptiles, and the reptiles hate the rest, they are better than the snakes though," Jiraiya informed.

"I understand; however, can you at least look into it, I know you don't want to, but it would help me greatly," Zen-Aku asked, he knew he might have to settle for just the wolf and shark animal summons, but it doesn't hurt to try.

"Fine, now lift up your armor and channel chakra into the seal so I can perform the release," he did as Jiraiya instructed and removed part of his armor channeled the chakra where Jiraiya finally said, "five-pronged seal release," before jabbing his fingers into his gut.

The duke org went over to the water and walked on it as though he was walking down a road then walked back to the land and cracked his neck before saying, "thank you, now, how are you going to ask your toad friends about the summoning?"

"Like this," Jiraiya effortlessly summoned a toad before giving it instructions, "tell Fukasaku that I need him to reverse summon me right away, I have to talk to the elder toad," the toad nodded before poofing out of existence, "I'll see you later kid," soon, he was gone as well.

"Well, I guess I should start training somewhere else, this is bound to be very destructive," Zen-Aku commented to himself before leaving the area and finding a spot in the woods with a stream, this was the perfect spot to do some training. First was some strength training to see how far he could go, it was quite far, then came speed, he was faster then he was back on earth, twice as fast in fact, three times if he pumped chakra into his muscles, same with his strength. Summoning his weapons was easier and quicker, he barely had to put any of his org energy into summoning them, the amount of power he now had was equivalent to that of maybe a dozen master orgs, he could take on all of his fellow orgs with no problems. He must have spent until nightfall testing his limits, which were frightening for a genin to possess, before he decided to return to his apartment for some rest while he figured out how all of this would help him kill Neji in the third exam.


Next day

Zen-Aku rose bright and early without an alarm before putting on his mask that was beside the bed and getting ready in his armor before heading to the hospital and playing his flute for Alyssa, only to find she was not only sitting up, but checking out. "I thought you might be out of it for a while longer, I had planned to come and play for you while the deer healed you," Zen-Aku said from behind her and watched as she jumped and turned to look at him.

"I'm glad you came, I was going to go out looking for you as well when I got out, I was going to thank you for that song you played yesterday, it got the deer zord to kick everything up a notch," Alyssa stated as she finished packing her things from the room.

"Good, are you ready to get you out of here, I need a training partner, and I know that you're the only one able to do it," he asked with a wolfish grin behind his mask, she turned to him and gave a smirk that reminded him of a tiger. They walked out together and made their way to the clearing in the forest that he was at yesterday and were about to train when they were interrupted by a poof of smoke that came from between them, it was Jiraiya with a serious expression.

"There you are Naruto, well I should say Zen-Aku now, anyways, I talked to the elder toad and he gave me something, it was a bag of marbles to give to you, said you should give them to someone named Alyssa Hyuga, does that name mean anything," he asked.

"Yes, she's the girl standing right behind you," Zen-Aku replied before pointing behind him, when Jiraiya turned, he was greeted by someone with long dark blue hair that came down to the small of her back and pale eyes in a fighting stance not Hyuga.

"Okay, here," Jiraiya took out a bag and tossed it to her, she caught it with ease and was about to look inside when he spoke again, "some metal man contacted the elder toad, said he had been searching and found you through the realms. Said to give you that and tell you that three you would recognize as your own, the other three you could use to seal the mask's power away and hide it in the divided crystals, but it only works if the mask isn't on someone, and I doubt it'd work now anyways," he glanced at his godson.

Alyssa opened the bag and took out, much to Zen-Aku's shock, the elephant, the deer, and the tiger crystals, but what good will that do without the actual zords themselves, then she brought out the alligator, the hammerhead, and the wolf crystals. What was going on here, there was something else in the bag as well, a note addressed to her, "Alyssa, these can be used as a catalyst for you to summon the spirits from your soul to fight when needed, you can use the other three to seal the power of the mask. I put their souls in the crystals as well, this will give them enough power to seal all of the mask's power and allow you to keep it safe on your person, be well and don't forget, the power of the wild zords is always with you-Animus."

By now, all three of them was reading the note and got a good clue about what the guy was thinking, "so, do I get the wild zords, or are you going to use them to try and separate both parts of me," Zen-Aku asked from behind her.

"Oh, I don't see why not, I know you're not evil or anything, and to have the power of our zords with us would be a great asset against summons," Alyssa guessed as she picked out the three-former dark zords and gave them to him. He put them in his flute and began to play his song, it was glorious, Alyssa loved the song, he played it so well, but usually it held a sense of longing to it, but now, it held a sense that he was now complete, that he could do anything now.

"Thank you, Alyssa, thank you so much," he said before leaning in and removing his mask to kiss her, he did it faster this time so not to be disturbed by someone, and she instantly returned the kiss making her body go flush with his as they embraced each other. The feel of the soft lips on his was euphoric, giving a rush the likes of which he had never felt before, is this what it was like to kiss a loved one, is this the true feeling that he had been missing when he was just an org, it wasn't a heart, it was love.

They broke apart when they needed some air and left the both of themselves panting a little, this was going to be a great month, Alyssa spoke first, "I guess this means I'm a bit of a furry, huh, oh well, I don't mind," she gave him another quick kiss.

"If you two are done giving me inspiration for my next book, I think it's time that I begin your training, and it's going to be one hell of a ride, I can't wait," Jiraiya commented, if they only knew what he planned to do for the rest of the month, if only they knew.


Day of the final exam

For a month, an entire month, they had been put through hell on earth, the damn bastard of a pervert trainer beat them, talked down to them, questioned them at times, and just about ditched them whenever he could to peak on some swimming women. During that month though, they had been given something few get to experience, they had been trained by one of the sanin, the great toad sage of Mount Myoboku, the godfather to Zen-Aku and sensei of his father Minato, they were stronger than ever.

It was morning now, the morning of the third and final round of the chunin exams, and the Hyuga haven't seen one hair on Alyssa's head for the entire month, they haven't even heard of a rumor about where she could be, even through the use of their byakugan. Zen-Aku also disappeared from the village, not even the cooks at Ichiraku ramen knew where he was, the hokage almost feared the worst, but then Jiraiya came in and said he was training the boy and his girl to become even stronger, so he calmed them down.

So, here we are, in the morning of the day of the chunin exams, in one apartment, resting from their month-long training sessions were Zen-Aku Uzumaki, the most unpredictable wolf in the hidden leaf village, and Alyssa, tigress of the leaf. Why were they in one apartment, after having their entire forms beaten and bruised so badly, they just wanted to sleep in each other's arms that they didn't care if it would be frowned upon, they were only sleeping anyways, too young for anything more than that. That didn't help the blushes that were on their faces after being woke up by the blaring of the alarm, they were so close to each other, if it wasn't for Alyssa being on his chest, he's sure his horn would have impaled her by now.

They quickly separated from each other and prepared to head to the arena for the final round, both having their standard attires on, Alyssa in her old ranger uniform that was altered a little to fit her growing body, Zen-Aku with his dark wolf armor. They casually walked to the arena with her left arm interlocked with his right arm, they were just about there when they saw her father walk in with her little sister, they had scowls on their faces instead of the normal stoic looks. "Are you sure you'll be fine, I don't feel too comfortable letting you go off alone," Zen-Aku asked, in a worried tone, usually he wouldn't be so worried, but he didn't trust those Hyuga to not do something with Alyssa while he had his back turned.

"I'll be fine, you just go in and do your best, don't worry about me, I'll see you when you win," Alyssa said before kissing his cheek for luck and walking in the entrance for the audience, he went through the fighter's entrance and saw everyone except Dosu and Sasuke were there.

He watched on as calmly as everyone else was when the kazakage came in and had a brief discussion with the hokage before the beginning address was announced, it was now time for the fights, but one more announcement needed to be made first it seemed. "There is one more thing before we get started," the new proctor to the exam stated, Zen-Aku briefly wondered where the other one was before he noticed the proctor did something, he pulled out a new sheet of paper, on it was surprising for most. Now, all the matches up to Ino and Dosu's match was the same, only thing was that now, Ino was going against whoever won against Temari and Shikamaru, something must have happened to Dosu in the last month, probably dead. "Alright, the terrain is different, but the rules are the same as before, that is that there are no rules, the match continues until one candidate acknowledges defeat, or dies, with that being said, if I determine that a match is over, I can step in and stop at any time. No arguments are permitted, understood," he asked, and nobody answered but he knew they were paying attention anyways, so they understood, "these are the opponents for the first match, Zen-Aku Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga, those two stay, the rest can wait in the waiting area."

Everyone else walked on up and left the two fighters alone, they turned to one another and waited until the match officially started, but before it did, Neji asked, "you got anything to say to me," and boy did he.

"Yeah, I'm going to enjoy watching the life leave your eyes as I repeatedly step on your head and carve out your heart," Zen-Aku stated with a growl, just because Alyssa was alright doesn't mean that Neji wasn't going to get what was promised.

Neji got into his stance and activated the byakugan while the duke org just stood still as a statue with his arms to his sides and his eyes fixed on his opponent, "so much the better for me, I can't wait to see the look of despair when you learn how foolish your vow is."

The proctor started the match and they both waited, neither made a move and chose to wait and see what the other one might do first, in the end, Zen-Aku decided that he might as well get this over with, he brought forth his dagger flute and began to play. It was his own song, not a song for the deer, but the song that he always played before a battle, it helped to calm his mind, Neji obviously saw this as a form of possible genjutsu or something, which is why he went in for an attack with a hit to the shoulder. What a mistake, as soon as the attack was done, the duke org suffered through the slight pain before in a flash grabbing the boy's attacking left hand with his right hand before it could retreat, and the right hand could come up for another attack. "Did you really think I couldn't see what it would take to defeat you, to defeat any Hyuga with such little experience, all I had to do was grab the attacking hand before it could retreat, and the other hand could come up and attack again. All of you Hyugas have the same habit, I think that's why your cousin is stronger then you, in her form of fighting, you don't solely rely on your arms to deal the damage, you don't retreat in your attacks, you just attack like a wild tiger," Zen-Aku stated with a smiled. The duke org squeezed his arm and cracking was clearly heard as the pressure was increased even further, Neji made to strike with his other hand but that was caught as well with the same thing happening to it, this was a short match.

"You bastard, you can't beat me, you're just a failure, just a failure like that disgrace that uses a style not like that of the gentle fist, I can't lose to you," Neji adamantly refused to lose to this guy, he couldn't ever lose to the likes of him. The pressure increased and Neji was grunting in pain and trying not to yell, when the pressure was taken even further you could clearly hear sounds of snapping as the bones were breaking and finally snapped his arms fully and broke the bone in two. The duke org let the form of Neji fall to the ground as he let out a silent scream in pain at having both his arms broken, Zen-Aku brought up his right leg and kicked the Hyuga up into the air before summoning his crescent blade in a flash. He stuck his blade out and let gravity take hold and finish the match for him by sending the boy back down and letting him be impaled through his back and out of his stomach, the duke org ended things by unsummoning his blade and letting the limp Neji fall.

"The winner of the match is Zen-Aku Uzumaki by way of death," the proctor announced as everyone else remained in stupefied awe at just how easily the genin of the previous year was killed before cheering was heard, it was from Alyssa of all people. She didn't like death in any form, but she also knew that no matter what she said, she wasn't able to talk him out of killing Neji, but since she was a ninja now and was supposed to get used to death anyways, she decided to get passed it and cheer on her love. When she saw him turn his head and she just knew he was sending her a wolfish grin, she couldn't help but blush at him and cheer on a little more, it was fine with her that she was the only one cheering, too caught up in the excitement to care who saw her.

Zen-Aku winked at Alyssa before making his way to the waiting area and looked on as the next match was to be called, but there was obviously a delay since they were discussing weather or not to disqualify him for being late or not, which was pointless. If he's not here, he deserves to be disqualified, there was no reason to actually not disqualify him, the dignitaries would just have to put up with not getting to see Sasuke and working with having him fight with Gaara in the next round, that would be better. Seeing as how the proctor just announced that they would continue and postpone his match and jump ahead to the next match, they refused to listen to what was truly needed here, and instead chose to show favoritism, what a foolish old man. Then Kankuro decided to withdraw and not even show any of what he could do, did that mean that he didn't have any desire to become chunin, it was a coin toss with that one, luckily Temari decided to fight. This one wasn't that much of a battle, more of Shikamaru extending his shadow and Temari keeping her distance for a while until the shadow was beyond half of the wall and Temari couldn't dodge, but in the end, he just gave up, zero motivation that one. Then came Ino's smartest decision yet, she chose to withdraw from the match instead of try and get killed because of Temari, it was a wise decision, not the most noble when it came to honor or pride, but it was the smart one, so that had to be given to her.

Zen-Aku just stood there and watched as the winner returned to the waiting area and the proctor announced that they had to wait another ten minutes before the match with Sasuke was going to be called either way, if he wasn't here already, he didn't deserve to be a chunin or fight. After a few minutes of waiting, they finally showed up in a swirl of leaves, and by they, Zen-Aku saw that both Sasuke and Kakashi finally showed up, Sasuke now wore a black outfit instead of a navy blue one, he seemed stronger, but that could just be for show.

Zen-Aku didn't see the need to be in the waiting area and decided to go check in on how Alyssa was doing, he saw her watching everything while keeping an eye on him and saw that he was looking her way, so she smiled and waved at him with a big smile. He saw this as his cue to speed over in a burst of his shadow form and got to her quite quickly and stood in front of her, everyone else was too focused on the current match to notice him, which wasn't that important to him, only one he needed to worry about was her. "I hope you don't mind if I sit here, standing over with the others has tired out this old wolf's legs," he said as he filled the seat beside her without waiting for her response.

"Oh of course, such an old wolf needs his old joints to be well rested after standing for so long," Alyssa said back to him with a teasing smile, she's made peace with the fact that Zen-Aku himself is also in there a long time ago and can even joke about it.

They watched the final match together while holding each other's hands and saw that Sasuke was using taijutsu to get around Gaara's sand, but he must have known that it wasn't enough, so they watched until Gaara encased himself inside of a hard sand shell. That was when Sasuke revealed that he was now capable of performing the chidori, after the chidori hit the shell and pierced it, that was when the chakra of a tailed beast was felt by Zen-Aku, Shukaku had awoken, and he felt quite angry.

"Interesting, Kakashi not only worked on Sasuke's speed, which was the only effective way to counteract Gaara's sand, he also taught an A-rank jutsu such as that to him, possibly on par with a regular rasengan," Alyssa commented.

"True, but that attack did something they didn't expect, while it did pierce his shell, it also helped to awaken Gaara's inner demon, the one tailed Shukaku is now on edge and I have yet to make a usable seal for the out of control demon," Zen-Aku commented.

Gaara sent a hand of Shukaku to hit Sasuke, but he got away from it and let everyone see part of the sand spirit, the shell cracked and disintegrated to sand showing a Gaara holding his shoulder that was bleeding immensely, he was also panting quite hard. All of a sudden though, white feathers were coming down from out of nowhere, and it was making them drowsy, with only a nod to each other, Alyssa and Zen-Aku performed a genjutsu release in an instant as to see what was going on. It looked like all of the ninja that sensed it in time was able to release it as well, including all the jonin senseis and Sakura, but before anything else was done, there was an explosion in the hokage's booth, not only that, but there was another at the other side of the village. Multiple ninja from the sound burst forth from the audience and made to attack those that weren't under the genjutsu that put those in the audience asleep, another crash was heard, and a giant three headed snake was seen in the distance to the east.

Zen-Aku brought forth his crescent blade before turning to his left just as Alyssa activated her byakugan and turned to her right and prepared to strike with her hand seemingly aimed at his head before in a flash there was a splash of blood. There were two sound ninjas behind them both, the one behind Alyssa had the crescent blade sticking out of his back while the one behind Zen-Aku had his heart pushed form his chest from the force of her attack. "You really should watch your back, that sound ninja would have easily killed you if I didn't summon my blade quick enough," he commented at her, it was almost scary good how in sync they were sometimes.

"I could say the same for you, but as long as you have my back, I don't see why I would ever need to watch it myself," she commented right back to him, clashing was heard all around them and the snake was still wreaking havoc.

They each retracted their weapons from the bodies and let them hit the floor before Zen-Aku reached into his pocket and pulled out his alligator and hammerhead crystals, "you actually have to, use these or your own to even the playing field, I'll keep the wolf."

"Fine, be safe in going after Gaara, and don't destroy the village to bad, we still live here you know," Alyssa said before she kissed him on the cheek before summoning forth her white tiger and riding it to confront the snake.

Zen-Aku went over to where Kakashi was and saw that Sakura was about to wake up Shikamaru whenever he revealed that he was awake the whole time and hoping to stay out of an A-ranked mission, lazy bum. Kakashi was about to be blindsided at one point, that was when the duke org made his presence known by cutting the random sound ninja down with his crescent blade before grabbing a random kunai from the air and throwing it to kill the sound ninja who threw it. "I'm guessing we're going to stop Sasuke and either take Gaara down or find some place to stay safe and await further orders," he guessed and received a nod in return, a nod from both Kakashi and a dog he summoned to lead them to the boy.

"Yes, now you, Shikamaru, Sakura, and Pakkun are all to go and stop him, find some place to stay low and await further orders, now go," Kakashi ordered and the duke org headed straight through the wall with enough force to break it easily. He stayed in the new hole for a moment before turning back and motioning for them to follow, they did so and took off as fast as they could in the direction Sasuke was going, they used the trees to follow instead of the ground.

Zen-Aku heard a crash and saw that Alyssa had brought forth the alligator to take on the snake, and she calls him a showoff when she's making a spectacle about taking on a giant snake, cheeky little kitten. A giant claw bashed the snake across one of its heads before a tail was seen hitting the alligator, who then returned with another giant claw to another head before following up with a tail swipe to keep the snake off balance before it was another claw strike.

Alyssa had that fight in the bag, all he had to do was keep Gaara at bay and then let the emergency protocols of the leaf take care of the sound ninja that tried to take their home, and all he needed to do was make sure they weren't followed. He made a quick shadow-clone before sending it to make sure no enemy ninja could get to close to following them, good thing he had power that could rival a jonin, and any pursuers they had were high chunin at best, not at all jonin. As they kept going, Pakkun smelled the trouble but also smelled the duke org's clone killing all of them in a haze of bloody crescent waves and overpowered attacks to make a show of his power but was sure to keep one alive to spread the legend of the wolf duke org, Zen-Aku. Pakkun lead them through the woods as fast as they could, in time, Sasuke stopped for a brief moment before he started going again, an enemy he was fighting hot on his trail, pretty soon he caught up to them again before he was on the move again. They had to go around some fighting that was between two people, one was probably Shino, didn't sit to well that his opponent withdrew, so he's taking on Kankuro, but they had a mission, so they avoided the personal fight and headed to catch up with Sasuke. Soon, Sasuke and the other two stopped, they seemed to stay in one place and allowed the team to catch up to them, they sped up their pace and soon arrived at the sight of Sasuke on his stomach with the curse mark activated and Gaara about to kill him. So, Zen-Aku shadow phased to the attacked jinchuriki and delivered a right hook right to the offender's face and made him spin a little as he headed backwards and landed in a tree before he re-balanced himself and got ready to go again with a feral look in his eyes.

"You two should leave with Sasuke, I'll be fine, just need to teach the little runt what happens when you mess with big brother," Zen-Aku said cryptically, earning him confused looks from the other two members of the team, but not the dog.

"I thought I smelt something familiar so you're a jinchuriki too, never thought I'd meet one as mentally stable as you though, come on kids, let the wolf take on the raccoon over there," Pakkun ordered, the other two seemed reluctant to leave him alone.

"You can stay there if you wish, just don't get in my way, this isn't going to be a fight between ninja, it's going to be a fight between two monsters," Zen-Aku raised his chakra to extreme heights and let them know that he could take on Gaara alone.

"We won't leave you alone, but we also won't get in your way, try to stay safe," Sakura demanded before her and Shikamaru grabbed Sasuke and was about to leave when Gaara tried to jump over and kill them, he didn't get very far with the duke org in the way. In trying to get past, Zen-Aku grabbed hold of Gaara's left foot and with his left hand and casually tossed him to where he hit a tree, and broke it in two, when another attempt was made, the duke org uppercut the boy and sent him slamming into a tree.

"How, how are you so strong, how many people have you killed, how many lives have you taken, how can you be able to appose me, what are you," Gaara yelled out in his primal state, he really has lost his mind if he didn't remember who he was.

"Fine, I'll tell you, my name is Zen-Aku Uzumaki, the wolf duke org, the outcast, the pariah, the demon brat, the hell spawn, the most unpredictable ninja in the leaf village, and the jinchuriki of the nine-tailed fox," Zen-Aku announced, the others gasped from the news. "You guys should fall back, take Sasuke and wait over there with Temari while I knock some sense into our brother, I say our because Gaara may be her brother, but he's also my fellow jinchuriki, so I need to teach little brother not to mess with big brother." Gaara transformed again and covered his entire upper body in sand and looked just like a miniature Shukaku with human legs, he made a mad dash for the duke org and intended to hit him with an overgrown sand fist, and just as it was about to reach him, the unexpected happened. Zen-Aku brought out his hand, but something about it was off, instead of a black hand trying to catch a giant sand coated fist, a giant red claw caught the giant sand fist, a red claw that was coated in red fur and white nails, a claw that reeked of hate, and power. "You see Gaara, it's not about how many I've killed, even though it has been a lot in the countless centuries I've lived, it's not the loneliness that makes me strong, not the love I have for myself, I don't love myself, not the hate for those that abused me. No, the thing that makes me strong isn't even the nine-tails and his power, the one thing that makes me stronger then you is that if you rampaged around, you'd run into Alyssa, and I can't allow you to hurt the one woman in this entire village that I love."

Zen-Aku threw the hand away and speed straight for Gaara in a rush of speed and hit him with a furry of punches aimed at the monster's midsection before said monster used its tail to swipe at the duke org and caused him to jump over mister one and land behind him. With the tail not guarding the lower form, he was able to summon his crescent blade and used his crescent wave to destroy most of his armor in one motion, since the armor must be weakest at that point, and with the explosion that followed, he was right. The sand looked like it just got done being made into the pillow for the whole of the Akimichi clan, the duke org thought now would be a good time to continue the attack, he went in and used his crescent blade to cut off all of the rest of the sand from him. After that was done, the duke org kicked Gaara to the ground before sending a bolt of lighting he generated from his horn to strike the fallen boy, and since he heard sounds of him screaming in pain, he guessed that did the trick, the boy was done with this battle. It wasn't until he heard more screaming then what should be that he thought something was wrong, that was when the entirety of Shukaku came forth and toward over the trees in the forest like a giant raccoon.

Zen-Aku had his own tricks though, to start off with, he brought forth his flute dagger and started to play a rhythm before the wolf zord he had in his possession came forth and looked ready to fight already, it didn't help the situation when Gaara cast the play possum jutsu. The jutsu put him to sleep and allowed the full consciousness of Shukaku to come forth, the battle between wolf and raccoon wasn't too long, mainly Shukaku shooting at wolf with air style: air bullets and wolf dodging before the duke org jumped into the fight. While Shukaku was distracted with the wolf zord, Zen-Aku used that as a good opportunity to shadow phase to Gaara and punch him between the eyes before going a little bit farther and round house kicking the boy in the side of the head, that should wake him up a little bit. When he saw that Gaara was awake, he did something else as well, he brought up his left knee and slammed it into his chin to ensure the tailed beast would be gone for quite some time, a lesson learned through a physical beating is just as good as a good sit down. The sand demon crumbled away to dust and fell on top of a tree below, Zen-Aku landed on the opposing tree and stood there with his arms crossed and back rigid, the boy looked beat up and keeping chakra flowing for that long took its toll on him. The boy was struggling to even stand from the attacks that he was dealt, but he tried one more time, he jumped and intended to hit the duke org with a right hook, but that was grabbed and was given a fist to his gut for his troubles before he fell to the forest floor.

"How, how are you so strong, with everything that has happened, how are so much stronger then me, why, why do I have to disappear," Gaara asked out loud as he laid on the ground, he saw that Zen-Aku was approaching him.

"I don't think you understand, just because you kill doesn't mean you are providing meaning to your existence, you are lessening it, you have experienced what few others have though, true loneliness, but you are not alone. You have both your siblings with you, they do love you as well Gaara, they just don't show it because you cause them to be afraid of you, you turned yourself into the monster they saw you as, but you are young, you have an entire lifetime to grow as a person. I'll make you a promise as a fellow jinchuriki, I will find a seal to fix you and make you sane again, until then, let others in and allow them to see a side of you that you don't show others, a side that protects those that are precious to him," Zen-Aku said before walking away. He felt the presence of Kankuro and Temari approaching, what happened next for them was a private affair, so he walked away and back to his team where Sakura and Shikamaru was watching over Sasuke, who was looking better and in a sitting position.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about that Gaara guy anytime soon, how did you do all that, and what was with you saying something about being a jinchuki for the nine-tailed fox," Sakura asked him when he was within sight.

"It's jinchuriki, it means I'm like a scroll and seal away the nine-tails from the rest of the world, that hand you saw was part of his body, meaning I can take on his form without becoming him, I also keep my sanity with the seal used to seal it away. You all were lied to when told that the nine-tailed fox was killed by the forth hokage, in truth, he sealed it into me when I was just under an hour old, that is why you see everyone avoid me on the streets, the older generation didn't take kindly to the sealing. In the end though, with Gaara being a fellow jinchuriki like me, and me being talented in sealing, I promised to find a way to fix him, that way he can sleep and regain what sanity he lost, in the meantime, I think Sasuke needs to get that fixed." Zen-Aku mentioned before motioning towards Sasuke's curse mark, "and don't worry about the outcome of your fight, you were up against an unstable jinchuriki, anyone other than a jinchuriki would have lost, so you might just be promoted to chunin based on how far you got alone."

"Well, isn't that comforting to know, you know Naruto, you might not be as much of a loser as I thought," Sasuke said with a friendly smirk on his face as he allowed himself to fall asleep, he knew his friends would watch over him now.


A few days later

The third hokage was dead, killed when Orochimaru attacked the kage booth and fought with the old man in what was considered kage level combat using both the first and second hokage, but in the end, Hiruzen sealed away both of their spirits and done damage to Orochimaru's arms. It was an important day, a victory, and a loss, victory over the sound and sand invasion forces, but a loss at losing a wise kage, no matter what may have happened in the past, that never made it the right thing to have a once trusted figure die before amends could be made. Now, here Zen-Aku and Alyssa are, at his funeral, with neither having made amends with the man who they, of all people, should have understood the situation he was forced to go through, he hoped that people would show their best, even though he knew he shouldn't. They wore the standard attire worn for a funeral, all black, Zen-Aku still wore his mask, only Alyssa knew his face was still like that of a wolf, a little more human to be sure, but still closer to a wolf than human, everything else was just that of the funeral attire. Neither had a scratch on them while many others had bandages from all the fights they endured while the invasion had taken place, but the thought of not reconciling with the third hokage caused a bit more damage than they had ever felt. They stood side by side in the crowd, just a random spot in the crowd, couldn't face the man's picture from the guilt they were feeling, and many others could be seen crying for the third, not them, they let no emotion show on their faces, they couldn't. Zen-Aku was a warrior, he knew what it meant to be one, be a ninja, be the hokage, fight for what you believed in, he wouldn't cry at a warrior's death, he would celebrate and honor his memory, he would sing his name with the others, but he would not cry. Alyssa would not cry because she was to guilt-ridden, she was the one who tricked the hokage into telling Naruto who his parents were, she was the one who got him mad at the third, so she wouldn't let herself cry, she started it, so she couldn't shed a tear over it.

"In time we will move past this, you may feel guilty about it now, but do not forget, we have something many do not, perspective, we will get over this pain, but not by forgetting it, we will by using this pain to remember him for the good, not the bad." Zen-Aku whispered to her as he grabbed her hand, that was when she felt it, his hand was trembling a little, he was trying to be strong, to not cry at how the hokage died, he died like a warrior in the eyes of the duke org, so he wouldn't cry for the way he died.

"Yes, we will use this pain to help guide us, help guide the memory of a good man who did what he thought was right, a man who protected the village until his dying breath, the man that was a grandfather to us all," Alyssa whispered back. Zen-Aku always did know how to bring a smile to her face, when it was just Naruto as well, they made her smile every time she was hated on by her clan, cheered her up when she felt a little homesick, he didn't even know the reason, he just wanted to cheer her up. The last few days had been one filled with death, the next while may be even more so, but in the end, they will get past it, they will hold their heads high and take on whatever comes their way, the time to die is gone, now it was time to live.