Chapter 7;

Catastrophe

The sun was completely gone from sight now, the only light remaining a dim glow on the horizon. In that dim light the giant bird that soared high above the ships off the coast of the Earth Country was all but invisible. Even if someone did somehow manage to notice it, there was no way of them spotting what sat atop it.

A blonde haired man leaned over the edge of the bird as it flew, looking down on the ships through a scope on his left eye. He wore a black cloak decorated with red clouds, the trademark of the criminal organization Akatsuki. "So...the rumors were true after all."

Looking in the direction of Hidden Stone he could see the red glow of fire in the darkness. "Last I checked that village wasn't that weak. If these guys can take the village out then they could become a threat even to us. I'd better take a detour and go report this...where the hell is Zetsu when you actually need him?"

The bird turned and flew off away from the ships, leaving them to their destruction of the village. He was completely oblivious to the fact that one of his targets was fighting in Hidden Stone at that exact moment.

-

A ball of fire came crashing down at Naruto but he blew straight through it and continued at Homaru. His second tail was completely formed and a third was just beginning. He hit Homaru in the face with an open palm, throwing him through the window of one of the flaming houses. As he moved in to continue his assault a wall of flame rose up from the ground and threw him back into the ground.

Five pillars of flame rose from the fire, surrounded Naruto, and began to rotate rapidly around him, quickly closing in. The pillars collided in the center, a direct hit on Naruto. Homaru walked back into the street and watched as the pillars slowly died out. "Your power is incredible...but it's wild and uncontrolled. It's for the best though...if you could actually control it you might even be able to rise to the same level as the Elites."

Homaru's eyes widened as the flames finally cleared away completely. Naruto was gone and in his place was a being that seemed to be made of chakra. A minature Kyuubi with four tails faced him. He could tell that it was still the same boy he'd been fighting, but at the same time it was not. A gust of wind rushed over Homaru going towards the Kyuubi. He realized that the air was being pulled inward from every direction and at its center, directly in front of the Kyuubi's face, a black ball of chakra was beginning to form.

It quickly reached the size of a basketball and with a roar from Naruto, launched forward straight at Homaru. In his shock he didn't react immediately and that short delay was more than enough. He raised his arms up in front of him to try and block as much damage as he could, having no time to avoid it entirely. As he got into his defensive stance two arcs of energy flew past him from behind, one passing on each side. The two arcs intercepted the ball of chakra, sending both Naruto and Homaru flying backwards as the three attacks exploded.

Homaru and Naruto lay on their backs on opposite sides of a crater a hundred feet across. The street and all of the surrounding buildings had been completely destroyed. Homaru sat up and looked across at Naruto. He lay there motionlessly and all of the tails had vanished. He was back to normal. Before Homaru stood a voice came from behind him. "Would ya look at that? Lil' Homaru gettin' his ass handed to 'im by a stupid kid."

Homaru climbed to his feet and turned around. "Juube..." The name came out sounding like a growl.

"Hey now, don't be gettin' pissed at me. It ain't my fault." Juube said as he walked up to him, paying no mind to the destruction he'd just helped to cause.

"You're coming with me. Yukio-sama is furious right now...he sent me, Mina, and Nobu to bring you back to the ships."

"The battles goin' on at the gates went silent while I was havin' my fun, so I went to check them out before I came here. Mina and Nobu're both dead." Juube said with a hint of humor in his voice.

"What! That's impossible. Nobody here could have beaten them!"

"Ya can go take a look for yourself if ya want to. Pretty sure the buddies'a that kid you were fightin' got to them before I did."

"If you're telling the truth...then at least they died fighting for Yukio-sama. I was sent here to bring you back, that is my only objective. Now let's go." He turned and started walking north.

"Yeah, yeah...whatever." Juube responded with a smirk as he followed.

-

Ten minutes passed as Naruto lay on his back. His face was covered in blood from a cut he assumed he'd gotten from whatever caused the crater that sat in front of him, but he couldn't remember. He remembered the pillars of fire converging on him and then he blacked out. When he came to he was on the ground bleeding with a huge crater in front of him.

He heard footsteps approaching him from the left but didn't have the strength to do anything but turn his head and look. Kakashi, Sakura, Tenten, and Gai were approaching him on foot and Lee was being carried by Gai. He appeared to be unconscious. As soon as Sakura spotted him laying there she ran up and knelt beside him. "Naruto! Are you alright!"

He tried to laugh but it came out as more of a gag, so he just grinned. "I think...I'll live..."

Talking was actually difficult. He realized that he must be even more injured than he thought...he just wished he could remember what happened. Kakashi walked over and lifted him off the ground, carrying him the same way Gai was carrying Lee. Everyone looked relieved for a moment, but then Gai's face became worried again. "Naruto...where's Neji?"

Naruto was barely still conscious but he heard the question. He managed to keep himself awake for just long enough to look towards the Tsuchikage's tower before blacking out entirely. The rest of the group all looked in the same direction and immediately noticed that the top of the tower looked like it had been the site of a major battle.They all started running that way immediately, hoping they weren't too late.

-

It only took them five minutes to reach the top, but what they found was not a pretty sight. Neji, the Tsuchikage, and his three guards were all facedown in a pool of blood. Tenten and Gai immediately ran to Neji while Sakura went to the Tsuchikage. "Neji! Are you ok!" Tenten yelled with panic in her voice.

Kakashi walked up beside Sakura as she examined the Tsuchikage, waiting for a response to an unspoken question. After a second she looked up at him and shook her head. "He's dead."

She then moved quickly to Neji to examine him as well. The first thing she noticed was the wound on his face. It looked like a dagger had slashed horizontally across both of his eyes. She turned towards Tenten and Gai. Gai was doing his best to remain calm, but Tenten was barely holding back tears as Sakura spoke. "He's still alive...but barely. I can probably save him...but the question is, would he want me to?"

"What the hell are you talking about! Of course he'd want you to! You have to save him!" Tenten shouted at her.

Sakura just looked from Neji to her with a sad expression on her face. "Tenten...look at the wound over his eyes. Even if I can save his life, I can't fix that. He won't be able to live as a shinobi anymore...he'll be blind."

This time it was Gai who responded. "Do it, Sakura. I have confidence in Neji. He'll find a way to pull through this."

She nodded slowly and went to work with the medical techniques Tsunade had taught her. Kakashi set Naruto down and walked to the edge of the tower. Gai did the same with Lee and followed him. Looking down they could see that all of the battles had ended and more than half of the buildings in the village had been completely destroyed. Kakashi spoke without looking towards Gai. "There are no shinobi left, the village is destroyed, the Tsuchikage is dead, and the civilians have fled into the mountains. Not only did we fail this mission in every way possible...but this is truly the end of Hidden Stone."

-

Juube pushed open the door to Yukio's throne room and stepped in with a smirk on his face. "Guess who's back, Yuk-"

He was cut off mid-word as Yukio's fist smashed into his face, breaking his nose. Before he had a chance to retaliate Yukio grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wall, causing the entire ship to rock. "Shogoten Juube...do you have anything to say for yourself before I end your miserable life?"

"Yeah...I do. Ya'd best calm yerself down or ya might accidently damage somethin' important." As he said this he reached into his pocket and pulled out an object which he lifted directly in front of Yukio's face.

He let go of Juube's throat and took a couple steps back staring at it. The object was a dark brown sphere about the size of a baseball. It looked very much like a giant marble except for one key difference, it was glowing. Something in the center of the sphere seemed to give off it's own light, illuminating the entire thing. "The Earth Relic...you found it..." Yukio said in awe, completely forgetting Juube's beating.

"But where are the other four!" Yukio demanded, suddenly remembering how angry he was.

Juube wiped the blood away from his nose and reached into his shirt, pulling out a scroll which he set down on the floor and opened. It was a map of the continent. "Best I can tell we're right 'bout here." He said as he pointed along the shore of the Earth Country.

"The map says this's the Earth Country. The five largest countries are the Earth Country, Wind Country, Fire Country, Water Country, and Lightnin' Country. Since the Earth Relic was in the Earth Country...common sense let's ya know where'ta find the other four."

Yukio grinned as he looked over the map. "It looks I may spare you yet...it's time to get to work."