Disclaimer: If you haven't figured out that I don't own Naruto or World of Warcraft by this point, I should be allowed to sue you every time you have another dumbass kid who brings down the overall IQ of humanity.

Death Knights: "We speak like this, worm."

Liches: "We speak like this, mortal."

White Zetsu (Or Su.): "I talk like this too! YAY!"

Black Zetsu (Or Zet): "Shut the hell up Su. This is why nobody likes you."

Lich King: "Listen or die, Mortal."

Under New Banners: Book of the Scourge

Chapter Seven: Rituals and You; How to banter your soul for worthwhile profits.

Rule Number 1: When you are making a pact or deal with any breed of dark entity, do NOT agree to or sign anything on the spot. Demand the deal be written down and then take said deal to at least three different and completely independent lawyers before signing your name on the dotted line. Dark entities are like Goblin Trade Princes when it comes to their deals; You might think you're getting everything you ever wanted only to get screwed over through loop holes and fine print.

Rule Number 2: When making any sort of deal or pact with any sort of entity (Not necessarily a dark one at that) NEVER offer them anything you do not already have ownership of! I've lost count of just how many times I've had to repeat this to people. Yes, offering a demon every single soul in a town or city is a good way to get on their good side but if you promise big and cannot pay up… lets just say things will get nasty really damn quick and leave it at that.

Rule Number 3: Under no circumstances should you barter anything that you require the dark entities aid to get in the first place. It might seem tempting, but it is sort of like going to a loan shark in order to secure a loan to pay off an earlier loan to the same loan shark! Sooner or later it's going to come back and bite you in the ass.

Follow these simple rules and you will be able to get exactly what you asked for, not what you wanted.

~Three simple rules to selling your soul on the market. ~

Eastern Plaguelands, Chapel of the Crimson Flame.

It was a grand day for the Scarlet Crusade. The righteous had stood firm against the tides of evil and triumphed against it, the walls of the Scarlet Crusade standing firm against what many had once believed to be the unending storm of undead monsters and their traitorous sympathizers.

Naxxramas had vanished overnight. The bastion of the Scourge's evil, the center point of the Lich King's unholy grasp on the Plaguelands that had years before been their homeland had finally been broken as the Lich King's pet lich had finally been forced to turn tail and flee from the light's righteous wrath.

Bishop Street had been more than honored to hold an unscheduled sermon to inspire those brave souls who had fought day and night to bring this joyous day about. In fact, he was even going to go so far as to turn a blind eye to the minor vices that many of his flock were partaking in to help celebrate the momentous event even as he went about tidying up his chapel.

Of course, while he was more then willing to cut a little slack this one night due to the nature of the victory, that didn't mean he was going to go easy on them tomorrow. It didn't matter if they were hung over or not, the light's standards would be maintained at all times. It was also a fine chance to find the truly devote by weeding out the common muck that often joined their ranks. The Crimson Dawn was getting ever closer after all.

So it was with mild surprise that the Bishop heard the door to the Chapel open. Turning around and pausing in his dusting of the older, barely touched holy texts that no one really read anymore but were simply too holy to throw out ( They were completely outdated after all. They still promoted 'Forgiveness' for lights sake!), Bishop Street was caught off guard at the sight that was before him.

It was impossible to know every single living person living under the creeds and protection of the Scarlet Crusade. Last time anyone managed to do a census on their organizations numbers they recorded over twelve thousand members. However, despite this Bishop Street had always attempted to remember if not the names of his flock then at least their faces. It made remembering who was attending his sermons a lot easier.

He had never seen either of the two people who were entering his chapel in a respectful manner fitting of warriors of the light entering a holy place. The one on the left, the male one, had azure blue eyes with short and spiky blond hair. He also had what looked like whisker marks along his cheeks that appeared to be some kind of birthmark of sorts. He was even carrying the largest sword he had ever seen in his life on his back as if it was nothing. It was almost comical how large the sword was, but despite this the Bishop couldn't take his eyes off the second figure.

She was female. While that might have seemed like a stupid statement if you laid eyes on her you would be forced to admit that just by looking at you she took the word 'female' and smashed it into your brain like a silk covered brick. She was blond, her hair hanging in two pig tails while her azure blue eyes seemed to glow with warmth. Like the male next to her, she also had whisker like marks on her cheeks, suggesting that they were brother and sister.

It wasn't Bishop like to give into such a temperamental and misleading emotion as lust, but Street had to confess that the woman could wear the uniform in such a way that if they sent her to Stormwind on a recruitment drive they would be assured of a fruitful wave of new recruits for their cause. Sure they wouldn't be the most devote of the faithful but loyalty and faith could always be beaten in after they arrived. Plus, odds were that they would merely be deployed as fodder against the undead hordes anyway so they didn't need to be that faithful to begin with.

More as an afterthought then anything else, he noticed that the uniforms that the two siblings were wearing were the ones used by the western branch of the Scarlet Crusade. With a small but controlled questioning look, Bishop Street asked "May I help you my children?"

Surprisingly, it was the girl who stepped forwards and bowed first… the act of which suddenly made the Bishop wish he was a few years younger. "We hate to bother one as faithful as yourself on the eve of such a joyous occasion but when news reached our settlement about the major victory achieved here against the undead monsters, We spoke to our captain about my fears that this withdrawal was nothing more then an undead ploy to make the faithful lower there guard just long enough to launch a surprise offensive. He agreed with us right away and gave our unit the order to head here as quickly as possible to help hold the defenses here incase the worst happens."

This time, it was the man who stepped forwards, bow as low as his sister in respect but lacking the same kind of charm that she had… at least on other males anyway. "Our captain advised us that before we presented ourselves to her holiness the High General, we should speak to you and receive your blessing first, milord."

There was wisdom in both of their words. While he hadn't said anything aloud about such a thing, Street could understand how they could have easily come to the conclusion that the undead were planning something. Of course, the undead were always planning something but pulling back a major stronghold in order to lure the faithful into a false sense of victory in order to lower their guard?

It was so crazy that if they weren't careful the bastards might just pull it off.

"While I have to admire your captain's wisdom, I should take you to see the High General as soon as possible. I'm sure that she has already thought about what worries you and I'm sure that she would be thrilled to have a few more trustworthy men and women like yourself around in the days to come. Oh, how rude of me, I forgot to ask you your names." The Bishop said aloud, giving them the opening to introduce themselves.

"Naruto Uzumaki." The male answered without a second thought, the smile on his face seemingly beaming at the thought that someone as important as the Bishop was taking a personal interest in him.

"Naruko Uzumaki." The female followed, her smile matching that of her brother. At the questioning look the Bishop gave them, Naruko explained "When our mother was with child, her and dad decided that if she had a boy they would call him Naruto, but if they had a girl they would call her Naruko. When she had a mixed gender pair of twins they used both names."

His unasked question answered, Bishop Street smiled as he started to walk past the two Uzumaki's, both of them following in his footsteps. As he left the Chapel, Street gave both the guards who were standing either side of the door a polite nod in greeting which was returned in kind before moving on to the eight other strangers in Scarlet Crusader clothing, leading the group towards the Headquarters of the High General herself.

After the group left, the two guards shared a quick look with each other before leaving their posts and walking around to the right side of the building. After a few moments, the first one came back around, carrying two black sacks with the greatest care imaginable. Opening the door to the Chapel, he slipped inside as the second 'guard' appeared from around the corner, dragging two dead bodies that looked exactly like him and the man who entered the chapel moments before, the only difference being that their throats had been slit.

Dragging them into the building and closing the door behind him, the 'guard' dropped the henge around himself, Naruto shaking his head as he dropped both bodies on the ground with no ceremony what so ever as he looked over at his clone as it read over the scroll that contained the details of the ritual they had to perform. "How many clones do you think we need for this?"

The clone continued to read the scroll for a few moments more in order to get a firm idea of how much effort was going to be needed. "Let's see… including us, we will need five more clones to perform the ritual itself, two more to take the place of the guards in order to keep people out while maintaining our cover… and three clones to check out the side building nearby. I don't want any surprises when we do this. Ten clones will suit our needs just fine."

Nodding his head in agreement, Naruto placed his hands together in a sign that was as familiar to him as walking or breathing. With a cloud of smoke that lasted a couple of seconds, ten exact replicas of himself were standing or sitting around the otherwise empty 'Chapel'. It had taken a little explaining to understand exactly whatever the hell a Chapel was and just why it was considered a holy place and Naruto was the first to admit that even now he didn't quite get the idea. Still, it would serve his purposes just fine.

"Alright everyone, you know what you have to do. Let's get to work!"

Right away, five of the clones brought their hands together before being hidden from sight by a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared five 'Scarlet Crusaders' stood in their places, two of them looking exactly like the men dead on the floor. Without a word they walked out of the Chapel in a line, the last one closing the door behind him as the real Naruto walked up to it and locked it behind the clone. Turning around and watching as the clones still with him began to swift the chairs and other objects out of the way in order to make room, he took an unneeded but not unwanted deep breath and went to go and help them out.

….

Less then twenty feet away from the Chapel, the three clones disguised as warriors of the Scarlet Crusade softly pushed open the door to check out exactly what was inside it. It was only after the door was opened that they discovered that the building had surprisingly good sound proofing. You couldn't even hear the screaming when you were standing next to the door.

Opening the door fully, the squad was surprised at the vast range of people that were in there. Humans, Orcs, Dwarfs, even a Tauren; the list went on. However, there were a few things that they all had in common. All of them had been stripped of clothing before being restrained in one way or another. Some were chained to the walls or floor, others were tied firmly to chairs or beds… all of them bore scars, burns and horrid looking fresh wounds. Some of them were still bleeding.

And at the centre of it all, tied to a table and crying her eyes out while screaming so loud that her shrill little voice was starting to go horse, was a small draenei girl tied to a chair. The cause of her screaming was easy to see; the man holding the red hot metal poker and jabbing it into her side was kind of hard to miss. In the corner of the room, in clear sight of what was happening in the centre was a rather distraught Draenei woman. Despite the fact that she seemed half starved and physically broken in a few places, that wasn't stopping her from trying with surprising might to break her own bounds and tear into the man holding the poker. "LEAVE HER ALONE DAMN IT! SHE DOESN'T KNOW ANYTHING!"

The man simply laughed at the woman's distress, turning towards her and mockingly taunting her by saying "Well I would take your word for it but since you've been lying to me this whole time about where your loyalties are I'm afraid I can't trust your word, undead loving traitor! Your daughter however hasn't done anything to discredit herself yet. Maybe we can finally hear the truth from the voice of innocence, hmm?"

Watching as the man removed his instrument of torture and torment, the little girl continued to cry as he asked her in an overly sweet voice "Now dear, do you know what your mother was doing, wondering the roads of the Plaguelands?"

Slowly, the girl managed to softly say in between sniffles "W…We w…were looking to j…join the A…A…Argent Dawn."

There was a moment of silence, as if time itself was holding its breath. While they might not have been created by someone who was overly good at reading body language, even from behind the man the henged clones could feel the aura coming off the man. A lightning fast flash back brought up another memory just like it. The boss had been helping out the pink bans… no, banshee would have been an insult to the ghostly ladies… helping out the pink haired bitch do her runs of a mental ward.

The feeling the man was giving off, when put into words, could only be described as 'Watching a mental patients medication stop working while said mental patient was wielding a rather large knife'.

"CHOKE ON YOUR LIES YOU MONSTER LOVING WHORE!" the man roared at the top of his voice, ramming the poker back into the young girl's flesh and inciting screams from both her and her mother.

The clones, watching from the sidelines unnoticed, were trying rather hard to think about what they should do in this situation. They were feeling what could only be described as a spiritual conflict as their duty to the Lich King conflicted with… something else…Something that they couldn't exactly place but for some reason felt important.

Okay. I know that my service to the Scourge demands that I kill everyone here. However, that seems like a complete waste of resources. I mean, these people have been tortured by this lunatic for who knows how long. That's not exactly going to make them friends of the Scarlet Crusade. In fact, this is the sort of thing that would inspire normally calm, level headed people to enraged violence; and if there was to suddenly be a prison break…

Having sorted out just what needed to be done the lead Clone kicked the door closed rather loudly, surprising everyone in the room and causing the torturer to turn around. When the clones saw the look in the man's eyes, any lingering doubt that he was bat shit insane vanished. "Who are you? What do you want?"

The other clones step to the side, looking at their leader in order to give him the opening he needed to explain his plan. "We were sent by the High General to take over the interrogation of one of your prisoners. We have recently received some evidence of a full grown draenei woman being a plague spreader. One of your more recent… guests I believe. Would you mind pointing her out to us so we can get started?"

As he spoke, the clone moved forwards with a calm ease, as if he was used to doing this sort of thing on a day to day basis. By the time he had named the person of interest, he had already reached the fire pit that the pokers were being heated up in. He asked the question of the woman's location as he picked up one of the tools of torment and pain.

The overly zealous nut job, grinning from ear to ear at the announcement that he had been correct from the start about one of his clients that he turned around without a second thought and pointed to the mother of the girl he had been playing with moments before. "That's the bitch, right over Arghh!"

Much to the surprise of everyone there, most of all the torturer himself, the leader of the group of 'Scarlet Crusaders' had cut off the mad man who seemed to live for nothing other then to cause them horrible pain by taking the red hot poker in his hand and ramming it into the lunatics back, right into his heart. As the mans dying screams quickly faded and the only sound coming from him was that of the flesh around the burning hot metal sizzling as it was cooked, the lead clone turned to his two subordinates and ordered "Come on, help me get these people loose."

While there was some confusion as to what was going on, the only things that the various peoples being held captive really needed to know was that 1) Their torturer was dead and 2) They were being freed by the people who ended him. While there were a couple of questions as to who exactly they were, the clones wisely didn't answer them in the slightest.

After a quick look around in the crates and cupboards in and around the side hut of horrors, some weapons, clothing and food were located. The food didn't last long, as the starved prisoners consumed it like ravenous locusts, but the weapons and clothing were handed out with a bit more care.

"You sure you don't want to come with us?" the orc male who was now wielding a rather large and deadly looking battle axe asked, the bloodlust in his eyes hard to ignore. The lead clone simply shook his head no. "I'm afraid not. Our little organization still has a few things to do here before we can bug out. Now our people are in control of the Chapel so you should be able to go passed it without any trouble, provided you don't try to attack the place. After that, you're on your own. Any Scarlets you see after that point are legit and would happily see you dead."

The message sent, the prisoners (Most of who belonged to the Argent Dawn of all things) nodded in understanding. "I…Is there anything I can do to repay you for saving my daughter?" The draenei woman asked, holding her daughter lovingly in her arms since the girl wasn't in a condition to walk anywhere.

The clones looked at one another for a moment, as if questioning what they could ask for in return when the lead clone answered for them easily enough "Don't worry about it. We didn't save her expecting a reward. We stepped in because the man torturing you was a nut case and needed to be put down like the animal he was. But if, on your way to freedom, you were to kill a few of these Scarlet dogs it would really be doing us a favor."

"It'll be my pleasure." The orc answered, the glint in his eyes promising that someone was going to die in the near future. With one final goodbye, the rag tag group of prisoners started to move away, making their break for freedom.

It was only when the group was long out of sight and hearing that the two lesser clones looked at their short term leader. "Why the hell did you let them go?" One of them asked, confused by the whole situation. The lead clone, looking at his subordinate, merely shook his head at his copies clear stupidity. "Simple. I let them go because they can serve us better as a decoy then dead. That's why in fifteen minutes, I'm going to get our brother here…" With that, he patted the shoulder of the clone that hadn't said anything so far "To go into the Scarlet HQ and alert them to the fact that there has been a prison break and that he saw them heading for the Hand's gate. While the Scarlet's are busy getting together and chasing down their escaped prisoners, we should be left alone long enough to get what we need done finished then get the hell out of here without too much trouble."

As the look of understanding finally dawned on the face of his slower counterpart, a look of confusion quickly returned to the clones face. "What will I be doing?"

"You'll be telling the boss about the plan to use a decoy of course." The leader of the clone trio answered truthfully, smiling darkly at the stupid looking grin that appeared on the dumb ass of the trio.

"Ssssweet! When should I go and tell him?"

Before the clone knew what hit it, the lead clone (Also known as Clone A) stepped forwards and smashed the dumber clone (Also known as Clone D) right in his stupid looking face. With the loud, wet crack of bone Clone D vanished into thin air and smoke, leaving nothing behind but a series of memories to the survivors. "Now."

After a moment of silence, the secondary subordinate clone (Also known as Clone B) asked "You enjoyed that far more then you should have didn't you?"

"Yep." Was the short, simple answer of Clone A as he looked up at the clouds above. "You know what? I'm in a good mood. Give them twenty minutes."

"Yes Sir."

…..

Back in the Chapel

Blinking briefly as the new memories entered his mind, Naruto couldn't help but sigh as he shook his head at the sheer stupidity of one of his clones. He wasn't the only one, as those clones around him followed his example without seeing him do it in the first place.

"Alright, so we've drawn what needs to be drawn, placed what needs to be placed and even prepared myself to undergo the whole process. What's next?" Naruto asked the clone holding the scroll and turning his body around to face him, the sound of bone wind chimes clacking together as he moved around.

The scroll holding clone (now known as Clone S) started to read over the scroll once more just to make completely sure that he hadn't missed any small but highly vital details. "Well… we have the ritual circles drawn down in a holy place… we have the chosen remains set up in the right order and fashion…" Glancing up from the scroll, Clone S looked at the boss and his makeshift 'outfit'.

Pressed against Naruto's body and held on by thin pieces of wire where the bones of both Haku and the Oto elite, as well as a few of Haku's still intact organs dangling against the right places. The affect, according to the scroll, was to look like a 'cheap Hallow's End costume with a slight twist'. While the holiday of Hallow's End had been explained to him, Naruto admitted that it seemed like something he would have to witness for himself before he fully understood it. Still, if one didn't know the bones were real, the Boss would have looked like a drunk moron that wanted to look like a skeleton by removing his clothing and wearing some old bones with wire.

"And thanks to our Scarlet 'friends' here we have the organs that we need to help power the ritual. The only thing left to do is for you to stand in the centre circle and let us perform the stupid chant." Clone S explained, reading the scroll once more for the sake of it.

"Alright then let's get this over with people." The original Naruto stated, taking a few noise filled steps so that he stood at the centre of what looked like a glowing purple masterpiece of seal craftsmanship. As the other clones started to find their positions in the grand scheme of the thing, a pentagon was quickly formed with the original being in the middle.

Clone S carefully put the scroll he had read countless times since the whole project began and simply dispersed himself in a puff of smoke, sharing his knowledge with his brothers so that they could use what he knew to perform the ritual.

Taking the disperse as a signal of sorts, the clones held their hands towards the center of the pentagon, opening and closing their mouths to speak the words that left their tongues twisting and turning into shapes and sounds that untrained ears like they own couldn't understand. While it sounded painfully demonic to him, Naruto didn't even flinch as the lines on the ground began to glow brighter and brighter.

Before he knew it, he started to float off the ground. Feeling completely weightless was a rather strange but not completely unpleasant sensation for him. Still the clones continued their untranslatable chant; still the purple lines glowed brighter.

At the height of his ascension in the air, it happened quickly. It wasn't so much a noise as it was a sensation of 'Crunch'. In an instant, all the bones that were somehow connected to the remains of the two shinobi he was wearing as well as the organs that he wanted to replace were crunched into a fine dust like a ton of rocks smashing into a human being.

Naruto's vision went white with the burning agony that the first few moments of this transformation was causing him, his mouth open but unable to scream at a pitch that humans could hear (For miles around the Chapel dogs, wolves and other canines were going completely insane with no one being able to figure out why).

When he thought that the worst of the pain was over, the replacements started to bond with him. Words failed to describe the sensation from the big crunch or the bonding process itself, but Naruto passed out within three seconds of it beginning.

….

Unknown location, Parts Unknown

Haku wasn't quite sure where he was at the moment.

He wasn't quite sure of a lot of things at the moment.

The last solid memory that he remembered having was of his death. It had been a rather uncomfortable affair that in hindsight he would have rather avoided attending, but it did have a few moments that made it bearable.

After that he remembered… being content. He couldn't remember just where he had been or what he had been doing, but whatever it was he had been content and at peace with himself and his world.

So it was a rather nasty shock to wake up here of all places. Looking around at his surroundings, Haku couldn't find an answer to the question 'How did I get here?' and instead asked himself where 'Here' was.

The place he had awoken in looked like a sewer… or at least, it had been once. Disrepair, boarded up passageways, dust and the fact that almost everything was coated in ice suggested that it had been abandoned ages ago. Even the water below his feet was frozen, raising the floor a few inches higher then it should have been.

Honestly, the cold didn't bother him in the slightest. In fact, it sort of reminded him of his home before the… unpleasantness. His home before he had been taken in by one of the seven swordsmen of the mist. There were some good memories there, even if it ended as badly as it did…

Still, that didn't explain what he was doing in an abandoned, frozen over sewer pipe.

Looking around at the frozen over sewer again to see if he missed something the first time, something new caught his eye… something orange; something that rang a rather loud bell in his mind. "It cannot be…"

Different Unknown location, Parts Unknown

All things considered, things could have been worse.

Kimimaro couldn't remember much of what happened between his death as his sheer force of will to serve his master simply wasn't enough to keep him going and waking up here. He could remember… blackness. Sorrow. Regret…

Shaking his head to get it out of the unknown past, the former leader of the Sound five took in his surroundings. It looked like it had once been a sewer tunnel, with the major difference of a mad scientist having decided to move in and start to turn it into a lab before abandoning the place halfway through construction.

Everywhere he looked there were pieces of medical and scientific equipment littered around the place. Some things he knew for a fact that Lord Orochimaru had; others he had never seen before but he felt his lord would have wanted to have them. There were devices laying about whose only purpose of existence seemed to be to cause insanity through mind breaking pain to some poor, helpless son of a bitch.

And the puddles of glowing green goo… Sweet Kami the puddles of glowing green goo…

The stuff was everywhere. Pooling on the floors, stained on the walls and ceilings… he had a strong gut feeling that if he was to touch any of it he would have the chance to watch one of his limbs melt before his very eyes.

Lord Orochimaru would never let one of his labs get into such an untidy and unorganized condition. Whoever ran this place was a hack when compared to his master's glory… But in all fairness, everyone looked like a hack when compared to Lord Orochimaru.

With a satisfied look on his face at the knowledge that he would be more then capable of handling whoever ran this place, Kimimaro began his trek into the unknown lab, all the while noticing the lack of pain or coughing on his behalf.

His smile seemed to grow brighter.

Things were already better then he last remembered.

…..

Chapel of the Flame, Twenty minutes after Fusion Ritual

As Naruto started to return to the land of the living, he did so questioning his sanity.

After he had blacked out, he had… it wasn't quite a dream but that was the only word that worked so he had 'dreamed' that he had been a loud, party obsessed pink female pony who was singing a song about cupcakes while baking and licking the spoons… His mouth still tasted like peanut butter…

Forcing himself to sit up, he looked at the scroll in his hand for a moment before opening it up and putting a pencil to it, writing down at the bottom in easy to read words

Warning: May Contain Nuts.

Feeling that his good deed to future users of the scroll had been complete, he managed to force himself to his feet before he began to wonder how he had gotten the scroll from across the room in the first place… as well as how he had gotten the pencil that no longer seemed to exist…

Deciding that some things were better left unanswered, he simply made a point to pretend this moment never happened and move on with his undeath.

Looking towards the nearest clone that had somehow gotten hold of a packet of cigarettes and was enjoying a smoke while he was waiting for the boss to come around, Naruto simply asked "What did I miss?"

"Clone A's decoy is currently underway. He delayed alerting the Scarlet zealots for a few extra minutes so their prisoners have gotten through the gate. They are currently running around and setting up search parties in order to recapture them. While a squad of the Zealots did attempt to investigate the Chapel, they simply vanished in the confusion. It will be a little while before anyone notices that they are missing." Clone C reported, taking one last puff from his smoke before taking it out of his mouth and dropping it on the floor, crushing it under his foot. "Your orders, boss?"

Nodding his head in understanding about the situation, Naruto internally debated his next move. While he might have felt a little weak after performing the ritual that combined Haku's and the bone wielders earthly remains with his own, after a few moments of resting he was started to recover from the experience.

Even as he stood there shaking off the weakness he already felt faster and stronger then he had ever been before. He felt great! But he still needed to keep a level head despite his surge of power. A compound filled with thousands of warriors trained and experienced in slaying the undead was not the best place for a death knight to test out his new body. Taking into account the fact that he was completely alone here and in a weakened state of being made detection rather suicidal right now.

"We will henge into the squad that tried to break in here. After that, we will make for the same gate that the prisoners used and we will simply tell anyone that tries to stop us that we have picked up their trail and are joining the hunt. After that we make our way back to base." The original stated, liking the plan already. More as an afterthought then anything, he added "And make sure to gather the remains of all the Scarlet bodies that we still have. We'll take them with us."

"Yes Boss." Clone C answered, dispersing so that the boss's orders would reach all ears.

….

An unknown amount of time later, somewhere in the wilderness of the Eastern Plaguelands

Naruto grinned as he continued to run though the dead and rotten forest of the plaguelands.

The plan had gone off without a hitch; the Scarlet's not even taking the time to question the newest squad joining the hunt and giving them their blessing to leave through the front gate. It was almost sad just how foolish the insane zealots were… almost. Sure they might not have encountered someone like him before and therefore didn't know what to look for but they could have at least put a little effort into it!

Still, after leaving the Compound behind him he had felt a little…restless. He wanted to test out his new limits a little and what better way to do that then to race the clones he had made prior to the ritual? It would give him a solid idea of what his improvements were.

Standing on the bridge that marked the boarder between the Western and Eastern Plaguelands, Naruto still couldn't believe how quickly he had left the clones behind in the dust. Reaching the bridge first miles ahead of the competition, Naruto had simply decided to lean against the stonework and see just how long it took for the clones to catch up.

To be honest, he wasn't expecting company in the slightest out here. Anyone undead wouldn't have given him a second thought, unless it was to show some respect to a higher ranked member of the Scourge. Anything living would make itself known long before he saw it simply because the nature of the Plaguelands would cause them to stand out.

Watching as what seemed to a perfectly healthy bird flew overhead in its attempt to head south, Naruto blinked. It was with a great deal of surprise then that before he opened his eyes again there was a rather sharp and painful polearm lodged through his chest, pinning him to the stonework of the bridge. The wielder of said polearm looked like what he suspected was a crossbred between humans and lizards, its scales so dark blue that it became a form of black while the lines between the scales glowed white.

When it spoke, its words sounded like they were having trouble figuring out just when they needed to be said, creating a rather weird sort of echo effect that was somewhat different then his own. "Naruto Uzumaki, today the deaths that you are destined to cause will be your own."

As the polearm twisted in his chest, Naruto felt the… whatever it was that gave him existence start to fade, his body quickly losing the strength to move and becoming as still as the corpse he had once been. The light in his eyes began to dim, the world around him growing dark as his eyes closed for one last blink.

And then, the world… shifted…

Opening his eyes again, Naruto found himself on a tree branch near the bridge, his chest free of polearms and no lizardman in sight. He remembered passing through here on his way to the bridge. Glancing upwards at the sky, his eyes widened as it had clearly moved back to the position it had been in when he had arrived here.

'What…The…Hell?'

Whatever just happened was burned into Naruto's mind. It had happened but, looking down at his chest clearly it hadn't. He would have merely dismissed it as a daydream if it wasn't for the fact that daydreams don't cause you to feel the pain of having a polearm in your damn chest.

'So, lizardman is waiting for me at the bridge in ambush. I don't know how the bastard managed to get near me without alerting me so easily, so walking into his trap with the intention of turning the tables isn't an option. I could go around him and avoid the trap completely but considering how determined he was I doubt he would just give up just because I avoided him once. I would have to worry about him jumping me down the road and I doubt I will get another chance. So let's deal with him now then.'

A course of action decided, Naruto placed his hands together. With a small puff of smoke, an exact copy of him appeared on the branch next to him. With a nod of his head, the clone continued on towards the bridge while Naruto trailed behind, staying in the shadows of trees and using them to hide as he followed the clone.

As the clone took up position on the bridge, Naruto remained in the shadows nearby to watch what was happening. If what he had witnessed moments ago was truly a vision of things to come, then this would be his chance to see just how exactly the lizardman had gotten the jump on him.

As a few minutes passed and nothing happened, Naruto was beginning to doubt his judgment when the bird he had seen flying south began to fly towards the bridge. The moment it reached the bridge, it froze in mid-air. This caught Naruto's attention. It was simply staying in the same position, not moving in the slightest in mid flap. By all rights it should have dropped to the ground but it didn't.

Once he noticed one strange thing, he began to notice the others as well. The river that had been flowing moments before had frozen into place just like the bird. In fact, everything on and around the bridge had simply stopped moving.

'It's as if… their frozen in time… But that shouldn't be possible!'

Placing his hands together just to make sure that he wasn't under a genjutsu of some sort, Naruto performed the release only to find that nothing had changed. No… That wasn't quite true. Something had changed.

'What is… what is making that 'sand through the hourglass' sound?

Before his eyes, three portals opened up on the bridge. There was one on both ends and one right in front of where his clone was standing. Out of the two portals at the edge of the bridge came two lizard things. While everything above their waist appeared humanoid, the rest of their body looked more like some breed of lizard like donkey. Their hands… their claws were shining a bright blue color as they kept their claws firmly focused towards the clone's direction.

Out of the middle portal in front of the clone stepped the lizardman with the poleaxe from before. Watching as it took a few steps towards the clone; Naruto let his hands think for themselves as they went about forming seals, the air around him starting to chill as it started to form the jutsu.

As the lizardman readied his strike, the two supporting lizard things stopped waving their arms about. The moment their claws stopped moving, time returned to the bridge… just in time to witness the damn polearm enter the clone's chest.

"Naruto Uzumaki, today the deaths that you are destined to cause will be your"

*Poof*

Naruto smiled at the look of surprise on the lizardman's face as his target vanished out of existence in a puff of smoke. However this was nothing compared to the look of confusion that followed when an unnaturally heavy mist suddenly rose up around him and the rest of the bridge, cutting off his vision.

"I see… so you were expecting an ambush… no matter. Your time is at an end Uzumaki. Nothing you can do will prevent it. All you are doing is struggling vainly against the inevitable. Even if you escape your fate at my hands this day, my brothers will never stop hunting yo ARGH!"

The lizardman's words were cut off by a horrible growl of pain. As the mist suddenly lifted as quickly as it appeared, all three lizard things were impaled hundreds of times from almost all directions by razor sharp needles made out of pure ice. The lesser lizard creatures simply fell to the ground dead while the larger, stronger and more humanoid creature only fell to his knees, struggling to breathe as it tried to summon enough magic to flee back to where it came from.

Before it even had the chance, the creature felt metal against its neck. Glancing down, he noticed that his neck was now in a semi-circle of sorts in the blade of an oversized sword of sorts. Slowly forcing himself to look at the wielder of the blade, his eyes narrow as they meet the unnatural glowing blue eyes that were now Naruto's own.

"As long as you…continue to exist… we will never stop hunting you."

"Let them come if they think they are strong enough. But today the hunt is over for you." Was all Naruto said as he jerked the blade, removing the lizard like humanoids head with a surprising amount of ease.

As the creatures headless body collapsed to the floor, Naruto was shocked as its remains turned into a fine, pure white sand of sorts. Even its weapon turned into dust. Looking around the bridge to prepare himself for an ambush that would no doubt follow from such a replacement, he noticed that the two lesser lizard things had turned to a sandy dust as well.

After a few minutes passed and nothing happened, Naruto put the Kubikiribōchō back on his back. If the creatures had used a replacement, it was clear that they had taken the chance to flee instead of launch a counter attack.

As something landed behind him, Naruto turned around with great speed, sending a kunai right into the throat of one of his clones. Watching as it burst into smoke, the other clones put their hands up in surrender. "Calm down! It's just us!"

Lower his hands, Naruto let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding. "Sorry. I thought you were one of the lizard things trying to get me when my guard was lowered. Let's…Let's just get out of here alright?"

With a nod of their heads, Naruto and his clones continued into the Western Plaguelands, silently pondering what the hell had just tried to kill him.

When they had left, two beings appeared on the bridge. One of them was a white haired gnome, who looked at her companion with a look of respect as she gave them a rather excited round of applause. "I can't believe you just pulled off a perfect physical premonition without alerting the user to the fact! I mean, I just saw you do it so of course it did happen, but still!"

"It isn't as hard as it's made out to be. In fact it's rather easy if you pick the right person. The real hard part is using it on yourself."

"While I have to admit that was impressive, I have to ask… why? I thought your flight wanted him dead." The gnome questioned with a look of interest on her face as she glanced at the being she was currently in the company of.

"They do. But I don't."

With nothing more to say, the gnome's companion vanished into the time streams. The gnome sighed as she shook her head. "I guess I will just have to wait and see then."

Death's Breach, Dusk

With the confusion of the prison break causing chaos in the Scarlet Enclave, fresh troops were sent to the possible entrances that the Scourge or any other possible enemy could use to get in or out of Scarlet held lands to reinforce the defenses at these locations. The squad from the Western branch of the Crusade was nothing short of a blessing of the light to the High General, sending them to Death's Breach rather quickly in order to ensure that no attack from the Noxious Glade was successful.

Naruto and Naruko looked at the bodies of the legit Crusaders that they had approached under the pretense of reinforcing them. They hadn't been prepared for an attack from within though, falling like flies to a can of bug spray. The two clones had dropped the disguise of being crusaders shortly after the slaughter, even if 'Naruko' insisted on remaining in a female form.

The two clones watched as the ghouls and the cult of the damned members from the glade exited the tunnel, looking around with great care despite the assurance that the place had been cleared out by a death knight. When it was ensured that the coast was clear, the cult quickly began to work at a feverous pace to get the defenses of the Scourge foothold into the Scarlet Enclave as secure as possible as quickly as they could. Word had gotten around that the Lich King himself was going to be inspecting their work. Fuck ups now would not be tolerated.

While the Naruto clone began to aid the Cult of the Damned members in setting up camp (Much to the surprise of the Cult members themselves) 'Naruko' kept an eye out for possible interference. While this was more of a secondary objective then anything else, both Clones were more then happy to see it done.

….

Scholomance, Western Plaguelands

It was the night before Winters Veil and all through Scholomance, the creatures were gathering down in the depths.

The Ghouls and the Plague hounds were howling in tune, the Geist were a prancing and Cult members dancing.

The banshees were singing a hauntingly sweet tune when a blond haired Death Knight stepped out of the Gloom.

He was wearing red and white clothing, a sack on his back. In a cheerfully loud voice he cried "Come get your crap!"

The undead gathered around in uncharacteristic glee, embracing the holiday like a night elf hugging a tree.

Opening his sack Naruto reached in blindly, unable to stop himself from smiling kindly.

To the Ghouls he gave some brains and guts, To the Geist he supplied a bag of mixed nuts.

The Plague Hounds were soon chewing happily on arms and legs, while the Banshees fought over blood covered rings.

With the gifts handed out they started to feast, enjoying the taste of the strange roasted beasts.

As when all were content they all sang clear, "Merry Winters Veil to All! We'll slay you next year!"

AN: Merry Christmas Everyone!

I hope you have a happy holiday and you all enjoy yourselves this fine season.

I would like to take the time to thank all my readers and reviews for taking the time out of their busy lives to acknowledge my stories. I would list you all like normal but right now I just want to get this uploaded as quickly as possible.

I hope you enjoy my few little twists and turns. I know that if you didn't I'm sure to hear about it soon enough. At least I hope too anyway.

But now its time to move onto the romantic interest.

We will be having one last poll. It will have three options on it.

Red

Infinite

Harem

I know I've never written a harem story before. But I've never written a story this good either. Honestly, I should have put it on an earlier poll but I've decided to give it a chance.

Besides, while I was planning things out for this story a relationship came to my mind. I would rather keep it in there one way or another but I'll put it to the vote. That poll should be up on my profile shortly.

BTW: That Scourge Christmas song was not just a little bit of fun. It was based on real events, expressed in a manner fitting the holidays. I hoped you enjoyed it.

Now Merry Christmas, Happy holidays, enjoy yourselves this holiday season and look out for yourselves and others. If you're in no condition to tell me how awesome I am, who will?

Goodnight everybody and have a Happy New Year!

Kiue Jin.