Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto that is all I have to say.

Talk: "Talk"

Think: 'Think'

Authors Note: Hey everybody, long time eh? Well I'm not going to keep you waiting too much longer I just have something to say about the last chapter. Now I was really surprised about several angry reviews with the whole Hinata doing the Tomoe speech. For one thing I honestly ran out of things to write, a serious case of writers block after killing Raijuta, so I used that. If you don't like it then good bye and have a nice life. Also I have no plans of turning any of the girls from the Naruto universe into Tomoe, Megumi, etc. That is all.


Before Naruto could even take a step inside the house, he was immediately greeted with a kunai pressed against the jugular vein on his neck by none other than Kakashi Hatake. "Are you an ally or an enemy?" The Jounin demanded.

"Reach into my left hip pouch to find a single piece of paper. You will find orders from the Sandaime Hokage himself regarding my role in the mission." The blond calmly replied, a little too calm for one with a deadly weapon at his neck.

Never taking his eye off the possible enemy; who held the Hyuuga heiress in his arms, Kakashi slowly reached his hand into the left hip pouch, feeling two books a first and then a single piece of paper the Jounin slowly withdrew it and eyed the seal of the Hokage. After breaking said seal he read the orders upon the parchment with a wide eye.

"Naruto…Uzumaki. How…why?"

Naruto only backed away from the kunai knife and went into the living room. Finding the spot he was looking for, he placed the unconscious Hyuuga on the couch, took the piece of paper from Kakashi's shaking hand and leaned against the wall as Tsunami, and an obviously shaken Kurenai walked in with his clone at their backs; holding the decapitated head of Raijuta Isurugi.

When the clone tossed the former bandit leaders head towards the original he disappeared in a small cloud of smoke. After observing the head for a moment, he casually set it on the floor and pulled out a light-gray book and flipped several pages. "Raijuta Isurugi; the 'Leader of the South', total bounty ten million ryo…how he got so famous if beyond me."

"You killed Raijuta Isurugi…how? He was supposed to be Jounin-level." Kurenai exclaimed while the blond sealed the head into a bloodied sealing scroll.

"Highly exaggerated, Kurenai-san." Naruto replied before he pocketed the scroll into his right hip pouch and the book into his left one. "The only thing special about him was some sword technique called Tobi Izuna, and I didn't impress me in the slightest; ultimate killing technique my ass." After further disrespecting the dead man, the blond looked towards the masked Jounin. "Now, Kakashi-san, while we wait for your Genin to return so I can start my mission, would you mind telling me situation of this mission and how fucked you are on a scale of one to ten."


(On the border of Wave Country, Gato's hidden hideout)

While Kakashi was telling their backup about their situation, deep in the forests, on an unmapped area of the small country a small man surrounded by two ronin bodyguards, spitting fire at the two shinobi within his office.

The first was a man that stood a little under average height with green hair expanding in wild directions with his Rain hitai-ate covering his forehead. His attire consisted of a white and blue body suit and blue shinobi styled sandals. Strapped to his back were two umbrellas that were snugly inside a tan leather strap. He would have been considered a handsome man if it wasn't for the ugly scar diagonally crossing his face with a black eye-patch covering his right eye.

The second was a man of average height with shoulder-length, wild dark-brown hair and dark eyes. He wore a respirator that covered the lower half of his face and a large, clawed, gauntlet on his right arm. He wore a camouflage suit with bandages around his waist, dark-colored, knee-length sandals and a ragged black cape. His scratched out Mist hitai-ate was uniquely designed, having a single black horn welded on the top of it.

Their employer; Gato, was an extremely short man with gray-orange hair and a thin mustache. He wore an expensive black suit imported from the west and black sunglasses covering his beady, evil eyes. He pointed his right jeweled finger at the Rain shinobi before bellowing, "Tell me again, how the hell did Raijuta die Aoi!"

"As I told you, one of my Genin witnessed the leader of your mercenaries fly out of the shop you ordered him to shake down. It wasn't until thirty seconds later he saw a blond teenager dressed in a mixture of Iwagakure and Kumogakure clothing emerge from the shop, and he made Raijuta look like a complete fool, he dodged every single attack he made until his legs were disabled, his hands cut off, and then he finally lost his head. That's all I can tell you again…boss."

"Damn it all. Aoi, did your Genin see anything else? Like facial features, or a name!?" The business tycoon demanded.

"I'm sorry boss. But he was too far away to see or hear anything else important."

"Dismissed! Get out of here, I want him found, and I want every single man Raijuta had in this village by tomorrow!" After Aoi left Gato's presence, the short man turned his attention on the man with the respirator. "And you, what is the status of the baby demon!"

The former Mist shinobi's clawed gauntlet grabbed the little man by then neck. He then turned his head to glare at the two ronin who were about to draw their swords, and growled at his boss for the time being. "First of all, my name is Gozu. And second Zabuza is still in the process of recovering. And if you insult him again I will break your remaining arm." He said while eying the white cast covering the midgets left forearm.

After releasing the business tycoon Gozu left the room, slamming the door shut.

"Bastard," Gato couched out as he rubbed his bruising throat. "I honestly hope you can deal with that lot." He said to the corner of the room.

"Oh I sure can, as long as you hold the end of our bargain." A sinister voice answered back before he revealed himself to the tyrant of Wave.

The person talking was a psychotic-looking shinobi who clearly towered over every occupant in the room. He had long, shaggy, sandy-blond hair that was styled like a lion's mane, and feral amber eyes. His outfit consisted of an open dark brown leather vest that showed off his rock hard muscles, tattered black shorts, and was barefooted. The most unusual features for this man were the very large, clawed fists, and the skull of a lion firmly set on his head with the symbol for Iwagakure imprinted in the middle of the forehead scratched out.

"Of course, you can keep that cunt who broke my arm. I'm sure she will go great with that Leaf kuniochi you brought back."

"Hehehe she's been real good boss. She lost a lot of her fight though, now it's almost boring."

"That's your problem Lightning Lion; you just keep pushing them until they break."

Lightning Lion only snorted at that remark, "Now where's the fun in that."

Gato sighed in response. The former Stone shinobi was his most favorite employee, but he went through his 'payment' like a junkie. "Whatever, Aoi's order goes for you as well. I want this brat found, and if possible the bridge builders' daughter brought to me; unsoiled!"

"Fine," The former Stone shinobi snorted in disappointment. "But don't expect me to like it one bit." With his peace said, the man left so his boss could yell at his useless guards.


(Tazuna's home - same time)

After hearing the new developments of their situation, Naruto leaned against the wall digesting the information. The bad news was that the Jounin were still injured, the male members of Team Eight were still recovering, and the second female member of Team Seven was still missing; and more than likely dead…or wished she was dead. Gato and his shinobi hire's were still alive and kicking, and the client's employees were dropping like flies because they were cowards.

But the good news was there haven't been any shinobi attacks; Zabuza was immobilized by a false hunter ninja, the client and his family haven't been discovered, and he had three supposedly highly-trained Genin to work with…provided they actually follow his orders. And most importantly one of their threats was within one of his sealing scrolls, and at least seventy-five percent of his forces were burning on hot coals in hell.

"Well the good news is that your fucked level is lower than I thought it would be. But the bad news is that we all still are in danger, because what you told me Zabuza will be active in the next few days, and once that happens; well you know why he's known as The Demon of the Mist for a reason." Naruto revealed his analysis that was honed over the years, and beaten into his head by Saizuchi.

"Then what do you suggest? I should be on my feet by the time Zabuza shows up, but Kurenai's arm is still broken and we're still three Genin down." Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well you're lucky that I'm here. Kurenai-san can you please let me take a look at your arm?"

Complying with the request, the crimson-eyed woman tried to take her left arm from the sling. Naruto however placed his gloved hands on her wrist to prevent her from doing it. His dull eyes narrowing he focused his chakra into his hands, emitting the soothing green chakra that felt like a Kamisent.

"Mhmm I see, well it's broken, but it's a clean break. Just let me…and I apologize for this." Feeling the breaks with his fingers, he quickly brought them together inciting a cry of pain from the woman, and then a sigh when he poured the healing chakra into the arm. After several long seconds the blond pulled his hands away. "Okay, I healed it to the point where you can move it without pain, but I strongly recommend taking it easy."

"I-I will thank you, Naruto-san," Kurenai thanked him with a sigh of relief when she moved her arm.

"You can thank me when I heal those two students of yours; we're going to need all the help we can get at this point."

"Right. Kakashi when Hinata awakens mind telling her to join the two of us upstairs?"

"I will." Kakashi promised. Once they left his presence he pulled out an orange book labeled 'Icha Icha Paradise'. After flipping it open to the part he left off of, the Copy-nin giggled like the pervert he was. "Miko you naughty girl."

After arriving in the room where the male members of Team Eight resided, Naruto scrunched his nose at the smell the two were giving off. "Please tell me that you have been changing their bandages daily, and giving them a bath."

"Not at much as we would like." Kurenai shamefully admitted. "With the lack of supplies in this country we had to use what we could, and that meant reusing the gauze that we had." She noticed his disappointing look before adding more to her sentence, in an attempt to defend herself. "We at least washed them so they could get as clean as they could! We also washed them as often as we could as well."

"I have my work cut out for me…wait a second I was informed that you had an Inuzuka in your squad. Where the hell is his dog?"

He was answered when a gigantic white furred dog crawled from under the bed. His dark brown nose sniffed the air, and he recognized the smell of his master's sensei. But he also smelled something dangerous, the other human smelled of blood and of a fox. However despite the bad vibe he got from the other human, the giant dog knew that he was an ally, and parting his muzzle he licked his master's hand to wake him.

"Ugh, Akamaru…what's up buddy?" Kiba scratched the side of his companions face. "Oh, Kurenai-sensei what's going on? Who the heak is this guy?"

"I am your reinforcement Kiba Inuzuka, and I will also be your healer for the duration of this mission." Naruto replied.

If Kiba could see from under his bandages, he eyes would have popped out in surprise. "You're kidding me right!? One person is our salvation from this mission from hell? Dammit we're going against The Demon of the fucking Mist and his goon squad!"

"Let's not forget Aoi Rokusho, Lightning Lion, and bandit leader Raijuta Isurugi with three camps worth of soldiers." Shino Aburame's monotone voice continued for his teammate.

"More like one small camp worth and no bandit leader." Naruto retorted to the Inuzuka's whining. "I may be only one man, but the Sandaime sent me to deal with the mess you're all in. Now hold still I need to get a good look at you."

Leaving Kurenai's side the blond first made his way over to Kiba's bed to get a better look at him. The upper half of his torso was covered in gauze to cover a nasty wound from what looked like several deep slashes if the amount of blood revealed anything. His left leg was put in a splint, and his eyes were wrapped in bandages that slightly covered the upper portion of the red fang markings on his cheeks.

Placing his right gloved hand on his messy brown hair, Naruto focused his chakra to perform the Diagnostics Jutsu to see what could be done. It took about a minute for the jutsu to send the information to his brain, and thirty more seconds for him to sort out what he needed to do to treat his patient.

"Well the good news is you're not going to go blind, it's just some minor lightning nature damage that I can take care of. Your chest is a mess, you have four deep lacerations and bits of stone inside it; the only good news is that whoever stitched up your wound did a pretty good job, it's just a shame I have to cut you open to get those rocks out. And finally your leg is broken, it isn't clean either, you're going to need a professional to fix it." Naruto revealed how screwed up the Inuzuka was.

"Damn it all. Do you at least have anything to dull the pain?" Kiba winced when the pain in his leg shot through his side.

"I will make you so doped up that you'll think your dog is a cat." The blond promised, ignoring Kiba's snarling look before he went over to Shino.

Unlike Kiba, who was bare-chested and in pants that were cut into shorts. Shino was still completely clothed in a with a dark green jacket hanging down to his knees and the addition of a hood that obstructed his face along with the black glasses that covered his eyes, and long black pants that covered his legs. For the love of Buddha what was it with the Aburame's being so mysterious?

"I rather you not touch me." Shino said to him.

"I need to know where you're hurt." Naruto replied.

"I am fine, please attend to my teammate."

"Bullshit Aburame, I may not be able to see your face, but you're in pain. If you don't want me to touch you, fine, but I need you to tell me what happened to you so you can start moving again." When the mysterious Genin didn't respond, Naruto did what he did best. "Well if you don't tell me, then I will have to knock you out and do what I have to do."

"Naruto!" Kurenai admonished.

"I was given orders to bring you all back alive. And I will be damned if that fails because one of them doesn't want to be touched." He slowly turned towards the crimson-eyed kunoichi, his demeanor turning violent. "Kurenai-san, I suggest you leave this room and tell everyone to cover their ears. I'm about to heal these two."

Feeling the hair on the back of his neck stand up, Kiba tried to persuade her otherwise, "Sensei, you're not going to leave us with him are you?"

"He has written orders from the Sandaime himself Kiba," Kurenai looked at them both, apologizing as she moved out of the room. "It's out of my hands, but please Naruto, we need them in good condition."

"I promise they will be fine," Naruto waved as the Jounin sensei closed the door. He placed his left hand into his left hip pouch, thumbed around until he pulled out a green colored scroll. "Well boys, let's practice medicine." His eyes flashed white, almost if he was planning something evil.

Well no one expected him to be a good doctor now did they?

After about an hour and a half, the three shinobi, and civilian within the living room drinking tea, found themselves a little worried for the two wounded Genin upstairs. At first there was a girlish scream; who Kakashi bet came from Kiba the first five minutes, and then nothing. Then about half way through they heard another girlish scream, at thump on the floor above them, and an unmistakable sound of someone saying 'Oops'. That definitely was something no one wanted to hear from a medic.

Finally after another half hour passed, the door to their room opened and Naruto joined them. Taking one of the extra glasses, the blond poured himself some from the kettle, and then slowly sipped it until his thirst was satisfied. "Well we're going to be teammates for the time being, so if you have any questions go ahead and ask. I don't want there to be any mistrust between any of us."

"Shouldn't we wait until my Genin arrive with Tazuna, and Kurenai's recover?" Kakashi was first to ask.

"I rather not repeat myself again, you're their teachers it's your responsibility to tell them information."

"I guess that's fair," Kurenai admitted, "So tell us Naruto-san, who taught you in the healing arts? It had to have been difficult."

"I had a sensei who knew the basics. She taught them to me, you know reviving a fish with my chakra, and several exercises to help my control." Naruto stopped for several long, uncomfortable seconds when the image of Yumi flashed across his eyes. "I learned a few advanced techniques through scrolls, but I'm no medic Kurenai-san, if somebody is on the verge of death I can't help them. It was through much experience that I can reset broken bones, and heal cuts and bruises."

"How much experience?" She asked.

Once again images from the past flashed in front of his eyes, he saw a man in armor clutching his opened belly while a younger version of himself desperately trying to close the wound. Blinking the image away he just showed them his left arm, showing them his aged scars. "How else do you think I managed to heal all this?"

"Sp-eaking of which." Hinata was the second to ask her questions. "When I sa-w you fighting Raijuta, a-and his men, it looked l-l-like it was far too easy fo-r you. How…how did you make it s-s-o easy, and how many mo-re wounds do you have?" She stuttered out, yet it wasn't as bad as it had been in her childhood.

After taking another sip of tea, the blond answered her question without an ounce of hesitation. "The reason I make it so easy is because it was easy. Raijuta may have been a terror to civilians, but to a well-trained shinobi he and his men were nothing more than an annoyance. As for my wounds…I honestly lost count."

Feeling the air in the room shift, Kakashi blurted out a question that had been bugging him for a while now, "Where have you been all these years?"

"Pardon me?" Naruto asked.

"Your clothing and hairstyle may have changed, but your name has never left my mind. You disappeared for nearly ten years, and then you suddenly appear here of all places under the Sandaime's order. Tell me, where have been for all this time?"

Kakashi didn't receive his answer for several long heartbeats, at least until the blond answered him. "I have been to many places Kakashi-san, that is all I have to say to you."

Before the Jounin could ask another question, the front door opened to reveal a grey-haired, bespectacled man with a large beard and dark eyes. He wore a gray sleeveless v-neck shirt with an obi, tan pants and a pair of sandals. He also carried a white towel around his neck that he used to wipe his face with when he entered his home.

The second was a girl about his age with near waist-length bright pink hair, large green eyes, and fair skin. She wore red top that showed off at least a B cup chest, with black gloves, black boots, black shorts, short pink apron skirt, and pink elbow protectors and a red clothed Leaf hitai-ate that was styled to keep the bangs out of her face.

The final person to enter was a boy around his age. He was a fair-skinned ninja with onyx eyes and black chin-length hair. His hair was spiky in the back the made it look like he had a ducks ass on his head. His outfit consisted of a grey high-collared short-sleeved shirt with a zipper, dark blue pants with a blue cloth hanging from halfway up his stomach to his knees that had a gray rope to secure it. He also wore black arm-guards that covered his forearms. Secured in his rope was a chokuto with a blue scabbard and matching handle.

"Dad, you're home!" Tsunami bolted from her chair, and hugged the elderly man.

"Almost didn't make it dear. Gato's goons attacked us on the bridge today, if it wasn't for those two kids we would have surely died." Tazuna gestured to the two teens, the girl blushing in embarrassment, and the boy looking indifferent.

"I hoped they killed them then, that way it will show Gato not to try that shit again."

Hearing a new voice, Tazuna focused his attention on the new guy. He nearly reeled back in surprise when the blond's impassive eyes stared into his. "And who are you?"

"I'm your reinforcement for this mission," He got to his feet and held out a gloved hand. "Naruto Uzumaki at your service Tazuna-san."

Raising a gray eyebrow the bridge builder didn't see the exact worth of just one kid. But when he grabbed his hand, the old man bit back the urge to scream, good Kami this kid was strong. "It's good to have you aboard Naruto-san, I hope you can protect me and my family."

"Consider yourself protected." Naruto assured him before releasing his vice grip, his respect for the old man went up a notch seeing her didn't cradle his hand. He then turned towards the other two, his eyes dully looking at them. "I see this is the rest of who I have to work with?"

"Ye-s, my name is Sakura Haruno. I'm the team medic, in charge of taking care of the wounded members of Team Eight." The pink-haired girl introduced herself.

So she was the one who worked on the two? Well it was decent work considering she was wet behind the ears. With some more work and field experience, she would definitely become a good medic. "So you're the one who patched them up? Not bad for a rookie, there were several mistakes though." He saw her eyes widen, and her demeanor slowly becoming dejected. "Oh relax it wasn't anything major. You did well for your skill level, but next time bring more gauze, antibiotics, and painkillers, that is what those two really needed."

Seeing her cheer up a bit the blond looked towards the broody one, instantly he didn't like the looks of him. But then again he distrusted all the Uchiha's since Yumi told him the story of what they did to Shishio, and how they nearly killed him in when he was seven years old.

"And I take it you are Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Correct." Sasuke answered him.

"I see…very well then." Just like that he turned his attention to Kakashi. "I heard that you had another member of your team kidnapped. Ami was it? Any clue to her whereabouts?"

"None." The Copycat shinobi lowered his head in shame. "We barely managed to escape from Zabuza, Kurenai's arm was already broken from the flat end of his sword, and I was suffering from chakra exhaustion. And when Aoi and Lightning Lion showed up…none of us stood a chance. Aoi disabled Ami with his lightning chakra and took her away, while Lightning Lion played with the members of Team Eight.

"Those brave boys put themselves in harm's way just to protect us and the client. After we escaped those two arrived at the meeting place fifteen minutes later, bloodied and beaten. I was only pure luck that they managed to fight of that vicious Jounin and survive. And in spite of the villagers' efforts, we haven't been able to find her, not yet."

"I see…" From experience this didn't bode well. Either that girl was dead, or wishing she was dead, either way it was a problem with his mission. "Thank for the information. I will take the first watch tonight; hopefully tomorrow we can do something productive."


The next day Naruto found himself in the woods with the members of Team Eight.

The first thing he did when they woke up was another healing session. He worked a little more on Kurenai's arm to dull the pain and fix up anything he may have missed, and then he took a look at the guys. Shino was healing quite nicely thanks to the insects in his body devouring the healing chakra, but Kiba was another story, his chest was healing up nicely, but his leg was still screwed up; so he doped him up to the point to where he thought Akamaru was a cat like he promised…what? He told them he was not a medical shinobi. He even took a look at Hinata to make sure she didn't have any injuries from yesterday; she unfortunately was the only one with a clean bill of health.

Now the reason he called them into the woods was pretty simple. He needed information on their individual skills.

"Our skills? Why would you need to know about that?" Kurenai asked.

"I need to know what I'm working with. I know of your clans, but I don't know how advanced you are, nor do I know if any of you have skills outside of your clan arts." Naruto coolly replied.

"This is a reasonable explanation," Shino voiced his opinion. "However I do not feel comfortable just telling you about my hard-earned skills…not unless you're willing to exchange the same amount of information as well."

Well that was expected from an Aburame, very well then. "You make an excellent point, fine, I will tell you about my skills no holds barred. But I expect the same from all of you." He pointed at Shino first, "And since you brought it up you'll go first."

"There isn't really much for me to say. I have been trained by my clan to use insect-based ninjutsu, in the academy I trained in taijutsu to hold my own, the basic jutsu taught at the academy, and I ranked in second for kunai and shuriken accuracy for the boys side."

Naruto raised an eyebrow after he finished talking, that must have been the longest he talked in his entire life. While it didn't sound impressive he knew the history of the Aburame Clan, and how dangerous they were. However, clan techniques, a little bit of taijutsu, and weapon accuracy could only get you so far. He then looked over to the Inuzuka.

"Well for me…I'm number one in taijutsu, the three basic jutsu like my teammate, and I've come a long ways in my clan techniques that involve my partner Akamaru, plus I've got one of the best noses in the village!" Kiba loudly boasted.

And one hell of an ego as well, he would have to deal with that at another time. That was the one major downside he could find, but on the plus side once he gained his trust his loyalty would be unquestionable. Thanking him for his cooperation; and mildly surprised he got a straight answer out of the drugged teen, he turned to Hinata.

"I, uh I'm…very proficient in my clan's taijutsu style, and like m-m-my teammates I know the th-ree academy based jutsu…and I hav-e the knowledge to create various medical creams."

And confidence issues. Naruto knew of the Hyuuga Clan and their deadly taijutsu style and techniques, not to mention their legendary eyes. But they were practically useless the way she was at this point in time. That was going to be the first thing he would have to work on. Then he finally turned to their Jounin sensei.

Kurenai pointed at herself, blinking in surprise. When he nodded she shrugged her shoulders before saying, "My primary skill relies in the art of genjutsu, that's all I can tell you."

This was more than enough for Naruto to know that it was the only skill she excelled at, and lacked in the rest. That was dangerous, especially against opponents like the ones Gato employed, that was something he had to change, or force her to change after they got out of this mess. Then they looked at him expectedly, after all they told him what they were capable of.

Letting out a long sigh, the blond told him what he was capable of. "Since you answered my question I'll tell you what I'm capable of, but this does not get out to anyone else. You keep my secrets and I'll keep yours, understand?" When he got four nods; five if you counted the dog, he reluctantly told them his particular set of skills. "I am extremely advanced in the art of kenjutsu, just a few years away from complete mastery. My taijutsu is one of the most deadly forms that only I've mastered since my sensei died; my ninjutsu consists of all five primary elements that rank from C to A-rank. I'm faster than any of you, I'm proficient enough in the art of healing, and I've been taught in the art of assassination."

By their wide-eyed looks they didn't believe him. Hell, he didn't believe it at times either, but despite that he still held a few aces up his sleeve, and several weaknesses that he could not allow anyone to know about.

"I call bullshit! You're the same age as us, there is no way you could be that skilled!" Kiba was the first to react.

"I must agree with my teammate Uzumaki-san. Even with the added years in the academy nobody, not even Uchiha-san are that strong." The ever logical Shino voiced his opinion.

"Believe it or not, but what I tell you is the truth, after all your teammate saw firsthand what I can do." He indicated towards the Hyuuga, who 'meeped' at being put on the spot, "But that aside I cannot allow any of you to just sit on your asses getting weaker while all this crap is happening."

Kurenai's eyebrow twitched in anger, here she was getting mouthed at by a boy fifteen years her junior, and no rank to speak of. He may have had the Hokage's orders to back him up, but that didn't mean she would be talked down to. But before she had the chance to speak up on it, she was rudely interrupted by the blond.

"Now I'm not calling you weak per say, but you're forgetting that one of our enemies is Aoi Rokusho. Since he fled from Konoha he undoubtedly blabbed many of your secrets to his village leader, and knowing Hanzo the Salamander he forced his shinobi to train how to counter and defeat members of your respective clans."

"What! Impossible, us Inuzuka's can never be defeated!" Kiba protested.

"Says the Genin with the broken leg," Naruto indicated the feral-looking teen's splinted leg. "Listen your weakness is simple. Your entire clan relies on your partner and collaboration jutsu's, lose your partner your strength is cut in half, or you're dead because you're grieving over the loss of your longtime friend."

He then pointed to Shino, "Your clan relies on your insects, and because of them you cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu properly because they feed on your chakra. Lose your hive, or have them become dormant you're dead in the water."

He then pointed at Hinata, "As for you personally, you lack confidence and that can lead to your downfall. Plus your clan uses only taijutsu, granted it is a deadly style, but useless if an opponent can outsmart you through the use of ninjutsu…or the loss of your hands."

And then he finally pointed at Kurenai, "And then there is your situation. You're strong Kurenai-san; you have to be strong to reach Jounin-level. And while your genjutsu is said to rival Itachi Uchiha's, you neglected your training in taijutsu to increase your stamina and I believe your strength is at an all-time low."

"How dare you!" Kurenai exploded; honestly the arrogance in his voice was sickening.

"Then punch that tree."

"What?"

"You heard me punch that tree, punch it with your good arm. Pump chakra into it, use your own strength, honestly I don't care. Prove me wrong, unless you're afraid to look like a fool in front of your students." Naruto dared the Jounin.

Rising to her feet, Kurenai took on his challenge. Finding the nearest tree she focused her chakra into her undamaged arm until it reached her fist. Now she was no Tsunade of the Sannin, but she had years of constant chakra control exercises under her belt, after reaching her limit she let out a loud yell, and punched at the tree. The trunk of the thick tree shattered and turned into splinters, and felling the large tree.

"Impressive," Naruto congratulated the raven-haired woman. "not bad for someone who is no Tsunade. But that is nothing compared to Gai Maito who uses nothing but pure strength and technique." He then lashed out with his right arm, reducing the entire trunk of the tree he was leaning against into nothing but sawdust. "Or me with my devastating taijutsu style."

Ignoring their jaw dropping looks he moved his right arm behind his back, reached into his left hip pouch with his left hand and pulled out three plain pieces of paper. "Now these are chakra paper, a special tool that allows one to learn of their elemental affinity. For example: If your affinity is fire it will ignite and turn to ash, wind will split it in half, lightning will wrinkle it, earth will turn it to dirt and crumple away, and water will make it wet." Flicking the individual cards at the members of Team Eight he told them to focus their chakra into them.

After the Genin followed his orders and focused their chakra into their pieces of paper. After they finished Naruto got one expected result, one that was slightly surprising, and another that was completely unexpected and ironic.

It turned out that Hinata's was water; the expected result, Kiba's turned out to be fire, and Shino's was surprisingly lightning. Interesting, and perfect for what he had to do. Reaching into his pouch he pulled out a lump of coal, a hanker chief, and a simple piece of paper.

"All right, you." He pointed at Kiba and tossed him the simple piece of paper, "Since you can't walk without riding on your dog you're going to use this time to learn to control your fire affinity. Try molding your chakra from in your stomach then slowly bring it towards your hand to try and burn the paper. Once you complete this exercise I will give you another one, and if you're lucky I will reward you with a fire technique."

"You," He tossed Shino the lump of coal, "Try and manipulate your lightning chakra into this coal and turn it into a diamond. Now I will warn you this exercise is difficult, but luckily this is the only step you need properly control your lightning manipulation…in theory at least."

"And finally you." He tossed Hinata the hanker chief, "All you have to do is try to draw moisture from into the air and into the hanker chief, continue to do so until the thing is soaking wet." After instructing them on what to do he created three shadow clones to watch over their progress, and to keep guard. It may have been over kill with their Jounin sensei there, but it didn't hurt to be cautious.

"Now these guys will instruct you or give you whatever help they can give. Meanwhile I'll be heading over to the bridge to relieve the Uchiha of his shift, if you need something just dispel one of my clones and I'll come running." Bidding them adieu, the blonde vanished in a small cloud of smoke.

"This is going to suck," Kiba whined, and was rewarded with a slap to the back of his head by one of the clones.

"Quit your bitching mutt. The boss said practice, now practice damn it!" The clone brought his right hand to the sword on his waist in a threatening gesture.

It was on that day that the Genin of Team Eight learned to It was on that day that the Genin of Team Eight learned to hate Naruto's clones.


(The unfinished bridge, ten minutes later)

"I hate guard duty." Sasuke Uchiha said to himself. It was extremely boring, dull and completely a waste of his time. It had been like that since the teams arrived, and it wasn't until yesterday that there was finally some action on his part. A dozen mercenaries tried to kill the bridge builder and his workers, it was a big mistake on their part, and they paid for it with their lives.

It was so easy; with a flick of his wrist he cut their lives short with his chokuto. He felt nothing afterwards either, and why would he? They stood in the way of his mission so they had to die, it was that simple.

"Hey Uchiha, I'm here to start my shift." A new voice broke him from his musings.

And then there was the new guy. He was a wildcard, completely unpredictable, and he didn't like him one bit. Sasuke knew they were in dire straits, and he fully expected the Sandaime to send a squadron of Anbu Black Ops to get them out of this mess. But instead they got him a golden-haired stranger that killed one of their antagonists, and took over. He couldn't explain why, but he hated him, and it was likewise with him as well.

"Whatever," Sasuke only responded to the new guy. He couldn't do anything about him at this moment, not during this important mission, his training wouldn't allow it. After all, if they did survive it only meant he was one step closer to killing his brother.

"Glad to see that you give a damn," Sarcasm dripped from the blondes mouth as he started to pass the Leaf Genin, but the two of them stopped and turned their heads in the same direction. "Well Kami damn it."

"You said it." Sasuke agreed.

Tazuna barely had the strength to keep himself upright. Right in front of them were ships, five ships to be exact, and filled to the brim with a lot of pissed off mercenaries. Judging from their looks they ranged from extremely weak, while others were strong. They were outnumbered, outmatched, and taking them on seemed to be suicide.

But looking towards both Naruto and Sasuke he recoiled a bit in surprise. The blonde had a deadly look in his eyes, replacing the dull look he always seemed to have, and the raven-haired lad's eyes turned red with three black tomoes in the iris. Their hands going to their respective blades the young lads burst forward and leaped off the bridge.


(With Naruto)

Landing on the first ship, Naruto wasted no time in slicing a mercenary's belly open, when the man screamed and futilely tried to hold his guts in, the blond kicked him into a crowd of his comrades. Pivoting on his heel he blocked a sword slash with the Mugenjin, and rewards his attacker with a savage kick to the side, shattering his hipbone. Ignoring the wounded man he gathered wind natured chakra into his left index and middle fingers.

"Wind Sword!" He cried out as he swept his trembling right arm across the deck of the ship. Not watching his foes getting cut down from the razor sharp technique, Naruto forced his right hand into his right hip pouch, and pulled out five high powered exploding tags. Sharply breathing outwards he sprinted along the deck, dropping the exploding notes along the, spacing them out from each other in a deliberate fashion. Finally reaching the stern of the ship he sheathed his sword, pumped a minor amount of chakra into his legs, and leaped off the wooden rails.

While in midair he forced his hands into the tiger seal, whispering, "Katsu!" and was rewarded with a brilliant explosion that completely incinerated the entire ship and her crew. The force of the blast propelled him further forward towards the bow of the next ship just like he wanted. His leftt hand going to the hilt of the Mugenjin again he unsheathed it, "Iaido!" Pressure from the swing tore through the air until it hit the bow of the ship; the pressure of the attack easily tore through wood and mercenary alike.

After hitting the deck and rolling to lessen the impact, Naruto planted his feet onto the wooden walls he ricochet towards a group. Gathering his wind chakra into his trembling right index and middle fingers again, he swiped another Wind Sword at the group, and sliced them all in half at the waist. Catching the wooden guard rail his free hand, the blond flipped over it and planted his feet on the haul of the ship, then using his chakra he ran along it, and like last time, planted several high powered exploding tags onto the side of the ship.

After placing the last tag where he wanted it to go, he leapt from the stern of the ship, activated the tags once again to blow the ship sky high, and flinging him onto the middle ship. After landing on deck Naruto's cold eyes pierced the frightened mercenaries' souls. Those eyes promised only death.


(With Sasuke at the same time)

At the same time Sasuke landed on the first ship Sharingan blazing. And unlike Naruto, who used nothing more than a high powered jutsu and exploding tags, he fought more extravagantly. Almost immediately when he landed he raised his chokuto to block an ugly mercenary's club, then without an ounce of hesitation poured his lightning nature chakra through the specialized steel, cutting through the weapon and decapitating him.

Barely a second later after he ceased to pour his chakra into the blade, he pivoted on his heel to avoid a skinny man lunging at him with a dagger, and easily cut the back of his neck in response. The man let out one gasp of pain and flew forwards, letting go of his dagger which Sasuke merely snatched out of the air with his right hand. Moving forward he blocked another mercenary's sword with his, and then stabbed him in the liver and lungs with his newly acquired weapon in three quick successions. And it continued like that for a while, block, stab, duck, slice, repeat; at least until he heard the first explosion.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the enormous fireball the blond managed to create, barely three minutes in and already the new guy managed to destroy a ship. A pang of envy and jealousy surged through the Uchiha, he made it look so easy, easier than what he could manage. And when he witnessed the bow of the other ship being destroyed by some sort of shock wave attack, that really pissed him off! Slicing an unfortunate bandit's head off Sasuke ran towards the mast of the ship, and focusing his chakra he ran up the mast.

After reaching the top of the mast he launched himself towards the other ship. In midair he flipped himself upside down, and sped through seven hand seals, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Launching a fireball the size an Akimichi using his Expansion Jutsu, he shot it at the ship-completely igniting the old timber into a massive inferno that consumed the entire ship within minutes.

But ignoring the fiery inferno the Uchiha landed onto the bow of the ship, and before he could do anything he found himself cut in half at the waist.

"Haha! I did it!" The gigantic mercenary who did the deed screamed in triumph.

"Excellent job, put er' there." A second mercenary raised a hand to pat him on the back. But instead the gigantic mercenary screamed in surprise, and cleaved the man in two with his claymore.

"What the hell are you doing? St-" Another mercenary was cut down by the giant blade, and another soon after. Before they could try and stop the giant man, another one of their comrades started screaming incoherently and began to kill the men next to him.

And sitting on top of the mast was none other than a smirking Sasuke Uchiha. With the hypnotizing power of his Sharingan eyes he forced the deepest fears of his enemies to become life-like, and this was the result; total and complete slaughter. Simply flicking his stolen dagger into the neck of the last man he turned towards the last ship, and saw the explosion of the other ship the blond was on, and seeing him land onto the stern of the ship Sasuke gritted his teeth and jumped towards the bow of the ship.


(With Tazuna at the same time)

And watching from the bridge, Tazuna and his remaining workers watched in a mixture of awe and horror. None of them were strangers towards brutality and violence, many of them found themselves overjoyed seeing their oppressors getting what was coming to them. But Tazuna…he only observed the two teenagers and their unique styles of combat as they massacred the final ship.

The blond one was obviously a power fighter. With a single swipe of his sword, a man found himself cut in two or a vital part of his body cut in two. A single punch or kick, and the affected parts of their bodies were caved in, or exploded in chunks of meat. He also seemed to be very knowledgeable in ninjutsu as well but used the very simple, but very deadly blade of wind to kill his enemies when he found the opportunity to do so.

The raven-haired one relied on speed. With that lean body of his he could easily dodge at almost impossible angles, and with a simple flick of his wrist the enemy facing him died. Tazuna noticed that he always went for the major arteries or vital organs of his opponents, and those eyes of his seemed to give him some sort of advantage.

He winced when the both of them impaled the last mercenary, both their respected weapons jutting out of his chest. Good Kami, he was not looking forward to cleaning that shit up.


(Later that evening)

"You did what!" Kurenai exclaimed later that evening.

"You heard what he said Kurenai-san, those thugs on Gato's payroll tried to kill Tazuna and his workers with five ships worth of men, so the Uchiha and I killed them all." Naruto casually replied to the crimson-eyed woman before sipping the tea Tsunami provided him with. "This is delicious, thank you Tsunami-dono."

"Thank you Naruto-san." Tsunami smiled in return.

"Pardon my rudeness Uzumaki-san, but I find it a little difficult to phantom that both you and Uchiha-san could take out five ships full of highly trained mercenaries." Shino voiced his disbelief.

"Highly trained? Pfft, if they were strong they would have been able to put at least a scratch on me. They were nothing but cannon fodder." Sasuke gave his opinion on the matter.

"Sasuke, there is no reason to to-" Kakashi started to admonish his student.

"Actually Kakashi he's right," Naruto regrettably admitted Sasuke's opinion. "They were nothing more than cannon fodder, a distraction. But the question if why? Gato doesn't have that many mercenaries left; even more so now, so why exactly would he throw away nearly two-hundred able-bodied soldiers?"

"Two-hundred? Bullshit!" Kiba nearly choked on his food after hearing that number.

"That is how many bodies they've found so far." The blond took another sip of tea to ignore the Inuzuka's shocked expression. "Don't look so shocked. Sasuke is pretty fast and good with a blade, and I've killed plenty of no names like them in the past. Remember a well-trained shinobi is worth much more than some hired thugs.

"Anyways, I do not have a good feeling about this at all. We will take shifts for tonight, Sasuke you go first, Hinata will be second, I will be the third. Hopefully I'm wrong about this gut feeling and nothing will happen."


(Gato's hideout)

"Aoi…" Gato gritted his teeth so harshly that the Rain Jonin thought they would break, "you better give me a good reason why you sacrificed half my remaining forces in a vain attempt to kill that bridge builder!"

The one-eyed man barely suppressed a frown at his arrogant employer. That midget has been an enormous pain in his side since day one, if it wasn't for the fact that he was paying him and his Genin team a ridiculous amount of money he would have killed him a long time ago. "It was a necessary sacrifice Gato. Because his bodyguards were busy slaughtering your men, and the entire bridge building crew watching, my Genin team was finally able to locate where the bridge builder was hiding all this time."

"You what!? Well don't just stand there, got and kill that bastard once and for all!" Gato screamed at his hired help.

"Hold it shorty. I cannot just go and kill the old man; I'm going to need some help."

"Fine! I'll send Lightning Lion and those Demon Brothers and as many men I can spare, just do it now!"

"Shut up!" Aoi finally snapped at the short man. "Listen to me, now is not the time to attack. What we need to do is send them into a false sense of security. Let them think that we're falling back to launch another attack later, let them become extremely paranoid wondering when we are going to strike, and when their guard is at its lowest we attack."

"But what about those Jonin? With each day that goes by they are that closer to recovering." The midget argued.

"But so is Zabuza," Aoi replied with a smirk. "all we have to do is get him well enough to join the fight, and once we kill those Leaf bastards, Lightning Lion and I will kill him, his two flunkies, and give the girl to you. I know how much you want to pay her back for breaking your arm."

"Kill two birds with one stone." Gato muttered to himself, that was a pretty good idea, practically flawless! "Okay Aoi, you win. We will wait for now, you get five days! No more, no less!"

"Sounds good to me."


(Tazuna's house - days later)

Four days passed without incident, and that did not bode well for Naruto's nerves. Every single day he had his clones scout the area to see if there was any sort of human activity, but there was nothing…and yet he still had a bad feeling that refused to go away so he kept half a dozen clones at the house to protect Tazuna's daughter, and his pain in the ass grandson Inari while he divided his time in-between helping Team Eight and guarding the bridge.

Speaking of Team Eight, the blond was pleasantly surprised at their progress for elemental manipulation, and their health as well.

Kiba seemed to be a natural fire-user, that or it was because he loved to burn things like every guy he met during his travels. It took a whole day for him to learn how to burn the paper and now he was learning how to burn a green leaf from the inside out. The only downside was his busted leg, Naruto kept giving him some painkillers and pouring some healing chakra into said leg to numb the pain and slowly speed the healing process until he could see a professional.

Shino on the other hand was having a difficult time training his lightning chakra. Naruto could not blame him for it either, because even he had a hard time trying to control the most uncontrollable element. So far he was only able to turn his lump of coal into the pitiful diamond it was becoming. Health wise he was nearly at the top of his game again.

Hinata…what could he say about her. The girl was a damn prodigy when it came to her element. Not only did she finish her first exercise in less than an hour, but she completed everything else he threw at her. Whether it be water walking, kunai balancing, hell he even told her to dive into the water and come out dry as a bone. And she did just that-something that he believed was impossible-Buddha help him he was impressed. Maybe she could teach him a thing or two about chakra manipulation.

But then there was their sensei. She was a pain in his ass, whenever he looked at her, let alone was in her presence she either adverted her gaze or found some excuse to get far away from him. Honestly it was rude as it was annoying, but then again it could just be a woman thing, and that was something he would never understand even if he lived to be over a hundred years old.

"Naruto."

"Huh?"

"I said you're spacing out, what's troubling you?" Kakashi asked for the third time.

Blinking several times Naruto remembered that he was at the dinner table with the entire household. Damn it, he really needed to get his head in the game. "It's what those mercenaries tried to do a few days ago. It has been bugging the crap out of me." Naruto confessed the masked shinobi.

"Again with those guys," Tazuna exasperated, "boy just let it go. We found nearly five-hundred bodies after what you and the duck-haired lad did to them. Gato is probably pissing himself knowing that he's screwed!" The old man laughed at the last part of his sentence.

"Tazuna-san it appears that you have forgotten that he still has his shinobi." Shino's news broke the old man out of his fit of laughter.

"But you shouldn't worry," Sakura piped up. "Kakashi-sensei has nearly recovered from his chakra exhaustion and should be in tip top shape by tomorrow. And thanks to Naruto-san's healing abilities Kurenai-sensei's arm has been healed to the point where you couldn't even tell it was broken, and we now have another person to help guard the house thanks to Shino-san's insects."

"When the hell did he start doing that?" Naruto demanded.

"Only a couple days ago." The insect-user answered.

'…must resist the urge to strangle him.' Naruto's right eyebrow twitched and his hands rapidly clenched underneath the table. Why exactly wasn't he informed of this? It would have saved him a lot of restless nights…the bastard.

"It doesn't matter anyways," A new voice joined into the conversation. It was Inari, Tazuna's grandson, and emo extraordinaire. "it does not matter what you do, Gato will just hire more men. He won't stop until he rules over us with an iron fist."

"Inari!" Tsunami gasped in surprise.

"Don't be an idiot kid, it doesn't matter how many people Gato hires. We will take care of them until we take care of that tyrant!" Kiba confidently said.

"Shut up you stupid mutt!" Inari slammed his hands onto the table, rattling the silverware and spilling a few drinks in the process. "You will not win; Gato will kill every single one of you."

"For the love of Buddha shut your damn mouth!" The blond swordsman snapped at the twelve year old. "Every single day I hear the same thing over and over again. 'Gato will kill us.' 'Gato will win.' 'Oh woe is me I'm a whiny bitch!' Honestly, I'm getting tired of it and I'm surprised your mom hasn't whooped your sorry ass yet."

"Naruto!" Kurenai admonished him.

Sticking his gloved right index finger at her the blond stopped her before anything else could be spoken. "Don't you try to admonish me Kurenai this little bastard needs a stern talking to, or at least a good ass whooping, and honestly I'm leaning towards the latter."

"Go ahead and try it you swordsman wannabe! There is nothing you can do that he hasn't already been done, I dare you!"

Naruto's dull blue eyes hardened into a glare. "I could kill your mother and grandfather."

His proclamation caused the members of both teams, and clients to rock back in their chairs out of sheer surprise. None of them could believe they just heard that come from his mouth, and almost immediately Sasuke began to draw his chokuto, Shino's insects began to pour out of his coat, and even Kakashi pulled a kunai from his leg holster.

"Wh-what di-d you say?" Inari stuttered.

"He dared me to do something worse than what Gato has done to him. I'm assuming from the lack of a father figure he was killed because of him, but what he has forgotten was something that I would kill for." He glared at the preteen with a hateful look. "He still has a mother and a grandfather who love and care for him. And if he wants something worse to happen." He unsheathed the Mugenjin and held it to his side, "Who am I to deny him his rightful misery?"

"No, wait p-p-please stop!" Inari's cries fell on deaf ears when Naruto fixed his eyes on the bridge builder.

"Naruto, I am ordering you to stop!"

"Or what Kakashi? What are you going to do, are going to try and kill me?" The teenager held his arms out, inviting him to do so. "Go ahead then 'Sharingan' Kakashi, send that kunai of yours into my throat, or how about my eye? Or a better idea use your most famous jutsu and send it through my heart! Come on, do it!"

The tension in the room was so thick that Kiba attempted to cut it with his own kunai knife. But his nonsense aside only four people in the room truly saw what was really happening especially when they looked into the blonds eyes. It was both Kurenai and Hinata who saw the barely suppressed anger held in his eyes and not just a little, if they could individually compare it, Kurenai would have easily guess it rivaled the Kyuubi's wrath. As for Hinata the worst she could even compare it to was when her father lost his temper and killed the Cloud ambassador when he tried to kidnap her.

For both Shino and Tazuna when they looked into his eyes, they saw nothing but a man with nothing to lose. The old bridge builder knew that look far too well with his own workers, the men and women, and even the children of the village. As for Shino…he just didn't like that look, it was unsettling.

And when nothing happened, no attacks were made on Naruto's person; the blond scoffed, sheathed his blade and turned to leave the room. "That's what I thought. I'll be outside for the rest of the mission, if you want to get a hold of me…well I'll be on the roof."

Two and a half hours later Kurenai found Naruto was where he said he would be; on the roof of the house. His posture was too relaxed with him leaning against the chimney, his eyes half-lidded, she saw the lower part of his face for the first time and saw the whisker birthmarks on his left cheek (something she thought was kind of cute), but the right cheek was ruined by a cross-shaped scar. And in his gloved right hand was a kiseru pipe, smoke slowly blowing from his mouth.

Upon noticing the crimson-eyed Jonin, the blond blew the rest of the smoke from his mouth. "Honestly, I didn't expect to see anyone up here, especially you of all people."

"Well, excuse me for being worried." Kurenai calmly replied before walking over to him. Her crimson lips frowned in disappointment once she smelled the smoke. "A person your age shouldn't smoke."

"Want to see me give a fuck?" Naruto paused for a moment to inhale the tobacco, and blew the smoke from his mouth. "Want to see me do it again?"

"Very cute kid."

"Sorry Kurenai-san, but I know why you're up here, and I'm not going to apologize to the kid or the clients. I can't stand people like that, so blind in self-pity that he can't see what he has left to treasure and enjoy."

"I take it you're speaking from experience?" Kurenai asked.

He only spat to the side in response.

"Looks like I hit a nerve there didn't I?"

"You couldn't be more wrong," Naruto responded with a touch of hardness in his voice, "Kurenai-san, I will let you know right now that you do not know me, and I like it that way. For now I'm just a teammate for this mission, and once you're all safe at home I'll be gone. So just do yourself a favor and forget that I even existed."

"An order coming from a no-rank shinobi? I hardly feel threatened." The genjutsu mistress sarcastically replied. "You may have Hokage-sama's backing for this mission, but once we get back your orders will be completed, and that will give me full reign to find out all I want about you."

"Why exactly are you so intent on me all of a sudden? I know that you looked into my eyes and saw what I'm really like. You have been avoiding me like the plague since then, and quite honestly I don't blame you." Sighing loudly Naruto tapped the spent tobacco out of the pipe and pocketed it. "Good night Kurenai-san, and think about what I said."

Without a word Naruto jumped from the roof and disappeared into the night, leaving behind a frustrated kunoichi.


(Gato's hideout)

However several miles away within Gato's hideout the opposing forces were gearing up to ransack Tazuna's place of hiding.

In one room Aoi was finishing up his battle plans with his Genin team. Team Oboro was a group composed of three Genin that wore yellow jumpsuits stitched up the middle along with a pair of sandals. They also wore their villages Rain hitai-ate that covered their whole heads, respirators and sashes around their faces with eye holes cut out…minus the other two who just had one or none cut out.

"Boys I congratulate you for finding that pesky bridge builder." The one-eyed man said with a smile. "Thanks you I believe that we will get a little something extra, but now comes the difficult part. Tomorrow we will attack their place of holding and I'm going to need you to participate."

"What are we to do?" Oboro rasped out.

"You are to sneak under the docks and plant exploding tags on the support beams of the dock holding their house up. After you blow it I want you to engage and kill their Genin, show no mercy."

"What about the new guy who killed Raijuta? And the Jounin, they must have gotten better since you ambushed them."

Smirking in response Aoi he pulled out a purple colored, metallic-looking hilt. Then pressing a button with his thumb a yellow energy blade emanated from the hilt and crossguard with a snap-hiss to reveal a bright yellow thin blade three feet long and nine inches wide. Its blade was crackling with electrical energy. "With the Raijin no Ken (Sword of the Thunder God) by my side, I will kill whoever stands in my way."

In another room Gato was conversing with Lightning Lion; a man who ironically was the only associate he could trust at this point in time. The room smelled of cigar smoke and spilled ink as the short man was furiously scribbling on a parchment of paper.

"Is it done yet shorty?" The feral man asked.

"Yes," Gato finished signing his name and stamped it to make it official. "Just complete this task of killing the bridge builder and you will be rewarded handsomely."

"Hehe, I can't wait."


Armageddon: Hey folks, I know it's been a while and I know you're tired of excuses and waiting. But I'm not going to apologize, real life has not been even remotely kind to me. If you're willing to wait for me then good, I know you're all true fans that I can count on until I retire from writing out fanfiction someday in the future.

Pvt. Liquor: *starts weeping* Armageddon that is so inspirational. It makes me want to start writing now!

Lt. RasneganFin: *Beams Liquor with a military issued baseball bat with rusty nails* No one wants to read your stuff. Half of what you write is either covered in drool or covered in alcohol you drunk.

Lt. Doom: And vomit, don't forget vomit either.

Armageddon: *Sweatdrops* Yea...anyways folks there are two things I have to do before you review, and I honestly hope you don't skip over these skits.

Pvt. VFSNAKE: What are those exactly?

Armageddon: Well for one I apologize if this chapter wasn't satisfactory. Hell I wrote it and I feel disappointed with it, I dunno why either, But if it sucks just stick around until the next chapter then things will go on by much faster and be more actiony.

Sgt. Shadowtrayster: And the second?

Armageddon: Oh come one it's the manga man! I mean when Tobi was first introduced I thought "Oh, a throw away character." But as the series went on he became "Madara Uchiha", so I thought "Oh, the weakened Madara Uchiha, guess the Eternal Sharingan makes you immortal...interesting." But after reading the latest few chapters indication who the main antagonist was and FINALLY seeing him becoming unmasked...well folks I was pretty dang surprised for this sort of twist. As for Orochimaru's resurrection I had a feeling that we would see him again, after all you can't keep a villain like him down for long.

Pvt. Fox: Sir, this chapter feels a little off to me.

Armageddon: Well that's because I didn't make Sasuke a ginormous douche...yet. I'm not going to lie to you guys, I'm not a fan of Sasuke in anyway, shape, or form, but I will admit he is pretty damn strong. For some of the first part he will be somewhat bearable, but then he will fall straight to dick city with that superiority and inferiority complex of his. So later folks hope you enjoy this.