[Jashin & Jiongu Chapter 9]

(When Thunder Strikes)

XXX

Naruto was sitting across from Karashi who was scared out of his wits. He had been this way ever since Naruto had basically dragged him back to his mother's shop and plopped him down onto the ground where Naruto sat in front of him.

Karashi's mother had already left to go get some ingredients for the shop before Naruto and Karashi had arrived, so Naruto didn't have to explain to her why he was man handling her son. It would have been interesting to say the least. Him explaining why he was man handling her son, her son explaining to her, or rather lying to her, about his reasons for joining Raiga's gang, and her trying to make sense of it all.

Fortunately for Karashi, his mother was blissfully unaware that her good little boy was acting like an idiot in the next town over. Naruto suspected the woman would have beaten him senseless if she knew that he was supporting a gang who was oppressing other people, but he wasn't sure.

Karashi was fidgeting more and more the more Naruto stared at him. He didn't know it, but Naruto's pupil had turned into a slit, which was only adding to his scary face. Karashi looked like he was going to pee himself any moment, but that was what Naruto was going for.

"What do you want" Karashi finally burst out not able to take Naruto's death glare any longer. His nerves felt like they were jumping all around his body, and his breath was coming in small shallow bursts.

"I want to know why you gave those idiots information on me, and why you are a part of their little gang, or what is left of it, if there is anything left of it" spoke Naruto as he gazed over at Karashi with a look that said if you lie to me you will get it as well.

"I wanted to be strong alright" spoke Karashi, believing that he was defending himself. "I am tired of being a civilian. I want to be strong like Riaga so that I can do anything I want!"

He was expecting a hard punch to the side of the head that sent him spiraling through the room and into a wall that didn't give way. With a loud thump sound he slid off the wall and was barely able to lift his head up to look at Naruto who was gazing at him with contempt.

"You have a great life, and you were willing to throw that all away simply because it wasn't as exciting as you wanted it to be" spoke Naruto with both surprise and contempt in his voice. "Do you have any idea how lucky you are that not only, but your mother as well, was not put into that town to help in the mines?"

Karashi lowered his head knowing that it was true the members of the Kurosuki Family could have easily put him and his mother in the mines without much problems. He hadn't really thought about it much, but now he was surprised at how much he had gotten away with.

"It is lucky for you that they found your cowardice so amusing that they didn't put you and your mother in that mine" spoke Naruto as he noticed the surprised look on Karashi's face. "Don't look at me like that. You think I can't tell the way that they treated you with just once glance? Trust me; they only kept you around to be their little jester, nothing more."

"That isn't true" shouted Karashi as he stood up, or well tried to stand up. His legs were still all wobbly and he was very light headed. "They said that they would make me one of them. They told me that they would teach me how to be a ninja, so that I could one day become a somebody!"

"Yes and the sky is brown, the leaves are purple, and the ocean is dry. Just because someone says something doesn't make is true" spoke Naruto as he stood up and walked over towards Karashi. "They told you that crap because they thought it was funny to watch you break your neck for them. They said all of that because they got a kick out of watching you fail."

Karashi didn't want to believe it. For years he had done everything he could for them and they had always told him that they would make him one of them. They promised to teach him how to use ninjutsu, how to fight like the normal human limitations didn't apply to him, so he had worked as hard as he could every day.

"Lucky for you that you were not one of them I guess" spoke Naruto as he looked down at Karashi. "If you had been, I would have killed you just like I killed all of the others. You should count yourself lucky that they never taught you to utilize chakra."

"Grr, why didn't you kill me along with them" demanded Karashi as he looked up at Naruto defiantly. "I gave them information on you. I tried to help them kill you. I did everything that I could to help them succeed and to see you fail and die! So why didn't you kill me?"

Naruto looked away from Karashi and took up a look that seemed to stretch on for miles. His face was more serene then it had been in a long time, and he didn't seem to be as angry or agitated as he had been before.

"While you are a useless piece of crap, you would still be missed by your mother. She doesn't deserve to feel that kind of pain, just because her son is an idiot" spoke Naruto though his tone was distant. "I didn't kill you because your mother offered me a place to stay even though she didn't know who I was, and was even willing to feed me without asking anything in return. Because you have such a good kind hearted mother, I felt that even if you are a stupid brat, you are her stupid brat, and she doesn't deserve to be heartbroken just because of something stupid you did."

After that Naruto left without saying anything else. He had decided to stay at the Curry of Life Shop for another night so that he could fight Riaga at full power tomorrow and because he needed to straighten Karashi out a bit. He didn't feel like fighting someone who is supposedly ANBU level without being at his one hundred percent best.

Karashi watched as Naruto left and lowered his head down in shame. He had never considered the pain of others and had only done what he had wanted. He never felt that living the life of a curry chief was the life for him, but now he saw that things may not have been as clear to them as they were now.

XXX

The dinner that night had been something of a reserved event. Karashi didn't say anything, but seemed to be in deep thought while Naruto appeared to be concentrating on his food so much so that he didn't even taste it. Karashi's mother seemed a bit put off by the odd atmosphere, but she still smiled and offered them seconds.

Karashi was wondering if Naruto was going to tell his mother what he had been up to. He certainly didn't want to see what she would do to him if she found out about his gang activities, but he also felt a bit of guilt for putting her in such a situation without thinking about it first. He knew that he had messed up, but he was hoping that he would be able to fix his mistakes.

Naruto wasn't thinking about much other than the fact he wanted to take Riaga out as soon as possible and collect his bounty. He was interested in those ninja blades that Riaga was carrying around and wanted to examine them for a bit. He was sure that Riaga had a few secrets on him that Naruto could look through after he had killed the man.

He was particularly interested in the blades that Riaga was supposedly holding. He knew a little about them from his time with Kakuzu and Mai, though his in depth knowledge was not as complete as he would have liked it to be. He knew that the blades controlled lighting, and were said to be the sharpest blades in the world, but other than that Naruto didn't know much else.

He knew that he would need to see Riaga fight to learn his strengths and weaknesses, but he would have to do these things on the fly, and without a plan. Kakuzu would ring his neck if he knew that Naruto was running into a battle unprepared, but there was only so much that he could do in order to prepare that he was kind of at a loss.

Naruto's and Kakuzu's fighting styles differed a fair deal from one another, and yet in many ways they were the same. While Kakuzu preferred to end every battle that he could with ninjutsu, he was not adverse to using tiajutsu, especially if he could use his flesh hardening technique that he refused to teach Naruto. Kakuzu wasn't a man who used genjutsu unless he absolutely had to, and Naruto only suspected that he didn't really use it was because his chakra reserves were so big that he was in capable of utilizing genjutsu proficiently and was embarrassed about it.

On the flip side Naruto also liked to use ninjutsu as well. He had always had a love for ninjutsu even as a small child and after spending time with Kakuzu, a ninjutsu master, and Mei, a ninjutsu creator, Naruto's love and usage of ninjutsu had only increased.

The difference in this field between Naruto and Kakuzu was that Kakuzu liked to overpower his enemies with large wide spread elemental jutsu that did massive damage. Naruto on the other hand liked jutsu that either took out a single target with a technique that was fast and precise, or a technique that paralyzed/knocked out an enemy so that he could finish him off at his leisure.

They were in the same boat when it came to genjutsu. Though Naruto had spent many years of his life trying to increase his chakra control, genjutsu had always been his weakness. His massive chakra reserves had been a big boost in his ninjutsu field, but it seemed to be his Achilles heel in genjutsu. Naruto was man enough to admit that he struggled in genjutsu, Kakuzu would sooner smash his own head into tiny pieces then to do anything of the sort.

Once again Kakuzu preferred a rougher tiajutsu style that utilized his weird flesh hardening jutsu. Naruto also liked to fighter rough and aggressively, but because he didn't have the safety of Kakuzu's jutsu, he tended to give himself some room to dodge should his opponent get the better of him. Naruto had also taken to using his tanto as a major weapon, while Kakuzu rarely used any weapon, even the standard kunai to fight with.

'That old bastard probably forgot how to use kunai and such which is probably why he is so embarrassed to try and use them no' thought Naruto as he snorted a bit to himself. Just the thought that Kakuzu not being able to do something as basic as throwing a kunai or a shuriken was far too unreal for Naruto to even begin to wrap his head around.

"Are you alright dear?"

Naruto blinked a bit and realized that Karashi and his mother were looking at him oddly. It took a moment for Naruto to realize that he had been staring off into space. He wanted to berate himself, but rained in his negative emotions.

"Yes, I was just thinking about how long a day it has been" spoke Naruto as he reached over and grabbed his glass of water. He quickly downed it and refilled the glass. 'And it isn't getting any better having to eat this hot ass curry!'

"Oh, did something unexpected happen on your travels in the next town over" asked the old woman not noticing the frightened looks on Karashi's face, nor the look that Naruto sent Karashi.

"Well I was surprised, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle" spoke Naruto as he drank another glass of water. "I ran into some problems in my delivery service when I got to town. A few people were not happy about some of the information that they received, but after a while they came to understand that some things are the way that they are for a reason."

Karashi looked at Naruto like he was crazy, and Naruto looked at Karashi like he was the luckiest bastard he had ever seen in his entire life. Karashi's mother just continued to eat in ignorant bliss.

"Oh, that is too bad" spoke the old woman as she took a sip of her tea. "Well at least you came back to spend another night with us, which is more than I could have hoped for. Please, enjoy another night, and in the morning I will make you a special breakfast."

After that the old woman stood up and walked back into the kitchen. The sound of pots and pans hitting one another could be heard after a while, and then eh sound of water running soon followed. Naruto assumed she was washing the dishes, but he wasn't physic so he couldn't be sure.

"Well I think I will turn in for the night" spoke Naruto as he stood up and began to walk for the stairs. "I have a long day tomorrow and I will need all of the rest that I can get. After all, I have a big client that I need to meet, and we will have to put our all if we want to continue doing what we are doing."

Karashi didn't know what to do. He could always go to Riaga and tell him what he had seen Naruto do, but he still felt bad about not appreciating his mother and messing around with Riaga's gang had been a bad idea from the start, so now he figured it would be in everyone's best interest if he just kept his head low.

XXX

Riaga and Ranmaru were standing on a cliff that was looking down on the Curry of Life Shop. Riaga had a sadistic look on his face while Ranmaru had a sad look on his own. Riaga had planned to attack the shop while Naruto was asleep, but Ranmaru didn't want the nice people living there to get hurt.

"I will give him a choice" spoke Riaga as he looked down on the little shop. "If he comes out to face me like a man then I will not destroy that pathetic little shop, but if doesn't then I will sent bolts of lightning down from the heaves so heavily that there will be nothing left but a burn mark upon the earth."

"How do you plan on signaling him" spoke Ranmaru in a disproving tone of voice. "He may not be a sensory ninja, so flexing your chakra may not actually get his attention. Unless you go down there and knock on the door, I don't see how you are going to get him to notice you."

Riaga began to laugh like a mad man which caused Ranmaru to shrink away on Riaga's back. Riaga had been losing touch with reality for a long time, but it had never been this bad before. Ranmaru just assumed that it was stress that had caused him to turn into this monster, but he didn't say anything for the memories that he and Riaga shared.

"Oh, I have my own ways, trust me" spoke Riaga as he held his two Kiba blades high in the air and then crossed them. Soon electricity started to form over the blades. When the jutsu was charged up Riaga shouted "Lighting Style: Solar Flare Jutsu!" instantly a ball of lighting shot off into the air, but when it got about half way to the clouds it exploded sending light in all directions. "There, he had to of seen that. If he gets the message then this will be fun, but if he makes me wait then he is going to suffer!"

XXX

Sitting in the room that he had rented out Naruto saw as the sky illuminated with the light of a ninjutsu that he had never heard about. At first he had assumed that there was some foreign ninja in the area trying to signal one another, but then he looked out his window the see a man a fair deal away standing over a ledge.

Naruto realized instantly that the man had to be Riaga, and the jutsu had been some sort of challenge. Naruto was surprised that the man had not just attacked him and the house all at once in some sort of sneak attack, but decided that it was probably the man's arrogance that led him to wanting to fight face to face, rather than like a real ninja.

Naruto quickly got redressed and started to prepare for his ultimate show down with Riaga and thought about his options and strategies.

Riaga was a lighting user which was good for Naruto because he was a strong wind style user. Wind style was strong against lighting style, but it rained a lot the lands that he was in, which would increase the power of Raiga's lighting jutsu.

Naruto was sure that Raiga was stronger than him when it came to kenjutsu, due to the man being a part of the famous Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and Naruto only having his White Light Chakra Sabre tanto for about one year. Naruto figured in the least he would be strong enough to hold Raiga off for a while so that he could come up with some other plan to defeat the man.

XXX

As Naruto was walking down the stairs to leave the Curry of Life Shop he was confronted by Karashi's mother who seemed to be surprised that he was awake at such an hour, though Naruto eased her mind in telling her that he frequently had to get up at all hours both day and night.

It was true in many ways. Back during the time when he was still training under Mai, she would frequently wake him up at any hour she chose after a long day of training and make him do something stupid like swim ten miles, or run around the Fuma Clan's territory before allowing him to go to sleep.

If that wasn't bad it seemed that Kakuzu had somehow invented a jutsu that converted chakra into stamina which would greatly reduce the need for sleep. Of course if he did have such a jutsu he didn't teach it to Naruto, and since he didn't Naruto was still expected to follow the man wherever he went, even if he didn't stop walking for three days straight.

Karashi's mother had been a bit concerned though. She feared that the bright flash of light in the air had been some kind of ninja or soldier signal, which she would have been correct, but she had assumed it was meant to let troops know that it was time for an invasion.

Naruto wasn't exactly the best when it came to calming people down or making them feel better, as not many people had exactly shown him how that worked, but he was good with playing on words without revealing anything to an enemy, or just someone you just met. This was a skill that both Mai and Kakuzu had drilled into his head saying that it was one of the most important skills he could ever learn in his life.

Eventually he was able to get Karashi's mother to go to bed while he took a stroll around outside. She had been worried about him, but since she wasn't his mother, and for some reason could just tell he could take care of himself, she had dropped her complaints and had done as he said.

Naruto ignored Karashi who was watching him from behind one of the doors entirely. He didn't care if the brat watched him or not. He wasn't worried that Karashi was any threat to him, so even if he did run off to side with Raiga, it wasn't like Raiga was getting anything out of the deal.

With that Naruto opened up the front door and left the house determined to get his bounty. He had spent far too much time with this family, and realized that he had been interacting a fair deal too much as well. Kakuzu always told him how bounty hunters were not supposed to develop attachments, and Naruto was worried that he may fail in this regard more than he even wanted to think about.

XXX

It took Naruto about twenty minutes to finally find Raiga. He had thought the man would be waiting for him on the cliff, but it seemed that Raiga wanted to show him something, or just wanted a better place to fight, Naruto hadn't been too sure.

Soon enough though, after fallowing the man long enough, Naruto realized what Raiga wanted to show him. It seemed that Riaga had been busy while Naruto had been away, because it appeared to Naruto that Raiga had somehow rounded up all of the villagers, stuck them into come kind of mobile wood prisons, and then added explosive tags all over them.

Naruto saw that it was basically men who were trapped in the cages, but there were a few women here and there, along with a child or two, but where he got them Naruto wasn't sure. He had been sure that the work camp had been divided up by men and women with the men mining in the gold mines and the women smelting the gold into jewelry for Raiga to sell and make money off of them.

"Hahahahaha, well looks like the hero has finally arrived" shouted Raiga as he began to laugh like a mad man. His green hair as flying all over the places as he did so, making him look like some kind of rock star.

Naruto looked over at Raiga with a confused look on his face. He was wondering where Raiga got hero out of anything that he had done so far. Not once in Naruto's life could he remember doing anything that would be considered something that anyone would call heroic.

"What are you talking about" asked Naruto as he looked at Raiga with a calm neutral look on his face. "Where do you get off calling me a hero? I don't remember doing anything worthy of such a title."

If it was possible Raiga looked even more deranged. Naruto absently thought back to what he knew about the seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and the Hidden Mist Village in general. He needed to know what had happened to this man to make him come out like this.

He knew that the Village Hidden in the Mist was in a civil war. Everyone, from ninja to civilians, knew that much. It was kind of a pointless war really. The village had always been plagued by internal strife, but the newest Mizukage seemed hell bent on destroying all of the bloodline users, a major power within any village. It was almost like the man was trying to weaken his own village on purpose.

Then there was the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. They were known as the Butchers of the Mist in some circles. They never minded getting their hands dirty, and were more than happy to kill anyone, whether they were ninja or civilian, their targets or not, or if they were even allies, though that was less known then the other two facts.

Naruto could only assume that with all the strife in the Land of Water caused by the Mist Ninja, the civil war, and the duties of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Raiga must of snapped somewhere along the road and turned into whatever kind of deranged monster he was now.

"Oh, don't try and hide it or pretend" spoke Raiga as he pointed one of the Kiba blades at one of the cages and fired off a arc of lighting that just barely missed the cages, and the explosive tags, causing everyone in the cages to start shouting their heads off. "I know you are here trying to save these people like some kind of every day super hero!"

Naruto sighed a bit and pulled out the White Light Chakra Sabre and channeled wind chakra through it. "I don't know how or why you went crazy, but know this" spoke Naruto as he closed his eyes. He dramatically opened them and stared down into Raiga's own eyes. "I am no hero. I am here for one reason, and one reason only, and that is to collect the bounty that is on your head."

To Naruto's surprise Raiga started to laugh once again. Naruto was convinced that the man was cracked in the head, but for some reason he felt that he heard some whispering, but just ignored it.

"Well Mr. Bounty hunter, my friend has told me that there is a fair deal about you that is quite interesting" spoke Raiga with a grin on his face. "I wonder why you have all of those threads inside of your body."

That was the last thing Raiga was able to say before he had to dodge an arc of wind chakra that had been released into his direction. He was lucky he reacted so quickly because the technique was quit fast and somewhat hard to see.

"Looks like fun time is over" spoke Raiga as he lifted his Kiba Blades high into the hair.

Naruto watched as lighting fell from the sky and hit the blades causing them to be surrounded in electricity. Naruto found a bit realizing that not only was Raiga better then him with kenjutsu, but he also had two blades that could launch ninjutsu at him without him even needed to weave hand seals.

"Die" shouted Riaga as he charged towards Naruto.

Naruto unleased a series of wind arcs towards Raiga, but the man either dodged them, or blocked them with his own blades. Soon he was right in front of Naruto and began to unleash a barrage of slashes with his blades.

Naruto was quickly being overwhelmed by Raiga's advanced and aggressive kenjutsu style so he pulled out a kunai and channeled wind chakra into it and used it as a second blade to help him hold Raiga off. It worked for the most part, but Naruto was still being pushed back.

Soon their blades clashed and they stared into each other's eyes.

"You are better than I thought you would be" spoke Raiga with a grin on his face.

"Well, like they say, never underestimate an Uzumaki, we are very surprising" spoke Naruto with a grin on his face.

"Well like the other Uzumaki, you will die by a Water Ninja's hands" spoke Riaga quickly angering Naruto like no one's business. Before Naruto could do or say anything though, Riaga shouted "Lightning Release: Thunder Gate!"

Naruto was amazed when the natural lighting in the thunder clouds above him started to crackle and Riaga jumped back right before a powerful bolt of lightning rushed from the skies and smashed into Naruto causing wide spread destruction.

"Well, it looks like he wasn't all that impressive" spoke Riaga as he started to turn to walk away.

"He is not dead" spoke Ranmaru.

"That is impossible" spoke Riaga as he turned around to see, to his great surprise, Naruto standing up, albert slowly and in a painful fashion.

Naruto was in an incredible amount of pain, and was thanking that weird guy who gave him his immortality, Kakuzu for his violent tendencies and the Earth Grudge Fear, and Mai for her brutal training regiment, which had all been what led up to Naruto developing a high pain tolerance, which kept Naruto conscience after that last attack.

'Ok, maybe I bit off more than I could chew when I went after a ninja from such a highly prestigious organization like the one Raiga is from. That last jutsu would have been able to kill ninja three times my age, and five times my strength, if I hadn't have my Blessing of Jashin, I would have been dead as well' thought Naruto as he tried to catch his breath.

Many wouldn't have thought it his style, or something that he would do due to his state of mind, but Riaga attacked Naruto when he was trying to catch his breath. He wasn't able to cut Naruto in half like he wanted to, but he was able to lop off Naruto's left arm.

"Ha, it seems you are a tough one, but let's see what you can do with only one arm" spoke Riaga with a contemptuous sneer.

"Well, let's find out" spoke Naruto, right before he did something that made Raiga's stomach turn.

From the area that used to connect Naruto's let forearm was not blood, but countless black threads that were coming out of Naruto's exposed forearm like long black snakes that were moving back and forth menacingly.

"What the hell are you" spoke Raiga as he took a step back.

"Well, I am many things. I am a proud Uzumaki and Fuma clan ninja, a Jashinist, though I don't believe in that messed up god, a Jionguist, the last of my clan, and your executioner" spoke Naruto as he pointed his stubby forearm that had all of the black threads hanging out of it at Riaga and watched with amusement as the rushed out towards him.

Riaga was terrified by what he saw, and kept trying to get distance, or to just avoid the black threads that were coming out of the boy's body. The only reason he had not been captured so far was because Ranmaru was whispering their direction in his ear.

He unleashed powerful lighting styled jutsu at the threads, but no matter how many he destroyed; countless more replaced them to continue to overwhelm him. Eventually he was able to get some distance from himself and Naruto.

"I don't know what in the name of Kami you are, but you will not get me" shouted Raiga, but he was shocked by the grin on Naruto's face.

"I already have you" spoke Naruto.

"Riaga look out" shouted Ranmaru, but it was too late.

Something grabbed Riaga's leg and when he looked down he was shocked to see that it was Naruto's severed arm and hand. He tried to kick it away, but the treads that were coming out of it shout out and wrapped around him restraining him.

To his horror he dropped not only the Kiba Blades, but the carrying case that housed Ranmaru when he fought was removed by the threads and thrown into the air. He was angered and relieved when Naruto caught the bag with the threads coming out of his forearm.

'Black Thread Bind Technique' thought Naruto with a grin.

"Now what do we have here" spoke Naruto as he opened up the bag. He was shocked when he saw a small child inside of it, but shrugged his shoulders. "Now what is a kind looking child like you doing with a psycho like him?"

Ranmaru didn't know why, but instead of a scary oppressing look like he had been expecting, he saw a kind and caring look in Naruto's strange purple eyes. He decided to be honest and told Naruto everything.

He told him about being abandoned as a child, about how he was weak and couldn't really do anything strenuous, about how the villagers hated him, about Raiga saving him to some extent, then their travels, and finally Raiga's decent into madness.

Naruto could relate to Ranmaru more than anyone he had ever met. He thought about taking Ranmaru with him, or sending him to the Fuma clan, but ultimately he felt that Ranmaru deserved a chance to be normal for once, so he created a clone and passed Ranmaru off to it.

"The Lady who runs the Curry of Life Shop is a very kind and loving person. If you ask, I am sure that she will take you in and show you a life that doesn't involve bloodshed. I can't promise anything extravagant, but it will be one full of love, something that people like us rarely ever get the chance to feel" spoke Naruto with a small kind smile.

Ranmaru had to think about it for a moment, but eventually he realized that Raiga was not the man who had saved him that day. That Raiga was gone. All that was left was a mad man who enjoyed burring people alive, and that wasn't something Ranmaru was ok with. After nodding, the clone started to take Ranmaru to Karashi's mother to start a new life.

Naruto looked over at Raiga who was fighting and hollering profanities left and right and could only smirk. He couldn't wait to rub it in Kakuzu's face that he had taken down a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist while he was just twelve years old all by himself. He was sure that was stick something fierce to Kakuzu's nerves for quite a while.

"You little bastard bring Ranmaru back here this instant" shouted Raiga as he glared down at Naruto with hate filled eyes. "When I get out of here I am going to roast you alive, then I will kill all of the people that Ranmaru is staying with, before I drag him back and make him work for me again!"

Naruto smirked a bit which only infuriated Raiga even more. "Sorry Raiga, but unfortunately for you, that opportunity will not be presenting itself to you. You see you are wanted dead or alive, so this is the end for you. Since you are so heartless and brutal, I don't think you will need that heart of yours" spoke Naruto with a grin on his face.

Naruto willed the black thread to pierce Riaga's chest and enter his body before connecting with and wrapping around his still beating heart. With one quick tug Naruto ripped out Raiga's heart with one tug causing the man to shout out in agony before finally dying.

To Naruto's surprise though the black threads didn't just drop the heart like he had expected them to, but went into some kind of auto pilot mode and pulled the heart into Naruto's severed arm and then into his body. The threads situated the new heart inside the right side of his chest, right next to his current heart.

Naruto felt a flood of chakra rushing through his body and fell to his knees breathing a bit heavily. This new chakra was increasing his current chakra greatly, though Naruto knew it was going to be a pain because now he would need to increase his chakra control. After a few minutes the chakra finished mixing with Naruto's own and everything went back to normal.

'What was that' wondered Naruto as he felt his hearts beating at the same time. 'Why did the Earth Grudge Fear take in Raiga's heart? I know the Jiongu is somewhat sentient, but what could its purpose be for giving me a second heart?'

Naruto thought about it for a moment, but then remembered Kakuzu telling him that it was due to the Earth Grudge Fear's unique abilities that he was able to utilize all five of the basic natural elements to the level of a master.

Naruto had always just assumed that it just gave him the affinities, but after he had gotten it he checked and was disappointed to see that he still only had, though it was still great, a strong wind and earth affinity.

Naruto figured he may as well go for it and pulled out a spare piece of chakra paper that he had on him in case the Earth Grudge Fear ever did decide to give him the ability to use all five elements that he might check to make sure.

He channeled his chakra though the paper and watched with baited breath as it first split down the middle, signifying his wind affinity, then one side crumbled into dark pieces that were larger than the standard was, and then the other side crumpled up signifying a lighting affinity.

Naruto could only crack a devious grin as he thought 'Oh, yes, I can use this nicely.'

After that Naruto grabbed and threw Riaga's body over his shoulder. He would need to trade it in for the money, and for some renown in the underground black market, though being the apprentice of Kakuzu gave him plenty of it, and then he sealed the Kiba blades.

He wasn't sure if he was going to sell them or keep them yet, but he knew that he wasn't going to utilize them himself. They just were not his style. Finally he used the threads to reconnect his arm and to keep it in place. He knew that his healing factor would have his arm back as good as new in a few hours, all he had to do was wait for a bit now.