AN: Hello again everyone. First the reviews then some quick notes.
Rose Tiger: Ok, while I may disagree with that as I have seen examples of it many times I will accept everyone's opinion on the matter. And thank you for the compliment.
3ch0: Ok, another flamer has entered the story. Look, if you don't like it don't read it. I just accepted a challenge for this one so suck it up. Second, me and computers don't get along. I have no idea how to do that so I won't bother trying something that could possibly damage it. Now if you want to leave another hateful message, go elsewhere.
Eh: I will do that, but I feel that even if people don't like the CRA they should be able to look past it to see the story itself. It's not like I have a massive harem that takes up most of the chapters. Anyways I hope that you continue reading despite that.
firetemplar415: Glad you approve. I really enjoy writing them personally.
Chewie Cookies: Next chapter I will add some in since you asked so nicely (Planned to do so anyways ^_^)
SilverFlameHaze: No it isn't. If you are basing that on the first chapter then you need to read further, and if there is something wrong please explain to me what so I can work on fixing it in later works.
CelestialxXxAngel: Ok, that was the shout out that you all missed. I'll explain it after the reviews.
dbtiger63: Shibuki's comment wasn't supposed to be about vertical height. What he meant was he expected him to be as ripped as A. Naruto is tall and he does have a fair amount of muscle, he is not ripped like A is. The rumors about this mysterious leader make him seem like an 8' giant with muscles the size of boulders, as rumors tend to do. Sorry that I didn't make that clear.
Veraozao: Don't let the gf find out. She might kill me...
Wyrtha: Glad you liked Hidan's death, I had to think carefully on that one. As for the war council, well Tsunade was kind of aggravated that she didn't join her in stopping them, and you can't really blame her on that one. Plus at the moment Kiri is the weakest of the five since they are still suffering from the after effects of the Yondaime Mizukage's rule. Finally what makes you think Orochimaru came alone? I agree that he isn't stupid enough to come alone to a meeting like that, and so it may be noted for the record he did have support hidden nearby, but far enough back for it to seem legit.
OK then, now that that is finished some quick things. First is that I have officially caught up to what I had originally written. Granted I have made quite a few changes to this because of that, nothing major of course but it is far better in my opinion. So from here on out things will be a little shaky at times because I have to make sure that everything is falling into the correct places. Second, I might be a little slow with updating since I do work a ton and I also have this story, three others with a possible fourth coming along, so please be patient with me. Alright folks read on and leave your reviews.
To The Skies
Naruto smiled as he walked through the halls of Haru no Kuni. It had been some time since he had last been here, to show A the test flight of their prototype, but now he was here to see the finished product.
"Naruto-kun!" Koyuki exclaimed when she saw the blonde approach.
"Koyuki-chan." Naruto smiled as he gave her a hug "It's good to see you again."
"Same Naruto-kun. I guess you're here about the airships?"
"Yeah. Some of our allies are getting rather antsy about them." Naruto replied as they started to walk.
"Well we are almost finished with them. That power source you gave us really helped speed up the process." Koyuki noted.
"Yeah, the Stone of Gelel is really useful. Any progress on that side project?" Naruto asked.
"Yes. We managed to get it to work. You can try it out tomorrow when we finish the last of the work." Koyuki answered.
"Great." Naruto nodded "Might as well stay here then. No point in wasting the chakra."
"Great!" Koyuki exclaimed as she grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the village.
Late that night in Kumogakure, the silent village was awoken by explosions. A was soon out amongst the people, directing them and getting the villagers to safety.
"What is going on?!" he shouted to a jonin nearby.
"We don't know. We're being attacked from above." he replied.
"Dammit." A swore as he managed to get the last of the civillians into the shelters and the shinobi tried to find the threat. Suddenly the explosions ceased hitting the village, instead falling upon some sort of barrier that had been created above them.
"It appears that I returned just in time." a man said as he lowered himself from the sky.
"Hao-sama." A nodded "What happened? How were we being attacked?"
"It appears that an old nation has decided to revive itself. They were simply using you as a test subject before moving on to their true enemy." Hao replied.
"Sora no Kuni." A cursed "I thought that they were eradicated."
"Not all of them. They have been regaining their numbers and preparing to take revenge on the one that caused their destruction. This was merely a test run, to make sure that their plan would work." Hao shrugged before running his gaze over the shinobi "I see that Naruto isn't here. Which means that Haru no Kuni has just about finished them."
"Yeah." A nodded.
"Excellent. Naruto will want to test them out, and Sora no Kuni has just volunteered themselves." Hao smiled as he walked towards the Raikage tower. A only chuckled at this as he followed Hao to the tower.
Two days later Konahagakure no Sato was laid to seige, just as Kumogakure was. The attack was swift and deadly, with the shinobi of Sora no Kuni targetting the important areas of the village.
"Hokage-sama!" an ANBU shouted as they entered the tower.
"I know." Tsunade stated as she stared at the flying shinobi "Protect the civilians and noncombatants. Those with long range ninjutsu start taking down those nin."
The ANBU nodded and proceeded to inform the shinobi of the Hokage's orders. Tsunade had Shikamaru and Shikaku with her soon and they were trying to find a way to counter the shinobi.
"This isn't looking good." Shikamaru stated "They are to mobile for our long range attacks to do anything useful."
"And the carriers are too far off for us to deal with." Shikaku added "Now without leaving the village for them to ravage."
Tsunade groaned in frustration just as another ANBU entered.
"Hokage-sama! Something has appeared over us!" he exclaimed.
"What?" Tsunade asked as she went to the window and saw that there were three large vessels descending from the clouds. They were the size of large ships, with unusual cylinders on the bottom, emitting energy that kept them aloft. On the side of each one was a name, and a giant sunburst.
"Kami above..." Tsunade whispered in horror at the Yugure fleet.
"It's ok." a young voice from behind her stated causing Tsunade turned to see a young girl standing there "Kitsune is here to beat up Sora no Kuni."
"Who're you?" Shikamaru asked, already prepared to trap her.
"I'm Yuki Uzumaki Namikaze." she smiled "Naruto adopted me."
Tsunade's jaw dropped at this statement and Hinata who was in the shadows blinked in shock, but remembered a letter from Naruto saying that he had rescued a young girl and she had taken a liking to him.
"Kitsune is here for Sora no Kuni?" Tsunade asked.
"Yep. They attacked Kumogakure while he was away, so he's very mad at them." Yuki nodded "That's why he brought the main fleet to attack them."
Tsunade shook her head in shock at this and looked up at the ships that were still moving.
On board the flagship Kitsune stood, directing his forces.
"Have the Shoku(Eclipse) send out their fighters and start dealing with those flying pests. Tell the Inazuma(Lightning Bolt) to head out over the ocean and deal with carriers on the ocean." Kitsune ordered.
"And the Arashi?" a shinobi asked.
"Prepare the smaller crafts to take care of any straglers or those that try to get away. I want no survivors." Kitsune stated. The battle progressed quickly, with fighters being released and attacking the fighters, working in teams to overwhelm the Sora no Kuni shinobi, sending a barrage of exploive tag kunai into each fighter and letting them fall over the village and the surrounding area. Out over the ocean the Inazuma got over the fleet, and once they were hovering over the fleet the sphere opened revealing a crystal sphere inside of it that started glowing. It took only seconds before a focused blast of pure heat smashed through two of the carriers, destroying them and letting them sink.
"RETREAT!" the commander shouted, ordering the forces to try and get away from the wrath of Yugure.
"Sir, the enemy is beginning to retreat." a nin reported to Kitsune.
"Good. Deal with them." he nodded.
"Sir, our sensor nin are starting to pick up some unusual chakra readings." another nin reported. Kitsune frowned and walked over to the map where the nin quickly pointed out where it was coming from.
"Monitor it. If it doesn't stop growing inform me." he stated as he walked off "Now let me go pick up Yuki." With that he Hiraihined down to the Hokage tower where he found one of the most unusual scenes that he had come across yet. Yuki was sitting at Tsunade's desk playing cards with Tsunade who seemed to be losing.
"I should warn you, Yuki has the most luck I have ever seen." he stated as he walked over.
"I know. She's already won 800 ryo off of me." Tsunade sighed "No child should be this good."
"Naruto would agree." Kitsune nodded "She once henged herself to look like an adult and then cleaned out an entire casino."
Tsunade blinked at this and quickly folded and let Yuki take the small amount of money she had bet. Yuki smiled and then walked over to Kitsune.
"Thanks for playing with me Tsunade-baa-chan." Yuki smiled, causing Tsunade to feel both agitation and amusement about the child.
"Don't make me hurt you gaki." Tsunade stated before looking at Kitsune "So you got your revenge."
"That we did." Kitsune nodded "They chose to attack us, I simply made sure that they paid for it."
"And gave an impressive show of force while you were at it?" Tsunade asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about." he replied as he placed a hand on Yuki's sholder "Now if you will excuse me, I need to make sure that we eliminate the remnants of Sora no Kuni." Kitsune then Hiraishined back up to the Arashi where Yuki went off to explore the ship some more while Kitsune went back over to the map to see that the chakra was still growing.
"Sir, this isn't looking good." the shinobi stated "It's getting larger by the minute, it's almost comparable to one of the Biju."
"I see..." he nodded "I'll go investigate this. Have a small party on standby just in case I need a pick up."
"Yes sir." the shinobi nodded as Kitsune walked off, removing his mask and heading for the bay doors. He soon stepped onto the one piece of technology that he had requested to be made and nodded to the shinobi to open the doors. Naruto felt his stomach drop as the doors opened up underneath him and he soon moved his left foot to the back of the board where he tapped the button and the board came to life. The board was powered just like the airships with a Stone of Gelel, though this one was a much smaller stone, meant to just give the board power. His right foot soon moved up to the bottons that controlled the boards movements, with one to control the forward thrust, and then one to control the upward thrust, so he could adjust his elevation. Naruto turned the board and was soon heading for the chakra source, arriving just as a massive fortress rose up out of the ground, reaching the skies.
"Damn..." Naruto whistled as he saw the fortress "This must be the legendary base of Sora no Kuni."
Naruto quickly made his way towards one of the openings and landed, opening a scroll and sealing the board inside of it before he started to walk, making his way through the fortress, avoiding detection by the Sora no Kuni shinobi as he did. Eventually he arrived at a massive throne room where a man was sitting with another person chained to the wall to Naruto's left. The man was elderly with long grey hair that flowed to his back and beard of a slightly darker grey. His eyes were yellow with the wrinkles under them, and they had an evil sadistic look to them. He wore a black shirt with a white gi with brown and blue edges over it, and a sleeveless red jacket with gold sidings over that, and simple blue pants. The other person had brown hair which was covered by a blue bandana, thick eyebrows, and blue eyes with a mole under her left eye. She wore a cyan-blue gi with a cream-coloured vest over it, blue shorts and dark colored arm and leg bands. She had obviously been crying and looked like she had been through hell and back.
"Who dares stand before the Sora no Tei(Sky Emperor)?" the man said in such a voice that Naruto wanted to punch him just for talking.
"Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, member of Yugure." Naruto stated.
"And so you think you can trespass in my fortress?" he asked with a sneer.
"I think that since you had Kumogakure attacked it lets me kick you asses however I damn well please." Naruto replied with a smirk "Care to explain why that person is chained to your wall."
"She is unimportant. Simply a battery to help fuel the power source." he snorted.
"Uh huh." Naruto nodded "Who're you miss?"
"A... Amaru..." she mumbled.
"BE SILENT!" the man roared.
"OI!" Naruto shouted, getting the man's attention "I don't believe I caught your name either."
"I am the Sora no Tei, I have no need to tell a meer worm my name. But since you are about to die, it won't hurt to let you know the name of the man that slayed you. I am Shinnō, and I will end your miserable life." Shinnō boasted as Naruto only shook his head at the classic villian mentality.
"Well then Shinnō, I'll be finishing the job we already started." Naruto replied as he moved closer "And I will be releasing Amaru while I'm at it."
"You think you can defy me? And what do you mean the job you already started?" Shinnō asked.
"Sora no Kuni's destruction. Already my fleet has decimated your carriers, and we are in the process of destroying every last one of your shinobi. By the time the sun sets your nation will sink back into the depths of history, never to be seen by living eyes again." Naruto explained as he stopped just in front of the throne "Now why don't you get off that throne and just die quietly."
"You arrogant little bastard." Shinnō cursed rising from the throne and glaring at Naruto "I will kill you myself!" Naruto could feel the Dark Chakra being used by the man and saw that he was changing. His hair and beard grew wild and much longer, as well as blackening in colour. His eyebrows became black and wildly thicker. His muscles greatly expanded, which caused his clothes on his upper body to burst, leaving him bare-chested, with only shreds of the sleeve around his wrists. Naruto could sense the power coming off of Shinnō and knew that things were going to get bad fast if he didn't react to this quickly. Before Naruto knew what had happened Shinnō was at his back and Naruto was backhanded across the width of the room, smashing into the wall.
"Ouch." Naruto grumbled as he stood up and shook off the debris "That hurt you son of a bitch."
"That is only the beginning!" Shinnō roared "With this power I can utilize the power of Hachimon(Eight Gates), using all eight of them without any drawbacks!"
"So I got the super powered crazy." Naruto remarked as he pulled himself out of the wall "Guess this means that I get to go all out today."
"You won't get the chance!" Shinnō shouted as he appeared in front of Naruto, grabbed him and threw him again. Naruto reacted in midair, taking a scroll out and unleashing the contents.
"Sen Kunai no Ame(Rain of a Thousand Kunai)!" Naruto shouted as he unsealed the scroll and a thousand kunai shot out all over the room. Shinnō only laughed as he sent a burst of dark chakra to send any kunai that went near him flying. Before he could move though Naruto appeared in front of him in a flash and had Geiru drawn.
"It's been a long time since I faced someone this strong. I hope you meet my expectations." Naruto stated as he struck "Uzu no Ken: Araumi(Whirlpool Sword: Riptide)!" Naruto struck, swinging the blade in a series of blows that forced Shinnō back until he was caught by the finishing blow that Naruto unleashed by slashing the man across the front, leaving a large gaping wound that was soon knitting itself closed.
"Pitiful. I am capable of healing practically any wound. I might as well be immortal!" Shinnō laughed. This caused Naruto to start laughing as he Hiraishined away and sheathed Geiru.
"Now that is funny." Naruto laughed "There is no such thing as an immortal. Everything can die, all you have to do is put forth the effort to reach that point."
Shinnō only sneered as he disappeared and tried to strike Naruto, but he Hiraishined away and struck from behind, but Shinnō dodged this. The fight continued like this for several minutes with both of them moving at speeds that no mortal should be able to reach. Soon Naruto stopped and gripped Geiru again.
"Uzu no Ken: Dai Uzu(Maelstrom)." Naruto stated as he struck, this time using the Hiraishin kunai to enhance the technique where the unleashed two slashes at least every time he appeared near Shinnō, who soon realized that having a strong healing ability didn't mean that he could keep up with the damage dealt to him. It wasn't long before Shinnō collapsed to the ground, barely alive from the damage that Naruto had dealt to him.
"I'll just let you lay there." Naruto stated as he walked over and drew Reijingu-fū and cut through the chains holding Amaru "You ok?"
"Y...Yeah..." Amaru nodded as she looked over at Shinnō "Is he dead?"
"No, but he probably wishes that he was." Naruto stated as he looked towards the entrance where a figure was now entering "And it appears that I'm not the only one who sensed the chakra."
"That's right." Sasuke stated as he walked in "Danzo knew about this fortress from the war, and when he realized that it was still functioning he sent me to claim it, so we can use it against Yugure."
"Well I can't let that happen." Naruto remarked as he let Sasuke walk closer "I mean we just got our fleet up and running, can't let you possess a weapon that could destroy it."
"Too bad." Sasuke smirked "I'll use this weapon to destroy you and Yugure, my brother and anyone that stands in my way."
Naruto only shook his head at this as he looked at Amaru who was staring at the two "Go ahead and get out of here. I'll catch up and get you somewhere safe."
Amaru nodded and ran off, heading down a side entrance and leaving the room just as Sasuke drew his blade and struck, channeling his Chidori down the blade as he swung it at Naruto. The blonde blocked the strike with Reijingu-fū and grinned as his other hand drew Geiru, bringing the blade up towards Sasuke who drew a kunai to block the second blade. The two stood in their deadlock for a few moments, staring at each other before breaking the deadlock and leaping back. Naruto grinned as he used the Hiraishin to disappear and reappear across the room, keeping up the flashes to disorient Sasuke, who's Sharingan couldn't follow the rapid movements. Naruto used this as an oppritunity to strike, slashing Sasuke across the side of his arm, making the cut deep enough to sever some tendons and make his left arm uesless.
"Looks like this is checkmate." Naruto stated with a smirk as he sheathed his blades "You aren't even in the same league as me."
"Why... why are you so much stronger?! I'm an Uchiha, an elite!"
"That's why I am stronger." Naruto replied as he walked towards a door at the back of the room "I'm stronger because I worked hard to be strong. Through my blood, sweat, and tears I have become stronger then you, and almost anyone that would oppose me. In the end Sasuke, you're still just a child that can't even stand up to a single shinobi."
Sasuke just roared in rage as he swung the chokuto at Naruto's back, but the blonde had been expecting that and Hiraishined out of the way, appearing behind Sasuke as he took the kunai and slashed the back of his legs, severing more tendons, letting Sasuke fall to the ground and flop like a fish as he tried to stand up.
"Now why don't you just lay there while I go deal with this fortress." Naruto stated as he entreed the doors and worked his way through the hallways until he finally reached the powersource and realized that his was a demon that had been trying to immitate the Biju.
"So this is the Reibi(Zero Tails)." Naruto mused as he took out a small scroll that was heavily sealed "Guess this merits the use of this Hao-sensei."
Naruto then unsealed the scroll and placed it next to the tablet that was holding the Reibi and started walking away. Once he was outside of the room he made a single hand sign and then started to run as he felt the rumbling begin as the scroll unleashed it's power. It didn't take long for him to catch up to Amaru who was standing near the same place Naruto had boarded.
"Hold on!" Naruto shouted as he grabbed her and jumped off of the fortress. Amaru screamed in fear as Naruto unsealed the board and activated it, taking off as quickly as he could from the fortress. Twisting in midair he turned and looked back at the fortress just as the scroll finished it's work and destroyed the fortress. Inside that scroll was a special demon destroyer that Hao had discovered several years ago and had given it to Naruto to deal with any demons that might be too dangerous to leave alone. The scroll targetted the demon's chakra and then converted it into pure kinetic energy and heat, creating the massive explosion that tore apart the fortress. As Naruto watched the explosion he saw Sasuke using his cursed seal wings fly out, charred but still alive.
"Good. It would be a shame if you had died so easily." Naruto nodded as he let Sasuke head back for the village. Turning Naruto flew off towards the Arashi where he could have Amaru looked over and make sure that she would be fine.
In Konaha Danzo was furious that not only had Sasuke been defeated so easily but that he had failed to even capture the fortress and in fact had let it be destroyed.
"Once you are finished healing Sasuke take him to the training grounds. I want him trained until he will be able to handle any of these Yugure scum." Danzo ordered.
"Yes sir." a ROOT shinobi nodded as they continued healing Sasuke's wounded body.
In the Hokage Tower Tsunade was going over the reports of how bad the damage was to the village and realized that in the end that Yugure's intervention had saved them from the worst of the damages but it had also shown that in the end Yugure had them clearly beat in terms of power, ability, and numbers. It was only a matter of time before things turned to the worst case scenario.
"Hinata." Tsunade sighed.
"Yes?" Hinata asked.
"Can you get into contact with Naruto?"
"Yes I can. Why?"
"We need to try and buy some time." Tsunade sighed "I need time to try and convince the councilors that we need to bring Naruto back and stop us from being destroyed."
"You know that it is unlikely that they will listen." Hinata noted.
"I know. But I have to try, for the good of the village." Tsunade answered "So will you talk to him?"
"I'll send word to him and let him know that you want to talk." Hinata nodded as she walked out of the shadows and went off to get the message ready "But you should know that I intend to tell him everything, including why you want to talk him."
"That's fine." Tsunade replied.
"But realize that he may say no." Hinata nodded as she walked out of the room.
In Kumogakure Naruto was finishing looking over the new reports that had come in from his allies about how they were well pleased with the airships. Trade was no longer a problem and things were looking up for their plans. Standing Naruto made his way to the medical area where he found Amaru sitting on her bed.
"How you feeling?" Naruto asked as he approached.
"Better... I just can't believe that Shinnō would betray me like that. He did so much for me..." Amaru sobbed. Naruto placed a hand on her sholder and let her get out the fresh batch of tears. It wasn't long before she stopped and Naruto managed to get the story out of her. Shinnō had healed her when she had been ill, had taken her as an apprentice, and had been her first real friend.
"I know that it hurts Amaru. But in the end you need to live up to the ideals that Shinnō had, not the man he turned out to be, but the man you thought he was, the kind man that took care of you and helped you. The man that taught you that it's better to help people then to hurt them. Live up to that man's ideals." Naruto explained with a smile as he talked to her. He sat with her for most of the day, talking and helping her work out her problems.
"Thanks..." Amaru nodded "I really appreciate it."
"Of course. If you like you can stay with Yugure. We can always use another medic." Naruto smiled as he stood up "Do what you think is best, and if you choose to stay with us then just let me know and we will get you situated here."
"Thank you." Amaru said as Naruto left. As he left a shinobi approached him, handing him an envelope. Frowning he looked it over and saw that it was from Hinata.
"Dear Naruto-kun,
Tsunade has asked me to write this letter because she wants to meet with you. She would like to see if it is possible to call a cease fire for a time so that she might be able to convince the councilors to let you come back and prevent the destruction of Konaha. I understand if you say no to this, and so does Tsunade. Please write back with you answer and if it is yes please inform us where you would like to meet.
With all my love,
Hinata"
Naruto frowned at this letter. He had been expecting something like this but he wasn't quite sure of what to do. He could just say no and let things go as they were, but there was something that he needed to get done and he had no idea how to go about it. In the end a temporary cease fire might help him, allowing him to focus on some of his other parts of the plan, since the second phase was now complete there would be a one month waiting period before they began the third phase and began putting countries to siege. Nodding to himself he decided to play on their lack of knowledge to his plans and agree to meet with them to discuss his terms.