And here's Chapter 12. I got in my new laptop, an HP Pavilion dv9000. I like it, but I guess I'll have to purchase Word for it so that I can continue to write stories. Seems FanFiction doesn't accept Works files...or at least it wouldn't accept mine. I'll try to get updates back to a respectable level, but I promise nothing. Be sure to check out my sneak peek at the next story entitle The Melt. Here's hoping you like this chapter and the peek at the new story. Readers, Reviewers, thank you...Every Rose Has Its Thorn.

CHAPTER TWELVE

TenTen scowled as she sat in the confines of her tree she'd been assigned. After several months of missions and helping, she'd come no closer to getting Naruto on good terms with the other two and she was beginning to get fed up with them all. Naruto had promised her he'd make an effort just for her, but that tended to backslide as time went on. He just couldn't put up with Sakura's jabs or Kakashi's cold indifference. And as time went on, neither could she.

She'd thought Gai, Neji, and Lee were hard to deal with. She'd thought the sunset genjutsu was the most horrible torture on earth. She'd thought Neji's indifference was the most painful and annoying thing on the planet. But she'd never had to put up with Kakashi's laziness and tardiness, Sakura's bitchiness and…well, bitchiness, or Naruto's over optimistic attitude or bullheadedness…and she was finding herself yearning for her old team. Hell, she'd have withstood a man hug just for some of what she called normalcy.

But it hadn't been all bad. Naruto had provided her with enough good moments to counteract the bad. He'd been the epitome of a good boyfriend, buying things for her, setting up her tent for her, helping her with whatever he could. And that was just on missions. After the first couple times he'd tried to keep her from getting hurt (and having his ass handed to him by an angry and insulted kunoichi after the mission was over) he'd finally learned that TenTen was not a delicate flower that needed to be under constant surveillance. She could handle herself just fine…although his over protectiveness of her was somewhat cute and admirable.

None of this was making her current situation any easier however. This mission was much more difficult than the last few ones and Naruto was once again playing front man and wrecking ball. They had to infiltrate a nest of several missing nins and try to rid the world of them. This particular group was an amalgamation and mishmash of ninja from several villages and had taken to raiding villages and caravans in that particular area of Fire Country. Murderers, rapists, thieves, traitors…the whole lot of them.

And those were the kind of ninjas that received no mercy from Naruto when he was focused.

She shivered as she remembered a particular Leaf ninja that had forsaken their home and decided that he would steal a certain scroll that was treasured by the village. He made a particularly nasty smudge on the ground when Naruto was through with him. That hammer was bad business to any enemy of Kami or Konoha.

Naruto had stated to Tsunade that any mission that Kami gave him would supercede any mission that Konoha had for him. And he'd already carried out a few that TenTen was not privy to. He'd come back each time and simply asked to stay over at her house that night. She didn't mind and was even delighted but those nights were always hard because he'd just hold her tight in bed and nuzzle his head into her hair. She remembered the first time he'd come in like that…and hadn't asked him about a holy mission since then.

Naruto stumbled to TenTen's door and knocked loudly, drawing the kunoichi away from her weapon shining and polishing to answer the door. She didn't know who the idiot was that had interrupted her 'me-time' but they were in for a severe beating. Growling she yanked the door open and gasped at the sight on the other side.

Naruto stood, covered in blood from head to toe, with an empty look in his eyes. The blood was quickly identified as not his, but his eyes…they were what bothered TenTen. They were so cold, so devoid of life. She looked behind him to see a furrow in the road, a sure sign that he'd been dragging his hammer. His voice was cracking as he asked if he could come in. She nodded hesitantly and ushered him inside.

"TenTen, can I use your shower? I need to get this blood off."

TenTen nodded and showed him the way. Not that he needed it, he'd stayed over plenty of times since that fight with Kakashi.

"Do you need me to get you anything Naruto?"

"Yes, if you don't mind going to my apartment and getting a set of clothing for me."

She nodded and sprinted off to his apartment. She wasted no time in procuring a set of clothes and hurried back. As she stepped inside and walked to her bathroom, she heard the sound of sobbing and rushed to the door.

"Naruto?"

She opened the door cautiously and slid the curtain back to find Naruto on his knees holding his stomach, sobbing like a frightened child. TenTen dropped the clothes and stepped inside the shower. She touched his shoulder and jerked back when he flinched and turned his eyes to her.

"It's ok baby, just let it all out."

She wrapped him in a hug and held him as he came to terms with whatever it was he did, the water cascading around them, hiding his tears. She'd never seen him this vulnerable in all the time she'd known him and it scared her. He'd always been a pillar of strength, unmovable, untouchable. What in the world could have caused him to break down?

She didn't ask him then as they crawled into bed and he held onto her like she was his only line to sanity and she didn't ask him the next morning. He'd apologized for putting her in that position, but she told him that that was what she was there for. She was his girlfriend and wanted to be his emotional support. The smile and heartfelt thank you she received was all she needed as thanks.

Her thoughts of the past were interrupted when Kakashi suddenly gave the signal for the party to start and she tensed as she watched her man leap out of his tree and saunter towards the missing nins. It was show time.

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Naruto was not happy with the arrangement he'd been given. This was punishment, he knew it was, for telling Kakashi that he could stick it where the sun don't shine on the last mission. The cycloptic jounin had assigned him to be the point man on this mission…translation: Naruto was going to be doing all the work and the rest would come in to clean up. That normally wouldn't bother him but it had been forced upon him this time and he hated having to follow Kakashi's orders. Sakura's sneer when he'd been told he would do it or be punished for insubordination hadn't helped the situation at all.

The only thing keeping him from killing the two and calling it a day was his dutiful girlfriend and the kiss she'd given him before rushing off to take her position. Sometimes, he couldn't remember what he did without TenTen by his side…

He shrugged off those thoughts when he saw Kakashi's signal and leapt out of his tree. Creeping silently to the edge of the fire, he swept his hand over his seal and his hammer poofed into existence. Looking over the opposition, he decided to take out the most powerful one he could first. He locked onto the one with the worst rating in the bingo book and threw his hammer as hard as he could before walking calmly into the clearing.

The poor A-rank jounin had never seen the huge weapon coming, but he heard the air displacement and tried to rise only to be crushed under the weight of the hammer, his spinal cord severed by the metal spike. The other ninjas all leapt to their feet and readied themselves for the coming assault. How surprised they were to see one young man walk into the light.

Naruto walked in casually to the campsite and stopped at the outer ring of light. His head never moved but his eyes surveyed his opposition and he was not impressed. He'd already killed the biggest obstacle, leaving only small fry…although they were a large number of small fry.

"Well look what we got here guys. A little baby ninja who thinks that he can take on a whole group of his superiors."

The missing nins all laughed, none caring that the most powerful among them lay dead by quite possibly the heaviest hammer in existence. Arrogance and slothfulness had made them all muddleheaded and blind to obvious truths…the most obvious that Naruto was not normal.

"I believe that a superior is someone who is acknowledged as being your better…and none of you have earned that right in my eyes yet. If you defeat me, then I shall most definitely call you my superiors. Don't count on that though. None of you will be left alive tonight."

Naruto suddenly heard the sound of squealing and turned his head to see a woman bound and gagged, wearing the robes of a priestess. His eyes narrowed at her state of dress and the signs of torture and rape. His cold blue gaze centered on the ninja he'd observed laying there earlier. He lifted a finger and pointed it at that ninja.

"You. Did you defile that priestess of a holy order?"

The man sneered and spit on the ground.

"I sure did. Virgin pussy is always the best and nothing gets me going like a chick crying. Why? What are you going to do about it?"

Naruto's teammates gasped as his chakra spiked and the chain came to life, making that horrible screeching noise as Naruto lowered himself into a crouch and growled at the group of ninja.

"You'll be the first to die. No one should have to lose their virginity to someone they don't love and NO ONE should be subjected to rape. I hope you have no regrets as I send you to meet the shinigami."

Before the rapist could say anything, the chain darted forward and impaled him in the forehead, spearing all the way through and going out the back. None had seen Naruto move as he now stood nose to nose with the man and the chain moved of its own accord as he shoved the man down and threw a kick at the next man.

The missing ninja all tried to hit him, none caring for their campmates, but none were successful. Naruto was a man possessed, weaving in and out of their numbers, lashing out with kunai and the chain. He stopped at a particularly familiar ninja from the bingo book who was a rapist and murderer of children and wrapped the chain around his neck, snapping it before ripping the head from the body and clubbing the nearest man over the head with the disembodied skull.

Sakura thought she was going to lose her lunch. Kakashi was horrified. TenTen felt it was all justified. These men had committed horrible crimes. After all, an eye for an eye. As Naruto tore the ninjas apart one by one, she crept in and shook the priestess' shoulder, earning a scared look from the girl.

"Shhh, it's alright. We're ninja from Konoha and we're here to help you. Let's get out of here before we get caught up in Naruto's crossfire."

The girl nodded and tried to walk as TenTen helped her, but her ankles were too chafed from being tied up and there was hardly any blood flow to her legs. It was that slowness that got them caught.

Naruto had just finished with the last ninja and turned to motion the others down, when he heard a cry of pain from a familiar voice and turned to see TenTen being held at knife point on her knees, a kunai to her throat. It was one of the more vicious jounin that held her as he sneered at Naruto.

"Put that damned hammer down and take that chain off or I'll slit her fucking throat. I mean it."

Naruto nodded and threw his hammer away to the side. The man narrowed his eyes and dug the kunai a little deeper.

"The chain. Throw it over here."

Naruto scowled and complied. Unwinding the chain and flinging it toward the man, he watched as the man caught it with his free hand and swung it over his shoulders.

"Now then, you don't have any weapons, you haven't shown any aptitude with jutsu, and you're all alone. What are you going to do to stop me from killing this bitch huh?"

"I'm going to snap your neck and then drive my chain through your heart, before crushing your head with my hammer."

The man threw his head back and laughed long and hard. He never noticed TenTen's smirk or Naruto's narrowed eyes.

"And how, pray tell, do you intend to do that when you're way over the…AAACCKK!!"

His hands flew to his neck as the chain wrapped around and began to constrict his windpipe. His eyes darted back and forth frantically as TenTen stood and walked to stand behind Naruto with the priestess and the blonde walked calmly to retrieve his hammer. His eyes grew wider as Naruto stalked toward him and the chain began to tighten more before he felt a sharp twang from his chest and looked down to find the end of the chain through his sternum and the end waving in front of his face like a cobra.

The look of pure loathing on Naruto's face did nothing to help his situation as he was pushed onto his back and the blonde's hands, which held that massive hammer, flew over his head and stopped in midair.

"That was my girlfriend you were holding hostage. I'll have you know that she means more to me than life itself and even though she was at knifepoint, she was never in any danger. You signed your death certificate when you threatened her. May Kami have mercy on your soul."

A gurgling scream was silenced as the sickening sound of flesh and bone being crushed rang out over the clearing. The last thing the man ever saw was the glittering of the diamonds around the edge and the blood red ends of the holy hammer of Uzumaki Naruto.

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It had been a daring morning raid on the bandit's camp and they had returned the priestess to her temple before setting back out for Konoha. Kakashi and Sakura kept their distance from the two lovers and that suited Naruto and TenTen just fine. They didn't want to have to put up with any idiotic quips or barbs on the way back. TenTen had her arm laced through Naruto's and they walked in silence although both could understand the unsaid messages of the other.

'It's going to be okay baby. I'm proud of you.'

'I know and thank you. I love you.'

'Love you too.'

Nothing was said, there was no telepathy passed back and forth, only unspoken body language and gentle, loving glances. They didn't need to speak. They connected on a whole other level.

As they made camp that night, TenTen and Naruto opted to sleep under the stars with Naruto's hammer held in his hand. As TenTen lay curled beside him, her head on his shoulder, Naruto drifted off to sleep. For some reason he felt the need to hold onto his hammer that night. It proved to be a wise decision.

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Naruto's eyes seemed to open immediately after they closed and he found himself in a familiar location. He looked at his feet to find the fox's shadow, only it seemed…smaller, more contained. He noticed that there were a few more blemishes on his soul, but they were all small and not particularly noteworthy. What was new was the golden light emanating from the center of…wherever he was.

"Hello Naruto. You've returned I see."

He spun and smiled at his goddess, the beautiful one. He knelt and lowered his head.

"Kami-sama. It is good to see you again."

"I'm hurt Naruto. You didn't mention me."

Naruto looked up and jokingly glared at the brown haired man.

"You always seem to bring trouble behind you. I feel no need to greet you."

Kami laughed as her angel pouted and grumbled about ungrateful charges as she turned back to the now standing blonde in front of her. She smiled at him and tilted her head.

"So I take it that life is treating you well Naruto? You have a very pretty girlfriend."

"Thank you. TenTen's one of the best things to happen to me in my life. I don't know what I'd do without her."

"Oh, I think you'd manage. You just wouldn't have anyone to keep you in line."

The three laughed at the small joke and as the laughter waned, Naruto sighed and straightened himself.

"Kami-sama, I'm sure you haven't called me here for idle chitchat. What is it that you need me to do?"

Kami sighed as she looked at her young warrior and gave him a gentle smile.

"You've been doing well Naruto. You've been saving the weak and helpless, spreading my will as you go. What you did today with the priestess was quite exemplary and I commend you for it. However, you were quite brutal in how you dealt with those ninjas. And it shows in these new blemishes."

Naruto hung his head and spoke in a low voice.

"Was I truly that wrong in dealing them their punishment? Was it so wrong to avenge the deaths and other horrors that they had brought on others?"

"No, it was not. What was wrong was that you felt vindicated in doing this, you slightly enjoyed it. Do not let your position or power override your gentle nature Naruto."

"I shall try my hardest not to."

Kami smiled and reached out to place her fingertips under his chin and lift his gaze to meet hers.

"Now that we have that out of the way, I wish to discuss the details of your primary mission."

Naruto's eyes focused immediately and his lips tightened in a grimace.

"Has the objective changed in any way?"

"No the objective is still the same. You must finish off this…abomination against nature. His crimes must not go unpunished."

Naruto scowled and crossed his arms. He felt that he wasn't getting the whole story.

"I know that Sasuke ties into this somehow. I just know it. Our lives seem to be tied together in some way. What I don't get is that it stands to reason that Orochimaru is the man I should be after, but my instincts tell me he is just a small fish in a big ocean. Who am I really after?"

Sanosuke grimaced and glared at his young charge.

"It isn't enough for you to know that you have a mission, you have to know all that encompasses it as well?"

"I'm a ninja first and foremost Sanosuke. I don't like not knowing everything I can about a mission. I've had enough missions where I didn't have enough information and they almost or did turn into disasters. I just want to be prepared."

Before Sanosuke could say anything else, Kami raised her hand and touched his shoulder, quieting him.

"I agree Naruto. You do deserve to know everything we can tell you. Sasuke is indeed tied into all this, but only in a secondary role. Your lives are intertwined and you shall run afoul of each other, that is inevitable. But he is not your primary goal. His progenitor is your goal."

"His…progenitor?"

"Hai, the founder of his clan."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and gave his most skeptical look, even in the face of a goddess.

"The founder of the Uchiha clan would have to be dead. It's at least a hundred years old, probably older. I never was one for histrionics."

"I see that little brain boost was worthwhile. It has certainly made you a much better conversationalist. He is most certainly not dead. He's found a false method of immortality, a perverse way to keep him alive."

"And Orochimaru hasn't? His way is pretty damned perverse if I remember right."

"Language, young man. And yes, his way is most unnatural, but not in the way of the Uchiha. Madara has seen fit to murder his own family to ensure immortality. Those eyes of his keep him alive as long as he has the eyes of an Uchiha to swap with."

"Just with the eyes? That sounds…implausible."

"But not impossible. Listen to me Naruto. The eyes hold a lot of truths, the eyes can read a person's soul, the eyes can keep immortality in your grasp. But only if you are willing to sacrifice those closest to you. And a man such as Uchiha Madara has no qualms about sacrificing his own kin to keep his wretched soul on the mortal plane."

"Why does he stay on the mortal plane? Why don't you simply take his life away?"

"If it were only that simple. I made a pledge long ago, never to interfere in the lives of mortals directly. That's why I have you as my own warrior. You can change the tide of history and fix mistakes that I have made. You can set all this right."

"But if this man is immortal, how can I take him? How can I stand in the face of one who is immortal and expect to walk away unscathed and with him going to divine justice?"

Kami raised both arms and placed them on Naruto's shoulders, looking deeply into his eyes.

"You can look an immortal in the eye the same way you meet my gaze. Unflinching and with total conviction. You have only to decide that you will do something Naruto and you will do it. That has always been your way. I know that you can do it simply because you are Uzumaki Naruto."

"…thank you."

"There is no need for thanks. You are my warrior and sometimes even a brave warrior needs a pep talk from his general. You just needed a refresher. And on a brighter note, I believe it is time for you to go back. Your hammer is changing."

Naruto looked at his goddess in awe.

"It is? What sparked the change after so long?"

Kami smiled as her warrior began to fade out.

"Love, Naruto. Love changed it. Did you not see the bright light as you came in? That was your love for TenTen."

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TenTen woke to a bright light coming from the other side of her boyfriend and watched for the second time in her life as the hammer began to change. It shone with a bright light as it reverted back to its original form before a shimmering silver began to emerge along the handle, coating the entire hammer, before the gold bands dissipated and began to form the famous swirl of Uzumaki on the head. A large swirl that encompassed the entirety of the head of the hammer. The handle remained leather wrapped but the thong had changed to a golden color, contrasting the silver of the handle. The spike was gone for but a moment, to be replaced by three more spikes on top and a spike on each end. It was a truly wicked looking instrument.

She shook Naruto awake once the transformation was complete and watched as he smacked his lips and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He seemed more tired than when he had went to sleep but managed to give her a kiss with a smile.

"Hey you. Is it morning already?"

"Not quite, it's still Sakura's watch, but your hammer changed again."

"Oh, really?"

He rolled his head to the side and stared at his new silver and gold hammer with slight amusement. He hefted it with one hand and waved it around like a conductor's wand as TenTen wondered what he was going to do. He dropped it suddenly and turned back around to face her, drawing her in closer as he kissed her forehead and closed his eyes again.

"Hey, aren't you going to, you know, try it out?"

"Mmmm, no not right now. I'd rather sleep.

"But…but you have a new hammer!"

"Yeah, but the hammer will be there in the morning. This moment with you won't be."

TenTen blushed and snuggled up closer to him, sighing a happy sigh. Naruto wrapped his arms around her and murmured under his breath.

"Promise me TenTen, that we'll stay like this for eternity."

She smiled and kissed his cheek before sleep claimed her again.

"For eternity and past eternity."

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Sakura sat on a stump a little ways off, glaring at the two. She'd seen the miraculous change of the hammer and was in awe of its might and size. But another emotion struck her hard as she watched the happy couple. Jealousy. Jealousy struck her. She wondered why she didn't have that love, that level of trust with anyone. Deep inside she knew that it was because of her obsession with Sasuke, her unwavering belief that he hung the moon and could do no wrong. Inside, she knew that he wasn't perfect, that he was indeed a criminal and that she should move on.

But she couldn't. And for the life of her she couldn't figure out why.

For the longest time, she'd been the center of Naruto's world, his one shining star in his bleak existence, even when she wouldn't have spit on him if he was on fire. Then, one day, TenTen had come into his life and he just…stopped caring about her. She had reverted to her childhood persona to try to get his attention again but that only drove him further away. She'd watched as Kakashi continued with his detached indifference toward Naruto and had seen how the boy's ire and annoyance grew with his team. Why couldn't things be the way they had been?

She wanted to blame TenTen, she really did. But, even though she wanted to, she couldn't put the whole blame on her. It was partly hers and Kakashi's fault as well. Perhaps, if she couldn't have Naruto to herself, she could get him back as a friend.

Although she hated the idea of groveling to anyone, especially a boy who used to have a crush on her. But maybe, if she just apologized…

Yes, she would apologize…and see where they went from there.