Echoes Chapter 14: Insight, a naruto fanfic

WARNING: after a few reviews about the cameo of the characters of Yet Again, it appears that not everybody is happy with it. If you do not like them, simply skip the chapter and look at the Author's Notes, for a summary of the important plot development. I am NOT going to rewrite this chapter or anything. It might not be as good as you people hoped, but it still represents a lot of work from my part and Third Fang. That, and I still like the cameo.

Ps: however, if you like the characters, like, rejoice!

Special thanks to ABitterPill, Alpha142, and ESPECIALLY Third Fang for betaing this story. The last one did an awesome job with this chapter, and a third of it wouldn't have been without him.

Traveler/Original Naruto: Kazama Arashi.

Pupeteer Naruto: Chibaku Arashi.

Werefox/Hybrid Naruto: Kitsune Arashi.

Female Naruto: Naruko Arashi.

Deceiver/Original Madara: Tsukiyomi.

Destroyer/Rinnegan Madara: Susanoo.

Warrior/Collector Madara: Amaterasu.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter Fourteen: Insight

During his life, Zabuza had fought many opponents. He had massacred a hundred soon to be genin before he had even reached the age of 12. He had murdered his sensei to impress a swordsman of the Mist and convince him to take him as his apprentice, inadvertently making him a chuunin in the process. He had killed said new master in a duel for the Beheading Knife, the sword he currently wielded. He had faced the Mizukage alongside three other allies, and barely escaped alive, bleeding profusely on Kisame's back as they had run away from an enraged Jinchuuriki. He had survived the assaults of entire teams of hunter-nins, and continued walking. And, more recently, he had fought a group of SS-Ranked enemies and lived to tell the tale about it.

But it was the first time he was fighting animated skeletons.

Deflecting a simple boring slash attack, Zabuza wondered if they were really demons or just some dead souls having been conscripted in the forces of Hell. He just, well, expected more from devils. The two he was dealing with at once were simply using their blades with skill that couldn't be compared to his own. If they were the best weapon masters the Makai had to offer, then no wonder they needed to recruit ninjas. These two could put a good fight against average samurai, but against one of the best swordsman of Kiri? They were cannon fodder.

Time to remind these clowns who was at the top of the food chain here…

In a flash, Zabuza smashed one of his enemies' head with his blade, breaking the helmet, the skull, the thorax, the spine… well, everything in one blow. The skeleton crumbled into a pile of bones, the glow in its eye socket vanishing. Its companion tried to flank the missing-nin… only to lose his head as Zabuza punched it so hard that the skull shattered in many parts. The body fell, the green glow disappeared, and the former Kiri-nin began to look for new prey.

He soon found one… sort of. One of the ogre-like creatures was glaring at him, holding its iron club menacingly… while being imprisoned inside a block of ice. Zabuza locked eyes with his adopted daughter, who smiled sheepishly. "Well, I thought it would be a good paperweight…" she feebly tried to excuse herself.

The swordsman snorted. "Too ugly," he said as he shattered the snowman with his blade, killing the monster inside in the process. "Find something else." Haku scowled, but gave no verbal reply.

To his side, Zabuza saw the head of the second ogre being propelled in the air by pressurized water, Sasori quickly sealing the beheaded body in a scroll, probably to dissect it later… or do something even worse, something the swordsman had no intention of witnessing. He had listened to Chibaku's stories about his master's… special puppets, after all.

A bit away, one of the humanoid bulls criedas the aforementioned blonde puppeteer made his puppet unleash a concentrated stream of gas right at the creatures' eyes. Fortunately for it, Kitsune decided to give it a merciful death… by having Samehada absorb its chakra until it was reduced to a dead husk.

The last minor demon probably cried a bit too, but Zabuza couldn't see it as the beast was pinned to the ground by a true mountain of Naruko clones, while Kazama and Kakashi slammed Rasengan after Rasengan into its stomach. After a while, the two stopped, leaving the cadaver behind as they walked toward the rest of the group, the army of Naruko right after them.

All in all, Kishin's flunkies had lasted less than five minutes.

"Well then," the Demon Lord said, eying the massacre from the sky, his wings beating the air every few seconds, "that was quick."

"I don't know if you feel the same, guys, and girls," Chibaku muttered, "but I expected something more… difficult."

"Yeah," Naruko agreed. "For demons they were certainly easy to beat."

"Blame demonic politics,"Kishin grumbled. "Most Demon Lords are so focused on keeping their position, not to mention the fact that the majority of them are amazingly stupid and ignorant, that they kill everyone that could present a danger to them… or in a nutshell, anyone that shows any intelligence, strength, or competence. Hell is now composed of armies of cannon fodder and a few really, really powerful generals that cannot grow any more powerful than they already are lest they develop the potential to destroy planets and thus increase the odds of destroying our own forces and property in fits of rage. Why do you think we haven't conquered the universe yet?"

Zabuza snorted. "Well, that's Yagura's Kiri taken to its logical extremes."

"I don't understand," Kitsune declared. "If you are so afraid of having competition, why do still want to recruit strong people?"

"Strong mortals," the creature corrected. "Here is the trick. As long as they don't die, our mortal allies are out of the demonic hierarchy, which means that they can't command or steal our large armies, lacking the link that unites all fiends. This also means that they can't kill Demon Lords permanently. You see, each time we die, we recompose ourselves in the Makai and are reborn, but if the murderer is a fiend like us, it instead absorbs our energy and becomes a Demon Lord. You kill it, you keep it."

"That's… a bit freaky," Chibaku muttered. "Are you implying you're cannibalistic?"

"Well, we are demons, not vegetarians, unless of course you are counting demonic plants only diets of course." Kishin replied. "Since most demons are weak, conquering other universes has become quite hard, so we have to make deals with mortals to keep our reputation as fearsome as ever. So… are you sure you don't want to help these poor, poor creatures defend themselves against the cruel and nasty heroes and celestial beings that always screw with us?"

Zabuza feigned pondering the offer. "Well… how to tell you that politely… no."

Kishin shook its head. "We are offering you the chance to correct a great injustice… we are desperately trying to recuperate what is rightfully ours from the claws of these loathsome, disgusting overconfident creatures that have yet to repent for their sins! But you can't just stop thinking about yourselves. I'm hurt," he spoke with an almost sincerely sad tone, "so deeply hurt…"

"Is it me, or is it trying to guilt-trip us?" Naruko wondered.

"It appears so…" Zabuza replied, watching the spectacle without really knowing how to react to it. "Really, I feel almost sorry for it. Key word: almost."

"Of course I'm trying to guilt-trip you," Kishin declared with a suddenly angry voice. "You cannot be corrupted, so appealing to your inner goodness might work…"

"At least he's honest and straightforward." Naruko deadpanned.

"It could have, if you hadn't menaced to burn a village to the ground some minutes ago," Kazama pointed out. "And also ordered your soldiers to either kill or capture us. That doesn't tend to earn points with most people."

"Well, the villagers would have attacked us first! It's self-defense! And by 'killing and capturing you', I actually meant 'convincing you to work for us through special techniques'." He made finger quotes on his redefinition of the term. "Especiallynottorturing you or using very evil rituals to resurrect you as efficient, if stupid, members of the demonic legions…"

Everyone in the group rolled its eyes. "You know, why haven't we killed him yet?" Zabuza asked.

"Because I'm really convincing?" Kishin tried hopefully. The glares of the humans made it sneer. "Okay, okay, you don't want to settle this diplomatically… well, if you want a fight, you will have it."

The swordsman snorted. "As if you had a chanc-"

He never finished his sentence, as Kishin dive-bombed them like a meteor, almost crushing them all under his body. The ninjas' reflexes saved their lives, making them jump backward to avoid the attack, but the shockwave made all of Naruko's clones explode. Zabuza barely had the time to blink before Kishin closed the distance between the two of them. The creature, despite its size, was even faster than Haku herself.

"I'm a Demon Lord," the monster growled with all the social part of his personality gone as his claws pierced the air toward the missing-nin's heart, "which means that I am one of the best the Makai has to offer in terms of power! Don't underestimate me simply because Iwaswilling to attempt to be nice about converting you!"

Quickly, Zabuza protected his torso with sword, shielding himself… or so he thought. Instead, the claws drilled through the metal, creating holes in it, and then went through the man's flesh as if it was butter. His damaged blade saved his life, preventing the claws from touching the vital points, but he couldn't help but crash helplessly on his back heavily wounded and his vision already blurring.

Before losing conscience, he heard Haku shout his name and Kishin roar cruelly.

The Traveler, Kazama

"ZABUZA-SAMA!"

As Haku rushed to her mentor's side, Kishin turned around and charged at her. Acting quickly, Chibaku projected a lot of gas at the demonic lizard from his puppet. The creature didn't seem to be affected by the poison, but changed target and punched Uke Mochi, demolishing the puppet in one blow. As the blonde puppeteer cursed inwardly, Sasori used his flamethrower, and Kazama enhanced it with the Heat Wave. The result was a massive inferno which engulfed Kishin completely.

"Chibaku, go help Zabuza!" The world wanderer ordered his younger counterpart. "Kitsune, follow and protect him! Naruko, Kakashi, help us with long range techniques!"

As his friends took their position, their enemy got out of the fire completely unscathed, still charging at a speed that could be compared to Lee's. Since flames apparently didn't work, Sasori switched weapons and shot pressurized water at the demon, which was deflected by the creature's dense hard scaled skin. Before the rest of the humans could begin their techniques, Kishin had closed the gap between them and swung his arm, attempting to tear the group apart with his claws. While they dispersed, the beast's tail moved swiftly and its dart pierced Sasori's body below the heart, breaking his body in half.

Acting quickly, Kakashi exploited the opening by ramming a Chidori on the monster's left limb… only to see the electricity absorbed by its body. The silver haired man only had time to blink before Kishin seized him and smashed the ninja into the ground, making a small crater in the process. As the demon approached the stunned jounin, Kazama unsheathed the Kusanagi, pointed it toward the creature's head, and activated the blade's piercing and stretching ability.

The sword impaled the demon's left eye, making the beast shed black blood and release its prey, who fell on the ground. The monster roared angrily, opened its muzzle, and breathed a green fireball toward the blonde. Naruko jumped into the attack's path and made hand-seals, transforming the remnants of Sasori's water into a wave which evaporated as it made contact with the blast and stopped it.

And then a dart shot out of the steam, pierced Naruko's belly, and sent her flying away.

His eyes widening in horror, Kazama gritted his teeth and unleashed the strongest Cold Wave he could create at Kishin. The lizard opened its wings, and then flew in the air, avoiding the blast of wind… only to become the target of multiple ice shards thrown at it.

"Keep him back!" Haku shouted as she rushed in Naruko's direction. "I saw liquid dripping from the dart! It's probably poison! I can slow it down by partly freezing her, but I need cover!"

"Go!" Kazama replied, as he projected blast after blast at the demonic flying lizard, who avoided them all. "Where are Chibaku and Kitsune?"

"The first is treating Zabuza-sama's wounds!" She put her palms on a groaning Naruko's torso. "The second, I don't know!"

"And shit!"

The lizard dive-bombed him, while flaring his claws. Acting quickly, Kazama activated his chakra chains and jumped to the side. The flying bastard barely missed him, but the ephemeral restraints captured his wings and tied them, forcing the demon to crash brutally into the ground. The blonde's chains winded around his enemy's body, and both Kishin and Kazama struggled. The first to break free, the second to keep the demon contained.

And then…

"Samehada, rip them apart!"

And then Kishin screamed as Kitsune jumped above its tied wings and slashed them with his sword. The fish-like creature shredded the wings apart, reducing them to the state of bleeding tatters of skin. The monster roared, and whipped the boy with its tail, sending him fly away. The young Jinchuuriki landed near his teenager counterpart and quickly got up. "I hope I'm not late?"

"No," Kazama replied. "I assume you were waiting for an opportunity?"

"Yes, I figu- WATCH OUT!"

The Demon Lord had opened its muzzle in their direction, and didn't seem so happy. "DIE!" He roared, before shooting another green fireball at them… or at least they thought. Instead, the blast was sent… toward Haku and Naruko.

Acting quickly, the world wanderer rotated and intercepted the attack with the Cold Wave, deflecting it. But in doing so, he ceased to focus on the chains, and Kishin seized the opportunity to shatter them. As Kazama turned around again, the Demon Lord was standing on its legs, and deeply inhaling.

"BURN!"

And then, it unleashed a green inferno at them. As an ocean of fire advanced toward them at an incredible speed, the two Naruto could only blink as death came to claim them…

… or not.

Almost as if reality itself had decided to intervene at that moment, the fire that would have immolated the teen stopped, twisted, and extinguished itself… much to everyone's amazement.

And then, something big dive-bombed Kishin. Some sort of silver and pink… thing… hit the Demon Lord, created a crater in the process, and then flew again in the air.

"Who in their right mind is foolish enough to attack a demon general!? I do hope you are well aware of how incredibly stupid that…" Kishin got up, looked at its attacker… and paled. Its purple skin literally turned white and its jaw dropped. "No… it cannot be… Z-Zuzushi?"

"Ah… Kishin…" The creature, which looked some kind of serpentine dragon landed lightly onto the ground and growled lightly as if almost amused. Despite the fact that it seemed to be talking, none of the humans there could tell what the gender of it was supposed to be as it seemed to speak telepathically through their very minds. "I'm not surprised… out of all the Demon Lords sired by my grandfather, you were one of the few who remained somewhat honest and organized while still maintaining power… yet still foolish enough to jump at any opportunity shown in front of you without making sure that it wouldn't bite you in the long run."

Kazama shivered as the silver creature whipped its tail onto the ground in irritation and felt… something quake around him. Even though the ground was what was hit, he felt as if something more essential had been what had been impacted. Even if Kishin hadn't been naturally afraid of the new visitor, the teen knew that it was something far beyond what he had encountered so far in his travels.

"This is a new level of stupidity even for you." The dragon continued. "You were actually foolish enough to jump into an unknown world at the call of a random summoner, just because the portal had the potential to be permanent? Whatever happened to the expendable minions first rule? Going in head first without grasping the situation is something expected from amateurs. Such haphazard planning will only end with your enslavement or crushing defeat in the end, either from me, a god that actually decides to get off of its ass, or another group of copy and pasted heroes…"

The creature gritted its fangs, clearly swallowing his pride as he bowed. "You have a point as always my lady. I may have let my excitement gotten the better of me due to the circumstances, however it will not happen again. Regardless, I am confused. Great and respected Sky Mother, what are you doing here? I thought you don't go out of your way to aid most other worlds that are endangered. Quite the contrary… you are rather known to destroy a few on occasion…"

"Don't mistake my appearance to be for mere charity," the creature, apparently female, replied irritably. "Even you should be able to tell that your summoner used an unknown and unstable power. Something like that should not be in the hands of ones such as yourself for obvious reasons. You are lucky that I got to you first. If the gods and other higher level existences heard of what you were about to do with the child, or had they discovered your gross abuse of this portal to unleash far more greater demons than is appropriate, then getting maimed on levels that only I can deliver would be the least of your problems. As for your summoner… if he truly is willing to call stupid, irrational, destructive demons to do his bidding, then he is either a misanthropic genocidal maniac, an evil overlord admirer, overly ambitious, insane, or really, really stupid. In all cases, allowing him to grow in power and menace other universes unchecked would be extremely annoying for me,especiallyif he boosts your ego."

Kazama was never one to assume things based on colors, however even he would admit that he had never expected to see the color pink such a malevolent form as he did now while observing the dragon's eyes glow.

"Time to remind you who really calls the shots in the multiverse."

"But!" The lizard shook its head vehemently. "But you are mistaken! The summoning was an accident!"

"Of course it was…" the flying thing declared with blatant sarcasm. "It's always an accident. Like the time my container woke up and found herself naked next to three women and an albino midget dressed as a chupacabra…"

"But it's the truth!" Kishin complained, before eyeing Kazama. "You, tell her the truth!"

"Uh…" The teen trailed off, his mind not working properly. "I would like too, but I don't understand a heck of what it's going on."

"Me neither," Kitsune added sheepishly. "Is this a family reunion?"

"Of sorts," the flying dragoness mused before eyeing the humans there… or more specifically the alternate versions of Naruto there. "Oh? … I guess that this incident may truly have been a mistake considering who is involved…" She chuckled. "It will be rather amusing to see the boy's reaction to this… I see that many of you are wounded… my servant will attend to you..."

"Your servant?" Kishin squeaked, turning paler if possible. "You brought one of your guardians Lady Zuzushi?"

"Not all of them," the dragoness shook her head with a hint of amusement. "Only my container, Ghost, and that blonde apprentice of his."

The lizard was pissing himself. "The Second Origin and The God of…" The demon almost blurted out before looking around warily, almost as if checking to see if he was almost caught saying the worst thing possible."… I mean the Cursed Memory?"

Kazama and Kitsune had no idea of who, or what they were talking about, and silently agreed to shut up and wait to see what will happen.

"Indeed." Zuzushi nodded casually as she looked at one of her claws, inspecting them as if she had nothing better to do. "And Ghost's apprentice as well…"

"… So the rumors were true, he has taken another student…" Kishin uttered ominously. "A boy was said to have been traveling with your strongest servant recently. Gold of hair, eyes as blue as the deepest ocean, the mind of a cunning and morally deprived genius… and the physical and mental durability of one that could remain sane after staying with your servants for extended amounts of time."

Kazama didn't know why, but he had the distinct feeling Zuzushi had cringed at the description. "The physical description is accurate… his endurance is also rather remarkable for a human… but his intelligence is more…"

"He is a moron, isn't he?" The world wanderer guessed.

"Not as much as that as he is impulsive and somewhat cunning…" The dragoness nodded sadly. "… and loud. Veryloud."

"Here is the great Feral Gale!" Someone shouted before several figures landed right between the two demon entities. When the dust settled, a trio of humans was… posing.

On one side was a woman/teenage girl wearing a pink tank top, tan shorts and a very long sleeved black trench coat, with long hair of the same color and emerald eyes.

On the other stood a strange man in a white t-shirt, tan cargos and a short sleeved black trench coat, with long brown hair tied in a ponytail and wearing black glasses. In the middle was…

"The great ninja," a familiar teenager began, this time clad in a black short sleeved sweater that had a stained spiral on the front with a long sleeved white shirt underneath it. His hands were encased in what seemed to be fingerless furry gloves but they could be gauntlets since the white shirt covered his arms. His shorts were tan and had many pockets, and he was wearing his head protector on his large collar, leaving his longer spiked hair to fall forward to shadow his slit eyes and slightly thicker whisker marks. "The most badass ass kicker in this entire multiverse. The Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, and the future Hokage of Konoha!" He smiled overconfidently at them all. "Naruto Uzumaki! Bwahahahahaha! Hahaha! Ha… Ha?"

The world wanderer paled in shock, as his new counterpart locked eyes with him… and dropped his jaw, quickly imitated by the other copies of them that were still conscious to see what was happening.

"What the fuck?" They all wondered out loud… before the new Naruto's companions began to wail on him.

"Where the hell was our introduction you selfish brat?" The woman roared as she stomped on him.

"You? The most badass ass kicker in the multiverse? That's one of MY titles you retard! You think you're actually strong enough to take on the guy who taught you all the tricks you're currently famous for?" The man shouted in rage as he pounded on the boy comically.

"Just… just give them a minute…" The dragoness said to the others present, as a bead of sweat ran down the side of her head. "They'll pay attention to the situation soon enough…"

The Feral Gale

Getting back up after his minor… episode… the new blonde finally had time to think about his current situation. The boy had seen many things in the multiverse thanks to his master, eternally labeled in his mind as Ero-Nii, literally dragging him to wherever he felt like hanging out next. Monstrous angels, super-powered pirates, a demonic and bratty overlord, and many, many other strange creatures and people. But never once, never, did he have met… well, another himself.

Two, in fact.

"Who are they?" The youngest of the two asked. He was wielding Samehada, of all things.

"I don't… oh, screw this," the oldest replied. "You! Are you enemies or allies? One of my friends really needs a healer!"

"They are my servants…" Zuzushi trailed off. "And, technically, your allies. Now that I am looking more at you, I must admit I'm surprised. I certainly didn't expect to see multiple alternate versions of Ghost's apprentice there." The dragoness locked eyes with Shadow. "The blonde girl at my distant left has been poisoned by my cousin. You have treated demonic toxins before, so get to work."

"Wait!" The immortal girl shouted. "Before we go!" She looked around and saw all the different versions of Naruto around. "There're a lot of variants here… There's even a Naruko…" she mused before turning to her male companion who had no doubt noticed the same thing. The immortals glared at one another for several seconds before she struck first. "50 bucks says one of them is gay for Sasuke!" She shouted quickly.

"Fuck!" The male wearing sunglasses swore before relenting and shaking the girl's hand, no doubt he was against the odds in the bizarre bet. "Lucky little…" He grumbled under his breath as he walked away sulking.

"… What?" Blinked everyone else within hearing range of the two, clearly not knowing or wanting to understand what the odd pair was thinking about at the time.

"Shadow. Healing. Fairly important…" Zuzushi spoke up with a clearly tired look in her eyes. "Do it or I'll find more work for you to do."

The girl's jaw clenched. "Sadist…" She muttered, before furiously eying the two other Naruto. "You, follow me. Try anything stupid and I'm going to put a leash around your neck and make you my pets."

"OBEY HER!" The Feral Gale advised them hysterically. "She actually did that to me once when I ate some candy in front of her! It sucked!"

The duo was apparently too stunned to say anything, but something (probably survival instinct) pushed them to obey the angry Shadow.

"Ghost," Zuzushi began as she looked for her other servant. "I want you to deal with that portal…"

"Did it."

"… Huh?" The dragoness blinked, finding the man standing casually with his hands in his pockets right next to her. "When?"

"You're talking to the guy who is on top of the multiverse's list of people/gods most likely and able to fuck up the entirety of the space time continuum. Remember?" The man deadpanned. "Of course I could tell that the portal was going to be trouble if it was left alone. I fixed it when you first popped up and spent all that time speaking to that demon guy there."

"… Well, that's one major issue dealt with…" The dragoness mused, as she eyed the Demon Lord.

The creature almost pissed himself. "B-But Lady Zuzushi, I am family! Surely you can be lenient! Even your guardians are known for their rules regarding their own kin!"

"You have obviously not seen how they treat one another then." She scoffed. "But… since you are nowhere close to being a truly arrogant, annoying, and ignorant pride filled fool that many of our kin… I'm not going to erase you from existence."

The demon seemed relieved, its white skin becoming purple.

"I will simply let my servants beat the crap out of you, kill you, and then allow you to reform in the Makai instead with your powers intact. Since your rank and power will remain, your reincarnation will take a long time… most likely several hundred years…"

Purple became white again.

"You have five minutes to prepare, heal yourself, summon the help of whatever minor demons that are bound to your will, whatever you need to slow down the inevitable," the dragoness declared as she lay down on a hill. "After that… well, I am expecting for a good show to occur soon. Do not disappoint me…"

The new Naruto turned to the strange man that came with him and looked at him with a tired expression, not paying attention to the fact that right behind him three clones of himself had appeared without any seals in a lotus position and began to meditate. He on the other hand made a dragon seal and held it while talking. "… You did this on purpose didn't you? This is some trippy alternate world with even more alternate versions of me running around isn't it?"

The master chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Actually I'm not responsible for this, for once." He turned to see the demon lord tearing a massive temporary portal into the fabric of time and space, calling forth an army's worth of minor demons to aid him while frantically regenerating the damage he sustained earlier. "So which one do you want? Tall dark and gingivitis, or the several thousand inbred rednecks of the netherworld? Remember, you probably won't have another chance to fight such an army, since Demon Lords can only use this summoning spell once in a century..."

The Feral Gale raised an eyebrow. "I have a choice? Scratch that, I actually have a shot at beating that guy? He's 12 feet tall and has armor as skin for crying out loud."

"Didn't stop you from kicking the Sanbi's ass while barely relying on sage mode and none of the Kyuubi's chakra after getting chased down for several miles by Kisame and Itachi and pumping out exploding clones the entire time," the taller of the two shrugged.

"I summoned all three warrior toads and had Sasuke with me for that one and after that I couldn't move for two weeks," the blonde frowned. "Besides, this guy can actually think with an IQ above thirty… I think…"

"Relax," Ghost sighed. "If you can feel his strong presence during a calm period and you can tell that he's generally within your ballpark, then you have nothing to worry about. It's the guys that can hide themselves completely while being absurdly strong that you need to worry about…"

"Like you?" The boy deadpanned.

"Aww, well shucks now I feel embarrassed…" The immortal swooned and giggled like a small girl.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Fine. Screw it. Give me the big one. If I wanted to fight against an army I'd just go to an open area and make a ton of clones anyways. Plus if this guy really was that strong you'd already be hogging him for yourself…"

"Fine by me," the master chuckled. "Word of advice though, against this one it would be best to come out swinging. Your base level attacks without support won't do much against him."

"Thirty seconds,"the horse sized dragon lying down on a nearby hill yawned.

"No kidding. I wouldn't have figured that with the multiple almost dead versions of me, one of them holding Samehada of all things, Zabuza, Haku, and Kakashi all lying around," the Feral Gale rolled his eyes as he let his hands go. He looked around at something in the air that apparently was only visible to him and his master. "You think this' enough?"

"Eh. If it isn't you'll know soon enough." The man shrugged.

"As always you've proven yourself to be an inspiration to all who wish to be helpful to others in the multiverse," Naruto sighed before standing absolutely still and closing his eyes. Within seconds the skin on and around his eyelids were pigmented red… the same as the clones sitting behind him.

"8 seconds…" the man mused. "You've cut your time by a few more seconds again I see. Not bad."

"Still trying to get to the 5 second marks," the smirking boy chuckled darkly as he cracked his knuckles by flexing them and showing off his slightly elongated canines. "You know, to match that fucking annoying technique Nagato uses and all..." He opened his eyes to show that his pupils were now slit sideways now as well as colored gold, much like a toad's.

"Time,"Zuzushi stated with finality, looking to see Kishin fully recovered and standing, albeit a bit nervously if the small twitch in his eyebrow and tail were any indication, in front of an army ten thousand demons strong. "Well then… what are you two waiting for? Blow something up already."

"ATTACK!" Kishin roared hysterically, no doubt because in his mind if his army and himself did so with all their might he might have a chance to survive.

… A half a second later Ghost had virtually warped past the giant demon in an insane show of speed and was now laughing like a small child at an amusement park with a black and white short sword in each hand, one of which was hilt deep into the eye of a Cyclops that was already dead and falling backwards, before jumping forward being trailed by the creatures spraying blood and casually slaying the Demon Lord's flunkies one by one as if it was an amusing game.

Despite his impressive initial burst to get to the army, the man was now moving almost slowly as he ducked and weaved between skeletons, ogres, devils, and other members of the army, cutting them down with almost lazy attacks that seemed like any human could have done if they had enough experience, stamina, and a fast enough reaction time.

"Hahaha! Swing! Swing! As fast as you can! You can't catch me I'm the crazy-blind man!" He taunted as he ducked in between an ogre's legs while cutting its tendons before jumping on his back and stabbing a vital point before spinning low on one foot to dodge an attack from behind that would have decapitated him and gutted the possessed human in front of him.

As he attacked he also hopped back to avoid being crushed by another ogre's club before jumping on the weapon and then stabbing the beast in the face and through the brain. It appeared that the monster's body would collapse on top of the man, but apparently he had put enough force into the attack to cause the beast to fall backwards, and as it did so he used it as a platform to jump deeper into the army to have more "fun".

"What sort of…" Kishin growled both irritated and confused. "What is he thinking?"

"Probably that you weren't dumb enough to turn your back on an unoccupied enemy…" Grunted an irritated and significantly less bright and sunny Feral Gale about the demon's eye level with a fist cocked back.

Before the Demon Lord could respond, the boy's fist collided with his head, and the significantly taller of the two was launched back several dozen feet from the blow. "Tch. Great. All power and no freaking experience…" The boy grunted with focused eyes as he watched the beast get up again. "At least he looks like he can take a hit…"

"I was foolish to forget about you boy. I see that your master is confident enough in your abilities to leave me to you."Kishin growled as he picked himself up and spat out a tooth. "Your alternate selves were rather tricky even though they were weak… no doubt you will be stronger given who you travel with…"

The monster's wings stretched out and he began to fly into the air, never taking his eyes off of his young looking opponent as he gained altitude. "I will have to fight with my strengths against you…" He smirked as he breathed in deeply, obviously about to breathe out fire again…

The blonde on the other hand just chuckled as he made a dragon seal again and focused a small amount on the chakra he had infused with the air around him… a technique that not only served as a method of absolute air manipulation, but also served as a sort of extra sensorial perception as well.

It was called the 7th Sense… and using it Naruto was currently manipulating the air around the demon's wings so that the monster wouldn't be able to fly… just… about… now.

The moment Kishin was about to attack, the lift provided by its wings disappeared instantly. As such, the flames that he was originally going to use to attack the boy now served as his new form of propulsion… a far more unstable form of propulsion if the uncontrolled and completely random path of flight the demon was taking along with the panicked screaming was any indication. It was rather comical for everyone watching as he crashed headfirst into his army and blew up a good number of his soldiers in a rather impressive green mushroom cloud.

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle. "Heheheh. Wow. I wonder if it will be that funny when I do that to Deidara…"

A loud roar of rage calmed him down again as he saw many weak members of the army between him and the crash zone getting blown away by some massive force heading straight towards him.

"I guess warm-ups are over…" The human fighter smirked as an elaborate blade of wind chakra extended from each his wrists to almost a meter in length. "Round one…"

The huge foe had cleared his army and was now rushing towards his prey with a massive intent to kill. The blonde in turn matched that intent with his own, making the air around him and far beyond alive with his will, becoming his savage ally and weapon that could strike from all angles at his command.

"Fight."

The Werefox, Kitsune

"So?" The mysterious young woman, apparently named Shadow, began, as they advanced toward Haku and Naruko. "Which one of you wants to screw Sasuke?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kazama replied. "I don't even know who you are, or what is going on."

"I will explain everything once you are all able to listen so I don't have to repeat myself," she replied before an uncomfortable grin made its way onto her face. "But first thing's first. Which one of you is lusting after Sas-uke? There is no way that there would be so many alternate versions of yourself in one place and not have at least one of you lusting for the duck butt!"

"I can't care less about Sasuke," the teen affirmed. "Right now, I only care about my friends. Go help Naruko. I'll bring the others while you do that." And then he left for the place where Kakashi had been recovering.

"You?" Shadow asked, as she locked eyes with Kitsune.

"I killed him," The boy replied ominously, the memories of the Uchiha's brutal murder at the behest of the voices rushing through his mind. "And I ever only loved Hinata."

"Oh… ok then." The girl blinked, before giving them a sadistic, false smile. Clearly she was not at all disturbed or surprised with the boy's first statement. "Then I assume it's Naruko…"

"No," Kitsune said, while shivering. "And definitely not Chibaku either." The guy was a closet pervert, no matter how hard he was trying to deny it. "Sorry, but… you lost your bet."

Shadow's expression became… terrifying. It was some kind of mix between imminent rage, sulking, and nervous breakdown. "Out of four Naruto… out of four different Naruto…" She muttered ominously. "None of you have a Sasuke-centric sexuality. How? That's a statistical anomaly!"

The blonde didn't say anything, waiting for the woman to explode in anger. But instead, she locked eyes with Kitsune. "You have a crush on Sasuke."

"No-"

"You have a crush on Sasuke!" She ordered. "You were stalking him since you were nine, and you are lusting after Itachi on the side and hide handmade dolls of them both under your bed back in Konoha! Ghost mustn't know I've lost, so you better repeat this story until you believe it! Either you pretend to have a crush on Sasugay, or I'm going to castrate you!"

Kitsune opened his mouth… and then closed it. "Just heal Naruko, and I'll do whatever you want."

"… Well you're no fun. I expected at least an effort to fight back there." The woman pouted almost disappointedly before giving him a slightly more serious gaze, "at least your care for your friends is consistent. I can respect that."

Travelling a small distance, they finally reached the wounded girl, and Haku eyed Shadow suspiciously. "Who's this?" The Ice user asked with caution.

The elder female simply snorted as she walked right up to the poisoned girl's other side and began to rummage through her coat. "Let me treat her, and she'll be jumping around and everything in less than a minute."

The younger girl locked eyes with Kitsune for confirmation and got a hesitant nod in return. That was all she needed to prompt her to slowly move back and watch what happened next.

"Let's see. Demonic based decay themed poisoning and a giant hole in the gut. Pretty deadly, but not untreatable." The woman muttered to herself as she inspected her patient. "I'm not on the old man's level of healing… but fortunately I got ways around that limitation," she grinned as pulled out an empty bottle from her coat.

Before anyone could ask what she was doing, the woman placed one of her hands over the open top of the container and various materials began to suddenly fall down from her palm into it. Red, black, green, and fluids of indescribable colors and textures filled the container in various amounts for a short amount of time before the bottle was filled. Then as if the container doubled as a blender, the contents began to spin rapidly for a few seconds before coming to a complete halt and turning into a pure gold substance.

The woman posed with the glowing jar immaturely. "Tahdah! I just created a universal tonic made of a delicate and highly experimental composition of Wolverine's cells, medication for an Evangelion, and the blood of a baby dragon!" She then forced the bleeding and semiconscious Naruko to drink the substance. "I have no idea what it tastes like but this should theoretically work! Thanks for offering your services!"

"Wait. Theoretically?!" Kitsune shouted worriedly as the fluid went down his friend's throat.

The blonde girl coughed and woke up completely as a good amount of the potion went down the wrong tube. Despite the rough feeding of the elixir though the results were almost instant. Immediately, Naruko's wounds began to heal quickly, and she regained some measure of consciousness. "What… happened?" She asked to the group, before widening her eyes, and getting up. "The Demon!"

"Ghost and his minion are taking care of it," Shadow declared, as sounds of explosions resonated not far from them. Off in the distance the family could see a black blur destroying countless minor demons left and right while several blonde figures were either blasting out high level wind techniques or making the biggest rasengan that any of them had ever seen. "Don't worry. Other than some some friendly fire, you aren't in any danger at all."

"Some?" A voice wondered, as a powerful blast of green fire passed near them. Kazama had returned, helping a wounded Kakashi walk. Chibaku and Zabuza were following them, the first supporting Sasori's damaged top and the second struggling to keep his balance with the help of his damaged blade. "That's a bit of an understatement," the teen observed. "The landscape is burning."

"Some," Shadow repeated. "Believe me, they can do far more damage. Ghost is perhaps the strongest the entity in the whole multiverse, and his blonde copy of you guys is already so strong that he's taken Gaara, the Sanbi, and the container of the Gobi out already." The group frowned, and the raven-haired girl raised an eyebrow. "You're not surprised? Normally the people of your worlds tend to be a bit caught off guard by learning that."

"We have already met someone able to kill Bijuu," Chibaku muttered ominously. "We even fought him… or to be more exact, were beaten by him."

"Huh…" The woman muttered, clearly more curious than surprised by this supposedly outrageous fact. "Was it a ninja?" They all nodded. "Fuck. Wonder who the hell managed to get that big of a power boost. I mean our brat's version of Madara has other half of the Kyubi in him but still he shouldn't be able to actually truly kill a spiritual entity with that much power."

Kitsune frowned as he observed the battle raging between Kishin and the self-proclaimed Feral Gale.

The boy this time had just made a massive runed sword composed of solid wind chakra out of his arms that was at least ten times the size of the monster he was fighting and was about to deal some serious damage to the already wounded demon lord.

The monster managed to barely get out of the way of the attack which seemingly had no trouble tearing through the earth and creating tremendous torrents of wind in its wake, which in turn scratched and blew back the creature in the process. Kishin managed to regain his bearing however, rode the jetstream as it continued to scratch his body relentlessly, and countered with a fire attack that was more akin to unleashing a sea at the boy rather than a simple blast.

In turn, the boy managed to weave multiple seals at a rate that matched Kakashi's and created a thick black wall of rock to block the attack. Despite the overwhelming power of the green inferno, the wall somehow managed to do the impossible and split the sea into two streams that flooded outwards way from him.

Had the watchers not been safe on the hill situated to the side of the battle, they would have without a doubt been killed in the backlash as anything caught in the path of the emerald sea was immolated without a trace. The grass that covered the earth went up so quickly that no one had a chance to see it burn, and the trees that littered the area turned into giant vertical stalks of burning charcoal. The very idea that the blonde's wall had managed to hold up against such an attack and even divide it into two streams was nothing short of absurd.

Yet despite the severity of the situation, the boy surprisingly enough did nothing more about it as he was surrounded on most sides by the green flames and instead casually crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall as if he was napping.

Kishin saw that his attack wasn't doing anything soon enough and stopped trying to melt it reluctantly by shutting his mouth with a large clack. Growling angrily, the beast attempted to maintain his distance and shoot several of his tail darts at the structure to see if it was strong enough to take a physical attack… but much to his surprise halfway through the projectile's flight path they all veered in odd directions and missed the target completely.

To most people the feat wouldn't have been that interesting if it weren't for the fact that each spike tore up the earth a great deal when it landed. By the time all the spikes had stopped, there were at least half a dozen trenches that could easily hide a platoon of men spread out in several directions

"Holy crap you suck at this!" The kid behind the wall laughed loudly and naturally, as if what he just saw was the funniest thing he had ever seen. "How the hell were you made a demon general with aiming like that?"

Finally loosing enough control over his temper to realize that his next decision was probably a bad one, Kishin let loose a savage roar and charged forward at the structure in front of him, attempting to plow through it with his bare claws and get to the source of his frustration. However this indeed turned out to be the wrong move as somehow the blonde on the other side of the wall could tell what the hell it was doing. By the time the lizard had reached the wall, he was hammered by another massive rasengan even bigger than the demon that plowed through the structure that he was going to destroy.

It did not surprise many when the ball exploded loudly and launched the very wounded demon very far in the opposite direction he was travelling just moments before.

"Damn it… this version of the kid is ridiculous…" Zabuza grunted, probably remembering how easily he and his allies were taken out at once by the monster. He turned to the newcomers. "Who the hell are you?"

Shadow's response was a large smirk… one that chilled Kitsune to the bone.

"Me? I am the Second Origin, the Voice of Zuzushi, the ruler of shadows, one of the True Gods, and one of the strongest beings in the multiverse… but you can just call me…" Her smile widened. "Shadow. Your Bijuu, if you have them, must know who I am. The minion's nearly shit himself when I talked to him for the first time."

There was a long silence, and then…

"… Never heard of you," Chibaku said sheepishly, making Shadow fall on the ground comically.

"Yeah, my Kyuubi has no idea of who you are either," Naruko added.

Kitsune himself had no idea of what the voices were thinking, and honestly didn't care. "Sorry, but…"

"NO SORRY!" She snapped, red with childish rage. "I'm a freaking legend! The container of the Sky Mother! I freaking kick gods' asses when I hit that time of the month! Dude where's my respect!?"

Everyone dropped their jaw at the outburst.

She pointed her finger at the creature that had identified herself as Zuzushi. "That is the SKY MOTHER, granddaughter of the first dragon, one of the oldest demons EVER, a god so ancient that most gods don't remember what he looks like, AND an existence that is so ambiguous that it is beyond your… and still my… comprehension and ability to pronounce correctly! Gods and otherworldy beings tend to scream like small children when she shows up without warning!"

And then, she pointed at her brother who was still manually stabbing each and every demon he came across in the face without issue as if the activity was natural as breathing. "That's Ghost! THE CURSED MEMORY! The only mortal based being in the Multiverse able to beat Zuzushi without help! Hell, he's practically the apocalypse incarnate! Last time I checked, the other gods were still spreading propaganda about that!"

She glared at the Arashi clan. "How can you not have heard of us? I thought all high ranking demons were supposed to have some sort of links to their world's gods and other mutiversial information sources! Ethereal existences are worse gossips than elderly British women! This shouldn't be new news!"

"You… didn't create the universe… nobody did…"

The woman looked sideways dangerously and locked eyes with a fearful Chibaku. "Come again?"

"At the dawn of time…" He muttered. "There was only emptiness… darkness were ruling in absolute control and order… but in a one brief instant… chaos came in the form of the movement of In and Yo, positive and negative… shattering the darkness' control forever… giving birth to life and action, to matter and existence, to the Kami," the boy continued stubbornly, "and in the end… to humanity." He smirked. "No god created the universe, it only… came into being by itself, and then created the Kami. At least, that is what the Kyuubi says," he quickly added as Shadow gritted her teeth.

"Same thing with my own," Naruko declared. "Gods are only inventions of man it says."

"Bullshit," Shadow cursed darkly. "I'm actually CONNECTED to the beginning. So much so that in some circles I am actually considered another source for all there is that has yet to come. There's no way what you said is right unless… unless…" Her eyes narrowed as her mind went down a series of thought processes. "Unless… no, that would be impossible… but if your absolute power is an unknown factor instead of…"

She looked around with a sharp look in her eyes, absent of any of her childish demeanor that she had before. "Which one of you is responsible for this mess?"

Kazama frowned. "I am."

"How did you tear space apart? Did you create a large enough fourth dimensional resonance that reality temporarily deconstructed and reconstructed itself into a wormhole phenomena, or are you able to push and influence fifth dimensional flows enough that you can jump? Obviously you aren't using a subtle approach or this clusterfuck here wouldn't be happening in the first place." She rapidly inquired spewing out multiple scientific terms as she stared at him analytically before pausing and shaking her head. "No… never mind. We'll talk shop later when things calm down a bit. There are still a few almost dead ones here after all."

Not bothering to watch the woman heal Kakashi and Zabuza, Kitsune stared at the battle in the distance. He was… impressed…

The counterpart and the demon had forgone elemental warfare and were now just attempting to kill one another manually. Normally one would think that this would be fairly simple for the demon since he was literally over twice the size of his opponent…

But that didn't seem to be the case as the smaller of the two seemed to control the fight completely.

They watched as the boy stepped inside the beast's guard when it tried to swipe him with one of his monstrous claws, and used its attempt to knee him with his tree trunk sized legs as leverage to rapidly gain height until he was right in front of the demon's face and blew a raspberry into the creature's eyes.

For a moment it looked like the fight was over for the boy when Kishin attempted to crush him in between his massive claws, causing a loud boom that could be heard and felt by everyone there. However at the last moment the blonde somehow managed to suddenly push himself back out of the monster's reach and hover just outside of his massive claws. Oddly enough, despite being so close to the source of the minor explosion, he did not seem phased in the slightest if the confident grin on his face was any indication.

The assault didn't end there though as the hands in front of the demon's face opened to reveal Kishin in the process of breathing out another massive torrent of flames at point blank range… but the boy once again somehow moved in mid air without any sign that he was going to, though not unmarred as his left arm got slightly scorched by the fire that he barely dodged. This time the boy dashed in a circular motion to find himself behind his opponent, missing the attack that continued forward taking out another good portion of the army he had summoned and torching half of a nearby mountain in the process.

Still, Kishin was not a Demon Lord due to strength alone. He had been caught from behind enough times to develop a natural reaction to an enemy there, and it was shown as his barbed tail almost instinctively whipped to attack the foe to his six. Unfortunately for Kishin, his opponent was far stronger and more durable than the majority of the demons he had encountered in his life as the blonde actually caught the massive tail.

Skidding back a few dozen feet from the blow before stopping, the boy gave no sign of slowing down his counterassault and gave the demon a severe case of whiplash as he spun the beast around his head and displaying monstrous strength before slamming him onto the ground with enough force to crack the earth several times over. Not stopping there, the blonde kept up the assault and conjured up several dozen clones that jumped up into the air. Each of the copies then created a massive wind blade above their heads by clasping their hands together before pointing them all down and nailed the beast into the earth, causing it to roar in rage and pain that could clearly be heard by anyone in a ten mile radius of the event.

The original stood to the side and watched Kishin with what the observers could only assume was a contemplative look before sighing to himself and slowly and somewhat shakily… rising up into the sky until he was several dozen meters above his opponent. While the execution wasn't that impressive, it didn't help distract the others from realizing that the person in front of them was actually flying.

As if that wasn't enough, the boy then held out his arm and grabbed it with another and began to channel a massive amount of chakra to it. Slowly a massive rasengan appeared in his hand… but there was something different about it. It began to emit a high pitched shrieking sound. It was powerful. It was terrifying. It was…

Unstable and blew up in the user's face with a blast that could be felt by everyone, launching him a good distance away and forcing him to hit the earth hard.

"Log damn it!" The watchers heard the teen yell in obvious irritation as he picked himself out of the crater his body had made. "I had it! I fucking had it that time! I was so close to using it one handed in the field! GHAAA!" They blinked in confusion as the boy jumped into the air with rage and flew to his previous spot above the now struggling and raging demon.

Unlike last time though, the boy made a clone that floated in the air next to him before once more conjuring up the massive rasengan… however the clone seemed to be helping by adding… "wind chakra" Kazama muttered in confusion. "A two person technique? But he already used a clone to make rasengan…"

The teen's eyes widened as he realized what was off about what he just said. This version of didn't need a clone in order to make rasengan or any of the larger versions… did this mean that stably adding an element to it would require another clone to perform? Does that mean that it is possible to reach that level himself just by mastering the element and using another clone in the process?

He was broken out of his musings when he saw the sphere grow larger and larger with what seemed like a rapidly spinning rotor of blades around the ball, shrieking with power and intensity. He could feel the wind from where he was and without a doubt the traveler could tell that the demon recognized that this was a finishing move. The ball was as large as the boy now as he held it above his head and each blade was nearly 5 times the length of the diameter of the ball. The wind was so severe near the boy that the beginnings of a small twister were taking form around him, fueled by the monstrous technique.

"Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!" The powerful variant cried as he actually THREW the massive spinning disc straight at the frantically struggling demon…

Incredible.

That was the only way that Kitsune could describe the explosion and storm that was created from the technique once it struck the demon and was set off, unleashing all the energy that had until then been focused into the form it had been in. The discharge had even taken the shape of a massive contained sphere, but despite the light it gave off the watchers could still see everything inside of it get torn and ripped to shreds piece by piece. The blonde could see the roaring silhouette of Kishin in the middle of the sphere disintegrate right in front of him before the wind the attack kicked up reached him and he had to cover his eyes or risk getting blinded…

… They had only bothered to risk looking again when the air had calmed and the noise had finally died down. What met their eyes was their counterpart was standing, albeit a bit winded, in the middle of a massive crater where Kishin had previously been pinned down.

"He is so strong…" Kitsune whispered in disbelief.

Kazama nodded. "Yeah, he is. Stronger than all of us." Then he scowled. "This power… should have been ours."

Something in the teen's gaze chilled Kitsune to the bone.

They were so focused on their counterpart's display, none of them noticed that the summoned army of Demons suddenly get slashed to miniscule pieces in a single instant… and their remains disintegrate into dust in the wind in the next. All that remained was the supposed immortal man that had been fighting them, yawning widely and standing unharmed…

The puppet master, Sasori

"So… let's see if I got this right," the 'Feral Gale' -another stupid nickname, in Sasori's humble opinion- said, "you are, like us, a group of dimensional travelers… and like us, you have been forced into insane adventures and fight against really powerful beings. Unlike my end, though, you have no idea what the hell what you are doing, what is going on, and so far have had no one to give you all the details on why this is happening."

"Unfortunately," Kazama replied. They had, after the events on the plains, entered the village Kishin had attempted to destroy to begin his conquest of ruling this dimension. After reserving the whole terrace of a restaurant with the money of the one called Ghost, much to his dismay, the whole group, including Zuzushi had sat and ordered for food. Obviously the presence of the latter had scared just about everyone except the cook and the waitresses away. This was obviously not a place that hosted many supernatural creatures.

Not that Sasori really cared. Chibaku was currently helping him rebuild his body, much to the waitresses' horror, and he had listened to the discussion with utmost concentration. He had too, since these people were apparently to him what the puppeteer was to ants.

"Three Uchiha Madara…" Ghost muttered. "That blows. One's bad enough for you guys given your current levels, but three… and one of them has the Rinnegan, and another a Bijuu-killing technique. Talk about overkill." He smirked. "Reminds me of the time I messed with Aizen, Sephiroth, and Darkside at the same time. Ah good times."

"Who are you talking about?" Kakashi asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"No one of importance," Ghost shrugged, as he devoured a small cake. "What is more important is how the hell did you ended up here. More importantly, how you managed to open a permanent portal to one of the fiendish plane by accident, just like that. But of course," he smirked, "Shadow is taking care of figuring that out."

"Does it hurt, boss?" Naruko asked, concerned about her elder's current situation.

Kazama shook his head. "I have been in worse situations before."

Well, Sasori certainly didn't doubt about that. The teen was surprisingly calm for someone strapped on a table, without a shirt, and having his belly examined by a raven-haired woman who was apparently not so interested in his well-being. If the puppeteer hadn't known better, he would have seen the scene as some kind of sadomasochist relationship… or something worse.

"And, honestly, it's not really unpleasant," he added, as Shadow touched his skin, "as long as you ignore the fact that everyone is watching you."

Zuzushi snorted as she tore into a slab of meat. "Believe me, it happens more often than one would think."

"But generally there is blood involved," the Feral Gale nodded as if there was nothing wrong with what he just said. "Still, I wonder what you went through if you actually somewhat enjoy this situation. I mean with Ero-ni…"

"What happens in kinky sex time with Anko and Hana stays in kinky sex time with Anko and Hana!" Ghost shouted with authority.

"And forever more I will knock on doors before I enter someone's room…" The strongest blonde there shivered, traumatized by his memories.

"Let's just say that having Orochimaru break your seal while you are in the middle of a transformation is a little more painful." Kazama sighed, resiging himself to the fact that his new friends were more than a bit touched in the head.

"A good thing that Sarutobi killed him in our world then. Second time's the charm." Ghost shrugged before turning to his sister. "You should feel yourself lucky, brat. The last time she was so focused on a man's belly was when she was with her ex… shit."

Zuzushi raised her eyebrows in horror, the Feral Gale paled dramatically… and Shadow did nothing. Obviously whatever the man had just said was taboo.

The 'Cursed Memory began to shiver. "She's not responding. Tis a bad omen. Normally a slip would leave me absolutely…"

"Annihilated?" Zuzushi suggested.

"Maimed and ripped to shreds… several times?" His apprentice added.

"Yeah, something like that…" The master laughed nervously before turning to Kazama. "… Damn kid, your seal must be one hell of a clusterfuck on your gut if she's so focused that she didn't hear me."

Sasori frowned. "Care to elaborate?"

"Believe me, you're better off not knowing," Ghost laughed. "Unless you want to share the pain I'm bound to suffer soon, it's better not to ask."

Silence.

"So…" Haku trailed off. "You are, if I understand well, the equivalent of gods?"

"Sort of," the man replied. "We are members of the Oogakari clan, or well, that's what we're calling ourselves for now. We're monstrously powerful humans that are further boosted by Zuzushi, making us… sort of human shaped deities tasked to keep her company and rein her in if she does something stupid. Zuzushi, on the other hand is a monstrously powerful goddess, the creator of the multiverse…" He raised his hand as Chibaku and Naruko opened their mouths, "and it has already been proven. I don't know what your Kyuubi are talking about, but they are either lying or ignorant of the truth."

"But… what is exactly the multiverse?" Kakashi asked. "We journeyed through it without really understanding what it is…"

Sasori was immediately all ears, much like the rest of the Arashi clan.

"Basically, if a single Universe is like a tale… then the Multiverse would be accurately described as multiple "tales" that run along one another without intersecting most of the time, like a giant library of stories," the god-like man explained. "It doesn't stop there though, as each story can have multiple, if not infinite variants which also qualify as their own individual universe."

The immortal paused and looked around to see that only roughly half of his audience was actually getting the full picture.

"Ok, let me put it in a different way. Imagine that the history of the world is one that is narrated orally. Everyone that listens to it will then narrate his own version, with some modifications. It can vary from details to whole plot twists to an outright different tale with another conclusion and none of the characters are the same, but the core fact is that they are always different from everyone else's. Each universe is a version of one reality consisting of one of these stories, and they are all different in one way or another. Basically, it all boils down to the ever present 'what if'."

"What if?" Sasori asked, beginning to understand.

"What if a rock had fallen on this person's head, what if a doctor had chosen to become an artist instead, what if a god had chosen another person as his champion, what if someone had lifted his finger while sleeping, what if you guessed "true" on a test instead of "false"… the list continues on indefinitely." He smirked. "Basically, for each possibility and chain of possibilities that can possibly exist, a new world is created."

"And as there are many, many tales in existence, each with their own variants," Zuzushi continued. "The end result is an infinite number of different tales, each with an infinite number of variations, and they all form a great tapestry we call the multiverse. … One that I take all credit for making, thank you very much."

"So…" Chibaku trailed off. "To put it simply, were all like characters from a tale escaping from our version and inviting ourselves into another?"

"Like us," Ghost confirmed. "We are like, living, self-aware pieces of a chess game inviting ourselves onto one chessboard, and introducing randomness and the unknown factors to an otherwise completely ordered and planned game to make a new variant. We are immune to fate, or the people that move and influence the other pieces, and thus its worst enemies." He paused before grumbling to the side about fate being an ugly assed bitch and not leaving him alone.

"Cool…" Chibaku muttered.

"That's awesome!" Naruko shouted. "Naruko Uzumaki: the multiverse's most surprising and unpredictable ninja of all times!"

Haku, Kitsune and Kazama grinned sheepishly at that… but Sasori only frowned. "I assume it's not always a good thing."

"Of course not." Ghost snorted. "When you screw with fate, anything can happen. A hero's planned death can be averted… but a bastard's awaited defeat can also be prevented by accident as well. You have to remember that even though that there are multiple worlds and themes, literally anything can still happen, both pleasant and not. Thankfully my family has had enough experience that we know what the hell we're doing now so that we can keep cluster fucks to a minimum, but trust me on this, things have still gone horrifically wrong on us more than we'd like to admit."

He smiled sadly. "Believe me, it really sucks when you have tried really hard to help someone you actually like, and instead accidentally not only caused his death, and the death of just about everyone, but you wound up saving some evil overlord asshole who then proceeded to take over the reality you were trying to save."

It would be indeed be crushing, to see a lifetime's worth of effort being all for naught, Sasori thought. It's exactly what I had felt when the Sandaime had broken my dreams.

"But anyway," the Cursed Memory continued, turning to Kazama again. "From what I've pieced together, your story isn't so different than the one of my apprentice, though with a few key differences. Orochimaru and the Akatsuki are still doing their thing, Jinchuuriki are still treated like crap, and the civilian council and Danzo are still out for your blo-"

"This is mostly true, except the last part," Sasori interrupted. "There is no civilian council… and Danzo is not so hostile, or at least our information doesn't indicate he is. Many clan heads, like Hiashi Hyuuga and Shikaku Nara, are the masterminds behind a conspiracy targeting the Kyuubi's vessels."

Both Ghost and the Feral Gale raised their eyebrows, with different degrees of surprise. "Hinata's dad?" The new Naruto wondered.

"Well I did say there were differences," the Cursed Memory muttered, before looking at his disciple. "Don't worry, they aren't bastards at your home. Pretty nice guys… when we aren't screwing with them at least… and so long as we keep Crypt away from them."

Kazama didn't seem to agree, but kept his mouth shut… for a short moment. "By the way, how did you end up helping my counterpart?"

Ghost grinned. "Well it all started when I teleported into his soul while being drunk out of my skull."

Everyone dropped their jaw… well, except Shadow, Zuzushi and the Feral Gale. The first didn't even react, the second smirked, and the third grinned sheepishly, completely embarrassed.

"What?"

"Well, in case you haven't understood yet, Shadow is a bit bipolar," Ghost chuckled. "I made a joke on her weight…" He briefly stared at the girl, who was still ignoring him, "and ran the fuck away, escaping to another dimension when she cornered me. Long story short, I ended up interrupting a Bijuu-extracting process… with Naruto in the middle."

"I was pretty much dead because of Danzo's betrayal at the last second and Akatsuki ended up capturing me." the Feral Gale continued darkly. "Ero-ni," Chibaku raised an eyebrow at the nickname, "then used his powers to make us jump back in time, and helped me avert many future tragedies, while training me. I may look like I'm 14, but mentally I'm closer to 18." He paused before glaring at Kazama. "… I miss being tall damn it…"

Under normal circumstances, Sasori would have said that time-travel was physically impossible, but since it was a deity (or someone as close as you could be) that was talking, it was probably the truth…

"Finished."

Everyone stared at Shadow, who leaned back into her chair and began compulsively eating the pile of candy in front of her. "I'm going to devour the whole restaurant's reserve… no, the whole town's," she muttered to herself before locking eyes with Kazama.

"Congrads, mister 'I stole the power of a god'. You can officially warp reality to the fifth dimension, and if you can't yet change the way the world is pieced together, then you will soon."

Silence. The girl continued to eat, apparently unconcerned with the current situation.

"… Care to explain?" Ghost asked curiously. "Other than you being able to create on the seventh dimension and me being able to destroy on that level, I don't think I've heard of anyone with the ability to accidentally get anything that screws around with the fabric of reality above the fourth."

"The kid has drained a part of Death's power," Shadow explained before eyeing the traveler's lazily. "You all know that the Shinigami is responsible for the creation of the seal, right? Well, apparently, in this kid's particular multiverse, the Shini-"

"Multiverse?" Ghost blinked, surprised. "Shit, that explains a lot..."

"Yeah, you heard that right: they don't come from our multiverse, but from another," the woman commented.

Sasori blinked, and he wasn't the only one. Zuzushi's eyes narrowed. "… Hmm… that makes sense. There are infinite multiverses in existence that share common phenomena much in the same way that alternate realities do so… however traveling between that particular gap is rather… uncommon. I just happen to be one of the few entities that is capable of manifesting a multiverse, however I am not conceited enough to actually believe I am the only one able do so, nor do I doubt that some may have manifested by sheer chance … I just never bothered to look around to look for others…"

"It does sound crazy," Shadow continued, "but just as there are an infinite number of variations of one universe, there are an infinite number of variations of the multiverse, where some deepest core rules are different as well. What if the Shinto creation myth were correct? What if Zuzushi wasn't the one that created the multiverse? What if no god had created the multiverse? What if a god-like maniac had succeeded in annihilating the multiverse? Etcetera. Etcetera. The base foundation of simultaneous balanced energy, physical, and temporal manifestation can be pretty finicky at times so it does make sense theoretically."

"Euh…" Naruko bit her lip. "I haven't understood everything…"

"Me too," Kitsune pointed out.

"I don't care," Shadow replied. "Now, can you just shut your mouths and let me finish my explanation?" Her tone indicated to everyone that refusal to obey would have deadly consequences, so everyone fell silent. Again.

"The general version of your universe's Shinigami in OUR multiverse is, well, not weak, but simply incompetent at his job," Shadow continued, "and while he did make a seal as strong as your own, there were some… small complications, although that may have been another 'what if' scenario. The Shinigami of your multiverse, which is what your universe's version is a fragment of is first, far more powerful than ours, and is more importantly constantly powering the seals holding back the Kyuubi instead of simply slapping down the mark, twisting the rules of time and space with the seal to do the hard work for him, putting in a bit of power to keep everything in place, and calling it a day, which is what ours did."

She looked at all the blondes in the room. "This goes for all of your seals, and it completely prevents the Kyuubi from tearing it apart or controlling its container. But when Orochimaru twisted your seal… he created an imbalance within it."

She sighed, and eyed Kazama. "From what I can tell, your Kyuubi had more or less passed half of its chakra through the seal in your fight, and a good lot of its mind as well. But the shit hit the fan when Orochimaru closed it literally on top of all that power. It created an unstable void inside the seal, one that had to be filled. So the seal, to stay in place, acted like a pump, and filled the void with the only energy it had a full access to: the Shinigami's power."

She touched the seal. "Then, your parents managed to fix the seal while it was still draining the god's power and open it up again to pull back the rest of your demon's juice. This sent the Kyuubi's chakra back into the seal, inadvertently causing a massive feedback and overload. This in turn forced the Kyuubi's chakra that the seal had been slammed closed upon to rage around into the very foundations of the seal itself, messing with it even more."

The woman stretched and leaned back into her chair with a tired sigh. "In the end, despite the odds of it literally blowing you up with both demonic and god based power, it managed to regain its stability by adapting its form with the Yondaime's help… but this time, the locations of the energies inside you had been reversed. The Kyuubi's chakra is now powering the seal holding back the Shinigami's essence."

Shadow then touched one of the nine circles with a spiral inside. "These nine drawings are the sealed tails of the Kyuubi, who has been reduced to a state of mindless chakra. The 'eye' is the trapped Shingami's essence." She smirked. "Your seal isn't a transportation device. It's a filter that prevents the formidable energy kept behind it from overwhelming and consuming you, much like the original seal did for the Kyuubi."

The Cursed Memory nodded in comprehension. "Makes sense. It's unlikely as hell but it does sound logical. Explains the strange void in your soul that I sensed earlier too."

"Anyway," Shadow coughed. "The basic functions of the seal are still there, it's just what is kept inside has changed. It still has the functions 'tap in the power when the wielder is in danger', or 'tap in it if the wielder wants it'."

Kazama, meanwhile, had gone pale. "You mean that…"

"Teleporting between worlds is simply one of the Shinigami's many abilities that you are instinctively using by channeling the power kept in the seal because it is the easiest to control," Shadow confirmed, before beginning to eat another chocolate bar. "But since you aren't born with it, your hold over it is… fragile. The more you are using it in short succession, the more the seal assumes you're in danger, the more it taps into the power, and the more your transportation becomes hazardous."

"When you tried to escape from this 'Sharingan-forest', you pulled out so much power that instead of jumping into an alternate universe, you teleported in another multiverse, badly damaging the fabric of reality in the process," she swallowed her food, "and opening an unstable yet still permanent side portal between this reality and a fiendish plane, aka HELL." The girl smirked. "You should consider yourself very lucky… you might have created a black hole instead, or fused this plane with hell, or even destroyed them both altogether."

She gave the boy a cold and unwavering glare. "Listen well kid. You must never, and I say never, use your power when it is not safe to do so, or else the consequences would be cataclysmic for you and the world around you." A pot containing ink and a brush appeared out of nowhere. "I'm gonna make another seal for you that will act as a timer, indicating how much time it will take for you before your current seal is ready to allow you to safely travel..."

"How much will I have to wait, approximately?" Kazama asked curiously.

"Depends," she replied with a careless shrug. "It can go from a few hours to days. It's quite difficult, since most of the seal's working is still a bit mixed up from the initial breakdown, even to me. My brother Crypt could have probably found the pattern, stabilized it, and given you a pretty sweet upgrade, but he's off doing who knows what right now..." She sighed. "Damn freaking idiot and his obsession with the floor..."

Sasori scowled. "If jumping into different worlds in quick succession is now impossible-"

"Then Madara is going to track us down sooner than we all expected..." Kazama finished. The teen stared at the self-proclaimed Oogakari clan. "Can you help us deal with them?"

Ghost's expression immediately told Sasori that the answer was going to be negative. Shadow briefly blinked, and Zuzushi had frowned. "No," The dragoness declared. It was not a decision. It was a fact.

"Why?" The teen asked vehemently, the rest of his group staring at the scene silently.

"You are out of my jurisdiction,"the deity replied. "Under normal circumstances, I would have gladly aided you, since your enemies seem to be quite the challenge and interesting fight... but as long as they haven't put a foot inmymultiverse, they are not my problem. If I were to go intoyourmultiverse, whatever pantheon ruling it could interpret it as an attempted invasion and respond with force. It could easily end up escalating to a cosmic war, or worse, bring the attention of alien evil deities upon us all,possiblyas strong as myself, though I doubt there are many existences that fit that category."

She glared at Kazama. "Despite my position as this multiverse's creator, I am far from omnipotent. There are other gods here that require that I keep an eye on lest they do something stupid that will take forever to correct. Leaving, even for a short time, might encourage them to strike and damage the stability here while I am away... and let's not talk about the fact that your simple presence here is increasing all these possibilities with each passing second. So no, I can't help you."

"I don't mind a good fight," Shadow declared, "but, honestly? I think that you should leave as soon as possible... or at least, only you, mister Kazama."

"Why?" Sasori asked.

"Because the divine essence he contains is an alien element here," she explained. "No one knows what sort of anomalies a prolonged leak of it can cause in our multiverse, since it hasn't really happened before. Crypt might have created a good filter, but..."

"He'll take too much time to find and get off his ass, especially when he doesn't want to do anything," Ghost finished.

The Feral Gale frowned. "What about me?" He asked. "I'm not bound by anything. I can help out."

"You are not at the level needed to fight one Madara yet, let alone three," his master said. "You're strong enough to take out a biju and maybe a Kage with some luck, but you still need time to grow, mature, and gain more experience. I can probably follow these guy's trails to their multiverse if needed with my powers, but for now they're on their own." He put on a small grin. "Well… on second thought, we can mess with the route they take if they travel to our multiverse so that the Madara will take longer to get to them… I'm thinking of rerouting them through a care bear world…"

"I... I see..." Kazama trailed off with despair in his voice. "I understand..." He muttered. "I understand too much well... and I have to act on that..." The teen stared at his group. "Everyone... you will stay in this world."

"Bos-" Naruko began, but her teacher interrupted her.

"I'm the only one that the Madara are after," he declared. "We won't be able to defeat them, that is sure, but here... here, they won't come after you, and you will be safe." He stared at Shadow. "I need to be a bit alone for a while... could we get some privacy?"

She nodded… before grabbing her brother's arm in a vice like grip. "Ghost."

The man began to sweat profusely, knowing that something painful was going to happen to him soon. "Yes?"

"It will take me around twelve minutes to find this guy and put the seal on him, but it will take at least twelve hours of torture for you to atone for insulting my weight and speaking about the my relationship with the prick. Please, patiently follow us and wait for your punishment while I finish working."

The Cursed Memory paled…

And then ran away as fast as he could... or rather, tried, since his limbs didn't move.

"… Idiot," Shadow muttered, as her… shadow… fused with Ghost's. "You really think that after spending so much time teaching Shikamaru about the true nature of darkness manipulation, he wouldn't remind me of some of the older tricks I used to do?"

"FUCK!" The doomed man shouted frantically. "FUCK FUCK FUCK!"

"Yeah, sucks to wait, but don't worry, I'm going to keep an eye on you!" She chirped, before teleporting away with Kazama and the Cursed Memory before anyone could react.

Sasori hated to admit it, but the look on Ghost's face was... terrifying, to say the least.

The Traveler, Kazama

Kazama was staring at a nocturne sky, trying to ignore Ghost's screams, as he was receiving a brutal beat down from Shadow. Strangely, despite the sheer insanity of the two, he couldn't care less about them. They didn't want to help them, so they didn't deserve his attention… he had the power he needed.

I have the power of a god, he realized.After years of depending on the Kyuubi… now I am depending on the Shinigami. Is it fate? Divine intervention? Pure luck? But if for each possibility there is a world born of it, can we really talk about luck? Are we really free to decide our future?

I have free-will, he thought, as a mechanical squeak resonated inside his mind. If the world is guided by fate, and that I am free of it, then does it mean… that I am really human? Am I not closer to godhood? When I have the power and the freedom of a god, who is to say that a god am I not?

… What am I thinking? He wondered, as the sound ended. I am raving… it's only a disillusion. I am beginning to think like Orochimaru, and I know how it turned out for him. I am just human… and it's better off like that. I wouldn't trust myself with the role. With great power comes great responsibility, after all… and I don't even control it that well to begin with...

His head jerked to the side, and he saw Naruko standing behind him. "Boss… it took a lot of time to find you," she began. "Can I sit with you?"

"Of course," he complied, while ignoring Ghost's desperate high pitched screaming in the background. Kazama didn't know what Shadow was currently doing to him, and actually didn't want to know. Trying to reason with these mad, egoistical gods was a waste of time…

Though they have been a bit helpful, Kazama admitted as he looked at the seal on his left palm. It looked like an eye, with the number twelve inside. Naruko also stared at it. "How does it work?" She asked.

"It indicates the number of hours before it's safe to teleport," he explained. "When hits zero, then the 'different energies are balanced'," he quoted Shadow, "and then I can teleport without any problem."

"It's quite precise," the blonde girl trailed off. "I mean, I can't still believe you have the power of a deity sealed in you." She bit her lip. "Though it's just as incredible as containing a Bijuu."

"I know," he responded. "But with all the craziness that happened, I can't find the energy to be troubled. Nothing is going to surprise me anymore after that."

"I wouldn't bet on it," a new voice said. "Believe me, this day was only borderline normal for me. Ever become the leader of three revolutions overnight without knowing it? Trust me, it sucks." The duo tilted their head to the side, just in time to see the Feral Gale sit down beside them. "Sometimes, I wonder if I did a good thing by accepting that training trip… no Hinata, no rookie twelve, only insane companions and a lot of problems that I have no idea how to approach…" He smirked. "Though we are somewhat alike, about that last part…"

"Yes…" Kazama trailed off. "But unlike us, you can actually defend yourself properly against your enemies."

Your power… Naruto Uzumaki's power… should have been ours, he thought, as insidious, secret whispers resonated inside his skull. It should have been our own by right. It should have beenmine.

"I am a bit envious," he declared. "I mean, I am older than you, and yet I'm still weaker than you." His look darkened. "I wasn't strong enough to fight Madara."

But with the Shinigami's power, everything will be fine… with it, I will erase them from creation, and everyone that will oppose me shall be crushed under my heel… with it, I will reach true perfection...

"Technically, I'm older than you," the Feral Gale pointed out. "I was brought back in time right after fighting, and loosing, against Madara and virtually half of Akatsuki at once with practically half of Konoha's strongest at my back, meaning that I have three to four more years or so of experience than you… and you didn't get the same training I did. You can still become a badass if you work at it though. You are me after all." He smirked before putting on a serious face.

"But seriously… don't do what I did." He began to shiver. "Being locked in an industrial freezer in only my boxers for over 12 hours at a time and forgetting to tell me what the hell I was supposed to be doing in order to survive… getting thrown off a cliff constantly for over two weeks… and then there's the mental conditioning… those guys are evil…"

"He's right!" Naruko exclaimed, ignoring the new addition's temporary mental breakdown. "Keep confidence in yourself, Boss! We aren't able to fight the Madara yet, but it doesn't mean we will never be able to do so! We hurt them, matched them! They are not invincible… with hard work and determination, one day we will be able to defeat them!"

… She's right, he realized, and the whispers vanished.I don't need the Shinigami's power to defeat them… I just have to develop my own way. I have to keep my hope up. "It will take a lot of time," he declared, "but in the end, I...we will overcome them. With or without the Oogakari's help."

"That's the spirit," the Feral Gale replied, somehow already back to normal. "If people are too dependent on saviors to rescue their ass, then there will never be any change. The general populace will just be spoiled assholes that way, and tyrants will always continue to show up and rise in power. You have to learn to earn your happy ending instead of waiting for someone to give it to you, or else you will never be able to control your own future."

"And so, I will shape my own," Kazama concluded.

The Feral Gale smiled before apparently sensing something and turned his head to the side to look back. "It seems that you are going to have some company… I should leave," he said. "Just remember you have friends here, and listen to what these guys have to say. See you next time." And he vanished in a puff of smoke.

Seconds later, the duo received a visit from the rest of the Arashi clan.

"Everyone?" Kazama wondered. "What are doing here?"

"Doing our job as family members," Kakashi said, before putting a hand on the teen's shoulder. "Naruto… I know that you must be quite disappointed by not receiving help and the like, and pretty disturbed by the whole seal deal… I am too, I still don't understand everything… but you can count on me. Who cares if they don't help us? We are more than a simple group… we are family, not by blood, but by unbreakable bond. Whatever obstacles and dangers the world will place on our way… we will overcome it together."

"I just want to say that this day won't change anything between us," Zabuza growled. "Even with all the power in the world, you still suck… and I will do my best to correct that. So I'm still going to continue traveling with you."

"Now that we know the limits and potential of your abilities," Sasori said, "it is obvious that the option of simply outrunning our pursuers is gone. I have a few ideas on how to beat them, or at least how to analyze their abilities, but you, and only you, are able to control your power… and I trust you with it. One day, you will be able to use it safely, and I will be at your side to witness it."

"Kazama-san…" Haku trailed off. "I have known despair as much as you do… and I have learned that there is always hope. It doesn't matter if we are alone… as long as we still fight and continue advancing, our future will always be better." She put her hand on his other shoulder. "I will do my best to help you gain your future."

"You gave me a purpose," Kitsune declared. "You gave me what I always desired. A family. Friends. Love. I will stay at your side until the end, and even after if I have to do so…"

"Yeah, same here," Chibaku said. "Guys, I know I'm not the most idealistic person around, but I am an eternal optimist. You will find a way to make things turn for the better… and I will help you with it."

"Yeah… me too, Naruto-nii-san…" Naruko whispered, as she hugged him. "I'm going to stay at your side until the very end."

"Everyone…" he muttered, tears rolling from his eyes. "Thank you. Thank you very much."

The Broken Man, Kakashi

"So you are leaving already? Together?" the Cursed Memory asked. He was covered with bandages, and eying Shadow fearfully, as if she was going to give him a repeat performance…

Kazama nodded. "I think it is time for us to return to our multiverse. We still have some problems to correct, back in our home worlds. … Personal problems."

"I see… too bad," Shadow muttered.

Ghost snorted, before glancing at the Arashi clan and scratching the back of his head. "Since we can't help you ourselves, I'll give you guys some tips to make things easier for you… somewhat."

Shadow raised an eyebrow amused. "Oh? Be careful brother. Don't want to spoil too much for them."

The supposed stronger of the two ignored his sister. "You will have to be careful with these two pieces of information cause even though they're going to be fairly constant regardless of what world you're in, managing them in each world will vary due to the personalities of those involved and how much of an asshole they can be."

"Get on with it." Kazama grunted.

"You might want to get that temper looked at. Some gods believe it or not, aren't that patient with backtalk." The immortal deadpanned before shrugging and got on with the topic of interest. "Anyways, the first involves getting you guys to master your biju's power." And like that he had all of the family's attention. "Get the help of the jinchuuriki of the Hachibi. He has absolute control of his beast… but you have to be careful with negotiating with the man's brother. He's a bit of an overmuscled emotional asshole…"

Naruko's eyes widened with surprise and hope. "He can help us with controlling our bijuu?"

"Once again it will vary on the mood of the man's brother since he's even stronger than the jinchuuriki," Ghost pointed out, ignoring the looks of disbelief he was getting.

"I'll keep that in mind." Kazama nodded, probably admitting that the information he just received really was more valuable than he anticipated. "And the other piece of information?"

"That…" Ghost frowned as he looked at all the versions of Naruto staring at him, before looking at Kakashi, Haku, Zabuza... and then... "That… I'm only telling Sasori…"

"Me?" Sasori blinked in confusion. "Dare I ask why?"

"You're the only one in the group that can be trusted with info like this. It's too dangerous to be widely known among the others yet." The immortal stated, ignoring the irritated looks that many of the others were giving him. "This is something that should only be known after the others grow up or stabilize a bit more."

"I need to grow up?" Zabuza growled as the puppet master walked up to the man and they held a private conversation. Unfortunately the immortal had done something that prevented any sound from traveling in their direction… but the look of shock on Sasori's artificial face could not be hidden.

"Are you certain that this will be consistent throughout the worlds?" Sasori asked skeptically.

"Considering what I know and how things tend to play out in your branch of worlds, you're more likely to come across a world where Naruto is a female and Zabuza is Mizukage than this not happening." The immortal nodded. "Just remember, if the man I mentioned is dead, then the other one I told you about almost without a doubt will have one… and regardless of that the latter will always be involved in some way with what you want to know and what you never knew of in the first place. The players may change, but the system will almost always keep several key factors that he will know hands down."

Sasori nodded as he began to walk back to the group. "I will keep that in mind. You have certainly given me something to think about. I will see how fruitful your lead is in our travels… but what price do you demand for this?"

"Oh, just the answer to a question," he said while grinning innocently. "How skilled are you in particular at removing misapplied high-level seals?"

"Pretty good," he responded skeptically. "But not as much as I would like. I'm more competent at putting them than removing them."

"Ok..." His smile widened. "Thank you very much..."

"What did he say?" Kazama asked in an almost demanding tone, his eyes hungry for information as the redheaded puppet master returned.

"You will find out in time," Sasori mused, his eyes showing that he was thinking of something that interested him greatly. "This is something that needs to be addressed… delicately…"

Zuzushi snorted. "Since there is nothing to say anymore, I'm going back to my island. All that love me, follow!" And then she passed through a newly opened portal.

"Not going to be many people," Shadow grumbled. "But since I have already lost one day of vacation..." She briefly looked back at the Arashi clan. "Goodbye everyone… and the next time we meet, you better give me a lot of candy as a payment for my work! You're indebted to me!" She shouted before leaving too.

"Duly noted," Kazama said, while both Ghost and the Feral Gale cringed. Why do I have the feeling that we are going to suffer for that? Kakashi thought.

"Dude… you have no idea of how much screwed you are all…" The Feral Gale shuddered. "It's like signing you own death warrant."

Ghost shook his head. "Another man condemned to serve Shadow's sweet tooth for all eternity… such a shame."

"… Okay, maybe I just did something stupid…"

"Unfortunately," the Cursed Memory confirmed. "But, since you just offered me a good source of amusement in the future, I'm going to be nice and prevent you from wasting your juice for this first jump."

Before anyone could follow his movements, the man took out one of his swords from seemingly nowhere and literally sliced open a nice and clean portal in the middle of the air in front of them. "This should bring you back to your multiverse, if my calculations about the dimensional resonance are right, which they always are." He smirked. "I'm one of the leading researchers when it comes to natural slash metaphysical oscillation and wave pattern physics! So, what kind of world would you like? Would you by chance be interested in one where clothes are not invented? Those are always fun to visit at least once while dimension hopping."

"I suggest the Sharingan-Forest world," Kakashi stated, attracting everyone's gaze. "I have enough experience to know that a Sharingan is one of the only ways to counter another. Grabbing a few before teleporting away can be the key to defeat Madara."

"Too risky," Sasori said. "Just think for a second. What if that the 'Godly Trio'," he sneered, "managed to reach it?"

"I have a way to test that," the Cursed Memory declared as the portal changed form and colors a bit. "This portal will show us if the way is cleared or not."

"Thank," Kazama said. "But why is it... red?"

The Cursed Memory raised an eyebrow before turning to look into the portal. Kakashi imitated him, expecting to see a forest...

Instead, there was only an inferno.

The whole Sharingan forest was burning. The field of flowers had been reduced to a sea of ashes, and the trees were being consumed by flames of different colors. As one of them crawled on the ground toward the portal, its eyes crying black blood and covered with blue fire, even Kakashi shivered.

It got worse when something big stomped on the tree's bark, shattering it. The… creature… looked like a giant mass of black threads having taken a humanoid, bulky form. A red dragon mask served as the monster's face, and was breathing blue fire from the muzzle, quickly incinerated the tree. A few meters away, a similar creature, wearing a purple featureless mask, was butchering armored plants by tearing through their armors with big shuriken made of a black metal.

"What. The. Fuck." Chibaku wondered. "Has someone decided to weed this place?"

"Is it Kakuzu?" the Feral Gale wondered as he narrowed his eyes. "That guy was a pain to kill the last time…"

A sinister chuckle answered their questions. A new figure appeared beside one of the masked creatures, and Kakashi scowled as he recognized the man's mismatched eyes. "I can see you... dear prey..."

"You!" Naruko growled.

"Me," Susanoo declared. "I certainly didn't expect to be able to see you through the veil of space, but, apparently Fate has decided to smile to me. Were you looking for the Sharingan? If so, then I'm sorry to disappoint you," he said as he stomped on a dying flower, "but you won't find one in this place. We couldn't let these disgusting fakes live after so foolishly trying to eat us, after all."

"Well, then I assume we have nothing to say to you anymore," Kakashi said. "Ghost, you can close the portal…"

"You are going to leave so early?" The Uchiha wondered from behind the gate, as he tried to pass his hand through it, only to pull it back severely burned.

Ghost smirked. "Sorry numbnut. People I don't like can't pass through my portals. I would like to say sorry, but it is so hard to resist the temptation to taunt you instead. How's the sanity thing going for you by the way? Just between you and me, I hear that mass domination and destruction is considered boring and stupid by most megalomaniacal standards. You might want to change your goals if you want to stay with the cool kids."

"Little vermin," Susanoo muttered, before staring at Kakashi. "And I took so much time to prepare this little student-teacher reunion for you, Kakashi-san. Don't you want to see your students again?"

The man scowled. "You are insane. They are dead, madman," he stated, not noticing the Feral Gale gazing at him with sadness. "As dead as you can be."

"Really?" said madman asked, amused, as two new figures jumped at his sides. "They beg to disagree."

"Kakashi-sensei…"

Kakashi felt his blood freeze in his veins.

"Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto and Sasuke repeated, their Sharingan and Rinnegan coldly eying the jounin. "Why have you abandoned us?"

Author's Notes 1:

Before you ask:

Kishin summoning his army was a temporary power. He can't use it all the time... hence, why they need portals to invade other worlds. Also, the characters of Yet Again might appear again, but not before a long, very long time. But honestly, it's not very likely...

Same thing as before, give your point of view and review, and write you soon.

Author Notes 2:

After reading a few reviews, I decided to clarify some things. There will probably some errors, since I wrote this in a, well, hurry. A quick summary of chapter

Beforehand, let me explain you who are the characters of the cameo.

They are the characters of Third Fang, and are actually the gods of their own multiverse, helping the forces of good within individual worlds. The characters present are Zuzushi, the original dragon deity, which the other lesser gods serve and follow. Ghost is the strongest of them all, and has the habit of training heroes, like his current apprentice, Naruto (in Third Fang's story). Shadow is Zuzushi's host, much like a jinchuuriki... except that the Bijuu is the boss and can actually leave his container whenever it wants.

First thing, I screwed up at the end of the last chapter. I now realize that Sasori grabbed the idiot ball, which goes against his characterization in the story. That's my mistake, and I just corrected it, rewriting the last scene to make it realistic this time. No return to the Sharingan-Forest... not in person, at least. It will also change the next chapter a bit. Error is human, and I want points of views to correct my mistakes and improve myself. Critics are here to make writers avoid this kind of things, or at least correct the error before it becomes irreversible.

Secondly, trying to create an 'aura of invincibility' around the Madara Trio is intentional. I'm trying to make this story more realistic than canon, by averting the 'overpowered youth' and 'sudden power-up' cliche.

The first is the one that always appears in Naruto: a fifteen years old teen can beat someone more experienced, stronger, older, more intelligent and more prepared, because he suddenly gains the power to overcome all opposition, because the opposition is suddenly made weaker, or because of some deus ex machina.

Do you really think that a century-old man who spent all of his time training, fighting, developing his skills, preparing, witnessing battles, memorizing strategies, developing new ways of fighting, genetically enhancing himself and accumulating all the power he could get his hands on wouldn't crush a team composed of kids, teens, and less experienced people?

Take the example of Kakuzu. The guy is a century-old guy with game-breaking powers, a lot of experience, a brain, a strategic mind, and with a lot of resources at his disposal... and yet, he is beaten by a team of kids and one adult without even killing one of his enemies.

That's canon. In a more realistic work, Kakuzu would have probably killed all of his enemies, or at least taken a few of them along with him to the grave.

In my story, the 'power of the youth' is beaten by 'the power of experience'. A fifteen years old teen practicing judo is dead meat for a fifty years old master in the real world. Same deal in my story. The heroes will win not because of some deus ex machina, not because they are the 'new generation', but because they work hard, because they have a plan, because they cheat, because they have a lot of firepower, because they outnumber the opposition, because they have developed their skills, and because they are ready to make the necessary sacrifices. Basically, they will win in the way battles are won in the real world.

The 'power-up' cliche is the one you always see in Bleach: a enemy pawns the hero; the hero receives a new superpower, never-to-rarely foreshadowed before; the hero pawns the villain back.

You see it in canon too: Naruto works for a little while, gains a new technique, and beats all the opposition, before repeating the process again. You never see long training or progressive improvement.

Try this in the real world. It doesn't work. It's not because you become physically stronger one instant that you are going to be a match for someone with a gun.

I blatantly averted/subverted this cliche twice in the story already: first with Naruko, and then with Kakashi. Despite suddenly receiving her Bijuu's chakra, the first still received a brutal beat down from someone that far outmatched her. The second, despite the Mangekyo, failed to do any long-lasting injury to his enemy, and even then, did not have any mastery over his new power... he can use it, but he can't use it as efficiently as a true master of it like Itachi and Madara can. Brute strength is not useful if it is not backed up by skill.

The story is based on slow building. The characters don't have the power magically given to them overnight. They struggle to gain it or to use their own efficiently. Kazama's power is completely useless because he doesn't know how to use it safely, meaning that he will either have to learn how to do it well, or to develop other skills. Same deal with the other Jinchuuriki.

Basically, the dynamic between the villains and the heroes is like the one between three chess world champions and a group of newbies and decent-to-experienced players: all of the first attempts to defeat the masters are doomed to fail, and the second will only win once they have slowly increased in skill, planned, studied the opposition, and realized that only effort and preparations are going to bring them victory.

The Madara Trio is a group of 'Hero Killers', to retake the Tv Tropes expression: they are villains that outmatch the heroes, who aren't protected by the plot when these villains are around. The Hero Killer kills some of his/her enemies, spread dread in the heart of the opposition, and is far stronger than any of his/her enemies for most of the story. Basically, what Orochimaru and Itachi were during their early apparitions.

If you want a vision of this dynamic, you can replace the heroes with the original, young team 7, and the Madara Trio with an Orochimaru that decided to go serious on the kids, fighting them like he fought the Sandaime. The result is the same: the heroes have no hope of matching the villain, until a lot of time, preparation, improvement, and defeats. Of course the villain will seem godlike at first, like Pain. Of course he will seem invincible. The gap is simply too great... until the heroes manage to close the distance and prove that there is no such a thing as the impossible.

The difference with my story and canon is that the process won't be done overnight, but after a long time. The heroes will have to earn their happy ending.

Thirdly, I know that the conspiracy bit is certainly not what happened in canon, but it is one of the few explanations that can be reasonable. Of course, there is many other, more simpler, or more complicated answers to the big question of the lack of decent training and efficiency. I simply choose one.

And, with the huge number of alternate realities, the existence of a conspiracy is not only plausible, but also to be expected.

That, and I want to add to this story an element that was not developed enough in canon: realistic politic. Honestly, don't you think that any political organism doesn't have sub-groups, infighting, rivalries, backstabbing and a lot of power-struggle? Don't you think that Danzo is the only one scheming against the Hokage? Many people have reasons to do that too, for 'good' or 'bad' reasons, and yet it's always Danzo's fault, in canon or fan fictions, or the fault of the 'civilians'.

Can't clans be power-hungry too? In fact, they are part of the few people living in a military dictatorship like Konoha with the power to back up their ambitions.

That, and the conspiracy angle makes the Naruto world grayer, more complicated. There is not one responsible for every problem, but a lot of independent people with multiple agenda colliding to create problems.

A dictator doesn't create a dictatorship on his own. He has helpers, backers, allies, support, and a lot of conditions to allow his takeover (hence, why the 'villains can't work normally together' is moot). It should also work like that in the Naruto world. Danzo is not the only responsible of everything bad that happened in canon. Same thing with the Hokage.

It's multiple groups of people, sometimes with different agendas, that led to all of the wars, horrors, and problems in our world, and in the one of Kishimoto.

Finally, the cameo of the characters of Yet again, with a little extra help.

I know that many of you have disliked this part, and think that it was the worst moment in the entire story, but I wanted to do that for a few reasons. I know that I probably didn't do a good job at managing this temporary cameo, and that many of you didn't understand who the characters were, and why they were here, and you are probably right. I could have done a better job, I know, but it is my first story, so it was kind of obvious that I would do some mistakes.

I included this cameo to show that the world doesn't revolve around the main characters of my story.

I wanted to show that the 'Omniverse', composed of an infinite number of multiverses, themselves composed of an infinite number of alternate realities and worlds, was HUGE, and that even if the villains do win, nothing is lost.

All the time, in normal stories, the world revolves around 'the chosen one'.

He/her, and only HIM/HER, can save the world. If the chosen one dies, everything is lost. The villains' victory will be absolute and ever lasting.

I'm trying to kill this cliche, or to deconstruct it in one of the worst way possible. It will depend on my future plans.

Take the example of Naruto: refereed as the child of the prophecy, he is supposed to bring a revolution that will either save or destroy the world. Can't there be a third option? Do you think that, even if Naruto is dead, the other protagonists are suddenly going to stop fighting and defend themselves? Do you really think that Madara's victory would be guaranteed?

Same thing with Madara. Always refereed as the ultimate evil, the one having caused most of the bad things in the story, with Danzo and Orochimaru, his defeat is supposed to bring about a better world... but do you really think that Madara, Danzo and Orochimaru are the only causes of the state of the Naruto world? Do you really think that with them gone, everyone will live happily even after forever? Do you really think that evil, selfish people will suddenly stop from rising into positions of power?

As long as there is humans, there will always be a conflict. Heroes will always continue to rise to topple tyrants, and tyrants will always rise to impose their power. We call this process History.

My characters' fate won't determine the one of the whole Omniverse. Even if the Madara succeed in exploiting Kazama or turning him to their side, it won't be the end of freedom and peace everywhere. If the Godly Trio is gone, the world won't turn into an eternal utopia. There will always be people to oppose both heroes and villains in their respective quests.

Also, the cameo was a good way to give some insight (hence the previous chapter's title) into many elements of the story: the multiverse/omniverse, the nature of the seal, the way it works... and also, to foreshadow many future plot lines: the future meeting with Killer Bee, some elements of the conspiracy (the vague discussion between Ghost and Sasori), the possible applications and drawbacks of Kazama's power, the Shinigami's role later in the story, Mikaboshi's influence, goals, and modus operandi, Kazama's future questions and characterization, and especially the 'free-will versus fate' question that will be pondered and examined many times in the story.

In the end, I think this little cameo will give more depth to this fiction, which is why I added it in the first place.

Summary of Insight:

- After beating Kishin's flunkies, the Arashi clan discovered the hard way that Demon Lords are not to be underestimated. As the creature proved itself to be too strong to handle, almost killing Naruko and Zabuza, Zuzushi and co appeared to save the day. While Ghost and his apprentice defeated Kishin and all the forces he gathered, Shadow cured Naruko from her wounds, and got angered once Naruko and Chibaku explained that their Bijuu had no idea of who they were. But then, she realized that maybe there was something bigger behind that.

- While watching the fight between Kishin and Ghost's apprentice, the Arashi saw what a trained Naruto and a Rasenshuriken could do, making Kazama even more bitter, and slightly jealous.

- While Shadow examined Kazama's seal, Ghost explained the Arashi the nature of the multiverse: each possibility, each 'what if', creates a variation of one or multiple worlds. Shadow then explained the nature of Kazama's seal: while trying to recover from the damage of Orochimaru, it pumped into the Shinigami's power and absorbed a small part of its divine essence. The seal is using it to protect Kazama when he's either in danger or ask for it, allowing him to teleport through worlds. But this power is dangerous: the more Kazama uses it in quick sucession, the more he pumps into the power, with possibly apocalyptic consequences, as it has the potential of tearing reality asunder.

- Shadow also explains that, in the same way there are multiple variations of one reality, there are many versions of the multiverse around, explaining why godlike omnicidal maniacs haven't succeeded in destroyed everything yet, and why the Arashi's Kyuubi don't know about Zuzushi: they come from another multiverse, created in a different manner.

- As a result of the recent revelations, Kazama was subtly influenced by Amatsu-Mikaboshi, which attempted to boost its host's pride and ego by convincing him he was some kind of deity... but failed, Kazama being too humble to become a megalomaniac.

- Forced to leave, as the Arashi presence in another multiverse could have disastrous consequences (like attracting hostile entities or damaging reality), the group however did not leave without having gained a few things: a timer-seal for Kazama indicating when the teleportation through worlds could be used safely; knowledge about Killer Bee; information on the conspiracy, given to Sasori only for mysterious reasons; and a free teleportation offered by Ghost. While looking through a portal at the Sharingan forest, in hope of perhaps snatching a few eyes, they discovered that the Madara were already there and torching the place. Noticing the Arashi, Susanoo decided to gloat, and presented his new paths of Pain to them: Kakashi's students, Naruto and Sasuke, much to their teacher's horror.

If this is clear for everyone, then I have done my job. Write you next time!