Take Two Round Two

by Third Fang

What do you get when you cross several interdimensional god like beings, raw boredom, a world of Naruto that went wrong, several years worth of off screen training, common sense, insanity, humor, sarcasm, the Log, explosions, plot, and overall chaos? Apparently a lot of headache medicine for Tsunade. May the Games Begin. Sequel to Yet Again With A Little Extra Help.

21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20: ▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

I don't own Naruto, any of its characters, or ▅ references in this story. If I did, horrible things would ▅▅. Neither do I ▅ any other anime that I reference. I do own all ▅ and ▅▅▅ in the story as well as ▅▅▅▅ ▅pure awesome ▅▅ by this.

▅. o. o.

"Oh hell."

Those were the first words that came out of Waltz' and Shadow's mouths the instant they felt Anko's Presence suddenly snuffed out, a sign of the user's death.

"What the… Anko?" Kurenai turned her head in bewilderment in the direction where her best friend had just died. While she wasn't as strong as many of the others there, her close relationship with the woman had more than enabled her to sense her disappearance.

"Kurenai? What was that about Anko?" Asuma blinked in confusion, his hands still held out in front of him in preparation for their new childish training routine.

"I don't know. I… she's gone." Kurenai began to shake. "One second she's there and the next… I can't feel Anko anymore."

"Mitarashi?" Hiashi frowned and looked at Kurenai, his hands hovering over Shikaku's. "I'm surprised that you would even feel her from here. Aren't she and Inuzuka out on a mission?"

Tsume clenched her jaw. She had certainly felt something just a moment ago, but she didn't know what it had been. Looking at Kiba looking pensively, who she had been practicing with, he had felt something as well. "They are."

Tsunade grimaced as a familiar unpleasant feeling twisted in her stomach. She had also noticed something was off… a feeling that she had felt not too long ago. "No, please don't tell me…"

"Tsunade-sama. You don't think... this is like Gai?" Shizune worriedly asked, having already reached the same conclusion as her master.

"What the fuck? I thought Scab was keeping an eye on them!" Shadow hissed to Waltz with some alarm.

"He was. We all know how important they are." The old man growled as he tried frantically to make sense of what happened. "After how much we trained the girls, there shouldn't be many things that could take them down here, and those wouldn't escape Scab's notice. He would have prepared long in advance otherwise. We can't afford for their deaths now of all times. Not when Ghost hasn't seen them for so long and when he's just starting to make strides in his recovery. You know that no one values our mental health more than… FUCK!"

The sudden violent outburst from the normally placid and easy going old man caught everyone's attention, causing them all to jump in surprise.

"THAT STUPID EGOTISTICAL LITTLE DUMBASS FUCKED UP AGAIN UNDER OUR NOSES! EVEN AFTER WHAT HAPPENED THE LAST TIME HE STILL DECIDED TO DO SOMETHING AS ASENINE AS THIS!" Waltz bellowed with pure rage, gripping his staff so tightly that the top half almost shattered and was tilting in an unhealthy direction.

"Wait you mean, oh you have got to be…" Shadow quickly managed to realize what conclusion Waltz had come to and voiced her rage and displeasure. "ScaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAB!"

"This can't be good. Even the Oogakari are riled up." Shikaku frowned in concern.

"What's happened? What happened to Anko?" Inoichi looked around, trying to figure out what the hell had caused everyone to act out.

"Beats me." Chouza shook his head in confusion, paused, blinked, and shook his head again. "Hey Inoichi, did somebody cast a genjutsu, cause I think I'm seeing things."

"Seeing things? What do you… mean?" The blonde man paused as he finally noticed what his friend was talking about.

Namely the black dots that suddenly seemed to appear from nowhere and were floating about like fireflies…

Or embers.

Waltz swore. "Ghost knows! Shadow!"

"Damn it! If Ghost doesn't wipe you out first I'm going to kick your ass so hard your cheeks and spine will be in different realities Scab!" The woman snarled as she dove into her own silhouette, vanishing.

"What the hell is going on!?" Tsunade shouted at Waltz and walked up to the man. She knew damn well it was a stupid thing to do seeing as he was actually agitated for once, but she guessed the current situation was dead serious.

The old man grimaced and took note of the people around him. "Something's happened to Anko Mitarashi. Ghost's found out and is, expectedly and unfortunately, not reacting well to it."

"Ghost?" Tsume frowned and looked around at the black specks that seemed to be floating about everywhere now harmlessly. "You mean those things are his doing?"

"Those things she says." Waltz shook his head, briefly glancing at the flecks of timespace, facts and whispers of history and existence slowly being flaked off and burned away simply by sharing a reality with his extraordinarily enraged brother. "Look. Obviously my clan has a slew of secrets that we haven't told you yet. Well here's one. Ghost possesses the most dangerous forbidden technique our clan has ever heard of. The sort of impossibly overkill forbidden technique that other forbidden techniques hear legends about and wish to be one day, only because they don't realize just how absurdly twisted and messed up it really is. It's the sort of technique that under most circumstances if you ever heard of it, many would take measures to make sure you un-heard it, one way or another. And I assure you, it is not something that Ghost enjoys employing, let alone acknowledging."

"And with Mitarashi's new stateI assume he will be in such an unstable mental state that he will lose control of it?" Hiashi cautiously glanced at the free floating black dots with a new degree of concern.

"No." The old man gravely winced. "He won't lose control over it. He'll just use it. What you see now are the results of that decision itself simply being made."

"Wait, you mean to say that all of this is from Sensei's technique? I thought he was out of the village!" Kiba swallowed heavily. What scared him more was that he really could imagine the Oogakari possessing techniques so outlandish and nonsensical that it could possibly affect entire countries if not the world.

"You misinterpreted what I said Kiba." Waltz breathed out heavily.

"What you see is simply from Ghost's decision to use it. Liberally. Frequently. Without restraint. But… he hasn't actually done anything yet."

o▅ o. o.

Somewhere beneath the untold depths of the ocean, the sleep of a mistake, spawned by the corrupted unused residue of power accumulated over a thousand years, ended.

▅. o▅ o.

So this was what it was like to be dead.

It was unusually… blank.

Anko would have made some snarky comment about how boring it was if she was able to. But she couldn't.

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't talk. She couldn't see. She couldn't hear. She couldn't feel… physically or emotionally.

She couldn't even think clearly, only string general established facts together and assume that they made sense in the order they came in.

It was an all-encompassing numbness that muted everything that she used to make her aware of anything. Almost as if she was asleep for so long that she had finally noticed it and reasoned that she was asleep in the first place, and still wasn't waking up.

Light and dark didn't matter, or exist in the first place. For that to be the case, she would need to see, or comprehend that she was unable to see in the first place, which was impossible here.

It was strangely peaceful. Calming in a way that shouldn't be considering that most beings in existence went mad when stripped of their senses and bodies. She knew firsthand this was the case seeing as she used such methods to interrogate others. It was ironic.

Then again, Orochimaru would probably hate something like this. It made her briefly wonder if he had momentarily died before in the past and remembered it. It certainly would explain his desperate strives for immortality, to stay away from this unified absence. A prideful man that valued the sanctity of his mind and the ability to contemplate itself would naturally be appalled and terrified by this.

… How did she die again?

She was stuck in… that afterlife. She didn't like it. She could recall that much. Waiting… yes, she had been waiting for someone, with someone else. Hana. That was her name. She was waiting with Hana in that place.

Were they together? She couldn't remember, not here. Thinking of specifics was too hard, like sifting through half dry cement. General facts were easier to dredge up. Why pick up a single piece of sand when scooping it with others in a handful was much easier? Both got the job done in the end.

It was annoying. She recalled that. Bad food. No light. Long. Boring. And she hurt… ah right. They had been attacked before then. She and Hana were strong. Very strong, but so was the enemy: they outnumbered them, and they wouldn't stay down.

The two had lost, and woke up in wherever it was they had been in. She had been hurt, and not in the good way, otherwise she would have left. That sounded like something she would do, didn't it?

… What was she focused on before? Oh yeah. She died.

She vaguely dredged up some faces and events before she got here. Dirty. Yelling. Questions that she had no answers for. Some taunting the unfortunate guards that stayed too close. And biding her time. Yes, she had made some escape attempts earlier but that was to get a layout of the base. She had been healing herself at a faster pace. She had used some power to accelerate her natural recovery. She had still been weakened, but a few more days would have gotten her well enough to escape with Hana.

More faces appeared. A couple she didn't know or care about, but some others had unnerved her. She recognized them. From where she didn't recall now, but enough emotion was associated with the event that it was probably bad.

Red. She remembered that color and fighting against it, resisting its urge to make her do something… what was a color again? She couldn't remember. It was important, but it wasn't anymore. Not here. Odd.

Tired. After "red" she was tired. There were less faces in the room after that, but they weren't gone. Something was weird though. She and the other face were nervous for a bit, then something white showed up, noise, pain, and then… this.

Aah. She was starting to get bored. Even with her memories and thoughts so messed up that she barely could string ideas together, she was still going stir crazy. If only there was at least some dango here she wouldn't be as annoyed dwelling in the middle of the infinite nothing thinking of random things and counting the random black dots…

Wait, black dots?

Her mind was slowly clearing up as a sight that wasn't a sight slowly dawned on her. Abyss like specks scarring the nothing that she floated in, trailing in every direction and exposing a picture that had been hidden by the blank world around her, like a slew of spiders trailing silk endlessly to make a new picture…

… BURNING…

Yes. That was the word for it… no, not quite right. It wasn't the right word for it, merely the closest one that could ever come close to what was happening. The "nothing", the "death", the "infinite", whatever it was was slowly being consumed by a phenomena that… that…

Gone. VaNIsh. CoN▅ume. Er▅de. DenY. Stop…

A phenomenon beyond reality. The consumer of reality. It was that which would end reality.

And her end, the reality that was her death, was being consumed.

"Ah… ah?" She breathed with lungs she no longer had. It was her first tell that she wasn't just imagining things in her delirium.

The pain came next, and she had confirmation that she was no longer dead, even if she wished to be again.

She didn't feel the prick of something shallowly stabbing her side, but she did note the small jolt of power that flew through her body and gave her a tremendous headache.

"She's fine." A voice nearby claimed. It took her a few moments to remember what words were in the first place, let alone what they meant. It felt like she had been floating for an eternity, and for just a moment at the same time. "The only things twisted in her head are the ones she's always had."

"F-fuck. You." She managed to cough out as she reacquainted herself with being alive again and recalling what it was like to have a body. The words came out more as an automatism than an acknowledgement of the unknown speaker. She had trouble understanding the fact that she recognized the voice in the first place.

Weights around her arms, legs, and neck suddenly vanished. She hadn't noticed that they were there in the first place, but once they were gone she couldn't help but sigh in relief at the absence of the constraints. The constrained limbs were sore and throbbing now, painful at the exposure to the air, but they were no longer being constantly rubbed and chaffed.

And then she rose from the ground.

That wasn't to say that she picked herself up in her delirium. She instead was literally raised off the dirt floor and floated in midair.

She couldn't help but let out a surprised gasp, but it was soon followed by a content groan. She was completely embraced by the air around her, and while it wasn't as numbingly soothing as it was in what she could only describe as the afterlife, it was considerably gentle. Parts of her body were rubbed tenderly as if she was going through therapy, and the air she breathed had swiftly changed from the dank dungeon stank of a thousand bodily fluids to crisp clean air…

… Dungeon stank? Wait. She had been captured and tortured. That was right…

"Hana." She managed to grunt out in worry and try to move, attempting to regain control over her senses and body once more. This wasn't any time to relax in bliss. She was still in the middle of enemy territory. For all she knew, she could be in an elaborate genjutsu.

"Calm down. I'm getting her next."

It was the way he spoke that sent chills down her spine.

There was no warmth in his voice. No heat. No action. No emotion. No humanity. It was a tone that was not a tone, merely a series of sounds used to convey a fact. Even Scabbard had never sounded as devoid as this, always possessing a hint of annoyance, confidence, or boredom whenever he spoke.

"… Ghost?"

Finally realizing that she could see again, Anko looked to see Ghost facing her. He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't worked up. Hands in pockets, standing straight, face calm... no, blank. It was almost as if it was Scabbard in control over his body.

He was facing her, but that was merely for convenience. He was not looking at her in the slightest.

To his side stood Scabbard, more flustered and nervous than she had ever seen him, shifting uncomfortably on his feet and warily staring at his brother, never taking his eyes off of him. She would have assumed that the vertically challenged man was having another fangirl episode if it weren't for the fact that he wasn't spewing out an endless stream of gibberish.

Behind them was a woman that she had never seen before and all but completely ignored by the brothers. Other than her silver hair and peculiar, non-shinobi clothing, and voice as she was endlessly sprouting traumatized nonsense, there wasn't much Anko could get from her. The stranger was too busy rocking in the fetal position and trying to shrink from the world around her like a child.

The world around her…

It was only at that errant thought that Anko realized that the black embers that had scarred and stripped away the "nothing" that she had been in before were still everywhere. Lazily drifting ebony sparks flying in every possible direction without source or end, phasing in and out of the walls, floors and ceiling as if they didn't even exist.

That is what she saw with her eyes.

With her other senses though, with the awareness she had obtained with Hana while training with the Oogakari, she was experiencing something else entirely.

It burned.

What? She didn't even know what it was, but she knew.

It burned.

These embers were not for show. They were slowly stripping away at anything and everything that came in contact with them. Events. History. Time. Past. Cause. Effect.

It all burned.

It wasn't confined to here. She could feel the destruction that encompassed everything around. It was akin to living in a world of white suddenly being smothered in the shade of another color. It should be easy to point out what was the original hue and what was the new one, but that was only if she could see it in the first place.

Everything was burning.

She couldn't help but shiver. She had thought she had known what this power was all about before, hearing about it from the rest of the Oogakari on some occasions and seeing it occasionally during Ghost's episodes, but…

Everything was at his mercy.

This was the first time she had seen it controlled.

This was the first time she had seen what Ghost was like when he no longer cared about playing human.

Everything… will just end.

"Yeah. I'm here."

The blind man's right arm had suddenly went from laying still at his side to pointing back right at his brother's forehead, gently touching it with a single finger.

Ghost wasn't lying when he told people that he could only manipulate his personal timespace.

He did, however, leave out that "his personal timespace", could be an incredibly vague definition to someone who was insane and messed with the very rules and boundaries of reality with ease.

A twisted power with a twisted loophole for a twisted man.

There was a reason why time space manipulation was so dangerous to mess around with. Thus, it was something a suicidal individual like Ghost knew exceedingly intimately and thoroughly.

Scabbard couldn't even scream.

o. o. ▅▅

In a land to the far west, the populace were up in arms. Confused. Alarmed. Scared. By all rights, an act of God was upon them even if they didn't know how, why this was, or what the act was supposed to do.

A priest who had been biding his time to gain power over the people and land smiled. If no one could explain it, then it must be a work of God.

Much like the stone.

Such an ominous sign could only be a sign for holy war, and as a man of God it was his duty to convey it to the people… and point them in the right direction.

And thanks to a particular book and some interesting stories, he knew just the way to go.

o. ▅▅ o.

"Tobi" had assumed a fair bit when he had decided to kill Mitarashi and kidnap the Inuzuka.

He had assumed that he would have been able to steal at least some information from the woman with his Sharingan.

It hadn't worked. She had not only known what he could do, but had somehow enough power and Presence to resist his all-powerful doujutsu to the point that he had temporarily overstrained himself in the process. He had had to break her jaw almost instantly after the failure in order to stop her from talking about it - and calm himself.

He didn't kill her though. She was the civilian's after all and he had to keep some appearances until they got to the other girl. Instead he and Deidara had left the civilian and the woman to their own devices while they made the trip to their own prize.

And once the door to the other prisoner was open, Deidara set off the small bomb he had left behind.

He had assumed that no one of notice had known that the girls were there other than the annoyances that had sent the ponce.

Scabbard Oogakari quickly shot that down that assumption the instant they had killed the Snake Mistress and nearly murdered them.

He had assumed that no one else could enter his personal world other than perhaps Kakashi Hatake.

Again, the Oogakari denounced that spectacularly, with his bare hands no less.

He had assumed that the foreigners would be at most a moderate annoyance when compared to the major villages… but seeing the black sparks floating everywhere that even his eye couldn't stand looking at for long made him have second thoughts. He didn't know what they were, but he was guessing that the things were the foreigner's doing.

So now, he was assuming that it would be very bad to keep his hands on the Inuzuka girl for much longer.

That did not mean that she was without use though.

With Deidara injured and half conscious, it was an easy task to put him under a genjutsu that made the man forget what just happened in the past five minutes. The bomber may have trained himself to cancel out illusions with his other eye, but it would do him no good if he wasn't aware of the fact that he was under a spell in the first place. More so considering Tobi used some of the "special" properties of his body to make a temporary fix and patchwork job on the hole in the bomber's chest. The blonde would be fully functional for now, but he'd be hurting something fierce for the next few weeks once the illusion numbing the pain went away.

"Ugh my head. Couldn't you make your jutsu more passenger friendly Tobi?" Deidara groaned and cradled his skull. "I swear I'm still seeing spots from it."

"Tobi will consider it." The masked man cheerfully swooned. "Does Deidara-sempai remember what he's supposed to do?"

"Yeah yeah. It's not like it's anything hard." He lazily waved a hand and gave the clay bird he was standing on a tap with his foot as if getting rid of any dirt on his sandals. "Leaves a bad taste in my mouth that we're pretty much stealing that pussy's plan."

He completely ignored the girl that was wrapped up in the construct's tail.

"Are you sure that the boss wants this though? It seems a bit rushed. Not that I'm complaining."

"Tobi doesn't know what goes through Pain-sama's head half the time. Not like Deidara-sempai. Everyone knows that your head is filled with nothing but boom booms! It must stink having constant headaches." The Sharingan wielder replied honestly. Really, Pain was such a moody person. Half the time he was rational and the other half he was stuck in a godly ego trip just because he had the Rinnegan.

"You are a headache Tobi. A walking, talking pain to all things that are coherent, and every second I spend with you only makes my head worse." Deidara grunted, subconsciously rubbing the right side of his chest where he had been pierced through not even ten minutes earlier.

"Sounds painful. Do you want some medication for that?" Tobi tilted his head to the side innocently.

"Like hell I'd take pills from an idiot like you. Who knows what I'd be downing?" The blonde snorted before turning his attention to the Hidden Village to his side. "Besides, I'd rather not be tripping balls while giving the shits of my old home a homecoming gift. The best parties are the ones you can remember after all…"

o▅ o▅ ▅.

"AAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

"Shion-sama!" Taruho shouted in alarm as his charge let loose a blood curdling scream and grabbed at her skull so harshly it was almost as if she was trying to crush it.

It hurt. Oh god it hurt so much. Her head felt like it was imploding and exploding at the same time. The world was progressing, yet at the same time it was burning and vanishing. Stripped raw by the black flickers that were not black the color, but merely black as in the devoid state that was left when there was nothing else remaining. It was a color that should not exist, that could not exist on any spectrum, but did.

Most could not see, let along fathom the colors and hues that were not there. Most have not travelled time again across the kaleidoscopic regions that was time and space itself.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!" She could barely make out the sound of another voice over her own screaming and pain, but she did manage to register her body being forcefully yanked by a rough pair of hands and her head moved against her will…

… And staring straight into the blue eyes of the person that had been avoiding her purposefully for weeks.

"Fuck." He swore again, taking in her bloodshot eyes and the blood dripping from her nose and ears. Not wasting time, he held the back of the girl's head and pushed it so that their foreheads met, their eyes mere centimeters from one another's. "Shion, I need you to listen carefully and do exactly as I say."

"Shion-Sama! What are you doing to her?!" She vaguely heard Taruho shouting nearby, but it was taking all of her focus just to make out what Naruto was telling her.

"Don't look away from me, understand?" The blonde went on with a strong and forced, but calm tone. "Don't listen to anything else. Not to any possible fighting. Not to any calls for food. Not to any annoying idiots that I will force feed their awesome hats to if they don't shut up and go away."

"Hats? As in plural?" Someone in the back asked curiously.

"All the hats!" Naruto shouted in a moment of childish distraction.

"Annoying?! How dare you! What are you going to do with Shion-sa… what the, get off of me!" The Priestess heard the sound of people wrestling nearby accompanied by the floor shaking a small bit, but she couldn't be sure with her head imploding.

The pressure around her suddenly eased, replaced with a gentler one that almost felt just as strong. The errant "colors" that were flying about aimlessly blown away by a wind that didn't exist.

"Breathe. In. Out. Match my pattern, then my chakra, just like in the volcano." The blonde instructed firmly. "Ignore everything else. Don't look away. Don't get distracted. Don't pay any attention to the world around us or what is happening."

It was that last bit that caught the trembling young woman's attention. "You… you know what this is. You know. The burning, the fire…"

"Yeah, and like you I wish I didn't at the moment. Unfortunately we aren't that lucky." He didn't even bother to hide it as Shion began to tremble harshly. "Hey, what did I say? Focus on me, not on the embers. In. Out. In. Out."

With every command, the girl attempted to regain some illusion of control over her lungs. Her body still shook, but her eyes never strayed from the young man that was literally dominating her senses in an attempt to override the power that that they had been subjected to.

She could still feel it. The world slowly eroding away around her in a manner completely alien to her mind… but at the same time familiar. There was no mistaking it for anything other than the phenomena that had sent her back in time in the first place, only with less intensity.

It had been so fast and overwhelming last time that it was all her body could do to send her back, and by the time she had come to she had been unconscious for several weeks in her younger body. Time itself wasn't completely being immolated, but as a consequence she could actually see what was happening, and it was nothing short of maddening.

In. Out. In. Out.

She didn't know how, but Naruto was doing the impossible and keeping it away, at least for now. She could still tell it was happening, but the closest sparks were now so far away, no longer violating every single cell of her being, making her forget, undoing everything she was. That power. That wind. It was so overwhelming, like a force of nature itself localized and given a will of its own, yet still nothing compared to the erosion that was stripping everything of meaning.

"Naruto. Is there anything else we should made aware of?" A new voice reached her ears, Kakashi's if she was right. Her mind still throbbed painfully, but she was now somewhat conscious of the world around her.

"Set up camp. We're not going anywhere for a while. Keep an eye out for anything strange or disturbed, but don't engage unless you have no choice." Naruto didn't hesitate, nor did he look away from Shion. "And avoid touching the embers if possible. Use your Presence when outside my range to minimize their effects, but immunity is impossible."

"Accumulated contact advisory of highest grade." The Cyclops nodded in understanding. "Any idea how long this will last?"

This time, the blonde stayed uncharacteristically silent.

In. Out. In. Out.

"… Mmmm. I'll let the others know."

It was only then that Shion realized that despite the fact that even though Naruto was in control of the situation and helping her recover, the hand that was keeping her head pressed against his was trembling slightly.

o▅ ▅. o.

The moon shook.

The first sign that something was clearly wrong happened a few days ago, when every sensor and Roshi went ballistic thanks to the brief emergence of some horrifically tainted and twisted chakra that erupted several hundred miles away, around Taki's location. Being the rational leader that he was, Onoki sent an elite team of scouts and spies to the area to learn more.

The second sign happened just a few minutes ago, when black spots that started to show up everywhere, doing nothing but floating about and annoying the hell out of him.

The third was moments after that when Roshi broke out into a pale sweat and put down his ever present stash of sake.

"Oh shit."

Onoki glared at his friend from his desk. "I take it you know what this stuff is and why it's here?"

The jinchuriki warily glanced at the short man. "… 'Noki. You trust me right?"

"Depending on the day and my mood, yes." The Tsuchikage tentatively nodded.

"To the point that if I say something ridiculous, if I'm being serious, you'll believe me?" The redhead pressed.

"Get to the point or get out of my office." Onoki was quickly losing his temper.

"So, if I tell you that the ancient chakra demon born from the energies of the planet inside of me is screaming that we're all going to die and everything we know is on the cusp of the great end itself, exactly how much of that would you buy?"

The Tsuchikage blinked in genuine surprise and warily glanced at the harmless looking embers flying about everywhere. Testing, he reached out and tried to grab one of the embers near him, only for it to pass through his skin unperturbed. "Not enough to get whatever it was that made you this smashed apparently."

He never noticed one of the small scars on the palm of his hand no longer existed… how could he? It wasn't there to begin with after all.

"'Noki. I'm serious." Roshi looked around, genuinely frightened. "There's shit out there that you don't know and don't want to know about, and one of the biggest piles of it just got stirred up to kingdom come."

"So what do we do about it then? Where is it and how many men do we sent to deal with it?" The small man threw his friend an exasperated look.

"Deal with it? Him?" Roshi barked out an incredulous laugh. "The only reason why I'm even bringing this up is because there's a good shot that in the next five minutes …"

"Tsuchikage-sama!" An ANBU burst into his office. "It's an emergency!"

"You're not going to start going on about the end of the world too are you?" The short man shot his friend a warning glare.

"End of the… no. Nothing like that. Deidara's just been sighted inside the village square." The Anbu quickly managed to reign in his confusion to deliver the news.

"What?! What the hell is that obnoxious idiot doing back?!" Onoki snarled, slamming his hands on his desk. He knew that the mad bomber was working for Akatsuki, but that made things even more confusing.

Iwa and Akatsuki had always had a slew of unspoken agreements in effect. Iwa never sold out Akatsuki to the other major villages. Akatsuki never took jobs against Iwa's national interest. Iwa never proactively hunted Deidara. Deidara was never put on jobs that Akatsuki took from Iwa. Iwa never reneged on a deal, Akatsuki always fulfilled the parameters to the fullest.

What Deidara was doing now completely went against the relationship and trust the two organizations had set up with one another.

The concerning question now was, why?

"Sir. All we know is that he's stirring up a commotion in the main village square and starting a riot amongst those that are, well…"

"He's provoking the idiots that think that they can do a better job as Tsuchikage than me. Don't beat around the bush again." The man may be vertically challenged, but there was nothing challenged about the killing intent and anger that was radiating off of him as he slowly floated into the air. "Care to inform me of anything else that I should be aware of? Like what the hell this black shit is?"

"We still don't know about that, it doesn't seem to react to anything our researchers do. As for Deidara, he has made things complicated in our attempts to approach him. He has a hostage." The ANBU didn't raise his head.

"A hostage?" Onoki rose a bushy white eyebrow. "Any idea who it is?"

"We can't be certain, but it appears to be a woman from Konoha. Judging from the markings on her cheek, an Inuzuka to be specific."

"An Inuzuka?" Roshi glanced at the ANBU with some confusion before his face slowly lost its color. "No. No, he didn't…"

"Deidara claims that the woman is the heiress of the Inuzuka clan. Hana of the Three Plains, one of the Leaf's recent S rank entries." The ANBU continued. "If he kills a prominent name like her here while being supported by the crowds and word gets out, war with Konoha is almost certain."

"Fuck war." Roshi corrected the man with a tone so grave and horrified that it sent chills down the spines of the two veterans in the room. "If we don't get that girl safely out of Deidara's hands as soon as possible, war will be the least of our problems."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Onoki had never seen his friend act like this before save for one time back when they were children in the first war…

… When Madara had shown up.

The jinchuriki swallowed and nodded to the black embers floating everywhere. "He knows, and he is coming here. And if we don't get the girl before he gets here, we really might all die."

"He?" The ANBU turned to the jinchuriki. "Who is he?"

Onoki on the other hand was more concerned with something else.

Roshi was certain that this black phenomenon was the work of someone not even in Iwagakure at the moment.

Whatever the reason, the fact that the individual's abilities were potent enough to have such a range was concerning enough to warrant extreme alarm. Whether or not determining said person was capable of actually destroying the village was pointless. Anyone that had enough power to achieve what they were doing now was at the very least capable of brewing up enough chaos to disrupt the village in a way that he would very much avoid if possible.

"Roshi. Answer me honestly. What threat class is this?" The Tsuchikage spoke slowly and calmly, his eyes never leaving his friend.

There was an ominous pause, a moment where everything seemed to be absolutely silent, much like when an explosion of untold magnitude erupted in the distance.

"… X Class." Roshi hesitated, only because he knew what it would imply.

It was a class that did not exist for events, secrets, and individuals should not exist.

An S class secret could potentially cripple a hidden village or stir up a tremendous controversy. War was easily imaginable if it got out.

An X class secret getting out could easily have the rest of the world converge on the culprit simply to ensure that such horrors would never be repeated. It was the kind of secret that could get two men that wanted nothing more than to gut one another and piss on their graves to instantly join together and team up without any complaints or hesitation.

Individuals that obtained the ranking that did not exist were not simply gifted fighters with untold talents. They were essentially gods in human form with the potential to destroy even hidden villages with little effort, Kage and all.

Power. Strength, Capability. Resources. Technique. Skill. Ability. All of these and more on a scale that few would be able to imagine, let alone comprehend.

Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju were X class individuals. It was only publically that they were called S class.

As if those two monsters could be put on the same level as mere S's. Hashirama may have been able to behave as a reasonable human being, but it did nothing to change he was short of a god among men.

Thankfully, X class… anythings, were as rare as they were destructive. The only person that managed to get even close to getting the rank in the last quarter century was the Sandaime Raikage with his absurd body and jutsu enabling him to go physically, literally, toe to toe against the Hachibi.

Though in hindsight, it did take someone special to manage to keep a group like Akatsuki in line…

Bottom line was that no one that knew of the existence of the hidden ranking joked about it. If one was confirmed, the next question should be: what can we do to not have it around so we don't all die horribly?

"Shit." Onoki adequately voiced his thoughts on the matter before flaring his chakra to open the windows of his office so he could just fly out. It was a convenient little thing that he had installed shortly after he took office. Muu didn't need it since he could just turn invisible and sneak around as he pleased.

"X ranked?" The ANBU gaped. "But there hasn't been anything of that level since…"

"History lesson later! There's no time for that!" Roshi snapped as he threw out his hand and essentially high fived Onoki, completing the short man's jutsu and enabling the red head to fly.

"I want every shinobi in this village doing one of four things as of if their life depends on it - because it does. Keep the girl alive. Capture Deidara. Keep the idiots we call villagers in line." Onoki grunted as he started to fly outside his window.

"And the fourth?" The commander rose his head.

"If some outrageously pissed stranger appears in the village that even remotely looks like he might be responsible for this black shit that's everywhere, don't antagonize him and keep everyone out of his way."

"Listen to those crowds." Deidara smirked and took in the angry shouting and chanting beneath him. Standing on top of a clay owl and surrounded by at least a dozen hummingbird styled constructs, the blonde confidently took in the aerial view of his former home. "So many spectators… makes you want to give them a show to remember eh?"

Hana couldn't say anything as she struggled in his grasp. Her mouth was full of his exploding clay, and her hands were stuck together with the same material, preventing her from tearing him apart.

"Heh. Don't be in such a hurry to die. We still have plenty of time to get to know one another. Don't want to go off prematurely you know." Deidara smirked and licked her cheek with the mouth on his right hand. "Although my art is the true epitome of beauty, it doesn't mean I don't appreciate other forms from time to time."

A brief pulse of killing intent and Presence caused him to reflexively pull back the hand.

"Heheh. Scary. Mmm. Yes, not what I intended, but that is art in a way too." The bomber grinned and hid the small bead of sweat going down his head. Yeah, this woman was dangerous. Beautiful and appealing, but far too dangerous to try anything with while lucid. That S ranking didn't seem to be just for show after all.

Hana attempted to growl, but was unable to with all the soft clay in her mouth. She was tired, so damn tired, but that was eclipsed by the sheer malice she had for this mutated prick that looked like Ino. Her list of reasons to kill him was not short, but at the very top of them was one that trumped the others combined.

The fucker had killed Anko.

Hana had barely been aware of his entrance into her cell when she had been forced to look into the eye of a sharingan user from out of nowhere. She had put up a fight, but genjutsu wasn't her specialty and had been barely awake after the ordeal, unsure of how much she had managed to keep secret and how much she had exposed.

Then she had heard the prick say "do it"… followed by what felt like the entire base rocking to an explosion.

The pair had just finished to gloat about how they had essentially killed off the woman she considered both a sister and a lover before the base began to shake once more…

… Only this time it was Scabbard.

All she remembered after that were flashes of lightning, screaming, explosions, and enough raw power to make all of her nerves tingle and her hair follicle stand so on end that she thought that they were trying to rip themselves out of her.

Apparently the Oogakari's claims that Scab frequently went overkill more than the others wasn't just senseless mockery after all.

When she came to though, she wasn't safe. Instead she was being flown over Iwa with that blonde asshole parading her around, yelling some bullshit about how Onoki was running the village into the ground, and pretty much trying to start a riot if not a revolution.

And so here she was, about twenty meters in the air with a ton of idiots shouting for her, and Onoki's, execution.

She would have been more alarmed about her predicament, if not overwhelmed with depression if not for two things.

The first was that she was all but engulfed with rage and wanted to kill Deidara, if not the fools below her for being so easily lured into whatever Akatsuki's plans were.

The second was that only an idiot would fail to notice the black embers that were floating about everywhere as far as the eye could see.

She, unlike everyone else there, knew what they were, what they meant, who they belonged to, why they were there in the first place…

… And just the barest idea how fucked everyone here really was.

"DEIDARA YOU IDIOT!" Everyone turned to see Onoki arriving, stopping just a short distance away from the pair. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THIS TIME!?"

"Better question is, what are you doing here Traitor!?" Someone from the crowd below shouted angrily.

"Dog to Konoha!"

"Braindead old man!"

"Spineless coward!"

"Geez. And here I thought I was unpopular." Deidara snickered as several pieces of trash and the occasional kunai and shurkien flew their way. Of course, they were so high up that barely anything made it to them, and the few things that did make it tended to miss woefully.

Those flying in the air pretended to ignore the shouts of pain and anguish as the occasional projectile succumbed to gravity once more and hit other members of the crowd. Idiots, Deidara thought.

"Deidara, Listen to me. You're crazy but you aren't an idiot. Let the girl go. You have no idea just how deep shit we're all in because of you." Roshi finally appeared, never taking his eyes off of Hana.

"No idea?" Deidara found what the old man said genuinely funny. "Revolution. Chaos. Death. Confusion. Art. Most probably war. Did I miss anything?"

Onoki responded by manifesting a glowing cube in his hands. "You end the girl. I end you, boy."

No matter how many times the renegade shinobi saw it, he couldn't help but shiver subconsciously. Dust Release techniques were really something else. It would be a lie if he said he wasn't inspired and in awe of the raw destructive potential of them as a child. "Breaking out the jutsu already old man? Man you really must have gone soft!" He spoke loud enough for everyone below to hear him. "Bowing down to Konoha! Saving one of their assets! Losing missions over time! Never giving up the hat! Never finding a disciple for your prized dust release! You're going to be the end of this hell hole of a village! I've been all over the place and everyone's saying that Iwa's going to the dogs!"

"Yeah!"

"Down with Onoki!"

"The bitch of Konoha!"

"Kill them both!"

The old man didn't bother looking down at the increasingly hostile mass, his focus solely on the terrorist in front of him. "Subdue them by any means you see fit."

Clouds of gas erupted below him almost instantly. Nothing poisonous, but the contents were more than enough to scatter the majority of displeased citizens…

… Unfortunately, it also prevented said citizens from seeing what was happening above.

Deidara smirked, and a few of the clay birds dive-bombed the confused masses below.

The tools may have shared similar perceptions as him, however he at no point considered them on his side, or allies for that matter.

"No!" Roshi reacted late, the bombs already halfway to their targets by the time he started to move. There was little opening for jutsu, let alone seals. He had only one option that could work if he wanted to prevent a bad situation from getting worse.

A giant crimson arm reached out over the crowds, literally. Its impossibly massive size and absurd heat instantly caught the attention of everyone below.

The gargantuan fist of the Yonbi clenched around one of the constructs and melted it to slag almost instantly, the unparalleled heat rendering it useless and inert in the process.

Likewise, the long, thick, and course fur of the beast also served a purpose. The arm had appeared so quickly that the remaining two bombs had not had enough time to dodge, and slammed into it, getting tangled up in the fur in the process. While they weren't completely destroyed like the one caught in the hand, the immense body heat the monster was giving off had already started to bake the clay into a hard and unusable state.

"Tch." Deidara's face was a cross between a frown and a pout as he held up two fingers. "Looks like you can teach an old monkey new tricks. Mmm."

The ensnared bombs detonated loudly, but with far less force than was expected from his normal works, sending half-baked clay in every direction as shrapnel that did little to no damage seeing as there was still a giant arm in the way.

However, in a volatile situation like this, there were nearly an infinite number of ways to make things worse. Even if no one was hurt, loud noises and confusion rarely mixed well.

The screams intensified the instant the explosives went off.

Onoki grimaced at the turn of events but didn't turn his attention off of Deidara. "Roshi. Take charge of the situation and get these idiots under control. They're going to spread out saying whatever comes to mind and have the entire village up in arms at this rate."

"And leave you alone while this madman possibly blows up more the village and makes things worse? Try again." Roshi snorted dryly, shaking his arm casually as he returned it to normal size. "Tch. Where's that brat Kurotsuchi when you need her?"

"I'm right here you old bastard!" Said brat shouted from the closest building nearby. "Fine time to drink yourself blind again!"

"Oh. So you are." The old man had the decency to look somewhat abashed at his oversight.

"What the hell is going on?! Why is Deidara-nii here?!" The granddaughter of the Tsuchikage all but demanded, partially in alarm, partially because Roshi was still flying and she had to put some force in her voice in order to be heard.

"He's Deidara. He doesn't need a reason to be an idiot." The old man closed in on her. "But as you can see, he's going out of his way to stir things up for Onoki. How the hell did he even manage to get such a big crowd gathered so quickly anyways? He should not have been able to get so many people while being routed by our forces that remembered he's a missing nin."

"I don't know." The girl shook her head. "I was just coming back from a mission when I saw him fly over the village shouting about how Iwa's become a joke and how everything has been going downhill lately. It didn't help that it looked like half the populace was running around trying to figure out what this black stuff was in the first place. He probably just used the confusion to his advantage."

"Sounds about right." Roshi looked around warily. "Look. Join with the ANBU and keep things calm. We can't have this idiot go on a rampage here. More importantly-!?"

He was interrupted as the girl below him flashed through seals at high speeds and spat out a small flood of high pressure rubber cement like substance at him. The old man dodged just fast enough that only the clay bird was completely engulfed in the substance almost instantly and fell like a rock to the ground below.

The blob of almost solid rubber expanded violently as it impacted the roof of the building it fell on, but otherwise there was no real damage done.

"Tch. That's an annoying jutsu she's picked up." Deidara almost pouted at his failed sneak attack. "It's pretty sloppy though isn't it old man? Wasn't she supposed to be your successor? Setting the bar pretty low aren't you?"

"Humph. She's more useful than you ever were. Less annoying too, but that isn't saying much."

"Oi!" Both Deidara and Kurotsuchi snapped at the Kage.

"Look. It's not that we aren't glad for your help, but things are a mess right now." Roshi put a hand on the girl's shoulder to calm her down, but like Onoki didn't look away from Deidara. "Use your radio and get on the line. Coordinate and manage the masses with the ANBU, and hopefully we'll manage to-?!"

"Old drunk? What is it?" Kurotsuchi frowned as Roshi's head snapped to the side and looked at something across the village. Whatever it was, the fact that his normally red face was turning ghost white was concerning.

"Roshi-sama! He's here!" The radio around his ear blared loudly. "We didn't notice him until some of the uncontrollable civilians and shinobi tried confronting him but… I don't know how but nothing's stopping him! It's like no matter what happens…"

"In then end it's as if nothing has happened."

"Eh? What the hell's gotten you so spooked?" Deidara noticed Roshi's unusual disposition and briefly glanced at where everyone was looking.

… And there, walking down the street towards them as if it was just another day, was Ghost Oogakari.

Initially he didn't even stick out that much. His clothes were a bit peculiar compared to what the locals wore, but the only thing that really was off was that he was walking against the tide of civilians and weaker shinobi that had been caught in the gas.

That had been the first clue. Despite being practically in the middle of the road and going against the masses, his way was unimpeded in the slightest. Even though it appeared as if he had bumped into others as they passed, he was not stopped, slowed down, or even thrown off tempo at all. Had it not been for the fact that the people that he did make contact with stumble and react accordingly, those that noticed him would have assumed that he hadn't been touching anyone at all.

"Oh hell." Roshi swallowed heavily. He didn't know how many other people could tell, let alone recognize what was coming their way, but he and Son Goku could.

He, like the other Jinchuriki, had managed to learn how to use Presence to one degree or another. Likewise, he had a stronger connection with his Biju than most, save for Bee and maybe Naruto. That connection enabled him to be more in tune with the world around him, expanding his senses almost akin to a sage at times.

He had talked to Son Goku about this, and the Yonbi admitted that his awareness of the world itself had improved since their initial encounter with the immortals and the rapid improvement of their relationship. The beast had grown more familiar with his origins, with his nature and the world, and that connection bled into Roshi over time.

What the old man saw, what he felt…

Was the world twisting and burning around the man that was approaching them. Reality itself was acting in a way he had never imagined, let alone thought possible.

Time and space writhed, contorted, shriveled… not because Ghost was purposefully doing it…

… But because that was how it was supposed to act in his direct presence.

It was much like how various substances and materials acted and behaved in peculiar ways when exposed to extreme heat or cold. Ghost was not actively doing anything to cause these oddities. They merely happened because he was there.

Roshi saw people running into the newcomer left and right, and both parties would stumble and react appropriately...

… Only for Ghost to be moving and acting as if nothing had happened to him… because nothing did.

A woman shoved him to the right in a blind rush without looking back.

She had veered off to the side of the contact but he had continued on.

A middle aged man barreled over him, causing them both to fall in a tangled mess on the ground.

Only the man fell in a confused mess with Ghost casually walking without breaking stride.

The histories of the impacts and the immediate after effects of said impacts vanished on his person, leaving him completely unruffled, untouched, and unimpeded.

As a result, regardless of what happened he was ultimately unimpeded, stalled, or even noticed, while the other party acted as would be expected from the outside.

It was an absurd and impossible phenomena. Cause and effect was one of the basic fundamentals of physics, but what was happening was a perverted butchering where both were removed from one of the parties involved in the event.

It was akin to stabbing a man, editing the past such that the stabbing itself never happened, and then the perpetrator claiming he did absolutely nothing of the sort while the victim was bleeding because the results of the removed events were left alone…

… And he'd be completely right.

Roshi had always known and been wary of the Oogakari, and took his Biju's warnings to heart about how dangerous they supposedly were, but there was just simply too great a difference between hearing about something, experiencing, and comprehending it firsthand.

No wonder the Biju were absolutely terrified of this thing that pretended to be human.

"The pervert from Konoha?" Kurotsuchi blinked in confusion. "What the hell is he doing here? Wait… how did he get in here in the first place? Why wasn't he stopped?"

"Look at the girl Deidara has. She's one of the ones he was going out with before he left. Clearly he isn't taking it well, and with his clan's track record of acting out, can you really say that him being here is unexpected?" Roshi swallowed, not willing to give out any more information than needed as Ghost casually approached them at a constant, but slow and casual pace.

"I didn't think he was this stupid…" She muttered under her breath before narrowing her eyes and noticing the odd events taking place around him. "Hold on… what the hell?"

"It was always rumored that he mastered timespace techniques. Looks like he's pissed enough to use them." Roshi bent the truth slightly to underscore just how dangerous the situation was getting.

Timespace users were incredibly rare to begin with. Ones that could use them at will and flexibly were even scarcer. It was an unspoken rule to treat any competent timespace users as at least elite jonin level threats simply because their techniques were so unpredictable and dangerous.

Even so, it was unheard of for someone to butcher reality so freely and casually as Ghost was.

"Eh?" One of the chunin that had barged past the man paused and turned around to look at the stranger's back, having realized that Ghost was not someone that was native to the area.

The Oogakari were not Konoha shinobi, so they did not possess the standard headbands that all their shinobi had. However they had a different means of displaying that they were under the Leaf's jurisdiction and thus endorsed by them. It was hard to miss the Konoha symbol in a silver flame decal on the back of his trench coat.

"Konoha!" The man shouted on reflex and instantly went on guard, taking out a kunai in the process.

Most of the people around him paused in complete confusion as to what he was bellowing about, but a handful of others, mostly chunin and above, reacted on reflex and instantly honed in on not just the shouter, but the individual he seemed to be focused on. And then they too saw the symbol on his coat.

Before Roshi or any ANBU could jump in to dissuade anyone from doing anything stupid, half a dozen kunai and shuriken had flashed out and impaled the foreigner from all sides, many of the wounds clearly lethal, blood spraying from vital arteries as the man fell-

As he continued to walk onwards unimpeded, unwounded, and uncaring, clean weapons lying on the ground where he had been standing.

"What… the fuck?" Kurotsuchi gaped, not believing what her eyes had just seen but not seen at all. "Was that a genjutsu?"

"This… this is really bad. He doesn't even care if… ANBU! STOP THEM FROM INTERACTING OR FIGHTING WITH HIM! NOW!" Roshi bellowed as loudly as he could, using a bit of biju chakra in the process.

"Hoh? This looks interesting." Deidara mused as he watched the crowds that had been running away from them suddenly part away from the newcomer as if he had the plague. Already the bomber could spy not only the several dozen shinobi prepping to kill the idiot, but the far smaller number of ANBU trying to stop them from doing so.

The Akatsuki didn't have to worry about Onoki trying to kill him just yet. So long as he had the girl in his arms, the soft old fart wouldn't do jack.

Speaking of the girl, she had become rather quiet and complacent for the past few minutes.

A small flicker of light caught his attention. A kunoichi with a sword was dicing up the idiot with a good bit of rage. She probably lost someone close to the leaf at some point…

… But it didn't do anything. Every time the idiot fell to bloody chunks on the ground, the world seemed to flicker, erasing the damage as he kept walking towards the village square.

She had managed to supposedly kill the guy at least four times before an ANBU had ensnared her in some wire and knocked her out.

It still didn't stop another shinobi from launching a slew of small stones at him like a shotgun round, causing half his skull and its contents to spray across the side of a building…

… A building that was completely untouched, with no bodily fluids of any kind on its side.

"How stupid. It's like watching a bunch of academy students going through genjutsu training for the first time." Deidara snorted as he used his free hand to move the hair away from his left eye. Normally he had no problem watching the idiots of Iwa make fools of themselves, but he came here for a reason and he didn't like it when anyone ignored his art.

Two of the clay birds flying erratically around him deviated from their complex patterns and shot straight at the newcomer, who had still yet to do anything other than walk in their direction and pretend to die who knows how many times already.

The iris on Deidara's exposed eye dilated rapidly. Unless the bomber was put under a horrifically powerful illusion on par with Itachi's Tsukiyomi, he'd be able to see everything as clear as day.

Several people screamed as they saw the bombs rapidly approaching, and everyone that could steered clear of their path. However, not everyone on the road was a shinobi, and so their escape simply wasn't fast enough.

Ghost on the other hand, didn't even seem to notice them. Even when they collided into him head on and exploded.

Body parts flew everywhere as civilians that didn't manage to get out of the way in time got caught in the eruption. A massive crater and fire replaced the street that had been assaulted, glass littering the streets from the windows that had shattered from the shockwave.

And there he was. Untouched. Unburnt. Casually walking away with his hands in his pockets from the chaos as if it wasn't even there.

"What the?" Deidara blinked. That couldn't have been an illusion. He had trained his eye for over three years to counteract virtually any and every illusion for the day he would kill Itachi. Even if he had been caught at some point, he would have been able to at least detect a distortion. He had seen the man get blown into pieces with a direct hit. His right arm had been thrown through a grocery store window while his charred torso had slammed into a woman that had been trying to protect her child…

… And yet there he was, still walking and not paying attention to anyone or anything around him.

"Mhmhm."

It had taken him a moment to recognize what the new and peculiar sound was and where it had come from.

"Mhmhm."

The girl in his control. This helpless bitch that was weak and at his mercy, wounded, gagged and restrained… was laughing.

"Something funny, cunt?" He grunted and twisted her arms painfully in a way that both shut her up and gave him a better look at her face.

He saw her attractive face twist in clear discomfort… but it retracted into the expression it had been in moments later. Even with her mouth completely filled with clay, the looks in her eyes and the way her cheeks stretched was hard to mistaken for anything else.

It was the look of savage amusement. A look that taunted "I know something you don't know".

A look that declared her utmost confidence that he was completely fucked, and that she would enjoy every moment watching him undergo the process.

He got another chill down his spine, and Deidara had a suspicion that it wasn't due to the old man still pointing the Dust Release technique at him.

"Tch. Really. He shows off just a little bit and you think you've won. And they think I'm crazy."

This woman was starting to annoy him. Laughing at his art. Who did she think she was? He might as well just kill her here and be done with it. It was what he was here to do in the first place after all…

… But he let the notion pass. He was curious after all, and it was not like he was in any danger up here. So long as he had the girl, no one would even consider touching him.

So he watched, trying to figure out what the hell the bastard was doing.

He saw as Ghost was mobbed by several angry civilians with kunai that they had picked up from wherever.

He snorted as he was blown up with a tag.

He blinked as the man was dropped into a jutsu made hole and then crushed inside.

Each and every time the man died or was crippled, he seemed to flicker between a mess of flesh and bones… and once again walking untouched down the road without so much as indicating that he even noticed he was being killed.

Even the ANBU, who had been tasked to stop the idiots from attacking him fruitlessly had paused to watch the absurd spectacle take place. People started to avoid him simply because no one knew what the hell he was doing, and also because they didn't want to get caught up in whatever people threw at him next.

Until…

"Yo. Long time no see Roshi. How you holding up?" Ghost greeted the jinchuriki casually, stopping just short of where Deidara and the others had gathered, all staring at him with a mix of confusion, apprehension, and curiosity.

There was a wide number of shinobi, both for and against the current leadership, all watching with anticipation, not knowing just what was going to happen next.

"I've… had better days. Ghost." Roshi nodded unstably.

"How's Goku?"

"We're all going to die with the memories of our existences' ashes scattered across the undefined infinite!"

"As well as he can be, given the current circumstances."

Ghost nodded as if he understood exactly what the old man was saying before looking up. "Hey Onoki. How's the spine doing? You hire any good chiropractors yet? If not I'm sure I can scrounge a few names. You're into tall brunettes with D cups right?"

"Unless you haven't noticed, I have more important things to worry about currently." The Tsuchikage grunted. It wasn't often that he was forced to maintain a Dust release technique for so long.

"Hmm. Oh." Ghost finally seemed to notice Deidara and turned to the Akatsuki. "Oi! Do you mind dropping my girlfriend!? I haven't seen her in a while and I wanna catch up!"

"Are you an idiot!? Why the hell would I do that?! Do you even know what's going on?!" Deidara couldn't help himself. People may accuse him of being insane, but he wasn't blind to his surroundings.

Ghost paused as if trying to figure out the situation at hand. "… Look! I know that Hana has quite a few questionable tastes, and I'm sure you're very proud of how much you've managed to cram into her mouth, but I really need to talk to her! I'm certain we can plan something at another time once we compare schedules!"

Had Deidara, along with everyone else in hearing range, not been trying to reboot his mind in order to process what Ghost had just insinuated, he would have noticed his hostage growling menacingly at her supposed rescuer.

"For the love of all that is reasonable why is he so stupid?" Kurotsuchi took the moment to cradle her head in her hands.

"I, buh, t-that's not what I meant you jackass! Why else would I be in a village I abandoned with a notable woman from another village!?" Deidara couldn't believe that he was being essentially accused of indirect exhibitionism, let alone he was being forced to spell out what he was doing to this idiot. "I'm proving that this old shit doesn't deserve to be a Kage! And maybe starting a war if I feel like it!"

"… Oh." Was all that Ghost blankly stated.

"…"

"…"

"… Oh? I'm starting a war, and all you have to say is "oh?" That's it?" Deidara asked.

"What? You expected me to not be surprised? Akatsuki's grandstanding in the middle of a hidden village like this? Floating around with a valued hostage from another village? No, that sounds roughly like something you'd do." Ghost shrugged, completely unalarmed by the revelation. "So… can I have her back now?"

"NO!"

"Why not?" The immortal didn't seem perturbed at all by the fast response.

"YOU KNOW WHAT?! FUCK IT! I'M GOING TO KILL HER NOW JUST TO SHUT YOU UP! JUST LIKE THAT OTHER BITCH SHE WAS WITH!" Deidara lost his temper. He hated dealing with childish idiots like this that didn't get the point.

Instead of a normal kunai, the blonde man spat out a small sum of clay from his free hand and channeled chakra to it, instantly giving him an exploding knife at the ready that was as hard and good as its metal counterparts. Incidentally, this model had been among the first he had utilized when he first practiced his craft.

With a wide flick of his arm, Deidara revealed the blade to everyone watching and quickly lunged it forward to stab his hostage in the spine.

"Shit!" Onoki swore. Had Deidara not been such a massive threat, he would not have been stuck maintaining his dust release for so long and used one of his smaller and faster techniques to possibly address the situation. Instead he'd have to settle for firing off his technique now and hope that the distraction would keep the girl alive…

… But he didn't. His reflexes didn't kick in immediately, his instincts telling him that something else was at play.

Ghost didn't immediately respond do the impending threat on Hana's life. The immortal simply stared at the angry bomb expert, sun reflecting off of his glasses.

"… Might as well keep something canon."

What did he mean by that?

Halfway through Deidara's mental question, his arms fell off.

Sliced cleanly through just below the shoulders. With the hand relaxing instantly, the clay dagger fell from his grasp and barely even scratched the girl he had intended to stab.

"… Eh?"

The sound of confusion emerged not only through the kidnapper's mouth, but from those belonging to everyone watching as well. It took several agonizingly long seconds for everyone to realize that the blond man's severed limbs were falling from his perch to the ground, and several more to realize that they had been Deidara's to begin with.

The confusion was warranted. There had been no jutsu. No name. No flash. No sound. No spike in chakra. Hell, Ghost hadn't even moved his arms, let alone taken them out of his pockets to make seals.

And yet, Deidara, who had been behind a hostage and surrounded by half a dozen exploding and homing clay bird bombs, was already down both arms.

Hana had taken that moment of confusion, no longer held in place by said newly disembodied limbs, to run forward and jump right off of the flying bird and free fall.

The bombs that had been orbiting around their maker picked up on her instantly and reacted, arcing their white bodies and flapping their wings to assault the escapee with discrimination.

But they made no progress. Their wings failed to provide them with support of any kind, and gravity took hold, making straight down the only direction they could go. The once lethal weapons dropped like flailing pieces of dead weight.

Along with their maker and the mount he was on.

"The fuck?!" Deidara shouted in anger, but primarily in complete confusion. In less than three seconds, he had lost his arms and his constructs suddenly became unable to fly. The entire situation had been turned on its, and very likely his, head, and he still had no idea what had just happened.

His only saving grace seemed to be the fact that everyone else seemed to be in the same boat if the looks on their faces was any indication.

He spiked his chakra. Even if he couldn't stab the woman, he could still set off the clay that was in her mouth and around her arms…

… But nothing happened. Against all odds, both lumps of white matter were duds.

"Damn! What the hell is going on?" He didn't know how he had been played, but there was no doubt that this asshole was responsible for his incredibly bad state. Normally he'd love to get his revenge, but he wasn't in the best place to do anyth- oh shit!

Before he could do anything, the giant arm of the Yonbi swung down from above to crush him and his mount, palm so hot that it was glowing red like magma.

Hana, meanwhile, floated gently down to earth, carried by the air under Ghost's control.

Wasting no time, the immortal silently reached out and somehow managed to pull out the very large amount of soft clay that had been covering and in her mouth and free her hands.

He then examined the explosives for a few seconds.

"… Seriously, Anko and I have crammed way more than this in your mouth. She must have gotten soft since I left if he actually thought this was enough for you."

Hana, understandably, kicked his shin hard enough that everyone heard his bone break.

"You bastard! How can you joke like this even now!? Don't pretend to be stupid! I know you know that Anko is dead!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. Her throat and mouth were dry from the clay. Her body was still weak and wounded. Her mind was still tired from the weeks of captivity. Her heart was in pain from hearing of and feeling Anko's death.

"YOU!" She kicked him again, forcing him to hop away.

She was tired. Oh so tired. At any given moment she felt like she was going to collapse be it from it, the pain, or the fact that her body was finally giving out.

"You!" She tried to hit him again, but she was in no condition to keep up.

She was so angry at herself, at the situation, at Ghost.

"You." She began to cry, not even caring who saw her do so.

She was distraught over Anko.

"You." Her voice hitched and the adrenaline finally began to ebb in her system.

"… You."

As such, she had been distracted by what had been in front of her the entire time, and it was only now that she realized it.

"… Ghost?"

Hopping up and down on one foot and clenching the other, the Oogakari would have almost been the picture perfect representation of a boyfriend that had screwed up one time too many…

… Had his face not been completely emotionless.

Over the years, the immortal had been the epitome of a man child. Expressing himself in every way under the sun with vivid body language and facial gestures, it was rare for anyone to not tell what he was feeling, or at least tell what he wanted them to feel, at any given time.

But he had never been blank before. Not if it wasn't for laughs at least.

There was no anger in him. No sadness. No comfort. No joy. No rage. No confidence. No worry. No control. No boredom. No… anything.

His body moved the same as usual. His language and sense of humor were just as crude and tasteless as well, but his face and voice seemed to have simply given out. Almost as if he was reading from a script and acting out a part, but had completely abandoned adding emotion to the mix.

Wrong. Something was unfathomably wrong with the person she was in love with. It was only now that she was seeing it.

"Hey Waltz, not that I'm not grateful for the extra training, but why are you giving Anko and I the special treatment? I know Ghost cares about us, but at this rate either one of us could take on Tsunade."

"Hah, not to be rude Hana, but I thought you'd figure it out by now. You two have become essential parts to my brother's sanity. The best way to keep you safe is to make you strong."

"Heh. Despite all your complaining and the beatings, you really care about him don't you?"

"… Yes, but that isn't quite it. I do love my brother and my siblings dearly, above anything else. But, as much as it hurts to admit it…"

Unconsciously, she took a step back away from him.

"… Ghost, more than anyone and anything else in existence, terrifies me to no end. I'll do anything to ensure that he doesn't give me more reasons to support that fact. I only hope you never see any of them either."

"If you're worried about Anko, I got that covered." The hopping man didn't seem to notice her sudden change in behavior. As if on command, the sleeping figure of Anko Mitarashi fazed into view right behind him, floating in mid-air. Injured, but without a doubt still alive. "You need a lift? You look more beat than she does."

She looked around and finally remembered where she was. In the middle of Iwagakure. Surrounded by shinobi that probably would not have minded if she had died in the confusion. The Tsuchikage flying above. An Akatsuki to the side.

And black embers flying about in every direction as far as the eye could see.

"Ghost?" Her voice barely had any strength now, barely more than a weak whimper. This, this was wrong. The face, this cold feeling. This wasn't Ghost. This couldn't be him.

"He's insane for a reason." A traitorous voice in the back of her head reasoned.

"I-"

Shinobi were known to fight dirty, and she was in the middle of a village that did not take kindly to those from her home. It shouldn't have been surprising that someone would have tried to take advantage of their distraction.

In this particular case, the idiot in question had attempted to travel underground and grab Hana by the legs.

The arms were severed before they even managed to grab her.

A muffled scream was heard underground.

It didn't last long as the owner was yanked from his hiding spot by an invisible force and thrown harshly into a nearby building.

"Eh?" She looked down in confusion, only to find that her feet were slowly sinking into a shallow pool of blood from the hands that were still lying nearby.

"Right. This place is filled with people that don't like the people where we live. Forgot about that." Ghost absently mused, still hopping on one leg.

A lance of stone went straight through his body, tearing out his heart and making him collapse face first on the dirt.

He was hopping with only a broken leg again a second later, completely fine.

"Ghost, I…gya?!" Hana tried to figure out what to say before she was lurched off the ground and floated like Anko just in time to avoid getting speared through herself.

Under any other circumstance, she might have even welcomed it, as the air supporting her was incredibly gentle and soft to the point that she questioned how exactly she was being kept up in the first place.

Under any other circumstance, Ghost wasn't probably about to do something absolutely terrifying.

"You might want to wait for a bit. Sleep. You need it. We can talk once things have calmed down." The immortal ignored her struggling and lifted her higher. With the briefest of commands, the air around the girls began to refract light in a way that would render them completely invisible to those that relied on the standard wavelength spectrum of light to see. He nullified any scents that the girls were giving off. He dampened any noises they could have made. A layer of air prevented her body heat from escaping its borders, nullifying it. Another enveloped her, masking her chakra signature with Ghost's and essentially making her blend in with the chakra that was already in the air.

All these and more covered the girl's existence. To the outside world, she had simply just vanished alongside Anko.

"Ghost! Wait! Calm down! Stop! Please!" Hana tried to shout with what little strength she had left. She didn't know what was happening, but all of her instincts were screaming at the top of their metaphorical lungs. Something was going to happen. Terrifying, wrong, and unnatural on a scale that she couldn't even begin to imagine.

She knew he could hear her, but for once he didn't react. Her breathing became shallower and her body weaker, gasses that laced the air she breathed relaxing her muscles and enveloping her consciousness.

"Ghost…"

The town was eerily silent as the immortal slowly stopped hopping and testingly put pressure on his leg. "You know, Deidara's getting away."

Eyes widening in alarm, Roshi pulled his arm back to reveal only the fast cooked clay bird, brittle and cracked underneath, sitting in a small pool of semi liquefied lava.

It didn't take a genius to guess that there was going to be a hole in the ground under the destroyed art piece.

Onoki swore. "ANBU! Lock down the village and all underground routes! Maximum alert! No one gets in or out without my say so!"

"Well, It's been nice catching up with you guys, but I gotta go now." Ghost casually waved at the two old men as if nothing important at all was happening before turning around to supposedly leave.

"That means you too you idiot!" The Tsuchikage snapped at the immortal in a fit of anger.

"Why not?" The man repeated the same question with the same level of oblivious innocence that had nearly drove Deidara around the bend.

"You're in the middle of an enemy village. We are in a state of emergency. The village is in lockdown. You're from Konoha. You just took out a guy that is responsible for half of all of this. Half the people here want to kill you and if we leave you alone, not only would there be an uproar but most people would be calling for war because we can't have Konoha walking over us. Take your pick jackass." Kurotsuchi jumped down from the building she was on to get closer to the man. By the end of her explanation she had her face in his, almost daring him to try any argue against her.

"Hmm. Right. War. That's bad." The immortal mused thoughtfully…

… He turned his head and seemed to look at something on the other side of the village.

Tobi, sitting on a building far enough from the chaos that nobody should have been able to notice him, narrowed his visible eye. He shouldn't have been detected in the slightest, but the Oogakari, a different one than the one he had encountered not even half an hour earlier, had pinned him easily.

His nerves stood on end as the foreigner ignored the Tsuchikage's granddaughter and continued to stare at him, but did nothing else.

Feeling cocky, the Uchiha nodded shallowly, as if accepting a challenge notic-

Pain.

His left hand shot to the side of his head and grabbed it viciously. He could already feel blood pooling and falling down his face from where he had been injured.

No. It couldn't be possible. There was no way that he could have been struck from that distance without noticing. Not when his Sharingan was active…

Ghost didn't seem to notice any changes in the terrorist's actions. Instead reached into his pocket…

… And took out the blinded eyeball that had only moments before been in Tobi's left eye socket. The one used to enact Izanagi and escape Scabbard's wrath.

He then proceeded to crush it in a fist in front of everyone.

"Huh? What the, what kind of sick fuck are you?" Kurotsuchi jumped back in understandable surprise and disgust. Even for a chaotic and random person like that, it was something completely out there for him to just pull out an eyeball and render it into a disgusting mess with his bare hand.

"Just making a point to an idiot that doesn't know better." Ghost shrugged as he casually flicked the offending hand to the side to get rid of the useless organ and the accompanied fluids. He felt the enraged Uchiha's glare, but didn't really care much about it.

After a few spare moments, he felt Tobi use his remaining eye to teleport away to his dimension, more than likely to get away from this newly redefined threat.

Sadly, that did not happen. Time and space would not contort. Not now and not here.

The immortal still had more things he intended to show the brat.

This boy may laughingly believe he's the board master to this amusing game…

… But what good was a game against the fire that immolated the building it took place in?

"War. Right…" Ghost muttered again and looked around, as if noticing the inhabitants of Iwagakure for the first time. More than a few of them were wary of him, and even more were prepared to fight if needed.

Roshi was slowly getting a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something was going to happen. Something that he knew that he was going to be powerless to stop once started. "Onoki… let him go. Now."

Instead of heeding his friend's words, the Tsuchikage prepared another Dust Release technique and aimed it at Ghost. "Stand down Oogakari! Even if I do want to kick you and your insane hobbies out of my village as soon as possible, you still intruded without permission! I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you were the one responsible for dealing with Deidara and you have my thanks for that, but that does not excuse your actions! Surrender into my custody now and I will make sure that you will be taken care of generously so long as you abide by my rules!"

"You idiot!" Roshi swore, his attention darting back and forth between his stubborn friend and the unperturbed immortal.

The sad thing was that he really couldn't blame the Tsuchikage for his actions. Onoki was genuinely caught between a rock and a hard place. If he did just let Ghost go, it would almost certainly skyrocket discontent for the old man, which would lead to more than a handful of problems down the road.

Of course, Onoki couldn't just go out and tell everyone that Ghost was a supposed X class threat, on par with Hashirama and Madara. Hell, the latest few generations of shinobi didn't even acknowledge just how monstrous S classes could be.

The best thing for everyone would be if Ghost simply surrendered now and peacefully-

"No."

Well shit.

"You're in the middle of a hidden village boy." Onoki pressed, his technique growing larger. "Even if you do somehow manage to escape with the girls, there would be no way you'd be able to make it to Konoha safely with them if at all. You'd die during the trip. Don't be stupid."

The immortal didn't seem perturbed by the old man's reasoning. Instead, he breathed in deeply and sighed as if dealing with something bothersome.

"People of Iwagakure."

Literally everyone in the village flinched. Young and old. Man and woman. Near and far. The man's voice was as clear as day. It was almost as if he was speaking right in front of them.

Ghost carried on. "Sorry for the inconvenient sudden message, however I believe it is only fair that I inform you of the current situation in your village. My name is Ghost Oogakari. For those of you not familiar with me, I am the head of a small mercenary clan that is currently doing business with, and residing in Konoha. Recently, the two women that I am in a viciously and very satisfying active relationship with, were taken hostage by various parties. One said party brought one of them here in an attempt to start a war with Konoha via public execution. Obviously, I took great offence to this."

He allowed his words to sink into the skulls of anyone that was bothering to listen before continuing.

"I, personally, don't give a damn if you declare war with Konoha. Or if anyone did for that matter."

That, on the other hand, got everyone's attention.

"Fun fact. My clan won't help Konoha if they have another playground scuffle with another big bad village. We've made this a point to Tsunade and others many times, regardless of what they offer us. On a side note, Danzo has tried to make it happen regardless, because he's a prick like that.

"In all honesty, my clan would prefer it if some war broke out sometime. It would give us something interesting to watch. But we aren't complete assholes. We wouldn't start it or even try to instigate one through a series of convoluted and seemingly random chain of events. Not when other people are trying to start one anyways. What's the fun of knowing how things turn out? It takes the surprise out of everything." Ghost shrugged, as if what he was saying was obvious.

Kurotsuchi blinked and took a step back. She had heard a lot of crazy fucks talk about starting wars between major villages before, but this guy took the cake. He didn't want a grand fight to take part of, glory, or to destroy the enemy. He just wanted something interesting to watch. "Is this guy insane?"

"Problem is, I haven't seen my girls in a while and was quite put out when I discovered their situation. So, like any respectable boyfriend would, I came to get them. My being here has nothing against you in particular. I didn't come here on Konoha's behalf. They still don't know that the girls had been taken for that matter, not that I would have done anything different if they did. They couldn't pay me enough to stop me from doing what I'm doing right now. Romantic, isn't it?

"Bottom line is, as of right now, I just want to go home. Heal these two up. Have a few tense conversations that may or may not destroy our relationships due to recent events, and then if things go well, have three years' worth of insanely kinky make up sex that will leave us all aching and bowlegged for the next week crammed into an unspecified period of time spanning from three to five days. Problem is, knowing the bulk of the vocal lot here, doing so would cause a large amount of childish bitching and raging at Konoha despite the fact that I'm an independent and they have no control over what I do in my spare time. This would in turn lead to a bunch of idiots run by their pride calling for war and trying to do something in "revenge" of my actions to trigger it. All of that, and the accompanying political bullshit, is a bit of a boner killer. Luckily, I have a solution."

"He's going to say something stupid isn't he?" Kurotsuchi grunted in annoyance.

Unfortunately, she was wrong. Very, VERY wrong.

"We are all going to play a little game. We are going to take turns. You guys first try to kill me by whatever means you want. I won't fight against any of it. But if you can't pull it off and I survive…

"… Every single man woman and child in this village will experience death firsthand."

It was the ease in how he said that last bit that sent chills down the spine of every individual that heard him.

"And then, we repeat the process, ending when I die for good or until you lot decide to no longer try and kill me and leave me the fuck alone."

It was such a bizarre thing to say that almost no one in the village took it seriously. Almost.

"Everyone in the village? This guy must be high on something." A genin snorted disbelievingly. His reaction was understandable. The number of justu in existence that were capable of affecting so many people at once were so few that most considered them either myths or so magnificently complex and potent that it would take forever to set up.

"What the hell do you mean we'll experience death? If you kill us, then how are we supposed to kill you again? Are you an idiot?" One kunoichi from the crowds chided, clearly not appreciating being threatened. It was only later that realized her voice had also been projected to everyone in the village much like Ghost's had been.

"He must be." A chunin next to her shook his head. "He's crazy enough to sneak in Iwa all by himself and threaten us for that matter. There's no way he's all there in the head."

"Like I said. You'll experience death. At the end of it all, you won't be dead. Or crippled. I've played this game many times, and the only ones that ever died from it are the weak of heart that can't handle the stress afterwards. It's not like a good portion of you rocks for brains weren't already gunning for my head anyways. I can see your murder boners from here. Might want to cover those. We're in public. It's embarrassing. There are kids watching. Put them away ladies."

"There's no point in trying to kill an illusion or a clone." A smug jonin stepped forward. "If you're so confident, then show us where you really are."

Ghost merely stared at the guy and casually patted his chest. "… I'm right here. Come and check me out all you want. Nothing but flesh and blood. I have no problems with that." There was a brief pause. "Oh, wait. Onoki, can you turn off your mini nuke jutsu? I don't think anyone wants to be near me while under that thing. Don't worry. I won't kill anyone. Like I said, you guys get the first turn."

It was the careless way he had said that last bit that sent the first bit of shivers down the spines of the more experienced shinobi there. The way he referred to his impending death so easily… it was wrong. Very, dangerously wrong.

The Tsuchikage glared at the annoyance for what seemed like an entire minute before slowly dissipating his technique and slowly floating to his target.

"Old man! Are you serious?! You're actually going with this?!" Kurotsuchi balked in genuine astonishment. Onoki was never one to cater to the enemy, let alone to idiots that played on the battlefield.

"I've met this man before. He doesn't lie, but his kin are well known to hide more than enough truths with his words. He's insane, but he's the brand of idiot that stands by what he says, regardless of how stupid it is, if only because he finds it more interesting that way." Onoki stopped in front of Ghost and examined him warily. "ANBU."

Two shinobi in black appeared around Ghost.

"Huh… weren't you guys on that mission with the minion a few years ago?"

If his unperturbed behavior surprised them, they didn't show it as they stepped forward and examined his body to make sure he wasn't an illusion or a clone. Unlike the masses, the pair didn't let any emotions escape their control.

"Yeah, now I remember, you would have gotten mulched at the end of his fight if Kakashi didn't pull you back at the last second."

That made them pause. They didn't know who the "minion" was, but there was only one event that came to mind where Konoha's Kakashi prevented them from getting killed instead of trying to off them.

He had been watching them during the Gobi incident. He had been there with them and they didn't even know. There was no other explanation for it. Even if he knew that Kakashi had saved some of them from that incident from the reports, there was no way he should have known who the cyclops had saved in particular.

Naruto Uzumaki was his student if the reports were correct, so logically the boy was the "minion". Both individuals were in possession of absurdly flexible and powerful wind techniques with unknown limitations and range. If the technique that almost "mulched" them was in fact a product of this man's teachings, then his boast about killing everyone in the village may not be an idle claim after all.

"You were watching." One of the ANBU, a large man with a snake mask noted with an almost casual tone.

"You make it sound like I was the only one." Ghost shrugged. The ANBU filed that comment away for later.

"Any rules about attempting to capture you?" He probed.

"It's a waste of a turn." In short, he'd proceed to kill everyone if they tried and failed.

"You're a sick fuck you know that? Treating everyone's lives like some sort of childish game." The other ANBU, a kunoichi with an eagle mask hissed.

"Life's already a shitty game with broken and unbalanced rules that vary for fuck knows what reasons. Not my fault everyone likes to pretend otherwise. I'm already letting you guys have the first turn."

It was a twisted sense of logic he employed, but in the end… he was right.

He wanted to go home. He was in a village that wouldn't let him and would move to kill him if he tried to do anything really… so he turned that all into a game.

All they had to do was kill him. Not that hard considering a good portion of the village was already planning to do so.

It sounded simple enough. They were all shinobi. Killing was what they did, and they were very good at it. All they had to do was unravel his technique. Make sure that he was really there, that there was no jutsu enacted when they ended him. From the way he talked and acted, he wasn't even going to put up a fight when they did the deed.

So why did it feel like they had already lost?

"He's not an illusion." The female ANBU tersely stepped back.

"Other than the jutsu controlling the air, he's not using anything. If you're a clone, then I sure as hell can't tell it." The snake took his place.

The two had surrounded him all equidistant from one another, in perfect striking range.

Ghost stood still for a few moments and looked at them. "… Ok, now you guys are just dramatically waiting on pur-"

His throat was slashed before any other words were spoken.

"Hidden Art: Serpent Stone technique." The Kunoichi grasped his shoulder, her fingertips stabbing into his flesh like fangs. Almost instantly his flesh petrified, turning into stone and expanding outwards like a rampant infection. Within five seconds his entire body had been completely turned.

"Lava Art: Stomach of the World." Snake finished the combination, turning the earth beneath the petrified man into a pool of molten lava that instantly consumed and dissolved the target without issue.

"Tch. That overconfident idiot. What do you expect when you tell an entire hidden village to do their best to kill you?" Kurotsuchi snorted to Roshi, unimpressed. "Really, you must be going senile if you let that weakling scare you."

"… He's not dead." Roshi didn't even bother looking at her.

He was too busy watching the black embers that continued to errantly float in whatever direction they pleased.

"Why am I not surprised that the snake themed move wasn't done by the guy in the snake mask?" A familiar voice mused to the side of the ANBU. "Anko would probably want it though. I wonder if she worked on her third element since I left."

The masked killers moved in tandem straight to him, blades drawn and channeling chakra.

They were frozen in place halfway to their mark.

"Hey. You guys already had your turn." His voice had no malice to it. It was as if he was disinterestedly lecturing a bunch of children. "Now it's mine."

"Oh no." Roshi paled. "NO! GHOST! DON'T!"

If he had heard the jinchuriki, he didn't act like it as one of his hands came out of his pockets and came up to eye level.

He was completely ignoring the kunai, shurkien, and jutsu that were flying right at him.

"War Scars."

Ghost snapped his fingers.

There was no explosion. No loud noises. No tremendous upheavals of land, bursts of power, or flashes of light.

It was just a brief flicker, a minor distortion of what was already there that masked the entire village at once.

And then, everything collapsed.

Hunks of meat that had been men, women and children piled onto the ground, saturated in pools of blood that ran off in whatever direction gravity chose.

Much in the same way, large portions of buildings that had been marred and gutted collapsed, either unable to maintain their earlier state, or simply because it was no longer in said state anymore.

On the other side of the town in particular there was a pile of meat with the splintered remains of a spiral orange mask.

Underground, there was another deposit of flesh, this one laced with chopped blonde hair.

In a single moment, the great village of Iwagakure had been rendered silent. A crimson grave that the planet had never seen the likes of before.

Had it not been a blatant genocide, one would almost assume that a war had taken place.

War Scars had done its job as a mass assassination technique. Maximum lethality among the masses with minimum warning at the highest speeds evenly spread out over a tremendous range.

The only living person left standing was the immortal… who stepped to the side to avoid the torn and soaked remains of Onoki falling right on top of him and instead landed flat on the ground with an indescribably wet flop.

Ghost looked around, neither sad, proud, nor happy about his deed. In fact, he didn't seem to be affected by what he did in the slightest.

Not by the piles of meat that had been the people in front of him.

Not by the ruined apartment building filled with the remains of the five and a half families that were living there.

Not by the tombs that the seven orphanages around the village had become, filled with the bodies of boys, girls, and babies of all ages.

"… Shit. I killed them too fast." He groaned out to no one.

Wonderful. The idiots weren't even going to realize they had been killed off when he brought them back.

Well… Roshi probably would, but that's merely because he's more aware of the world around him. Sadly, the one person he didn't feel like smacking around was the only one that got the point this time.

Ironically, Roshi was probably the only person in the village that would be somewhat annoying to kill if he tried to fight back simply because he had a type advantage against the immortals standard slew of abilities. The high temperatures surrounding his body would make controlling the air around the guy a downright pain in the ass, and being a jinchuriki gave him a fairly high degree of recovery and defense as well.

… Then again, Roshi probably knew that too. After all, if the jinchuriki actually tried to fight back, then Ghost would in turn have to put in an effort to kill him using means that appealed to neither one of them.

He didn't want to kill Roshi, but he had to. It was the rules of the game after all. His turn wouldn't end until he offed everyone in the village, and the game wouldn't end until he died or Iwa let him go.

He couldn't just kill everyone and then leave.

That would just be unfair.

All in all though, it was a complete waste of a turn.

"Damn it. Oh well. Not like this would change much." He snapped his fingers again. A black spark burned to life and immolated the Village Hidden Under Corpses.

"Eh? What just happened?" Kurotsuchi looked around in confusion. Her body was tingling all over, her nerves and instincts screaming at her that something horrible and terrifying had just happened, but she honestly couldn't tell what.

"I… don't know." Onoki frowned, floating where he had been before. He had felt something happen, but for the life of him he couldn't tell what.

Roshi couldn't say anything. He was too busy throwing up.

"I wasted my turn." Ghost sighed in mild disappointment with himself. "You guys are up again."

That gave most people pause. Save for Roshi, all they had just experienced was a mild pinching or stabbing and then… nothing. A minor blank that could have been attributed to a brief lapse of attention.

"Roshi? What's wrong?" Onoki floated to his friend warily.

"H-he killed us. All of us. A-at once." The Jinchuriki stammered between gasps. "T-too fast. Struck from everywhere. The entire village. No mercy. T-too much. Too fast. Couldn't tell. He'll be slower next time. E-everyone will know. Can't -bugh!"

"Roshi. Look at me. He couldn't have killed us. We're all alive. It's impossible for us to be alive if he killed us." Onoki tried to reason with his friend.

Bloodshot eyes with veins glowing like lava turned on the Tsuchikage. "H-he's alive. He's still alive."

Yes. Ghost was still alive, even when they had killed him so many times.

What was to stop him from using the same unknown means from bringing them back as well?

The reality of this seemed to put a heavy and horrifying weight in the small man. "Roshi. Tell me. Who is this man? What is he?"

The jinchuriki hesitated. Whether it was due to his unbridled fear, or the stress of being killed once, he was unable to make up his mind.

Unfortunately, before he could speak, someone else acted.

The female ANBU had taken out a seal and slapped it on the immortal's face before flashing through seals. "If normal methods don't work, how about seals? Sealing art: Diverse Crossroads of Spirit and Land."

"Huh. Judging by the name you're probably going to try an-FUCK!" Ghost's musing was cut short as a massive pulse of chakra invaded his being and literally ejected his soul. His body collapsed instantly onto the ground.

"That was a bit much." Snake knelt down and checked the man's pulse, feeling nothing. He wasn't commenting on how harsh the technique was, which essentially was used to instantly kill prisoners without damaging the body. He was more concerned with the fact that the seal itself was considered a village secret, a kinjutsu that they took precautions to hide any details about.

"Look at Roshi-sama." She nodded to the old redhead. "Clearly he had experienced something during this idiot's "turn" that we did not. From the sounds of things, he had messed up and only Roshi-sama experienced whatever it was. I do not intend for the rest of the village to suffer the same."

She didn't even bother to cover the fact that just before they had blacked out, both ANBU had clearly been stopped in their tracks with little effort and little sign of how he had done it. If this idiot had another "turn", she doubted that they'd be able to stop the intruder.

"Geez lady, could you have at least used a cleaner technique?"

The ANBU paled behind their masks, turning to Ghost who was somehow back on his feet and scratching his head.

"I mean, that's not the first time I've had my soul thrown out of my body like that, but for fuck's sake could you at least make it a bit smoother? Felt like the link between the two was being shredded by a cheap rusty spoon edge. Were you trying to turn me into that self-mutilating psycho Voldemort or something? I don't mean to imply, but your only real choice for Dumbledore is a bit short for the role. He's more suited to be a crabby Flitwick. Or Kreacher."

Had they heard him right? They must have been hallucinating. There was no way that a person could survive having their soul ripped from their body…

"Right. No screwing up this round." Ghost rose his free hand to the sky, and momentarily paused as several shinobi were stopped all around him, frozen in midair and on the ground with weapons drawn and chakra flaring erratically. "Seriously, you guys have patience issues."

He threw his arm down.

"Wait."

The mountains in the distance vanished, and the ground below everyone shook as if a bomb had gone off.

"Your."

A distant section of the village right next to the assaulted landmass was next to leave everyone's sight. The rumblings and sounds got louder.

This time people did realize what was happening.

"Turn."

The next district closest to them fell victim, and Onoki finally saw what was happening to his beloved village much to his absolute horror.

The mountains. The buildings. The people. His beloved village was being crushed, bit by bit, layer by layer, by an invisible force that seemed impossible to stop. Each and every assaulted area was perfectly flat, regardless of what, or who had been there. The shockwaves generated with each advance resembled the advent of a malevolent giant, shaking the earth with each footstep.

"Sensora. The Thousand Skies. Catchy name, isn't it? Rolls right off the tongue." Ghost droned as another portion of the village and another few thousand men women and children were flattened.

It was an advanced version of Atlas, the technique he taught Naruto to make use of the ambient and seemingly infinite mass that dwelled in the atmospheres around the user. The main difference of the technique was that instead of tapping into the air of just the current world…

… It was the accumulation of the masses of as many worlds he wanted on a single point. A preposterous technique developed by a man that could challenge Gods, to face and cripple Gods, with powers honed to spite Gods.

He didn't even seem bothered as more people attempted to assault him in order to stop the technique from reaching their area.

Even more people could be heard hysterically crying and begging for him to stop.

He didn't.

Even Onoki attempted to waste him with one of his Dust Release techniques before the chaos reached them.

Unfortunately, no one was able to move. The gas around them refused to give way to their movements, cementing all in place.

"Oogakari! Stop! You're killing everyone!" Onoki roared in an attempt to stop the source of the oncoming invisible execution.

Ghost looked up at him and rose an eyebrow in confusion. "Of course I am. It's my turn."

There was no sadism in his voice. Nothing malicious, or cunning, or sly, or anything that would infer a hidden meaning or alternative goal to his words and actions.

You killed me during your turn. Now I kill all of you during mine. I'm only following the rules.

It was a simple, innocent, child level sense of logic. Like the sun was out during the day. Boys and girls were different.

Everything this man did, from his crude jokes to the horrific actions he was doing now, was as natural as breathing to him. In his mind, there was nothing wrong with his actions.

The Tsuchikage finally understood why Roshi was terrified of this monster that looked like a human.

He looked at his friend, eyes devoid of hope and watching his oncoming death with resignation.

He looked at his granddaughter, who was frantically trying to move, and then turned to him with pleading, terrified, and hopeless eyes. Never had she looked at him like that before. There was mixed dependence and betrayal in her stare, but more than anything there was a familiarity there that had not been there before…

… Almost as if she really treated, trusted, and saw him as family. Almost as if she was that little girl that wanted nothing more than her grandfather to help her.

And then they were crushed into crimson paste along with thousands of the people he had sworn to protect.

The process continued for another half a minute. Section after section of the village flattened, its occupants turned to sloppy pancakes without discrimination. He could have wasted the entire village in a single go, but then they all would have died too quickly to get that they had died at all. Again.

At least this way he was getting the message across.

His fingers snapped again, and the village once more stood anew.

This time, they got it.

First, as always, came the screams.

Everyone now understood that staying inside the village, let alone near Ghost, was a bad idea. So they tried to leave.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for them to realize that it was no longer possible. Word of an invisible air barrier around the village spread quickly.

"Now now. When I said that it was the village participating, I meant it." Ghost chided. "Either you let me walk out of here without any trouble, or you somehow manage to kill me. That's the only way this game's going to end. Until then, everyone in Iwa is a participant. Think of it as one big group effort. There are no exceptions."

"Why… why are you doing this?" Onoki grimaced. Unlike last time, he knew what had happened. He knew he had died, that everyone had died. Or was it an illusion? He didn't know anymore, but he couldn't tolerate seeing his people –Kurotsuchi- experience something like that again. "What's the point in attacking us like this?"

"Attacking you? I'm only playing the game." Ghost answered honestly. "You didn't seem to be against it when we started. It's not like I hid anything from you."

"Why?!" The Tsuchikage snarled. "You could threaten us with this twisted technique of yours! You could try to escape! You could waste this village or drive us mad at this rate! You don't care about war but you do all of this to stop it even though you can just surrender and do all of this peacefully! What do you want?!"

The immortal shrugged. "It seems like the best way to make you all not start a war because of me in particular."

"Because… of you?"

"Yeah. Like you said, I can easily just run out of here with my tail between my legs with all of you after me without all the meaningless mindgames and grandstanding. But then the bulk of the public here would probably use it as an excuse either for war or to try to start something politically. I've seen academy students hyped up on soldier pills less jumpy for a fight than half of the shmucks here. If I didn't do anything, I'd essentially be tossing a lit match into a vein of natural gas."

"So your answer is to torture thousands of innocent people?!" A young genin shouted angrily from the crowds.

"Innocent? So, the whole, village that trains people to lie, cheat, steal and murder thing is completely disregarded then? Or the fact that I only take my turn after you lot try to kill me in any way you see fit, after I explained that I would do just that to you? Or that at least a quarter of the people living here want to kill my student simply because his father one up'd you in war twenty years ago that you started in the first place? Thus indicating that many people here can't let go of past grudges and their pride."

"That's your excuse?! Because this is a shinobi village it's ok to do this to everyone living in it?!" Another woman shouted while holding her hysterically crying daughter.

"Excuse? No. I'm just elaborating on why you lot are hardly innocent." Ghost tilted his head to the side. "I'm not excusing my actions in the slightest. What I'm doing is horrible and shouldn't be condoned. That fact though is not going to stop me though."

"WHY?" Several angry and frantic people shouted.

"Because we already started playing. We can't stop now." His answer was again simple, innocent, and horrifically twisted.

"What if we swore not to declare war for this?!" This time the voice, a young man's, probably a teenager's, came from someone that wasn't in the square. "What if we just let you go!?"

Many people shouted in anger and outrage, but Ghost's even voice stood above the rest. "Well, first of all, you lot would have to let me go in the first place, which still doesn't appear to be appealing to many here. Other than that, I'm going to point out that infamous pride issue many here have and the fact that this village has a tendency of going back on its deals. Meaning that they can't be trusted with an important decision like this, lest the entire village get plunged into a war that they possibly can't afford. Which I may add, in hindsight is one of the very likely reasons why Onoki hasn't been able to find a successor yet. Because most of the people here that may be eventually strong enough to be the next Tsuchikage have shit for judgement and would end up ruining everything."

More than a few faces turned to Onoki, who only grimaced and clenched his fists.

The immortal was right after all. As it stood, if Iwa went to war with Konoha, and by extension Suna, even if the Oogakari did absolutely nothing, at the bare minimum… they'd lose. Badly.

There was some merit to everyone's claims that things were going downhill. Resources were down, and more jobs were going to the Leaf, who was recently developing some very notable shinobi among their ranks.

War was expensive. Very expensive. And right now Konoha had the money, resources, and power despite following the demilitarization agreement that all the major villages save Kumo had adhered to.

In fact, the only way he'd see a turnabout of any sort was if Kumo joined Iwa, which was highly unlikely given the growing relationship that they and the Leaf had been developing…

… Or if Iwa fully employed the entirety of Akatsuki.

Iwa would probably win if they did hire the mercenaries, but after what Deidara just did, and learning the identities of the other members, Onoki had a feeling that doing so would only ensure his home's destruction.

At least with the Leaf you knew to expect some reprieve if everyone knew they were going to win.

"As I said earlier, normally, my deliciously powerful clan of sociopaths wouldn't help out Konoha if they had to fight a war. But, there is a loophole. If we are the reason why the war was declared in the first place, well then it would be irresponsible if we didn't help out. We're a bit flaky at times, but we aren't sloppy. We make sure we finish things that we start."

"Not all of us!" A harmless woman shouted, holding herself desperately in an attempt to keep herself together after the horrifying experience. "Most of us don't want to fight! Most of us don't want war! It's not fair! Why are you hurting all of us in this game!? Why not just target them?!"

"You bitch! You'd sell us out to this foreign monster?!" A chunin snarled and grabbed her roughly, only to be pushed back by another chunin.

"You do make a good point. I'd be surprised if everyone here was a complete idiot." Ghost nodded. "But, taking out an entire village at once seems to get the point across than just killing an eighth of the populace. I mean, no one is famous for taking out an eighth of anything. It just has no impact at all. Hey. Look at me. I managed to hurt an eighth of a biju. Hey, I finished an eighth of an S ranked mission. Yeah, no impact at all. Better just hit you all at once to be safe anyways. Besides, it's just easier to do it this way."

That was his reason. It was more impressive sounding, and easier, to kill the entire village than just make an example of the few that might be problems. There was nothing noble about what he was doing. Nothing reasonable about his logic. He simply didn't feel like putting in the extra effort to not harm the innocent.

He made what he was doing, the atrocities he was committing, sound like nothing more than an annoying chore.

He could have shown off his power.

He could have rescued Hana without being detected at all.

He could have wiped out the event of him appearing in the first place.

He could have only attacked the offenders and left the rest of the village alone.

Instead, he decided to play with them, using their pride against them in one of the most cruel and sadistic ways possible.

"So… all of this. This stupid game of yours. This torture..." A woman stumbled back, shaking relentlessly

"Is to make sure that when I do finally leave, not a single person here would dream of doing something so monumentally retarded that I'll have to come back." He replied with genuine honesty.

"Because if I do, we'll just have to kill time playing this little game I made up oh so long ago all over again. The one where I won't die over. And over. And over."

There was an age to his otherwise casual voice. A deep and ancient malice that bore into the spines of all that heard him.

"And you won't die. Over. And over.And over."

The dam that held back everyone's chaos broke.

Screaming and yelling both for and against Ghost's murder matched only those that were focused on getting him out of the village. Those that were desperate to avoid another traumatizing murder against those that were driven by pride and rage, confident that they could do better than the ANBU that had failed already.

Onoki could only watch, dumbfounded. Iwagakure, his village of trained shinobi and stern hearty civilians had been reduced to this utter mess. Fighting one another tooth and nail to kill or not kill a single man who didn't even seem to want to protect himself.

Had he not been the Tsuchikage, he actually would have wept at the sight. Such a nightmarish image was simply too much for him to accept so suddenly.

"Old man! What are you doing!?" Kurotsuchi yelled at her grandfather in mix hysteria and worry. Despite the fact that she had not been reduced to a screaming mess like the bulk of the populace, she was still not faring well herself. "We have to stop the fighting before someone gets through!"

Sadly she had been too late to remind him of that.

The two ANBU that had failed twice already had tried their hardest to stop them, however they were outnumbered and overpowered. The adrenaline and hysteria in the crowds systems forcing them beyond their normal limits.

A large man reached Ghost first. Well over two meters tall with bulging muscles and armed with knuckles made of what appeared to be chakra metal, the behemoth roared savagely as he grabbed the amused immortal with one hand and proceeded to punch him repeatedly with the other.

And despite the fact that everyone was desperate to not trigger another mass genocide, the observers could not help but stop and watch the brutal display of carnage as the massive fist collided with the source of their misery over and over again without end, inflicting as much pain and damage as he could.

Teeth flew. Bones were broken. Blood sprayed. Organs turned to slop. His glasses broke. His limbs bent in odd directions. His body contorted. His face swelled, but the man didn't stop with his assault.

When there wasn't enough of Ghost's skull to punch solidly anymore, his body was thrown roughly to the ground, where the shinobi proceeded to continue his relentless assault on the rest of his frame. Each blow making a minor tremor as it connected.

By the time he was done, the immortal was little more than four limbs surrounding a pile of chopped meat, organs, and bone.

"Hah. Hah. Recover from that. Freak." The Special Jonin panted and spat on the carcass as he stood up. He had felt every blow connect. There was no way that what he hit so many times was a clone or genjutsu.

"Can you not spit on my body next time? It's not sanitary."

No one had looked away that time. There had been no distractions, or shouting. Everyone had been focusing on just how this freak was not dying.

… But it didn't matter. One minute there was nothing but wasted meat on the ground, the next everything flickered black, and here he was again without a scratch.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The man didn't wait for any more exposition or words, attempting to reduce the monster into paste relying on nothing but his instincts and raw might.

He passed right through his target, his fist going right through the man's head as if nothing was there.

"Now now. Let everyone else have a shot first before you have another go." Ghost chided, half his head occupied by an arm. While everyone else was momentarily stunned by the feat, few noticed the peculiar black and white short sword that materialized in his hand and thrusted it effortlessly into the man's heart. "Of course, that's after my turn."

Many of those watching would have screamed…

… Had not Ghost seemingly duplicated himself for every individual in the village, appeared right in front of them, and stabbed every living being in the surrounding twenty kilos in the heart.

Every person saw the face of their killer. Blank face. Sunglasses that seemed to reflect light in an eerie way. Staring right at them as the blade effortlessly slid between their ribs and into their chests.

Personalized acceleration mixed with reiterating existential propagation. Clones had nothing on real timespace abuse.

With a flick of his wrist, the only remaining version of the man discarded the blood on his blade before vanishing it, not at all bothering to pay attention to gasping and wide eyed victims of his assault.

Still standing in the middle of the village square, he waited as people all around him stared with life ebbing away from their eyes. The vast majority either spent their last moments staring either at him or at their loved ones who were fading at similar rates, leaking crimson fluids from their chests without pause.

The last turn they had been aware that they were being killed, but it still came quickly when they were crushed instantly. A quick painless death.

This time, they would feel what it was like to get killed.

He yawned and scratched his stomach as he waited for everyone to die. Getting stabbed in the heart was for the most part an assured kill, but it took time for the brain to finally go. Technically, some exceptionally rare individuals could even recover after a good half an hour of their heart stopping, but he wasn't that patient.

Three minutes into the wait, he used War Scars again to make sure he killed everyone. Then he brought them back.

The mob that was trying to kill him was notably smaller this time.

There was more screaming too.

There was no mistaking who he was now.

There was no mistaking what he was capable of.

The immortal yawned, as if the mess he had created didn't interest him in the slightest. "Come on. All you have to do is let me just walk out of here, essentially admitting that you could do nothing to stop or kill me and thus your weakness. Don't worry. When I walk out of here, I won't tell anyone what happened. It's embarrassing to boast about shoving around the weak. I have better things to do than that."

He was a horrible person. The clear vast majority of the populace wanted nothing more than for him to leave, but so long as there were a few powerful individuals that still wanted to try and kill him and managed to do so, there was a chance that they would once again suffer horrifically.

The worst part was that he was making it very difficult for them to want to let him go.

If there was one thing that Iwa shinobi had more than any of the other major nations it was their pride. The pride to take on risky missions. The pride of their village. The pride of their strength. Their pride in risking their lives.

With every word, he was assaulting that pride. Demeaning it, and by extension, everything they stood for.

He was going to shatter that pride. Break it down in every man, woman, and child in the most ruthless and humiliating way possible.

There was no real reason for it. No justification that warranted for such actions. Not from him at least.

There was fighting going about all around the central square now.

Pride vs. instinct. Anger vs. survival instincts. Iwa was literally self-destructing all around him.

And he didn't care in the slightest, yawning as a kunai almost lodged itself into his head before one of the two ANBU from earlier deflected it.

"Oogakari! Stop this madness already!" Onoki snarled as he flew straight into the foreigner's face.

"Stop what? It's your turn. You guys decide what happens next, not me." Ghost shrugged, his voice projected over the entire village before nodding his head to where a particularly vicious fight was taking place. "It's not my fault that a bunch of the idiots here don't care about risking the mental states and welfare of every man, woman, and child in the village. Blame them."

"You're the one that's been killing us for no reason!" Kurotsuchi snarled as she made a wall of stone to block against a fireball. "You're the one that made this senseless game!"

"And you're the idiots that are still playing. Don't blame me for your comrades' lack of self-control. I've told you guys the out for this since the very beginning." It was maddening just how mundane he made his game of torturing and killing everyone in the village sound. It was almost as if the tens of thousands of lives here didn't matter in the slightest.

Onoki looked around and saw utter chaos. Friends and family were assaulting one another relentlessly. Blood was flying, and confusion was everywhere. His home, the mighty Iwagakure was falling apart right in front of him.

This monster had to leave. One way or another. The village wouldn't be able to take much more of this. Each mass killing was getting worse and worse. If things kept on going at this rate there would be no way to regain control and calm once this "game" ended.

And yet, he couldn't forget why this monster was here in the first place. Deidara had brought the girl. The bait.

Had the idiot really been intending to start a war? To discredit Onoki? Or did he know about how Ghost would react and miscalculated? Or, was he ordered to do this by someone else that did know this would happen?

Regardless, Akatsuki's days of doing business with Iwa were done.

The Tsuchikage's veins pulsed angrily and his blood pressure rose. He did not like what he was about to do, but it was the best way to end this chaos, one way or another. "Have it your way then! You want to have fun, monster!? Then you'll have it!"

"Eeeeh? Looks like the little-big man himself is finally getting some action." Ghost expressed a minor amount of amusement, his voice projecting again and causing many of the fights to stop. Dispite all the flack many had been giving Onoki recently, none could dispute that he was still quite easily the most dangerous individual in the village.

The populace slowly calmed down as realization that Onoki was taking a shot at Ghost sunk in. Hope, loathing, eagerness, and a cornucopia of other emotions were stirred up as the bulk of people around the immortal fled as fast as they could. The Dust Release was the pride and joy of Iwagakure and a symbol of its strength. It was their Wood Release and Sharingan, their human answer to the inhuman biju.

A tremendous spike in chakra stabbed the nerves of those in the center of the village as the Tsuchikage flashed through the seals needed for his technique and spread his hands out to reveal a transparent ball with a glowing white center.

"A sphere?" The immortal was curious. He knew about the cube, cone, and cylinder versions, but a sphere was new.

"Dust Release: Banishment of the Eternal Heavens."

Had the populace not known what was going to happen, they would have missed the ball seemingly teleport out of the old man's hands and embed itself into the immortal's chest.

"Ohoho! Now this is new!" The madman claimed, clearly impressed as he looked at the new addition to his chest and seemingly understanding what would happen.

He couldn't say anything else though. Before he could, the ball had both collapsed and expanded. A shell surrounded the victim, then immediately afterwards, fell into itself, dragging the body of Ghost with it into the cataclysm.

The intruder had vanished. There was nothing but silence.

"Is… is he gone? Is he dead?" A kunoichi warily looked around.

"He hasn't come back yet." The shinobi next to her expanded his senses, but had as much luck as she did.

"Holy shit. Of-of course it worked. Tsuchikage-sama's Dust Release is insane. There's no way anyone can survive a direct hit from it." A chunin clenched a fist in relief. He did his best to ignore the fact that he was a hypocrite and was shouting for Onoki's death not even fifteen minutes earlier.

"Damn. And I thought his normal variants were insane. That old geezer's been holding out on us." Kurotsuchi blinked and laughed lightly, allowing herself to collapse to the ground next to the downed Roshi.

Roshi didn't say anything. Instead he merely lifted his dead tired head off of the ground and gave the girl a glazed stare.

Slowly, the girl's smile fell and her face turned ash white. "… No. Old man, you can't be serious. There is no way anyone could survive that. That was a hidden move among Dust Techniques. There's no way…"

It was the stare of a man that had accepted his fate.

"Fuck Onoki. A jutsu that makes a singularity that targets only a single target? That's some high quality shit. Top marks hands down. There are a lot of people I know that would love to chat with you about how to pull that off."

There he was. Right where he had been destroyed down to the last molecule just seconds earlier.

"Impossible… that… that was a direct hit. How?" The Tsuchikage trembled, unable to comprehend just how anything could survive his technique unscathed.

The barest flicker of bitter amusement played with Ghost's lips.

Instead of saying anything, the man rose a hand to the sky.

Wind picked up rapidly in every and any direction. Clouds of dust and debris flew from the earth, dragged about by the errant streams.

The populace reacted accordingly. Some cried. Others screamed. Many tried to escape either down or away from the village to no avail. All wanted nothing more than to avoid whatever was going to happen next.

The buildup was longer than any of the other mass executions played out that day, and for a good half a minute no one knew what was going to happen.

Some people attempted to plow their way through the winds or burrow underground, but neither proved fruitful.

It wasn't until one ANBU realized that it was getting hard to breathe that they noticed the tremendous black wall of air that had completely surrounded the village.

Somehow, the man had effortlessly manifested the mother of all tornadoes around the entirety of Iwagakure.

As with all twisters, the vacuum effect was in play, where the spinning air reduced air pressure by the second, causing air to go straight up into the sky and making it harder and harder to breathe in its confines. Lightning arced across the endlessly spinning ebony walls, generated by the untold amounts of static electricity produced and being the only source of light available to those trapped save for the small patch of blue sky ten kilometers above…

… And the malevolently growing orb of raw power less than half that height.

Ghost, despite his reputation and claims, was not a powerful man by definition. His body was by nature weak due to a century of being perpetually starved. His psyche was unable to see him in any other state but that one regardless of what other changes were made. He was easily killed. His speed was one of his few saving graces, and while he did have a slew of powerful and diverse techniques and abilities, his pool of energy was nothing to write home about. In fact, many people in this reality had greater reserves than he did.

He could have just relied on his fire to make up for these faults.

Like hell he would take the easy way out.

That was where his second unusually developed physical trait came in.

While he couldn't store absurd levels of power within his body, Ghost could regenerate it instantly and endlessly.

The rest was self-explanatory. Every second, Ghost poured as much power he could into the air around him. He'd recover, and then repeat the process. The longer he was in an area, the more power he had invested and ready to use at any given time.

Naruto had managed to come up with a similar idea for his seventh sense, using the natural energy in it as a readily available tap for when he went Sage mode, and was even capable of controlling the nature and direction of the air to some degree, having eventually mastered the sky curse Atlas.

… But even he was unable to truly utilize ALL of the raw power he invested into the sky at once.

Air compressed upon itself endlessly as it absorbed the energy he fed it, and the electricity generated from the walls in every direction lashed out at it as if it were the core of an unspeakably powerful charge. A ball, no, a bomb of unimaginable potency that resembled a white sun was being prepared and waiting to be dropped on the populace.

"Since you decided to use one of your strongest attacks on me, I felt it was only appropriate that I respond with something that is just as eye catching." Ghost's voice once more reached every ear there despite the fact that the air in the village was now so thin that many were actually suffocating.

Ghost clenched his fist, and the walls around the village spun so fast that they appeared to be a single flawless surface that resembled more the endless night sky than an ever moving surface.

The amount of breathable air available was now nearly nonexistent, but it still did nothing to tear the spectator's eyes off of the hundreds of bolts of electricity and folds of atmospheres that struck and compressed the charge above their heads.

Silence.

It was beautiful in a horrifying way. Simple, but immaculate because of it. Layers of darkest black and brightest white overlapping one another endlessly.

The last thing everyone saw was the white beauty.

The last thing they felt was their entire bodies being atomized.

And then they were back. The sky was normal. The village was untouched. And Ghost was standing right there.

Nobody bothered getting up this time.

Ghost walked out the main entrance of Iwagakure no Sato.

o. o. o.

Somewhere in Amegakure, a nine eyed statue stirred.

o. o. o.

Omake: Why guests should not raid the Oogakari fridge when Ghost is away:

"Hey Waltz, do you mind getting us something to drink?" Tsume asked, never taking her attention away from her wise ass son who would use the distraction to smack her hands again.

"That sounds like a good idea." Inoichi nodded as he practiced with Hiashi. "I'd like some tea if you have any."

"As would I." Hiashi added his order.

Waltz sighed and bobbed his head endlessly as everyone made their orders. Thankfully he was able to memorize it all quickly and soon slowly made his way up the stairs to the kitchen.

Five minutes later, Shadow appeared from behind a rock that was too small to hide her.

"Hey guys! Just popping up to see how you're doing! You've been here a while right? You're probably getting pretty hungry and thirsty! Well, other than the obvious rule of IF YOU TOUCH MY SNACKS I WILL BREAK YOUR MINDS, BODIES, AND SOULS INTO PIECES SMALL ENOUGH TO FEED AMOEBAS, I just wanted to warn you to be careful about the stuff I stored in the fridge. I ran out of cool places to store my other specimens so I had to use it as a secondary storage for some… things."

Some faces started to turn a mix of ash white and vomit green.

"Now I won't go into details such as which Biju I may or may not have managed to harvest any particular biological fluids from, but uh… Onions. Yeah… that's a good enough hint. Just be careful of those."

The room was quiet as everyone stared blankly at the woman.

"Well. You lot are boring. I'm gonna do something… somewhere. For stuff." Shadow vanished behind the rock.

"I got the drinks!" Waltz opened the door and began to walk down the stairs, balancing a tray of beverages for everyone. "Chouza! You wanted the…"

The old man paused as he took in everyone's expressions. "Shadow was here and she said something, didn't she?"

They all nodded at once.

Waltz tossed the tray over his shoulder without hesitation and turned around. "Getting the booze!"

He was such a considerate host. He knew exactly what to serve his hosts at the right time.

o. o. o.

A/N:

Thanks Kagaseo for betaing and advice.

There are characters that have achieved omnipotence and power beyond understanding, and they set off to make the most of it. Building worlds, societies, and dominions. More often than not ruling as they saw fit.

There are gods that influence reality with their omnipotence. Altering and influencing behind the scenes, always aiming for the penultimate goal that their very beings strive for.

And then there are the few and far between… The characters that have these powers, know how to use them, and for the most part, don't do jack.

They don't rule. They don't influence. They aren't striving for some grand goal. They don't hunger for power. They don't care. They just want to do their own thing and be left alone.

The thrill of being all powerful and the lure to use this power as they see fit does not exist for these few.

These characters, honestly, scare the living shit out of me more than anyone else. Because if they are put in a position where they do use these powers, they will USE them, without restraint, without hesitation, and without remorse.

Mary Sues go fuck yourselves. Your god is here and he doesn't give a shit about morality.

Ranting is over.

If anyone was expecting an epic ass kicking or show of jutsu and martial arts, no. I'm sorry, but that is saved for the main characters of this fic.

When I made Ghost, I made him with the idea that he really was simply beyond anything and everything this world could throw at him and walk away fine (Chinese food not included). More than that, I made him feared. Over and over again, I've shown that all the characters that knew of him and his legacy in the first place, knew he was not just some human with absurdly broken powers that snapped once or twice, but something that was genuinely wrong, twisted, and to be wary of for a very good reason. Something that literally could not be stopped if he had reason to start going and was SCARY for a REASON.

I just showed a glimpse of it here.

Unlike all those other sues and Narutos and characters in other fics that have someone "so strong" and "so perfect" that they can fight people easily and dodge every attack, I took a different route.

Ghost will take these attacks. They will burn him. Warp him. Hurt him. Kill him. He is not immune to anything thrown at him.

It won't matter because he will just keep coming back. And then he will ask for more and give you reason to keep killing him.

He is the kind of powerhouse that isn't "so strong he can take out an entire village with a single move", but more "so overwhelming that an entire village can't do anything about him even if he gives them as many free shots as they want".

And it doesn't matter to him. He doesn't care about how strong he is, or how weak they are to him, or his hold on the world, or what's considered "right" and "wrong". He's so strong and been around for so long that things like "ruling" and "power" have no novelties to him anymore.

In moments like these, he is not a character people will like. He is not going to be a good guy and keep the damage to a minimum. He will hurt others without much care, but he won't do so meaninglessly.

I am not trying to make him one of those woeful protagonists dealing with his inner demons. I am trying to make him one of those demons that can sweet talk anyone to do anything and act civilized, but is deep down, still an unrelenting monster at his core.

He is a monster that enjoys helping, and messing with, the good guys more than the bad simply because it's more fun to watch what happens.

He is a monster that prefers to just have sex and make bad childish jokes than throw his power about and lord it over others.

He is a monster that wants nothing more than to just die once and for all already.

But he is still a monster of unmatched and untold authority.

And he has been capable of this the entire time. He just didn't want to do it. Simple as that.

It's that level of absurd detached power that I wanted to exemplify in this chapter. That in the grand scheme of things, everything on this world really equates to nothing more than a side job, or a passing hobby for most of the Oogakari. The only thing that they really do value here are, and not to sound cheesy, but the actual bonds and relationships they had made with the few individuals they like. Sadly, for the most part, even those bonds are not worth that much down the line.

Hana and Anko though, are the sole exceptions in this world due to their new roles as supports for Ghost's sanity. They are the only things of genuine value to the Oogakari in this world, and that changed everything, as you've seen.

I'm not making an excuse for anything Ghost has done. Not in the slightest. I'm just elaborating on his character.

As for other deconstructions in this chapter, I think a few are obvious. Overpowered character with reality destroying abilities going out? No! Of course there wouldn't be any consequences for his actions that spans across the dimension! There's no way that certain eldritch and spiritual horrors could possibly wake up from their deep slumber, or that Despots and religious nuts may or may not possibly misinterpret the signs for something that they can use for their own gain.

At once.

That's just silly.

So, next chapter will be the last one I make before I go back to working on FFD, which I left on a chapter that pretty much had everyone fangazming so hard I still haven't gotten the smell out of my clothes yet.

Oh, and for any of my Yukon fans out there in the north, fun news! My sis and I are going to Anime North this May in Toronto Canada! So try to keep an eye out for us! It's our first time in Canada and we want to experience that shit! Let me know if you're going!

So that's it guys! A bit of a dark chapter, but if that doesn't make an impact I don't know what will.

SO REVIEW! WORSHIP THE LOG! ▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅! AND REVIEW AGAIN!