Grim Reaper of Iwa

Chapter 25

Ok, for Naruto's harem, we have Kurotsuchi, Fu, Temari, Misa and either Karui or Samui….most likely Karui because I like her more. So tell me, why are some of you pushing for Hana…kiba's sister….to be in the harem. I don't see the connection. Please let me know and then I will decide.

And I would have had this done sooner, but work…go figure.

Anyway, back to the story!

XXXX

"We need your help." Kakashi replied seriously as stood before Naruto with the remnants of Konoha at his back.

"Huh? Why?" Naruto asked, wondering what had happened that would make Kakashi of all people ask for his help.

"Konoha is no more." Kakashi said sadly

"WHAT!?" Naruto's group shouted.

"What the hell do you mean that Konoha is no more?" Naruto asked angrily before a suggestion came to his mind. "Are you telling me that the civil war I heard about in Konoha basically destroyed it?"

"No." Kakashi said, shaking his head. "That is what stared it when Root attacked and they began to slaughter everyone in the village, but the real threat came from outside the village. A group called Akatsuki attacked. Their leader and his orange haired comrades killed both Danzo, leader of the Root, and Sarutobi right off the bat."

"The old man is dead?" Naruto asked, his blood going cold. He may not have liked konoha much anymore, but there were some people still around that he still had connections with. Old man Sarutobi being at the top of that list despite everything that had happened.

"Yes." Kakashi repled sadly, knowing of the boy's relationship to the old Hokage was.

Naruto sat down on a nearby rock as his team and new family members all watch him in varying degrees of sadness…except Suigetsu. He was hoping for some action and this news was sure to bring some action where he could cut things.

Finally, Naruto spoke again. "Other than the Hokage and this root guy, how did Konoha fall?"

"The members of Akatsuke spread out and caused as much destruction as they could. Despite being S-class criminals we were able to take down a few, but that was it. The power vacuum was too much."

"Yeah, then their leader used some strange technique to lift the surrounding ground around Konoha, including the Hokage monument, and when it was formed in a huge ball of rock, dropped the damn thing on the rest of Konoha." Kiba growl, feeling pain for his remaining family within Konoha.

"I see." Naruto replied, a little shell shocked but in a dark corner of his mind he was happy. The place that had scorned his very existence was finally gone from this earth, but Naruto shook that feeling off thanks to his grandfather figure dying in that mess.

"And that is not the worst part." A new voice said, catching everyone's attention. They all looked in that direction to see a heavily bandaged Jiriaya being supported by Tsunade and Onoki was right next to them, rubbing the sides of his head in an attempt to alleviate his growing headache.

"What's could be the worst part?" Ino asked.

"That the leader of Akatsuki was one of my first students from Rain and that he was an Uzumaki as well." Jiriaya sadly replied, making all those present widen their eyes.

Renji, one of the new Uzumaki to the group, decided to speak everyone's mind on that matter. "Well…..that sucks."

"Yes, it does, now let's get into the village, we have much to discuss and I want this headache to be gone already." Onoki replied as he floated away and back to his own village.

XXX

"Report." Onoki stated, mentioning for Naruto to tell him of how his mission to the old Oto base. He didn't mind the fact that the Konoha nins were in the room as well, figuring that Naruto would invite them into his Core group.

"It went as well as you can imagine when dealing with one of Orochimaru's old bases." Kitsuchi stared, getting everyone's attention.

"Wait, you went on a mission to one of Orochimaru's old bases and lived? He didn't try and kill you?" Kurenai asked.

Onoki smirked at that. It seemed that not even Konoha knew about this. He was going to have fun with this. "Yes, they did only because the man is dead." He said simply.

"WHAT!" Every Konoha shinobi shouted….except for Sakura since she was still conscious.

"Don't be fucking with me old man. I have been gunning for his death for a long time now." Anko raged.

"Oh he IS dead." Onoki stated with a knowing smile, "and according to what I heard, Naruto was there to see it happen."

Anko rushed right up to Naruto and held him up by his collar, shaking him as she screamed. "How did it happen? Tell me now!"

"You aren't going to get much from him if he is sick to his stomach from dizziness." Haku stated.

Anko looked back from Haku to Naruto to see that Naruto was swirly eyed and green faced. "Oh right…" She set the boy on the ground and asked the same question.

"Ugh, apparently he was trying to recruit Suna to team up with his village to attack yours during the Chunin Exams, but me and Haku were running away from giant desert scorpions and distracted him long enough for the Kazekage to figure out it was a trap and so he managed to kill Orochimaru with his Gold Sand."

Anko just stood there, the older ninja of Konoha looking her way to see how see what react. They were not expecting tears from the strong willed woman. "He's gone. He is finally gone!"

Jiriaya smiled sadly at her, knowing of her story. "And to help, now that he is dead, I can take off that curse seal safely."

Anko stared at Jiriaya for a moment before she rushed him in a large hug. "THANK YOU, YOU OLD CREEPER!"

"ARGH! MY ARM IS STILL HEALING." Jiriaya shouted in agony before he processed what she said. "I AM NOT A CREEPER! I AM A SUPER PERVERT!"

"What's the difference?" Tsuande and Anko asked at the same time before smirking at each other, making Jiriaya groan in annoyance and pain.

"Ok enough please, I want to get this mission report done and over with!" Onoki ordered, feeling that his headache was growing once more.

"Right." Naruto replied with a bemused smiled at the elder ninjas' antics. "When we arrived, we were greeted by Kimimaru here. He was one of Orochimaru's main guards when he was alive. One of the Sound Five if I am correct."

"Yes." The white haired Kayuga confirmed.

"He was slightly injured and resting near the entrance when we met." Naruto said. "We told him what we were after and he agreed to join us, but we would need his help to enter the base. When we did, we were met with an arena of sorts that the remnants made in order to see who would lead Oto."

"The three strongest people there were a name named Knarl, someone that Kitsuchi knew and fought." Naruto replied, making Onoki and Kitsuchi stare at each other in a silent conversation until Kitsuchi just nodded, ending it just like that.

"Another was the girl hanging on Haku. Kairi is her name." Naruto stated. "She was Knarl's daughter and a user of the Poison Release." At this Anko smiled, but for what reason, he would rather not find out. "Finally, we had a man named Kabuto, whom I fought and killed."

"I see." Onoki said before eyeing the group of red heads. "And who are they?"

"Prisoners. We managed to search the place while dad and Knarl where having their battle." Kurotsuchi replied. "Apparently, the snake freak was a collector of Uzumaki, hence the people with red hair."

The Konoha ninja all tensed up at the revealed info. They would be after the crap they went through and learned. Tayuya just scoffed at that and muttered something along the lines of 'pussies.' Renji decided break the tension by lazily waving at everyone and said, "Yo."

Kakashi and Shikamaru, despite everyone being wary of the new Uzumakis, decided that this one was ok in their books since he seemed just as lazy as they were. So they both held up a lazy wave and said, "Yo," as well.

"Right, the angry one is Tayuya, a former member of the Sound Five as well. The glasses wearing one is Karin." Naruto explain and said girls gave their respective greetings with Tayuya grunting something about old men and Karin giving a polite bow. "The lazy one with tattoos is Renji and the little one next to him is Erza" At this, Renji just waved while the little girl waved shyly, but instead of hiding behind her brother like she usually did, she hid behind Naruto, getting raised eyebrows.

"Next we have Suigetsu Hozuki." Naruto stated getting a wide eyed look for Onoki, most likely because he had fought someone powerful from his clan. He was certainly happy to have someone like that in his village. "Finally, we have Juugo, his body is the source of the Curse Seal, but I think due to his bloodline, he is unable to control his powers."

That made Anko, Tsunade, and Jiriaya blink. "I'll see what I can do kid." Tsunade said, knowing that Naruto would ask her to him the guy out. Jugo looked a little relieved at that, some hope shining in his eyes at the fact that he wouldn't lose it anymore.

"What of the other members of the Sound Five?" Onoki asked.

"Feh, those assholes probably died thanks to the end result of Knarl and assface's fight." Tayuya replied gruffly, making Kitsuchi glare at her.

"Ugh…what a head ache, just give me a written report later." Onoki order, getting nods from the team. "Now, I assume that you ex-konoha ninja want to join because Naruto is here as well?" At their nods, he decided to have a little fun with them. "Why should I? I could just have you all killed now and save me the trouble."

"B-but, you let Naruto in?" Hinata replied, a little shocked like the rest, noticing that the elder Shinobi were prepared for anything.

Onoki nodded. "Yes, because of his story and while I have not been the best host to my own Jinchuriki….or for that matter my own ninja, I do have a heart. And with the crap your village has put him through, I am hesitant to let you in my village. Personally, I don't want you here."

"Please reconsider." Asuma pleaded.

Onoki stared at them for a long time, making them all sweat but Asuma had seen his father do the same with other people, so he had a somewhat good feeling. "If you truly wish to join my village as stone ninja…ask Naruto. After all, he will soon be the Tsuchikage and you won't be my problem after that."

"WHAT!?" all the younger generation screamed.

So with that, everyone's attention as was on a sweating Naruto, whom at one point sent a glare at that short old man who just smiled back. Naruto look at all of them and noticed that all who wanted to join where a few jonin he didn't know but they never came at him, so they were good. Then there were his old classmates and their sensei…even Iruka was there. Naruto was even glad to see Konohamaru and his friends.

Before he could decide, he felt a tug on his cloak and looked down to see Erza just staring him before just nodding. Those around them, only Renji understood, seeing as he knew that Erza had taken a liking to Naruto and they had become fast friends. Now, little Erza was a good judge of character for her age and she did warn Renji about not trusting the Snake, but he didn't listen, so Renji hoped Naruto listened to the little girl.

"Well, I guess, but you would have to join my Core group that I created." Naruto said with a shrug before he noticed that Sakura was basically unresponsive and that Sasuke was not there. "But first, tell me. What happened to Sasuke and Sakura?"

"Sasuke fought his brother and they both died, but Itachi had a plan to prolong the Uchiha line through Sakura but without their curse." Kakashi replied sadly as he held up a ox to show to Tsunade. "They both died and Sakura needs a medic to get her new eyes."

Tsunade inwardly groaned feeling that there was just so much for her to do, but whatever, it kept her busy and she liked that…most of the time. "I'll deal with that as well."

"Thank you." Kakashi replied gratefully. "Now Naruto, what is this Core?"

"A special group I have to make in order to be the Tsuchikage. It is Onoki's test to see if I can create and run a group on my own. He did the same with Deidara, but that turned out badly." Naruto explained.

"I see, I will be more than happy to join." Kakashi replied with a bow to his old student. "It is the least I can do for not be there for you and not being a good teacher."

"Thank you." Naruto said before each and every ex-Konoha ninja bowed to him and agreed to join as well.

Onoki smiled and said, "Good, you have more people, but I have two more for you." He then handed Naruto a folder with two people listed in it, information and all.

"Interesting." Naruto said before looking over to Lee and Guy. "So a couple of people just like them eh? Oh boy."

"Oh boy indeed." Onoki stated with a smirk. "I will also leave the team construction to you as well."

"Why not just give me the job now old man?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

"You wish!" Onoki laughed.

Tsunade smiled at the two's antic before she remembered something. "Oh, Haku, Shizune had her baby while you were on your mission."

"WHAT!" Haku screamed before rushing out of the office.

XXX

Naruto sighed as he stretched his legs. An hour. It took an hour to get out of the office. He made the team and informed them all what they did and how they were still looking for new members. Renji mentioned that he knew another Uzumaki who was great with seals and was able to make something called a rifle with seals and it shot out massive amounts of chakra.

Naruto would have to find her and her boyfriend…along with whoever that was with them that wanted to join.

After that, the group dispersed, most likely to look for new homes within the village. He remembered Anko taking hold of Kairi and as they left, they started singing about vemon bottles on the wall…or something like that.

"So, are we going to see Shizune's child?" Kurotsuchi asked as she and Erza walked next to him. The little girl had become attached to Naruto and they could not figure out why, but they were not complaining.

"Yep, Zabuza would kill me again in the afterlife if I didn't at least see his kid." Naruto replied with a smile. This led Kurotsuchi to smile as well before taking his hand in hers as they walked to the hospital. Erza, the ever quiet girl, saw this and shyly did the same to Naruto's other hand, making it a cute scene to those who saw it.

From his position on top of a nearby roof, Renji smiled, seeing that his sister was in good hands.

XXX

"GUYS!" Haku shouted happily before he clamped his mouth shut with a panicked look.

"Geez Haku, are you alright?" Naruto asked with an amused expression.

"Yes, but I should not have yelled." Haku replied, a little jittery. "Hikaru is sleeping."

"So we can see the little guy?" Kurotsuchi asked, a little disappointed.

"Oh no, you can, just try to not talk loud like I did." Haku replied with an embarrassed grin.

"What is with you man?" Naruto asked.

"Sorry, I am just happy because Zabuza's kid is around and that Shizune declared me the god father due to me being Zabuza's first student! So exciting!" Haku nearly shouted again before clamping his mouth shut once more.

Naruto chuckled at his friend's nervousness and happiness. "Calm down man. It is great that you are the godfather, but you really need to calm down and be yourself. If you plan on teaching the kid when he is older, you have to be yourself or he won't know what to think of you."

Haku took a calming breath….and then another. "Your right. Thank you." Haku replied with a grateful smile. "Now come on, I want you to meet Hikaru."

Naruto nodded as he, Kurotsuchi, and Erza entered the room. They were greeted to the sight of Tsunade talking with Guren and Shizune. "Took you long enough brat." Tsunade replied with a smirk.

"Hey, I had things to do with the Core…like assigning team and all that." Naruto replied.

"Ah yes, the perks of being an eventual Kage. Paperwork like there is no tomorrow. So glad I am not one." Tsunade replied fondly.

Shizune looked up from her baby to Naruto and said, "Why didn't you use Shadow Clones for that?"

Naruto's eyes widened at that as he tried to come up with an excuse but nothing spewed from his mind to his mouth. "I have no clue." He finally said with a figurative rain cloud over his head, but cleared up when the baby woke up and started babbling.

"Oh so this is Hikaru….yeah he looks like his dad somewhat, but I can see a lot of you in him." Naruto said with a smile.

Shizune smiled. "Yes, he is such a cutie! I wonder who he will take after."

"I just hope he doesn't take after Naruto and keep calling me girl boy all the time." Haku stated with an eye smile.

Naruto glared at his friend before a devious smirk crossed his lips. "So Guren, has Haku told you about Kairi? His mentally unstable new girlfriend?"

Haku paled at that. "Oh you evil little reaper!" He cried but froze when he felt someone put a hand on his shoulder and squeeze.

"Oh please do tell." Guren demand as she dragged the crying boy out of the room.

"You know, that was evil." Kurotsuchi replied with bemused smirk on her face.

"Meh, she was going to find out eventually when Kairi gets away from Anko long enough." Naruto replied with a shrug.

While Naruto, Kurotsuchi, and Shizune chatted, Little Erza was staring at Tsunade until the woman had enough and looked down at the kid staring holes into her. "What?"

With a straight face, Erza slowly pointed to her once face, more specifically her eye. "I see." Tsunade said with a nod. "Well I do have other patients but i will work you in. I can defiantly make you a new eye."

The little red head smiled and hug the woman leg before she back up and then point at Naruto then her eye.

"I-I don't understand." Tsunade said, getting the other's attention.

Erza did it again but pointed at Naruto's stomach area and then her missing eye.

"What about my stomach?" Naruto asked.

"I think she wants to help share your burden." Renji said from the window.

"Huh? Why would she want to do that?" Tsunade asked, completely baffled.

"She is a very kind girl and likes to understand people…especially her friends." Renji said like he was talking about the weather. "She had taken a liking to Naruto and well her special sensing powers picked on his burden. She felt you needed more friends so she told me she was going to be a close friend yours man."

Naruto blinked at that before looking straight at Erza. "Are you sure about that Erza, the Kyuubi's energy is not the best thing in the world, he even warned me of that."

Erza nodded with a determined look in her eye.

Let me speak to her…put you hand on her forehead. Kurama voice rang out through Naruto's head, something that hasn't happened a lot since Kurama liked to keep to himself and sleep….a lot.

Still, Naruto did as he was told and the two were suddenly into front of Kurama's cage, with the beast staring at them intently. "Girl, you know that I am sealed with in Naruto and I work with him. So why do you want some of my power?"

Erza stared at the giant fox for a long time before actually speaking. If one looked at her now, she had a strange set of armor on her person. A sign of her mind connected to Naruto's. "No one should be alone." She said softly.

Kurama stared at the girl before saying, "I will think on it. If what your brother said is true and you want to understand us better…you will go through some pain when you receive the eye with my power."

"I know." Erza replied as she took Naruto's hand. "But I want to be a good friend."

The Kyuubi stared at this girl for a moment. "Very well, just let me know when the eye is done."

With that, the two were back in the real world and Naruto relayed the info to Tsunade who frowned. "This….this is big." She looked back at Erza and said, "I hope you are ready for what will happen."

Erza just nodded.

XXX

It was a few days later and Naruto and Erza were at a local junk yard filled to the brim with scrap metal. "So…why are we here again?" Naruto asked himself as she looked at all the metal. "Oh right, Renji said she needs scrap metal to complete her dream armor. Lazy ass had to go watch the clouds with Shikamaru instead of coming with us."

Erza ignored the blond Uzumaki as she look at all the metal with glee. She had already found some of what she need and when she attached them to her clothes the metal, thanks to the seals, fused together.

Finally, after an hour of searching, she found the last piece to cover her chest and when it fused, the Uzumaki symbol appeared on the front, while also designs popped up here and therem making the armor look elegant. Erza smiled brightly and finally spoke. "I did it!"

"Wow, she speaks!" Naruto replied with a smile.

"Of course I speak, I just like to feel protected no matter what." Erza replied, showing that the armor was need for her not to be so shy. It was odd, but Naruto was not going to push it.

Suddenly, an ANBU appeared and said, "Naruto-same, Lord Onoki wishes to speak with you." With the message carried out, the man disappeared.

"Huhm I wonder what the old man wants." Naruto said, "Well, might as well find out, come on Erza."

XXX

"You wanted to see me old man?"

"Yes." Onoki stated, once Naruto got a good look at the man, he saw that Onoki looked put off and a little worried. "A mission has come in and it requests you personally."

Naruto frowned as he took the scroll and read it aloud.

I am the leader of the Za Ina-Kiri Gorufujou. My name is Amarini Iyashii. You may not know who I am, but I know a lot about you. After all, you blew up my father. Now this is not a true revenge scheme. No, this is a thank you of sorts mixed in with some revenge. I thank you for killing off my father so I could gain all his money and his company. Gato Shipping Company.

Now, for my revenge, my associates and I have set up a tournament in Wave Country. In one month's time, the tournament shall start. I invite you to come and participate along with whomever you choose to come along.

Please note that if you and/or none of the other invitees do not show up, I will personally see to it with my vast amount of money that Wave is razed to the ground, much like how Konoha was recently.

Think on it Grim Reaper.

Amarini Iyashii

XXXX

And I am ending that here as I have to revise my idea for this tournament a little. It should be interesting with some of the ideas I have been given. You will never guess who will be in the organization.

Za Ina-Kiri Gorufujou means No Limits Club

Amarini Iyashii means Excessively Greedy

Anyway, I hope you all like Erza's part in the story as she will have more screen time due to the tournament. I might also add in Renji's friend into the tournament and afterwards, she will join. Can anyone guess who the female Uzumaki with be? She has a rifle so that should narrow it down.

Also, can anyone guess who the two new people are to the Core? They are sort of like Guy and Lee, but the younger of the two will be Lee's love interest. I'll give you a hit…they are from a fighting game. You know…I might include some characters from that game into the tournament since I won't be having a lot of ninja from other villages in this. Meh…

Review!