The Real Monster

by Shadenight123

Monster. He was Monster. On one side, the happy bright family of the Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage, on the other, Monster. Four years of hell in orphanage, one year in Root, and finally five years in Kumo. Still, will he get over his traumas, or will his traumas bring him to deeper pits of darkness? Naru-Shizuka Chap-26onwards . Sad story. Finished. Dojutsu!

26. SH: Slaughtering

Extremely long chapter, with battles, many things happen at the same time, and some events transpire into other's *sections*. Take note of this while reading.

Twenty-sixth chapter

Kakashi read the letter that Pakkun had delivered to him slowly. Staring at the contents, wide-eyed, he couldn't help but feel the need to turn his gaze to the sleeping form of Rin, next to him, in his bed.

Kakashi-sensei, a storm is coming on Konoha's one-eyed mummy, he betrayed his word, and used the bottle of nine pickles to his ends, taking the nine pickles for himself, and not uttering a word. As Iron will face him, snake might come along, and whirlpool will have revenge…find a way to have everyone you trust grouped together in a single place by the last day of the month, possibly far from the mummy.

Ps: I hope I don't have to babysit you through code-talking.

Actually, Kakashi thought even a kid would understand said *Code-writing* but he said nothing, as he slowly tore the scroll to pieces, before standing up to carefully walk over the small kitchen corner, to burn it under a controlled flame, before preparing coffee. It was going to be a long day ahead of him.

Asuma was a must, being the son of the Third Hokage, he had truly hated the guts out of Danzo since he had been inserted in the position, but had said nothing, as there was no way out of it, after what Minato had done. Asuma would have brought Kurenai, the red-eyed woman, and then, probably, they'd have to convince her to bring her students, but Shino and Kiba would probably take the bait, if it revolved around Naruto. *Whirlpool* will have revenge was something that made the silver-haired Jounin weary nevertheless, as it seemed that the only reason to *bulk* a large number of Konoha's shinobi in a single place reeked of trap. He probably wouldn't have even *thought* about doing it, but he had a hunch that *snake* was referring to Kuro and his company…and that the case, then it might truly turn messy for Konoha. Naruto was keeping his words though, if the words in the letter were correct, Naruto had been used by Danzo and then had been discarded, after sealing the nine tails elsewhere. Still, he'd better watch out for Danzo's associate. First thing was warning Asuma, then Gai, who'd be even easier to convince…with a conjoint training field exercise! That would work, they just had to set a week, propose it to Danzo as a way to strengthen the military bonds, by having students and professors and even their clans work along, and probably that would leave Konoha nearly empty even of the civilians, who'd come along to watch.

Why stop there? A…A sport festival! That's the right idea! Kakashi was sure that Gai would yell something about him been extremely youthful, but he actually didn't want to lose his own face about proposing it…so he'd need the approval of the other Jounin-senseis.

Danzo would probably approve, but not be present the entire day, as, after all, he loathed that sort of stuff, and some of his Root operatives *might* remain to stand guard, which would both be good, for Naruto, and bad at the same time, if he planned on speaking to them before…still, it was a good plan. He gave himself a mental pat on the head for having thought about it, and a bigger than normal coffee cup with biscuits.

"So…what have you been thinking about, that you're taking a biscuit?" Rin queried, still half sleepy.

"Something awesome," Kakashi replied with a small grin, as he slowly dressed up.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Rin muttered to herself, before turning around to sleep some more. They weren't waiting for her in the hospital till noon, since she did the night shift.

"Oh you'll see," and with those words, Hatake Kakashi, dressed up, left the apartment from the window, to head off towards the training grounds, where he knew Gai would be.

Truth be told, if Tsunade herself had betted on the collocation of Gai in the mornings, even she, with all her bad luck, wouldn't have lost the bet. The training ground in which the *Sublime Green beast* of Konoha was had been specifically built for him, and the mad persons that thought like him. Meaning everything, in there, weighted at least on the hundred kilos, and that was the lightest stuff around, obviously.

"Yosh! Youthful rival!" Gai exclaimed, turning around with a bright and wide laugh, staring as Kakashi moved slowly closer to him.

"Gai, I can trust you, right?" Kakashi whispered, as he slowly closed the Icha-Icha book he had taken out for the duration of his dash.

"Obviously my dear rival!" Gai exclaimed out loud, "What's the matter Kakashi?" he whispered, narrowing his eyes as he moved closer.

"Promise me you won't tell anyone else it's my idea…" the silver-haired Jounin whispered back, looking with his eyes around nervously.

"What idea, Kakashi?" Gai queried, perplexed.

"I found out that the recent Genin recruits seem…a bit mopey, and in dear need of help," Kakashi hinted.

"If you say so, youthful rival, but what's your idea then? Don't make me so curious!"

"How about…a sport's festival? To increase the youthfulness," the word rolled out of Kakashi's tongue like thick tar, "and to make everyone understand the fire of youth?" as soon as he said that, Gai's eyes opened in shock, before smiling widely, tears falling freely down his eyes.

"YOSH! Finally the fires of youth have begun burning brightly into you! YOSH! We shall have one next week, no, tomorrow!" as he said that, Kakashi's eye turned to the smiley face.

"Why tomorrow? Let's do it at the end of the month…with everyone that wants to participate! Let's make it a grand festival…of youth!" as he finished speaking, Gai's eyes sparkled with pure untainted joy.

"That's why you're my rival, Kakashi! Your fire of youth is already rivaling mine! YOSH!" and with that, Gai actually dashed out, already thinking about fliers and getting permissions.

Kakashi sighed in relief…now that the hard work was delivered to someone else he'd just have to speak to Asuma by himself.

Meanwhile, in a casino, a certain drunken slug princess had been on her twenty-seventh consecutive…win.

"Shizune," Tsunade whispered, slowly, "please tell me it's not true," as she once more, her mouth agape in shock, pulled the clutch, Shizune squeezed Tonton strongly, as an eerily tense air was around the two. Even the normal patrons of the casino stood silent, as the twenty-eight win came in, a woman shrieked in despair, claiming apocalypse was looming near.

"Oh shut up! It's just…broken, yes," as Tsunade stood up, leaving, for once, the money behind, "Clearly broken!" she moved towards the exit, only to hear a trumpet and mechanized sound and a metallic voice that said.

"As the millionth client to leave without any money you win the grand prize! Ten millions ryos are yours!" at that, the Slug princess simply dashed away screaming, followed by Shizune, who was more likely strangling Tonton than actually holding him.

*Kumogakure*

To say A was livid was to say the sun was simply *lukewarm*, mostly, however, he was torn between doing what the letter received from Mabui said, and doing what his father's heart told him. He knew Naruto was no weak Genin, and heck, he suspected he'd be able to put up a nice fight even against B and A, but still, to outright challenge Danzo by ambushing him? It was a way to solve things without recurring to war, cut the head and the snake dies, but the fact that Naruto's head could pretty much become the one to roll didn't make him feel any better. He slowly stood up from the desk, tearing apart the letter and destroying it with a small controlled electrical surge, to make sure no trace remained of it.

He then swiftly, and nimbly, jumped out from his office window to catch some air, and avoid a headache about being *an irresponsible Raikage who leaves work halfway done* from Samui. He landed gently on the ground below, not even earning a bout of interest from the passerby who knew that the Raikage was used to those sorts of thing, when he didn't want to work, he simply wouldn't, and there wasn't much they could do to make him change his mind. He found himself being brought by his own feet towards the Hill of Snakes that was now mostly empty, and thus was the perfect hiding spot from his irate secretary. Some snakes still remained, to gather the clouds around the lightning farms, a feat that had granted a surplus of electricity and had made Kumo the first exporter of it towards the other countries, especially towards Konoha. Still, the letter had been specific. He'd send a messenger to the land of frost, to inform them to shut down the transformers that split the current into two branches, one heading towards the general direction of Otogakure, and the other towards Konoha. Konoha would stay in the dark for an entire week, probably, unless they had backup. Three years of strict alliance had made it sort of dependent on the electricity provided by Kumo. Without it, the city would go dark. The hospitals had backup generators, at least, A hoped they did, as he carefully made his way inside the caves, he stopped for a moment to stare at the statue that the snakes had made of Naruto. On one side, stood a boy with a small black snake in his hands, lulling it like it was a baby, staring at it with merciful eyes. On the other side was, in scale, obviously, a giant Kuro and the same boy standing on top of him, both in a position to pounce. Both sides were connected by their backs that sort of showed the duality between mercy and revenge.

"The kid's grown up so fast…I might give him the hat when he marries," as he finished speaking, he narrowed his eyes, as he realized that Shizuka had been tailing him, and was now silently standing by his side.

"Honorable Raikage-sama…might I inquire something?" she queried, with a polite tone.

"Yes, I know I should be working in my office right now," A replied, rolling his eyes, "Still, this is a nice place to stay," he added.

"No, my question concerned Toruna-san, actually," she replied, "Since it's my belief he stayed in Kumogakure for one month, under that circumstance, I can understand him having a room, even though it was in an apartment shared with key assets of your village," she added, "What I don't understand is why, since he left on a tracking mission of indefinite time schedule, he did not pack his stuff, and instead left it there," she pointed out, as the Raikage's eyes narrowed for a second, before shrugging.

"Maybe he liked the spot and is coming back?" he hazarded.

"Or maybe it can be coupled with your Nibi Jinchuuriki slip of the tongue about *Otouto* being stupid…and speaking of him like he was alive, when I know he's meant to be deceased…and if we add the fact he died three years ago, and that Toruna of the snakes appeared in the Iron lands one year ago…and that both have snakes companion that talk…" Shizuka's eyes carved themselves deeply into the Raikage's face, "I have to come to the inevitable understanding that your son and Toruna-san are the same person," as she finished talking, A sighed, nodding.

"Seems it was found out…"

"Why did he lie?" Shizuka muttered, "He could have come out alive, and…"

"He was kept for two years to train with the sage of snakes, and when he did come out, he was dropped in the Iron lands…furthermore, he *was* the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, and now he is no more. Guess why?" as the Raikage replied that, Shizuka's eyes bulged in shock…he couldn't just *stop* being a Jinchuuriki, you either were or you…

"He would have died! But he's not the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki…so…they removed it from him and he…survived it?" Shizuka was surprised, just how much did Toruna, or Naruto, defy the common conceptions?

"That he did, my boy's a hardheaded fool with a strong will," the Raikage replied, "still, now that you know," the Raikage's eyes narrowed, "What are you going to do?"

Shizuka's right hand went to her own chin, as she slowly took the time to think about it. Technically, while it was true that Naruto belonged to Kumo, he had sworn fealty to the land of iron, to her father, for as long as…

"When does *Toruna* of the snakes intend to die?" she whispered, recalling precisely what oath had the man sworn to her father.

"That is a secret I cannot part with," the Raikage replied.

"He's planning something dangerous, isn't it?" Shizuka muttered, "Something that might probably kill him in the end, that's why he didn't…No," the woman's eyes trembled in realization, "He can't be thinking that," she slowly added.

"What is *that*?" The Raikage replied, hoping she hadn't understood.

"He plans on extracting the Kyuubi and planting it in him!" she screeched, "That's suicide! My father wouldn't permit it, he…" her voice turned to a barely audible whisper, "he wouldn't be able to wage war to retrieve Toruna…because he'd become the Nine Tailed Jinchuuriki, who belongs to Kumogakure for the contract made…thus he'd be Naruto…and he'd be free from any and all contracts and obligation done by the land of iron…"

"If that's his plan, then that's his plan," the Raikage replied, well, better not tell her of the *middle* part of Toruna freeing the Kyuubi.

"You're not going to stop me from reporting this to my father, are you?" Shizuka queried, narrowing her eyes.

"Even if you *did* that, by the time he'd come over to stop him, my boy would have already gone through it all…he's smart like that," as the Raikage spoke with pride, turning his soft gaze to the statue once more, Shizuka muttered back in a low, and barely audible voice.

"Then I just have to go and stop him in person," and with those words, she dashed to the exit.

"Hey! You'll never reach him in time!" A yelled, "you don't even know *where* he is!"

As he heard no reply, the Raikage shrugged, the woman was just going to run for a while, realize it was futile, and move back to wait. There was no way she'd know where Naruto went. No way at all.

"Raikage-sama?" a voice called to him from the back, as he turned around to look into the eyes of Shiro-chan, the flying *stalker of the skies*, "Shizuka-san told me that Toruna asked to meet her, but forgot where in his message, why didn't you tell her he was heading to Konoha?"

At that, A paled just so slightly.

"Well…it takes a month to get there, there's no way at all she'd get there in time, and that's final," he muttered, to convince himself by also nodding.

"By the way, Samui-san is just behind me, wishing to talk with you, Raikage-sama," Shiro politely added, before flying out of the way, so that the blond busty secretary could heel-kick the Raikage in the face, and pull him back to the office, holding onto the Hokage's vest collar.

*Team Akatsuki*

Kushina was ready: she had instructed Katsumi not to open the door to strangers, to listen to Konan-san, and to be a good girl. The group was strangely a bit *packed*, as Nagato had to be brought by two of his Paths, while the others surrounded the group, that was composed of her, Minato, Itachi and a strange blue-skinned fish guy who presented himself as Kisame.

"Itachi-kun!" Kushina exclaimed, as they had begun their running through the trees, as Amegakure was just a month's time away from Konoha.

"Uzumaki-san?" Itachi queried back, realizing just then who the red-haired woman was, and giving a perplexed look to Minato, who narrowed his eyes, and to Nagato, who slowly nodded.

"Call me Kushina-san! Why did you leave the village? Did Danzo force you out?" as she queried that, Itachi's eyes slowly turned to the road in front of them.

"I…you could say that," he replied, emotionless.

"Don't worry then, 'ttebayo! We're going to kick his ass when we get to him!" as Kushina exclaimed that, Kisame actually smirked, not saying a word. They had been briefed about the *peculiar* condition of the woman, and for that, they kept their mouth shut. Still, as they travelled towards their destination, something was telling the fish man that something, somewhere, was definitively wrong.

Back in Amegakure, precisely where the statue used to seal the bijuus stood, a man clad in white and black appeared straight in front of its open mouth, in a small puff of smoke, his eyes a dark blue color bordering the purple, with small white and black scales on his cheeks, his hair dirt blond and red stained. Letting the small snake slither to his ear, out from the statue's mouth, he listened carefully to all the information he had to deliver.

"When it rains…it pours," Naruto whispered, his eyes narrowing as the snake finished hissing to him the last of the words. A pity for the Akatsuki, not to check the statue's teeth, a boon for him, that they used the statue to communicate great distances too.

The room he was in was dark, and cramped, probably somewhere deep down Amegakure, with but a metal door as an exit.

"Well…who am I to say no to free chaos?" he whispered, as he turned his gaze to the statue, a wicked grin on his face. If he could destroy it…Akatsuki would certainly yell in pain for the rest of their lives. He slowly got his hand to a bundle of explosive notes, but just as he grabbed them, somebody yelled.

"I wouldn't do it if I were you!" a man clad in an orange spiral mask suddenly appeared in front of Naruto, making the snake sage jump backwards, his eyes staring deeply into the masked figure, as the explosive tags went off, they disappeared, like engulfed by some sort of vacuum hole in the air.

"Now, now, Tobi's a good boy you know? No making Tobi explode," the masked man spoke again, with a strangely childish voice.

"You're wearing the Akatsuki's clothes," Toruna replied, "You aren't out to kill me?"

"I must say, why would I!" Tobi exclaimed, feigning shock, "You're damn strong! You should be recruited! Uncle Tobi wants you for Akatsuki!" as he said that, he pointed his right finger towards Toruna, who moved to the side by instinct, avoiding what looked like a Senbon-needle.

"Strange, I thought the leader…was this *Pain-sama*, and nice try, by the way," Toruna replied with a smirk, his palms opening up and closing.

"So the snake was a mean for you to spy here, huh?" Tobi's voice slowly lost his childish tone.

"I speak snake-tongue, so as I take it, you knew of the snake…what do you want from me?" Toruna replied, slowly letting his right hand descend to his waist, where a Ninjato stood in wait.

"I already said it! I want you in Akatsuki! Capturing Bijuus would be much more fun, with an entire loving family!" as he finished those words, anacondas emerged from Toruna's back, throwing wind enhanced blades at Tobi, who simply let them pass through him, as the statue behind him…moved.

"Not what I was expecting! Well, can't always win!" The masked man exclaimed that, as Toruna dashed backwards, the statue clashed down its hands, dust and dirt flying as Tobi dashed forward, with a speed that Toruna could barely keep up with, as electricity cackled through his body, to enhance his speed and reflexes, he still had troubles, just how fast was the man?

"Raiton no Yoroi huh? Damn how I hate that stuff," Tobi muttered, as suddenly, a sort of black hole appeared right next to Toruna's shoulder, who threw a snake to the side from his forearm, teleporting there in an instant, and avoiding the sucking motion.

"That's just like the Hiraishin! Damn you!" Tobi whined, "This is just not fair at all! Stay still!" as chakra chains erupted from the statue flying with blinding speed towards Toruna, the snake sage did the only thing possible.

He replied with chains.

"Chakra Chains Barrier!" as chains sprouted from Toruna's back, closing himself in a small dome, Tobi looked at the man, narrowing his gaze.

"You're still here?" Tobi muttered, "Why are you still here?" Tobi had thought the man had arrived through a teleportation jutsu that thus should have been sealed when he had revealed himself to the man in black and white. Instead…it was a reverse summoning effect, which meant it wasn't been blocked by the room, since, after all, the statue itself was a summoned creature.

"Oh, so you realized…well, I just wanted to…understand the situation," as the word *understand* was stressed, Toruna dispersed in smoke, leaving a puzzled masked man.

Just what was the man's game? And *He* thought *he* had the game set. Just what…what was going on?

*Team Jiraiya*

"Can I neuter him?" Anko whined, pointing with her Kunai at the chained up form of Sasuke, who stood on C's shoulder, while she used her free hand to better rein in Tayuya, the girl was heavy.

"No, you cannot," C replied, as he was the one holding Sasuke, chained up and ball-gagged.

"Can I throw a kunai through his…" as the purple-haired Kunoichi tried again, with a childish tone, Jiraiya sighed, while making sure that Kabuto, on his shoulder, stayed tied, blinded, and ball gagged.

"Only when we get in Konoha!" he exclaimed, in the end, making Sasuke's eyes bulge in shock: the nerve of the guy!

"Mpfh!" The Uchiha muffled, as he had a dirty piece of clothing in his mouth, to keep him from yelling.

"He's saying he'd like a kunai with an explosive tag attached," Anko said, "possibly also piercing his shoulder, and sending him to the hospital for a couple of weeks with third degrees burn on the vast majority of his body," she slowly muttered, anger seething out from each of her words.

"I think there's a story there," Jiraiya said, slowly, "but he's needed alive. At the current speed, we'd arrive by the end of the month, you know?"

"If Konoha hasn't burned to the ground with Atsui's *Hot* catchphrases…then there is nothing to fear in one more month," C replied, with a sigh.

"Mpfh!" Tayuya muffled, trying her best to free herself.

"Well, I could knock these two out with drugs though," C pondered, "I do have some neurotoxin that should paralyze them completely…" as he hinted that, he suddenly added, "though it also removes bowel control…"

At that notion, both salamis stood very, very, still.

"Seems they understood the lesson," Jiraiya muttered, "like this guy here, I mean, he's been basically quiet since departure..." as the Toad Sage turned around to face at Kabuto's face, he raised a puzzled eyebrow, before depositing him on the ground, to check on his pulse, "No wonder…he's dead!"

"What!" Anko exclaimed surprised, "C! You haven't felt anything?" she yelled, turning to the medic-nin, who narrowed his eyes.

"Can't be, I'm feeling his chakra right now…" as he moved closer, dropping Sasuke on the ground, the Uchiha tried to slowly roll away, only to feel the sharp heel of Anko on his back.

"No moving little worm or I'll crush your spine," she whispered with a gleeful tone.

"He's not right," C whispered, checking onto the body, "there's no heart, no beat, no blood movement…it's a corpse…but with chakra," he added, "Must be a forbidden jutsu of sort…he replaced himself with a corpse!"

"When would that bastard manage such a thing!" Anko yelled, as she slightly pushed a bit more of her weight on the Uchiha.

"Probably when we attacked them in the hideout, he mustn't have been completely suppressed," C replied, as Jiraiya's gaze turned to the two remaining people.

"Well, let's just hope neither of our two remaining prisoners escape, it wouldn't be funny at all," with those words, the Toad hermit left the body there, starting once more their trek.

*Katsumi*

"Konan-san!" Katsumi exclaimed, looking at the elder woman being thrown against the ground repeatedly. The man in question stood tall, wearing white and black clothes, and his gaze was mostly murderous.

"Epsilon reporting in," the man buzzed to the wireless radio, "Objective one located," it slowly added, before jumping to the side, avoiding papers coming at him as sharp as shurikens, while the Konan on the ground turned to slips of papers.

"Kami Bunshin ? Correcting previous statement: Need backup," as the man spoke slowly, he sidestepped, before dashing out of the way to avoid the explosive tags attached to the last sent shurikens.

"Katsumi-chan! Get the kids in the safe house!" Konan exclaimed to the red-haired girl, who was whimpering at the scene. She was a ninja, she knew she could fight him, but then…why was she afraid to even move a finger?

"No use having her move, I blocked her with Kanashibari no Jutsu," the man explained with a smirk, disappearing in a swirling of dust, only to try and punch Konan, the real one, on the side of the face, but instead seeing paper appear on her cheek.

"Shikigami no Mai!" as Konan's body turned completely into paper, it folded into shurikens dashing against the man, who, caught by surprise, was hit, dispersing in smoke. Just as he did, Katsumi found that she was able to breathe and move again, as the paper returned to bundle together in the form of the elder woman, Konan began running towards her, yelling.

"Katsumi GET DOWN!" she didn't understand why, and that second, that simple second of distraction, was more than enough for Toruna to place his katana in front of the girl's neck, while Gamma touched the girl's head for a second, before seeing her faint.

"She's with us now," the two perfectly similar men spoke, as a blast of fire created a wall before them, and the woman, before they seemingly disappeared.

"Damn it!" was all that the blue haired woman could say, before putting down the fire with large slips of paper. How could the man go by unnoticed by the rain? How could he actually manage that feat?

*Above in the skies*

"Kuro, my dear friend, we are geniuses," Naruto muttered, as Gamma and Toruna rolled their eyes over, taking out cards to play, while Katsumi stood, pretty much, tied against the snake's back.

"I take it you're enjoying this…position of knowledge?" Kuro replied with a chuckled hiss.

"I'd say…I do. The youngling told me more than enough about…their plans and I've now got some nifty things to learn, for future references…" as he said that, Gamma shrugged.

"No Genjutsus…I feel saddened," he pointed out, as Toruna spat out, in the air, letting the drop of saliva fall downwards.

"Meh, Kenjutsu needs a bit more practice too," as the man with the Katana spoke, who none other was than Naruto's clone, he slowly queried, his eyes narrowing towards Naruto, "do you have any tens?"

"Take from the deck," Naruto replied with a chuckle, "anyway, think if I hadn't sent that youngling in the statue's mouth! I'd be going at full speed towards Konoha, when there are already four Akatsuki members going there! Among which that man and that woman!" as he pointed that out, he looked towards Gamma, querying.

"Do you have any nines?" Gamma sighed, handing it over, so that Naruto could complete a couple.

"So, do you think she's going to pursue?" Toruna butted in, as Naruto had shook his head to his other clone, before taking on a thoughtful face, before replying.

"I don't think so, we're going too fast for her, we'll pretty much arrive in Konoha after the destruction, probably…to think those fools believe the nine tails is there! Ah! I'm sure it's going to be the experience of a lifetime! A pity I won't probably be there to watch it!" as much as Naruto chuckled, Kuro hissed back.

"What about Kakashi-san and the others?" at that, the blond-spiked man replied with a small murmur.

"They're going to be fine, all in one place, far from Danzo…and they *all* want to see Danzo," he added, "and with that woman there…they wouldn't dare attack Konoha directly…isn't that right Katsumi-chan?" as Naruto queried that with an overly sarcastic tone, towards the fainted girl, "Don't you just LOVE to know that your mother is treated with silk gloves and not told many, important, truths? Oh…How I'm going to enjoy it…maybe I should prepare a speech!" as he cackled, Toruna and Gamma stared at each other with a sigh.

"He's lost it," they both nodded, as they decided, for once, to disperse on their own. No use arguing with themselves. Naruto slowly stared at the knocked out form of Katsumi, reminiscing her previous boasts.

I'll make you trust me, Dattebayo! Was that what she said? Well, if only she hadn't gone completely mad with Orochimaru, maybe, thinking back, he should have given her a chance. As he slowly moved to look at her cursed seal, he narrowed his eyes slightly. There wasn't one, on her shoulder, but there *was* something that seemingly did its best to remain invisible.

"Kuro," Naruto hissed slowly.

"Yes?" the black snake replied, as he had nearly dozed off because of the boring work of flying around.

"We're going to be a bit late on the schedule," he pointed out.

"Why?" Kuro queried, perplexed at such a serious tone. The sky was blue, there were no clouds, having left Amegakure, and all in all it was a pretty peaceful sky, the ideal one for a floating nap.

"Seals," was what Naruto replied, "I'll need the Ryuchi cave equipment," was what he added, moments later, "a pity we don't have any snakes in Konoha, otherwise I could take all the time I wanted," as he finished saying that, Kuro started to whistle, like a person who's hiding something.

"Wait a minute…we have someone there?" Naruto queried, once more, perplexed.

"We do…remember Lee?" at that, Naruto's eyes bulged in surprise.

"But…it's been three years! The snake…he should have…"

"He found himself cozy as a belt, what can I say?" Kuro replied, "Stubborn as a mule too, refused to leave. So I suppose…"

"Kuro, and why didn't you tell me this before?" A tick mark appeared on Naruto's head.

"You needed some rest?" Kuro hazarded.

"KURO!"

"What! It's the truth! Look at you going psycho with your clones! They're clones! They don't have different personalities!" Kuro replied with a worried hiss.

"Well, this changes everything. Let's go to Ryuchi cave!" and with those words, Naruto grabbed Katsumi by the neck, before dispersing in smoke with her and Kuro, to reappear, moments later, in the cave's main hall, where Yoru stood in front of a strategic map of Konoha, eying it with clinical eyes, as he moved, with his tail, small and larger pebbles.

"So, Tabako, you will take first and second platoon, and march straight ahead to the Root headquarters, Saki told you their location," as he pointed that out, the rattlesnake nodded, before taking a puff of smoke and replying.

"Me and the S team would solve the problem in a blast, you know!"

"Yeah, but we don't want blasts, we want something quick and clean," Yoru replied.

"Fine, what about the spearhead?" Tabako muttered, "And who's going to play distraction and bait?"

"There will be no need for that," Naruto muttered, "the letter has been sent, Danzo will be, at the end of the month, here," as he pointed to the more wide, and general map, of the elemental countries, his finger stopped a brief distance away from Konoha, "by the time he arrives, a clone will handle him for a while, and I'll take the necessary steps to prepare Konoha well to his return," he slowly added.

"Aw, and here I was: wanting to crush him together with Scaly-chan," Yoru replied with a pout, as a larger puff of smoke revealed Kuro, having appeared straight next to the shogi chessboard, where Hakuja, slowly, made a move.

"Already back and already playing?" Kuro groaned, as he moved another pawn.

"Yes, I simply *must* defeat you more…it's exciting," he replied.

"Anyway, the Akatsuki will be moving their leader, Itachi, a certain Kisame, Uzumaki…Kushina," at that, Yoru's face bulged in shock, "and *that* man too, to reach Konoha for the nine-tails," at those words, hisses became more pronounced in the cave, as the news was related to the deeper levels.

"So…they'll be the spearhead? It's just what, five persons?" Tabako queried, perplexed.

"That man destroyed an entire army of Iwagakure ninjas, that woman is nearly undying last I checked, Itachi is…troublesome," A Nara sneezed, somewhere, "Kisame is a Kenjutsu user, definitively, and their leader…I can only suspect it's that strange man with the ring-like eyes I met in the forest of Hot spring country," as he finished speaking, Hakuja butted in the conversation.

"Rinnegan," he said, cryptically.

"Hakuja-san?" Naruto queried back, not understanding, as he let go of Katsumi's neck, seeing the girl's face was turning slightly blue from his hold.

"Rinnegan, the evolution of the Sharingan, the eyes the sage of the six paths possessed," as the snake spoke slowly, he added, "I never told you about the origin of Sages, did I?"

"No, you never did," Naruto replied, perplexed.

"Well…in the beginning," as Hakuja began explaining in a sort of serious, melodramatic voice, he let a puff of smoke circle the hall, to show off images, together with his words, "Was Chaos," as he said that, the smoke showed off fire and steel, clashing of metal and blood splattering around, "the demons roared and soared the night and the day sky, both locked in deadly fights, the ground shattered, under the might of beings too powerful, for mortal to even dare to graze," as he spoke, the show of how small humans were, to the demons, made Naruto cringe, those things were big, "until he came along…the Jubi," with those words, a demon, with ten tails and a central eye, that seemed a rinnegan with nine sharingan-like tomoes, and its form was massive, and black as if made of pure dark chakra and malice, "and with that demon, chaos found the need for order, as nothing would have remained otherwise," as Hakuja said that, the scene showed demons in a sort of *explaining* like motion to humans, and then the humans themselves doing feats like conjuring fire, or cracking earth, like the demon could do, "then a man learnt more than others did, and he became known as the sage of the six paths," with those words, the scene changed to a man with spiked hair, a wide white cloak on his back, with the symbol for *9* etched on his collar, "Asura, Deva, Human, Naraka, Outer and Preta," with each of those words, the realm they took care of appeared in the smoke, "and he battled the Jubi for nine days and nine nights, until in the end, he emerged victorious…sealing the strongest of all demons within himself," at those words, Naruto's skin got goose bumps, thinking about having something worse than the Kyuubi inside, "and then…then he gave his knowledge freely to the man who wished to learn it, teaching them the arts of channeling and controlling chakra, and from him, two clans were born, the Senju, from his younger son, and the Uchiha, from his eldest," Hakuja showed in the smoke two figures, one with a sort of staff, and another with a sword, "the sage, knowing death was near, and with it, the Jubi's freedom, decided to separate it into nine others tailed beasts…Ichibi, Nibi, Sanbi, Yonbi, Gobi, Rokubi, Nanabi, Hachibi, Kyuubi," at those words, the nine's shadows appeared in the smoke, "and then they were gifted to the other villages, to make peace."

As he finished speaking, Naruto took word, albeit in a whisper.

"Peace didn't last, I take it?"

"It did not," Hakuja smirked, "for power is a fickle thing, the more you have, the more you seek, and wars erupted for hatred, jealousy, anger, rage, injustices or justices, blood revenges, for fun or even for grief, it didn't matter, as wars upon wars washed upon the elemental countries, bringing with them pain, sufferance, famine and deaths," as the white snake finished talking, he eyed Naruto, with an amused grin, "and now, let me tell you something…interesting," he said, with his grin becoming wider, wide enough to show his fangs, "that idiot of the toad's sage foretold a prophecy, that I heard of too, years ago, it spoke of the Yogen no Ko, the child of the prophecy, the one destined to train under the toad Sannin Jiraiya and emerge from it, with his choices, either as the savior of the shinobi world, or as it destructor," Hakuja's eyes narrowed, as he stared deep into Naruto's own, "bringing forth a revolution that would wake the very same foundations and beliefs of the world…so, Naruto…do you think you are the Yogen no Ko?" at the question, Naruto stood shocked, mouth agape, what was that about a prophecy?
"So? You have already changed the way of snakes, a feat many deemed impossible! You have survived the bites and the training of Hakuja sennin himself, the great white snake sage! You have survived the extraction of a tailed beast, and no matter how deep your despair has run, you have always emerged victorious…so tell me, Naruto! Tell me what is your thought on the matter!" as he spoke, with excitement in his voice, Kuro stared in silence between the two, as Yoru also slowly, but surely, moved to the side…better not stand in the way, no matter *what* was going to happen.

"I don't know," Naruto whispered back, looking at both of his hands, covered in the bite marks of snakes, "I truly do not know if prophecies are meant to be taken for granted, or not…but I know this: I'll stick through my own beliefs until the very end, and if the world wants to, then he will follow my steps, or be crushed under my power if it dares oppose my will! I may not be the strongest ninja, or the smartest, but I will face the road ahead of me without changing its course! Let my enemies cringe and wake in fear, let my friends' courage be redoubled, let the FIRE OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHTLY ON US ALL as Naruto, son of A, the Snake Sage, marches forward!" as he finished speaking, Hakuja grinned.

"Charging in blindly, huh? I like the style…oh if I like the style," and with those words, the white sage snake stole the last shogi piece from Kuro, who was staring, perplexed, at Naruto.

"By the way, I won this match too Kuro," as Hakuja pointed that out, Kuro whined.

"That's cheating! I saw you this time!"

Naruto, hearing that…sighed in relief, as he grabbed the girl by the arm, the still fainted girl that was his *sister*, and brought her, by moving her on his right shoulder, into the deeper areas of Ryuchi cave, where, turning a corner, he was tackled by a mass of purple hair in a green scaled battle armor.

"And where do you think *you* are going?" Naruto queried, raising an eyebrow, as he stared at the woman, Saki, in what looked like one of those old battle armor worn in the first shinobi wars…certainly a relic from the past, no doubt, there were hundreds of those things on the ground, and in the caves.

"Uncle! We're going to Konoha's aid, right?" she queried, her eyes sparkling with hope, as she looked at the girl on her uncle's back with a perplexed expression, not understanding who she was and why she was there.

"No, Saki, *I* am going to Konoha's aid," Kakashi was Konoha, for what it mattered to Naruto, and Kiba, and Shino, and Shino's family, and Kiba's family then, and there was also Gai and Lee, and thus their families too, and then maybe Sakura and Yakumo, so their families also…and so…yeah, Konoha in a certain sense, but not *all* of Konoha, "You are still behind with your homework, last time Zeta checked," where Zeta was the clone specifically set on making the young girl study more common things, things Root program didn't cover, like *NO, you cannot bath together with your uncle* and things like that.

"Homework is stupid!" Saki pouted, "I want to help uncle and defend Konoha!" as Naruto sighed, he ruffled the woman's hair, before whispering back to her, in a gentle and caring tone.

"Listen Saki…it seems I'll be facing really tough opponents, and they all want you, to kill you, and I don't want that to happen," he slowly let go of ruffling her hair, as Saki's gaze had gone downwards, toward the ground, as her eyes had become sorrowful, "I promise I'll find your parents, and protect them, but you must promise me, promise me you won't come after me," Saki's fists clenched, as she turned around, running away, tears in her eyes, leaving her *Baka Uncle* in the corridor of the caves, to sigh, and move towards the room he used for seals.

Dropping with little grace the girl on the floor, he was surprised to see her jolt up with a cry, aiming with her right fist at his right leg. Only to see said right leg's knee bend, so that the right leg foot could hit her on the chest, bringing her on the ground, both her arms flailing to free herself from the strength of the kick that was grounding her down.

"My patience is thin," Naruto hissed slowly, "Trust me, I'm doing this because I want no second thoughts, later on, you should just be lucky Saki's here to lighten my mood," he added, slowly letting go of his right foot, so that Katsumi could, at least, breath, as she winced for the pain of the her ribs, not broken, but maybe cracked, maybe.

"Who are you?" She croaked out, coughing on the ground.

"You didn't hear? I am Naruto, son of A, future Raikage of Kumogakure, the Sage of snakes, the leader of the snake-nins, the hermit of Ryuchi cave, the…maybe child of the prophecy, if you really wish to know it, and I'm also Toruna of the snakes, the Tracker of the iron lands, the fangs of the Samurais, the Wolf-pelt clad underwear seeker…albeit the last one is actually fictitious, and that's final," as he finished speaking, a snake sprouted from his left forearm, biting swiftly onto Katsumi's shoulder, and before she could even scream, she felt her body go numb.

"I'll remove your seals…then we'll have another talk," and with those words, darkness descended on the girl.

*Konoha – End of the Month*

"The sport's festival will now begin!" as the eerily cheery voice of Maito Gai boomed, the crowd cheered, as the spot chosen had been a bit out of Konoha, and, as Kakashi had expected, Danzo had simply showed up in the first two minutes, said a brief, annoyed speech, and had then gone off…elsewhere, like something was bothering him. To have Danzo show bother, and annoyance, meant that this had been a pretty good idea. At least, that was the silver-haired Jounin's thought, as he stared at Asuma, and Kurenai, their respective left and right legs tied together, at the *Couple competition*, while on his side, he had Rin, who was, quite actually, whispering something in his ear.

"We win, or I swear to Kami I will burn off your Icha-Icha Violence Redux edition," as she slowly smiled to him with a wicked grin, at least for Kakashi, the Jounin sensei nodded, before slowly moving his hand to his forehead protector…It was a *ninja* Sport's festival.

Meanwhile, up on the balconies, Lee stood wearing his snake-belt that he had never dropped once in his life, a symbol of youthfulness that Naruto had gifted him and that he had kept no matter the situation! Furthermore, it was green, and green was the color of youth! Next to him, Tenten stood rolling her eyes, as Neji was, for once, silent right next to her, the boy's situation had gone better, after having lasted where a main house member had not, and thus he was granted the *honor* to train with the main house's leader, who had, obviously, trained him harshly, but justly. Still, Tenten couldn't help but wonder if it was true, that Kakashi-sensei knew Toruna of the snakes, at least, Ino, who was training with Rin, had heard that during his travel to Kumogakure, he had met the man, and since he hadn't taken autographs from him, Rin had dropped the silver haired Jounin on the couch for weeks, before finally conceding that *it was to be expected*.

Another team was instead on the furthest up rows, where a lazy Nara was sighing heavily, as Ino was pouting to Chouji to stop eating without restraints, and Choja, the Akimichi's clan leader, was laughing out hard as he began eating a roasted pork together with his son, claiming *he had to grow*. Shikamaru slightly tensed, when he realized the Root guards, assigned for the protection of the civilians, and for keeping order during said festival, slowly moved out. Even Shikaku, his father, thought the same, but sighed, deeming it too troublesome to investigate.

In the first rows, Hinata Hyuga, together with Shino and Kiba, were watching their sensei stretch together with Asuma, her boyfriend, and while Shino was staying silent, as always, he slowly got up, after a fly touched his nose, and excused himself for the bathroom. Hinata said nothing, as she kept staring, slightly blushing, at Kiba's antics and boasting, to the point where his voice was the only thing heard on that side of the stadium. Atsui, on the other hand, stood together with a couple of Genins from Kumo who had been selected as exchanged shinobis, watching without much interest the sport festival…it wasn't hot at all if he couldn't use his hot catchphrases to catch some hottie!

On another side of the built from scratch camp, stood a group of hooded Anbu figures, all wearing different masks, but, except from that, kept to themselves in the shadows under the rows of seated civilians. Slowly, one of them let a small snake slither freely, while the others, nodding, dashed away. It was a brief moment, before finally, the festival began.

"First program of the day! Couple running! FOR THE FIRE OF YOUTH to shine brightly on us all!" It was a moment, actually. Kakashi began running, his sharingan spinning widely, and maybe that, that was the reason he saw the attack coming, and managed to push Rin to the side, to avoid the growling giant three headed dog that had appeared in the middle of the training ground, and its fiery molten breath.

Screams soon followed, instead of the normal cheers, as Kakashi nimbly cut the rope tying his leg to that of Rin, who swiftly moved behind him.

Kakashi could only tense, seeing how, in the far off distance, smoke was rising, and, mostly, clashes and fights seemed to be going off a bit everywhere around him. For the moment, however, he had to take care of the three-headed dog.

Maito Gai was already on it, however, pouncing on the foul un-youthful beast, as Asuma and Kurenai were looking perplexed at Kakashi, who had a scowl on his face.

Naruto…if this is your doing…

He couldn't keep thinking about it, however, as he swiftly acted to keep the beast away from the civilians.

"Doton: Doryūheki!" as walls of earth rose, boxing him in, just as Gai managed swiftly to kick one of its head to oblivion, a giant centipede crawled its way into the stadium, forcing Asuma to charge at it, his weapons charged with wind chakra affinity.

On a nearby observation post, Kushina stood biting her lower lip, she didn't want this, but they needed a distraction to lure Danzo out.

"Where do you think Danzo is, Kisame-san?" as Kisame had been paired with the red-haired woman, the half-shark couldn't help but sigh.

"I don't know, Uzumaki-san, but he can't be far off…Animal path is taking care of stirring things up in the village," at the frown of Kushina, he added, slowly, "obviously without making harm to Hospitals or things like that…"

"Good, we're here for Danzo, and only for him," as she replied that, she turned back to her spyglass, looking at the centipede being slashed into pieces by wind-blades from Asuma's own punch-daggers.

"Kisame-san, how long have you been in the business of hunting missing-nins?" as Kushina queried that, the missing-nin himself from Kirigakure couldn't help but make a small grin.

"Since a while, actually I was brought in nearly at the same time as Itachi," as he replied that, the red-haired woman nodded, not saying anything else.

Further away from them, more precisely at Konoha's gates, the Animal path dashed forward, passing through the village like a flash of robes, being closely followed, after a brief moment, by the gate's guards, who yelled for him to stop.

"Stop! Identify yourself!" as Izumo yelled that, the Animal path touched the ground briefly, allowing the Asura path and Preta path to appear, the first simply brought his forearms forward, letting missiles emerge from the sockets within his very own arms, missiles that fired blindly upon the pursuers and the buildings, exploding upon impact and leaving rubble and charred corpses behind.

*Preta path and Asura path*

The Preta path, on the other hand, swiftly moved to guard the Asura from a long range wind blade attack, as Hayate albeit coughing slightly, came into view.

"There's more than one intruder! Alert the central command!" as an Anbu dashed off to obey, the recently appointed Anbu Team commander Hayate Gekko stared at the two men, clad in robes, and swiftly moved to the side, avoiding a mechanical chainsaw from the Asura path, before unsheathing his own blade, trying to move closer to attack, only to be brought backwards by a strong tug at the neck, courtesy of Yugao.

"Not dying on me Hayate!" just as she finished exclaiming that, truth be told, chainsaws flickered from the Asura's path center, and would have probably cut the man in half, had he kept on the charge. The two, husband and wife, stared at the two beings with ringed-eyes, before swiftly sidestepping to avoid what looked like a seemingly mad charge from the bulkier man, until his head opened with a click, revealing his skull nothing more than a metal sphere, containing what seemed like a bright blue light, that flashed in less than a moment, making an explosion that blinded both Konoha's Anbus, but, while sending them further back from the air pressure and the heat, didn't outright kill them, as Yugao fell on the ground holding her right arm, so too did Hayate, albeit his was the left arm. The reason they hadn't been reduced to cinders was that they had been pulled away by a strange force that had grabbed them at the neck area, and had then disappeared, nothing more than a fleeting moment, still, they weren't going to complain.

"You two! Regroup at the Hokage's monument!" a Wolf-masked Anbu yelled at the two, from a rooftop nearby that was still on its walls, "Order Code Black Omega-One!" as he finished giving off, like it was nothing, the highest possible level of threat, reachable by Konoha's tight security, the Preta Path appeared in a blink behind him, hitting him to the side, where however it impacted against armguards, green scaled armguards, that lessened the blow.

Yugao bit her lip, she'd normally ask for an identification number, but the fact that the other, clearly a puppeteer, invader had the ability to seemingly incinerate anything at close range…in a moment, the man in question produced six arms from within, all twisted in different forms and ways, all clearly mechanical.

"Yugao, you heard the man?" Hayate said, as he was the one on the opposite side: she was the one who could dash off first, reach it first.

"Hayate, get over here and then we'll go together: I'll cover you," as soon as the purple haired Anbu said that, swirling through hand signs, to launch a fire stream from her mouth, so did Hayate move, hoping it would be enough of a cover. He was making it, actually, his foots one after the other were dashing swiftly, ignoring the pain in his bruised arm, but just as he was near her, just as he was nearing her, a fizzling sound caught his attention, he turned just in time to see missiles launched at them from the path's arms, avoiding the fire stream. They'd hit their spot, tearing them both to splinters, unless he did something, as Yugao was too concentrated on her technique, and there was little time, seconds maybe.

So he did the only thing he could: he pushed her away with sheer speed of the wind chakra, as her eyes darted with shock and surprise towards Hayate, the man simply gave her a small smile, maybe he'd have lip-spoken something cheesy, but he couldn't, he couldn't because the missiles impacted on his back, turning his body to a bloody mess of ashes, as Yugao instead was thrown away, to roll on the ground, her face pale, as she stared at the small crater that once was her husband.

Up above, the Preta Path was finding this Wolf-mask quite a problematic existence. He was good at dodging, his armor was tough, and it appeared he had some sort of way to deaden the hits, as attacks that would have outright crushed his hands, or blows that would have splintered his ribcage simply seemed to roll off unscathed.

"Who are you?" The Preta path asked, as the man simply seemed to be toying with him, but he didn't reply, he simply kept silent, before the explosion went off near them, and, as if on cue, he was no longer in front of the Preta path, instead he was down below, retrieving the broken amass of blood and bones that once was Hayate Gekko, disappearing the next second with him. This did leave the Preta path, and by consequence, Nagato, puzzled. Just who was the man in question?

Yugao on the other hand screamed after a moment, not having seen the body of her husband being thrown among a pile of rubble to the side, she had instead thought he'd been pulverized by the explosion. She was about to charge in, when a Cat-masked Anbu grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Obey your orders, Yugao Uzuki!" he snarled, pushing her back, "This isn't an enemy for you! Retreat to the Hokage Monument, now!" Yugao bit her lip, as the forceful order, and the push, was enough to have her start running. Why was she running? She should have stayed, Hayate was dead, her daughter was somewhere, away from her, kidnapped from her, and she…she was alone now. As tears began to fall, she swiped them out, noticing with her keen eyes a flash of blond, and one of those strange clad men, dashing from rooftop to rooftop, towards the Hokage's tower. He was there. The bastard.

She was going to make him pay, who cared for orders!

*Naraka path and Human Path*

The Animal path kept, instead, going, conjuring the Naraka path and the Human path, and sending them straight after the Root operatives, in hope of gathering intelligence on Danzo, and the Kyuubi's container, location. They moved towards the old Root headquarters, those *official* ones that had been reinstated, and that probably held only the weakest Root members. Still, if they extracted enough information, they would have been able to find out where the Root headquarters were, where Danzo was, and where the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki was from his mind. It was with narrowed gaze from the Human path, that the Naraka path, sharing his vision together with him, stopped running and began, instead, looking around. There was no hint of nervousness in his sight, but it was true that something was amiss, from the very entrance of the barracks, dead bodies, seemingly killed with ferocious and wide slashes, stood around. The problem was that the slashes seemed to have been coming from their behind, which meant that someone, within, had killed them, catching them by surprise…The Naraka path was the first to move in, followed closely by the Human path, who kept his gaze towards the back. As the corridors slowly turned to reveal a brief Genjutsu of confusion, something that had already gone off since a while, they saw a door that was meant to be hidden by the Jutsu in question, and, mostly, they saw how it looked having been shredded through by strange claw-like motions.

As a splatter of blood fell on the Naraka's shoulder, the man turned his gaze upward, to see, with surprise, corpses literally charred on the ceiling, their melted fat and muscles tying them in sickening blobs, defying gravity itself. None were alive, as they moved forward, slowly opening the door that led to a staircase, descending towards the probably more secret archives, or training grounds. The first three steps gave way to deadly traps, that seemingly had been left untouched, yet to be sprung, but that didn't harm the Naraka path, as the Human path swiftly grabbed him by the shoulder, avoiding him a nasty fall into a deep spike-filled pit. They jumped over it, annoyed by such petty tricks, and as they slowly walked downstairs, a thin layer of mist began appearing before their eyes, as they descended, passing by several floors, minimum, of height. The mist seemed chakra enhanced, and for that, both paths tensed up slightly. Still, seeing the floor finally opening up before their eyes, they decided to move in.

The fizzle of explosive tags, set to detonate at the slightest movement, was the last thing both paths heard.

*Deva Path and Minato Namikaze*

While that had yet to happen, the Deva Path stood together with Minato Namikaze, as both had subtly reached the Hokage's tower, and were looking through Danzo's document as the Hokage, trying to find out *where* he had built the facilities of Root.

It was at that moment, that Yugao charged in from the window, brandishing her sword against Minato, only to find herself being pulled closer, and then pulled away, to crash against the wall with sickening crunches of bones shattering.

The woman screamed, as falling on the ground, blood oozing from her mouth, she let out a murderous stare and snarl at the blond haired man in front of her.

"Why are…YOU…Here!" she coughed, between a spasm and another.

"Well…your daughter was given back to Danzo, after all…" Minato said with a too honest grin that reeked of fake, "didn't he tell you!" at that exaggerate shocking gesture, Yugao could but scream curses, as the fourth's kunai embedded itself deeply into the woman's skull, killing her on the spot.

"She should have known better than to piss me off," Minato whispered, "Anyway, Danzo bought a bakery…and I don't think…"

"The Human path found something," the Deva path spoke, "and it's something…strange," he finished.

"Strange how?" Minato replied.

"All Root operatives found till now are dead or deceased," he whispered back.

"What?" Minato couldn't understand: who could act and kill highly trained ninjas, before they could get their hands on them?

"Seems like a beast, maybe a summoned one from the Animal path went stray…in any case, have you found what we're looking for?" at Minato's nod, the Deva path muttered a simple, "Good, then let's move," not giving him the time to reply anything else, as he moved to the window that Yugao had crashed through, and as Minato followed, albeit visibly tensed, they exited the building, dashing off towards the bakery, on the other side of the village, as they moved, they could see the nearly empty city being destroyed by animal summons, even a Giant Panda was in the mix, but civilians weren't there, all too busy at the stadium, where Kushina and Kisame were. Many of the shinobis were there too, actually, the search for Danzo and the Kyuubi, barring strange events, like the fight with that wolf-masked anbu, or the interference of the cat-masked one, it all seemed too easy, even. Albeit the true location of Danzo still eluded them, it was only a matter of time. One had to wonder *where* the man had gone, however.

*Danzo*

Danzo stood quietly, waiting at the spot barely two hours away from Konoha, in wait. He had barely given a speech of how strong the will of fire was, something that would have probably made Sarutobi, and his long winded talks, turning around in their graves, but still, he had to keep up appearances, until he had taken the first chance, leaving behind everyone else, except his two most trusted Root members, Sai and Yamato, to the meeting. He was there, in wait, while the two were hidden away from presence, among the forest foliage, thanks to the Mokuton ability of Yamato, there was no way they'd be spotted, having made a new tree sprout around them, to seemingly merge with the others. There he stood, Danzo, in wait straight in front of a giant and old oak tree, its root carving deeply within the soil, as its leafs basked in the warming rays of the sun. There, he waited for Toruna of the snakes, the mysterious man that had bested the Akatsuki, found Saki, and had then captured and subdued her…but most importantly, was willing to return her, albeit at a prize. The amount of money he had asked hadn't been measly, but to keep face, and avoid a horrendous and horrible excuse to return it, since he would have rather said they had already found her, but kept her hidden to avoid giving her back, then admit publicly that he had freed the Fourth Hokage and his wife to personally pursue and kill Naruto, so that his knowledge, his too dangerous knowledge of Root, of the hidden side of Konoha, wouldn't surface. Now, he paid the price for his foolishness. He shouldn't have underestimated the Iron Land's ability in upbringing worthy men, bred for war, for excellence, but he was thankful that every man had its weakness, its sins, its dark shadows and its frailties, he knew them all, and thankfully, Toruna's was easy…it was greed.

Furthermore, Danzo was sure Toruna, albeit being hailed as the best tracker, wouldn't last against Yamato, a Root captain, and Sai's conjoint ambush. First, however, he'd need the real location of Saki. The use of *that* eye for the information wouldn't be a problem, as long as it proved truthful.

The man appeared, actually, in a flicker of leaves, looking straight into the only eye of Danzo. His eyes were a dark blue gaze, his hair was a dirt blond color and red-stained, and his clothes were white and black, as the mantle with the Kanji for snake stood on his back.

"Toruna of the snakes?" Danzo queried, he obviously knew the man's general description, and it matched. He slightly tensed, as he could see the man looking behind him with a puzzled look, before turning his sight once more of the Godaime Hokage.

"You are Shimura Danzo, I suppose?" the man replied, his tone haughty and filled with pride, something that didn't seem to bode well with the Hokage, who narrowed his eye in a small frown, before querying.

"Answer me truthfully about the location of the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki," as the words were spoken with commanding tone, his right eye activated the Kotoamatsukami: he would be able to use it again the next day, so there was no problem.

"She's in Kumogakure's area of control, near the waterfall of truth," the man replied, before tensing greatly. Something that Danzo thought impossible, as the technique was seemingly untraceable, except by the users of the Byakugan who would, at most, see the chakra fluctuate…only Shisui had the Mangekyo Sharingan required for it, so it should have been extremely difficult for someone to tense without a real reason…

"Kotoamatsukami…" Toruna whispered, before chuckling, "Damn, the fox surprises me every single time," he added with a snort, "Change of plans then, can't have you use it again tomorrow," he added, making Danzo visibly pale…just how could the man.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu: World of snakes!" as Toruna clapped both his hands together before touching the ground, snakes of various sizes and types sprouted, a veritable army and wriggling mass of them dashed forward like a wave, hell set on taking a bite out of Danzo's skin.

"Fūton: Shinkū Taigyoku!" as Danzo inhaled and exhaled, an enormous wave of condensed wind laid in front of him, creating a vacuum in its center, sucking away the snakes and making the wave form a hole in the middle of it, but the objective of Toruna was completed. The snakes slithered around, seemingly at random, but in truth, the first part was completed.

"Yamato! Give me cover to disengage the locks!" as Danzo yelled that, the tree behind him exploded, sending forward ink lions, and *Tree*, the sight of which made Toruna's eyes narrow, as slowly, a seething anger took control of his mind. He was going to enjoy this…oh that he was.

"Mokuton: Jukai Heki!" as Yamato brought his hands on the ground, between Toruna and Danzo, a wall of trees sprouted from the ground, raising towards the sky and blocking view from Danzo, while Sai instead swiftly drew on his scroll.

"Chōjū Giga!" as ink lions emerged from it, dashing forward to bite upon the man, Toruna grinned, as he disappeared from existence, in a puff of smoke.

The next moment, a Toruna wielding a rasengan hit Sai on the chest, having emerged from a small snake who was lazily twirling on the ground, unnoticed. The force of the spin, of the push, the strength of the twirling chakra sphere twisted the boy's guts, who, in a sort of brief moment of understanding, as his eyes met those of the man in front of him, suddenly felt at peace. He was going to die there…well, his brother had waited long enough for him. As Sai was flung out of the battleground, to crash against a couple of trees, Yamato brought his hands forward, exclaiming.

"Mokuton: Mokusatsu Shibari no Jutsu!" just as branches literally grew out of his arms, to reach and entangle Toruna, the man in question disappeared again, to reappear, moments later, with a Chidori in hand.

"H…How can you…" Yamato knew of the Raikiri of Kakashi, but in order to create that, it required time, time that wasn't possible to obtain from a single Shunshin…but then how…just…how was the lightning sphere that cackled like a thousand birds possibly be tearing up his insides? How could the man do that? How could the man know of such a thing?

"In my world, I never fight alone," Toruna whispered in a hushed tone, as suddenly, realization dawned on Yamato, in his last breath…

"Mon…"

"Monster? From Tree, I would have expected at least to remember my name," Naruto whispered back to his former Root mentor, as he let his covered in blood hand drop out of his ribcages. The man hadn't even tried a clone…did he actually want to die? Why at his hands? What was it that had made him suicidal? Maybe it was guilt?

Danzo had however finished unlocking his strapped arm, and as the sharingan blared in full view, Toruna chuckled…the poor blinded fool, didn't he realize, that in his world, it was him who made the rules? He was gambling, right then, and in gambles…he usually came out alive. As the wooden walls came crashing down, from a set of powerful cutting wind blades, Toruna sidestepped them, setting his gaze clearly on the origin of said jutsu: The Yami of shinobis.

"Well then, Toruna of the snakes, you understand I can't let you live," Danzo muttered, as the man bit his thumb, muttering, with a slightly annoyed voice, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Baku!"

As a giant tapir with striped legs and a giant trunk emerged from the smoke, Toruna parried Danzo's punch from his right arm, filled with sharingans, with his own right forearm, that had red armguards on it, the symbol for *One* strapped onto them.

"Juinjutsu," he hushed out in a murmur, as from Toruna's armguards ink seals spread forward like crawling snakes, as where they went, it forced the body to go numb. Toruna grunted his anger, as he jumped backwards, while Danzo's summon began a sucking motion, to pull him towards him, sucking in his trunk also the snakes that were scattered around.

"No parrying," Toruna muttered to himself, as, the moment he entered Baku's trunk, he dispersed into smoke, leaving on the ground the Red armguards with the Kanji for *One*.

"Here comes the second!" a voice yelled out loud, as an electrically charged hand dashed straight for Danzo's back, only, instead of connecting, it moved through Danzo's body, who, sidestepping, whispered.

"Fūton: Shinkūha!" the second one dispersed too, the hit of the slashing blades on his body more than enough to dispel him.

"For none is greater than the third!" as a third Toruna actually emerged from the back of Danzo's summon, he united his hands into symbols, before yelling out loud.

"Raiton: Electromagnetic murder!" as an enormous wave of lightning chakra poured through the summon, electrocuting him and forcing him to dissolve, it spread on the ground, cracking it repeatedly, as it neared Danzo, who seemed to pass through the attack unscathed, once more.

"Futon: Shinkugyoku!" as air bullets launched themselves at the man, once more, did the dispersion happen, this made Danzo narrow his eyes, many ninjas, at the third Kage Bunshin, and after battling both Yamato and Sai would be nearly exhausted...yet there he was…probably he was still…

"Have you realized it by now?" The voice called to him from behind him, as more snakes slithered out from the man's trousers, to move around, encircling the area as slowly, Danzo realized he was surrounded.

"Yes, seems you understood it," another Toruna appeared, this one wearing a black scarf around his neck, "as sad as it is," another one, this one had a Ninjato in both of his hands, "you may as well fight till you drop," another one, again, how many were there?

"Still it's funny, you haven't remembered me…well…maybe *this* will help," the last one, at least, so much Danzo hoped, appeared, with a Katana, unsheathed, in his firm grip, a Katana Danzo opened his eyes wide in seeing…no, it couldn't be…

"Courtesy of Kuro, who kept it, you remember Kuro, do you?" A dark black shadow loomed over Danzo, slightly obscuring the sun.

"All that is given so shall be returned," the voice hissed, "Well…time to finish the show, Yami of the Shinobis," as Kuro from high above, began charging wind chakra, the clouds began condensing.

"You should be dead!" Danzo finally screeched, as he realized that his only hope was running, he wasn't a fool to expect to win an underhanded fight that seemed to have been meticulously prepared too.

"Should I? Well…don't you know the saying? Wait, let me sing you a song," one of the Toruna's said, "It's really nice, especially the last bit…"

"His spawn is foul but soon to be dead," one of the Toruna hymned, as he slowly let the chains sprout from his back, to intertwine with those of the other two, who, in turn, intertwined with the remaining one, forming a sort of square that had at its center…Danzo.

The Yami of Shinobi charged through, trying to carve its path through one of the sides, but to his surprise, Izanagi was deflected, it was like the chakra chains were blocking him from converting his illusion into reality. Unknown to him, the chains sapped away at chakra, thus unbalancing the chakra control, the extremely needed chakra control, to reshape the illusion to reality: the fact the song seemed to be aimed to unnerve him was a plus.

"Let us hit him again, until the ground is red," another one said, as the chains began pulsing with twirling air chakra that seemed to roll off the dome they were in, Kuro himself touching the dome with the tip of his tail, letting it become the discharge point of his chakra. Danzo turned to charge at one of the Toruna's in the line, only to find his path blocked by a white scaled snake that roared a searing flame at him, forcing him to dodge it, and stay tensed.

"I am Yami, the scornful scorcher of sorrows, the scaly flamethrower, and the fiery snake of Ryuchi cave!" as Danzo gritted his teeth, turning to face another one of the Torunas within, he roared, actually, in his anger.

"Mokuton!" as thick snarled branches dashed off like spears to aim at their objectives, he dashed off towards another one, letting loose his control over the mokuton, as it was severely depleting his own chakra.

The wood branches impacted against a hard rocky surface, as a snake, a big snake with minerals scattered on all of her scales raised her form from the ground itself, it hissed, slowly, as the branches broke off against her form. Danzo, on the other hand, found himself threatened by a fierce gale that stopped him on his track, as a black snake sprouted in front of the third Toruna.

"And if he survives then another night," the fire chakra was being seen in the chain's barrier-like interlope, as it was uniting together with the wind chakra, assuming a strangely orange hue, courtesy of Yoru, who stood outside the barrier, doing the same thing as his father. Danzo had no choice, it smelled of trap to him a mile's away, but it was the only choice, as he dashed towards the last one, the only one without a snake guarding him, he could see it, on the man, on the monster, on the demon that he, himself, had created, those final words.

"We'll come back and we'll set him alight." And with those words, the snakes dispersed, as Danzo, too close in the dash to stop, saw the dome collapse straight on him, as he found himself actually enchained in a sort of sarcophagus of chakra chains that brightly shone orange and swirling colors of red and white, before, at the end of the four chains belonging to the four Torunas, the name of the Jutsu was whispered silently, as the last step.

"Uzumaki style: Inferno Iron Maiden!" as electricity sparked along the chains, the extremely chakra consuming jutsu set off a veritable pyre for the Yami of shinobi, who, failing his Izanagi, in his last thoughts, went all out.

"Ura Shishō Fūinjutsu!" as the scream tore through the chains, suddenly black ink lines sprouted from within, breaking through the chains.

The monster I created…SHOULD DIE WITH ME!

As the last thoughts of Danzo crept through his mind, Naruto watched the scene from his position of safety. Did Danzo really think he'd fight the battle in person? He nodded to his four clones, four new clones, which dashed to grab what they could before the seal enclosed itself, leaving behind only the body of Danzo, for which Naruto slowly moved down himself.

He reached it, slowly, staring deeply at the man's arm that, albeit charred, was already showing signs of regenerating, as roots attached themselves to the soil.

"Researchers are going to be happy about this, no doubt," he muttered as he suddenly felt the jolt of pain in his stomach, gritting his teeth. Not good, not good at all.

"Hate it when they disperse," he growled, slowly, before taking out from his inner pocket a small brown pellet, " this makes three in a day, I'm at my limit…hell…" he chuckled, as he ate it slowly, "My chakra is like a sun…huh? Even suns run dry," as he gulped it down, he could feel it, his overused chakra coils pumping out more chakra, making him sweat even more than normal, as whatever nutrient could be sucked out of his stomach was used swiftly.

"I kind of wonder… Why do I feel so empty?" he whispered to no-one in particular, in the field, charred by the destruction, as the corpse of Danzo suddenly began sprouting flowers, the cells of Hashirama Senju taking over, as slowly, the Yami of Darkness was no more, in his place just a sort of wooden statue, flowers and branches sprouting from it. A clone moved closer, slightly touching the man and reverse summoning himself and the dead leader of Root to Ryuchi Cave.

"Death is just that…Death," Kuro whispered, slowly letting his wings land him down, "there is nothing else in death, but that…silence, nothing, void if you wish…but right now, people are approaching, should we leave?" as Kuro queried that, the man seemingly brought his gaze downwards, mulling over the snake's words.

"Hey boss! No need being down now!" Yoru hissed, trying to comfort Naruto, who was lost in his thoughts.

"Yeah, you're right Yoru…you all go, I know who the signatures belong to, I'll be fine," as he finished saying those words, the Toad Sage suddenly appeared with a worried expression in the area, narrowing his gaze as both Kuro and Yoru dispersed, together with the snakes all around them, and for once, Naruto sighed in relief. The corpse of Yamato wasn't on the ground either, and neither was that of Sai.

"Seems you battled in here," Jiraiya hinted, looking around, as he slowly moved towards the man, "what's going on? And where is your group?"

"Disbanded," as he spoke, Jiraiya's eyes opened in shock, how could he disband the group…unless he had already found the Kyuubi? But then…it was just…why being here of all places? A bad thought crept into the toad sage head, a really bad one, "after all," Naruto continued, "Danzo held her hostage, so I *had* to free her…" he finished speaking.

"Wait…you faced off with Danzo?" Jiraiya's eyes nearly popped out of his eyes socket, "Here?" as Naruto nodded, the Toad Sage actually stared in disbelief at the man in front of him, before finally taking a deep breath.

"So…I take it he was behind your death…"

"The previous Jinchuuriki host died because of his biddings, it seems," Toruna of the snakes shrugged, "point being he resisted freeing Saki-chan, the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki, and I just *had* to free her, you know, good guy, white armor, shining sword…I even have the cool mantle!" as he finished speaking, Jiraiya's eyes narrowed for a brief second on the man, before shrugging too.

"So, you brought the fight out of Konoha?"

"That I did…though you might want to dash towards the village never the less," Toruna replied, "as I am in no obligation to help…you on the other hand should…" as he finished, he pointed his finger straight towards the direction of the village, "off you go, or only cinders will wait for you, Akatsuki is searching for the Kyuubi after all…" Jiraiya stood livid, biting his tongue from saying anything else, as he turned to dash towards Konoha, he'd hit the brat later on, he could excuse him out of having killed Danzo, and probably be unable to fight any longer…but if he'd find out the boy had used Konoha, and its people, as baits…he'd probably plant a triple rasengan in his guts to be sure.

After a while, C-san and Anko, the first with Sasuke on his shoulder, appeared in the clearing, a fact that made Naruto narrow his eyes, while on the purple haired kunoichi's shoulder stood, instead, Tayuya.

"Toruna-san?" C queried, trying his best to keep up a façade, one that, however, Anko didn't keep.

"Otouto!" She snapped at the man, dropping Tayuya on the ground like a bag of potatoes, "What're you doing here? Wanted some Anko-chan's goodness before searching for the Kyuubi?" as she queried that with a smirk and a wink, Naruto looked silently at C, then at the boy he was carrying. His eyes said it all, as tension slowly descended once more on the area.

"He's to be brought to Konoha to be…" C spoke, but was interrupted by the raised hand of Toruna, who spoke quietly, and harshly.

"As he has assaulted an iron land member, he is to be punished by the Iron land's closest individual, even the offended himself, if another isn't present, I thank you for having brought him to me…so drop him, and let's close another circle," with those words, Naruto's right hand produced the Kusanagi blade, a thing that made Anko jolt her eyes open in surprise…the blade was…he was…did he…could it?

"Na…"

"I killed Orochimaru," at those words, Tayuya's eyes bulged in shock, "I am the Snake Sage of Ryuchi cave, and Toruna of the snakes, so…" raising the sword, he pointed it, straightly, to aim at Sasuke, "Drop him, C-san," at those words, C tensed slightly, before actually obeying. He didn't care for the Uchiha kid and, wherever Toruna was saying something true or not, it didn't matter to him.

"Naruto…please…this won't bring him back," Anko whispered, "There's no need to dirty your hands with him, Danzo will probably execute him never the less," as she tried to reason with him, she in truth would have wanted to kill the boy herself, but she didn't want for Naruto to do it. Sure, his hands were already drenched in blood, but she still wanted to cling to the image of the boy who called her Oneechan.

"Danzo cannot, he's dead," and with those words, Naruto's sword pointed straight at Sasuke's fallen form, the crawling Uchiha seeing nothing but darkness, hearing nothing but the following words from the man in front of him, *Naruto*…so he was alive, and he was going to kill him! Why him! He still had to kill Itachi! He still had to kill his brother! "Kusanagi no Tsurugi: Kū no Tachi" the sword departed from Naruto's hand with a pale blue hue, and flew straight ahead, ready to carve deep within the last Uchiha's skull, but it was blocked by another sword, that flashed in a straight downwards motion, deflecting the blade and bringing it to crash on the ground, inches away from Sasuke's face.

C tensed, as Anko did too.

There, deflecting the blow, stood no-one else but Itachi Uchiha himself.

"So…here I was thinking you'd enjoy me killing him…still loving your brother much, Itachi?" as Naruto spoke, Sasuke's words, words he wouldn't be able to speak never the less, gurgled in his mouth. It couldn't be: Itachi had saved him? Itachi had to die…why did he save him? He killed the entire family!

"He is mine to kill, Toruna of the snakes," Itachi whispered back, as C's hands went to his senbons, Anko sprouted snakes from her forearms, ready to bite at the man, only for him to dissolve into a Genjutsu of crows.

Itachi, from his position behind Toruna, his kunai ready, mused, seeing that C and Anko had both fallen prey to his strong Genjutsu, and were on the ground, unable to move.

"Fallen in a Genjutsu so easily…" and with those words, he received a sharp kick in the stomach, throwing him backwards as Toruna himself, eyes closed, dashed at him, Kusanagi flying back into his own hands.

"Impossible!" as Itachi pointed threw shurikens with his left hand at the man, his right hand, in the symbol of Tiger, he roared, "Katon: Hōsenka Tsumabeni!" as the shurikens began burning brightly, dashing with inhuman speed at Toruna, the man rolled to the side, using in a moment the snakes on his back to launch himself upwards, letting the point of his sword aim at Itachi, before increasing its length.

The sword's point passed through Itachi's body without a hitch, as in truth crows dispersed from his form.

"As expected from a prodigy…can't seem to find your true self," Toruna mused, as his left hand produced a Ninjato, to block an incoming slash of a kunai.

"You trained to battle me?" Itachi queried, his eyes narrowing as he dashed backwards, avoiding the snakes that had seemingly sprouted from his shoulder, to bite at him.

"I trained to battle Sharingan wielders…I trained to battle the Fourth, I trained to battle my enemies, but the real reason I train…is because I want to protect my friends," with those words, the Kusanagi flew against Itachi, while the man in question ducked his head, avoiding the blade, the Ninjato slashed in a swipe in front of the Uchiha eldest, who swiftly moved his head backwards, only to find chains of chakra aiming at his side, forcing him to use a technique he didn't want to use.

"Susanoo!" as the skeleton of pure concentrated chakra wrapped around Itachi, the chains bounced away harmlessly, as Toruna, for once, opened his eyes.

"Impressive," he whispered, before closing them again, a thing that Itachi didn't, at all, ignore.

"This is the ultimate defense form of the Uchiha, it has no weakness! You are a risk for Akatsuki, Toruna of the snakes! For that I have to kill you!" as Itachi's Susanoo flailed its arms, creating three giant tomoes bound by chakra, the Akatsuki member yelled, "Yasaka no Magatama!" and, as his eyes slowly blurred a bit more, the giant spinning chakram-like attack spun forward, tearing a path through everything, to reach Toruna.

Once more, the man opened his eyes, avoiding the attack, and in that brief instant, Itachi was swiftly in front of him, his sharingan blazing, albeit his eyes were bleeding.

"Tsukuyomi!" and the next moment, Naruto stood in a sort of barren landscape, the colors drained, only black, red, and white being predominant. Itachi, a hundred, or even a thousand of Itachi were there, Katanas in hand, and staring at him, eyes narrowed.

"You should be on a cross," one of them pointed out, as Toruna, simply, nodded.

"I should, but do you understand," the last word was stressed, "the true purpose of Tsukuyomi?" as he questioned that, Itachi's face grew puzzled.

"What is it?" he asked, honestly curious as why his most powerful Genjutsu seemed to be known, and actually understood, by the man in front of him.

"To train in desperate moments. Seventy-two hours of training in the art of Genjutsu can save a person's life on the battlefield, all in brief seconds. It then became a torture instrument, or worst…but its general application…was training among family members by going all out, without risking to kill each other," Toruna replied, "that's why family members can nullify, or break free from it, easily," as he finished speaking, his eyes darted a red hue, with a slit in the middle, those nine lines, four per side, and one in the lower part, staring at him.

"What are those eyes? You didn't possess them before…your family doesn't possess a Doujutsu…who gave them to you?" at the questions, Toruna smiled.

"A ninja lives in deceit most of his life, Itachi…let's just say that, had Uchiha Madara talked with the Kyuubi, instead of battling him into submission, then this eye form would have been the Sharingan's real one," as he spoke, Itachi, for once, showed a shocked expression.

"What is their power? You fell for the illusions, and…"

"Do you know why I'm answering you, Itachi?" as the man shook his head, in truth, he had expected some sort of resistance, from the man, "It's because you haven't used Amaterasu yet. Now ask me how I understand," Once more, the word was stressed, "your sharingan's powers, and you will understand," stressed once more, "what my eyes power truly is," as he stood silent, Itachi's mind blazed with thoughts, possibilities, and then, finally, with understanding…the key word.

"You understand the usage of anything you see, you do not copy them…you cannot use them…but you can understand them, and, at a later use…"

"Learn how to do them. Your Tsukuyomi? Your Susanoo? Your Genjutsus? Your Crow Bunshins? Your Yasaka no Magatama? The Izanagi from Danzo? The Kotoamatsukami from his right eye? They are now known by me…and with time, and training, they'll be mine too, my growth, Itachi…is exponential…I'm a monster after all," Naruto's mouth turned into a small grin, "A monster who will rise to revolution the world, be it by saving it or destroying it," as he finished speaking, Itachi narrowed his gaze.

"Danzo? Where is he? Did you battle him and survive?" Toruna chuckled, before shaking his head.

"I did better, I killed the Yami of Shinobis myself…don't act surprised…he underestimated by true powers, thinking I was just another man blinded by greed, how could he expect his own monster to come back to tear his head off?" as Itachi slowly nodded, the Uchiha muttered once more.

"Are you really going to kill Sasuke?"

"No," Toruna's words shocked even more Itachi, then why did he… "I sensed you from a mile away, Itachi-san…you, like everyone else, underestimated me, I am in Sage mode, whatever it is, vibrations, air movements, chakra signals, I can sense them. I hone my skills every day that passes, every moment, every split second. Right now, clones are training in the very same techniques I stole from Danzo, and eventually, a work of training of years and decades will be but months or maybe a year," Toruna's voice was but a murmur, now, "Exponential growth, Itachi-san…and I needed you to see your techniques…so how about we strike a deal?" at those words, the eldest Uchiha stared at the man in front of him, and then muttered back.

"What is it?"

The words that Naruto spoke on made Itachi realize one thing…he liked the monster better than the man.

*Outside*

It had been but a split second, and then, Itachi was gone together with Sasuke, Toruna fell on his knees, panting, as Anko and C finally regained their motor senses, and slowly stood up, just as the man fell face first on the ground, exhausted, mentally and physically. Anko was the first to reach the man, while C had already a healing jutsu ready, but stopped, seconds before starting it.

"What's your problem now! Get on to it!" Anko exclaimed, as her left hand was on the sweating forehead of Naruto.

"I can't," C replied, "He's under heavy stress from soldier pills…If I so much as touch him with healing chakra…it would send his chakra system on shutdown," that was the main reason soldier pills were dangerous. Since healing chakras worked on the same basis, by stimulating chakra production and then directing it to the sore spots, or wounds, so too did the soldier pills work on stimulating the chakra system…an overstimulation was fatal, however, and for that…"no choice but to wait," the medic-nin whispered.

"He'll make it, right?" Anko queried, worried.

"He survived worst, he'll be fine," C replied with a sigh, as he turned his gaze to where their last prisoner was…only to obviously find her gone.

"Jiraiya-san is going to be pretty pissed," as he finished muttering that, Toruna's eyes widened for a brief second, showing red blood shot eyes with a slit in the middle, as nine black lines stood, slightly moving, bending, twisting, as they slowly started to assume a sort of concentric pattern around the central slit.

Anko tried to hold him down, worried, but the man simply jumped upwards, foam coming out of his mouth, as C's surprised face lasted for a brief moment, before assuming a stern gaze.

"What's going on now!" Anko yelled at the medic-nin, who, for once, had no answer.

"THAT IDIOT!" was all that Toruna roared to the sky, before collapsing once more, on the ground, breathing raggedly as he clutched his stomach, "C! Anko! Get to Konoha…she…she's come! That idiot…that stupid idiot…" as he muttered that gritting his teeth, he stared at the two still ninjas, and yelled once more, "haven't you heard me? MOVE! She's in danger!"

"Who's she?" Anko yelled back nervously.

"The Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki! Just go, I'll be in a safe place, move it!" as he whispered that, he brought his covered in dry blood palm forward, the blood was probably that of Yamato, maybe, and as he dropped it on the ground, he send the small pulse of chakra to base, and base answered back by reverse summoning him to Ryuchi cave, where he lay on the cold rock of the snakes summon place, until Hakuja's eyes stared at him for a brief second.

"You'd better have an explanation…a really good one," Naruto whispered.

"Acting all fatherly, huh?" Hakuja replied with a hiss, "She's not even your real daughter," he added.

"She's my niece then," Naruto muttered back, "and I'm also slapping Kuro, when I see him. He made her sign your contract, didn't he?"

"Actually…she whined, and whined, and whined, and kept on whining," Hakuja said, with a chuckled tone, "until in the end I was forced to admit that *not* eating children was really a tough thing to do, especially the whiny ones. So I made her sign the contract to calm her down. She caught the ball and off she went. Your fault for not having merged the two already, you should have expected that," the white snake hissed, "leaving the old one inside of you and the new one here to be able to reverse summon was genius, alright, but now what are you going to do?"

"Kuro's gone with her?" Naruto wheezed out.

"That he did. By the way, that girl has calmed down in the prison area, and the boy, Sai, is still alive. Tough guy, but he's sedated heavily…more like poisoned heavily," Hakuja replied, correcting himself, "anyway, you stay there and rest, mad man that you are, I'll let you see how the fight goes," and with those words, a puff of smoke appeared in front of Naruto's face, as the scenery within transformed to the fighting area of Konoha…

*Kushina and Kisame*

The animals defeated, the duo was now standing, actually, in a slight pinch. They had to keep the population from moving back to the city, and to do that, Kushina herself had placed seals around the stadium, creating a barrier that blocked them in. As she stood on one side of the barrier, next to Kisame, the faces on the other side were in shock, especially Tsunade's.

"Brat! Pull down this barrier this instant and let me smash your face!" as the slug princess yelled that, the red-haired woman had a tick mark appear on her face.

"Shut up you old hag! This is for your own good! Stay here safe while we beat Danzo 'ttebayo!" as she yelled that back, Tsunade's eyes narrowed.

"And why would you beat the Godaime Hokage?"

"He killed my son!" as she yelled that out loud, Kakashi's eyes narrowed, while he kind of hoped Gai, running around the stadium, would find a weak point in the barrier.

"You killed the boy, Kushina! You and Minato extracted the Kyuubi from him!" Tsunade yelled back, "And you even stole Uzuki-san's daughter, killing a nurse in the progress!"

Kushina stared at the blond pig-tailed woman for a moment, before bringing a hand to her temple, trying to reason something out, but the pain…it just felt so real.

"Don't listen to her, Kushina-san," Kisame snorted, "she's in Konoha because of Danzo's orders, she's just messing with us," as he finished speaking, Kakashi's voice interrupted him.

"Kisame of the Hidden Mist swordsmen, was it that man's actions…again?" as threat loomed from every single word of the silver-haired Jounin, Kisame said nothing, instead resorting to a grin.

"Not saying a word," he replied, sticking his tongue and middle finger out in full view.

"I thought you would understand, Tsunade-san…we are related after all…" Kushina whispered, "but if you prefer to stay on the side of the man who torture me and Minato's life and family, who brought Naruto up as an emotionless weapon devoted only to warfare, and that was the cause of Katsumi's passage to Orochimaru, then I have no more words for you! You all stay here 'ttebayo! If you come out, I'll handle you myself!"

"You're spouting madness! Kushina! None of that happened! It was YOU who…" as Tsunade tried to reason, Lee suddenly yelled.

"The belt is running!" at that information, that really strange information, Kakashi actually turned around to see Lee's belt, revealing itself as a snake, slithering towards the front of the barrier, before a snake hissed on the other side of it, and, with a wicked grin, both touched the barrier at the same time, creating a hole in it large enough…for someone to break through, at a flying speed, as a white snake on the outer side of the barrier flew, with a sort of purple and green fuzz on its back.

"I'm the white doom from above, the stalker of the skies: I'm Shiro-chan, the flying snake!" and on its back, in a pose reminiscing that of Jiraiya, a woman clad in a green scaled armor, with the kanji for *Tail* on the front, and a forehead protector with *Snake* on it yelled out loud.

"I'm Saki-chan, the violet blur of snakes! From the Waterfall of truth, I come to save the day, YOH!" as she finished saying that, a thick fire stream emerged from her mouth, couple with Shiro's wind release, that generated a tornado of fire and wind, that clashed downwards, towards the two Akatsuki members.

"Shisa Combine: Fiery Tornado of the skies!" as the fire that rained down forced the two to jump backwards, Kushina extracted the chains from her back, dashing them upwards, as Kisame on the other hand grabbed Samehada and roared:

"Suiton: Bakusui Shōha!" as the water wave of titanic proportions clashed against the fire and wind enhanced tornado, Kushina's chains broke through, expecting to aim and surround their attacker, only to find the duo had already flew out of the way, as the woman on the back of the flying snake roared:

"Katon: Endan!" as the woman yelled that, releasing a giant fireball that slowly moved downwards, Kisame grinned.

"Too slow…Ack!" Shiro in the meantime had actually started blowing out smaller, and faster, wind spheres, that passing through the fireball not only made it bigger, but sprouted from the other side extremely fast fire bullets, using the fireball itself as a shield and a mean of attack.

"Who is the slow one, you…you meanie!" as the woman yelled that, Kushina took the moment to dash a chain forward, taking advantage of the side movement of the flying snake. Only to find the chain stopped by a firm grip, belonging to a blond-pigtailed woman, who had passed through the hole in the barrier.

"Who did you call an old hag!" as Tsunade charged in, fist blazing and ready to punch a new face into the stupid red-haired woman, Kisame's samehada blocked the fist, albeit the bandages came loose by the strength of the impact, that sent the missing-nin a couple of steps back from the recoil.

As blood gushed out from Tsunade's knuckles, only to be healed in a split second, the legendary medic-nin muttered.

"So it absorbs chakra, huh!" Kakashi had exited next, his sharingan blazing into full view. He'd question the presence of a flying woman later, as she seemed on their side.

"We'll take the fight from here!" Just as he yelled that, the woman yelled back.

"Have you seen uncle! He was pretty hurt! I thought he was here…to the village Shiro-chan!" as Saki exclaimed that, not seeing her uncle among the crowd, she flew off, worried. She knew her uncle was strong, and safe, but still…why did she have a bad gut feeling?

"Kushina, they're lying to you!" Tsunade yelled at her remaining relative, well, not considering Katsumi.

"No! Minato would never lie to me!" Kushina replied, her chains sprouting hooked barbs of chakra, "Stand back or I will have to kill you! We're here only for Danzo!"

"If as you say, Danzo is the only culprit, why didn't you bring this matter to Mifune of the Iron lands?" Kakashi replied, "He could have send an investigation team, and they would have granted you safety, and if proven innocent…you could have been brought back to Konoha without a hitch."

Kushina's eyes narrowed, for a moment, trying to come for a reasonable reason why Minato hadn't brought it up. There was a reason, right?

"No! He certainly had a reason to do so! Minato would never lie to me!" as Kushina yelled that back, Kisame's eyes narrowed.

"Anyway we have to leave now, Uzumaki-san!" the half-shark yelled, "There are too many Jounins to test our luck! Suiton: Amesuikōha!" as he stomped his foot on a puddle of water nearby, it shot forward bursts of small water sharks, that charged forward while Kushina created a wall of the barbed chains, to prevent back attacks from Tsunade who tried running against them, not caring about the attack, since she could heal herself with her Creation Rebirth technique.

It was at that moment, as Kisame enlarged himself before unleashing a gigantic wave of water, once more, to hide their escape that Kakashi turned to Maito Gai, the green beast of Konoha, who had recently arrived on the scene, emerging from the hole in the barrier after having been shot backwards by the water pressure.

"Gai, you're the fastest one of us all, reach Konoha, we'll be there as soon as we put the civilians to safety!" as Gai nodded to his rival, the green beast dashed off, just as Lee tried to follow him, he was stopped by Asuma and Kurenai.

"You all! All the Shinobis who aren't Jounin class at least, remain close to the civilians, and protect them!" and with that, Shikamaru actually moved together with the others…after all he was a Jounin, and there *was* something troublesome with that woman, the *snake* and *tail* symbol, and the *uncle* she was referring to.

Can't be him…I suppose.

*Deva path and Minato Namikaze*

The two stood side by side, looking at the destroyed mess of the actual Root headquarters. Blood, guts, broken swords were everywhere. The problem was they all belonged to the Root members, no sign of the assaulters, no body to be seen.

"They had to have acted fast, during our assault," the Deva path whispered, "they knew we were going to attack today, so they planned to shift the blame on us," as he said that, his gaze turned to Minato, who narrowed his eyes.

"You aren't thinking I spied for them, right? You know I don't care about Konoha, as of now," he whispered back, "and I hate Danzo's guts never the less," he added.

"Then who? Itachi killed his clan, you escaped because Danzo let you escape," Deva muttered, "Kushina is out of the question…so who?"

"Certainly not me! And if you want me to prove it, then take out your Naraka path and let's get this over with…it's disgusting, but I'll take it," Minato replied, a frown on his face.

"I'll do just…he's gone," Deva path whispered, "He's out of control, as is the Human path. Somebody killed them," he slowly added, "with explosions."

"We should have brought Deidara with us," Minato muttered back.

"No, he, Hidan and Kakuzu were needed elsewhere…" at those words, he hoped the three wouldn't fail in capturing the Hachibi and the Nibi.

"Anyway, seems we'll have to look through their archives," as Minato pointed that out, Deva's eyes narrowed.

"We'll have to be quick about it: My animal path has just been destroyed by Jiraiya," at those words, Minato's eyes widened in surprise.

"Should I go and take care of stalling him?" Minato replied, to which Deva path shook his head.

"No, I'll go together with Asura and the Preta path," as the Deva turned to leave, he simply added, "Remember…we either return with the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, or you won't see your daughter until it's captured," and with that, he Shunshin'd away. Leaving the ex-Hokage to grit his teeth, and create Kage Bunshins to look around the underground barracks, located under the bakery that sold *Will of Fire* biscuits, approved by the Godaime Hokage himself.

One of his Kage Bunshins moved to a door, opening it to reveal a trap and a hail of senbons flying against him, which the Bunshin still dodged, before another one found the same stuff. There were traps all along the compound. How could the assaulters manage to kill them all without leaving any trace of their passage, and without having the traps spring? They either had to be really skilled commandos, or they must have had some insider work of sort. Finally, the archives came into view, and with those, the explosive tags set inside detonated, forcing the Fourth Hokage to Hiraishin out of there at full speed.

"Damn Kami!" he roared, as he safely appeared on a nearby rooftop, only to see the Bakery exploded into bits and pieces, rubbles everywhere.

"Uncle! Where are you!" A womanly voice yelled from the skies, high above him, making him raise a puzzled eyebrow at the scene of a purple-haired woman, riding a flying white snake.

He didn't hesitate a second, throwing his three pronged kunai upwards and moving to where it was, to reach the same height as the girl, before launching a volley of those kunais from one of his scrolls, and reappearing on the closest one to her, throwing her a side-kick to send her downwards, while dispersing the white snake with a punch, before reappearing right next to one of his kunais, and dashing towards the woman who, albeit in her fall, had sprouted snakes from her forearms, to reduce the impact, and had thus slowed her descent.

"HEY!" she yelled at the man, who charged forward, a rasengan spinning in his hand, ready to impact against the purple-haired woman. His eyes had seen pretty well, the *Tail* symbol and the *Snake* one, the woman was probably a helper of Toruna, and that the case, she'd prove to be a necessary key. By using her, he might be able to weasel his way into the protection of the Iron Land…by keeping her hostage.

The Rasengan hit full force the stomach of the woman, the speed of the fourth Hokage wasn't something that could be met head on so easily, and because of that, Saki was pushed on the other side of the roof, to crash at the façade of the building on the other side.

"Maybe I overdid it," he muttered, as suddenly, in front of him, a flash of red chakra appeared, as Saki, in three tailed form, her eyes red, flung a chakra claw at him, pushing him backwards as Minato had parried because of the shock of seeing…the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki! Kami really loved him!

He didn't waste time, letting his trademark kunai spin wildly in his right hand, before dashing forward once more, throwing some in her direction, that, however, her chakra cloak deflected as more clawed hands sprouted from the woman's back.

"You're the man uncle hates!" she roared, "You made uncle suffer!" as she screamed that, the roof creaked under the wave of chakra being released, as Minato transferred behind the woman's back, thoughts entering his mind and leaving it, as now wasn't the moment, he found himself being attack from those very same claws, that seemed omnidirectional.

He resorted to transferring far off once more, before generating a rasengan on his right and left hand, holding a Kunai in his mouth. Being the Jinchuuriki meant he could go all out without problems, she'd survive, probably.

Ōdama Rasengan was all the man thought, as two giant spheres of twirling chakra appeared on both of his palms, as he charged forward, just as Saki did the same thing, her eyes red, as she simply dashed, head on, leaving behind a small crater from the strength of her legs. The two rasengans hit head on the woman, who had thought her chakra armor would have sufficed, but as the strength of them halted her, engulfing both fighters into an explosion, Minato dashed away after the hit, avoiding the full out blast that instead took Saki, and flung her on the ground, to roll and repeatedly hit against buildings, until she landed far off the original point of attack.

Meanwhile, on the Hokage's monument, Jiraiya stood facing the Preta, Deva, and Asura path, his eyes and nose mostly frog-like, Ma and Pa on his shoulders, and a sorrowful look on him.

"Nagato…how could you?" he whispered, "How could you bring forth this destruction?"

"How could I not? For peace, I need the Bijuus! If I extract them and turn them into an enormous weapon, the strength unrivalled, then countries won't wage war out of fear!" Nagato replied, "War must be stopped! The cycle of hatred will end only when people will understand that complete destruction is assured for both parts!"

"You were supposed to be the child of the prophecy! Savior of the world!" Jiraiya yelled, a stone sword appearing in his right hand, as he narrowed his gaze.

"Well then, I'll save the world by condemning it!" as the Deva path raised his right hand towards the village, it roared out, "Banshō Ten'in" yelling that, an entire wall of a nearby building soared to reach them, and as the Preta path pulled itself in front of the Deva and the Asura, Jiraiya charged forward.

"Gamayudan!" as thick oil splashed forward, towards the path, the Deva raised his hand once more, hesitating, maybe, for a moment, before replying.

"Shinra Tensei!" the oil stopped in midair, throwing itself backwards, straight at the charging toad sage who, however, sidestepped it, just as the building's side came crashing on them, the Preta path shielding the two others, as Jiraiya seemingly was crushed underneath the pile of rubble.

"Gamadaira — Kageayatsuri no Jutsu!" just as Jiraiya emerged from the building's rubble, having turned flat to avoid being squashed, the Asura path launched forward a hail of missiles, that Pa, on Jiraiya's shoulders, deflected with a strong gust of wind.

"Come on, stick together! I know it's harsh but we need to stop him!" as soon as Ma said that, Jiraiya nodded, gulping down the nervousness in his throat, and getting in a sort of all fours position, his hair extended.

"Senpō: Kebari Senbon!" as soon as he yelled that, he began making signs for another technique, as both Pa and Ma understood, the Deva path instead raised his hand, before muttering once more.

"Shinra Tensei!" just as he did that, however, Jiraiya's cheeks swelled, before releasing a vast amount of oil, followed by Ma's fire and Pa's wind, sending the Goemon straight against him.

The Preta path appeared forward, readying himself to block it, and just as he did that, the stone sword from the Toad's mount came flying through, sticking itself through the corpse's heart, stopping him on his track, as the Kage Bunshin from Jiraiya, created during the building being thrown at him moment, had waited for that instant.

As the Preta path fell down, without wasting another moment, Jiraiya charged, Rasengan in hand, even though it belonged to his former student, and the Asura path, strangely, took the blow while opening up his head, to unleash the explosion that scorched the area around them.

"Hari Jizō!" thankfully for Jiraiya, his sage-enhanced hair was enough to withstand the explosion, albeit the cracks on the ground reached forward, till the head of the fifth Hokage, tearing a good chunk straight in the middle of it.

As the Deva path's eyes narrowed on an explosion not far off, where Minato was seemingly fighting something with red chakra that had tails sprouting from the back. He would have stayed, but Kushina had neared his body, telling him the barrier had been breached and they had to leave.

He gritted his teeth, both the real body and the Deva path, as the Asura path was finished off by Jiraiya, he turned to dash away, heading towards the center of the village.

Meanwhile, Saki was conflicted, the man in front of her had been attacking her without even speaking a word, with precision and coldness, and she was hurt, badly hurt. Even as the fox's chakra dwindled down to a stop, she realized the man wasn't stopping, his right hand ready to bring the kunai straight against her right shoulder, as she was feeling pain all over her body, she barely managed to roll to the side. She was hurting, the pain was everywhere in her body, yet she had to stand, as the man was cruel, and evil, and she had to help her uncle defeat him. No matter what the big-breasted hag, or the strange-tanned man with shades had told her, she was going to help her uncle!

*Waterfall of Truth area*

Yugito sneezed, as B did too, Naruto was going to flail them alive, for having lost sight of the woman.

"My Otouto is going to kill me," Yugito muttered, as she sat down on a tree stump, "the girl was barely three or four years old in her head, and we lost sight of her in the forest," she added.

"I think the bro's going to kill me first," B replied, as he was the one who had been vehemently made to promise to keep an eye out on the girl, and he had given his bro-word on the matter.

As the Hachibi Jinchuuriki looked around, once more, he realized something strange.

"Hey Cat…the forest's quiet," as he spoke that, narrowing his gaze, so too did Yugito, who suddenly jolted up. Avoiding a swipe from a three bladed scythe, that seemed covered in blood.

"Damn Jashin! Here I was thinking I could get a kitty in!" as he sneered, Yugito narrowed her eyes, as B, on the other hand, went for one of his swords.

"Careful B! If he hits you and draws blood he can do a strange ritual to harm you!" as Yugito spoke from experience, the Hachibi Jinchuuriki had already transformed into his cloaked eight tails state.

"With a cloak all is fine!" he rapped, before heading to Lariat the man in question, who took the hit full front with his chest, letting his scythe cut through the chakra cloak like it wasn't even there, wounding the Hachibi on the chest before dashing backwards.

"My Scythe cuts through chakra with ease now! Admire the upgraded version for Jashin!"

B you idiot! This is what you get for not going all-out from the beginning!

Yugito would have wanted to intervene, but a sizzle, an explosion, and the chaos of destruction spreading around like raindrops, blasted her against a couple of trees, Matatabi being forced to take over to avoid any more harm. As the tree she was on cracked under the weight and was lit on fire by the flames of the Nibi, Matatabi hissed at the two men, both up in the air, and just as she spat out flaming hairballs covered in fire that seemed more like homing missiles.

"Suiton: Suijinheki!" as water emerged from Kakuzu's mouth, creating a wave wall that fell down, fizzling off the fiery balls of fire, Deidara replied with nice clay doll, that suddenly enlarged itself sevenfold, before falling touching the ground, and igniting.

"We need her alive!" Kakuzu grunted back, as the forest's trees were trashed around violently, "You damn idiot!"

"Art is an explosion! Katsu!" as the blond haired man yelled that, more clay birds dashed underneath them, not even giving time to let the dust settle before exploding again.

"Stop before I kill you!" Kakuzu basically yelled out loud, "What's up with you!"

"Master Sasori died! I'm going to show him, even if he's in the afterlife, how explosions are the true form of art!" as Deidara yelled that with wide grin, laughing maniacally, Kakuzu sighed. Why were all the psychopaths given to him, and not, say, Kisame, or Itachi? Kakuzu narrowed his green eyes, as he looked at the fallen, and charred, body of the Nibi, once the dust settled in. On the other side, Hidan had barely finished his own ritual, something akin to skewering himself just so he could skewer another that suddenly, B changed into the full-out Hachibi form.

"This is…" bad, that was what Kakuzu would have wanted to say, but that instead was revealed under a set of swears from Hidan himself, as the fundamental weakness of his technique was finally revealed.

It worked on blood, so it required the use of blood from the attacked. Now, if the blood no longer belonged to the attacked, but to someone else…like a full-out Bijuu form, then it was useless to even try.

"Jashin-sama…I hate you," were the last words of Hidan, before a full-out Bijudama clashed against him, incinerating him to the point where it didn't even matter if he was immortal, since it left behind not even the dust.

"That's why I told him not to mess around, the idiot," Kakuzu muttered, "He'll probably take years to reform, maybe," he added.

"Let's grab the Nibi and dash away from here, now!" As Deidara brought his own clay bird downwards, B barely turned around, extending his octopus-like appendages of the Hachibi, and tried reaching out for the duo, only to find Kakuzu yell at him.

"Raiton: Gian!" as volleys of electrical thunderbolts darted downwards, to strike at the tentacles, Deidara managed to swiftly gain quota, getting out of reach of the Hachibi, who gritted his teeth.

Can't use the Bijudama! We need to follow Yugito fast!

As the Bijuu form moved to jump off into the sea that the giant tortoise was traversing, he began a full out dash to follow the small white bird that seemed to be doings its best to hide behind the clouds.

The Bro is going to be double pissed, triple pissed, utterly pissed.

How worst could it actually get?

*Shizuka*

More than a month to reach Konoha? Had they taken her for a recently appointed Genin Kunoichi? She was the daughter of Mifune, the leader of the Iron Lands, and of the chief of the Nadeshiko Village. There was no way she was as weak as they had thought she was. So, without wasting time in correcting the previous statement, she had dashed off, covering more and more ground as she ensured herself that she'd reach the overly stupid man, the man she had decided to keep on hitting until he understood that no, there was no such thing as *dying* to renounce her hand. She'd be shamed, to say the least, and her father *would* be mad, terribly mad. Furthermore, she wouldn't admit her charms as a woman had failed on him. She wouldn't admit it, and she wouldn't, for all that was sacred, fail in getting married. Her father had done his best to keep her *locked* away from most of the fun things she could have been doing in her life, marriage was her way out. She was sure, pretty sure, Toruna wouldn't have minded the least, and would have probably even gone to great length, to make her feel *special*, even if not loved. She just had to bring him back to Kumogakure, while him still being Toruna, and not yet Naruto. The man would obey the promises. Then he could die and become Naruto again, for what she cared, as long as she got her freedom.

Still, by the time she had arrived, actually, to the outskirts of Konoha, all she could see was thick smoke and fire raging around, as a giant black snake was spitting out fire, while a rock encrusted one seemed heavily intertwined with the black one, and both seemed to circle around the same position.

Shizuka stood very still, staring at a snake with a cigar in his mouth, eying her, from the gates. The fact there was a green-clad spandex man speaking to said snake was something utterly horrendous, and astonishingly impossible.

"I say it is most un-youthful of you not to warn us you had already brought to safety the villagers!" the green beast panted.

"We thought the girl would warn you…instead she dashed off on her own, Yoru and Scaly can provide back-up, you should however…" at that moment, at that precise moment, from the center of the village, where Jiraiya was running to catch an escaping Deva path, while a bit far off Yoru and Scaly were pounding, or trying to pound, on the fourth Hokage, who Hiraishin'd out of the way most of the times, trying to get a clear view of Saki to grab her and be gone from the village, in that moment, the Deva path stopped, and, like a sort of ripple in the water, everything was pulled away.

"Shinra Tensei" the next moment, buildings, rubble, corpses, everything in the area of Konoha was pushed to the side, leaving only a crater with the Deva path inside, who, seemingly unfazed, stood still for a brief moment.

In those moments, a giant-version of the rasengan crushed at him from behind, as Jiraiya, the toad sage, emerged from underground, where he had actually hidden to avoid the blast.

"The only place you don't push away, is under you! And you've got a five second time lapse!" with that yell, the Rasengan, poured with every ounce of chakra the toad sage possessed, slammed itself deeply into the Deva path, breaking him up in small piece, and sending his remains to fly around, as the toad sage panted for the attack done.

Tabako, in the meantime, reassessed his surroundings. He had become briefly a flying snake too, only by sheer force of the impact, and had now found himself, entangled to *the green beast of Konoha's* chain belt.

"We must hurry, youthful scale friend!" as Gai yelled that, charging ahead, Tabako began yelling too.

"LET ME GOOOOO" he hissed frantically, as his cigar had fallen from his mouth, "My smoke! I get really bitty if I don't get my cigar back! You! Back! Cigar! Smoke! Nicotine! I need my dose! I'm a good snake who wants a good dose of smoke!" as the snake literally tore down into sobs and shivers, Gai did feel piety, but he was already going to engage the ex-fourth Hokage, who had taken the moment of distraction, since the two giant snakes had been forced in a defensive position to protect the wounded woman, to dash forward and aim a lethal blow at Yoru.

The blow never came, as Maito Gai, kick at the ready, punched Minato Namikaze straight in the guts, opening his sixth gate in the meantime.

"Dainamikku Entorī! Hachimon Keimon!" just as he finished saying that, masses of swirling blue chakra that surrounded him took form, as the Fourth Hokage, narrowing his eyes, muttered.

"A man not to underestimate," before disappearing in a twirl, to reappear elsewhere, preparing to launch more Kunais around to have more area of action, only to find himself at sword point, by none other than his ex-teacher…

"Minato, stop this at once," Jiraiya whispered, "I know how Sensei must have felt fighting Orochimaru, please, do not force this upon me," he added, "surrender now."

"You think you're faster than me?" Minato whispered back, a trickle of blood exiting his mouth, as the kick from Gai's entrance had been felt, deeply.

"No," Jiraiya replied, "But I will act before you," as soon as he said that, his swords tried to pierce straight through the man's back, only to find him already gone, before raising his right arm to block the attack of what seemed like a wave of water, that nearly washed him away.

"We're retreating man!" Kisame yelled, "There's a change of plans!" as Kushina stood beside the shark-man, her chains ready creating a shield-like barrier around them, Minato nodded, from his spot, as he reappeared right next to his wife.

"Asa Kujaku!" Maito Gai, still with his sixth gate opened, charged at the barrier with his fists, generating waves of small fireball upon the friction of his knuckles against the air, before impacting against the barrier, even though the barbed hooks sprouting from it seemed to be wounding him, in truth it was just the result of his hands hitting against the barrier.

"Kushina, we have to go!" Minato replied, as, since the barrier was a dome, there was no way out of there if she didn't remove the barrier.

"Minato…I can't, not until he closes his gates! He's too fast, he'd hit me too!" as the red-haired woman spoke, Jiraiya took the moment to move closer.

"Kushina! Why are you doing this? Having killed your own son wasn't enough!"

"No! You too, Jiraiya-san? Why you too?" Kushina muttered, holding the barrier with her strengths, "Why did you choose Danzo over us? He used Naruto! He killed Naruto for the Kyuubi! He…"

"He didn't do a thing!" the female voice that broke the standoff, the female, clear, voice that broke the standoff, came from a red-haired girl, Katsumi, who had appeared with the snake-nins insignia, much like Saki had, and who was now staring, with her blue eyes, at the group.

"Katsumi…chan?" Kushina muttered in disbelief, as Minato, gasping, disappeared to reappear outside of the barrier, aiming to grab Katsumi, only to see her puff in smoke, and forcing him back inside the barrier, to avoid being hit by Jiraiya.

"Yeah! Uncle is innocent!" Saki yelled, holding her right shoulder, from atop Yoru's head, the Kyuubi's chakra already beginning to mend it, but it was still a deep wound…hadn't she summoned Scaly and Yoru…

"Kaa-san! Father's a liar!" another Katsumi yelled, from a nearby rooftop, "He's the one who killed Naruto! And you were the cause of it!"

"What? What's going on? Katsumi…what are you doing here? What is…" as Kushina was shocked, the barrier dwindled, having the woman lost concentration long enough, to make Gai finally push through, breaking it and aiming a strong punch straight ahead, towards Minato, only to find the blond man duck, trying to get to Kushina in time to bring her away with him, ignoring Kisame's pouting.

"Hey! I'm here too!" as the shark-man managed to use his Samehada to block the blow from Gai, albeit it resulted in him being actually thrown backwards, a feat that Tsunade herself hadn't managed.

"Frog Tongue!" Jiraiya's mouth extended a toad-like tongue, that circled Kushina and brought her closer to him, saving her, by mere inches, from Minato's hand, just as Gai himself spun around to land a fist on him, the Fourth Hokage disappeared in a flicker.

"What's going on!" Kushina finally snapped, chains breaking free of the toad-like tongue, "Katsumi! What's going on!"

The red-haired girl descended swiftly, moving closer to her mother, before explaining, with eyes watery from the emotion.

"Otou-san tricked you and me with seals to alter our memories, Kaa-san! He's the one who killed Naruto, who murdered people, who did all those bad things he said Danzo had done, he's the reason Naruto was a mindless weapon!"

"So that explains why you're still with him…" Jiraiya whispered, "but how do *you* know?"

"He told me," Katsumi replied, "he freed me from both Orochimaru's grasp and Otou-san's seals…and he told me," albeit he did speak with some spite for a while, and he did hurt her too, for a while, he then stopped that, actually coming to at least sustain her presence near him.

"How did you get here then? You were in Ame! Ame's a month away from here!" Kushina exclaimed.

"He attacked the orphanage when you left, grabbed me while defeating Konan-san, and took a month to get to…decide? In the end he let me go…he brought me here too, and suggested how I should act..." she whispered, "He's really smart, you know?" she added, "Planned everything. Really smart."

"Planned what?" Jiraiya queried, as he was now visibly more relaxed, and pissed at the brat for having used Konoha as bait. He'd have a talk with him later on, at the present, he eyed the falling form of Gai, tired after such a use of opening his gates, while Kisame had preferred to run away, the coward he was.

"Well he…"

"WHERE IS HE!" a female voice yelled, entering the main gate, just as everyone turned their gaze to a buxom beauty that made Jiraiya's eyes assume a lecherous attitude.

"He… who?" Yoru hissed, feigning ignorance, as Scaly-chan hissed something, only to be hissed back by Yoru, and dispersing together with Saki.

"THE IDIOT!" Shizuka yelled, "That damn bastard! Thinks he can fool me, huh! Come on! Toruna of the snakes! Get him over here this instant!"

"Well…I can't do that, he's resting…you know, fighting for nearly an entire day, thousands of clones around…it's not really *that* easy," as Yoru said that, Shizuka grabbed the giant Manda-like snake by the tail, and then pulled him backwards, so that his face hit the ground, with a display of strength that maybe only Tsunade would have been able to pull off.

"You see this?" she said, pointing at her right hand, where her fist was flickering with wind chakra, "This is a wind fist. You either tell me where he is, and bring me there this instant, or I swear to Kami I'll pull your tongue out with this," as she snarled that, somewhere, in Ryuchi cave, Toruna still laying on the floor groaned, as Kuro hissed to the man.

"She definitively isn't the homely type," as he finished hissing that, Toruna muttered back.

"Thank Kami I still have to take care of that man…not meeting her till…" that's when he heard from the smoke cloud, coming in as a voice.

"Fine! I'm bringing you…" Toruna did try, on his account, to stand up, but his muscles nearly broke into pieces, as, with cold sweat, he barely wobbled three steps towards his room, before a puff of smoke later revealed Yoru…and a really, really, angry Shizuka.

"I yield," Toruna whispered, with a small groan, before falling back down on the floor. Fainted men get mercy, right?

Meanwhile, a worried Anko and C finally managed to haul an utterly fighting Tayuya inside Konoha, only to be greeted by the most incredible amount of…nothing. The entire city, barring the Hokage's monument, who was strangely missing both the fourth's and the fifth's head, had been destroyed, leaving behind only a crater…and the village's gates.

*Nagato's area*

He slowly looked up, to Itachi, whose eyes stared down at him for a brief moment, and then, it was all over. How can you achieve peace, when your head is rolling on the ground, courtesy of a katana that can cut through anything? Nagato's body, detached from its head, slowly fell downwards, as his head was taken by a snake, who popped out of existence together with him.

There, next to Itachi, stood Toruna…or better yet, Omega.

"Good Kami…told you he'd be surprised by seeing Katsumi here…moment of distraction…only a brief moment of distraction, and even the strongest shinobi can die, Itachi-san," Omega whispered, turning around to leave, "That's why being unpredictable is the strongest feat a ninja can achieve," and with those final parting words, Omega disappeared, reverse summoning himself to Ryuchi's cave hatchery.

The Original one was getting tended to, his chakra was no longer in danger of exhausting himself, and they'd survive through the night…

"Mokuton, Rinnegan, Sharingan…I don't know you…Tobi, or Uchiha Madara…but I know that, no matter what, you will face someone equally prepared to fight you," and with those words, Omega turned to his test subjects. He just had two corpses he had to repair, attend to, and then, later on, bring back to life…Chiyo's jutsu would work just fine…after he mastered Genjutsu, to have *someone* sacrifice his life in his place…giving Saki her parents back was fine…but he didn't have to die himself, after all…he still had to become stronger.

Strong enough, to battle all enemies of Kumo.

Strong enough, to protect all his friends.

Strong enough, to never be defeated.

Strong enough, to mark a new era.

The era of the snakes.

Author's notes

Damn it! Damn it! I understand why a lot of stories of Naruto go unfinished! Having to describe multiple battles in a single chapter gets on the nerves of people, who have to cross check on Narutopedia and the likes Jutsus and the rest. I carried on, however, thanks to the comments and reviews of you folks, and I just couldn't let you down.

And if somebody is thinking…

"Naruto, he's getting more and more like a *successful* Orochimaru," then you're right!

By the way, the statue of demonic binding is *not* placed, in the beginning, in Tobi's lab, but in Amegakure proximity, so before you start pointing that out, it will then be moved to Tobi's lab, but it stood precisely in Pain's temple before.

Orochimaru wouldn't have lasted longer, he actually isn't all that strong…he's just kind of…relentless? I mean, really, last Naruto chapter (Spoilers beware!) he's alive, again, only from a bit of kabuto's flesh and Anko's cursed seal…just how much must one kill him, to have him STAY dead?

Ayame actually had little screen time, and since he didn't develop much of a relation with her, (barring him eating ramen and she simply smiling behind the counter) there isn't much common ground. Though that could potentially change, I've already *set the sail*, Shizuka will get it. Sorry folks. I simply can't write *Incest* (not even *Wincest*? Is that how it's called?) Anyway, with that said, I do have the distinctive feeling this chapter is missing something. There were so many things going around, that, I repeat, I do understand those who actually stop writing, claiming rewritings or simply moving on to something else entirely. I didn't, as I'm a stubborn mule of unparalleled knuckleheadedness (is that even a word?) so, I simply couldn't let you folks down.

Fun facts:
Kabuto doesn't know Orochimaru's dead…yet.

Sasuke is probably going to die a really, really, horrible death, eventually.

Shizuka can hunt while running in a straight line, Nadeshiko village secret of *Eating and burning calories on the run*.

Karin's future in an unknown equation. (Not for me, obviously)

Tora the cat is no longer in Konoha. Holding true to his promise, Kuro sent Tabako to free the kindred in spirit, who now is happily in Ryuchi cave, taking the sun outside. (You'll see him one day)

Normal facts:
the fight with B and Yugito was cut short, I'm painfully aware of it, but, the point is…how could it have gone differently? Considering one side had to act by surprise by throwing everything forward, and the other was caught by surprise?

The group moved to intercept the incoming jounins from the stadium, so there was no-one when Anko and C reached the village, (Jiraiya *did* move faster than them, and *did* have the advantage)

Furthermore, I've gone over the 22K marks of words.

…22 and more than half.

Author's final notes:

Pain is now my least favorite character. Really, describing over six/seven actions of every single character, battles with more than one enemy per side, and the likes…really Pain, you're a Pain! So yeah, instead of having him fight, once more, using his final moves, I used trickery to have him die. Thank Kami Naruto knows how to convince people to work with him, and as Itachi distracted Pain with a Genjutsu, during the appearance of Katsumi, Naruto struck him down…Naruto…or Omega?