Disclaimer: This is a fan written work based on the works of J.K. Rowling. Also features Naruto which is owned by Kishimoto. It might possibly also have some elements of a number of other works. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the masses. This is merely for fun, and no profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU.

POWER

chapter twenty-nine

'Mog' Ryoku whispered into his Jounin Commander's mind, 'We're on our way home..but it might take a little bit longer than expected..'

"What?" Mogatari said out loud for his fellow jounins to hear as he was in a meeting with the Jounin captains.

"I said.." one captain began to say, but was cut off by his commander.

"Not you, I heard Mizukage-sama's voice," Mogatari said.

'I am speaking directly into your mind' Ryoku stated mentally, 'Kindly inform your companions, lest they think you've gone over the deep end due to all the paperwork.'

"Ah...hehe...sorry about that..Mizukage-sama was speaking directly to me in my mind, and well...I hadn't been expecting it," Mogatari said to reassure his subordinates that he still had enough sanity in him to lead them.

"S'alright Mogatari-soutaichou," one jounin said for lot of them.

"He said that he won't be back for a little while longer," Mogatari informed his subordinates, "It looks like the Exams really will be run by the lot of us. Good luck to us then."

'Make sure that the perceptions of the other nations consist of us being a bloodthirsty nation, one that is strict and formidable...help cultivate a false reputation, we ARE the bloody mist' Ryoku ordered his jounin commander, 'The mists are already filled with the smell of lingering death and the feeling of such as well. Make our guests feel welcome, and protected, while at the same time knowing that there is a reason to fear our lovely village.'

"Mizukage's orders are to make sure that Kiri is like a village of monsters," Mogatari said, "We are to be known in the history books as the Bloody Mist, pass this on all the way to the last civilian..which aren't really much as almost everyone knows how to fight offensively and defensively. We are a village of warriors, whose blood makes up just as much of the waters of our nation as water itself does."

"Hai, soutaichou!" the jounins said.

"The mists that surround and defend our home are already filled with lingering death, as do the rest of our country," Mogatari infomred them, "We are to make this ruse seem to be the truth to the outsiders. We will not be looked down on or underestimated. We will be overestimated and feared."

'The Daimyo himself will have already begun to spread the word of a civil war having taken place, which was the reason for our not participating in the most recent great war,' Ryoku informed him, 'Remember..to the Daimyo's of the other countries, we are already the Village of the Bloody Mist,there is no turning back now, do not dishonor our Daimyo, or myself.'

"H-Hai Mizukage-sama!" Mogatari said, then addressed the still assembled Jounin captains, "The Daimyo himself has already spread the word of our status as the Village of the Bloody Mist, the story is that the reason for our staying out of the most recent great war was that we had out own internal conflict, a civil war of sorts, with numerous casualties, soaking the mists themselves with blood. This ruse will be easy to form and make known, and is believable, as even though we didn't technically close off our borders, no spy has ever left the mist to say otherwise, and hopefully our secret will be ours to keep until such a time that our Kage or Daimyo deems it necessary for us to simply be powerful and not ruthless and bloodthirsty."

"So..all the evidence has been planted all over the country for the foreigners to pick up, all that remains are the actions and words of our own people?" one jounin questioned.

"Correct," Mogatari said, "All that remains is making sure that all the people play their part right. For the duration of the Chuunin Exams all of Kiri is to show the world that if there is one thing we are good at, it is that we are good at being shinobi."

"What kinds of rumors should be spread beyond our borders or to the foreigners coming our way?" one jounin asked.

'Zabuza has just gained the name Kirigakure no Kijin,' Ryoku informed his subordinate as he was listening in on their conversation, 'Some mercenaries had the misfortune of doing battle with him, and in a short period of time, I have been able to find out that some of the minor villages have come to call him by that title. He is a prodigy in ranks, and was at the top of his graduating class. Let is be known, in the form of a rumor, that our genin test is a brutal and violent one. Where Konoha values teamwork, we value strength and ruthlessness, while Zabuza himself is both, he in truth did not massacre his graduating class...you get where I'm going with this hopefully.

Mogatari passed on some more instructions and ideas from the Mizukage pertaining to strengthening the image of the village, and the country itself. Where the forests of Fire Country, of Hi no Kuni, would send out a welcoming feeling to all that entered her, while at the same time showing the world her strength. Where the mountains of Lightning Country, of Kaminari no Kuni, provided unattainability, strength of its own, and a hint of mystery. Where the sands of Wind Country, of Kaze no Kuni, or the earthy terrain of Earth Country, of Tsuchi no Kuni, provided their own fronts and images of what they were. Water Country, Mizu no Kuni, would make it so that all that entered her, passed within her borders would be shrouded with a sense of foreboding, a feeling of fear. The mists swirled around the semi-archipelagic nation, with a lingering atmosphere of death and destruction. A living chaos that had swept the country for as long as the nation had stayed out of the most recent great war.

The Kiri-nin were to cultivate an image that the mists that proliferated their country were not made up of water, but of the blood of their enemies, and of themselves. That the blood of their allies, and their brethren was not wasted for the soil to consume, that the protective mists that hid their beloved village from view held a lot more than simply mist, but the spirits of the dead, forever to watch over the hidden village through the blood that made up the thick blanket of protection.

"You have your orders," Mogatari said, "Meeting adjourned, dismissed."

"Hai!" the jounins all said and left the conference room in an orderly fashion, walking out the doors of the room two at at time, even with all the windows, they knew the proper way to leave and enter such closed spaces.

When all were away, and the Jounin Commander was the only one left in the room, he renewed his conversation with his Kage..

"So where are you exactly? And when can I expect you to be back?" Mogatari asked his Kage...

'We are somewhere in the middle of our journey home...but there have arisen some complications..that I don't think you really need to know about at the moment, as for when we are to return, no later than a week before the finals, you can count on that,' Ryoku infomred his subordinate and temporary replacement.

"If you say so, sir," Mogatari said, not wanting to sound like a nagger or a worry wart, he left it at that, and went about continuing the duties he had been left with.

#

Somewhere in the middle of the deep blue sea, Zabuza was trying desperately to run for his life away from something he didn't think he'd ever see in his life. While he knew of the existence of summon creatures, this one thing was in no way shape or form a summon creature, it was an actual denizen of the deep blue sea, it was a giant squid, the kind that dragged ships down into its murky depths and did away with those that could have lived to tell the tale of its existence, only leaving those unlucky few that were able to abandon ship before the ship was dragged down.

The reason why he was running for dear life away from the thing was that Ryoku decided that the ship carrying the Umi Daimyo did not deserve to be dragged into the murky deep by such a creature, and had devised a distraction that would save the ship, crew, and passengers from such a drowned fate. But the cost would be for himself and his subordinate to relentlessly run around the sea in circles until the beast finally gave up, and swam away. Which didn't look like it would happen any time soon as Zabuza seemed to only be a ble to run literally in circles, much like a cartoon character, forming a whirlpool in the middle of the sea or ocean, which ever one would prefer to call their location.

Ryoku himself didn't have to worry about running as he had literally dunked his subordinate in some kind of sauce like thing, one which was sure to attract squids from miles around. It was a kind of squid aphrodisiac and a little bit of something else. The giant squid was just the only thing large enough that Zabuza could see above the water's surface. Underneath the waves were hundreds, if not thousands, of squid chasing after him, all attracted by whatever it was that Ryoku had dunked his subordinate into.

It wasn't like Zabuza could complain, as he didn't want to find out the consequences of disobeying his superior's orders or doubting his Kage for that matter. He was told that he should view it as some sort of honor, running away from thousands of squids to save the lives of the passengers and crew of a ship bound for their homeland of Mizu no Kuni.

So while the Demon of the Mist ran in circles forming a whirlpool to rival Charybdis or however it was spelled, Ryoku simply sat on a beach chair, under and umbrella, on an Avatar made island and watched his subordinate continue running, and running, and running. He lay down in the shade, relaxing, and drinking pina coladas, as well as ate some fruits that he created for his own pleasure. He did occasionally throw some energy Zabuza's way, as it wouldn't do for one of his shinobi to die on him, during a mission.

It was only when an Ushi-Oni, or an octopus-bull hybrid of a creature to arrive and join in on the chase did Ryoku jump up and decide to aid his accomplice in the fun. It wouldn't do for Zabuza to be brutally violated by a demonic entity before bagging himself a girl, or at the very least getting a real taste of some tail.

He'd already managed to do battle with the Ichibi, Sanbi, and whatever the hell that slug like thing was, as well as the rabbit looking kitsune, to name a few, what was one ushi-oni to add to the list, unless he had already dealt with the thing before, and had just forgot. But whatever the answer to that question may be, he did decide to jump in as he knew for a fact that no one short of, aside from himself, a Hoshigaki would be able to singlehandedly stall the massive thing until some major reinforcements arrived. Ryoku didn't need reinforcements though, he just needed some form of creativity, as well as the opportunity to deal some demonic damage to such a demonic creature.

'You might want to speed it up a little bit, as there's more than squids chasing after you right now, and don't look back...on second thought look back,' Ryoku mentally informed Zabuza as he took his sweet time walking to the whirlpool.

A few seconds after advising his subordinate to look behind him as he ran, the whirlpool grew even faster as Zabuza picked up a lot of speed, augmenting his legs with a Kage load of chakra. It was like a badly thought up anime, as Zabuza decided that not only was running important, but so was shouting or screaming..

"AIEEEEEEE! Tentacle monster! I'm not into that sort of shit! Mizukage-sama! Help me!"

Of course by that time, Ryoku was no longer paying any attention to his subordinate, as he believed that his subordinate had enough survival instinct in him to avoid getting captured and held aloft by those many tentacles of the Hachibi, along with those of the thousands of swimming squid, and a number of jellyfish that had decided to join in on the fun as well.

"Hey! Don't grab me there!" Ryoku heard as while he slowly walked to the edge of the whirlpool. He was too deep in thought to notice his that his companion did not have enough experience dealing with such overwhelming numbers and unfathomable odds to come out unscathed. He only noticed once he heard the scream.

"Don't put your tentacle there!"

Ryoku had stopped dead in his tracks, literally dying of shock for a few seconds only to have Crius and Alex slam him back to life, as his eyes landed on the scene playing out before him. He never was one for such atrocious behavior, or such public displays of whatever. It was just so disturbing that he couldn't help but just watch instead of help the poor man out.

"Put your tentacle there!"

One of the mysteries of life was unfolding before his very eyes, and it was both a humbling and mentally scarring experiences for Zabuza but not for the audience consisting of Ryoku. One would think that after watching one of the seven swords being rammed into something that was not meant to receive its pleasure would have prompted the co-creator into acting. But it did not, as Ryoku was only able to continue to stare, to look on as his subordinate was used and abused in such ways that he feared actually including it in the mission report he would have to write upon his return to the village. He didn't think that anyone that would read the report would be able to stomach the horrors he and Zabuza would witness to, Zabuza being on the receiving end of the horrible experience.

"GREAT KAMI-SAMA! MAKE THE PAIN STOP!"

Ryoku moved his head to the side by an inch to avoid getting hit by Zabuza's zanbatou, as it flew through the air after being dislodged from who knew where, and Ryoku really didn't want to know, but due to protocol he would eventually be forced to find out. He stood dumbfounded by what he was bearing witness to. It even got to a point that his own control had slipped and he began to sink into the waves as his concentration was broken due to the events unfolding right before his very eyes.

"MIZUKAGE-SAMA! SAVE ME!"

Sure Ryoku heard that, it was his title in the village after all, as well as his rank in the system, not that it did him much justice. But just realizing that he heard his subordinate's pleas for help, he really couldn't do anything, since his subordinate seemed to be half enjoying himself. He really didn't know of anything that could end the situation without permanently harming his subordinate...

"I'm telling Mei on you!"

Ryoku simply continued to watch Zabuza fall into the abyss known as the Hachibi's mouth, and watched as he was swallowed by the massive creature, as well as continued to stare and look on as the whirlpool shrunk, slowed, and eventually died. The squid left soon after along with the numerous jellyfish, leaving only Ryoku standing neck deep in the sea and the Hachibi simply watching him with a little bit of confusion.

"...!"

"Oh fine..." Ryoku said in exasperation, not that he was exasperated or anything like that, so he rose back to the surface of the sea, then simply pointed at the Bijuu, and incanted, "Reducto! Stupefy!"

Two beams of light shot out of his finger and slammed into the chest of the beast sending it flying in the direction of Kaminari no Kuni. But before it could get that far, Ryoku ran up to it and delivered a swift and devastating kick to its crotch just as the spells slammed into it.

"Accio Momochi Zabuza!" he incanted remembering that a subordinate was still in the monster's gut. The effect was instantaneous, as he was able to see Zabuza forcefully get ripped out of the monster's gut and soar at breakneck speed in the direction of Ryoku's now outstreched hand. But instead of physically catching his companion, he caught the man with a branch of a tree he had decided to grow in the middle of nowhere, and allowed the tree to grow and turn into an island, a sngle organism kind of island. A tree that would put anything the Senju had ever been able to do for Fire Country.

"Domo arigato gozaimasu Mizukage-sama!" Zabuza said while trying to bow, trying only since he was still being held up by a branch of the massive tree-island, but also pleaded, "Can we please never do that again. I've seen horrors no man deserves to witness...even though I can admit that some of the stuff I've seen and experienced would make for an incredibly cruel genjutsu."

"I'll think about it," Ryoku simply said, "We'll rest here for a while, before heading back to the mainland."

"What exactly did you do?" Zabuza asked, not fully comprehending what his boss had done exactly, his mind unable to wrap itself around the fact that his boss had made a tree grow somewhere trees just did not grow, and to a size that was not normal, and to serve a purpose that was unheard of for a tree.

"I made a tree grow in the middle of the deep blue, and made it grow to the extent that it can now serve as an island, I'll have to station some ANBU over here when everything gets back to normal," Ryoku said, all the while smiling at his handywork.

"So...does this tree have anything worth eating, aside from the leaves?" Zabuza asked after a few minutes of internal contemplation.

"Nearly everything that you can think of...from healthy medicinal things...to...things that could literally kill a village worth of people in one bite," Ryoku said, and had the tree drop Zabuza from his perch, "So make sure you don't eat anything that looks absolutely harmless."

"Why harmless?"

"Because the truly harmless ones are the ones protected by thorns, vines, and all sorts of other sadistic crap that I could think up at the time of the tree's creation," Ryoku said.

'Nearly everything huh...well lets see if that is true..' Zabuza thought to himself, and went off in search of his sword which he was sure was somewhere on the island, as well as wishing for something out of his nightmares to actually be on the island as that would prove that nearly everything that was edible was indeed there.

Ryoku decided to construct a mini-village for future uses while his companion went of on his quest for whatever the hell he wanted to find as proof of Ryoku's claim about the tree-island.

"Mizukage-sama! Save me from the Tomato-monster! Its trying to eat me!" Zabuza's shouts and screams broke the peaceful atmosphere that had settled over the island seventeen hours after the Hachibi had been blasted all the way back over to Kaminari no Kuni.

'Haha! That'll teach you that wishful thinking is not always a good thing!' Ryoku sadistically and mentally told his partner in the mission, and opted to simply continue with the construction of the village, 'Think of something to combat the little red things..'

"Mizukage-sama! There's a cucumber monster too! Help ME!"