Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
"Hmm…."- Tailed Beasts, Summonings, or Black Zetsu
"Hmm…."- Dark Naruto
"Hmm…"- Flashback

Chapter 35:
Day Two: A Girl's Feelings

"So basically what you're telling me is that this kid managed to take down the leader of akatsuki, officially eradicating the organization, killed Jiraiya of the Sennin, used some jutsu that can revive people by summoning the Shinigami without killing him and turning Ame into a chaos center while you along with the other jinchuriki and the rest that are on the kid's side became the 'New Akatsuki' which is why you and Utakata are wearing the akatsuki uniform….did I miss something?"

It was about noon in Kiri at the moment. After having given Mei the light version of things about the situation the day before, and of the things that he knew about, both Yagura and Mei had simply called it a day and focused their attention on where Yagura, along with Utakata and Hotaru, would stay as well as preparing Kiri to take part on the upcoming 'massacre.'

Mei didn't even consider the upcoming confrontation with Konoha as a war. It was three villages against one! And while Konoha would have been able to survive against such odds in the past, the previous Shinobi Wars having shown that, Mei really doubt it that they could pull it off again. And why was that? The answer was simple. The only reason that they had managed to prevail against such odds in the past was because they had strong ninja within their ranks to pull it off. Even Mei had to agree that a lot of powerful shinobi came out of that village. Legends such as Hatake Sakumo, 'The White Fang' of the Leaf, having produced a strong son as well-'The Copy Cat' Kakashi, being the student of another legend as well. And that legend was the 'The Yellow Flash,' Namikaze Minato who was also taught by another legend, Jiraiya. And Jiraiya himself was taught by 'The God of Shinobi,' Sarutobi Hiruzen, who also taught two other legends, Tsunade and Orochimaru. And Hiruzen was taught by both the Shodai and Nidaime Hokage, legends among legends.

So, all in all, Konoha had it's full share of legends. And brains as well. But now, they were at the bottom. The only legend that they had left was Tsunade. All the rest had died. Not to mention the fact that the village had been destroyed, by the son of their most praised 'hero!' So counting that into the equation, Konoha really was at it's weakest. And with the other villages planning to gang up on it at this time, well Konoha was pretty much fucked. There was the possibility of Suna joining them, which would be a big favor for Konoha. But even then, it wasn't just the villages that were on Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri's side. They had the bijuus, members from extremely powerful clans, but most of all, they had the rinnegan on their side.

Yagura nodded his head at Mei's paraphrasing what he had just told her. They had agree to meet the next day yesterday for Yagura to explain things more in detail. Well at least what he knew of anyways. And that was what brought us to the current situation.

Mei sighed in exasperation as she leaned back on her chair. "This is all just too crazy to believe…." she muttered.

Yagura sighed when he heard what she said, not that he didn't agree. He himself wasn't expecting to come back to life, and not under these circumstances either! "Believe me, I agree with you completely on that, but it's all true."

Mei tilted her head to the side. "You know, I'm becoming quite interested with this Uzumaki Naruto," she commented with some humor laced on her tone.

Yagura merely raised an eyebrow at that admission from the redhead. "Really? You're not starting to have a crush, are you?"

Mei snorted at that. "Seriously? I would have thought that you would know me better than that. I just said that I was interested. That doesn't mean that I have any romantic interest. I'm not a fangirl."

Yagura raised his arms in defense. "Sorry. I was just saying…."

Before Mei could respond, there was a knock at her door.

"Enter," simply said Mei and Ao came walking inside with a troubled look on his face. "Is there something wrong, Ao?" asked Mei, seeing the troubled look on one of her best shinobi.

"Mizukage-sama," began Ao, "it seems as if we have intruders."

Mei merely raised an eyebrow.

In underground Uzu, things were a bit more tense at the moment. Okay, a lot more tense. But that was to be expected. One of the Uzumaki clan's prized treasure had just be stolen. Not a good thing, and every other clan could agree with that when it came to their own secrets as well. But that was pushed to the side for the moment as another problem had arisen.

Naruto could sigh in what appeared to be annoyance from hearing what white zetsu was telling him and the rest.

"This could be a problem," stated Mito with a serious look on her face. After having been beaten by Kabuto the way she was, she was not a happy woman at the moment. And now another annoyance had to show up. Wonderful…

White zetsu chuckled. "Well, I simply find it amusing. You sure have a way with women, Naruto…."

"I didn't even do anything," replied Naruto with a shake of his head and with amusement present in his voice. But it was true. Besides Sasuke, it seemed like as if all the other males in the world had to work to get fangirls. But now he could be added to that list. Was that a good thing? Well, from the problem that that this 'skill' had brought, Naruto had to say that it was not. It was annoying if anything.

"Well, what are we going to do about this?" asked Kushina with a frown on her face.

"Where is the real you?" asked Mito to white zetsu.

"With Obito," answered white zetsu. "He's still on his way to Kiri."

"He should have been there by now," said Mito, remembering the teleportation jutsu that Obito possessed.

"He's taking his time," replied white zetsu with a grin, "saying that there was no reason to rush it."

Mito shook her head. "I should have known…."

"This still leaves us with this new problem," said Naruto as he stepped forward towards white zetsu. "What is Neji doing?"

"Nothing," responded white zetsu. "He's simply waiting for you to deal with this. It is kind of your problem. I would suggest that you hurry though. That girl is an impatient one, I can tell that much," finished white zetsu with a chuckle.

Hyuuga Hinata…she was the source of the new problem at the moment. The group had just learned of her confronting Neji about as to where Naruto was, and demanded to be taken there. And if Neji didn't comply, then Hinata would simply tell Tsunade that Neji was a traitor which would lead to Neji being interrogated and in turn her knowing where Naruto was in the long run. Was it beyond crazy? Perhaps, but the fact still remained that this was a major problem. Neji was a good source of information and a future source for sabotage. That was what Naruto was planning on having both Neji and Anko do once the major fighting began. Leak all tactical plans to them and sabotage Konoha anyway possible. That would certainly give them the upper hand.

But now that was in danger, and all because of one girl. As a Nara would simply say it, troublesome….

"It seems as if I have to return to Konoha again," stated Naruto.

"But that's dangerous," countered Kushina. "With what you did to the village, reconstruction is most likely taking place. Not to mention the fact that they will most probably have their security more tight now in the off chance that you do return to finish the job."

Naruto nodded. "I know that, but it can't be helped. We can't allow our plans to be hindered just because of something as stupid as this."

"Naruto is right," added Mito. "Dealing with this as soon as possible before it becomes even more of a problem than it already is is the best way."

Kushina sighed, but nodded reluctantly. They were right, but that didn't mean that she had to like it. Things were already complicated enough with Kabuto having the strongest fuinjutsu that the Uzumaki clan had created in his possession. They didn't need anything else to go against them.

"How are we going to do this then?" asked Fuka, speaking for the first time since white zetsu had arrived.

"I'm going to be returning to Konoha alone," answered Naruto while looking at her. "The chances of being caught are decreased by me going alone. It would be too annoying for Konoha too interfere right now."

Mito nodded, agreeing as well. "Yes, that's the best move. Going as a group would only cause problems."

"Then what are we going to do then?" asked Kushina with another frown.

"We're going to join with Obito," responded Mito with a sigh. "It seems that he's a lazy one unless properly motivated."

The way she said motivated caused Naruto to pity the Uchiha. After all, it obviously wasn't the good kind of motivation that Mito was talking about here.

"This would also give me the time analyze the poison," further added Mito, looking at Fuka who simply nodded.

"Brat…."

'I know….'

Naruto turned his head to look up at the ceiling with narrowed eyes, bringing the attention of all the others present, although white zetsu could already guess as to what caused this action brought about by Naruto.

"What is it?" asked Mito to Naruto, noticing the movement of Naruto narrowing his eyes. That was not a good sign. Both Kushina and Fuka merely looked at Naruto with a questioning gaze.

"We have more company," responded Naruto which also caused Mito to narrow her eyes. After having dealt with both Kabuto and Danzo trespassing her homeland, she had it with 'company.'

Whoever it was better have a good reason for being here, or there would be hell to pay….

"Uzu, huh…."

Mei nodded her head to the obvious observation that Yagura had just made. She was currently standing on the deck of the main ship of the armada that Kiri possessed alongside Yagura, her arms crossed under her breasts, the action making her breasts be pushed up. And that was something that caused many, if not all, of the male Kiri shinobi currently stationed on the ship to be extremely distracted by the beautiful sight brought about by their own hot Mizukage. But on to serious matters, Kiri did possess something that the other villages didn't, and that was a navy. A fleet at that!

"That's right. Although I haven't seen it in years," replied Mei softly. After having been told by Ao of a group of individuals that had been reported to be able to get through the barrier of whirlpools, Mei had assembled a small force to investigate, Yagura following her because he was interested as well.

"Oh?" said Yagura as he glanced at the young redhead. "I didn't know that you were interested in Uzu…."

Mei silently snorted at that. Who wouldn't be interested in Uzu? Well before its destruction of course. Now that thought brought a frown upon the young Mizukage's face. This was a reminder of a particular dark event in Kiri's history and that was having taken part in the force that destroyed the Uzumaki clan.

Of course she hadn't been the Mizukage at the time. No, the leader of Kiri had been the Sandaime Mizukage, a man that no one knew a single thing about. And Mei wasn't just thinking about the other villages. No, she was thinking about the residents within Kiri itself, both civilians and shinobi alike. How he came into power was something that Mei honestly didn't know.

But what she did know was that she din't like or agree with that particulate decision made by the Sandaime Mizukage. Her own clan was related to the Uzumakis. They were basically her family. But they had been eradicated by the same people that she was now protecting with her life. No, that wasn't true. Shinobi merely followed their respective leader, and civilians didn't know a single thing about shinobi affairs. Well, that was how things were in Kiri. In reality, the Sandaime Mizukage was the one responsible for Kiri having taken part in that attack. But of course, there was nothing that she could do about it now. The man was dead, or as far she knew, he was dead. There still were a lot of speculations as to how that man had died. His whole life was basically a mystery.

It was the same deal with Yagura. At first, Mei had hated Yagura with her whole life. And why had that been the case? The answer to that was because of Yagura's order of exterminating all the bloodline users within Kiri and The Land of Water as a whole which then caused the civil war to occur, she had lost her parents. But as it turned out, he had just simply been a pawn for someone else. And that someone else had apparently been already killed. That was the reason why she had requested for the body to be brought to Kiri. So that she could see the man responsible for her losing her family and curse him in person even though he was already dead. Was it selfish? Maybe it was, but Mei was still human, and humans were all selfish, some just more than others.

"You should already know that the Terumi clan is a branch that split itself form the Uzumaki clan because of our failure in not mastering fuinjutsu to the extent that they did," stated Mei. "Those members were more skilled at combining their chakra natures to form new elements rather than seals."

'And that's where you get your two bloodlines from,' thought Yagura. 'The Yoton and the Futton.'

Those were two unique skills to possess admitted Yagura to himself.

"Before long, they named themselves the Terumi clan. They still kept friendly relations with the Uzumakis since they never tried to stop the members from leaving. They understood their reasoning and actually encouraged them. So for me to not take any interest at all about the homeland of old relatives of mine…well, I would have to be a cold person," finished Mei calmly.

Before the conversation could go any further, Ao appeared behind Mei. "Mizukage-sama," stated Ao.

"What is it Ao?" asked Mei as she momentarily glanced at him.

"We have the location of the trespassers," replied Ao, taking a pause before continuing. "They are currently heading to what appears to be medium size civilian ship that they most likely used to travel to get here."

Mei nodded. "Good. Tell the captain to take us to their location at once."

Ao bowed. "Hai." He then disappeared.

"Something tells me that this is going to be interesting…." muttered Yagura.

Mei, who heard him, had to agree with him.

"Well, well, isn't this a mess?"

"Perhaps this could have been avoided if you had just simply arrived here sooner instead of going on to Konoha for 'sight seeing.'"

Obito actually looked shocked at black zetsu's statement. "Please. That's pretty doubtful…" he muttered. Even if he had delivered Tobi's body to the Mizukage by now, she would have still found out that someone bypassed the seals that created the whirlpools that surrounded the entire island of Uzu. There were, after all, ports all over the place. Good spots to plant spies. Besides, because of his 'sight seeing' how the reconstruction of Konoha was going, he was able to learn about the little drama going on between the hyuuga and his cousin.

"Is it?"

Obito shrugged. "I have no clue," he simply stated. Currently we find Obito alongside Zetsu watching the small navy force of Kiri heading towards the shore of Uzu where a medium sized civilian ship was anchored in from a high rooftop on the mainland. Civilians themselves had stopped to see what was going to happen.

Obito then saw who he recognized as Naruto, Mito, Kushina, and Fuka walk from the center of the island towards the shore.

Obito smirked. "I guess that's my cue…"

Black zetsu sighed while white zetsu grinned.

"So much for not being noticed," muttered Fuka as she watched the small force of about five naval ships stop all along the shore.

Mito sighed. 'So it's Kiri then, just as I suspected….'

Both Naruto and Kushina merely stared at the ships in silence.

Back on the main ship, Yagura's eyes widened partially in surprise as he recognized one of the four individuals, and as did Mei's as she saw the akatsuki uniform that Kushina was wearing. "Wait," he said, causing Mei to turn to look at him with a questioning look on her face, although she could guess as to why Yagura had just said that. "One of the redheads down there, I know who she is."

"And?" said Mei.

"She's on our side, okay?" responded Yagura while motioning towards Kushina. "You see the akatsuki uniform that she's wearing, don't you?"

Mei didn't reply to that. She merely asked, "Then who are the rest?"

At this, Yagura frowned. "That, I don't know…."

Before anything could happen, both sides turned to a vortex appearing in between both sides. A second later, and Obito appeared out of the vortex with a grin on his face. "Alright, hold it!" he declared while raising both of his arms.

Mito sighed. 'Just why did you choose this guy Madara….?' she asked herself.

Mei frowned as she looked at the new arrival.

"Ah," said Yagura, recognizing Obito, "he's another one that is on our side. He's most likely the person that Mikoto-san sent to send you the body of the dead uchiha that was controlling me."

'I see….' thought Mei while motioning for her shinobi to stand down for the moment.

"You're late," stated Naruto to Obito.

Obito merely shrugged. "Better late than never."

The conversation stopped as they noticed an attractive redhead coming out of one of the ships followed by who they recognized as Yagura except for Mito and Fuka and some other shinobi with an eye patch on his right eye, and made her way towards them.

Obito started to walk towards her as well. "Sorry I'm late, but I'm the person who's suppose to show you the corpse," he stated.

Mei and the rest stopped walking and stopped in front of Obito and the rest. "I see," said Mei with a nod before looking at the rest. "And you, just what exactly do you think that you are doing here?" she asked them with narrowed eyes.

"I can explain that," answered Mito as she stepped forward. "But I understand that you have currently decided to take part in destroying Konoha." At Mei's nod, Mito continued. "Then I'll explain everything to you once we're out of here," she finished.

"Who are you?" asked Mei.

Mito smirked slightly. "I'm Uzumaki Mito."

Mei's eyes widened to an almost comical degree, having recognized the name. And how could she not? Uzumaki Mito, the same kunoichi that she had read and heard about that inspired her to become a strong and serious kunoichi so that one day, she too could become known worldwide and respected. After all, the strongest kunoichi of the entire history of the shinobi world was a great person to look up to since there weren't many females that young kunoichi could look up to. But with the coming of 'peace,' the skills of kunoichi had really gone down the drain.

Yagura merely gave Mei an amused glance before turning his gaze to the silver haired individual, noticing the rinnegan eyes. 'Is that….?'

"Ah, so it seems that the Old Man has done it."

'Done what, Isobu?' asked Yagura to his bijuu.

"Why, giving Naruto his blessing of course."

'Blessing? What do you mean by 'blessing?''

"It's simple," responded the three tailed turtle. "Naruto has now become the Nidaime Rikudo Sennin."

Yagura's eyes simply bugged out at that.

Naruto for his part began to walk towards the ship that Mito had rented, intent on taking it back to the mainland so that he could return to Konoha as soon as possible.

Seeing this, Kushina began to follow. Fuka merely stood there, not seeing any reason for her to take part in anything. Obito as well. He would have his shot with the sexy Mizukage he told himself, before glancing at Fuka with a smirk. 'On the meantime….'

"I guess this is goodbye for now…." said Kushina quietly as she and Naruto stood by the ship that they had used to get to Uzu. This was going to be the first time that they would actually separate since she had been completely revived. Kushina didn't know that it was going to be this hard. She and Minato had separated all the time because of the Third Shinobi War. Sometimes for months. Once even a year. But she couldn't stand the fact that she was going to be separated from Naruto for two days at the most? What was wrong with her?

In that moment, Kushina realized that she really did love Naruto, but not just simply as a son either. And that she loved him more than she had ever loved Minato.

Naruto didn't say anything. He merely kissed her and held her closely while doing so with Kushina doing the same.

Mito merely gave them a glance and smiled.

Fuka merely stared on and Obito had a grin on his face. 'Bow-Chick-a-Bow-Wow…'

As they ended their kiss, Naruto held onto Kushina for a few more seconds before stepping back. "I'll be back," he stated before heading into the ship.

Kushina merely smiled.

"Let him go," said Mito to Mei.

Mei for her part looked at the silver-haired individual with a great deal of interest. "And who is he exactly?"

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Mei's eyes widened. "That's Uzumaki Naruto?"

Mito nodded. "Yes, it is. He's the one behind all of this, so I suggest that you let him leave. And even if you don't, I doubt that you could stop him either."

Mei merely nodded.

Within the civilian ship, Naruto made all the necessary preparations to sail back to the mainland, but his mind was also plagued as to how he was going to deal with the situation with Hinata.

"Just how exactly do you plan on keeping her mouth shut other than killing her?"

Naruto honestly didn't know the answer to that yet.

Neji sighed to himself as he was currently laying back on a tree within a training ground in Konoha, trying to come up with a solution to the new problem that had arisen.

So apparently there had been someone spying on both him and Anko that night about two nights ago. And Anko hadn't been playing around or just simply being too paranoid, but someone had actually been listening to their conversation. And that someone had been Hinata.

Neji scowled to himself. He should have checked himself to see if anyone had really been present there once Anko threw that kunai. But he had just thought that it was simply nothing, and it was all just in Anko's head. He never should have doubted Anko. Stealth and the sort were in fact her specialties thanks to her being the apprentice of Orochimaru. And there was also that patrol that had made him simply forget about the whole ordeal with the bush. Tsunade had been sending more and more of those missions. In fact, those were all the missions that were taking place at the moment. Of course that would only last until things stabilize again.

But back to the problem at hand. Hinata was a wild and loose card at this point. And the only one who could tame her was Naruto. But Neji never realized that Hinata would ever go this far for Naruto just because she simply had a crush on him. But it seemed that it wasn't just a crush anymore, but bordering on obsession now.

Neji the thought of when Hinata had confronted him.

FLASHBACK: START!

Neji could only stare in shock at his cousin at the moment. But why shouldn't he? She had just accused him of treason, something that he very much knew that he was doing with siding with Naruto, but that didn't matter to him. Naruto had promised to tell him everything, all the truth. And that was the one thing that Neji wanted the most.

How long had he lived in the dark about not knowing the actual truth about his father? No, he din't want to be ignorant anymore. All the secrets that Konoha had, every single one of them, he wanted to know them all. And that was why he had agreed to join Naruto. But how the hell did Hinata know that he was on Naruto's side in the first place?

There really was no point trying to lie, realized Neji. Just looking at Hinata's determined face told Neji that she already knew hat he was in fact on Naruto's side and not Konoha's, and that she could not be lied to in that regard.

"How do you know that?" asked Neji, calming himself down and deciding to get right to the point.

"I followed you that night, Neji-nii-san," explained Hinata without stuttering. "I had already noticed that you were acting strangely lately, going back to being cold like you use to be before Naruto-kun defeated you in the Chunnin Exams three years ago. So I decided to see what was bothering you to see if I could help you. But imagine my surprise when you actually met with Mitarashi Anko and started talking about what to do now that Fu," Neji raised an eyebrow when he saw with how much disgust Hinata said the name, "was out of the village, as well as Danzo. It was all obvious by then. You and Anko, and who knows if anyone else within Konoha, are on Naruto-kun's side. But I don't care. All I want is for you to tell me where Naruto-kun is right now."

"And if I don't?" asked Neji.

Hinata shrugged. "I'll simply tell Tsunade that you and Anko are traitors in which then you'll both be interrogated for information as to where Naruto-kun is. And once one of you gives it up, I'll know where he is. This is just simply the easier way."

Neji could only once again stare at his cousin in shock. Just what the hell happened to sweet, little, innocent Hinata!? This resembled nothing like her old personality! Just…what the hell?

Neji sighed as he calmed himself down. "I can't tell you anything." Seeing Hinata narrow her eyes dangerously, an act which once again surprised Neji greatly since he didn't know that his cousin could pull that off but pushed it to the side, he added, "I can't tell you anything because Naruto said to stay put and not make a single move or do anything at the moment. And that includes trying to get new recruits since it's obvious that you want to join him. It's too dangerous. The best I can do is to tell him that you want to join him once he contacts me again."

Hinata was silent for a few moments, processing the information, before slowly nodded. "I see. Well I don't want to do anything that will endanger Naruto-kun. Alright. I'll wait. But don't try to pull anything," finished Hinata dangerously.

Neji merely nodded. "I got it."

FLASHBACK: END!

Neji could only once again be shocked as to how much Hinata's personality had changed in a really short amount of time! Was that even possible? Not only that, but how could she forget what he had done to Kiba and Choji? And Konoha as well? How could she just simply forget it? Was it all because of her crush? Because if it was, then it simply was not right.

Neji's mind then drifted to the conversation that he had with Anko this morning.

FLASHBACK: START!

"What do you want Neji? I thought that we had already established that it's not safe meeting like this," said Anko as she munched on a dango. Currently the interrogator and jonin were sitting on one of the few reconstructed buildings and that was a small dango restaurant although besides themselves and about three other customers, no one else was present.

Neji sighed. "I know that, but if anyone asks, we can simply say that I wanted some tips for entering anbu because I was interested."

Anko raised an eyebrow at that. "Are you?"

Neji shook his head. "Hell no, but it's a good excuse."

Anko chuckled as she began to eat on another stick of dango. "I think that that would be a good idea, you joining anbu. You'll get access to a lot more juicy information than just a regular jonin."

"There's also the fact that I won't be able to move as freely as I do now," retorted Neji. "But wether or not I want to join anbu is not why I asked you to meet me."

"Then what is?" asked Anko. "And get to the point quickly. I want to enjoy my dango."

Neji nodded, before pausing for about three seconds, and just simply stated, "Hinata knows that you and me are really working for Naruto and are not allied to Konoha."

Anko merely stared at Neji blankly for about four seconds, before sighing. "The bush, huh…."

Neji nodded at that. "Yeah, that was her. I should have checked as well!"

Anko shook her head. "Forget it. No use dwelling on the past. The point is, what are we going to do now?"

"I don't know," answered Neji. "She wants to apparently join Naruto, but he didn't include her for a reason."

Anko chuckled. "Because she's useless."

Neji shook his head. "I don't know about that anymore. She's like a completely different person now. It's actually kind of scary…."

Anko smirked at that. "Awe. Is the little Hyuuga scared? Want me to hold you and give you a big kiss?"

Neji's eyebrows twitched. "That's not the point here! We need to inform Naruto of this immediately."

Anko became serious at that. "My suggestion is that we kill her and empty out the body somewhere where no one will ever find it."

Neji scoffed at the suggestion. "Are you forgetting the fact that she's a Hyuuga? But not any kind of Hyuuga, but the clan heiress? There would be an ongoing investigation that could bring up many other unnecessary problems."

Anko sighed. "Then what do you suggest that we do?"

Before Neji could respond, someone pulled over a third chair and sat between Neji and Anko. "I believe that I can help you with your problem…."

Neji's face became troubled. 'Crap,' he thought while glancing around, 'while it's true that almost no one is around here right now, we should have checked that no one was eavesdropping on us. And now…..'

"Who the fuck are you?" asked Anko to the newcomer.

The male chuckled. "I'm Uchiha Obito. And don't worry, I'm on your side which is why I said that I could help you."

Neji's face became surprised, remembering how Naruto had told him, Anko, and Fu who was involved after having defeated Hidan. 'So this is him….'

Anko grinned. "Little Obito, huh? You know, I wasn't quite sure that I believed the gaki when he had said that you were a part of this. I thought that you were dead…."

Obito shrugged. "It's a little complicated. Maybe I'll explain things to you on a later date. Though I am flattered that you still remember me."

Anko chuckled at that. "Just what are you doing here anyways?" she asked him.

"Oh, just sightseeing..."

"Alright," began Neji before the conversation could continue between the two, "just how do you plan on helping us?"

Obito smirked. "I'll tell Naruto what has happened. Don't worry, he'll be here today to fix the situation. But if you excuse me, I have somewhere to be at the moment." With that, he got up from the chair that he was sitting on and made to exit the restaurant, only to be stopped by Neji.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" asked Neji.

Obito merely smirked again. "Trust me…."

FLASHBACK: END!

And trust him Neji did. Not that he had too many choices to begin with.

But for now, all Neji could do was to wait for Naruto just like Obito had said.

Kabuto merely walked down a road near the border of The Land of Water that led back to Konoha at a moderate pace. There was no reason for him to hurry. Naruto and the others couldn't track him. He had made sure of it. Destroying all scent particles as well as stop any chakra that was subconsciously released all the time to not be released anymore were just a simple matter to do. Orochimaru had come up with many different drugs that could do both of those things, and many other ones as well. Orochimaru had always been on the run after all.

Even Zetsu would have problems trying to track him at the moment, but it would not last for long. But Kabuto was confident that Zetsu would not be used to track him. They already knew where he was heading, so there was no point. Not to mention the fact that they would also meet in the battlefield, Kabuto was sure of that. But right now, he needed to focus on his own preparations.

How long did he have? Kabuto looked up at the sky to see that the sun was heading west, meaning that it was beginning its short journey of setting down, meaning that it was in the afternoon already.

So he had about a day with an extra few hours realized Kabuto. Not relatively long, but he'll make it work even if he had to stay up working all night tonight. He needed to be ready for the next time he and Naruto would meet, and that was definitely going to be at the Kage Meeting. But of course, Naruto wouldn't be his only problem.

Unlike Kabuto, Naruto was not walking at a moderate pace. Rather he was currently on the trees, hopping from tree branch to tree branch at an incredible speed. Apparently his natural speed had doubled now and thanks to him knowing exactly where he was going, he could go at full speed.

"Oi, are you sure that you don't want to use my chakra for this?"

Naruto shook his head as he continued on his way. 'No, it's too damn risky right now. Besides, I want to see what else I can do right now.'

Kurama scoffed within Naruto's mind. So that was why the brat didn't want to use his chakra, just to see what he was capable of. Well he supposed that he couldn't blame him for that. Kurama then directed his gaze to one of the tunnels within Naruto's mind and narrowed his eyes.

The Juubi….it was here too, Kurama knew that. Naruto had made sure to keep the the revived beast at a separate location though. All that Kurama had done was to give Naruto his chakra to complete the said beast. That being said, the beast was currently still not completely at it's strongest seeing that for it to be revived at it's strongest, all of the chakra from each bijuu was needed, and not just a parts from each bijuu.

But Naruto had said that that would have many drawbacks. One being that he would have had lost the power from the rest of the jinchuriki, including his own as well. It wasn't like he had to rely on the untrustworthy beast either. Naruto had plenty of other cards up his sleeve.

'You know,' began Naruto, catching Kurama's attention, 'there is one thing that I haven't tried yet.'

"And that is?"

Naruto smirked as he momentarily closed his eyes, before opening them. But they weren't his usual rinnegan eyes. No, they were the sharingan. The mangekyo to be exact. It's shape was identical to that of Itachi's except that unlike Itachi's, Naruto's eyes changed from that to red and black, to black and red. And also unlike Itachi's mangekyo, Naruto's shuriken was four-bladed and not three-bladed.

Seeing where his host was going with this, Kurama protested. "I told you that that's too risky brat. Just because I managed to trigger your activation of the rinnegan, you still don't possess the eternal mangekyo meaning that the more you use that eye, the more you'll be closer to being blind." That was the major drawback of the mangekyo unless one obtained the eternal. Just why did all great power had to come at a cost?

'You'll be able to postpone that for a long time,' countered Naruto. 'After all, that's what you've been doing ever since I gained the rinnegan as well. You constantly use your chakra to heal me of any damage that I would have.'

"I don't know how long that's going to last though especially if you start using it."

'Mikoto must have some sort of backup plan. From what you have told me, you need the sharingan of a relative to unlock the eternal, correct?'

Kurama nodded. "Yes, but we don't even know whose sharingan she gave you, or if that person even had any relatives whose eyes can be used."

Naruto momentarily frowned. That was something that Mikoto had yet to explain. Just how in the world had she managed to obtain all that collection of sharingans that she had? But he would ask her later. Right now, arriving at Konoha as soon as possible and dealing with Hinata was his top priority.

'I don't have a choice Kurama,' simply said Naruto in a tone that said that the conversation was over. Kurama merely sighed. He wouldn't be able to talk the brat out of this. He was as stubborn as his mother alright.

'Now,' thought Naruto, 'something that can help me here….' He stopped his tree hopping and merely stopped on one of the tree branches and concentrated all of his focus on his mangekyo. 'Just give me something!' he thought before disappearing in what appeared to be a black light.

Juubi merely stared at the new arrival with a studying gaze. He recognized the overall appearance, but this one appeared to be more dark than the one outside.

Dark Naruto grinned as he looked at the great bijuu within the empty dark space of nothingness. His appearance had changed as well. Unlike Naruto, he now had deep black hair and his outfit was black and red, not grayish and black. His eyes were the usual Kurama like color.

"You….what are you doing here?"

Dark Naruto shrugged. "This is one of the deeper levels of the other me's subconscious. That's where he's keeping you at the moment. Smart, except that he probably forgot that I'm still here."

Juubi merely stared at Dark Naruto with his one eye. "And? Who are you?"

Dark Naruto chuckled. "Cut the bullshit. I'm sure you know exactly who and what I am. But I'll tell you to humor you. I'm all of the dark essence of Uzumaki Naruto that have been brought to life into me."

"And here I thought that he and you became one….."

Dark Naruto frowned slightly at that, wondering how the bijuu knew about that. But he nonetheless replied, "Yes, we are. But like I said, you are currently in one of the deeper levels of Naruto's mind, levels that I roam." Here, he smirked. "And imagine my surprise when I felt a presence even more sinister than mine." Okay, so maybe it wasn't a complete surprise since he also saw and experienced everything that his counterpart did as well, but still. "I just knew that I had to pay you a visit," finished Dark Naruto with a grin.

Juubi let out a snort which would have probably caused trees to be blown away, but seeing as this space had nothing within it, not even air or oxygen, nothing happened. "I'm sure that this is more than just simply a visit. So tell me what you want before I lose my patience."

Dark Naruto was silent before chuckling and started to walk away from the ten-tailed bijuu. Before he completely left though, Dark Naruto stopped and turned back to look at the Juubi. "Nothing more than to show you that there are better candidates for your power." With that, Dark Naruto disappeared.

Juubi simply looked at the spot where Dark Naruto had been before chuckling darkly to itself.

Naruto couldn't help to fight back the smirk that appeared on his face as he gazed down the village from his spot on the Hokage Mountain. Why was he smirking? For two reasons: One was that with his mangekyo, his range of traveling using the jutsu of teleportation that involved using the shadows was increased infinitely. He could now travel farther distances than before. For example, without the mangekyo, Naruto could teleport himself to a few miles away from his first spot; with the mangekyo though, he could now travel from Konoha all the way to, let's say Suna, in a matter of seconds!

His teleportation jutsu involved using the things that were made up of darkness itself and that were the shadows. Everything in the world had shadows, some more powerful than others depending on the amount of sunlight that was present. But of course, he range of sensing them to travel through them was limited, but not anymore.

But Naruto had to remember that he couldn't overuse the mangekyo right now, not that he wanted to rely on one thing either. But Kurama was right. Unless he gained the eternal, his mangekyo was too dangerous even though it did provide him with a great advantage for one of his jutsu.

And the second thing that made Naruto smirk was the condition the village was in. It still had a long way to go before it could return to normal. But it would be better if he hurried with what he was doing here. It wouldn't do anyone any good if he was caught.

Using his teleportation jutsu without his mangekyo, Naruto disappeared in a dark flash from the Hokage Monument and headed towards where he knew that Hinata was going to be.

A few seconds later, Naruto appeared to where the old Team Seven training ground was located in.

"You should be careful. The Hyuuga do possess the byakugan after all."

'You don't have to tell me that,' shot back Naruto. 'But you forget that I no longer look like I did before.'

"You still have your whiskers though….."

Naruto t'ched at that before walking forward. He then jumped onto a tree branch when he heard familiar voices. As he looked at the center of the clearing, Naruto saw the familiar figures of Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, and Ino who was sitting down on one of the posts and also crying at the moment.

"C'mon Ino," said Tenten with a smile, trying to make the crying blonde feel better. "You shouldn't cry too much. I'm sure that your father wouldn't like seeing you like this."

At that, Ino began to cry even more and harder as well, making Tenten look downcast at her failure.

Naruto watched this with amusement. 'Ah, Tenten. One of the less annoying girls that I have ever met.'

"Guys, help me here!" pleaded Tenten as she turned towards both Sakura and Hinata.

Sakura sighed before walking towards Ino and sitting beside her and rubbing her back. "Ino, it's not going to do anyone any good if you just simply continue crying. C'mon, I can take you home."

Ino didn't respond but did stop crying for the most part, although some tears did still continue to fall, and let Sakura guide her towards where her temporary home was located in. Sakura glanced back at both Hinata and Tenten. "I'll see you both later, okay?"

Tenten nodded, and Hinata didn't show any signs that she heard Sakura's voice.

Watching both Sakura and Ino leave, Naruto focused his attention to the last two remaining kunoichi.

"Poor Ino," muttered Tenten.

Hinata did sigh at that, but didn't say anything.

"Are you okay?" asked Tenten as she walked up towards the young Hyuuga.

Hinata nodded. "Yes, there's just too many things happening with the Hyuuga clan is all."

Tenten nodded as well, accepting the excuse and having already come to terms with Hinata's lack of stutter. "Alright. Well I have to go as well. I have things that need to be taken care of. Are you going to be alright here by yourself?"

Hinata simply nodded.

So with a wave, Tenten made her way out of the clearing and back to the village.

'This is my chance,' thought Naruto watching as Tenten left.

"You still haven't told me what you're planning on doing, you know."

Naruto jumped down from the tree branch, not answering the bijuu.

Hearing someone land behind her, Hinata turned her head back to see someone that she did not recognize walking towards her. "Can I help you?" asked Hinata.

Naruto stopped in front of her and smirked. "My, you don't even recognize me anymore. And here I thought that you loved me," said Naruto with a pout.

Kurama could only notice that fact with wide eyes within Naruto's seal. 'What. The. Hell?'

As soon as she she heard the stranger's voice, Hinata's eyes widened as she recognized it immediately. 'Is this….?' Her eyes then took notice of another fact-the person in front of her had six whiskers, three on each cheek. "N-naruto-kun?"

Naruto smirked. "The one and only."

Hinata could only stare at him in shock. She though that Neji had told her that it wouldn't be for awhile before Naruto would establish some sort of contact with him. Had he lied to her? And his appearance...what had happened to it!? And did she hear this correctly? Did Naruto say that she loved him? How did he know that!?

If only she realized that everyone in the village pretty much knew that already….

"Now," began Naruto, trying to get right to the point and finish this as soon as possible, "from what I hear, it seems that you want to join me. Is that right?"

Coming out of her shock, Hinata nodded. "H-hai!" It seems that old habits were kicking in.

"Oi, do you really plan on having her join you?"

'Hell no,' answered Naruto. 'It would be too risky. But I do have other ways of making use of this situation.'

"Then what are you-"

'Just watch.'

Naruto walked up towards Hinata until he was right in front of her. Hinata's heart was beating faster than it had ever done before by this point. Naruto then placed his right hand on her left cheek, effectively making Hinata melt right there.

'Don't faint!' she thought to herself. Her dream was becoming reality, and dammit, she would not see it end just because she fainted.

"If you want to join me, then you're going to have to prove yourself," stated Naruto softly as he began to rub Hinata's cheek making a blush appear on said girl.

"W-what do I-i need t-to d-do?"

Naruto smirked slightly as he leaned in to whisper into her ear. "What you need to do to prove yourself is too kill the clan head of the Hyuuga clan."

Hinata's eyes widened.

Yo

And this concludes yet another chapter. A pretty good one in my opinion. And I bet a lot of you had completely forgotten about Dark Naruto, but he's still there.

And now, to personally answer the question that I had asked all of you the last chapter which surprised me since it seems that you all really do read the author's note….I have to be more careful with what I say then.

Now I gotta say that I was surprise at the responses. I was really expecting all of you to say that I just hated Konoha will all my guts. I mean, some of you did in different shapes and forms, but not all you. There were some of you that came close to how I really feel about Konoha. And if none of you care about any of this, then just simply stop reading now because this is sort of a rant.

So to answer the question, I have to explain something first. I find it just simply stupid that a lot of people make a big deal about trivial matters. Take the self proclaim 'Narutards' for example. Just because a story is nothing like the original story of Naruto, they all go insane. There's a reason why it's called FANFICTION. Authors are here to publish their own story because of inspiration. And if you don't like it, just simply click on that red x button on your screen and move on with your life. But instead, they have to curse, threat, and say other stupid things at the author just because the story isn't canon. Well no shit! That's the whole point of this damn site! Of course I'm not saying that criticism is wrong, which in not. But that's only if it's based on things like 'this doesn't make sense,' or 'no way this could have happened because of this and that,' and even for grammar as well and things like that. But to just say that you don't like a story because it isn't like the original Naruto?

So to sum it up, I find doing things like that to be simply stupid, which brings me up to my next point. All of the characters on every anime are all fictional, so I also find it stupid to 'hate' the character as some people do. Now don't get me wrong, you're entitled to dislike any character on any show for your own reasons. It's natural. But some people just go overboard for no reason either. It's just a fictional character! Do you really think he/she is going to care? He/she doesn't even know that you exist. That being said, out of all the characters in Naruto, there are only two characters that I find just simply annoying. Not hate, just plain annoying.

One of them is Obito. The reason being is how he even got to where he is in the first place. He survived a freaking boulder smashing him when he din't even have his mangekyo….add to the fact the whole reason that he turned evil. Just for one girl! He should have just killed Kakashi and be done with it. But instead he had to take out in the whole world. And I'm not trying to be a hypocrite either. The Naruto in my story is doing what he's doing for selfish reasons too, but they're more believable. If anyone of you hasn't figured it out yet, Naruto wants to destroy Konoha because of what they did to him in his childhood. He's just using the betrayal of his clan as a justification. Is that a good thing? Absolutely not, but it makes a lot more sense in my opinion. Naruto is still human, something that a lot of people seem to forget. And humans have the tendency of wanting to get even. And I even liked Tobi, quite honestly. When Obito still had the mask, he was a much better character in my opinion. But ever since he was unmasked, I just find him annoying.

And the other character is Sakura. Just….where do I begin with her? Her whole character was basically a complete fail. Even Kishimoto himself when asked in an interview about Sakura said that he had completely forgotten about her. Now, if the author of his/her own story forgets about one of his/her own character that is suppose to be the main 'heroine,' well that says it all.

And finally this brings me to the main point-no, I do not hate Konoha. This story is simply just one way of how things could have gone and one way to look at things. Something that I do dislike though is their treatment of Naruto in the past. But other than that, I have nothing against it. I'm simply writing this story because it just came to me one day. Nothing else than that.

So that's my answer and my opinions, and I'm entitled to them. I'm also going to say this now, there will be no Naruto/Mito in this story. That was never my intention from day one, and I'm going to stick with that. I have other plans for Mito in that regard, but let me just say that romance is not the main focus of this story. I wasn't even planning on giving Naruto a harem, but I let that be since it really doesn't impact the plot that much.

It also seems that this story is becoming a lot more popular lately. And I don't know if that's good or bad. But that's why I went back to fix any grammar errors that I had for like chapter one through six, I think it was. I also added things that I should have added but didn't. But overall the chapters are still the same. I still haven't finished yet though. I plan on going back to fix the rest as well when I get the time.

So I guess that does it for me this time. Once more, tell me what you thought.

Till next time.