A/N: I've no excuse for being so late. Just so many ideas for different stories piling into my head and becoming one big mess. So, sorry if this is a bad chapter.

Naruto, Blaze and Airmid were running, until they were surrounded with some goons and grunts.

One yells to him, "You've to hand over the girl, or die!"

"Like hell I would do something like that!" Naruto counters as he pulls out his kunai.

"I'm only giving you this one chance," Naruto states seriously, "Run now and I'll spare you your lives."

The entire group erupts into a loud clamorous laugh.

The group of ten slowly approaches them as Naruto races towards the oncoming men, leaving Blaze and Airmid for a split second; however, as soon as Naruto's feet reached the middle of the battlefield, he finds himself in a net.

"What the?" he asks as he tries to break free of it, but couldn't break it because the rope was covered in some liquid.

Blaze and Airmid saw Naruto fall and saw that the guys were laughing.

"Grr," Blaze growls, "it was a trap and he fell for it!"

He dodges a few hits and then kicks the guy away, but he stands back up.

Blaze comments lowly, "Oh boy... These guys don't know when to quit."

Airmid sees that Blaze was clearly in trouble and decides to run towards them to help him; though, she screams as a tall, gruff man wraps his arms around her waist.

"Blaze!" Blaze turns and sees Airmid in the man's hold, surprised to hear her voice. Distracted, the man he was fighting manages to slash his thigh making a clean big cut on it. Blaze winces in pain from the cut as he tries to stand up, but falls back from the pain. He sees as the man brings his blade down for another strike, he rolls to the side as a couple of more goons catch him and force him to stand up. The others pulled Naruto out of the pitfall trap still in his slick wrappings.

He yells, "Let me out of here!"

"In due time..." all turn to the voice as the leader emerges before them.

"What?" Blaze asks confused, "But-But you can't be here?"

"Oh I can be and I am here," Kizune smiles as he snaps his fingers and makes his underlings force Airmid and Blaze onto their knees.

Blaze turns to Airmid and can't keep his eyes off the girl being held by that monster of a man.

He thrashes around, "Let her go!"

Kizune turns to him and lightly laughs, "Why would I? I need her and you as well to help taking down the Leaf.

"After all, the world shall be cleanse by the power of fire. It will be cleanse by the Holy Fire. Purification by fire is the only way to help those people," he adds with a crazed smile.

"And I know who will first feel it," he turns to Naruto still stuck in his net.

"No!" Both cry out as he walks over to him.

"Naruto Uzumaki... Get ready to be purified," Kizune states as he forms hand signs.

"Naga!" Before anyone could do a thing, a pink-furred creature, Angel, headbutts into Kizune hard in the chest as she stands in front of Naruto.

"Youga naga harm Naruto," she states seriously as she bares her fangs at them.

Most of them were afraid of what this strange creature and so they were far away.

Kizune coughs as he recovers from the surprise attack, "Well... Didn't expect that at all."

Fury rages deep within her as she watches them carefully, and then a goon runs at her with sword in hand; ready to attack Angel. However, with a swift blow, Angel brings up her claws, piercing the man's heart that stands above her. Everyone was shocked with what Angel has done, but that allowed Blaze and Airmid to attack their captors. Both stand up and quickly hit their captors as they regrouped with Naruto. Angel pulls back her arm and the man drops to the floor instantly with a pool of blood forming around him, and she takes off running towards Naruto. She cuts the netting with her claws and Naruto jumps out of it as he gazes at Kizune and his men.

Kizune smirks, "My...my, he was right about that creature. That experiment is rather fast and strong, but also very deadly."

Naruto replies, "I'm giving you one more chance to stop this."

"What!" Kizune's men chorused outraged by Naruto's statement.

"Fine then," he brings his fingers up and screams, "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

So many Narutos appeared as they bring up their hands and yell, "Transform!"

Most of the Narutos were now Blazes, Angels, and Airmids and all of them were running in different directions. While they were chasing the clones, the originals were long gone from the field as they were flying across the trees. Naruto was sightly mad at what Angel did, she could've been caught and then what? But, he was thankful she had helped him and was actually a little scared of her from what she did with that guy. He'd never thought Angel would do something like that, but she did. He looks over his shoulder at her and he notices Angel with a shocked look on her face. He looks down before turning back around and slowing his pace to match with Angel's.

"Angel," she immediately looks up to him surprised, "Huh? Gaba?"

"Oh, isa youga Naruto," she said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Angel, you shouldn't be sad. What you did was the right thing," Naruto tries to make her feel better, "If you haven't been there, I would most likely be dead."

"How... How youga act this like isa naga big deal? Like isa means nothing?" she asks him honestly.

He frowns, "That is just how it is here."

He slightly smiles, "But once I become Hokage... I'll make sure peace will go over everywhere. I'll stop the pain and hatred."

Angel looks up to him, slightly smiling at him. She couldn't help but wonder how he would do it; especially since he's not at his full strength anymore. Though, she felt something inside of her heart. Faith. She has faith in Naruto and would do anything to help him; even if it meant going against everything she was taught by Lilo and her ohana. Blaze and Airmid stop as they were confused.

Naruto and Angel come to them and Naruto asks, "What's the matter?"

Blaze questions Naruto, "Don't you hear those voices?"

"Voices?" Naruto repeated confused as he turns to Angel.

She closed her eyes and let her ears move to help hear anything; she replies with her eyes closed.

"Ih, Blaze isa right. There isa voices, many voices. Meega naga understand them."

"Guys... I don't like this one bit," Airmid admits honestly as she backs up to Blaze.

Before they know it, a blinding light engulfed them.

Angel wakes up and is back at the village; she's confused as how she got here with no recollection of arriving. But, she shrugs it off as she sees numerous people gathered at the center of the village. She sees Lilo, Nani and others then she hears a sound; it was as if chains were being dragged along the cross the floor.

She makes her way through the crowd and in front of her laid a disturbing. She sees a person with a bag over their head; wearing heavy chains that left skid marks on the ground. One foot after the other, the chain kicked the dirt making a cloud of dust settling at his feet. Angel notices the person had his head lowered. She could hear the venomous laced whispers surrounding her on either side about the covered person, each harsh word, phrase, etc. with neglect and ridicule. She could feel the hatred against the unknown person. Their eyes were as fierce as a white hot sun about to go supernova and just as deadly too. Angel snaps her head to the covered person as two guards force him to kneel and then they removed the bag over his face. Angel was shocked to see who the person was before the ocean of people.

She kept shaking her, "Naga way... Naga way."

His body was too sore and exhausted to do much, fatigue settling on his limbs and into the core of his being; which made him into a lead weight. He was too tired to even lift his head.

One ANBU had to pull his hair to look at everyone. She could feel her stomach drop as she sees the lost look in his eyes and disheveled hair. She felt this overwhelming sadness tightening around her heart. She slowly walks and then jogs, she was about to run until Stitch grabs her waist from behind her and stops her. Angel releases a muffle cry as she hides her face in Stitch's body. The person heard her cry, the girl he loved. The sound of her sorrowful cries reached his ears. She was weeping in the stillness, dead silence of the crowd. He swallowed hard, a lump forming in his throat. Angel never had the chance to tell him how she truly felt and now it's too late. He was the highlight of her life, he completed her.

She releases more muffled cries as Stitch tries to comfort her; she was shaking with every sob she let out. She never knew how much he meant to her. She didn't want to see his last walk or think about his last words. Though she forced herself and turns around as the man she loved was walking towards his death.

Shizune and Tsunade both waited for Naruto, but their countenances showed that they were filled with an overwhelming sadness. Angel could see Shizune turning her head to the side as Tsunade looks down to the ground. She knew they didn't want to do this, Angel knew that they too, but she also knows that they had no other choice either. Angel obviously spots the single tear traveling down her cheek as Tsunade turns and addresses the civilians and the shinobi about his crimes and his punishment; his death.

The man took quick glances around the sea of people; those he knew and don't. He stops on Angel and he parts his lips and smiles.

"I love you," he mouths and then the world was moving in slow motion.

She could see the ANBU striking him and then a scream; she didn't know if it was her scream or another's. But, she heard someone cry. "No, Naruto!"

She was jolted awake as she looks around and sees Sakura in front of her.

"Angel you alright?" Sakura asks as she sees Angel was distraught, upset and disoriented.

"But... But gaba happen?" she asks Sakura.

"You were all trapped in a genjutsu and then Stitch, Konohamaru and I had to help you guys before Kizune's men captured you," she explains to Angel.

Angel looks around again and asks, "Gaba? Where isa Naruto?"

"He's talking with Stitch and Konohamaru," she points to the group as Angel stands up and walks over to them.

Naruto was laughing with Stitch and Konohamaru but then stops as he hears sniffling. He turns and sees Angel there with watery eyes.

"Angel, what's wrong?" he asks her concern echoing in his voice.

She quickly hugs him as Naruto hugs her back.

"Angel... It's alright, I'm fine. I'm fine," he coos her.

"Meega thought meega lost youga," she muffles but Naruto heard her as he looks over to Stitch whom shrugged confused.

"Angel, you'll never lose me no matter what. I'll always be here and I'll always help you," he tells her honestly to calm her down.

Stitch felt a bit hurt about what was going on, but he knew that Angel was under a genjutsu. Sakura explained how that since neither him nor Angel had been under a genjutsu, it appeared realistic to them; even if it is just a dream-like thing.

Naruto gingerly pulls Angel off him as he looks at her in her eyes.

"See," he smiles as she lightly laughs.

"That's better," he laughs as well.

"Sakura! Naruto!" everyone heard Yamato's voice and followed it. They found that they were slightly injured from their fights. Blaze looks around the group, but he didn't like what he was seeing. His eyes kept shifting from side to side, trying to find one person. He immediately runs up to him and asks, "Where's the Chief?"

Yamato quickly adverts his eyes down and says, "He... He was wounded in the battle."

Blaze shakes his head as he repeats, "You're wrong. You're wrong."

"Blaze," Hinata speaks up, "He was fatally injured. We tried our best to heal him, but... he's not going to make it."

Blaze looks down shocked as his fists clench tightly, Airmid grabs his hand and tries to calm him down.

Kiba adds, "The rest of them are with him right now. Come on, I'll take you there."

Blaze mutters, "Thanks."

As Kiba begins to walk; Blaze turns to Airmid.

"I...I don't think it's a good idea for you to be away from Naruto and everyone else," he states, "You stay here."

"As if," she replies as she follows Kiba, "Come on Blaze. Unless you want to get left behind."

'Man...She's a real piece of work,' Blaze thought as he followed the rest of them.

Yamato looks over at Stitch, Angel, Sakura, Naruto and Konohamaru.

"Guys," he states, "We're going to set up camp and continue on later."

They all nod as he went off to make camp.

Naruto turns to Konohamaru, "By the way, thanks for helping us."

"Of course," he smiles, "I can't let my rival be killed off before we have our battle."

"Gaba?" Stitch asks confused.

"Yeah," Naruto explains, "Konohamaru and I are rivals to becoming Hokage."

"Oh..." he nods understanding.

He drops his ears, "Meega wished meega can help. Meega be useful if meega were ninja."

Naruto laughs as he pets Stitch on the head, "You'd be a great ninja for sure."

Stitch smiles, "Takka Naruto."

Meanwhile…

Kirosho looks down in disgrace before his lord, "Sorry Lord Kizune. I've failed you."

"Nonsense," Kirosho looks up to him confused, "My lord, what do you mean?"

"Don't worry about it. Everything is going to my plans," he laughs lightly.

"But, my lord aren't you worried in the slightest bit that this could ruin everything?" he asks Kizune.

"Why would I," he turns to Kirosho, "I've planned all of this and everything is playing out like it should be."

He adds, "Now, we just sit back and wait for our move to attack."

During that moment…

Kabuto finds Zetsu working on the two experiments.

"Took you long enough," Black Zetsu voices his irritation clearly.

"What happened to you?" White Zetsu asks somewhat curious.

"I had a run in with ssssome pessssstsssss," he explains as he tosses them Sakura's med pack, "Here you go. The injection sssshould be insssside."

Zetsu catches the bag, rummages through it and takes out the two syringes. He grins as he injects Drain and Null. Hämsterviel asks him impatiently, "Will they be alright soon?"

"Calm down dear Hämsterviel," Madara states, "They will be up and running soon enough and help us."

"Good," he nods, "I want both Jumba and Naruto to pay for what they have done to me."

With the Salamander Tribe...

The ANBU were stationed in front of a house Yamato made for them and Kiba, Airmid and Blaze approached cautiously. Blaze opens the door and sees everyone was in a circle, he slowly walks over with Airmid while Kiba stayed near the door with Akamaru.

When Blaze and Airmid reach the chief, he was lying on a bed and gradually wheezing.

"Blaze..." he wheezes, "is that you?"

"Yes, chief. Yes," he walks over and kneels before him, "I'm here."

"Blaze..." the man struggles to speak but takes a sharp inhale, "SSSS!"

"Blaze, do you remember the story I told you when you were young?" he asks.

"Yes," Blaze nods.

"About how there was a village of blind people, but then one day a wander came in and healed one of the people. The person was shocked to see what the world actually looks like after gaining his sight since he couldn't see before; how the sun was and how his people was. He looked at his hands, touched them and saw the trees, flowers, etc. When he went back to the village to talk about the miraculous things he had seen. But his people didn't believe him and so they tested him. One would ask 'What am I doing now?'"

Blaze continues with the story, "Then he would reply, 'Waving your hand.'"

The Chief adds, "The second asks, 'What am I doing?'"

Blaze states, "He would respond, 'Hopping on your feet.'"

Blaze continues, "He passed two tests; however, the last test was different because a person went behind one of the buildings and ask.'What am I doing?'"

He adds, "The person claims, 'I don't know, I can't see.'"

The Chief responds, "Then everyone laughed at him, saying things like he can't really see and other things. The person left the village and continue to gain more knowledge, but felt sorry for his people. They were prisoners of their own will, comfortable in their own world when there was more to see."

"Chief," Blaze grabs his hand, "please... You can't leave us. Who'll watch over the tribe?"

The Chief coughs weakly, "You shall, Blaze."

"What?" Blaze was shocked as he stands up, "I'm sorry, but I don't think that be a wise decision."

"Blaze... I've seen you grow from your struggles, felt the pain you felt during your hard times. I don't know who else would be a better chief than you," the chief smiles as he pulls his hand out of Blaze's grasp.

He takes his beaded bright fire red necklace and gives it to Blaze, "Blaze, this is for you as well as my cloak. If you never knew, I considered you my son and I haven't been more proud of you."

He adds, "Blaze as my son and heir, I hereby make you my successor as the new chief of the tribe."

"Chief..." Blaze voice dies down as the aged man coughs again.

"Everyone is excuse," he declares, "Except for Blaze, I need to tell him something."

"Chief... I think it's fair that we all hear what you've to say," Blaze states as the Chief looks into Blaze's eyes and sees he was serious.

He smirks, "Already taking charge, I see I made a good choice."

His smile quickly turns into a frown, "Everybody... Remembered how your parents' acted around Blaze and then quickly their attitudes change?"

All of them nod as he continues, "It's because of Blaze is special with spectacular powers, unique gifts."

"What?" Blaze was caught off guard when he heard that.

"Yeah... I never told you, but... I saw you even before we found you. I saw you with your parents on the night of the lunar eclipse. They abandoned you just because you were born during the eclipse, which is why you were deemed untouchable. You were banished to die in the forest, but then something happened; it was unique... The yōkaiof the forest appeared and gathered around you like they were protecting you. I heard a noise and I hid in the shadows. While I was covered in the trees I see Orochimaru walking towards you, but the spirits of the forest didn't allow him to touch you; however, that didn't stop him. He performed a seal jutsu and made the Onibi, Wataribisyaku, and Kitsunebi yōkaiseal into you. He took you away that night and I didn't see you until years later. I felt so ashamed, abandoning a baby to a monster all because I was scared of dying. Blaze, I'm so sorry. It was my fault Orochimaru took you. It was my fault he experimented on you all those years. I'm truthfully and honestly sorry for that. I had such a burden on my heart after that and carried it until we met again. When you were on the brink of death, we healed you and I knew you were that same baby all those years ago. Of course, there were times when we had to wipe your mind to make you forget the things he did to you," Blaze interrupts him, "Wait, what?"

"Yeah...When you were younger, you had nightmares and unleashed the power dormant inside of you. That's why I made the other adults never speak about those events to you, but that didn't stop them harboring their hate towards you. I was afraid you would find out because of the clan treating you like the black sheep, but then you found some friends and my worries diminished greatly. Blaze...that's the truth," the chief explains with sorrow in his voice, "I'm so sorry I never told you and now I can no longer help you."

Blaze was at a loss of words, he didn't know what to say to that. He was beyond dumbfounded and just said, "Are you finished?"

He didn't have anything else to say. What could he say? How could he say anything after hearing that?

The old man weakly laughs, "I kinda figured you'd say something like that."

Blaze asks him, "Is that why I'm so good at using Fire style jutsus then?"

He nods with a stern frown, "Sadly yes."

Blaze hesitantly asks, "So... I've these yōkaiin me?"

He nods again and Blaze asks questioningly, "So, what is the Onibi?"

"To put it short, they're the hatred and resented people that have become fire," the old man explains.

Blaze mutters, "Will-o-wisps, basically."

"Right," he nods and coughs, "...Next, the next one is Wataribisyaku. They appear in mountain villages, and have a bluish white ball of fire that lightly floats in the air. They are supposed to represent the goodness in people."

Blaze asks a little nervous, "Kitsunebi?"

The old man smirks, "As the name implies, it is close in relation to foxes. The Kitsunebi comes with a glowing ball, called Kitsunebi-dama. The ball was supposed to help guide the fox's spirit at night because the ball illuminates its path. If a person were to find one, it would be truly valuable. Also, said the spirit loves to play tricks on people."

"Blaze," he walks over to the old chief, "Promise me that you'll never let that spark in your heart go out. Promise me, promise me you'll keep your kitsune taimatsu lit."

He nods as his eyes water, "Of course, I will. I will, I promise. But why?"

He smiles, "Supposed to be a good omen."

The old man stretches his hand out to Blaze and Blaze grabs it, "Please don't cry Blaze. You've got to be strong for the tribe now. They look to you for their guidance, you're their leader and remember; no matter what happens...I'll always be with you."

"But...I can't. You can't leave us like this. What happens if I mess up and disgrace your name and everything," Blaze had to fight the urge to breakdown in front of everybody.

"Blaze," Blaze looks up to him, "No matter what you do, I'll never be upset, disgraced or disappointed. None of that because you could never disappoint me even if you tried Blaze. I know you."

"But...I still don't know what to do now?" Blaze asks him.

"Follow your heart," the old man simply answers.

He adds, "I'm happy that I left the tribe in such capable hands."

"But... What if I'm the wrong hands?" he asks the old man.

"Believe me. You're not the wrong hands," the old man replies.

"I'm so proud of you and don't you ever think otherwise," he smiles tiredly, "I can finally leave the world knowing I righted my wrong. I gave you a life of family, love and friends."

He eyes slowly close, "Goodnight, my son."

Blaze bites back on a sob, "Goodnight, father."

He watches carefully as the man takes his last breath until he enters in eternal slumber. Everyone silently cried as Blaze places the cold hand back on the owner's chest as he made both hands intertwine to each other.

Airmid walks over to Blaze and softly asks, "What now?"

Blaze gulps, "Well…"

He lightly sniffles, "We're going to make his dream come true. We're going to go to the Leaf and do everything in our power to become allies and friends with them."

He adds, "Excuse me."

He leaves as he hands Airmid the stuff and briskly walks out of the complex. He needed to catch his breath after all of that. He needed to let out what he was feeling; sadness and anger.

Few minutes...

Blaze was under a tree with his head between his knees with a blank stare in his puffy eyes.

'I... I can't believe that he lied to me,' Blaze thought angrily stood up and start punching the tree.

"Blaze..." he stops after a few hits and looks to the ground, "What do you want Naruto?"

Naruto walks closer to him and speaks, "Listen... Airmid told me everything. I know you should be mad at him for lying to you."

"Mad..." he repeats as he shakes his head, "I'm beyond mad."

He turns to face Naruto and Naruto could tell Blaze was hurting, "I hate him so much for what he did to me."

"But Blaze," Naruto counters, "You shouldn't hate him. He did it to protect you, because he loved you like a son."

"Yeah... But," Blaze sighs, "that means you were right about me. I'm a monster."

"No you're not," Naruto retorts.

Blaze looks to him confused, "I was wrong, severely wrong in my judgment. You're not a monster and I know it."

Blaze looks down and adds, "But, now I'm alone with the tribe."

Naruto shakes his head, "No you're not alone."

Blaze's eyes widen as he looks at Naruto while he explains, "Blaze... You've me, Angel, and Stitch, your tribe and friends. I promise, I'll be with you all the way."

Blaze face softens as a smile grows, "Thanks Naruto."

Naruto moves his head, "Come on, we need to get some sleep if you want to get to the village on time."

Blaze nods as the two of them walk back to camp.