Black Flames Dance In The Wind: Rise of Naruto

by DevilKeys Writing

A storm is brewing. Casting a black shadow over the world, threatening to incinerate it and scatter its ashes to the winds. Humanity's only hope lies with a young boy. A boy sacrificed for their protection, yet condemned to a life of hatred and abuse. Will the pariah become the savior? Or will mankind be cast into oblivion by a monster of their own creation?

37. The Next Hurdle

Yo! It's about a month later than desired, but I'm back, and I brought the next chapter with me! I'm not gonna bore you with the details of why it's late, but I will say that, at the point where I was nearly finished, I discovered that most of what I'd written clashed with things already established in the story. So, I had to delete 2/3 of this entire chapter and rewrite it.

Surprisingly, that didn't take too long after I found an idea I really liked and ran with it. I hope it's to your liking as well, folks.

On an unrelated note, I'm sure a lot of you know that this site has been experiencing some..."technical difficulties"(what a surprise...). There are forums dedicated to ranting about it and finding solutions, but just in case some of you didn't know, there is a workaround for the Type 2 error that comes up when you try to edit your stories. When you get to the error page, go to the URL, find the word "property", and replace it with "content". There's another Type 2 error that comes up when you try to post a new story, but it seems to only affect certain categories, and I don't know if a workaround has been found for it.

For me, this is going on day nine, and nothing's been done about this errors. I'm not gonna pretend to know how to go about fixing the problem, as there could very well be more to this than we see. But simple PSA, telling us that they know about the problem and are working on it, would be appreciated.

I will warn you now, this chapter contains no real action at all. Yes, I suppose it could be regarded as more "filler", but there's a lot of stuff I want to explain now and get it out of the way, while things are still just puttering along. After this arc, things will be speeding up, and I wouldn't want to just suddenly disrupt the pace by having a character give a history lesson.

Anywho, enough about that. On with the story!

XXXX

In the blink of an eye, six of the seven present members of the escort team appeared before the Hokage, giving him their undivided attention.

Anko was the first to speak. "It's Naruto, isn't it." it was a statement, not a question.

"It is. From what I've been told, Nii Yugito was ambush by two S-Class nukenin. Fortunately, Naruto was with her and they managed to fight the rogues off. Unfortunately, Naruto was seriously injured." Sarutobi said, his expression grim.

"Wait, wait, wait, seriously injured? Is this a different Naruto than the one I'm thinking of?" Zabuza cocked his head to the side slightly.

"Momochi-san, Naruto may be especially resilient, but he is not indestructible." the aged Hokage sighed.

"Could've fooled me..." Zabuza muttered to himself.

Ignoring him, Mitara spoke up. "Just how serious are we talking here?"

"He's in critical condition, so it's safe to say it's not just some broken bones and a couple stab wounds."

"See?" Anko suddenly exploded. "Next time I tell you that something's wrong, it might be a good idea to FUCKING LISTEN!" she made for the door, but was blocked by the Hokage.

"Sorry, Anko, I can't let you leave this room."

"Why the fuck not?" the look at the Sandaime gave her caused Anko to flinch involuntarily.

"Because, Mitarashi-san, I know how you are when you get emotional like this. I'm not going to let you go and do something you will regret." Sarutobi said sternly, locking eyes with Anko and sending her a message beyond simple words.

Reluctantly, Anko backed down, knowing that her leader wouldn't budge, and that she couldn't budge him if she tried.

"...If we can't leave the room, then why even tell us about it?" Inaro asked, fighting to keep his composure, and only partially succeeding.

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, it feels like you're mocking us." Isaro nearly hissed, doing a worse job of controlling himself than his brother.

All shinobi, regardless of rank, were never supposed to show emotion while on the job, and that went double for ANBU. But who could really blame them for getting worked up? Inaro and Isaro, along with Mitara and the Hokage, had watched Naruto grow up right before their eyes. He would always be their "little brother". And there was nothing worse than knowing your family was in danger, and not being able to do anything about it.

"I can assure that isn't the case." Sarutobi replied, mildly insulted, but understanding how they felt. "I told you because I figured it would be best if you didn't hear about it from a Kumo messenger. I know how attached most of you are to Naruto, and I made a reasonable guess as to how you would react. We're here to negotiate a peace treaty, remember? The last thing I need is my escorts running around interrogating the Raikage's shinobi."

That caused them all to stand down. Of them all, only Gai could say that the first thought that popped into his head didn't involve doing something foolish.

"So...what now?" Zabuza asked, leaning against a wall.

"We wait for more details to come through, or for someone to come up with a plan. From what I've been told, it's clear that help won't be sent out until the storm passes. That could hours from now."

"Hours? Even in Kumo, I doubt any storm system could keep up this kind of intensity for that long." Zabuza had been present for a Kumo thunderstorm before, and while it was the most intense he'd ever witnessed, it had only lasted for twenty minutes.

"I've got to agree with Momochi-san, Hokage-sama." Gai said.

"If this were a normal storm, I'd be inclined to agree with him as well."

"What're you ta...Ah shit, you're talking about the Rokubi." Zabuza pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered something under his breath.

The three ANBU, Anko and Gai all shared looks, then turned back to the Hokage.

"You lost us." Anko deadpanned. "What does the Six-Tails have to do with this?"

"According to what I've been told, everything." Sarutobi then found a chair, lit his pipe, and proceeded to tell his subordinates what he knew.

(Naruto's Mindscape)

Things were going well for Naruto. He had taken Nami no Kuni without further incident, and had sent Morium and Reformo to watch over the coastline and waterways.

Adding to his success, a platoon of soldiers, under the command of N2, had eliminated three of Shizaru's scouting parties, and had taken control of a small village twenty miles Northwest of Konoha, called Nenshou. It wasn't much, but it was something.

However, instead of being happy, or even content with his progress, Naruto was in the grip of paranoia. Aside from the scouting parties, Naruto hadn't seen hide nor hair of Shizaru's forces ever since he'd dispatched the Demolishers. He was up to something; Naruto had no doubt about that. But the question of just what that "something" was set him on edge.

In all likelihood, the demon was simply expanding his own territory, though probably at a much quicker pace than Naruto. But what if he was gearing up for a huge offensive? What if he was just letting Naruto gather property, just so he could wipe it all out and crush any hopes of winning? Shizaru was a bastard on a level no Uchiha could ever reach, so Naruto put nothing past him.

"You need to work on your short term memory. " Shizaru suddenly spoke. "I told you that I had no desire to end this game quickly. I want to at least have some fun."

"You bastard." Naruto growled. "You're listening to my thoughts, aren't you?"

"That would be cheating, and I don't cheat. However, you tend to think out loud when you're nervous. So, I guess you can say that I was listening to your thoughts, in a way."

Naruto blinked a couple times, then hissed out a curse. He thought he had outgrown that little habit from his childhood. Back then, he hated silence, as it was usually a prelude to something terrible. So, to break it, he would just say what was on his mind. Sometimes he even had entire, hour-long conversations with himself, even going as far as changing his voice to make it seem like someone else was talking to him. Of course, Naruto never told anyone about this, as he knew the general consensus was that people who talked to themselves were crazy.

"I'll be sure to keep that to a minimum in the future."

"See that you do. Now then, it would appear that you're just itching for a fight, so..."

Loud, incessant beeping suddenly erupted from the village Naruto had taken over, indicating that his forces were under attack.

"Oh, you asshole!" Naruto snarled.

It was a raid. Somehow, someway, Naruto's scouts and N2's platoon had missed the presence of ten Demolisher demons that had, apparently, been very close by. How that was even possible, Naruto didn't know. There was another, even smaller village five miles to the East of the one N2 and his troops were occupying; perhaps the demons came from there?

'These things may be fast, but they can't cover that much ground in only a few seconds. They couldn't have already been inside the village; every inch of every building was checked, and those things are too damn big to really hide anywhere...That leaves two options: either this jackass could teleport his warriors at will, or those scouts left something behind that enabled the Demolishers to be summoned.'

Suddenly, an image appeared, floating in midair above the simulated battlefield. Apparently, while fighting off the Demolishers, his forces had found another enemy hiding out in a house that had just been flattened. It wasn't nearly as large as the Demolishers, but it was no less repulsive.

Its bulbous cranium housed two small eyes with black sclera and pinprick pupils that glowed like tiny embers. It had no nose, or even an indication of one, but it did have a long jaw and an almost comical "proud chin". Its mouth was open almost impossibly wide, exposing the jet-black interior of its mouth and its impressive set of sharp, conical teeth. Its torso was also quite a sight, as it was obviously more muscular than any human, but the protruding ribs made it look almost malnourished. Its arms, while spindly compared to a Demolisher's, were also packed with muscle, and ended in tumor-like lumps, that apparently produced flames, and four fingers tipped with scythe-like claws. Its legs were easily the most unremarkable things about it. While still rippling with muscle, they were completely humanoid, even down to the five toes(1).

Also like the Demolishers, this creature's thin skin appeared to have been taken right off of a corpse that was about half its size.

However, even though it lacked the size, power, speed and built-in armor of the Demolishers, and had chosen to hide instead of fight, the beast wasn't a pushover by any means. It had managed to single-handedly take out seven Slayers and even a Captain before it was finally struck down.

"That was an Arch-vile." Shizaru said. "As you saw, they are quite formidable on their own, but it's their special ability that makes them an invaluable addition to any army. I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but if you haven't: Arch-viles can summon any demonic entities with lower youki levels than themselves. Their capabilities in battle are quite impressive, but they prefer to let others do the fighting for them; typically something bigger, stronger and/or faster than themselves. They also have a limited teleportation power that makes them very good at hiding, so it's no surprise that you only found it by sheer luck."

"Well, now that it's gone, your raid has failed. I think I've earned another answer out of you, hm?" Naruto smirked.

"I'll admit that your forces are better coordinated than I thought. From what I can see, my Demolishers only took out twenty-two of your Slayers. I expected twice that number. What would you like to know? What to expect from your siblings come the 'Chūnin Exams'?"

"Maybe later. You apparently know everything about me, yet I know nothing about you. I think it's time to balance the scales a little."

"You want to know more about me? Well, don't I feel special? But I'm afraid I don't see the point in asking those kinds of questions."

"Elaborate, if you don't mind."

"It should have gotten through to you by now that Kyuubi and I know one another. You see, Kyuubi used to work for Lord Arcarian as well. In fact, she held a position in Hell's ranks even higher than the one I have now. That is, before she suddenly went rogue, for whatever reason. Anyway, I used to be quite the inventor, and after I helped Kyuubi surpass a particularly difficult hurdle in the making of her Biosuit, she took a liking to me. Yes, we were once very good friends." Shizaru said with something akin to fondness. "In fact, she and I collaborated on hundreds of projects during her last couple centuries in Hell. She apparently doesn't remember most of that, otherwise she would've told you to get rid of that cloak when I first graced you with my presence."

"Kyuubi did say that she didn't remember who made the cloak...Explains why you can control it." Naruto frowned(2).

"Indeed. My point is, Kyuubi herself knows a lot about me, despite the memories that were sealed away. Most of what I would tell you, she could tell you. I advise you to pursue a different line of questioning, as the current one would be a waste."

"Right..." Naruto went silent, trying to think of another question that only Shizaru would be able to answer. "I've got it. Why are you able to get inside my mind?"

"Ah, clever wording, using 'why' instead of 'how'. Very well, if that's what you want to know. The entire reason I ever started a clan was Lord Arcarian telling me that he needed a large number of human followers. Well, at the time he told me this, humans with any kind of power were in short supply, and the ones that did exist would rather kill themselves than join us. So, I chose to spawn those followers myself, while I was still human. Go forward a thousand years, and the Namikaze clan was quite vast. Too much so, in fact. It was...difficult to keep track of all of my kin, and even moreso to keep them all in line.

A branch of the family broke away from the clan; a lazy bunch that saw no point in serving a God bent on bringing an end to mankind. That offshoot of our clan still exists today, and still displays considerable skill in using some of the original Namikaze abilities. I believe you know them as the Nara Clan."(3)

Naruto's eye twitched violently. "You've got to be kidding me...I'm related to Shikamaru?"

"You are separated by about a hundred and fifty generations, but yes, you and Cloud Boy share some of the same blood. After the Nara went their separate way, I went to Lord Arcarian with my problem. He was pleased with my work up to that point, so he readily gave me the means to control my fellow clansmen. Essentially, the ability I was given allows me to infiltrate your mind by assuming your identity within it. Your mental defenses ignore me, and I can go anywhere I please." Shizaru explained.

"Well, that's just dandy." Naruto snorted. "And I suppose there's no way to keep you out."

"For you, no. However, there are ways of forcing me out once I'm already in. My ability is only good for infiltration. Once I'm in, it's all down to mental conditioning, control and willpower. While you've got amazing willpower, your control and conditioning are lacking. Therefore, I can manipulate things within your mind, ranging from your mental defenses, to the mindscape itself. Once your mental capabilities are up to snuff, I won't be much of a problem for you here."

"And you told me that, because...?"

"My age is catching up to me. Like I told you, I have only an insignificant amount of human blood left in my veins. Once that last bit is assimilated, there will be nothing left connecting you and I, save for the Namikaze name. Once our blood connection is gone, I will no longer be able to enter your mind anyway. The ability's power has greatly diminished over the centuries, to the point where I had to physically enter your body just to get to your mind. I'm also a bit out of practice, as I haven't had to use it in well over a thousand years. My reputation alone was enough to quell any rebellion...That is, until your father came along."

"I really wish you wouldn't call Him my father." Naruto growled.

"I know. Your father got his attitude from his father, who was the first to even attempt an uprising. Your grandfather was easy to subdue, but young Minato was...a hassle. He was powerful, even by demonic standards, and he was smart. He had done his research, and had prepared himself to confront me if I happened to show up. How? Well, he turned to what made him famous: seals. He used them to aid in his improvement on all fronts. Speed, strength, endurance, chakra capacity; you name it, he had constructed a seal for it. In the beginning, he had gone to a friend, a Yamanaka, for mental training, but that was too time-consuming for his tastes.

However, the Yamanaka did end up giving your father the solution anyway. You see, like all clans, the Yamanaka had their own special ways of punishing the disgraced and the wicked amongst them. They had invented a seal that, similar to the Hyūga's Caged Bird seal, was tattooed onto an individual's forehead. It took away their ability to use the clan's techniques by keeping their mental energy trapped within them. Should they try to use one of the clan's techniques, the seal would use their own mental energy to literally liquefy their brain. When the seal was given to Minato, he enhanced it and reversed the effect. Rather than keeping mental energy in, the seal now kept mental energy out. Of course, he didn't actually know that my mind-entering ability was virtually the same as the Yamanaka's, but, as is the Namikaze way, the impulse decision turned out the be the right one."

"Wait...so the Yondaime Hokage had a seal tattooed on his forehead?" Naruto rose an eyebrow. "Now that wasn't in the history books."

"Not at all. Seals on the skin are liabilities. Skin can be taken off, afterall. No, Minato went a bit more...extreme. He had Senju Tsunade peel the skin away from the back of his head, and had his sensei, Jiraiya, carve the seal right into his skull." Shizaru then sighed. "If only he had shown that kind of dedication towards serving Lord Arcarian. He could've still been alive, and you would have parents as well as an entire clan to call your own."

Naruto only snorted. "Don't you think I'm fucked up enough as it is? Given the choice between a family full of demon-worshipping cultists, and not having a family at all, I'd choose the latter."

Suddenly, an inhuman growl sounded from Shizaru's side of the table. "Lord Arcarian is FAR more than a mere demon. He is a God; the creator of all things demonic! The very planet that you live on was formed by his hands! If not for Lord Arcarian, you would have nothing, and you would be nothing. You will show him the proper respect, child."

"I'll think about it." Naruto replied flippantly, drawing another growl from the unseen demon. "You're being awfully chatty, you know."

"Lord Arcarian has no use for weakness. If you are to be the great warrior that he has envisioned you as, you will need more than power, skill and cunning. One of the first lessons you will pick up in Hell is that the ignorant do not last very long, regardless of their rank."

"...I'll keep that in mind."

"See that you do. Now, let's get back to the game. You should think about expanding your territory, before you end up getting surrounded. But, before that, you might want to think about taking a few more minor villages and setting up outposts." Shizaru said with a small chuckle.

Naruto let out a low grunt in response. He hated to admit it, but the demon was right, as usual. He needed a solid perimeter, and the village of Nenshou would be the starting point. He sent out platoons of thirty-five troops in every direction, instructing them to conquer any villages they found along the way, and make outposts when they reached the twenty-mile mark. Once that was done, he would send more troops to those outposts, then sent more platoons from them to create more outposts another twenty miles away.

Since Konoha was almost smack in the middle of Fire Country, Naruto figured the most effective method of branching out would be in the form of ever-expanding rings around his main stronghold. It would require vast amounts of soldiers, so Naruto would have to increase production on The Line, but he knew that wouldn't be a problem. His Shadow Beast Engineers were incapable of becoming fatigued, so they could handle the increased workload.

"Ah, I almost forgot to mention, I advise you to create a Research and Development Department to go with your assembly line in the Shadow Realm. While your current line-up of beasts is...respectable, and has been effective thus far; trust me when I say that what you've got won't see you through for much longer."

Naruto wasn't at all surprised by the fact that Shizaru knew about The Line, but he was surprised by the R&D suggestion.

"I can do that? Just create new soldiers?" Naruto blinked, having honestly thought that would've been forbidden, or something.

"Of course. That is one of the most pivotal parts of War, and not just this game. Some of the greatest weapons known to both men and demons were made during times of war. You've no doubt heard of the saying, 'necessity is the mother of invention'. Well, nothing brings about necessity like conflict. So create whatever you wish; the only limitations here are your own."

Naruto couldn't help but grin at that. 'Let's see...I want some aquatic troops to help Morium and Reformo patrol the waters in Wave...And something that can fly.'

He now regretted not making it a point to get to know Kurohane's kin. If he didn't know who they were, or what they could do, then he couldn't use them in the game. At the moment, Kurohane and Lord Garandou, Naruto's ultimate trump card, were the only beings under his command that her capable of sustained powered flight.

(Konohagakure no Sato - Naruto's Apartment)

Upon entering Naruto's workshop, they found it to actually be the apartment next door to Naruto's, completely sealed off from the outside world. Workbenches of different sizes occupied most of the space near the walls, while the center of the room was taken up by a huge table that looked like it could be lowered to become part of the floor. In front of every bench, sketches lined the walls, each one detailing components and mechanisms for various contraptions, some of which looked particularly nasty. The walls themselves appeared to be normal enough, but the faint hint of chakra all around confirmed that seals were also in place.

"So, this is where the 'magic' happens..." Kurohane murmured. Naruto had told her that he used the workshop to both plan out his pranks and construct the tools needed to pull them off.

"Indeed." a very familiar voice replied, startling all of the girls and causing them to drop Hinata. Whirling around, they saw Naruto standing by the entrance to the workshop, inspecting the damage Kurohane had done. "I can see why the Boss likes you girls." the clone nodded in appreciation of the destruction.

"Where'd you come from?" Kurohane asked, not having felt any chakra signatures in the apartment besides the other girls.

"Boss keeps at least a dozen of us around here at all times, to look after things while he's away." the clone then pointed the wall next to the door. "I'm sure you've noticed the seals covering the walls. Some are for sound suppression, others for reinforcement of the walls in case of explosions, and yet others are security seals that tell the others and I when someone enters the room, and gives us a rough approximation of their threat level. There's also quite an ingenious seal that tracks the position of intruders in this room, and allows us to summon ourselves in order to get the drop on them."

"...Why did you tell us all that?" Haku asked.

"Because, the Boss obviously gave you permission to be here, so I figured he'd want you to know how this place operates." the clone shrugged. "Can't have you setting off traps and getting your pretty little heads lopped off, or worse, now can we?"

The girls laughed nervously, remembering the fireball trap that Zabuza had set off when they first came to live with Naruto. If that was the trap at the entrance, they shuddered to think of what awaited within and beyond the workshop.

"I assume you know why we're here?" Kurohane asked, hoping that this new development would make things run more smoothly.

"Unfortunately, no. The Boss is way too far away for us to receive mental messages from him. But we would be glad to help out in any way that we can."

Kurohane nodded, then tossed the scroll Naruto gave her to the clone. "Naruto wrote down what we were supposed to do in there."

Unrolling the scroll, the clone read through it quickly, then nodded to itself and re-rolled it and handed it back to the Raven Princess.

"Well, if you need to get to the lower levels, we might have a problem." the clone pointed at Hinata. "I probably don't need to tell you this, but the doors around here are far too small to accommodate her."

"So we noticed." Kurohane huffed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"It doesn't end there. The stairway leading down was designed to be very narrow; a chokepoint to leave enemies unable to maneuver. The way I see it, the only way to get her down there is the Shadow Walk...But I can still feel her Light affinity."

"I got her here using the Shadow Walk." Kurohane pointed out.

"I figured as much. It's the middle of the day, and inconspicuous, she is not." the clone then sighed. "I suppose I could probably get her to the bottom of the staircase before she's ejected."

"That's it?" Kurohane asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's a very long staircase. Plus, Shadow Walking doesn't come quite as easily to us clones as it does to the Boss. I can transport inanimate objects just fine, but living beings, especially demonic ones with Light affinities...That's more complicated. This isn't as simple as dragging some poor fool into the Shadow Realm and dropping him into the middle of a Putrid den." the clone went silent for a few seconds, then shrugged. "Oh well, no use in trying to talk myself out of it." it said to itself, then turned to the girls. "I'll take care of her, you five can meet me downstairs."

"Uh...Where are the stairs?" Kiriko asked.

"There's another scanner hidden in the East wall, right where a living room window of this apartment used to be. This one is different from the others, in that you all need to be scanned, within three seconds of each other, and it also requires a password." the clone walked over to the wall and knocked on it three times, causing a hidden panel to slide away and reveal the scanner.

"That wasn't in the scroll." Kurohane said with a slight frown.

"The Boss probably figured that one of us clones would tell you all you needed to know." the clone shrugged, then walked back over to Hinata. "Oh, the password is four-six-seven."

"Seems kinda...simple for someone like Naruto." Haku said.

The clone, once again, shrugged. "Four-hundred and sixty-seven; it's the number of people the Boss has killed to date(4). Everytime he kills someone, he comes back here to change the password accordingly. So, you see, the password rarely stays the same for more than a week, at the longest." and with that, the clone, along with Hinata, vanished into the shadow portal it had opened in the floor.

For a few seconds, the girls just stood there, slack-jawed from what they'd just been told.

"...Wow..." Kurohane was the one to break the silence.

"Four-hundred and sixty-seven...Not even Zabuza had a bodycount that high when he was Naruto-kun's age." Haku said, admiration and awe evident in her voice.

"...Anyone else feeling kinda...pathetic right now?" Kiriko asked.

"I'm not exactly fond of killing, so I'm more than content with my record of thirty-two." Chigusa shrugged.

"Thirty-two?" Kiriko rounded on her older sister. "Dammit, now I feel even worse!"

"Why?"

"Because I've only killed twenty-three people!" Kiriko pouted.

"..." Chigusa didn't really know what to say to that.

"I've got you both beat; I've killed a hundred and two." Haku boasted, sticking her chest out a bit.

Most wouldn't think it by looking at her, or even talking to her, but Haku was quite proud of her number of kills. Zabuza had told her that, as one of the Seven Swordsmen, he had never taken an espionage or reconnaissance mission, or anything else that required casualties to be kept to a minimum. In their group, your worth was measured not only by power, but by how good of a killer you were. So, as far as Zabuza was concerned, a high bodycount meant you were a good ninja, and that mentality quickly spread to Haku.

However, during the last couple years of their travels, Zabuza had started to put less emphasis on indulging bloodlust, and more on getting jobs done quickly, cleanly and quietly. In fact, in the last year Haku had only killed three people.

Kiriko gave the younger girl the evil eye, while Chigusa just shrugged again.

It was then that they noticed that the fourth humanoid member of their group had made herself scarce, choosing to stand over by the scanner instead of participate in the conversation.

"And how about you?" Haku asked, though she inwardly dreaded the answer.

While they knew Kurohane was the youngest daughter of the Raven clan's leader, she had especially flighty about her actual age. Haku may not have known much about summons, but she did know that they lived for hundreds, even thousands of years, and outward appearance wasn't always an accurate indicator of their age. So, for all they knew, Kurohane was older than all of them combined, and had likely racked up an impressive kill-count.

'As if she needed something else to catch Naruto-kun's eye...' Haku thought with a small scowl.

Imagine her surprise when Kurohane looked towards the ground and started to fidget nervously.

"Invkldahm..." came her unintelligible mumble.

"What?"

"I said, 'I've never killed a human'." the black-clad girl huffed as she crossed her arms under her chest.

"...Really?" Kiriko asked, scratching her head.

"You mean you're...unblooded?" Haku asked, barely able to keep a straight face.

"Well excuse me for NOT being a murderous psychopath!...No offense." Kurohane added as an afterthought, remembering that Haku was a friend instead of a rival.

"None taken." Haku couldn't completely keep a smirk from gracing her features.

"Besides, I've never been summoned to this world to fight anyone, and the times that I visited were only to fly around a bit. I wasn't much for fighting back home, either, let alone killing." Kurohane then shook her head rapidly, as if trying to clear a bout of dizziness. "Wait, why am I even talking about this with you? I've still got a damn job to do!" she pressed her hand against the scanner, effectively ending the conversation.

Haku's nigh-unnoticeable smirk became a full-blown grin; she finally had something over Kurohane!

(Meanwhile...)

Kurenai bounded across Konoha's rooftops, making a b-line towards the Hyūga clanhome. Her team's mission had been completed when an ANBU had delivered Tora to the Hokage's office, saying that he'd found it in the Forest of Death. Her team was still paid for the mission, seeing as how they weren't allowed that deep in the forest anyway.

However, no one had seen hide nor hair of Hinata ever since they split up to expand their search for the feline. Yes, she had seemed far less...pleasant than normal when Team Eight was told they'd be tracking down Tora, again, but this wasn't at all like Hinata. It didn't matter how tired, sore or upset she was, the Hyūga heiress ALWAYS came back to her team. Sure, sometimes she was a little late to arrive, but this was unheard of, even by Kakashi's standards.

'Dammit, I knew I should've had Shino or Kiba search the Southern section.' Kurenai thought bitterly.

Whomever went there, their search would inevitably lead them to the Forest of Death. Shino and Kiba both had abilities that allowed them to communicate with and understand animals. Yes, it was limited to insects and canines, respectively, but it was more than Hinata had. And then there was the girl's one-track mind to consider. It was likely that she had found the cat, and had ended up chasing it into the Forest of Death.

If that was the reality, then even the best case scenario was quite grim.

'I accept full responsibility if anything has happened to her, but I have to wonder...will her family even care?' Kurenai had every right to wonder, as she had seen many glimpses of the girl's home life since Team Eight had become an official squad.

At best, Hinata was largely ignored by anyone who wasn't a servant, including her own father and younger sister. At worst, she was labeled as worthless by everyone around her. And though Hinata tried her best to hide them, Kurenai had seen the bruises. Judging from how he behaved when Hinata was near, Kurenai suspected the bruises were the handiwork of her first cousin, Neji Hyūga. Of course, she had no hard evidence, but the feminist Jōnin knew all the signs of an abusive relationship.

However, since Anko and Naruto had started training her, all of her bruises came from them, and Hinata wore them like badges of honor. But even with the marked increase in Hinata's abilities and power, things hadn't changed much at home. Apparently, she had yet to adopt either of her new teachers' meanstreaks.

'Thank Kami for small miracles...' one Anko was enough, and one Naruto was more than enough.

With one final leap, Kurenai hopped off of the last rooftop and landed before the front gate of the Hyūga compound. The two branch member guards didn't look at all surprised to see her, and the slowly receding veins around their eyes told her why.

"Is there a problem, Yūhi-san?" the guard to her right, the taller one, asked.

"You seem to be in quite a hurry." the guard to the left said.

"Did Hinata come back home?" actually saying the word "home", and not spitting it out like rancid milk, was a chore for Kurenai.

The two guards shared a look, then the one on the right spoke. "We have not seen her, but you may want to speak with the morning guards, Kaji and Yūka. We relieved them not even a half hour ago."

"Where can I find them?"

"Knowing them; Yūka is most likely asleep, and Kaji is..." the other guard paused, frowning deeply before continuing. "Actually, I'd rather not say what I think Kaji is doing."

"Kaji has spent a little too much time around Hatake Kakashi, and has developed a taste for some of the more...perverse things in life." the tall guard then frowned as well. "He seems to forget that only main house members are allowed to use seals that prevent the Byakugan from seeing through the walls of their rooms." the guard shuddered in disgust.

'...As if I needed another reason not to like Hatake...' Kurenai pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Well, can I at least speak with her father? If something's happened to Hinata, I think he deserves to know about it." 'Not that he'd care.'

"I'm afraid that won't be possible unless you've made an appointment with him." the shorter guard said. "Otherwise, any messages will have to be relayed through us."

"That won't be necessary." the guards involuntarily tensed as they heard the voice of Hiashi Hyūga, who had suddenly appeared at the gate between them. "If you need to speak with me, I can only assume it's something about Hinata." the Hyūga Clanhead gave a slight snort of contempt. "What has she done this time?"

Kurenai's jaw clenched hard as she bit back an answer expressing her true feelings towards the man.

"...I don't know..." she barely managed to croak out.

"Well, I can see that I left her in capable hands..." Hiashi mocked, referring to how he had all but disowned Hinata once she was assigned to Team Eight, basically dumping her off on Kurenai.

"What I mean is that I haven't seen her ever since this morning, just after Team Eight was assigned a D-Class mission..."

"So, you lost my daughter, then?" Hiashi asked, his right eyebrow suffering a single, unnoticeable twitch.

"I had her searching for Tora in the Southern quadrant of the village..." Kurenai noticed that even the normally unflappable Hiashi gave a full-body shudder at the mention of the hellbeast that people dared to call a housecat.

"So, her last known whereabouts were in the Southern quadrant..." Hiashi's eyes narrowed a fraction. "And exactly where in the Southern quadrant do you suppose she went missing?"

"...Training Ground Forty-Four, though I think she might have gone deeper than that."

Hiashi's face went blank for a few seconds, and Kurenai swore she saw his whole body stiffen. But, in a fraction of a second, he regained his somewhat relaxed "nobleman" posture, and his apathetic expression.

"You lost my daughter...in the Forest of Death?" while his tone betrayed nothing, Kurenai could almost feel something behind those words.

"For lack of a better term, yes." Kurenai conceded. "But, now that I know she hasn't come home, I will gather a search party immediately. I will find Hinata; you have my word."

"Hm, you do that." Hiashi replied dismissively before disappearing in a cloud of white smoke.

Kurenai just frowned deeply, fists clenched at her sides, before huffing and vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

"...Well, even though it was only for a minute, I now know what it's like to not be ignored." the tall guard said.

"Indeed." the shorter guard agreed.

Ten seconds later, both men let out deep, melancholy sighs. It had been a week since they'd gotten so much as a "Hello" out of anyone. Fellow guards, maids, chefs, main house members, branch members, villagers and fellow ninjas on the street; people rarely said anything to them. Even when they went to the store, the clerks would ring up their items without even looking at the men who bought them. Not even a "Welcome" or "Thank you, come again".

The taller guard suddenly started to sob. "Is it too much to ask for a little recognition every now and then?"

"...There, there?" the short guard patted his friend on the shoulder awkwardly.

While this was going on, Hiashi was back in his room, sitting on the edge of his king-size bed with his head bowed and his hands in his lap. Hanging loosely from the fingers of his right hand was a framed photograph of his late wife, himself and Hinata, taken just eight years ago; a week before his wife had given birth to their second daughter, and four before she had succumb to an exotic illness.

With his long hair blocking his face from view, no one would be able to see the small smile on his lips, or the harsh glare in his eyes as his visage twisted with barely restrained rage.

"If my daughter is not found alive and unharmed, I will have your head, Yūhi...You have MY word."

(Naruto's Apartment)

After the Femme Fatales had descended they stairs, they had found Naruto's clone standing at the bottom, tapping its foot impatiently.

"You certainly took your time..." the clone said, obviously miffed at being made to wait.

"Sorry." Kurohane said, then glared at the other girls over her shoulder, all of whom had the decency to be embarrassed.

"Hm." the clone grunted. "Hinata is in good hands now; she's been taken to the Lab. We'll run a few tests, see what we can figure out. Hopefully we'll find a way to get her back into human form before people start snooping around."

"Her team will probably be the first. They likely started searching as soon as they lost communication with Hinata. Unfortunately, I have no idea when that was." Kurohane told the clone.

"I expect her Jōnin sensei to be on our doorstep any minute now." the clone then shrugged. "Oh well, no sense in worrying about it. Thank you for bringing Hinata here, Kurohane. Mission success."

"WHOO!" Kurohane cheered, unable to contain her joy and excitement at having completed her first real mission. Even with everything that had gone wrong, she still managed to pull it off!

The feelings were contagious, as the other girls were immediately swept up in the moment, hugging each other and bouncing around like little children.

"...I feel sick..." Naruto's clone muttered to itself as it watched off to the side.

"Aww, sounds like someone needs a hug!" Kurohane grinned and walked towards the clone with arms wide open.

"No thank you." the clone said, backing further down the corridor. "I've got things to do. Things that don't involve...hugs."

"Bah, you're no fun." Kurohane pouted.

"Yes, well I'm not the 'fun' clone; I'm the clone that does the job assigned to him."

Kurohane's mood instantly soured and her pout was replaced with a deep frown. She had momentarily forgotten than she wasn't talking to the real Naruto, and had therefore forgotten the condition that said boy was currently in.

"If there is nothing else you require of me, I'll be in the Lab. You may look around all you like, but be mindful of where you are and where you've been; it's quite easy to get turned around in these tunnels."

"Is there anything to actually do around here?" Haku asked.

"Well, there's the Trophy Room, the Prototype Room, and the Movie Room that might be of interest to you." the clone then made a clone of its own. "He will show you to whichever room you wish. However, if you do decide to wander about, please pay attention to the labels on doors before you even think about opening them. If it says 'Do Not Open', then do not open." with that, the original clone turned and walked down a separate tunnel.

"So, where to?" the remaining clone asked.

"...Trophy Room?" Haku suggested, talking to the other girls more than the clone.

"Okay. I'll admit that I'm curious as to what kind of trophies Nii-chan would have." Chigusa replied. 'Though I've got a good idea already...'

"Very well," the clone said, "follow me." it turned on its heel and walked off down the corridor.

Doing as told, the girls fell into step behind the clone. As they walked, they couldn't help but notice the remarkable craftsmanship of the tunnels. Crafted by ninjas skilled in Earth-based techniques, they looked like they'd been carved out of solid stone by thousands of people with thousands of chisels and hammers. They were also quite large, twelve feet wide by ten feet high, as they originally served as evacuation tunnels, and were designed to accommodate a large number of people. The walls were smooth as polished marble, and the ceiling was lined with fluorescent light tubes, their housings actually integrated into the rock overhead.

Large steel braces framed the tunnels at fifty-foot intervals, though only part of their function was to prevent a cave-in. The braces were lined with seals that, when activated with a specific sequence of handseals, formed a chakra barrier that would stop all but the most powerful of pursuers in their tracks. Some of them even produced walls of fire in place of a plain barrier.

Upon finishing their inspections of the tunnels, the girls noticed something else. As they walked, they could easily pick out the sounds of their own footfalls, even with their ninja sandals specifically designed to mute sound, and the rhythmic thumps of Kurohane's boots were impossible to miss. But Naruto's clone didn't make a single sound as it walked, even though it was also wearing heavy combat boots.

And now that they thought about it, Naruto himself never made any noise when he walked.

"Uh, Clone-san?" Haku spoke up, not sure of how to address the clone.

"Yes?" it answered, not breaking stride.

"I noticed that your steps don't make any sound. How are you doing that?"

"My feet aren't actually touching the floor."

"So...you're using chakra?" Kiriko ventured.

"Not entirely. I use my chakra to gather small pockets of air under my feet. The Boss originally developed this as an exercise in precise control of the Wind element, but he has since thought up a wide variety of uses for it, including this stealth aid."

"So you're literally walking on air right now..." Haku blinked, wondering why she'd never thought of something like that. She did have a strong Wind affinity, afterall.

"Onii-chan is awesome!" Seizonsha yipped.

This drew giggles, as well as nods of agreement, from each of the girls. Except for Kurohane, and this didn't go unnoticed.

"Is something wrong, Kuro-chan?" Chigusa asked, slowing her pace to match the taller girl's.

"What? Oh, nothing's wrong...I've just got a lot on my mind right now." Kurohane gave a small smile, though everyone could tell it was forced.

Seeing that the leather-clad girl wasn't about to elaborate, no one pushed the issue. It would be brought up at another time, perhaps when she was feeling more talkative.

The next few minutes passed in silence before they reached the door labeled as "Trophy Room".

"Since you're all warriors, I don't think I need to worry about any of you being squeamish." the clone placed its hand on the scanner next to the door, which clicked a second later, indicating that it was now unlocked.

When the door opened, the girls were greeted with a sight that would stay with them for the rest of their lives. It was a wall covered with human skulls of various shapes, sizes and conditions. Most were flawless; bleached white and polished to the point of glinting like pearls in the light. But many of them had the telltale signs of a very brutal death.

Several had gashes left by bladed weapons biting deep into the bone. Others had holes in them, most easily distinguished as being from kunai. Some had cracks spiderwebbing across the craniums, indicating severe bluntforce trauma. A couple even looked like they had been completely shattered, then glued back together piece by piece. Likewise, there were few in which portions has been cleanly sliced off, but had been reattached at some point afterward. Hell, some of them looked like they'd been cut completely in two, though only a ninja would notice at first glance. Then there were the ones that had been either partially or completely charred.

But, even with the imperfections, every single skull had one thing in common: a number carved into bone just above the brow ridge.

"As you most likely know, every one of these skulls came off of a person that the Boss has killed." the clone said, with no small amount of pride in its tone as it walked over to the far left of the wall. "These older kills over here were somewhat difficult to recover."

"...'Recover'?" Kiriko asked, silently cursing her morbid curiosity.

"Well, most of these are from before the Boss started collecting, which was after his tenth birthday. So, those bodies had to be exhumed in order to retrieve the skulls. However, some couldn't be found. Whether they were burned to ashes, crushed into dust, or digested; they were beyond recovery. That said, there are only three-hundred and ninety-eight, when there should be four-hundred and sixty-seven."

"...I take it no one knows about the grave-robbing." Haku said.

"We do our best to keep it that way. The Hokage lets the Boss get away with a lot of things, but there's little doubt that he'd draw the line at desecrating graves. Even if they're the graves of worthless bigots and morons." the clone replied.

Haku just nodded, then swept her eyes over the skulls once more. When she got to the skull numbered two-hundred and fifty-one. There was something giving off a metallic glint near the back of the skull. Upon closer inspection, Haku saw that it was a metal plate screwed into the bone. She knew a person who had a titanium plate on their skull; something which he had bragged about constantly.

"...This one...it's Gozu, isn't it?"

The clone walked over to inspect the skull itself, then nodded. "Yes, that is from the eldest of the Demon Brothers of Kirigakure. I take it you knew him?"

"Not very well, but what I did know, I didn't like. He was a womanizer, and a bit of a jerk all around." Haku then turned a sad eye to skull two-fifty-two. "But his younger brother, Meizu, was okay. He was always apologizing for Gozu's actions and/or comments..."

"I see...Well, for what it's worth, his end was quick and painless." of course, the clone felt no remorse, and neither did Naruto himself. The Demon Brothers had been enemies at the time, and had attacked first with the intent to kill.

"All part of being a ninja." Haku shrugged, though her expression was still one of sorrow. "Both of them were very fatalistic; they knew it was only a matter of time until they were killed."

"Makes since. Any Hunter-nin strong enough to even think about going after Zabuza would be more than a match for both of them." the clone scanned over the skulls once more.

"Speaking of Hunter-nin, I thought Naruto turned their heads in for the bounty?" Kiriko questioned, not feeling anything over the loss of the Demon Brothers. Neither she nor her sister ever said much to them beyond "Good morning" and "Back off, dirtbag".

"The Boss has no need for the money those bounties would have brought. He only wants it to be known that he's the one who killed them. To prove that, he turned in their hearts and brains for DNA analysis. Though it was confirmed, he didn't get the money, as the Mizukage's bounty was very specific about intact heads being delivered back to Kirigakure." the clone informed. "Well, this is it for the Trophy Room. Where would you like to go next?"

"The other clone mentioned a 'Prototype Room'. What's that?" Haku asked.

"It's where the Boss keeps the various contraptions that he's created over the years. Some of them are weapons, while others are tools for his more elaborate pranks. Several clones also work in that room, either trying to complete projects, or converting the harmless into the lethal." the clone then paused and stroked its chin in thought. "Perhaps it's best if we skipped that room for now. Don't want any of you blowing yourselves up, or worse." the clone suddenly stiffened and snapped its head up towards the ceiling.

"What?" in unison, all four of the girls, and Seizonsha, readied themselves for a fight.

"...Someone is at the front door up above." the clone said.

"Can you tell who it is?" Kiriko asked.

"Not from here, no." the clone shook its head. "I can tell it's a Jōnin, though a bit on the weak side..." it then shrugged. "Most likely Hinata's official sensei looking for her. One of the others will take care of it. Come, I will show you to the Movie Room."

(With Kurenai)

What Kurenai had told the Hyūga Clanhead hadn't been the whole truth. She was going to gather a search party, but there was still one more person that she wanted to talk to...Well, perhaps not 'wanted', so much as 'needed'. Afterall, this was someone almost as high as Hiashi on her list of insufferable bastards. But if he didn't know where Hinata was, then things were worse than previously thought.

'If he doesn't know, maybe I can still get him to join the search party.' Kurenai thought. Aside from Anko and the ANBU stationed there year-round, Naruto knew the Forest of Death better than anyone. And he had excellent tracking capabilities, to boot.

But, despite her completely logical and rational reasons for showing up on Naruto's doorstep, Kurenai felt that knocking on the door was just about the last thing she wanted to do. And really, that was actually a logical and rational reaction. This was Naruto freaking Namikaze's place! Even normal ninjas booby-trapped their homes to ward off intruders, and Naruto made a reputation out of taking things to levels FAR beyond what was considered "normal". For all Kurenai knew, just ringing the doorbell would get you a hydrofluoric acid shower.

So, she decided to have a Shadow Clone do the honors, while she hid around the corner of the building next to the apartment complex.

Said clone rapped the knuckles of its right hand on the door fearlessly; it couldn't feel pain, afterall. Even his worst traps could do nothing but dispel the clone.

It didn't matter, however, as nothing happened. Nothing fell on the clone, the clone itself didn't fall into anything, and nothing blew up. No one answered the door, either.

"..." Kurenai's clone turned to its creator with a shrug as she poked her head out from behind the building. "I don't think anyone's home."

"No," came Naruto's smooth voice, startling the clone, "I just didn't feel the need to hurry."

"Hmph, still as rude as ever, I see." the clone huffed, still pretending to be the real Kurenai.

"Of course...But, isn't it also rude to send a clone to talk to someone, while you cower behind a building?" "Naruto" then rammed his hand through the Shadow Clone's chest, causing it to dispel with its signature "pop" and puff of white smoke. "If what you wanted to speak to me about is so unimportant that you can't do it yourself, then I doubt I will give a damn. Bother me again, Yūhi-san, and there will be consequences."

"Wait!" Kurenai shouted as she dashed to the door. "It's about Hinata!"

"Naruto" paused, then turned back to face the red-eyed woman. "What about her?"

"She's...gone missing..." Kurenai couldn't help by feel a distinct lack of concern coming from the boy in front of her, and she'd be lying if she said it didn't tick her off.

"Really? And here I thought she'd been with me for the last few hours." "Naruto" replied with obvious sarcasm.

"Wha...She's with you?" something about that didn't sit well with Kurenai. "How come she didn't report in after Team Eight's mission this morning?"

"Simple: I attacked her." the masked Genin shrugged.

"You what?" Kurenai hissed.

"I. Attacked. Her." he answered mockingly. "It's part of her training program with me. Enemy shinobi won't warn her before they attack, at least not the decent ones, and neither do I."

"Well, if you're here, then where is she?"

"Where else? She's here with me."

"Can I see her?"

"No."

"And why not?" Kurenai's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Because she's not herself at the moment."

"Explain." Kurenai demanded, not even flinching when the boy growled at her.

"What did I tell you about ordering me around?"

"Save it, Namikaze. If you can't be bothered to explain yourself, then hand Hinata over."

"Sorry, no can do."

"Then I'll have every Hyūga Chūnin-level and above breathing down your neck in the next two minutes."

"Oh? You really know how to make a guy shake in his boots, Yūhi." "Naruto" then looked down at his boots to see both them and his body perfectly stationary. "Hm, nevermind."

"Why do you have to be so impossible to deal with?" Kurenai screamed, wanting nothing more than to deck the blonde into next month.

"Impossible? Please, Yūhi, I'm just being 'difficult'. At least I'm actually listening to you. 'Impossible' is when I don't pay attention to a word you say, and, I don't know, tear out your spine or something." the semi-cheerful tone with which "Naruto" said that last part actually creeped Kurenai out enough to make her take a step back.

"Dammit, Naruto, I'm just worried about her, that's it!" Kurenai let out an exasperated sigh as her entire body seemed to deflate. "I just need to know that she's alright, that's all I want."

"Naruto" proceeded to stare at her, looking for even the slightest hint of deception. Upon finding only genuine concern for Hinata's wellbeing, he sighed.

"Fine, I'll tell you, but only on one condition."

"Name it." Kurenai said, without missing a beat.

"Come inside, I don't need this to be public knowledge." the boy opened the door wider and stepped aside, allowing the rookie Jōnin to enter the apartment complex. Once she found a seat, he continued. "You are to keep what you're about to hear to yourself. If anyone, and I mean anyone, starts asking questions about this, ANBU, your other students, or the Hokage himself, you will be getting a visit from 'Impossible Naruto'. Is that clear?"

Kurenai nodded, under no delusions that Naruto would think anything of killing her, and having no doubt that he could do it in such a way that no one would ever be able to pin it on him.

"Good. Now, I'm sure you remember my little dragon transformation during my joint mission with your team, correct?" receiving another nod, "Naruto" continued. "Well, at her request, I taught Hinata something similar; an advanced Henge, if you will. Unfortunately, she tried to use it on me when I ambushed her in the Forest of Death, and botched it. So now she's stuck in a form that can hardly be described as human, and I'm currently trying to find a way to change her back."

"...You mean you can't reverse your own technique?" Kurenai asked incredulously.

"I've never screwed it up, so no." the boy countered.

"Everyone makes mistakes, Namikaze."

"I've made mistakes, yes, but the results are usually extra limbs, gross disproportions or...exotic color schemes. I've never been unable to resume my normal form though, so I have no experience with this kind of situation."

"Maybe I can help?"

"If I have no experience with this kind of thing, you most certainly don't. The type of transformation I taught her is no illusion, Yūhi."

"How will we know if you won't let me try?" Kurenai retorted.

"Trust me, I know. Plus, she doesn't want anyone to see her in this state; especially you."

"She told you that?"

"Mm-hm. Probably something to do with you being her mother-figure. Well, that's about it, so I'd appreciated it if you'd leave and let me get back to work."

"..." Kurenai rose from the chair she was sitting on, right eye twitching and a large vein throbbing underneath the skin on her forehead.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a rude son of a bitch. Why don't you show me a thing or two by politely showing yourself out?" "Naruto" gestured to the door flippantly.

Kurenai gave a very un-ladylike howl of frustration and stomped over to the door. She ripped it open, breaking the lock, and stormed out of the building.

"I honestly have no idea what Hinata sees in you." Kurenai said in an attempt to get the last word in.

"Just like I don't know what Asuma-sensei sees in you...Besides the obvious, that is." "Naruto" made a show if looking the undeniably-attractive woman up and down.

"Bastard!" Kurenai screamed, then disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

The Darkness Clone only chuckled. "You'd think so." it then looked at the broken door and sighed. "What happened to the reinforced door? Meh, not like it even matters; no one will even noticed we fixed it. Again." sometimes it seemed like Naruto himself was the only one who really appreciated his clones.

(Naruto's Mindscape)

Try as he might, Naruto just couldn't keep the triumphant grin off his face. The newest additions to his army had recently been finished, and their first deployments had been monumental successes, at least in the case of the aerial units.

Instead of making something completely knew, Naruto had decided to just create copies of Grals. Their strength, speed, agility and excellent natural weaponry making them almost perfect for Naruto's needs. However, they weren't exact copies, as the Grals had some glaring natural weaknesses. Their vulnerability to even low-intensity light, and their lack of defensive capabilities, to name a couple.

These new Grals had several modifications that made them far more effective fighters. Sturdy, bone-like armor covered their bodies, offering infinitely more protection than the smooth, leathery hide of their normal counterparts. Their wings were made larger as well, with more armor running down the leading edge of both wings and forming a sharp blade. While these new Grals were no longer blind, Naruto chose to keep the ultrasonic sensors on either side of their heads, and the long stalks that contained them. However, they were reshaped to be more aerodynamic, and reinforced so they couldn't be snapped off easily.

In all, these new Grals would excel at both aerial recon and combat, and had proven that on their very first deployment. Naruto had sent thirty of the three-hundred that had been made up into the skies, commanding them to spread out in groups of three to search for enemies. It wasn't a minute later that four out of the ten groups encountered Shizaru's aerial forces.

Huge, wasp-like insects that had some sort of active camouflage that allowed them to blend in with the sky. The Grals' echolocation and excellent sense of smell allowed them to pick the bugs up easily enough, and their superior strength, speed and armament made dispatching them even easier. Despite their intimidating appearance and deadly-looking beaks, the bugs weren't built for direct combat. Naruto had zoomed in on the dogfight to see the carnage, and was impressed by the sheer ferocity of his creations.

They literally hacked the bugs apart, using their claws and the blades on their heads and wings. Some Grals even tackled bugs mid-flight and shredded them with claws and teeth, then released the corpses to go after live enemies. In the span of only a few minutes, the thirty Grals had downed at least a hundred and twenty bugs, that Naruto had managed to count. They tore through the skies unopposed...until they reached the border of Earth Country.

Two groups had gone that way, and all six of those Grals had been destroyed seconds after crossing into Tsuchi no Kuni airspace. But that was okay with Naruto, as he was now certain that Shizaru was somewhere in Earth Country, specifically Iwagakure. The village's natural fortification made it a prime location for a stronghold.

'Doesn't exactly make beating him any easier, but now I've got an idea as to where his main base is.' a small step on the road to victory, but progress was progress.

"Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time before you got close. Kudos on your newest beasts, I didn't expect your first attempt at flying creatures to be so formidable." Shizaru complimented. "Tell me, how common are Grals in your section of the Shadow Realm?"

"Very." Naruto answered with a raised eyebrow, not understanding what the Gral population had to do with anything.

"Ah, then I guess they originate in your area. They are an invasive species in mine. It's strange, though...I've never seen them in the Shadow Nexus, so I wonder how they get through from your realm into mine..." Shizaru muttered the last sentence to himself, but wasn't surprised when Naruto caught it.

"'Shadow Nexus'?"

"..."

"Yeah, yeah, I gotta find something of yours to kill."

"How's about I save you the trouble?" Shizaru asked, letting out a devious chuckle.

Naruto frowned, but had been expecting something like this. He sent a hundred more Grals into the air from Konoha, and put all of his troops on high-alert. He had no idea where Shizaru would attack, or what he would send to do the job, but he was expecting something big and mean.

He wasn't disappointed. Just shy of five minutes after Shizaru's "warning", Naruto's aerial units and ground troops in three of the Northern outposts were under attack. But this was more than a mere raid; it was more like a full-on siege. Attacks came from a variety of enemies in the air, on the ground, and even under the ground.

In the air, a new enemy made it's appearance. It resembled the bugs Naruto's aerial units had encountered before, only larger, more powerful and with eight limbs instead of six. They were dark green in color, with heavier, bulkier bodies and larger wings. Their two front legs were folded up at either side of their huge, pincer-like mandibles, and looked to be far more suited to stabbing, slashing and grabbing than walking. The rearmost pair of legs were huge, resembling grasshopper legs and indicating that the bugs likely had astonishing leaping capabilities. Like the new Grals, the bugs seemed to have blade-like wing edges themselves, and were also armed with long stingers protruding from the ends of their abdomens.

"The wasp-like creatures your Grals took care of were little more than scouts, designed only to observe enemy movements undetected. These are bred for combat, and combat alone. Like the Chameleon Bug, these creatures are a species of insect native to both Hell and the Underworld, where they are known as the 'Klendathu'. These particular specimens are actually a subspecies of the Warrior caste, which you'll meet later, called 'Jumpers'. They are quite lethal, and can take a great deal more punishment than the Chameleons." Shizaru informed.

"So I see..." Naruto grimaced as his Grals started dropping like flies.

Unit for unit, the Grals still had the edge in power and durability. But the "Jumpers" were quicker and outnumbered the Grals nearly five-to-one. Sending out all of his aerial units would've bettered the odds, but it would also be a major gamble. Even if they succeeded in defeating the bugs, the loses would no doubt be significant, and if Shizaru decided to send out another wave...

"Oh, and let's not forget about the Tanker."

"The what?" Naruto looked down to see that two of his outposts had already been destroyed by gigantic black beetles(5). "Son of a bitch!"

"Well, my mother wasn't exactly a saint, but I wouldn't go that far." Shizaru chuckled.

"...Was that a joke? Bit of advise; stick to being a dick, 'cause you're not funny." Naruto deadpanned.

"I suppose a clown like yourself would be an authority on comedy."

"Oh? Well, if your boss sent you after a mere 'clown', then he must not think very highly of you."

"The fact that you're a worthless jester is the reason Lord Arcarian sent me in the first place. I've been tasked with turning you into something worthwhile, and it doesn't matter how I go about it. Even if you were to die from the injuries I've inflicted upon you, it wouldn't be too big of a deal. A major inconvenience, yes, but nothing to truly worry about."

"Hm, so this 'Arcarian' allows corpses into his army? And I thought Konoha had low standards..."

"You didn't think that one through too clearly. It's HELL'S Army, boy. Tell me, where do you think a person like you will go when he dies? You've murdered over five-hundred human beings, your soul is tainted with the power of two different demons, and you are a half-demon yourself." Shizaru chuckled in amusement.

"...Ah hell."

"Precisely. Your body can be repaired, and venturing into Hell to retrieve your soul would be a relatively simple matter." Shizaru let loose a diabolical laugh. "Now you see, even death won't save you, little hanyou."(6)

"Well, that's just wonderful...But I don't plan on dying anytime soon, and I don't plan on joining your army, ever. So, I guess you're shit out of luck, Gramps." Naruto smirked.

Shizaru merely laughed again. "We shall see. But, for now, you should probably send in some reinforcements. Your troops are being slaughtered."

Naruto grunted and directed his attention back to the battlefield. Sure enough, his ground forces were being decimated at a frightening rate. While the Specters and Demolishers were easily handled by Slayers, Darkness Clones and Hell Hounds, three Arch-viles just kept summoning more of them. And then there was the giant "Tanker" beetle, which was impervious to their attacks thus far, and had formidable offensive capabilities itself. Not only did it have immense physical strength, but it could also produce a stream of flammable, highly corrosive liquid out of a tube on the top of its head. This liquid was ignited as it came into contact with an electrical spark made by two small antennae, similar to a civilian stungun.

This acidic flamethrower was effective even against Naruto's fire-manipulating clones, and had a range of at least three-hundred yards. However, the beetles were quite indiscriminate with their attacks, and had taken out quite a few of their own allies.

In the air, things were going a bit better for Naruto's side. While the Jumper bugs still had a massive advantage in numbers, unit for unit the Grals were still stronger and tougher. They were also smarter, having human-like intelligence the same as all of Naruto's creations. This allowed them to adapt to situations and form strategies on the fly. Figuring that bolstering their numbers would allow the Grals a victory, Naruto sent another eighty to assist the eighty that were still alive and fighting.

On the ground, it wasn't as simple as increasing numbers. There were key elements on the battlefield that needed to be eliminated, otherwise they'd be stuck at square one forever.

'I need to take out the Arch-viles first. Once they stop summoning allies, my forces can wipe out the Specters and Demolishers. If they concentrate all their power on the Tankers, they should be able to find a weakness and take them down..'

(Shadow Realm - Chuushin no Yami - Arena)

Six of the eight Guardians present watched silently as the walls and floor of the arena repaired themselves.

"I guess we didn't do enough damage afterall." Morium commented.

"Bah." Reformo grunted, smacking the ground with his finned tail and snorting when the impact crater patched itself up.

"...Y'know, one would think you'd be happy to have a fighting ground that you can't destroy." Vereor said before emptying a bag of chips into his mouth and chewing noisily. If Naruto hadn't already been awesome in Vereor's book, he would've been once he found out that the boy had stolen vending machines from the "Normal World" and put them in his castle.

"I was happy...But now I just feel...inadequate." the sharkman suddenly lashed out at a pillar to his left, scoring a deep gash with the razor-sharp fin protruding from his forearm. Within seconds, the pillar was as good as new, and he returned to silently fuming.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, the repair rate appears to be slowing down." Vereor noted, producing another bag of chips seemingly out of thin air.

"I would think that has more to do with Pondera than anything else." Affectus said as yet another explosion caused the floor beneath them to tremble.

About an hour ago, Pondera had been sparring with Fragilitas and had suddenly stopped dead in his tracks for no apparent reason. He then began to pour out youki and killing intent. He said something to Fragilitas, and they both took off out of the arena. Minutes later, they had returned, seething in rage, and proceeded to absolutely wreck everything in sight.

This included the other Guardians, who were quickly reminded of just why Pondera had been designated as their leader. Reformo, Affectus and Ignotus had faced him, but only Affectus managed to fight him to a draw. However, the shinobi demon had backed down upon seeing that his opponent was actually gaining strength as the fight went on, while he was losing it with every blow dealt and received.

Fragilitas had eventually stopped, having fought Veneratio, Vereor and Morium to the point of exhausting himself, and them. But he hadn't worked out all of his anger, and decided to sharpen every weapon in his arsenal that had a cutting edge as further stress relief. At least he had the decency to move to the other side of the arena so the noise wouldn't irritate his fellow demons so much.

But Pondera just kept at it, breaking and/or blowing up everything around him.

"What do you think's got him so riled up?" Morium asked as he smacked a stray chunk of rubble out of the air before it could hit his face.

"Wouldn't know. I just hope he doesn't use That technique." Ignotus remarked, idly combing his facial hair.

"I doubt he would. The last time he used it was when he fought Minato. Ended the fight, and nearly caused a cave-in." Morium said.

"I don't know, he's pretty pissed..." Vereor trailed off and dropped his third bag of chips when he sensed Pondera begin to concentrate his youki. "Yep, he's gonna use it." the skeletal demon then bolted for the arena entrance/exit, along with the rest of the Guardians.

While they were fairly certain Pondera's attack wouldn't do too much damage to them as far away as they were, none of them were very keen on testing that theory. At least not without Clementia present to put up a barrier.

Pondera took no notice of the evacuation, or the fact that Fragilitas had also left. Focusing a good fifth of his entire supply of youki into his right arm, he raised the appendage above his head, then slammed his fist into the ground, releasing the stored energy at the exact moment of impact.

"Q-BOMB!" the demon roared, and for a single second, nothing happened.

Then, the arena floor cracked and swelled underneath him. That was the only warning before the entire arena structure vanished in a blinding flash of light. This flash was accompanied by an almighty "boom" that caused every window in the castle to shatter. The tremor resulting from the explosion rocked the ground with force on par with that of a magnitude 7.0 earthquake.

When the dust cleared, the true extent of the devastation wrought by the attack was revealed. In all, it wasn't that bad. Yes, the arena looked like it had lost a fight against a meteorite, but, beyond the Chuushin no Yami's windows, it was the only thing that had been damaged.

Of course, the display had drawn more than a little attention.

"...Oh dear." Commander D sighed as he stood beside Commander Hayabusa.

Behind them stood just about every Butler and Engineer in the castle, as well as Doc, who looked quite disinterested.

"...And Naruto was so proud of his 'indestructible' arena, too..." Doc then shrugged and walked back into the castle.

"I knew it was a bad idea to give those demons free reign." Hayabusa shook his head. "We should have learned from Kyuubi-sama's antics." he let out an amused snort when several Butlers shivered at the mention of the Queen of Demons.

Within the rubble, a huge slab of stone trembled, then rose up, revealing eight figures.

Without so much as a grunt of exertion, Reformo tossed the slab away, allowing himself and his fellow Guardians to escape from the wreckage. They'd been fast enough to avoid the blast itself, but not the debris. Thinking quickly, Reformo had grabbed the largest chunk of the arena he could find to use as a makeshift shield.

"Ignotus, you sure lived up to your name on that one." Morium growled as he shook the dust from his hide.

"So I underestimated the blast radius; big deal." the "old man" replied as he patted down his long beard to rid it of pulverized granite. "It wasn't nearly that powerful when he used it on Minato."

"No shit. If it was, Minato would've been vaporized." Vereor snapped, pissed about having dropped his last bag of chips. "Speaking of which, shouldn't we go check on Pondera? You know, make sure he didn't blow himself up?"

The other Guardians looked at the skeleton oddly, as if that was the first time they'd ever heard him speak.

Veneratio then spoke, "It is indeed a sad day when Vereor is the voice of reason." the samurai demon shook his head and proceeded toward the crater, followed by Affectus.

"It's a sad day when you try to be funny!" Vereor countered.

"That was not a joke."

"Oh, whatever. Go polish your sword, asshole." Vereor turned to regard the two Commanders and the rest of the gawking spectators. "One of you had better go get me another bag of chips, ASAP!"

Neither D nor Hayabusa so much as blinked at the demand, but the Engineers and Butlers took a collective step back, then hightailed it back into the castle.

"And they'd better be the spicy kind!" Vereor yelled after them.

Fragilitas looked on with no interest whatsoever, then moved to join Veneratio and Affectus before a hand was placed on his right shoulder.

"What was that all about, anyway?" Morium asked.

"We've seen Pondera angry before, but you...Don't take this the wrong way, but I didn't even know you could do 'angry'." sure, the gasmask-wearing demon was sometimes offended when certain things were talked about, but he never really got mad.

Fragilitas just shrugged off Morium's hand and walked over to the edge of the crater without even looking at them.

"...Okay then." Morium shrugged, then followed after the smaller demon.

"It would seem that he's still a bit miffed." Ignotus said, then looked to the side as he noticed a random puddle of blood about three feet to his left. "Hm, and here I thought you had slept through that."

Out of the puddle rose Insontis, who wasn't particularly pleased, judging by his body language. The angry hiss he directed at Ignotus was also dead giveaway.

"Don't get mad at me; I didn't make Pondera use the Q-Bomb."

Another hiss, this time sounding less agitated and more confused.

"That's what he calls it. He claims it's from one of his favorite books."(7)

Insontis just nodded, then sank back into the puddle of blood, which sank back into the ground.

"You can understand him?" Reformo asked.

"Of course. I understand ALL languages."

"Oh, right, I forgot about that. Well, at least I don't have to wonder why we keep you around anymore."

"You're this close, Fishstick, this close."

Reformo only chuckled in response, then both he and Ignotus went to go help with the search effort.

Meanwhile, the Commanders were preparing to leave the demons to their devices once again when they heard a strange sound coming from the pitch black corridor that made up the back entrance/exit to the castle. While both Commanders had reached legendary status in their time, and had seen and/or fought virtually everything that both Earth and the Underworld had to offer, this sound caused shivers of dread to run down their spines.

Screeeeeee-thump. Screeeeeee-thump.

The cringe-inducing sound of metal being dragged across stone, punctuated by the dull thud of large feet clad in heavy boots.

"Oh no," D muttered as his already pale skin adopted an even lighter shade of white, "they woke Sankaku up."(8)

(Naruto's Mindscape)

"And that takes care of my bug problem on the ground." Naruto chuckled as the final Jumper was cleanly sliced in two by a Gral.

While trying to kill the Arch-viles, Naruto decided to try something out. Like the demons, Naruto could also summon minions at will, and it stood to reason that his clones could do so as well. Vowing to smack himself later for not thinking of it sooner, Naruto had each clone that wasn't engaged in combat summon more allies from the Shadow Realm. The Arch-viles didn't last long once it was discovered that the clones could summon allies at a faster rate, and the opposition on the ground was quickly wiped out. All except the two Tanker bugs.

The solution to that problem had been discovered by a single clever Darkness Clone that had managed to jump into the back of one of the beetles without being picked off by something. It had used a Rasengan to bore through the insect's carapace, then had shoved the ball of energy under the creature's shell before jumping off and using the Rasen Tekidan to blow it up from the inside. The second was felled in an a similar, though far more entertaining manner.

The second clone happened to pierce through to the chamber in which the Tanker held its highly-flammable acidic liquid. In a stroke of devious genius, the clone had then moved to the top of a high tree, created a baseball-sized fireball in its hand and chucked it into the hole it had made in the beetle's shell. The resulting fireball was so impressive that it drew a whistle of appreciation from Shizaru, and even managed to incinerate some of the low-flying Jumper bugs.

And that's what gave Naruto the idea for the move that ended the battle. The Jumpers may have been some tough bugs, but they couldn't handle fire at all. So, after commanding his Grals to clear out of the area, Naruto had his remaining clones at all three outposts use their Fire and Wind affinities to create enormous burning tornados that reached up to the clouds. Every bug within two-hundred yards of any one of the cyclones was sucked in and consumed by the flames, and that turned out to be most of them.

Survivors were mopped up by the Grals, and even by Darkness Clones taking pot shots with projectile attacks from the ground.

"Looks like I win yet again." Naruto boasted.

"So it seems." Shizaru chuckled ominously. "I must admit that was a most impressive showing. I was expecting you to use the Corpser to destroy the Tankers, so kudos on a more creative approach. And that tornado...I haven't seen anything like that in a while, surprisingly. I think I'll give you two questions this time."

"...I wouldn't be much of a ninja if I didn't look a gift horse in the mouth. What gives?" Naruto replied, wondering just what angle the demon was playing.

"You've proven yourself to be more than a run-of-the-mill opponent, and that means this will be a game I can enjoy. That's put me in a good mood, and I'm feeling generous. But I must still implore you not to ask questions that could be answered just as easily by others; think before you speak."

"Well, first off, what's the 'Shadow Nexus'?"

"You already know that there are many Shadow Realms, and that none are the same. But they are all interconnected via the Shadow Nexus. Go for a little run in the Shadow Realm, and just keep heading straight, in any direction. You'll eventually come to a wall of stone, so high that you won't be able to see the top. There will be a large gate right in front of you, and a single road will lay beyond it. That road will lead you to the Shadow Nexus.

The Nexus itself is a gigantic city, several times larger than even Konohagakure, surrounded by hundreds of roads just like the one I just told you about. These roads serve as bridges between a Shadow Realm and the Nexus, but you can only travel on the road that leads back to your Shadow Realm. Choose one that's not yours, and something very...unpleasant will happen to you. However, this only applies to beings that aren't native to the realms. Shadow Beasts, like Grals, can travel any and all roads without problems; basically dimension-hopping at will." the Archdemon paused for a second. "...I take it you haven't met Yoruyonaka in person yet. She spends most of her time in the Nexus, where she can monitor every Shadow Realm without even lifting a finger."

"Good to know. I've got a few questions for her as well."

"Of course you do. Now, let's move on to your second question."

"Yeah, yeah, just give me a minute." Naruto riffled through every question he ever thought of asking, and sorted them out into different categories. And, after only thirty seconds, came up with one that he felt was important, and that only Shizaru himself would know the answer to. "What's the deal with the Namikaze compound?"

"Be specific."

"When I went there the first time with the others, we all felt something was...off about the place. They think it's haunted, and I can't say I totally disagree with them."

"They're right. Restless souls do still wander the Namikaze grounds, doing in death what they did in life. I did tell you that your father was the one who wiped out the clan, but he spared the servants. None of them were part of the clan; just slaves that they purchased and/or stole to see that things were always kept in immaculate condition. That said, the vast majority were female. Anyway, all servants were branded with a special seal on their foreheads when they were brought to the compound; a seal which the Hyūga's Caged Bird mark is directly based on. The effects are essentially the same, with the seal destroying the victim's brain cells once activated.

Of course, Minato removed those seals immediately after killing the clan. However, what he didn't know was that, along with the seal, servants of the Namikaze clan had a tiny capsule implanted directly into their brains. These capsules were covered in seals that, when activated, would send out a single pulse of intense heat, upwards of two-thousand degrees Fahrenheit. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what that would do to a human brain. And unfortunately for the servants, one Namikaze had managed to cling to life, if just barely. This man was Namikaze Yamato, the acting Clanhead in my absence. As such, he was granted the knowledge of a special hand seal that would activate all of the capsules at once, and he used it. Minato was the only one to leave the grounds alive that night.

What he also didn't know was that the entire outer wall is painted with seals that create a soul-trapping forcefield over the entire compound. The souls of the Namikaze were collected long ago, but the servants were left behind, as there was no use for them."

"Oh, that's awesome. Now I've got angry ghosts haunting my property."

"You could always just let the Soul Edge eat them, if it hasn't already. Even as the Black Soul, the Soul Edge has the power to draw in and consume any ambient souls. But in its true form, that pull is increased several times over. The moment you transformed to fight the Corpser, the sword most likely devoured every soul that was trapped on the grounds. Pity, they probably could've told you things about the clan that not even I know."

"You've already told me enough to make me want nothing to do with them, and, from what I saw, the clan archives are full of their techniques. Beyond that, I couldn't care less about the Namikaze clan." Naruto finished with a derisive snort.

"You say that now, but I predict you'll be singing a different tune before too long."

"We'll see." Naruto responded, then went silent as he reviewed what he'd learned during the battle, and though of ways to apply it to new strategies. He was also thinking of designs for new creatures. 'Bugs, huh?'

(Kumogakure no Sato - Water Management Facility)

In the infirmary, Yugito sat in a chair next to the bed Naruto had been placed on, unconsciously toying with her long ponytail. That feeling of utter uselessness was creeping in again, bringing back nervous ticks that she'd thought long gone.

She didn't really know why she was still in the room. Sitting there, staring at Naruto most certainly wouldn't help, and the stench of his blood was overpowering. Jinzo Rouku, the facility's resident medic, had insisted on unwrapping the boy to see the extent of the damage. Yugito volunteered to do it after Naruto's cloak nearly bit Jinzo's hand off, but immediately regretted the decision. The moment she loosened the cloak, blood came flooding out in torrents, drenching Jinzo's pants and just barely missing Yugito.

Jinzo, in all his years as a field medic, had never seen anything like Naruto's present condition. It took several minutes just for Yugito to convince the man that the mangled pile of gore wasn't a corpse. Yet, anyway. Of course, Jinzo could do nothing for Naruto, and advised Yugito to just wrap him back up, more loosely this time, and hope that the storm would break soon so a medical team from Kumo could be dispatched.

That had been a good twenty minutes ago, and by now Naruto's blood covered more than half of the infirmary's floorspace. The smell alone was enough to make Yugito physically ill, but she couldn't bring herself to leave the boy's side.

"I'm sorry, Naruto..." Yugito murmured. "You wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for me."

Somewhere in the back of her mind, a small voice reminded her that she didn't force Naruto to aid her, or even befriend her in the first place. In fact, she gave him every reason to want nothing at all to do with her when they first met. Everything he did, he did of his own free will.

'But that doesn't change the fact that he was down there because of me...I handed Naruto right to those bastards!' Yugito thought furiously.

The voice had a response to that as well. It reminded her that the being who'd done that to Naruto wasn't a member of Akatsuki, evidenced by the fact that he wore none of their identifying attire, and had made no effort to capture Yugito or Naruto. The demon had said that it was "just business", so who was to say that he wouldn't have gotten to Naruto regardless of where he was?

'I...I need help...I can't deal with this on my own.' Yugito re-established the mental link between herself and the Nibi. 'Hello? Hinade?' there was no response. 'I'm sorry for how I behaved earlier...I just needed some time to think.' again, no answer. 'Please, Hinade...' Yugito pleaded desperately.

"You have disappointed me, Nii Yugito." the demoness finally spoke.

Yugito visibly flinched; Hinade only called her by her full name when she was truly angry.

'Hinade, I-'

"Silence. You wouldn't listen beforrre, but you will listen now." the calm, almost indifferent tone that the Nibi spoke with sent chills down Yugito's spine. It was actually scarier than when she screamed and roared. "I taught you betterrr than this, girrrl. When you turrrned eighteen, you asked me to stop calling you 'Kitten', because you werrre an adult now. Do you think what you did rrreflects the behaviorrr of an adult? I'll admit that I may have gone a little overrrboard, but that harrrdly excuses yourrr conduct."

Yugito was feeling smaller and smaller by the second. It had been years since she'd been truly scolded by her surrogate mother-figure, and never with this kind of subdued intensity.

'But I-'

"Therrre you go again. Instead of listening, you feel the need to speak. Instead of admitting yourrr faults, you feel the need to justify them. Excuses arrre forrr the weak and the stupid; you arrre neitherrr. Now, let me out." the Nibi ordered.

'What?'

"Let. Me. Out."

'...Why?' Yugito mentally squeaked, half afraid that the demoness wanted to physically punish her.

"Help won't be coming until the storrrm passes, and that could take hourrrs. I'm not guarrranteeing anything, but I think I can do something about this storrrm. But to do that, I need to speak to someone, and I'd rrratherrr not do it from inside yourrr body." Hinade explained.

'Who could you possibly need to speak to in order to stop a storm?'

"The one who is causing the storrrms: Raikoku."

'Raikoku?'

"You'd know herrr as the Six-tailed Demon Lorrrd, the Rokubi."

XXXX

And there you have it. Expect the next chapter to be sort of like this, with more talking than anything. I'll see what I can do in regards to spicing things up, but it will still be dialogue-driven. Hopefully, the lines I write are good enough to keep you guys interested for just a bit longer.

(1) This is the Arch-vile from the Doom 3 video game. If you want a picture, just look 'em up, as I haven't changed anything about the design, except giving them more menacing teeth and larger claws. I didn't even change the name, as I couldn't think of anything better than "Arch-vile".

(2) Many people already guessed it, but here's official confirmation: Shizaru was the one who created Naruto's cloak.

(3) Again, some people already guessed it, but here's official confirmation: the Nara and Namikaze clans are related.

(4) Naruto's actually killed five-hundred and twelve people, but the forty-five he killed on the way to Kumogakure(technically his minions' kills, but whatever)haven't been counted yet.

(5) Yes, the demonic insects Shizaru is using are based on the Arachnids from the first Starship Troopers movie. The Jumper is a significantly modified Hopper, and the Tanker is unchanged from the film. The Chameleon bug is of my own creation, but I did take the name from a bug caste that only appears in the "Roughnecks" animated TV series. I also used the name of the bugs' home planet, Klendathu, as the name of their race.

(6) Some have wondered why Shizaru is so indifferent to Naruto's condition, especially if Arcarian wants him alive. Now you know. Now, some of you might be thinking "Couldn't the Shinigami keep him out of Hell?". Yes, he can. See, like the other Original Gods, the Shinigami is forbidden from directly interacting with anyone or anything in the "Human World", unless certain conditions are met. However, once someone dies, they are no longer part of the "Human World", and they become fair game. The problem is getting to Naruto's soul before it's dragged down. But aren't the Gods supposed to be omnipotent? Well, that's another explanation for another chapter.

(7) Cookie to whoever can tell me what that book is. This one's pretty easy, but that's par for the course at this point, I think.

(8) Another cookie for whoever can correctly guess who "Sankaku" is.

I think that about covers everything from this chapter.

The Kumo Arc will continue for at LEAST one more chapter, and maybe part of the one after. After this arc, I'll have a single chapter devoted to showing how Konoha's Genin will be preparing for the Chūnin Exams, and then it's onto the exams themselves. I'd say the Exam Arc will last maybe four of five chapters, depending on what I decide to include. After the exams, there will be three more short arcs: Team Seven's Final Mission, Sasuke Retrieval and Find Tsunade. After that, I will completely stop following the canon storyline.

Like I said before, expect things to really pick up after the Kumo Arc.

Time to wrap this one up. If I missed anything(errors), or if you have any questions, you guys know what to do. Also, I'm open to suggestions for a better title for this chapter.

Jason Out!