Digi definitely does not own Naruto; definitely, positively, most certainly not! He can't, it's just not possible... but maybe...?


Sage

"Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action." – Benjamin Disraeli


There was barely a second of warning before the floor of the arena suddenly exploded outward in a dangerous hail of rocks and stone. The Jounin and Chuunin of the Arena as well as some of the Genin, lucid thanks to the efforts of their comrades, managed to react in time to save the civilians from being injured. Hundreds of barriers of all kinds lit the scene up in an array of colours from water encampment Jutsu to rock domes and even one or two wind walls that shredded any incoming rocks into a fine, harmless powder.

However any more reprieve for the Leaf Shinobi was asking too much as only moments later a veritable army of enemy ninja rushed out of the newly formed tunnel emerging from the ground. Based on the explosions and sounds of fighting emanating from elsewhere this was not the only place these tunnels had opened. There was only one village with enough highly-trained earth Jutsu practitioners to effectively use this entrance strategy and sure enough the rock-on-rock insignia of Iwagakure gleamed proudly on each and every headband.

"Naruto?" Fuu blinked when she noticed that she was fully visible again, as were Haku and Naruto; not that any Shinobi would pay attention to them with all the fighting that had erupted. The blonde was just standing there, his Sugegasa gone and his long blonde hair swaying slightly in the breeze from atop the arena wall. His ringed eyes slowly roamed across the village, taking in the Shinobi leaping about; some protecting civilians, others fighting; some were mere blurs broken only by the occasional clash of steel on steel as kunai met in a beautiful and dangerous flurry of metal.

"Go." Fuu stood up, confused at Naruto's whisper of a command; she noticed that his eyes weren't squinted and she could clearly see his steely eyes, hardened into an expression she had never seen on him before. "Go please, stop the fighting where you can; I'm going to need a moment for this." Fuu hesitated for a moment, taking a look around at the fighting herself for a moment; she had no feelings for these people, she didn't care for them personally, there was no reason for her to intervene. However one look at the determined expression on her friend's face erased all her doubts and she simply gave a firm nod before dashing off.

"Naruto-san?" Haku remained by the blonde's side, looking at him uncertainly; he didn't have the privilege of knowing him as long as Fuu had but the sheer stony will emanating from him was nearly palpable. His hands were slightly tightened around his Shakujou, turning the knuckles slightly white and yet when the blonde turned to face Haku his eyes changed, becoming compassionate.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to Haku; I know you don't like fighting." Haku wasn't sure what to say to that and his face betrayed this, flickering through more than a few emotions before settling on confusion. He had never been given a choice before, not like this; with Zabuza it was simply following whatever order his master gave unconditionally. He knew now that Naruto wanted him to fight, to help him see to it that these fights were stopped; but he didn't have to.

"Alright." Haku's face shifted into one he had adopted many times before, a blank and completely emotionless slate, as he gave a curt nod, much the same as Fuu's, and leapt from the arena wall. He would help Naruto; not because he was told to, not because those were his orders, but because he wanted to help out his first friend. There was also a small part of him that wanted to see an end to the needless violence just as much as the monk did.

Naruto took in a deep breath as he stood there, just breathing in and out, in and out, focusing his Chakra, feeling it flow through his coils, through the pathways that littered his body. He locked it in, not letting even a drop of it escape through his Tenketsu as he allowed it to grow inside him, welling up, filling him until he felt the ends of his fingers begin to burn slightly. Then, all at once, he released it, snapping his eyes open to reveal two steel orbs.

All around the village ninja that were running or fighting paused for a moment as a small tremor travelled through the ground. Many thought nothing of it, putting it off as a particularly strong earth Jutsu or maybe a powerful exploding tag. However a few moments later their eyes were drawn to the ground as they saw it begin to shift and move beneath them. First little grains of sand began to rise up, making a few Shinobi just watch in surprise, then more and more earth began to slowly shift along the ground.

At this point a majority of the Shinobi had paused what they were doing, watching in stark amazement as the now loosened earth continued to congregate into one point. Slowly but surely it began to rise up beneath Naruto's feet, lifting him higher and higher into the air on an enormous pillar of sand. All of the Suna Shinobi there, including the Kazekage himself, looked up in horror as they recognised what was going on, but even they had never seen it on this scale before. Temari stood transfixed, trying to peer up and see the small speck of a figure atop the growing pillar of earth.

"Gaara...?" Her weak voice barely registered to the frozen Shinobi around her; however if sight before them had them pausing that was nothing compared to what came next. An enormous pressure suddenly descended on the village as the weight of Naruto's Chakra was unleashed, weighing down on the Shinobi like an actual physical presence. Many found their breaths catching as even from this distance they could see it.

"Stop this!" The powerful voice, amplified by Chakra, sounded throughout the entire village, sparing nobody's ears. He was just a silhouette with the sky behind him, his travel cloak billowing in the wind and his shakujou in one hand. The sharper-eyed among the Shinobi could even spot the horns of his headband and his pony-tail. However all of them could see the faintly glowing ringed eyes that somehow seemed to be staring at the entire village all at once.

"Do you not see what you are doing?" Only silence met his rhetorical question, the silence of an entire village staring as one towards the mysterious figure atop the pillar of sand. "This fighting, killing, don't you see how pointless it all is!?" Despite the strength and power behind his voice the hint of desperation and pleading was still there. He didn't want to just tell his message, he wanted, genuinely wanted them to understand him.

"You fight and kill here today, tearing families apart, killing brothers, fathers, daughters and wives, ripping friend from friend but for what?" The silence was deafening, there wasn't even the sound of kunai clashing anymore as everybody listened to the impassioned speech. "What then? Their families, friends, loved ones will declare revenge on you, killing you to avenge those they lost. Then your loved ones will do the exact same thing in one pointless, self-destructing cycle of hatred." Naruto took in a deep breath as he drank in the oppressive silence, knowing full well the eyes of the village were on him right now.

"If you just drop your weapons and walk away you can put an end to it; there doesn't need to be mourning when this is all over. Those of you who do this out of revenge know how it feels to lose somebody precious; does inflicting that feeling on somebody else, somebody innocent of all this bloodshed somehow lessen your own loss?" The emotion behind Naruto's words were evident; he had seen it all before in Mizu no Kuni, felt it himself when he was staring into the eyes of the Mizukage. He had not felt relieved at the man's death, his sadness over Shizuku's death had not been relieved, he only felt hollow, hollow and sickened a what he had done out of rage.

"Please, it is up to you all to put a stop to this meaningless cycle of loss and suffering." His words rang out amongst the assembled Shinobi, striking a chord with those who had indeed understood the bitter pain of loss in their lifetimes. Silence reigned for a few seconds as everybody simply absorbed the monk's words, nobody moving. However the worst happened when one Shinobi, it didn't really matter what village he was from, chose to use the sudden halt to launch a surprise attack at his enemies.

It was like a dam had burst; before Naruto's very eyes he saw the entire village once again descend into fighting. Glinting metal flew through the air followed closely by boulders and fireballs alike, the Jutsu being fired indiscriminately. Naruto could only stare wide eyed as the village of his birth fell into anarchy, his words forgotten like a fleeting memory. It was as if right now the fight was no longer about winning or losing, just fighting for the sake of fighting.

'Do they love combat so much they don't even want to consider an alternative?' The young monk asked himself, not sure what to feel from what he saw. Slowly his head lowered, his blonde tresses shadowing his eyes as his hands tightened into fists that actually managed to draw blood; the precious red liquid falling lazily onto the sand below him.

"STOP!" The Shinobi, Konoha and Iwa alike, couldn't have been less prepared; if anybody stood a chance it would have been the Suna-nin but even they could not escape. The ground literally dissolved around their feet, springing up like it was a living creature and swiftly wrapping up every single mobile person in the village in a tightening cocoon of sand. The Shinobi struggled but it was useless, Naruto's sand had caught them in a vice-like grip. Brute strength would do nothing for them as the sand could contract as much as it needed to and even as they struggled their Chakra was slowly being siphoned off, sustaining the sand itself.

Naruto didn't even have to consciously guide it; the grains moved of their own will, simply seeking out anything with even a moderate amount of Chakra and latching on as a cohesive unit. Naruto would have to thank Shukaku extra hard later on but for now he focused on making sure that every single Shinobi was captured; no favouritism would be shown to Konoha. However before his sand could reach the Kage booth, not that Naruto had any misconceptions he could restrain any of them, the entire stand they were in burst into a noxious black smoke.

When it cleared, a massive cube of a barrier had appeared around that entire rooftop, all four Kage trapped inside, although the image was distorted. Unfortunately for Naruto he didn't have time to focus on that; this entire time he had been reaching out through the moisture in the air that had lessened significantly with the sudden presence of the sand. He detected a monstrous spike in Chakra from the far side of the village, a foul, oppressive Chakra he recognised all too well. It seemed Roshi was not Iwagakure's only Jinchuuriki and based on what Naruto knew it had to be either the Gobi or Rokubi.

Naruto wasn't entirely sure if he could fight a Jinchuuriki, especially one with a Bijuu that powerful, while maintaining the connection with his sand. However the damage a Jinchuuriki could do to the village, even one that only had moderate control over their tenant, was catastrophic. Luckily for him though he sensed another presence rapidly sprinting towards the Jinchuuriki and had to contain a small smile as he felt Fuu near the foreign Jinchuuriki. He trusted in his friend, she was very strong and unless Kumo was a part of all this and that turned out to be Kirabi, which Naruto found unlikely; she would have the stronger Bijuu.

With that in mind Naruto headed off toward the flaming purple cube that marked where the five Kage had been imprisoned. He may not have been taking sides in this conflict but he would be damned if he let anything happen to the one remaining link to the good memories of his childhood he had left.


Fuu touched down on the ground without so much as a whisper, her soft sandals padding her drop. Even so the lumbering brute of a man she had closed in on managed to sense her, turning his visored head to observe her coldly. He was a massive man, possibly twice the height Fuu was, with a dark, plated, red armour covering his body, occasionally venting a blast of scalding steam. Over that he wore a light grey kimono top; the look was finished by the wide-brimmed sugegasa hat the same colour and material as his amour that just about hid the Iwagakure headband he wore and cast his eyes into an eerie shadow.

"Who are you? You do not bear the mark of Konoha or Iwa." Fuu felt uncomfortable standing in the man's presence; beneath his stoic façade burned a deep hatred that was almost visible as a thin veil of noxious red Chakra. It leaked off of him and into the air like the steam from his suit; it reminded Fuu of the times she was forced to control her own Bijuu, the intense anger she had to control and fight back with an air of apathy was immense. She did the same now, setting her features into an emotionless mask as she stood up, her eyes beginning to pick apart what she could of the man which was, admittedly, very little.

"I am neither." The giant of a man simply huffed loudly, continuing his march further into the village, completely uncaring of the Shinobi cocooned in sand all around them. They worried Fuu because if it came to a fight then she would have to watch out for them, fights between Jinchuuriki were always messy. She could only hope the man would show the same control because there were Iwagakure ninja in the sand as well.

"I can't let you hurt anybody, I promised Naruto." The man stopped, his metal boots clanking on the floor as he laboriously turned to her, his cold grey eyes simply piercing into her.

"If you stand in my way little girl I will not hesitate to crush you." Fuu's only response was to drop back into her Taijutsu stance, beginning her own process of dredging up her Bijuu's Chakra; her eyes almost widened in surprise when she felt how easy it seemed all of a sudden. She had face many types of opponent in her life, her cruel captors in Takigakure, the unconcerned grace of Naruto, the bubbly yet hard to hit Shizuku, the variety of bloodline users in Mizu no Kuni; however none of them seemed as intimidating as the brute before her.

He was like an indomitable steel wall; he just had to be there and his mere presence seemed daunting. It wasn't just the armour; she had defeated plenty of opponents that thought they could protect themselves from a Shinobi with a few layers of metal. He simply had an air about him, as if she could see the blood of all the enemies he had defeated in the red of his armour. Like Naruto he radiated a certain shroud of pure authority; something told the mint-haired Jinchuuriki that this man had been killing people before her existence had even been a thought.

"Interesting." Even the deep baritone of his voice commanded attention; it perfectly matched the man it belonged to. "Most men would simply run, yet you stay; no allegiance to tie you here, no flag to rally under." He fully turned his body to her, one arm casually tucked inside his kimono top as if he was completely unconcerned by Fuu's presence. "Why do you stand here child, like an ant staring against a mountain, hopelessly daunted and yet unwavering?"

Fuu grit her teeth in annoyance; she had been abused and controlled all her life as the people around her turned her into a perfect weapon. At one time in her life it had been her only reason for living; Naruto had changed all that but she wouldn't allow anybody to invalidate her being like that.

"I am not intimidated by you, we are the same, equals." There was a pause as the hulking man observed her curiously; she could see it in his grey eyes, he was weighing up whether she was even worth the effort. Finally, after a heart-wrenching silence the man let out a bark of a laugh, a single sharp noise that cut through the still air and made Fuu's eyes narrow.

"You are a Jinchuuriki, I know this, but a powerful child is still just a child." Fuu almost growled but she managed to keep up her emotionless veneer; she wondered if he would be so confident saying that if it were Naruto standing before him and not her. She shook that from her mind though, it was no time to be doubting herself; she was strong, strong enough to make the trust Naruto placed in her worth something. "Do not be so ignorant as to consider us equals child that is neither Konoha nor Iwa." Fuu took a calming breath as she tightened her stance, finding her focus before slowly allowing her orange eyes to drift up, locking with the man's steely grey ones.

"My name is Fuu." The man tilted his head ever so slightly to one side before rolling it back, cracking his neck once; he didn't even bother moving into any kind of stance. He just stood there, like an unmoving, unmovable wall of red steel, completely unconcerned.

"My name was Han once, but people like us, we are undeserving of such human names." Fuu just frowned; that seemed like something she would say when she was back in Takigakure.

"I'm sorry if you feel that way." The man seemed momentarily confused by the sincerity in Fuu's voice, although it was more of a sigh than anything else. However he didn't have much time to think about as Fuu took the opportunity to race forward, kicking up dust from the street with the speed she moved at. She wasn't like Naruto, able to talk people down from fighting; besides she could see this man harboured a deep hatred. What that hate was for was unclear but what was clear was that Han wasn't here to talk.

She thought she was fast; she had always been told she was fast and until she met Naruto her speed had been practically unmatched. Since then she had learned many times there were many people out there who could match and surpass her own speed. However she had learned to take that as a challenge, improving herself over and over again so she could close that gap. However now her speed, as remarkable as it was, seemed to count for nothing as Han almost leisurely lifted his armoured hand up to block her jab. Apparently even when he seemed less focused he was no less alert.

She remained unperturbed, bouncing back on her feet before skirting around the larger man who offered up no kind of resistance or counter-attack. She used the extra traction offered by the dusty ground to slip around the larger man only to silently balk as she saw he was even more heavily armoured around his back. What's more the man seemed to have something built into his armour, some kind of heavy duty furnace that occasionally belched a thin, misty vapour that didn't look too inviting.

Before she could look any more though her eyes widened imperceptibly as she ducked back, briefly forgetting that she had moved around to attempt some kind of attack. It was just in time as a meaty and heavily armoured fist swung just over her head; Han not having even looked around. However that changed as the bulky man slowly turned to observe her, his eyes quirking up in moderate interest, or perhaps amusement.

Fuu didn't care either way, rushing forward again she this time feinted down, pre-emptively moving out the way of another high-speed, lethal swing. Han didn't even seem to be trying; it was almost like he was simply acting just to see how Fuu reacted. He didn't seem disappointed as she suddenly shot off the ground, aiming a deadly jab right for the man's unprotected eyes. Her fist didn't make it very far before she found her forearm trapped between the heavy-set man's armoured hands. Before he could move any more, no doubt snapping her much thinner arms like twigs, she shifted her weight and pushed off the man's chest.

He didn't seem too concerned, merely allowing his arms to cross over his thick chest again, staring at the younger Jinchuuriki evenly. It quickly became apparent that Fuu's normal speed would not be anywhere near enough to breach even the first layer of this man's defences. It wasn't that he was faster; in fact with the heavy armour he wore Fuu had the advantage in that department. It was just the fact that he had experience; he was able to predict her moves with ease and had the reflexes to match her.

"Do you not see how fruitless this is now?" Fuu merely narrowed her eyes at the almost lazy drawl in the man's voice. However the fact remained he had a point, at her current level she did not have the power to defeat him. Then again, she had a way to increase her own level; the real question was whether he could do the same. Figuring that floundering around trying to defeat this man in vain would do nothing for her so she dug deep inside herself, finding that hidden well of power while a single eyebrow in the giant man's face rose.

"I assure you that will do you no good." Fuu ignored him as a thick, noxious veil of red chakra slowly enveloped her form, at first like a bubbling layer of acid that danced about on her skin before it sharpened, forming into a crisp red coating about her skin. The details were all there, a translucent helmet formed out of the coat, six ominous slits that glowed a slightly deeper red. Finally a single long spindly tail grew languidly from the toxic cloak, completing the visage of the Nanabi no Kabutomushi.

She remained silent though, even as an intense rage bubbled up from deep within her, a rage that wasn't completely her own yet rode on her own feelings. It was all there, her mistreatment in Takigakure, the loathing of her fellow villagers, the resentment and the anger. She quashed it all, repressing it down and controlling it until it was a barely noticeable red flicker in the back of her mind. It was something she had done hundreds of times before; ignoring the anger and hiding it behind a mask of complete indifference; killing her emotions as much as possible.

This all happened in less than a second yet the world moved in startling clarity for her, like everything was going slower. She knew she didn't have very long in the form; she could hold up a single-tailed state for a maximum of thirty minutes, each subsequent tail cutting that figure in half. Already she could feel the familiar tingle on her skin, a light burning sensation that she was just about able to ignore. She moved before the cloak was even fully settled, this time not just kicking up dust but the ground itself as the sheer pressure of her Chakra-enhanced footstep pushed the earth away.

Despite his words before Han did indeed seem to struggle against the newly empowered Fuu, he started shifting his stance, resembling more of a Taijutsu style. However despite the power up and the strength and speed offered by her Bijuu's double-edged Chakra she didn't seem to make any progress in getting past the armoured man's defences. For every glancing blow she managed to get through his guard that merely skirted off the thick armour he returned the favour. The damage he did was negligible, the heavy blows barely fazing the thick Chakra cloak.

However it couldn't last; just when she thought she had begun to work out his pattern, going in for a blow that would have struck him right in the middle of the chest after getting him off balance. However she didn't count on the fact that Han was doing exactly the same thing to her; in a surprising bout of speed the man ducked beneath her blow. The writhing Chakra surrounding her arm tried to react, breaking away from her to claw at the man's head. However the red giant predicted this as well, rolling beneath the translucent appendage before coming up with a powerful blow straight to her midsection.

The pain was indescribable; even through her Bijuu's normally protective layer of Chakra she felt every inch of that blow. Even in the brief second she could watch in startled amazement it didn't make any sense. He had done nothing differently; the blow was the same, just striking her more directly. Then she saw it; a massive burst of steam exiting the man's elbow, projecting the fist forward at unimaginable speeds. As she felt her feet lift off the ground her mind managed to connect the furnace on the man's back to the steam she could see emanating off of him; then, she was flying.

It was a short flight as the spindly tail retracted back into her cloak, instead replaced by two thin, insectoid wings as her Chakra shroud became slightly less crisp. They immediately began to beat, becoming little more than a vaguely red blur as she hovered there in the air. Han seemed just a little surprised by this before his face hardened, his grey eyes narrowing in the shadows of his Sugegasa. However they immediately widened again as Fuu charged forward, much faster now that she was in the air; her element. He predirted her movement though, lashing out with a fist that should have caught the girl right in the throat.

What he didn't expect was for his forearm to harmlessly pass through a faint red blur, steam rushing from his elbow to show the pressure behind the blow. He had compensated for the extra protection given by the two-tailed Chakra cloak but he had not accounted for just how fast the girl could move in the air. He swivelled to try and catch her but she was like a dragonfly, flitting about and only just staying in the corner of his eye. Then he felt it, a light tap, he barely even felt it through the armour he wore but it was there. Then again, another light tap; he might not have even registered it if his senses weren't alert due to the adrenaline pumping through his system.

They continued this way for another minute, Fuu darting inside Han's guard long enough to probe his defences but not long enough to deal any significant damage. Luckily for her Han actually seemed to be trying now, whirling around and trying to anticipate where the girl would come next. He would struggle though; Fuu barely had control over her wings in flight, it was mostly the will of the Nanabi that guided them, the instinct to fight enemies controlling her movements.

It seemed Han had finally deigned to take her seriously though as the furnace on his back suddenly began spewing copious amounts of his steam, bathing the area in a pure white mist. It quickly became apparent though that it was no ordinary steam as Fuu found her cloak receding around her, withdrawing back into her body like a snail reacting to salt. On instinct she immediately flew backwards, hovering what she assumed to be a safe distance outside the steam. She was proven wrong though when a red giant suddenly flew out of the shroud, moving far faster than somebody of that size had any right to.

She dodged backwards, the man flying right over her; just before he vanished back into the white shroud below though she managed to spot the faint hint of red surrounding his body. It was fuzzy and obviously uncontrolled but it seemed it was enough to give the man a drastic boost in speed and power. This was quickly evidenced when the man hit the ground; the surrounding buildings shook from the force of the impact as a great plume of sand was displaced into the air. Then everything went still, only the swirling of the steam below her and no indication of where Han had gone.

She couldn't go back into the steam or risk losing her Bijuu cloak, possibly the only thing that would keep her from being boiled alive. She also couldn't stay out here; Han must have known that her ability to keep the shroud was limited by time and right now she probably only had around ten minutes left. Then, as if her prayers were being answered by some higher power, she felt the temperature around her drop drastically. Almost immediately the steam in the air cooled, thinning out and dropping away to for a thin layer of moisture on the sandy ground.

Fuu looked around and spotted Haku standing on an opposite building, his hands in a seal that was definitely not one of the standard twelve and a look of intense concentration on his face. Finally, once the shroud of steam had dwindled to just a thin white layer hovering just above the ground, he stopped, taking his hands out of the sign and leaning on his knees. The thin white tendrils of the no longer lethal mist separated to reveal the stoic figure of Han, still lightly shrouded in a hazy red cloak, his initial Jinchuuriki stage.

A moment later Haku appeared in a body flicker near to Fuu, giving the mint-haired Jinchuuriki a nod which she returned. The two of them turned to face Han again, muscles tensed to move as a thicker, viler Chakra began to flow over his body.


Naruto appeared on the roof above the arena, the sand he had ridden there dropping away under his feet as he stared at the enormous purple barrier before him. It moved and flickered like flame but was hazy enough to block most of what it contained; however he couldn't see anything thanks to what appeared to be trees behind the barrier, enclosing the area inside in a thick forest. He approached the barrier, holding his hand up to the heatless flames and just watching curiously as the strange surface rose up a little as if trying to lick at his palm.

"Heh, good luck getting through here you moron, this is a heavy-duty barrier; try asking that ANBU over there." The blonde looked around at the dark-skinned boy in the inside corner of the barrier, holding up his hands in a seal that seemed to be sustaining the powerful purple cube. He then looked around at what appeared to be a pile of blackened ashes on the roof beside them, obviously the remains of the ANBU that had tried to protect his Hokage in vain. Naruto ignored this as best he could, instead holding up his hand at the barrier.

It flickered brightly when he brought it nearer before dying away, unable to sustain itself without the necessary Chakra. The boy in the corner widened his eyes as the barrier just flickered before dying away where Naruto stood. However before the blonde could walk through the make-shift hole he had created something blocked the way. With the hole grew a large grey coffin from the ground, almost in reaction to the barrier being foiled. The lid cracked open before clattering to the ground, only revealing darkness inside.

"Naruto?" The blonde could only stare, a tear finding its way to his eye as he was met by a veil of purple hair.

"...Shizuku."