Greetings and Salutations all, and welcome to Kage no Naruto chapter fifty three! I left you on quite the cliffhanger last chapter, which I took immense satisfaction in by the way. Anyway, you can take the knife from your wrist, and the noose from your neck, because the next chapter is finally here! Enjoy it.

Author's Note: Kage no Naruto, according to Wikipedia, we don't exist!

Note: Just like to mention that this story now has over one hundred C2's, I just wanted to mention that little statistic.

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NARUTO SPOILERS

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Not a whole lot happened this chapter. Konohamaru faced down the Hell Realm Pein, Ebisu told him to run because he could become Hokage someday and he couldn't waste his life here. Then Konohamaru makes a handseal and goes on a bit about a promise with Naruto to fight for the Hokage title one day before the scene changes.

After that, there's a scene with Chouji reporting to Tsunade about the God Realm Pein's capabilities, and Tsunade mentions that Chouza is still alive, barely, and can be saved if Chouji gets him to a medic in time. She doesn't tell him that Kakashi is dead though.

After that, there's a bit with the Hungry Ghost Realm Pein in the morgue with the dead Pein that Jiraiya captured, he takes the various piercings from the room and prepares to leave before Tsume and Kiba bash into the room toward him. The Hungry Ghost Realm Pein Kawarimi's with the dead Pein body and escapes damage, and Tsume mentions that he doesn't like close range attacks before the scene switches again.

After that, we see a bit with Naruto's training, and Fukasaku says that the entire thing is impossible, it's like trying to look left and right at the same time. Naruto smiles after that and then the scene changes. Who wants to bet that Naruto just had a brilliant idea involving Kage Bunshins again? Seriously, when is he going to learn something DIFFERENT! Jesus Christ.

Right, there are two short scenes here, the first is Team Gai heading back to Konoha from some mission, so that explains where they've been all this time. As for the other scene, it's a short scene with Shino, Shibi, and two other Aburame clan members confronting Konan. That one could be interesting since the bugs were eating the paper cocooning one of the Chuunin.

After that there's a short scene with the God Realm Pein appearing before Tsunade and her little group of defenders. Tsunade recognizes him as the Pein that Chouji informed her about, and Pein says that she's the last of the Sannin before the chapter ends.

Right, all in all, this chapter had a lot of talking but no doing. Naruto is bound to come up with a way to use Kage Bunshins even more than he already has, and we have at least two decent fights promised in the next few chapters. Hungry Ghost Realm Pein vs. Tsume and Kiba, not to mention their dogs, as well as a battle between Tsunade and God Realm Pein. I would mention the imminent fight between Konohamaru and Hell Realm Pein, but I doubt that fight will last very long. Kishimoto should do what we've wanted him to do for a long time now and take the micky out of that little prick. It's time he learned his lesson good and proper. I will laugh dangerously hard if Hell Realm Pein just obliterates him, which SHOULD happen. If Konohamaru somehow beats Hell Realm Pein, then Naruto truly has lost any hope of redemption in my eyes. If KONOHAMARU can defeat one of Pein's bodies, then something is seriously wrong, I don't care what the circumstances are, Konohamaru had better lose and lost hard. It's about time he learned what a real ninja can do.

Oh, by the by, feel free to watch the Hidan and Kakuzu fight with Team 10 or Team 10 with Kakashi. They are both pretty cool, though in my opinion Hidan should have beaten Shikamaru, and Kakuzu should have at LEAST killed Chouji or Ino, the latter of which did almost nothing in either the anime or manga version of the fight.

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NARUTO SPOILERS END

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Summary of last chapter

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Okay, Naruto led the attack upon Iwagakure itself, enslaving and killing civilians, taking Jounin prisoner if possible, and killing Chuunin and Genin at will as well as setting many buildings on fire and looting the place.

The assault pressed upon the Tsuchikage tower, and Naruto infiltrated the village with the remaining members of the Sound Four, shattering the mind of a Chuunin and forcing him to attack his former colleagues before entering the graveyard where Sakon played the part of Naruto's drum while Kidomaru and Tayuya guarded him.

Naruto called forty high level undead and began to move toward the Tsuchikage Tower.

Also, Team 7 escaped Temari's trap and are heading toward Sunagakure with a certain amount of distrust toward the desert dwellers.

And with that, let the chapter begin.

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With the Tsuchikage, Iwagakure

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An old man was looking out upon his burning home. He knew what he had known for a long time, that iwagakure was dying. Ever since Konoha defeated them in the war years ago Iwa was losing more and more business, only surviving by exploiting the market more and more. They had large numbers of ninja, but they weren't powerful enough to stand a real chance on the most difficult missions, and those that DID usually went rogue, like Deidara did, the last of his clan which was a stiff kick in the balls for Iwa. Especially when the maniac blew apart a third of the Tower as a diversion.

The man knew that his village only had one chance of revival, and that had been lost years ago. They had lost the Rokubi Jinchuuriki after that idiot killed her friend Haruka. Needless to say that the man responsible was killed after the results of his actions became evident.

Then, only a few years ago, this new terror began to attack his country, he tried to stop him at first, but slowly but surely his forces were diminished, his once large numbers of ninja dwindling down to just a few. Everyone believed that Iwa had hordes of ninja at their command, but that was only a belief spread by their numbers in the war, after they lost a good many civilian families stopped allowing their children to join the ranks of the Shinobi, and the number of ninja steadily dwindled off. The Godaime Tsuchikage, Barragan Luisenbarn, was of a dying breed, a truly powerful Shinobi born from Iwa, and he knew it. Iwa Gennin just lacked the talent that they had when he was a boy, hence standards had gone down until they were little more than a dying remnant of what once was.

They had tried to fight this terror, this Capiorcorpus, but Barragan knew that it was little use. A great many of his soldiers died in the initial fighting, and ever since then he had withdrawn his forces into Iwagakure, refusing to let them throw their lives away for Tsuchi no Kuni when it wouldn't make a difference. Some believed that he was hoping to pull off a great coup de tat, but that was false. He merely wanted to bring Naruto HERE, to Iwa, where he might stand a fair chance against the man who brought a country to its knees.

Barragan looked out at the flaming city and knew what he was doing was the best he could have hoped to do. The civilians were currently escaping in secret tunnels that he had made long ago in case HE ever needed to make an escape. As for the ninja, there were only about a hundred left one week ago. Twenty Jounin, thirty Chuunin, and fifty Gennin. Barragan had gathered them all one week before Naruto's attack on Iwa and gave them a choice.

He told them that he was going to stay, he was going to fight Naruto, here where he was born. He told each of them that they could leave his service, leave Iwagakure without reprisal, without malice, without ramification of any kind. He would take their headband and they would be free to do as they please. If they wanted to join a different village, fine, if they wanted to move to another country and give up on the ninja life entirely, fine, if they wanted to go after some dream of their own, that was okay as well. But he told them, that if they stayed then they were going to stay there and defend their home against the man who destroyed their nation.

Not a single ninja left that day, they all stayed and prepared to fight.

Barragan knew that his meager forces could not hope to defeat Naruto's army, that was why he had turned to cunning. He had set a single trap that would, with any luck, cripple the man's army for decades.

He had taken mineral powders and chakra, and with them forged powerful explosives, bombs that would rival those of Deidara himself. These explosives were planted all throughout Iwagakure, ready to explode when the Tsuchikage commanded it.

The Tsuchikage would wait there at his tower and fight the menace of his country, and when he lost, he would activate them. The old Kage thought to himself 'I may not be able to defeat him, but if I can't then at least I can try to take him with me.'

Barragan felt a loud rumble throughout the building and sighed mournfully, looking out at the barren remains of a once great city before wearily getting up and went to a nearby dresser. When he arrived there, he opened the drawers and prepared for the final fight of his long life.

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Outside the Tower

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The Tsuchikage tower was under complete siege. The gates around the building had been forcefully opened by Absalom and Perona, and the zombies were now battering the main door as others attempted to scale the walls, with little effect. The tower had been surrounded by barriers meant to stop forceful entry. Some had been erected recently, others had been there ever since Iwa was built and the Tsuchikage tower established.

The wood was strong, and the metal fittings tough as various Soldiers pounded upon the door, others attempted to burn it down with fire or pierce it with lightning to little effect. The wood was singed and burned, but little else.

That was until Perona herself became irritated with the lack of progress.

"Move! Out of the way!" she commanded as she moved forth, the Zombie known as Bearsy behind her, moving awkwardly, but with no lack of courage or confidence.

Perona waited as the various undead hurriedly moved out of the way, knowing full well what their commander was going to do.

Once everyone was out of the way, the crowned girl held one hand in front of her as a small white sphere popped out of her hand, a moment later dozens of others joined the first, until there was a small swarm of them around her. Before long, they grew slight arms and legs and were fully formed ghosts that she could form using the Horo Horo no Mi that she ate thousands of years ago.

She swept her hand toward the door and the apparitions moved forward through the air, hugging against the gate that blocked their way. Perona snapped her fingers once, and the small things exploded simultaneously, each one strong as a grenade, blowing the door off of its hinges. Perona let out a 'humph', pleased with herself and shouted "Forward MARCH!"

"Yes Milady!" The surrounding creatures shouted before they poured into the tower, seeking the enemies that their Master wished them to kill.

As the lower ranked zombies poured into the building, Absalom approached Perona, shoving aside the underlings as he made his way to his peer.

As he reached her, he looked to the ground and saw the gate, which had remained completely whole. The hinges that held it to the wall however were blown apart by the explosion. He just looked at her questioningly.

Perona looked at the beast man and said "What? I may not have that much chakra or anything more than a small familiarity with the ninja arts, but I know a powerful defense when I see one Absalom. I can't believe they overlooked the hinges though. That gate would have lasted all day otherwise. Or at least it would have lasted until Naruto-kun arrived."

Before Absalom could speak however their conversation was interrupted by a small rockslide coming from the door of the tower, carrying off many zombies, though most were unharmed it still completely flushed the tower of the soldiery.

The two commanders looked to the door and saw none other than four Jounin, all of which were heavily armed and obviously prepared for a fight.

One of the Jounin spoke "We are sworn to the Tsuchikage not to allow you scum to enter the tower, and we will fulfill our mission. Though even if we die, we will have the honor of destroying two of the commanders of this unholy force. Prepare to die, invading scum!"

Before the squad could move forward, four black tendrils erupted from their chests, throwing them all into shock.

As the bodies rose into the air and were thrown aside, Absalom and Perona saw that the tendrils had originated from the shadows of the walls near the door, where the wall met the floor.

They looked around and quickly saw what they were looking for. On the top of the wall stood the man who created an army that on his command killed and enslaved an entire country. Uzumaki Naruto stood tall, his own shadow falling upon the battlefield like a crack in the earth. Beside him stood forty undead forms, kept under control by the deep drum beat they could all hear in the air as well as feel in the ground, it was so deep.

The forty zombies leapt straight down in perfect unison, standing up the same way and marched forward in perfect step. Naruto moved behind them, seeming entirely relaxed.

The surrounding Zombies immediately bowed extremely low in the presence of their Master, their noses and foreheads almost touching the ground until he waved them back up again.

"I see that you have things here relatively under control Absalom, Perona-chan." He said. It was a statement, not a question.

The two nodded and Absalom said "All enemies outside of the tower are dead or captured, though a few gave us trouble. We estimate the enemies inside the tower to number below twenty, most of them likely Chuunin, however the Tsuchikage himself is likely to be there as well. We were just about to begin the assault when you arrived sir."

Naruto nodded and looked at the tower for a moment before saying "Very good. Now then, pull back your forces and move to the village perimeter. If all other enemies are taken care of, a few Chuunin and Jounin won't make a difference with these forty to aid me. I will take care of the Tsuchikage myself and that will be that. Take everybody, Generals included."

Abalom stepped forward "But sir-"

He was immediately cut off, Naruto's voice cold "I did not ask for questions Absalom. Now get moving immediately. I will give you five minutes to get everyone out of the village before I begin my assault upon the tower. I suggest you move quickly. Leave the Sound Four alone however."

With that, Naruto pulled a familiar cup from his jacket that filled with tea at a word. He looked up at the tower, clear dismissal in his every bearing. Perona and Absalom merely nodded and began to order their subordinates, conveying similar orders to Anko to move out. Naruto had given orders, and those that wished to live had better obey them.

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With Team 7

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Team 7 was making its way to the Akatsuki hideout. They had stopped for maybe two hours of rest in Sunagakure before moving on, trusting Pakkun to lead them to the Akatsuki base following Gaara's scent trail. It was almost a week old, so it was pretty difficult, but so far the Nin-dog was pulling through and getting them hopefully to the right destination.

They were joined by a woman by the name of Chiyo, who was apparently a retired Jounin from Suna, and very powerful. She had apparently decided to come because Suna needed a representative, but Kakashi wasn't so sure. He didn't trust Sunagakure so much after that whole mess in the desert. He hadn't told anyone in Suna about it, but he was almost sure that there was a traitor in Suna, either that or the entire village is hostile and the entire thing is one big trap.

Either way, Kakashi knew that Chiyo wasn't telling them something, and he treated her curtly as best, and avoided conversation at most times. 'If I talk to the wrong person, it may trigger war, even if I got the information to the right people, it wouldn't do much. It would be best to stay quiet about the issue until I can report to Tsunade, the thing will be her problem then.'

Aside from the slight tension between Kakashi and Chiyo, things went normally as they followed Pakkun through the countryside and hopefully toward the imprisoned Kazekage.

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Iwagakure

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Naruto stood before the blown away entrance to the Tsuchikage Tower, the forty undead beside him, and completely under his control. Without so much as a muttered word from him, the forty zombies marched forward, through the door in two columns, exactly in step with one another.

Naruto followed his dead servants, looking around the inside of the tower as he did so. The thing wasn't that impressive really, in fact it was almost a carbon copy of the Hokage Tower in Konoha, the only difference being that there were a lot of browns and blacks rather than reds and the symbols for 'Fire' were replaced with 'Earth' Aside from that though, things were mostly the same.

He commanded the zombies to spread out, which they did, each one searching a nearby door for possible enemies or traps. Before long, the entire first floor was checked with no sign of the enemy. So, he and the forty zombies moved upstairs.

They had scarcely moved onto the landing when the first few zombies were savagely attacked, one of them getting several cuts before Naruto ordered them to fight back, which they did with great force.

It was a squad of ten Chuunin meant to defend the stairway against the enemy should they arrive, Naruto knew that much, and he didn't care much for any of them. The zombies rushed forward at his command, taking blows that would kill a normal human before reaching a target and savagely ripping them apart by main strength. He saw one Chuunin have his throat pulled out, and a second he saw a zombie rip the Chuunin's arm off at the shoulder and then proceed to crack open the ninja's head with his own severed limb. The others met similar fates, all of them finished off brutally and swiftly before they could use any Ninjutsu. Leaving the mangled corpses behind, the group moved on.

They had just gotten to the stairs to the third floor when the entire stairwell was covered in fire, scorching several of the zombies badly. The last four Jounin were stationed at the top of the stairs.

Naruto took action immediately, commanding the undead from behind them all, directing them to do his bidding. They raced up the stairs, reaching speeds of ninja at times, and quickly entered quick, hand to hand combat. The zombies had neither form nor class, they were little better than drunken street brawlers when it came to fighting, but when a punch from a drunken brawler can put a hole in a wall, it evens out a bit.

The Jounin focused on the top of the stairwell to stop the advantage of numbers. Two grappled directly with the zombies, careful not to take the full power of the undead as they attempted to rip and strangle. Another darted in and slit the throats of the undead, shivering as he did so when he brushed against the cold energy that kept the creatures from the void.

Despite the fact that their throats were cut, it didn't stop them at all. Each of them knew that most Ninjutsu would probably kill them all, so they refrained from doing any and did their best to keep the undead masses from getting hold of them. They saw what had happened to the Chuunin, they weren't eager to experience it for themselves.

Before long, one zombie jumped OVER the Jounin on the stairs and turned around immediately, a hard backhand snapping the neck of one opponent. After that, the other two were quickly overwhelmed and killed.

Naruto smiled to himself at the victory, for about half a second. Then he remembered something that disturbed him rather deeply.

There were FOUR Jounin at the top of the stairs.

Naruto quickly smelled the air, hoping his advanced senses would tell him where the man was as he also searched for the chakra signature of the man around the nearby halls. He didn't have to look far.

He heard a single shout that made his eyes widen and make him jump to the ceiling, sticking upon it. The shout was only four words. "Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!"

Water filled the hallway and cascaded down the stairs, taking the forty zombies head on and sending them down the passageway. Naruto cursed as he saw each zombie fall. Water was a serious weakness of Necromancy, enough of it moving swiftly enough would wash away the tenuous energy that kept them alive, and all the water from the Daibakufu no Jutsu was more than enough to destroy them all when it took them all head on like that. The flesh dissolved into clear, translucent slime, and bones falling to the ground before breaking into fragments and powder, incredibly brittle once more.

Naruto seethed in rage at the defeat of the forty creatures he brought with him, and moved across the ceiling as quickly as a striking snake up the stairwell and down the hall where the Jounin were positioned.

He quickly found the Jounin standing near an open bathroom, explaining where the water came from. He was open mouthed in shock of the success of his technique. He was hoping to destroy maybe one or two, most likely none at all, but to wipe out ALL of them was well beyond what he could have realistically hoped for.

Unfortunately for the nameless Jounin, his own shock and awe in his success left him open. Naruto willed the shadows into action and several spikes, long, thin, and sharp, formed from the darkness of the unlit bathroom behind him, piercing his head, heart, and several places along his spine, killing him almost instantly.

Naruto dropped to the ground, looked at the Jounin upon the ground, bleeding and dead, muttered "Lucky fool." before moving on towards the location of the Tsuchikage's office.

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Around Iwagakure

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Around Iwagakure, outside the main wall, stood the entirety of the Zombie Army. Upon orders from Naruto himself, they were pulling back to the Castle, their assault complete. Several groups may return later to clean up any survivors but for the most part, they were done in Iwagakure.

Three large portals of darkness were formed by Perona, Absalom, and Anko using the necklaces given to them by Naruto, and the army was moving into it at a steady pace, though given the large amounts of undead, it was taking a while, especially for those near the back.

Near the back, far away from the superiors who would most likely notice anything, were four masked figures bearing no headband. Though they bore no identification, it was noticeable by the style of the mask who they were: An ANBU squad from Konoha on a mission of stealth and recon.

They were breaking many laws and stepping in extremely dangerous territory by being there, they all knew it. If anyone discovered them and reported their presence, it would mean war for Konoha. Regardless of this, their mission needed to be completed, a job had to be done no matter how dangerous it was. Or in this case, near suicidal.

They had been waiting for months for the chance that they had right now, though only one would be able to exploit the opportunity. As for this opportunity, it took the form of a grubbily clothed, grey skinned form with a decent amount of well defined muscle knocked out upon the ground. Upon the right arm of the figure was the identification 'SZ-986'

It was a Soldier class Zombie knocked out by the ANBU squad as stealthily as possible once they had lured him away from the main body of the enemy.

Right now, one of the ANBU had discarded his clothing, and was applying a makeup that colored his skin the exact same grey as the unconscious Zombie, another was slicing open cuts in the first and sewing them up in the pattern precisely like that of the prisoner. The third was restraining the unconscious creature after taking away its clothing and putting it near the ANBU who was looking more and more rapidly like one of the undead. The fourth was keeping watch from formation of rocks that they were hiding in.

Before long, the ANBU in question looked almost exactly like the zombie before them. With the use of a lot of cosmetics, medical gear, and a permanent marker, he had impersonated the Zombie almost perfectly. The only difference was that his stitches did not cover as much of his body as they did the original, but aside from that, he looked exactly like the undead.

After a quick once over, the disguised ANBU nodded once to his comrades before grabbing the bag the Zombie had carried and leaving the cover of the rock to join the marching undead once more, doing as much as he could to look like another one of them.

The leader of the squad looked upon the marching forces, wishing his colleague luck. Their mission was to capture and impersonate one of the 'Zombies' that the Corpsetaker used to do his dirty work in the hopes of becoming a spy to locate and infiltrate the enemy's main base of operations as well as gain much needed intelligence about the enemy. A simple Henge couldn't be used, they had brought special supplies to impersonate one's looks to fool anyone who might look too closely. The only problem was the part of acting as a Zombie, but nobody could do anything about that except hope that the ANBU could act.

Before long, every last Zombie had moved through the black portals and they were closed behind the retreating dead forms.

One of the ANBU sighed in relief that their job was done and picked up the Zombie, slinging him over one shoulder. The three looked at each other, nodded once and then dashed off to the South-West.

Towards Konoha with their new prisoner and Ibiki's new Interrogation subject.

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With Naruto

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Naruto headed down the hallway on the top floor of the Kage Tower, the entire building eerily quiet, empty of life, empty of inhabitants. Naruto was surprised at how abandoned the place was. He couldn't be sure, but he was fairly positive that only he and the Tsuchikage were in the entire tower.

Naruto eventually strode to a pair of large double doors with the Kanji for 'Earth' upon it and flanked by four statues of the previous Tsuchikages. Naruto kicked open the door and strode in as though he owned the place, supremely confident.

Inside the room was a desk and bookshelves lined the walls. In front of the desk sat a large chair and in it sat an old man, his hair long, white, and somewhat wild, a thick white mustache hiding his upper lip, a scar went from his forehead to the corner of his right eye, almost blinding it. Another scar went from his lower lip to his chin. He was clad in a white shirt with a similar white jacket with black fur around the neck. Around his belt was a rope held in place with a bracer emblazoned with a sun. Upon his head sat a helmet similar to the one the Niidaime Hokage wore, only it had five points coming from the top instead of a flat top, and the thing was engraved with the symbol of Iwagakure.

The old man looked at the intruder and said "The door was unlocked you know."

Naruto nodded and said "I am aware of that, but I had a little pent up frustration, I hope you understand."

The old man nodded and said nothing. Naruto waited a moment before tilting his head and saying "You know of course, why I am here?"

The man grunted and said "How can I not? You've only burned my city, killed my subordinates and either killed or enslaves almost everyone else in the country."

Naruto nodded slowly, it was true that his intent was obvious. The man looked him over and said "So then, shall we just get down to it? There's no point to continue jabbering on any longer if neither of us is going to back down."

Naruto nodded but asked "Before we begin however, may I hear your name?"

The man stood up and said "Do you take me for a fool oh mighty 'Corpsetaker'? I read my intelligence reports you know. You have confronted several of my more powerful ANBU Captains over the years, and each time after they lasted long enough, you asked their name. Once they gave it to you, they died soon afterwards by your hand. I don't know how, but you killed them just by learning their names, I won't make the same mistake."

Naruto smiled genuinely for the first time in a while, the old man had wisdom. "Very astute of you Barragan-san. You are more cautious then your former subjects. Indeed, a name given from one's own lips is all I need to form a link to finish a battle quickly, though you are the first to realize it. You have my compliments, not that they will matter much before long." As he spoke, Naruto's shadow took human shape and stood beside him.

Barragan Luisenbarn, the Godaime Tsuchikage, drew his sword and said "If you're done talking, then let's get started boy." and then dashed forward, sword in hand.

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Right, that's the end of this chapter. Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I wanted to get this chapter out before the next manga update and I didn't have the time to do an entire fight scene in that time.

By the way, Barragan Luisenbarn is based on who I believe to be the first Espada, the old guy. I may be wrong, but my money is on him. I figured, 'If I made Kiri mostly Shinigami, why not make Iwa mostly Arrancar?' Help even things out a bit. For those who don't follow bleach for some reason, look up 'Barragan Luisenbarn' on Google or Wikipedia for an accurate image.

This chapter was originally going to be longer, I was planning to create an OC among the Houfu army, and do a bit from his perspective here and there for the next few chapters, involving a small subplot involving military politics and a desperate government hoping to negotiate with the embargo force that Naruto stationed there, but I decided against it. A recent review told me that I was making a mistake by being TOO creative and that it was leaving a lot of holes in the story that lowered its quality overall. After that, I decided to bring in the reigns a little bit, not to add anything more to an already powerful mix, focus more on the canon Naruto storyline and try to simplify things a bit, smooth things out rather than add more and more. Anyway, whether I made the right decision by not adding the temporary OC is up to you all, I just hope that I delivered an enjoyable chapter.

Until the next update,

Artful Lounger