A/N: Merry Christmas to y'all. Hope you enjoy your Christmas gift of yet another chapter! I tried changing up my writing style a bit and I'm pretty happy with the changes, even if only I recognize them. Next chapter may take a while as I have a crazy few months coming up, but I'll do my best to give progress updates and work on it.
Disclaimer: Yo I don't know nothing about owning no Naruto or Zelda.
A gentle breeze caressed Naruto's face as he followed the bandaged Danzo and his two men. Naruto had accepted the old man's offer of assistance. According to Danzo, Naruto's family had a large collection of many powerful masks. Some were even rumored to be closely related to the god of death. The offer seemed too good to be true, but being able to visit his ancestral home was a rare opportunity that would make the journey worth it no matter what.
'I'm surprised that Granny Tsunade let me go,' Naruto thought. 'I guess she liked me asking first for once. Or rather she knew I'd leave anyways.' Naruto let out a short snort at his musings, causing the two men walking behind Danzo to slightly turn towards him, and then back towards the path. Naruto scrunched his face. The two men intrigued him greatly. The past week they had been traveling, the two had never spoke, simply responding to Danzo's questions or commands.
Naruto held his hands behind his head as he walked. 'At least I don't need sleep anymore,' He thought to himself. 'With how much they watched me while I faked sleeping, I can't trust these guys at all.'
Naruto let out a small sigh. 'But why do I not need food either? I can eat it, but it's nowhere near as satisfying as when I'm hungry!' He looked up at the sky as he walked. 'I wonder if I can make myself hungry.' Naruto scrunched his face and whispered, "Hungry!" he opened his eyes and waited with anticipation. Minutes later he let out a weathered groan.
"Calm yourself, child," Danzo said to the blonde behind him. "We are almost there."
Naruto examined his surroundings and frowned at the sparse trees. "More like we're in the middle of nowhere."
"Perhaps you should take a better look," Danzo replied. "After all, our future Hokage will need to be more observant," He finished, masking his sarcasm.
Naruto clenched his fist and suppressed an angry grunt but took the elder's advice. With a deep breath, he slowly looked around and saw the markings of old roads covered in plants and worn from the elements. He saw odd outcroppings in the land that almost looked like old walls. Naruto exhaled and took in another deep breath. As he breathed in, Naruto started to see structures all around him, his mind filling with what used to be. He imagined small houses and shops of a once bustling city.
'I hate to admit it but that mummy was right,' Naruto thought. "I guess this is my so called homeland."
"Correct," Danzo replied. "It is good to see you are quick to reexamine yourself when given advice. Now come along, we are almost there."
Naruto followed the trio in front of him through his ancestral home. He looked around the long destroyed village with apathy. 'Thought this'd mean more to me, but the only thing connecting me to this place is some dead family I never knew.' His eyes turned towards a large intact building on the horizon, his eyebrow raising. 'And there is why I'm here. Hopefully.'
In front of the group was a tall building in a mild state of decay. The simple gable roof covered the building, but had many holes and missing boards. In contrast, the walls curiously appeared to be completely free of rot and decay, causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow. 'Now that is a bit weird.'
Danzo and his underlings stopped in front of the building and parted a way between them.
"It is your home and as such it is only fitting you enter first," Danzo said.
'Probably only so it's easier to stab me in the back,' Naruto thought. He stepped into building and his eyes widened. There were hundreds of masks hanging from the wall far ahead of him. The masks were stuck on the wall with no support. He looked up and saw there were dozens of rows and columns of these masks, extending to the ceiling. 'Damn I don't know if I'll be able to check these all out,' He thought. 'There's too many of the stupid things and I can't really walk up walls right now.' Naruto eyed the masks and small smile arose. He walked up and grabbed a mask just over his head that was shaped like an old man's face with a large wart covered nose. He attempted to pull himself upwards using the mask, but the mask came loose, revealing an empty spot. Naruto looked at the hand on his mask and placed it on the wall and let go of it, leaving the mask hanging on the wall.
'Huh, that's neat,' Naruto thought. 'Too bad I can't tell which of these is that cursed mask.' Naruto grabbed the old man mask and pulled it down from the wall, his hand enveloping the front of the mask. He clenched his right fist, shattering the mask, to the shouts of dismay from Danzo. Naruto grabbed another mask from the wall and frowned at the image of a man constantly crying. Once more, he destroyed the mask with a simple clenching of his hand.
"What are you doing you insipid child!" Danzo yelled at Naruto, who ignored him and kept destroying the ancient masks. Danzo frantically looked at the wall holding the masks and cursed. He waved at his two ninja, who leapt to stop Naruto.
Naruto's body instantly changed. He stood up straight and caught the men who rushed him by their throats. He looked over at Danzo, who started to shiver.
Danzo stared in horror as Naruto glared at him, questioning why Danzo would dare send his men at him. The bandaged man suddenly felt very small.
"I did not want them to hurt you, simply stop you," Danzo pleaded. "You do not understand what you are doing!"
Naruto dropped the two ninja to the ground who then greedily breathed in air.
"I know exactly what I'm doing," Naruto said. "I am destroying a threat to this world. Besides, these belonged to my ancestors and being the last of them I can do what I wish."
Danzo stared in shock at the blonde's statement, allowing the child to destroy more masks.
"Dammit what you are doing is destroying history!" Danzo yelled out.
Naruto stopped and faced Danzo. "I'm listening," Naruto said flatly.
"I understand that they are yours to do what you wish, but randomly destroying priceless artifacts will do nothing to help you," Danzo said. "I know I cannot stop you, but please think rationally! Once these masks are destroyed they can never return."
Naruto suppressed a grin and looked at Danzo. "Fine. I will consider it."
"Perhaps you should consider it away from the artifacts you just destroyed," Danzo said.
'He thinks he's playing me,' Naruto thought. 'May as well play along. I might figure out what he's actually here for.' Naruto looked at the shards of the masks he broke and huffed. 'Besides, if I let him do the work, it'll really cut down on the time it'll take me to fix all of these things.' Naruto let out a small snort as he walked outside of the building. 'I guess breaking all those pots actually did me some good.'
Naruto stretched in the sunlight and watched as Danzo quietly spoke to the two ninja. The trio seemed to do nothing but observe the masks, causing Naruto to sigh in frustration. 'They're obviously waiting for me to do something.'
Two minutes later, Naruto groaned. 'Why is this so boring? Maybe I should walk around and see if I can catch 'em doing something when I come back.' He held his fingers in a cross symbol and made a clone. Next to Naruto a pale version of himself puffed into existence.
'Not the best but it could work,' Naruto thought as he examined his clone. 'All he has to do is oh my god what is that.' Naruto stopped as he saw the back of his clone was overtaken by golden boils. Naruto chopped the back of the clone's neck, dispersing it.
'Dammit why did I dispel that clone back at Hinata's place,' Naruto thought. 'I'm such a moron. I really should have learned how to make clones along with explosion words back with.' Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath, ending his thoughts. Moments later he walked to the middle of the building's side.
Naruto placed his hands in the pockets of his beloved orange jacket and looked around the ruins and frowned. 'I wonder if I can walk up to the roof. Might get a better view of the ruins instead of just some trees and rocks,' Naruto walked towards the wall and took in a deep breath. He placed a foot on the wall and tried to walk up the wall. He felt his back collide with the ground as the breaking of rock and shouts of shock came from inside the building. He looked at the wall and saw a hole in the wall the size of his foot.
'Ok, yeah, that didn't work out,' Naruto thought. He kicked himself up to his feet and stood up straight. He looked up towards the building's roof and hummed. 'I could probably jump up there without feeling my chakra, but I'd probably over shoot it and I could end up blasting through the roof.' Naruto peeked through the hole in the wall at Danzo, shooting the bandaged man an embarrassed smile. 'Probably don't want to do any more damage than I already have.' He crossed his arms and tapped his foot. 'Well that leaves just one choice. Goddesses this is gonna suck.' Naruto swiped in the air and stepped through the portal he created. Grabbing his spectral self behind him, he stepped onto the roof of the building, hissing in pain.
A brilliant golden light erupted from the back of his right hand as the blonde took deep breaths as the pain faded. He sat down on the roof and looked around his ancestral home. 'Y'know this place is kinda pretty,' Naruto thought as he looked at the overgrown ruins. He saw large square spaces slightly discolored from the ground around it, suggesting ancient buildings. 'But why is this building fine?' He gripped the roof beneath him. 'Maybe that dumb mask is actually here. I bet this place had a similar spell to the one at the temple.'
Naruto relaxed on the roof for several minutes, drinking in the environment. He felt his muscles relax and tension leave his body. 'Too bad I don't get tired anymore. I could so brag to Shikamaru about this nap spot.' Emulating his lazy friend, he flopped onto the roof, albeit with slightly more strength than intended, leaving a Naruto-sized dent in the roof. A shout of curses came from inside the building, bringing a soft chuckle to Naruto's lips. 'Guess I shouldn't drop in on them. May as well see what they're doing now.'
The blonde stood up from his resting place and leapt off the roof.
'I hope I'm using enough chakra,' Naruto thought as the ground rapidly approached. He crashed into the ground and felt his legs buckle and a sharp pain rushed up his body, but faded almost as fast as it came. 'Okay not enough chakra.' He walked to the entrance of the building and was greeted with the sight of Danzo and his two agents closely examining the many masks, whispering to each other and taking notes.
Naruto grumbled and walked towards the men.
"So whaddya think of this?" Naruto asked.
Danzo's eyebrows raised, "I think it is quite the surprise you care more about what I think of your home than having questions about it."
"This isn't my home," Naruto said, waving his hand in dismissal. "Konoha is my home."
"I suppose that is true. Hopefully you don't kick holes into walls in Konoha," Danzo said dryly.
Naruto scratched the back of his head and looked at the hole in the corner of the building. "Yeah, I didn't really mean to do that. It was." Naruto paused and looked at the hole in the wall. "An accident." He ignored Danzo's response as he walked out of the building and to its side. He looked at the foot size hole in the middle of the outside wall.
With fist clenched, Naruto walked back to the buildings entrance.
'Either my streak of luck is continuing or I'm about to look like a dumbass,' Naruto thought. He cracked his knuckles and stalked towards the wall. He pushed away one of Danzo's men who stepped in front of him and punched the wall with his right fist. The wall shuddered and groaned under his strike that left a small crack in the wall and lines of strange symbols glowing on the wall.
'Looks like I was right,' He thought as he punched the wall a second time that was rewarded with another groan from the building. He pulled his fist back for a third punch, but felt something try and push him over. He looked down at the emotionless man tackling him and then at Danzo, who was quickly putting on different masks. He sighed and rolled his eyes. 'And there it is.'
Naruto headbutted the man grappling him using the iron plate on his headband, leaving the now unconscious ninja with an imprint of the Hidden Leaf Village's symbol on his head and blood pooling around him.
Bright lights started to flash around Naruto, accompanied by slight popping sounds. He looked at the lights in confusion, and saw a large cloud of miniature exploding insects leading to the other mysterious ninja's body.
'An Aburame? Hm.' Naruto glanced at Danzo, evaluating the man's progress. Danzo had a small look of excitement, launching the blonde into action. He flicked his arm towards the Aburame with a mutter, blasting the man into the wall with a torrent of wind. Naruto leapt to Danzo who was holding a mask of a pale face with two horns coming out of the top. The mask had pale skin and black parted hair with its baring sharp teeth in a wicked smile. Naruto snatched the mask from Danzo and glared at him.
'Yes there it is!' Danzo thought as he stared at the Shinigami mask. 'This has to be it. It's exactly as was described in those mask books the Jinchuuriki brat was researching.' He saw a hand grab onto the mask and pull it away from him.
Danzo grabbed onto the bandages of his right armand started to pull on them.
"You will stop," Naruto commanded as he crushed the Shinigami Mask that Danzo had sought.
Danzo froze at the blonde's authority. He looked at the blonde's eyes and suppressed a scream as the blue eyes pierced him. He saw power threatening to rip apart not only himself, but everything around him, as though the boy was the eye of a terrible storm. He averted his gaze, but could still feel the child's eyes on him. Danzo fell to the ground, struggling to breath.
"You will gather your agents and leave. You are no longer needed here," Naruto said. "Be grateful that I have left you living."
Danzo nodded and scratched at the floor. He watched the boy's feet turn away from him and immediately felt relief when the boy walked away.
'What is he?' Danzo thought. He crawled over to Torune Aburame, one of his elite members of his Root Anbu. Danzo put his fingers on the man's neck, feeling for a pulse but found none. 'How is he dead? He only hit the wall with enough force to knock the air out of him, not kill him.' He felt a bulge underneath his finger and moved his hand away in horror. Torune's body slowly started to bulge and vibrate as glowing patterns shuffled under the man's skin. His body burst with millions of tiny lights exploding and consuming the dead man.
'How did his nano-insects turn against him?' Danzo looked over at Naruto who had returned to breaking down the wall. He stood up and looked over at the crutch by the blonde demon. He shook his head and hobbled over to Fu Yamanaka, who was slowly drowning in a pool of his own blood. 'Dammit I should have brought someone who could have used his full powers,' he thought as he looked over the man's wounds. 'I should have gone with expendable tools, not my best pair.' He dragged Fu towards the collapsing doorway. He quickly gauged Naruto's progress, and saw large chunks of the wall had fallen to the floor.
Danzo pulled his agent through the doorway.
'Stay.'
Danzo's head flicked back to the inside of the building.
'You… need….. me.'
Danzo closed his eyes and tried to shake his head. He opened his eyes and saw a red wall behind the crumbling stones. He heard a quiet laughter.
'Together. Strong.'
A single glowing eye appeared from behind the wall, causing Danzo's eyes to widen, ignoring the curses coming from the blonde. Danzo's mind filled with possibilities of thousands of promises; a village that was his, peace under his rule, the love and adoration of the people, unrivaled power, and how enjoyable an adventure it would all be.
The wall cracked again, revealing half of a purple heart shaped mask. It had a bright yellow and orange eye, with a green iris that pierced Danzo's mind. Around the eye trimmed in black was a dark red materal, with a small hole near the middle of the mask. Below the hole was a white line, and then a column of four more holes. Portruding from the top of the mask was an ivory horn, with three golden triangles resting side by side on the mask underneath the horn. On the lower side of the mask were four horns; the top was yellow with red, green, and blue below. The red wall appeared to come from the back of the mask and slowly started to vibrate as the mask's symmetrical other half was revealed from the crumbling wall.
'I NEED YOU,' Danzo heard in a strange language in his own voice.
Danzo saw Naruto move to strike the mask and let out a guttural scream. "That's mine!" He yelled, leaping towards the mask with his bandaged hand extended.