Birth of the Wizarding Shinobi

by SinbadThe3rd

Naruto was born without chakra in a world where everyone has it. Disowned by his family for being seen as an abomination against nature, he set out into the world to find his own path. Along the way he meets a man who gifts him an item that will set him on the path towards being the great man he always wanted to be in life...

6. One Out One In

(A/N: Hello to all those who read this story, and thank you for your patience in continuing to do so. I would like to apologize for these long gaps between chapters, but as I have mentioned in a few other chapters of not only this but my other stories as well… I'm guessing several times… not sure since I don't want to go back and count, being stuck at home is draining me of my will to write as often. The reason I always was able to write more often was that when I work, my mind goes on autopilot so to speak, except for special orders of food since that requires a bit more thought process… but as my body does the work, my mind kind of shifts to my more creative side and thus I get ideas for my stories. Since I have not been able to work since god damned late March, well you can probably see why I am far slower to write since my usual method of thinking is not available to me.

And for those people who told me 'that you can always find another job if that helps you think', while this is true, yet unfortunately I can't get another job that easily. Sure places are hiring, but I am still technically under the employ of Microsoft since they are still paying us, which I know is a PR stunt to show they care about their employees, plus given the fact that they have the money to do it easily since those who work for tech support can work from home and so they are not losing money. Plus they can't just fire us, since the process of rehiring 5,000 plus people to work the kitchens would take forever. So when I go to apply for a job, which I have done no less than 8 times by the time I am writing this, people look at my application, see that I am currently employed, and decline since they want to give work to those who don't have jobs right now. I understand where they are coming from so I am not mad since this isn't about the money, it's more about the desire to work after taking a forced 6 month long vacation of sorts that isn't fun since everywhere I would love to go is closed for the unforeseen future. It's not really a vacation if you had not planned on it.

But, I digress… And sorry for ranting a bit there, yet that was building up for a while and I wanted to explain myself a bit in detail where my head is at as of the present moment. But enough of that, now onwards with the story!)

The trip towards the far outskirts of Fire Country near Waterfall Country, where Naruto was meant to meet Sandayu and the actress Koyuki as was the agreement was not too bad for our hero or his group. And while Naruto was a bit behind schedule given his forced detour by the hands of Orochimaru of all people, he had only been locked up less than a day's worth of time, so it was not too hard to get back on track since a bit of running closed that gap easily enough. And with genuine family by his side, something that had been sorely missing in his life for as long as he could remember, it made the trip far better in his mind so it more than made up for any hassles he suffered through to get to this point. Sure he had Mifune, who he saw as a form of surrogate grandfather given his nurturing nature as well as training him when no one else would, which was nice yet he was not truly blood related like Naruko and Karen were with Naruko being his actual sister.

Just because one is disowned by the family did not stop one from being genetically related to people, it just meant they did not see you as family in their own eyes. Naruko had not heard of him until he showed up like some sort of guardian angel and saved her from a pack of dogs that were chasing her, so the hatred that had deeply entered the Namikaze family's hearts towards him had not been passed down given they had truly believed he had perished sometime after he left the village years ago. Given his situation with the lack of both proper training at the age of seven as well as lack of chakra and it was a fairly safe bet to make, yet Naruto was not one to go with the odds and survived through it all.

But as he made his way towards his own destination, the world was about to be hit with several major events all at once that would change the world as they knew it…

Those who resided in Sound village were utterly stumped as to what to do with themselves anymore right now. They had all been recruited by Orochimaru via various means, and now that the man was confirmed dead, along with Kabuto himself which only added to the shock factor by at least ten, and they just couldn't get a firm grasp on what to do anymore. But one person did, and it was not good…

Kimimaro had devoted his life to his master Orochimaru. His life had never been one filled with joy or happiness of any sort, since being a rare possessor of his clan's Shikotsumyaku kekkei genkai, the patriarch of his former clan feared Kimimaro's abilities and had him locked up in a cage unless needed for battle. The Kaguya clan was later wiped out when they attacked Kirigakure, seemingly for no reason other than the desire to kill and show off their ferocity. Having underestimated their opponents' defenses, they were slaughtered, with Kimimaro the sole survivor of said slaughter. Wandering soon after, Kimimaro was eventually found by Orochimaru, and recruited as one of his most loyal ninja since while Orochimaru was not subtle about his desire to mold the young man into a new vessel, it gave Kimimaro purpose in life other than being locked away in a cage like some animal, only to be let out when needed to kill.

But life would continue to be cruel to the young man…

Kimimaro became afflicted by an unknown disease that destroyed what remaining worth he was to Orochimaru. Kabuto had attempted multiple times to cure Kimimaro, but to no avail due to Kimimaro's unique structure and lack of medical information on his clan given his caged life by the hands of his own. Kimimaro was left bedridden to extend his wavering lifespan, unable to participate in the invasion plan of Konoha. Yet while his body was slowly dying, he made up his mind to be useful to his master at least one last time before his end. But even that desire was lost to him since now Orochimaru himself had been killed, which was harder to believe for him than anyone else since he saw Orochimaru in a light that was unmatched by anyone else around. And while the others decided on what they wanted to do now that the founder of their village had been, Kimimaro swore vengeance against the man who took his purpose away once more…

Yet while those in Sound were determining what to do with their lives given their lack of a leader, word somehow got out about Orochimaru's demise to those who then spread the message all over. No one knew who leaked out such a massive event to the world, but in the end it did not matter since that was not the concerning thing to them. His genuine death was what was concerning to them since it meant so much by the action alone.

The world knew of Orochimaru and the way he planned ahead like the tactical genius that he was. The man had backup plans to his plans, and even backup plans to his backup plans. The man cheated death regularly by stealing the bodies of others to sustain himself, so to hear that he was actually dead meant there was a new player on the board of the Shinobi world who was capable of doing what many deemed impossible since so many had tried and failed to kill the man.

None were as shocked by the news of his death, sans Kimimaro, than his old squad mates Tsunade and Jiraiya. The three of them made up the group known to the Elemental Countries as the Sannin, and they knew him better than anyone. Jiraiya had spent years trying as well as failing to find the traitor to the village, and Tsunade had been tasked long ago to find a means of some sort to kill him given her medical profession she had the best chance of finding said means. Yet even she could not find a way to put him down permanently other than to smash him into nothing more than paste so that he could not hop to another body like he did. And even then that was no guarantee since for all they knew he had found the means to do the same thing a different way where if you killed one body his soul went to another no matter the distance.

But when the initial shock of Orochimaru's death finally died down, as all things shocking in life eventually do, the search for the identity of who managed to kill him commenced, which didn't really take that long in retrospect given the man who did the deed was not some elusive man who wanted to hide his identity to the world. But while many heard the name of the young man who managed to kill the Sannin Orochimaru, only three villages were more shocked by the name than anyone else around...

Nadeshiko village, known as a village that consisted of only kunoichi, was shocked to hear that Shizuka had been beaten by someone other than Menma in the tournament like they expected given the elder's words of her being married to the student of Jiraiya. Yet then Tokiwa went on to explain that the man who beat her was himself a student of Jiraiya, if only for a short amount of time for reasons she never really went into when she mentioned this to the others in the village.

Many wondered just how this would affect their future offspring since the whole law was in place to ensure strong offspring, yet Tokiwa once more explained that it was not a problem since Naruto had been able to defeat Menma in one on one combat with apparent ease. This news floored most of those who listened since it wasn't every day that you heard that the son of the most infamous Shinobi of their generation was defeated after so much time had been put into training him. The boy had the Kyubi as well sealed within him, which should have guaranteed his victory against a single opponent, yet it was not so. Many wondered if this Naruto had cheated or something along those lines since one does not simply fight a Jinchuriki one on one and win other than the likes of Hashirama Senju when he did so as he fought Madara in the Valley of the End. Sure there were very, and I emphasize the word very, rare exceptions to that thought, but that was only because the Jinchuriki was inexperienced or the person fighting them was exceedingly powerful. Now while many had their doubts over this bit of news since they knew that Menma was not inexperienced given his family, nor was Naruto overpowered since they had never even heard of the guy till now, those thoughts changed practically overnight.

When word spread of Naruto being the one to kill Orochimaru… this floored every last one of them this time…

Suna celebrated the news of their honorary member doing what many deemed impossible, with Temari drinking heavily since she was trying to drown out the thought in her head about Naruto… and his bulging muscle mass… yet the alcohol didn't help, in fact it only made it worse yet she was too stubborn to quit drinking in the hopes it would.

Konoha though… That was another story altogether. Many people at first didn't know how to feel about this since the boy they all mocked and laughed at nearly his entire childhood had killed the traitor to their village. But soon enough, the village began to go with the mindset that this would look good for their village since the boy had been born here, and let it be known to all that would listen to them. They were basically taking credit where it was not due to the point that they began to spin false tales of training the boy and helping him become as strong as he was today, yet not a single word of it was true since only several people even made the attempt to train him in the past, but even they quit after so little time as they saw him as a lost cause and a waste of time.

And while the citizens of the village were basking in the false glow of their accomplishments, the higher ups, such as the Shinobi Council along with the Clan heads themselves, met up to discuss a means to bring the boy back into the village under their employ somehow. Such a man capable of doing as he had done to not only Menma but Orochimaru himself was a valuable asset indeed, but his hatred towards the village only made this harder to plan. Minato and several Shinobi had evaluated the damage done by one swing of Naruto's blade when he had used his attack to beat him, and while it had split the arena in two where it hit cleanly, the fact that the damage went outwards and sliced through at least six buildings outside of it as well only made them question his true power. A Jinchuriki could do such things given enough time and training, but everyone knew that Naruto was not one of the nine Jinchuriki that existed. And while the prospect of just snatching him up and bringing him back to the village to begin reeducation was appealing, the boy was powerful enough to protect himself, and if he left and told the world what they did, well it would look bad towards Konoha as a whole and that was not what they wanted, so they needed a valid reason to bring the boy back.

But it was the arrival of an Anbu with a message from one of Jiraiya's spies that gave them the perfect opportunity to do so...

According to the message they received, Naruko had been found, which caused Kushina herself who was at the meeting to feel such joy since her disappearance caused her to fall into a pit of despair she was incapable of escaping. She felt like she had failed as a mother when Naruko was kidnapped, and prayed that someone would find her baby girl. But while she was filled with joy over this bit of news to begin with, that changed immediately after she heard the second portion.

The message had gone on to state that Naruko was with Naruto and another red haired woman. This caused Kushina to blow up in anger at that bit of news to the point she literally threw the table out the window to smash into bits several stories below. She demanded a team of Anbu to find the abomination, beat him within an inch of his life, and then drag his sorry ass back here so she could continue the ass kicking until her anger subsided, which would not be for a long time given his record of hurting her children. True, Naruto was himself one of her children, but at this point in life, the hatred towards him to the point she didn't see him as such anymore had all but solidified given time had done so after she and Minato decided to disown him from their home.

Minato was for this plan, since in his weakened state, Inoichi could infiltrate his mind and make the boy loyal to the village by force. So with a simple nod from all parties involved, an Anbu team was formed to hunt Naruto down with the orders to bring Naruko back from Naruto. Yet while they wanted Naruto brought back by force as well given the fact he would not come willingly, if he resisted too much, or even killed an Anbu, they were granted the right to end his life. But they were to bring back his sword along with the book that they had seen him use to draw power from during the tournament to beat Menma with. They weren't sure how it worked, but they would in time, and if Naruto wasn't alive to tell them willingly or via mind reading by a member of the Yamanaka clan, well they would learn it in time...

As this was all happening, with the Anbu which was being led by none other than Kakashi who was granted a temporary return to service as a member of the Anbu, and the other two villages dealing with the news in their own way that didn't involve trying to capture said young man to their village, a lone priestess in the land of Demons was sitting in her shrine as she did most days in meditation when not addressing people who came to see her. She was known as a woman who had visions of great calamities to come as her mother had been before her, and so many sought her visions to avoid death on such a large scale. But on this day, her mind was given a vision, one that broke into two parts, which she was not sure which was the better of the two.

In her vision, a blonde haired faceless man began walking forward down a road with no end in sight, nor was there anything around him as he walked this lonesome road alone. But out of nowhere, a giant demon which took on a draconic look appeared in the distance. Once it did, the man split into two other men, each with the same blond hair as the first, but smaller in stature. Each showed no fear of the demon in the distance, but as they walked together at first, they both drifted apart the further they walked. As they continued onwards, the two boys grew into teens, and eventually made it to the demon itself.

It was at this point that Shion screamed in pain as her head was hit with a headache the likes she had never felt before. It caused her vision to go blurry, and because of that she only saw parts of the end of her vision. Both teens ended up defeating the demon with the aid of powers not their own naturally, which only made her question the vision since both forms of power were dark in nature. Yet what she did see in the end though was that by means that were not clear to her given her body was starting to shut down due to the pain, they both managed to absorb the demon's power for themselves. Yet while one would fully learn to harness it without any form of corruption, the other would be overcome by it and would lead to destruction on a massive scale once he learned to wield the power properly.

Her last view of the vision she saw was of their true faces, with the both of them looking alike in just about every way, yet at the last second the one who didn't succumb to the power bulked up in muscle mass for some reason, which gave her a bit of a nosebleed right before she passed out.

Her mother had warned her since she could remember that the demon known as Moryo would return, and that in doing so she would have to make the sacrifice of her own life to seal him up once more until it was time for the next priestess to do the same. She had always prayed that there would be a means to change this, so that no more would have to kill themselves to delay the monster. And it would seem that the gods were listening and answered her prayers with a vision.

Now she just had to find the man to do the deed, but at least she now knew what he looked like…

(Several days later)

Naruto sat on a log with Naruko in his lap as the two of them watched a movie scene play out in front of them. Naruto and his group had arrived to meet Sandayu, who wanted an answer to his late arrival which Naruto easily gave him. Sandayu had been floored over the fact that Naruto had killed Orochimaru as he stated, but after hearing he had done such a thing he was even happier that he had hired the young man since his abilities would come in handy.

Their group settled in easily enough, with Karen being the one to watch over Naruko since Naruto was the one being paid to bodyguard the actress, whom Naruto was irritated by immensely shortly after meeting her. He had heard the term ice queen, but till this day he had never met a single woman who actually fit that description so perfectly. The woman was cold to just about everyone around her, even him, which was not a good idea since he was the one being paid to guard her and all.

Naruko had asked her politely, while using the eyes many children use to get their way, for an autograph after stating she was her favorite actress. But the woman had simply scoffed and walked away without even a word spoken, which made Naruko cry. Naruto had to calm himself since he couldn't just verbally attack his charge, so he hugged Naruko until she calmed down and then made her some cocoa to relax. He had brought some since the area was becoming colder the further towards the water they got, and as he had been trained most of his teen years, be prepared for anything.

So here they watched her act, which Naruto had to admit she was very convincing at. It was a complete contrast to the emotionless bitch she really was, but she was still convincing all the same. And soon enough they were done with the last scene in the area and were preparing the gear on the ship for transport. Karen left with Naruko to find a place on the ship to claim as their own, all while Naruto remained off of it. He was still working as a bodyguard and since Koyuki was on the ship in her room where he was posted was the best place to be since there was no other way onto the ship other than the ramp that was constantly in use. True, Shinobi could sneak onto the ship other ways other than the main ramp, but Karen was an excellent sensor and would shout out if needed.

So here Naruto stood, bored out of his mind from lack of anything happening since no one had attacked them or anything like that. Right now he felt like a damn scarecrow, and that was not what he wanted to be. To be honest, when he was hired for the job to protect this actress, he was expecting so much more action during this job. An attack on the group, a mob of fanatical fans he would have to push back, something! Yet none of that had happened so far.

So, pulling out a cigarette and placing it into his mouth, he pulled out a cheap lighter and lit the thing to smoke it. He mentally growled over the loss of his specially made engraved lighter, but it wasn't like he couldn't buy a new one later. Plus he got family out of it so on the scales of pros and cons the pros definitely won out in the end.

But he was just getting into enjoying his smoke after a few drags when out of the blue the very cigarette he was smoking was knocked out of his mouth. This caused Naruto to raise an eyebrow since this was a bit of a surprise. He looked to see what had actually knocked the thing out of his mouth, and then sighed as he saw the kunai sticking out the ground with his cigarette attached. This meant one thing only, and he could only smirk a bit since he was getting what he wanted in the end.

"Smoking at your age," said a man as he shushinned into Naruto's view. Naruto got a good look at the man and saw that it was none other than Kakashi Hitake himself, which meant either they were here for Naruko or more than likely himself, knowing how major villages were when it came to trying to recruit wandering souls with strength into their villages. "Don't you know that it could shorten your lifespan?"

"Any more than living in a world where Shinobi kill on a daily basis?" said Naruto in retort as he looked the man in the eye, since the other one was still covered.

"Well you got a point there," said Kakashi as he made a simple hand motion. Seconds after he did, Naruto was completely surrounded by a dozen Shinobi with their weapons drawn. Naruto saw the crew members in the area drop what they were doing and flee onto the ship as the other men who were paid to protect them began to come out to guard the ship. Naruto made a simple open palmed hold gesture to them so they remained close to the ship since he didn't want them to get involved with this whole situation in hopes he could solve this far more peacefully. Plus they were here for him and his sister so there was really no need for them to get involved. "But enough of the pleasantries. We know you kidnapped Naruko and are here to arrest you for the act. So make it easy for yourself and don't fight."

"Wait a second," said Naruto with a confused look on his face, "you think I kidnapped Naruko?"

"We know you did since our contacts have given us this information of her being with you."

"So just because she is with me," said Naruto with a look on his face that was all but stating that Kakashi was an idiot, "you assumed I kidnapped her? Let's think about that for a second. I left Konoha immediately after the tournament took place. Was Naruko missing then?"

"No," said Kakashi as he actually took the time to think about it. He remembered her still being in the village a few days after the tournament, so how could Naruto have kidnapped her? Perhaps he paid someone to do it?

"Exactly," said Naruto with a chuckle, "so how could I kidnap her if that is the case?"

"You could have hired someone to do it in your stead." pointed out Kakashi.

"True," said Naruto with a closed eyed nod of his head, "but why would I want to kidnap a five year old girl? What the hell does that gain me?"

"Well considering your attitude towards my sensei and his wife…" said Kakashi leaving that statement open ended to drive the point home.

"So you think that given the past history between myself and them, that I would actually kidnap their daughter, my little sister of all people? To what? To hurt them? You might find this hard to believe, but while I might hate them with a burning passion, I don't care enough to actually act on it since I have plenty of better things to do with my time."

"So how did Naruko make her way to you if you are not the reason behind her kidnapping?"

"Orochimaru," said Naruto simply with a growl over the thought of the man who was going to perform so many horrendous as well as painful experiments to an innocent child so as to make a future vessel to cheat death with. "He was the one to do the deed. I was captured as well and managed to escape with her as well. That is why she is with me."

"If that is true, then why not bring her back home?"

"Back home?" said Naruto with a serious look on his face, "Back home to a major village, one that was infiltrated even though it preaches about how safe it is, and where she was not only kidnapped, but has an older brother who is a total asshole to her and parents that leave her wellbeing in said assholes hands… yeah… not really anxious to send her back there."

"That is not your decision," said Kakashi in a serious tone that matched Naruto's face.

"Well let's agree to disagree," said Naruto with a shrug of his shoulders, "but the truth of the matter is that until she herself wishes to go home, I will not force her back and will keep her safe."

"What do you mean by 'until she wishes to go back?'"

"I offered to take her back," said Naruto in all seriousness since it was the truth, "but she didn't want to go back. What can i say to someone who doesn't want to go back? But let's stop going down that road since bringing her is secondary to your main objective."

"And just how could you possibly know that her safety is not our top priority? She is the daughter of my sensei and I will guard her with my life!"

"And such a good job you did with that," said Naruto sarcastically, "since you failed to do just that. When a samurai fails something like that, they commit seppuku to retain some sort of honor in their failure, what do you do when you fail Shinobi? Do you plan to go the same way as your father did and commit suicide?"

"How dare…" said Kakashi through grit, yet still hidden teeth.

"And how dare you come here spouting out bullshit about me kidnapping to justify falsely arresting me!" said Naruto with a murderous look on his face. "So I will offer you one and only one chance to leave here and save face. If Minato or Kushina want Naruko back, then they can come and get her personally since they are her parents. But I doubt they will give their track record for parenting…"

"Don't you dare insult my sensei!" said Kakashi.

"Why Kakashi," said Naruto with a raised eyebrow, "because you know I speak the truth? I was their son at one point and they abandoned me to die! They let Naruko be kidnapped by Orochimaru of all people while they were too busy training their so-called prodigal son. They are terrible parents, and I would be so bold to say they shouldn't have had kids with the way they truly are!"

At this point Kakashi had lost it and wanted nothing more than to kill this brat who had the gall to say such words about his sensei. So with a quick motion he pulled up the hiate that covered his implanted Sharingan. He would end this fight here and now, and since there was no one else keeping him and the rest of the members that made up this temporary squad from getting Naruko, he could afford the exhausting drawback from using this ability. Naruto saw Kakashi's eye shift into the Mangekyo Sharingan and felt a surge of power aimed at his chest area. Naruto knew enough about this man to understand exactly what he was doing.

So jumping back quick enough, he avoided the Kamui ability that Kakashi had tried to use to kill him with. Naruto felt the power of the Kamui trying to suck him in, but the thing was essentially a miniaturized black hole so it was to be expected. But luckily for Naruto, he had the means to counter what many thought was unblockable. Seemed like he was the walking epitome of accomplishing what people thought impossible given his impressive track record. So he held up his hand and conjured up his own black hole that fully encompassed the Kamui as well as swallowed the thing up whole. While Kakashi was able to use the Kamui fairly well enough, it was so draining for him which meant his version was weaker due to his inability to maintain it for too long. Naruto was able to not only conjure up black holes like the Kamui, but maintain it without feeling any fatigue since it was one of the easiest things he had in his Grimoire to cast.

Kakashi fell over exhausted since that particular Jutsu took so much out of him, but he still had enough energy to show full shock on his face along with the others who had come with him. To see someone counter the Kamui like this had never crossed their minds, and even seeing it with their own eyes did not help register that fact. But Naruto was still of sound mind and made to attack them here and now, his thumb on the handle of his blade so as to unsheathe it and slice this fuckers head clean off, but the feeling of small hands wrapping around his leg stopped him from doing so as well as halted his anger. Naruto looked down and saw Naruko there with tears in her eyes since she did not want to see Naruto fight Kakashi like this.

"Please don't fight big brother," said Naruko as she hugged his leg harder. Naruto took one look at her and felt his anger melt away as he saw her face full of such innocence. So he stood back up straight and made to walk Naruko back towards the boat, but he erected a thick dark barrier that protected him from the kunai and shuriken the Shinobi had thrown at his back. Naruto knew they would do this, but as long as Naruko didn't want him to fight, he wouldn't since he didn't want to make her sadder than she already was. But dear Kami they were trying his patience which was already paper thin when it came to these assholes.

"Naruko," said Kakashi weakly as he gathered the strength to stand up properly, "we are here to take you home. Naruto can't harm you anymore."

"I don't want to go home," said Naruko sadly as she looked at Kakashi, "Menma is always mean to me. Mom and dad are never there for me. I want to stay with my big brother Naruto."

"I'm sorry Naruko," said Kakashi, "but your parents want you back home…" Kakashi never got to finish his sentence since he as well as the rest of the Shinobi were bound in what appeared to be jet black ropes.

"My little sister said she doesn't want to go back Kakashi," said Naruto, "so leave and tell her parents this. Also thank the gods that Naruko was here to stay my hand since otherwise I would have not held back and killed you like you tried to do to me. Remember that for when we next meet."

Naruto then nudged Naruko back on the boat. While Naruko had asked him not to fight, he was still able to subdue them with Dark Magic Bindings like he had. The miracle of loopholes...

And soon enough, the ship took off from where they were towards their next destination Snow Country. Soon after they left, the bindings that restrained Kakashi and his men simply disappeared without a trace. Kakashi heaved a huge sigh since he was not looking forward to telling his sensei what had happened here…

(2 days later)

The next two days were about as uneventful as when he had been standing guard during the duration of the time they had been in port to load the boat up with all the essentials they needed for filming the movie they currently were. The highlight was the fact that Naruto got to actually witness a film being shot live, which was something new so he had a silver lining to this trip at least. But he wondered when the real threat would appear like he expected. Kakashi and his group had been here for him and Naruko, so that was obviously not the reason he was hired to protect the actress since they were not a threat to her… well at least not yet since as far as he knew she had done nothing to piss off Konoha being an actress and all. But then again the village was trying to force him back after years of hating him, so shit happened when you least expected it to.

But eventually they made landfall, and it was then that the attack he expected happened…

"Well hello there Koyuki!" said a man with a light purple haired pony tail. He was joined by two others, each of them wearing armor that Naruto had never seen before, but then again he had only recently begun traveling the world so it was not too much of a surprise since there were plenty of things he had never seen.

"Who are you!" shouted the now named Koyuki, which was weird to many since they knew here by another name. "How do you know me by that name?"

"Did you really believe you could hide from your uncle forever, princess?" said the obvious leader of this small squad of Shinobi.

"My uncle…" said Koyuki as the color in her face began to drain in fear as the memories of her past began to haunt her right now.

"We have been hired by your uncle to bring you to him. Now you can come quietly, or I and my team can simply eliminate your entourage until you submit."

Koyuki was troubled by these words since while she was cold to her fans, she did not want innocent people to die for her like this. Yet before she could say anything on the subject, Naruto walked ahead of her and motioned with his hand for her to stay put. He had been paid good money to keep her safe, and now he was just happy that he actually got the chance to do his job.

"I don't know who you are…" started Naruto before he was interrupted by the man who made the threat towards everyone on the boat.

"Oh how rude of me," said the man with a laugh that just oozes arrogance, "sorry for not making introductions my priority. I am Nadare, the big guy to my right is Mizore, and the woman next to me on the left is Fubuki. I sincerely hope that I have slated your curiosity, and may that knowledge comfort you in the afterlife wherever you might end up!"

Nadare then threw multiple explosive kunai towards Naruto, who didn't even flinch as he made the hand sign to detonate them. Nadare had assumed a quick kill, but his face went to one of shock when he saw Naruto still standing there without a scratch on him. He had instinctively used his Dark Cocoon that had shielded him from the blast, and the smoke had covered up his ability so it had seemed like he was simply unfazed by the attack. His dispersal of the barrier caused the smoke to vanish around him as it did.

"Well well well," said Fubuki as she licked her kunai in a way too sexual way, "it seems we found an interesting opponent. Well handsome, if you manage to survive this, I am going to love breaking you in as my latest toy."

"No," said Naruto simply. "You are not my type."

"Oh you did it now boy," said Mizore with a grin. If there was one thing one must know about Fubuki was that she didn't take 'no' for an answer towards her advances. She only got violent to those men and women who said it until they finally submitted to her violent ways.

"You are under the impression that you have a choice in the matter," said Fubuki with a sinister grin on her face to match the clearly insane look in her eyes. It was like the mask she wore had utterly shattered and this was the real her. "But we shall see how long you can keep this up until you give in like so many others!"

"So attempted rape it is then," said Naruto with a sigh as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "You know you are just adding more reasons on the list for me to kill you right?"

"As if you could!" laughed Fubuki sinisterly, but she quickly ended it and performed the hand signs to summon a line of ice crystals that were coming at him quickly, but not quick enough since his reflexes made him see it moving slower. He summoned up his magical power to Gashi and sliced downwards with one hand. The energy launched out and sliced through all crystals and made a path that Naruto ran through. Fubuki's vision was blurred by the size of her crystals, but she saw the last one being cut through and dodged the attack that cut them. But before she could say or do anything else, her view got a lot lower all of a sudden, and not by choice. Her vision was starting to blur, and the last thing she saw before it fully faded was Naruto standing there flinging the blood he got on his blade from slicing her head clean off onto the ground.

"Fubuki!" shouted Mizore in terror that this random guy had killed her so easily like he had. She was wearing chakra armor to block jutsu, and yet this guy had simply decapitated her like it was nothing! His face lost its color as he saw Naruto looking at him now. But he was not going to die like Fubuki had and kill this fucker here and now! So he used a jutsu to blow out snowy powder to block his vision somehow, and when he was sure that Naruto was unable to see him, he launched out a grappling claw to try and grab him from a distance.

But Naruto was not hindered by the sudden loss of sight of his surroundings like now. Fighting while blindfolded was one of the lessons he had trained in on his path to become the samurai he was now, and this was no different than that. So when he heard the grappling hook being launched, he was prepared for it easily enough. He grabbed the metallic hand with his own and yanked hard towards himself. Mizore came flying through the air with his shock only amplified by this turn of events. He had used the grappler to capture Naruto, not to be launched towards him. But he never got a chance to dodge or defend himself properly since Naruto rushed forward and bisected him through the center of his chest right through the chakra armor he assumed would protect him. But Naruto's attacks were pure physical strength so chakra armor did not help.

Naruto knew he had one guy left to kill, but before he could even turn around, a pack of what he assumed were wolves, yet made of snow and ice, pounced from behind him in an attempt to rip him to shreds. Naruto was about to slice them with Gashi, but something even he was not expecting happened out of the blue. They were all blasted to pieces by a sudden blast of wind which could only mean a wind jutsu was used. At first Naruto assumed it was Karin who did this, but he remembered from their conversations on the way here she was proficient with water and earth jutsu. So now raised the question on who the hell used a wind one? The man who sent ice wolves at him wouldn't destroy his own attack, and his group were all dead so it wasn't some sort of misfire…

But he got his answer a few seconds later, and he had to admit that it surprised him since he did not see it coming…

There stood Shizuka of all people standing over the dead body of Nadare, who had a look of surprise forever frozen on his face. Apparently he wasn't expecting her either, and going by the few dozen kunai sticking all over his body; it was a safe bet to assume that he died from that.

"Well thanks for the assistance," said Naruto with a grin, but then he quickly pointed his blade at her since he was suspicious of her, "but now I am going to question why the hell you are here. The first time I can honestly say was pure chance since I didn't know who you were and we just happened to cross paths. The second time is easily explainable given the fact we were both in the same village for a tournament of all things. But this is the middle of nowhere in another country that you really don't have a reason being in. So explain why you are here."

"Well that's a fine way to express gratitude," said Shizuka sarcastically as she used her finger to try and move Gashi away from her face, but the second she touched the thing she felt her chakra being sapped far faster than when Naruto had done it with the scabbard still on the blade.

"I wouldn't touch the blade if I was you," said Naruto simply yet in a still serious tone, "it is a chakra leeching blade."

"How…" started Shizuka before she remembered mid-sentence, "Oh right… no chakra…"

"So I will ask you once more," said Naruto, "why are you here?"

"I will tell you," said the voice of a woman behind him with a kunai pressed to the back of his neck. This made Naruto's eyebrow rise since he had not sensed her. Apparently there were those who were aware of KI and knew how to suppress it like she had, "but first remove your blade from her face."

"Alright," said Naruto with a sigh. He had a feeling he knew who was the one saying these things since said woman had been near Shizuka all the other times they had met, so it was a safe bet. He took the last few puffs of his cigarette before he blew out the butt towards the ground. Since it was all snow covered, there was no need to stomp it out since the snow extinguished the thing.

So Naruto stood guard as the film crew all set up for the next scene. They all did thank Naruto as they passed by since he had saved them from an attack. But as he stood guard, he spoke with Shizuka and her companion Tokiwa. Apparently they had come all this way to bring him back to Nadeshiko village to marry Shizuka and Naruto together.

This random bit of news had caused Naruto to laugh to the point of tears since this was not what he was expecting to hear. He thought she had wanted some sort of rematch or the like, but this was not what he was expecting. Once he was able to speak again after catching his breath again, he told them simply no. This floored them since they had not expected Naruto to just blatantly refuse. He did go on to explain that he was too young to think about settling down and starting a family of any sort. He had only barely gone out into the world to experience adventure like he was now, so he had no plans to do so yet.

Tokiwa would have had some words to get their argument on the subject started, but they were interrupted when Naruto heard one of the crewmembers shouting out that Koyuki had run off. Naruto had sighed and took off in the direction that he pointed in. Naruto had to run for about ten minutes before he caught up with her, and even then she refused to go back with him. But Naruto was persistent and every direction she fled, he was there to block her off. He simply asked her what was bothering her, and yet she refused to say, at least at first. But given the fact she could not escape his pursuit since he was faster than her, she finally explained her story.

She explained that she was the princess of this land, yet her father had been killed when she was younger by his brother and he then took over. She would have been killed too if it had not been for a Shinobi, one she could not fully remember due to the trauma of the moment messing with her memories of her youth. So she refused to go home since it would mean certain death if she did.

As she explained herself, neither was aware of the fact that Shizuka or Tokiwa had hidden themselves in the trees near them so as to hear what they were saying…

Naruto simply nodded as he heard her story since in a way he could understand it, but it still didn't mean he agreed with it and he told her this. She had run from her rightful place as the leader of this country, and doing so had left the people in the hands of a tyrant who cared not for the people and used force to get what he wanted. Naruto explained his own childhood, going so far as to state that he was the disowned son of Minato Namikaze himself, yet was left to die due to circumstances far beyond his own power. So he knew what it meant to suffer, and yet even in the worst of times, he did not simply ball up and give up; no he took that event as a learning experience to see that the world was truly cruel to all people, and that he would have to become stronger if he wanted to survive in it. So now he asked her if she wanted to run away again, this time with the promise of not following her, but if she did, she was not only letting the very people who made up her home country down, but dishonoring the memory of her own father the more she ran.

Koyuki at this point was in tears since his words had hit her hard. He had been right that her people were suffering under the rule of Doto, and for years her father had haunted her dreams with simple looks of disappointment, which made her cold to people to mask her own insecurity and pain from the world. But now she looked up and saw Naruto smiling at her and holding out a hand to get her back to her feet.

"Let's work together to fix what is broken," said Naruto simply, "Take it from someone who understands your pain, you will need the help to get there."

Koyuki then wiped the tears from her eyes and took his hand. He then kneeled down so he could piggyback her back to the crew members. It took less time with him doing the running. From there, she went back to acting for the movie like nothing had happened in the past hour.

As he remained on guard since he was still being paid to guard her and all, Shizuka and her companion were relentless in their efforts to convince him to come back to their village. Naruto simply kept refusing on the grounds that he was not a Shinobi, so he was not bound by the customs of a Shinobi village, and even more so for an all kunoichi one. He remembered their faces when he joked about if their village's rules stated a man who beat their kunoichi married them, then he would have to marry about two dozen other women since he kicked their asses too. So going by that logic he would not only be married, but have a harem as well apparently. But this was all just a joke since he was not ready to settle down, and told them this time and time again. Yet he had to admit they were persistent in their efforts. When he was not being hounded by those two, he was spending time with Naruko and Karen, who remained safe so far.

The film moved more towards the capital city of Snow Country, and it was along the way that they were finally confronted by Doto himself. The tyrant of a man had been extremely infuriated when he had heard nothing back from his Shinobi he sent to bring back Koyuki once she made landfall, and set out on his own private train to deal with them. He rode the thing towards their group, which made Naruto question how the hell no one knew there were train tracks there to begin with, yet they were buried under so much snow so it was easy to understand once you thought about it.

The man had gone on a typical rant about ruling the place the way he saw fit, and the usual tyrant speech that Naruto had read in many different stories as he grew up, which made it a bit humorous that people made such speeches in real life. Naruto grew bored with this easily and had walked forward to deal with the man. Doto had his train open up on the side which revealed multiple holes in rows that were filled with something he was not quite sure of, but whatever he had wanted to do with the thing Naruto had not allowed it to happen since with multiple swipes of his unsheathed blade that were faster than the untrained eye was able to perceive, he cut the thing into multiple chunks of scrap. Naruto simply smirked when he saw Doto's face, which he wished he had a camera to immortalize the moment. He then simply kicked the man square in the face as he fell forward hard enough to knock him right out. He proceeded to rip the chakra armor he was wearing off his body as well and then crushed his hands so he was incapable of using jutsu before he threw the man towards Koyuki at her feet.

He told her it was her duty to judge him, and he would not take that from her since it was her problem. He had only been hired as a bodyguard after all, not a political assassin. Koyuki couldn't help but laugh as he said that since his words rang true. It was at this point that her manager Sandayu reappeared, which made her and Naruto look confused since they had no idea he had been gone to begin with. This went to show that they had been preoccupied with too much other stuff to even notice his departure. The man had come back with a small army of samurai who were loyal to the former ruler of Snow Country to defend the rightful ruler from her uncle the moment they heard he was going after her. But they were completely floored when they saw the man they had come to defend her from on the ground unconscious with his hands broken.

Naruto had never gotten so many handshakes in his life as he was thanked by so many men. Sandayu had laughed about the whole thing and exclaimed that he was so glad he had hired Naruto to protect the princess. The rest of the trip went off without any sort of complications, since Doto was dragged away to a cell deep within their prison and Koyuki slowly made her way towards the machine that her father had left her the key to activate. The heater, which was what the machine was, activated and melted the snow from the ground far and wide. As her father had always promised her in her youth…

Spring had come to their land…

The next week had been a major celebration for the people of the newly named Spring Country as Koyuki was crowned unto the throne that was rightfully hers. Naruto as well as his group, which included Shizuka and Tokiwa as well for some reason, were shown royal hospitality for their aid in getting Koyuki there, and Naruko was happiest when Koyuki gave her the autograph she wanted from the start.

A full week had gone by, and as it did Naruto wondered what to do next since he had no real destination in mind. He had done all this since Sandayu had hired him when he went to his first destination Suna. He had no other plans, but like last time the universe had something for him. He was called into the throne room by Koyuki herself, and one does not just dismiss an order like that, even more so from a new friend of all things.

"So what does your highness require of me," said Naruto as he walked into the room with a laugh. The guards on duty knew that the young man meant no offense to their charge so they didn't correct his manner of speaking to royalty.

"I have called you here for an important situation," said Koyuki with a smirk of her own.

"Let me guess," said Naruto as he held his head in a thinking pose, "this has become like one of those children's books where the handsome warrior saves the princess and then they get married at the end and live happily ever after. Am I hitting the nail on the head here?"

Koyuki looked at him in confusion for a second since his response had been quite out of left field here, and yet it ended with her laughing hard as it sank in.

"Oh gods no," said Koyuki as she wiped a tear from her eye, "I did not call you here to offer my hand in marriage. Besides, you aren't my type."

"Oh yeah," said Naruto with a chuckle, "and how is that? Is it my muscles? My rugged good looks that push you away?"

"Actually," said Koyuki with a smirk since she knew that Naruto was joking with her as he did this, "it's your gender…"

"Oh," said Naruto with a closed eye nod, but then her words fully sunk in and he actually understood what it was she said in full and his eyes opened to show he did. "Oooohhhhh... Well you are what you are and I hope you nothing but happiness for the future."

"Noted," said Koyuki, "but the actual reason I called for you is that a threat has made itself known to me by someone."

"And what kind of threat is it?" asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow since this had peaked his interest a bit.

"I'll just let her tell you about it," said Koyuki as she gestured with her hand for someone to come forward. As she did, what Naruto easily recognized as a priestess stepped forward. She had long blonde hair and pupiless pink eyes.

"Hello there," said the priestess with a polite bow towards Naruto, "I am so glad to have met you. It has taken me a bit to find you."

"Well thanks," said Naruto confused about this since he had never met this woman before and yet she had searched him out. He wondered just what sort of reputation he was making for himself if people were coming out of the blue like this to seek him out. Sandayu had done so to seek his aid as a samurai, and Shizuka had sought to bring him back to the village for what was basically a forced marriage. This made him question her motives since the reasoning behind seeking him out varied so much like this. "I guess?"

"How rude of me," said the priestess, "allow me to introduce myself. I am the priestess Shion from Demon Country."

"Hmm…" hummed Naruto in thought as he thought hard on whether he had ever heard that name or not. But he was coming up blank here so it was more than likely he had not, which wasn't a surprise since Demon Country never had dealings with Iron. "I can't say I know who you are."

"I know who you are," said Shion, "thanks to her highness Koyuki. And after hearing what you have accomplished from my contacts, I know that you are the right man for the task at hand."

"So what exactly do you require of me," said Naruto with a raised eyebrow as his curiosity was piqued by this.

"You see, I come from a long line of priestesses who guard a shrine that houses a powerful demon that is sealed within."

"So like a Jinchuriki?" asked Naruto since he was trying to make sense of this.

"Not quite," replied Shion with a shake of her head, "since this demon is far too powerful to be contained by any person alive. It seeks the destruction of our world so as to harness our souls and enslave us to its will."

"That is terrible, this I will admit, but what does that have to do with me specifically?" said Naruto as he was trying to connect the dots here to understand the full picture.

"My family has been blessed with the gift of visions of great tragedies to come." said Shion.

"That seems like more of a curse if you are forced to see nothing but destruction like that."

"From a certain perspective that might seem true, but as I as well as my ancestors have seen it, we use said knowledge to aid the people and minimize the casualties that would happen if we had not seen it with our own eyes."

"Well you got me there," said Naruto as he shrugged his shoulders. He had no means to argue that form of reasoning.

"But you are right in saying this blessing is a curse since with it comes a duty that must be fulfilled if and when the time comes to pass."

"And exactly what is that?"

"When the demon Moryo breaks free, the priestess sacrifices herself to seal the demon up once more, thus passing the duty as the Priestess to the next in line."

"So your mother," said Naruto as he was getting a clear picture here.

"Died to seal the demon up as her mother did before her, and her mother before that."

"My condolences," said Naruto, "but even though you told me all this, I am still confused as to why you sought me out?"

"For years I had been resigned to suffering my mother's fate, even so much as to look for someone to help sire a child within me so that upon my death they would be able to seal the demon in the future when the seal inevitably breaks once more. Yet when I felt the seal begin to weaken as it had many times before to symbolize the return of the demon, I was granted a vision that showed me a different path to take than my ancestors had done. I was shown a warrior capable of killing the demon once and for all, so that no longer would the threat of such a demon be an issue. You are the warrior I saw in my vision."

Naruto would have said more along the lines of a question or two, but at this point Shion fell to her knees as the tears she had held back for years began to flow forth. She had always been told to remain strong by her mother since as the priestess she had to show the people that she was not afraid. But the reality of the situation was that she was afraid of the death she knew would happen due to the demon breaking free, and then the horror of cursing her own child with this duty to suffer the same fate got to her hard. At this point, so much pain that she had locked away had burst forth and she could no longer hold it back.

"I don't want to die…" said Shion sadly before she looked at Naruto with tear filled eyes, "please help me…"

What Naruto did next he did without thinking in the slightest…

He walked forward and hugged her…

As he had seen her crying on her knees, he had seen the memories of himself as he himself didn't want to die in his youth, and even went so far as to beg for help when he had gone to Mifune to teach him to survive. He wouldn't be like his father and turn away someone in pain akin to his own...

"Hey now," said Naruto as he pulled out a handkerchief that he had and wiped the tears from her face. He then stood up and held out his hand to help her back to her feet. "No need for tears. A samurai can't just ignore a crying woman like this. So I'll help you."

"You will?" said Shion in joy that the vision she saw would come to pass and she would no longer be forced to die to contain a demon.

"Of course," said Naruto with a laugh, "since I relish the challenge as well as the chance to eliminate a demon of all things. My reputation would skyrocket if that were to happen."

"Thank you," said Shion as she composed herself once more and smiled a genuine smile.

"No need for thanks," said Naruto with a passive wave of his hand, "since what kind of a man would I be if I didn't help?"

"Then we must make haste towards Demon Country," said Shion with urgency in her voice, "since the seal was weakening as I left to seek you out, and I have no idea as to how long it will last or if it will even hold until we get back."

"Well then," said Naruto with a simple nod of his head. He then looked at Koyuki to address her, and he saw her smirking at him since he acted like a knight in the stories her father used to read to her in her childhood. It was so cliché, but it wasn't a bad thing to have someone like him aiding those who needed it. "Koyuki, I thank you for the hospitality. Can you do me a favor and give Karen a message for me?"

"Sure," said Koyuki with a raised eyebrow since she wondered what the message was. She saw Naruto pull out a scroll and write something in it before he tossed it to her which she caught.

"It's basically a note to explain what is happening as well as instructions on where to go next with Naruko."

"She is not going with you?" asked Koyuki in surprise that he would leave her like this.

"You want me to bring a five year old girl towards a demon capable of not only killing people but enslaving their very souls as well? Does that make sense to you?"

"Well shit," said Koyuki, more to herself than him, "you got me there."

"Indeed I do." said Naruto with a smirk. He then waved good-bye to her and left the room with Shion, who was leading him towards the boat she had used to get to this country in the first place…

(4 days later)

Naruto had spent the last four days resting, which was smart since his opponent would be stronger than anything else he had ever faced so it was a sound plan to rest until he was needed to conserve energy. Shion stayed in her own private quarters the entire trip back, which disturbed Naruto a bit since he was expecting her to at least talk to him on the way there yet had not done so. It was only after they made landfall that she finally came out and ushered him towards the carriage that was there for them. Yet even as they rode towards Demon Country, she still remained silent, which made Naruto wonder on just why she was silent. But the few times he noticed she looked at him though, she was acting very similar to Temari when they had been walking towards Konoha…

What was it with women hating to be around him like this? What had he done to a woman who sought him out to aid her to cause him to dislike him like this? Was he just cursed to have women hate to be around him for the rest of his life?

The carriage ran nonstop for a day and a half since the urgency of returning to stop Moryo from being set free was very palpable. But eventually when they were nearing the last valley that led towards the cave where the demon was sealed, the horses stopped the carriage completely. Naruto hopped out of the carriage after telling Shion to remain inside for her own safety. He now understood why the horses had stopped since before them were thousands of soldiers made of solid rock.

"Well this is a sight one does not see every day," said Naruto as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. He had gotten another custom made lighter while in Spring Country, and he swore if he lost this one he would be so pissed since the last one he had only had for like a week at most. If he ever found out who took it he would beat them into a bloody pulp by the end of it. "Now how to deal with this quickly… would take my time and enjoy it, but time is a bit of a factor apparently so what to do?"

Naruto stood there for a second as the stone soldiers finally noticed him and began to walk towards him so as to eliminate him. It was then that an idea came to Naruto's mind and he smirked since he wondered why he hadn't thought of this before. He placed his hand onto Gashi's handle and channeled power into the blade so that it was awash in dark energy that looked like flames. It took a bit to gather the proper amount of magical energy to ensure to get the job done, but he gathered it easily enough. Once fully ready, he swiped his blade to use Dark Cloaked Dimension Slash, yet unlike when he had used it against Menma, albeit holding back so much power given his goal was to win their match and not kill him, he swiped horizontally this time around. He was guessing that these soldiers were built for their sturdiness and not for evasiveness. His guess turned out to be correct since his one swipe split them all across the chest forcing their top halves to fall to the ground and crumble. Naruto was genuinely impressed with himself since he half expected that to not work as well as it did. But now the question was just how far could he cut with this ability…

Questions for later…

Shion stepped out of the carriage and her eyes opened wide as she saw the massive piles of rocks that used to be stone soldiers littering the immediate area. If she was not sure about her vision's accuracy with Naruto being capable of defeating Moryo, this only helped to squash any and all doubt she might have had in her mind. For one man to have such power to take on an army like this was rare, with the only person she ever heard of doing so being Minato Namikaze himself. But she told Naruto they needed to hurry since if the stone soldiers were here then that meant the seal was weakened to the point of nearly breaking apart.

So with her leading them, they ran into the cave entrance that led to a vast opening that was lit up with various paths in the shape of a seal of sorts that was illuminated by the lava that lay at the bottom of this place. Shion ran to the area where she was meant to sacrifice herself to renew the seal, but as they got closer, the cliff cracked and broke as multiple pillars of dark purplish energy emerged from it. The seal was now officially shattered, and Moryo had finally broken free. Shion cowered in fear as she saw the large demon tower over the two of them in the shape of a dragon of all things. The demon did not hesitate in its attack by breathing dark flames in their direction, but Naruto protected them with a Black Cocoon easily enough. He assured Shion that everything would be alright, but then things went south for Naruto in a manner he was not quite ready for…

Moryo was a demon that had been to multiple dimensions…

And unfortunately for Naruto, one of those dimensions had been one where magic did exist, and as such it recognized the power Naruto was using. While surprised that someone from this dimension was capable of such a thing, it mattered little and it would squash this insignificant speck that dared to challenge it. Naruto had the skills to defend himself from the demon easily enough, even with its multiple heads that it attacked with. The demon tried multiple means of attack, yet that was not enough, but it was wearing Naruto down since his energy was being exhausted the longer he fought. He tried slashing the demon with multiple magical attacks, yet it did nothing since the accursed thing could regenerate any and all damage done. Even his Dark Dimensional Slash did nothing since the demon was a multi-dimensional being so it could reconstruct itself…

But the fight took a turn for the worse when the demon finally noticed Shion and made to attack her instead so that no attempts to seal him away could take place, and with her death there would be no more that could. Yet Naruto rushed forward and threw her out of harm's way before he used his blade to jam the demon's mouth open so it didn't eat him. While an impressive show of skill, it proved to be the wrong course of action since the demon then blasted him with a full on point blank explosive breath attack.

Naruto's Mana Skin, which he used not only to maintain his body heat in extreme weathers like when he was walking through snow without proper snow gear on as well as protected his body from being damaged, withstood the blunt of the damage, yet Gashi had shattered from the blast itself, with the fragments launching all over, with one of them being Naruto's chest. Naruto hit the wall hard and then fell forward onto his stomach. Shion cried out his name as she ran towards him, and Moryo took this as the perfect moment to kill them both.

But something none of them expected happened that stopped the demon cold…

A dark energy erupted from Naruto himself, with the power freezing the two coming towards him, and it was then that Naruto began to move. He got back to his feet, which surprised Moryo, yet it caused Shion to fall onto her ass since as a priestess she recognized a demonic possession, and right now that was what was happening to Naruto. His eyes were glowing red with such malice deeply embedded into them, and what appeared to be liquid darkness enveloped his body entirely before he sprouted wings of all things and roared to the heavens.

Moryo finally got its shit together and tried to attack the brat once more with a more powerful blast, yet the demonically possessed boy smirked as he held up a hand and consumed the power in a small condensed black hole before leaping forward and punching the demon square in the face hard enough to embed its head into the wall…

(Mindscape)

"Fuck," said Naruto as he recognized this red area from the last time he had been here. Yet as he turned all around to see where the hell the demon sealed inside him was, he could not see the damn thing.

"So weak…" said a voice in the distance that Naruto could not make out who said it.

"I'm not weak," said Naruto as he prepared himself for whatever would happen. He summoned up a mental version of Gashi in his hand, since even though the real blade was destroyed in the real world; this was still his mind so here things followed his rules.

"But you are," said the voice from behind Naruto this time. He turned around to find out who said that, yet there was no one there. What was there instead was the Namikaze Estate with the area being the middle of the night. Naruto recognized the time as well as the place immediately. It was the day he was thrown out of the family on his seventh birthday, complete with all the clan heads and their children laughing at him. For years he had tried to overcome this memory, but the pain of it had continuously haunted him to no end. It both hindered him as well as inspired him to prove them wrong, and that fact alone messed with his head.

Naruto turned to walk away from this memory, but when he turned around, there was the Namikaze estate once more with the same people laughing at him. It appeared in every direction, with the laughter getting only louder, causing Naruto's rage to swell to the point of him roaring in rage, which apparently did the trick since the scene changed to a field of all things. But the strange thing was the fact that he had no idea as to where this field was since it didn't look familiar to him.

But that mattered little to him since in seconds he was surrounded by multiple copies of Minato, still standing there laughing at him and calling him a weak abomination. At this point, Naruto had enough and sliced the nearest one in half with his imaginary Gashi. If Naruto had stopped to pay attention instead of rushed forward to kill more of the man who apparently still haunted his mind, he would have noticed the one he killed turning into a black puddle of goo. But Naruto was too far gone in his hatred for the man. For years he had suppressed his raw rage and desire to kill the man who had left him to die to the elements, and that was a floodgate one could not easily close when it blasted open like this.

For what seemed like hours, but given time in a person's mindscape was difficult to determine, Naruto slaughtered the man time and time again who didn't even fight back. He just kept laughing at him no matter how many Naruto killed. But he was growing tired from this, and unknown to him, this was the plan for him. When Naruto was on his literal last leg of strength from slaughtering what he assumed was an army of Minato's, he felt something grab ahold of his foot. He looked down and finally saw the dark goo that had been not only pooling all around him, but had followed him in wait until he was too weak to fight back. Naruto managed to break his foot free of the stuff, but the main issue here was that the stuff was now all over so there was no place to cleanly walk without being caught in the stuff.

"To think that one as powerful as you could be easily toyed with with the memories of your father," said a dark voice that Naruto remembered so well. He had only ever heard it the one time he was last here, but he never forgot it even to this day. He turned around and sure enough the same demon he saw last time was here.

"You," said Naruto in anger as he now understood what was happening. He felt so stupid that he had not seen it sooner and fell for this trap.

"But no matter boy," said the demon with a wicked grin, "sink into the dark pits of your mind and just let me take control. I will show the world just what your body is capable of, and mixed with my power I will be a god in this world!"

Naruto wanted to say something, but he was too busy as he struggled in vain as the darkness grabbed a hold of him and he began to sink into the stuff slowly. As he struggled in vain to escape what he assumed would be his death, which now that he thought about it would probably leave him brain dead since this was his mindscape he was fighting in not the real world. Not like that would be an issue given the fact that there was a demon just waiting to control him here and now and heaven only knows what horrific stuff it had in mind if it succeeded. The thing had stated it wanted to be like a god, and those with such forms of thinking were never right in the head and only caused misery for others in their desire to be perceived as the god they want to be seen as. But in the end, Naruto was engulfed in the darkness, which went on as far as he could see, which he questioned since he had assumed he would die from this. But apparently not, which meant he had a chance to break free at some point. But the second he tried to move, electrical energy that was dark in nature coursed through his body to the point it stiffened his joints from the power coursing through him like this.

"Hey kid," said a voice behind him, which caused him to open his eyes in shock since this was not the voice of the demon who he had been battling this entire time, "is this how you want to go out?"

"Paragon?" asked Naruto out loud since the last time he had dealt with this demon Paragon had been the one to help him break free, yet that was not the case this time around given his current predicament. Yet the person standing, or floating since there was really no way to describe this place since it went beyond the rules of reality, was somehow more surprising. Standing there was none other than Yami Sukehiro. This caused Naruto's jaw to drop open since he only ever saw the man in visions when he was recovering from his coma like state when he acquired his magical power for the first time.

"No," said Yami as he puffed on the cigarette he was smoking at the moment. This caused Naruto to sweat drop a bit since he wondered if this was why he smoked himself, and then came the bigger question as to where the hell did a man who he assumed was a spirit get a cigarette? Apparently there were phantom smokes… who knew? But even when faced with such knowledge he had no plans to stop. "Not sure who this Paragon is, nor do I really care since my time here is short. Apparently my Grimoire sealed a bit of my soul in it to preserve it so that it wouldn't destroy itself when I died."

"So why are you here now?"

"You remind me of a kid I once worked with," said Yami with a bellowing laugh, "with the lack of magic from my world, he himself was cursed with a demon like you are now. I wonder if that happens in every world…"

"Hey!" shouted Naruto in a bit of anger, "time is a bit of a factor here! So do you have a means to break me free or not!?"

"I am just the remnants of a spirit kid," said Yami, "so what do you expect me to do?"

"Well fuck," said Naruto under his breath since he was hoping for some sort of miracle here, but instead he had a spirit that couldn't do anything.

"But you have everything you need already kid," said Yami with a smirk.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean that you can easily win this fight," said Yami as he flicked his cigarette a bit to make the ashes fall off, "you just have to believe that."

"I already tried and lost to the demon within me!"

"Let me tell you this," said Yami with a smirk, "in my time, we had a kid unable to use magic in a world that everyone could. He had a demon like you did, and it tried to control him as well, yet through sheer will power he overcame the demon and controlled it instead to become stronger. So don't you think if he could do all that, you can as well as the one to wield my former magical power?"

Naruto made to say something, but he stopped cold since he had not a word to say in response since the man was speaking truth.

"Exactly kid," said Yami as his spirit began to fade away, "always remember to push past your limits." And with those final words Yami was gone, but his final words rekindled his will to defeat his inner demon here and now. So with great pain given the pain he was shocked with when he moved in the slightest, he got into an attacking position.

He stood there for a minute and took a deep breath to prepare himself. When Gashi had shattered like it had, the power it contained transferred to his person, which was then consumed by the demon within him which gave it the power it needed to finally take control of his body like it was now. But if he could concentrate hard enough, he might just be able to rip the power from the demon given this was his mind and what he thought became reality. And while he didn't want to use this technique given what it represented to him being nothing but bad memories and rejection from those who saw him as a mistake, he had no other options in his head since he never really dealt with chakra before given his lack of the stuff from birth. So he held out his hand and within it he concentrated on the center of it fully.

He eventually felt as the darkness around him began to become sucked into the center of it, and took the form of an orb akin to the Rasengan his father had made. Like he said, he didn't want to use this, but this was the most powerful jutsu in his mind since he was inexperienced on the subject. Soon enough, the darkness that was his prison was fully absorbed into the attack so he once more was surrounded by the dark red area in his mind he had been in the last time he was with the Demon there with all the strands he had showing he was controlling his body fully.

"What is this?!" demanded the demon is genuine surprise that Naruto had broken free from the dark prison he had put him in so as to not escape. The boy had been severely weakened like he had planned with his power being sapped continuously so as to not gain the power break free, so where the hell did he gather such strength to do just that!?

"This ends here and now you demonic fuck," growled Naruto in rage as he prepared to sprint forward.

"And here you expect to use your father's signature jutsu to win against me," laughed the demon, "but you don't have the strength to fight me boy. So give up now and return to the depths of your mind. You are too weak to fight anyone. Not me, and certainly not your father you hate so much. You aren't strong enough!"

"Wrong," said Naruto as he charged forward with all the magical strength he could muster, but when he had got close, a barrier was there to stop him short of a few inches from his target. The demon smirked as he saw what he assumed was a futile effort given the strength of the barrier was immense, but that smile shifted to a frown as he saw the barrier crack, and before it could do anything else to stop this, given it was taking most of his strength to control the boy's body while it was fighting Moryo, the barrier shattered and the attack hit it in the face. "I'm stronger." Naruto yelled as he pumped every last bit of his remaining strength into this one attack, and all the while the demon was screeching in pain as he did.

But as he did this, the attack was absorbing the power that had been taken from him over time, making his attack grow in strength by the second. It took a bit, but in the end, the demon screeched one last ear deafening roar before it was fully vanquished. Yet Naruto was not able to celebrate his victory in any sense of the word since his body then began to spasm in immense pain that was even worse than the shocks he got in his dark prison. The reason for this pain though was beyond his understanding as he screamed in pain since it hurt so much. Even more so when he had acquired his magical power in the first place.

What Naruto had not known was that the demon inside him was the reason behind his lack of chakra. It came from a race of them that went from world to world, dimension to dimension, each one of them finding a host in a newborn baby since they had no means to protect themselves from possession. Older people could fight them off if their will was strong enough, and so they stuck with newborns and played it safer that way. But as they did, they consumed the power that the baby used in their world so as to sustain themselves over the years so that in time they could become strong enough to take control of their host and wreak havoc one way or another. This was what their race did, and Naruto had been the unlucky one chosen to be host to this particular demon.

So for the past sixteen years, the demon had been absorbing Naruto's chakra so that he couldn't even use it from the moment he took his first breath, yet sustained him in a way so that he would not die as an alternate life force since he would have died if the demon did not. Now while it would have been able to take control of its host by now normally, the external force of magical energy that Naruto gained had only slowed its process to a crawl and now it had to wait until Naruto was weakened like he had been due to his fight with Moryo. But when he was killed, the chakra that was naturally Naruto's was unlocked all at once instead of slowly as was natural. So this was sixteen years' worth of chakra flowing through him all at once, and to make it worse as well as painful was the fact it was combatting with the magical energy Naruto had been using for years. The results were what were causing Naruto to scream in pain like he was now since both sources of power were vying for control.

But while on the inside in his mindscape, it seemed so simple, on the outside his body had fallen to his knees while his body glowed with a swirl of energy with half being jet black while the other was light blue. What made the thing apparently even worse was the Grimoire that Naruto always had on his person… well it was a weird mix of burning up and exploding. But whatever power had sealed within was not gone since it attacked itself to Naruto along with the other energy that was there. Shion didn't know what to do right now since this was beyond her understanding, and she didn't know whether to run or try and help since this had never happened to her before nor had she ever even heard about something like this happening anywhere else.

Moryo was surprisingly in the same manner of boat. When the demon had first faced this man, it had at first been surprised over Naruto's use of magic, which was not native to this dimension at all and Moryo knew it. While Moryo knew a few dimensions that did, it mattered not to it since magic or not, Naruto did not have the means to kill it. Even the priestess besides him did not have the means to do so and would sacrifice herself to simply seal it away given there were no other options. While this only infuriated Moryo, it was a demon that did not age so in time it would break free completely and would just bide its time till that day.

Yet now things were playing out in a manner it was not prepared for. This man that dared challenge it had apparently a demon of his own sealed up within him, one whose power was already great and was still growing by the minute. The thing had taken possession of its vessel and fought Moryo in a one sided fight it was not expecting. Yet when the demon possessed Naruto was just about to charge up the power to deliver the final blow, he stopped and fell to his knees instead. Moryo didn't know if this was a trick or something, but the energy output that came moments later made it question that even more. The energy it felt was unlike anything it had ever felt in the countless years or worlds it had lived through as well as in. It was genuinely terrifying to Moryo...

"What is happening to me?" Cried out Naruto in pain, still trapped in his mindscape.

Suddenly a new voice entered the area that made up Naruto's mind, which would have been more of a surprise if it weren't for the fact he was in unyielding pain the likes he had no means to quantify properly.

"Honestly kid, you're more troublesome than I thought you would be." A calm collective voice says from behind Naruto.

"Paragon," said Naruto painfully since once more he recognized the voice speaking to him like when the demon had made itself known once more to him.

"Talk to me after this whole incident is over." He says to which the sound of a sword is heard being unsheathed to which a blue blade erupts from Naruto's chest right where his heart is to which the sword glows and Naruto would feel his entire body burning in agony from what Paragon is doing. If his screams before were any sort of indication of the pain he was in before, the fact that the screams only increased in volume should be a fairly clear sign that the pain was far worse.

"I'll explain everything after you finish the fight." He says to which he twists the sword and a dozen portal's open up to which blue chains shoot out and start to attach themselves to Naruto sizzling as they start to engrave themselves on Naruto's very skin to which a burst of energy erupts from him as his mindscape gradually stabilizes from whatever Paragon just did to him. No longer was it the vast yet barren infinite red room with nothing in it, but a field like the one that the demon had used its trick to weaken Naruto to trap him.

Outside of his mind, Shion was still looking at Naruto scared. She was worried that she had brought in someone to help her and got him killed. She had been so afraid of sacrificing herself to seal Moryo back up that she was willing to risk this man's life, one she had never even met outside of a vision, to escape her own fate and in the end it would seem like she doomed them all in the process for her selfishness. But those thoughts were put at the back of her head since she saw Naruto's body stabilize from whatever the hell was happening to him and get to his feet.

Moryo had finally had enough of waiting at this point and saw this boy as a legitimate threat to be taken seriously given what he had done. So Moryo used all four of its heads to breathe dark fire onto the boy and kill him here and now. Shion cried out his name, but Naruto simply smirked as he felt the fire near him. His Dark Cocoon activated like it had many times before, but this time it was far more powerful than it had been before, so when there was a break in the streams of flames being sent his way, he dispelled his Cocoon, but instead of it simply vanishing like it usually did, this time it blasted in a massive shockwave of power that Moryo was not ready for. The three heads that were weaker were completely obliterated, and before Moryo could manage to attack again, Naruto was already in the air with what appeared to be a miniature black hole in his hand. Yet instead of using that to attack the demon, he crushed it in his hand causing it to turn jet black as the magical energy infused with it. But along with the dark energy, multiple lines of crimson red that had once marked the blade Gashi appeared on his arm leading to his hand.

"Enhanced Dark Magic," said Naruto with anger in his voice, with the murderous look in his eyes matching the tone perfectly, "Path to Mu..."

Shion had to shield her eyes as a dark flash erupted from the punch when it made contact. The punch had done two things simultaneously, with Moryo's soul being destroyed to the point there was literally nothing out, hence the mention of Mu which meant nothing. The power that flowed through Gashi at one point before it was destroyed now flowed through Naruto, and thus the demon's power was absorbed in the punch, yet without the soul to hinder him like the previous demon had tried to do until he killed it.

Shion finally was able to look at Naruto once more, and as she saw him falling back towards the ground, she saw the vision in her mind of the one who absorbed the power of a demon, yet did not succumb to the corruption of it. She couldn't help but cry as she ran forward to make sure that he was alright since he had saved her life from something she had all but thought she would never escape from…

(Mindscape)

After the punch to Moryo's face, Naruto immediately ended back up here. The timing was odd to him since it was like punching the demon forced him back here, but he doubted that was the case since the demon had no control over him like the last one did. But unlike… well every time he had come here to his mindscape, this time he was now in a fancy room of sorts like a daimyo's castle. Yet the thing he saw in the center of the room took up most of his attention, since in the center of the room was a massive orb swirling with energy that was a beautiful blend of black and blue. But while the energy seemed so chaotic in a manner that it would bounce just about everywhere if able, multiple chains kept it held in place so it was not able to budge in the slightest.

"You know, you're lucky I was nearby in Demon Country." A voice said from behind. The suddenness of it caused Naruto to actually jump in surprise. He had not expected it honestly, but given what the hell he had gone through in the past few hours alone, it was hard to believe that this was the thing to surprise him enough to get him to jump.

"Paragon," said Naruto with a bit of a sigh. "Why am I not surprised to see you here once again? I'm guessing you are here to explain whatever the hell this thing is that now inhabits my body?" He said that last bit while using his thumb to point towards the orb in the center of the room.

"Somewhat. First of all you should be thanking me, since if I hadn't intervened in time you would've taken out half of Demon Country in an explosion worthy of a Tailed Beast Bomb." He says as he casually walks forward.

"Wait a sec…" said Naruto with a confused look on his face since that was not something he had expected to hear today… or ever if he wanted to be honest with himself. "Are you being serious right now?"

"Yes. Don't believe me? Here, I'll show you." He says to which he claps his hands and a floating map of Demon Country shows itself. "This black dot here is you while the blue segment is Demon Country, now look what would've happened." He says as he plays it. Naruto's eyes could only widen as the black dot expanded to the point it nearly covered up more than half of the blue area. To think that he contained such power to cause such destruction within him. The only ones he knew that could were Jinchuriki, and this caused him to smirk a bit not out of arrogance or some sick pleasure of being able to cause such destruction, but over the fact that he somehow managed to acquire such power in the first place when he himself never would have guessed he would do so.

"Well," said Naruto with a chuckle as he rubbed his head, "thanks for the help then. But can you explain what the hell this is, since I am not sure what it is, and it makes me wonder if I should worry or not."

"What you see is the heart of a special Spell me and my forces have made. When I entered your mindscape the first time I took a small fragment of energy from the demon and you and I decided to research it with me and my science division, it was a rather unnatural case and we had to make a special spell to help you. It was fortunate we used the basis of an Energy Containment spell in conjunction with it and it was able to help seal away a majority of the energy from both the Demon inside you and Moryo. In fact, if you had absorbed Moryo while you were in that particular state you would've engulfed the ENTIRE country and damaged nearby Countries too." He said as he showed the damage as to what he said on the map.

"Alright," said Naruto as he understood some of what Paragon was saying, but a lot of it was not clear to him yet he wouldn't ponder on it given this person was beyond him and he had enough things to contemplate as of late with the energy being contained at the forefront of that list. "So I can understand that you contained my power so I wouldn't explode. I wouldn't have believed you if I hadn't felt such pain pulse through my person not too long ago, but why did it need to be contained in the first place is the question?"

"Because of the amount of energy your demon had been absorbing over the years mixed with your own, thus causing it to push your body beyond its normal limitations by leaps and bounds. The spell was the only way to help contain it, however I am going to help you right now so it is not life threatening. Your body in the real world is currently in a coma from the backlash of me sealing it away which would give the spell time to adjust itself to you and your energy path." He says as he disperses the map with a flick of his hand.

"I have been in a coma twice in the course of about two months," said Naruto as he shook his head in disbelief, "I swear that has to be a record somehow."

"What I am going to teach you is two things. First is how to use the spell and the purpose of it. Second, I am going to educate you on one thing that will help you manipulate your new energy reserves which I call Energy Theory. I will show prime examples as well too." He says as he gestures for him to follow him outside.

With a shrug of his shoulders since this man had so far not led him astray, Naruto followed Paragon outside to the wide open fields through a door that Naruto had not seen there when he had first appeared in this place. Once they were a reasonable distance away from what was a box of a building from the outside, Paragon stopped and turned to Naruto.

"Now then, before I teach you on how to use the spell I need to explain its purpose, the purpose of the spell is that it is used to seal away excess energy that the caster accumulates beyond their own, which does happen but rarely. This is due to the fact if the caster has lots of excess energy and tries to control it then they can die if not careful. Right now the energy is contained by the spell and when it is brought out you can carefully control it and when doing so the spell will filter it and expand your current energy reserves in a non-lethal manner." He says.

"The energy I have is….unique in a way for reasons that would take far too long to explain, so allow me to show you." He says as he snapped both his fingers and two floating orbs appeared. One was white while the other was a dark red in color. "What you are seeing is representations of two energies: Light and Darkness. Are you aware about the concept of Yin and Yang?" He asks.

"Yeah," said Naruto with a raised eyebrow, wondering where this was going.

"Good, now everyone knows that Light and Darkness cannot work in harmony with each other as they are the opposite of the other. Now I can use both of these because I act as an entity that can combine both aspects. When combined a new aspect is made known as 'Balance'. I represent the aspect of Balance meaning I can use Light and Darkness which makes me a force to be reckoned with, I can use Chakra or even the energy you have if I want to." He says as he dispels both orbs.

"To use the spell simply think to command it and the spell will bring a small segment out. Since as long as you use a small amount you won't die" He says.

"Understandable," said Naruto since it wasn't too hard to understand. But then he saw Paragon smirk a bit, which he learned that when someone was teaching you this did so it never ended well one way or another.

"Now then, hope you're ready for next up is Energy Theory." He asks. Naruto groaned since he knew this would take a while, and to make it worse he was in a coma like state so he couldn't just leave this place. And with that, Paragon went into great detail about his newly acquired power as his body healed itself on the outside…

(2 weeks later)

Naruto woke up with a start and a bit of a headache. He saw that he was in a hospital somewhere with tubes stuck into his arm and bandages covering his arms and chest. He looked around and saw his clothes on the chair neatly folded and cleaned, so he took out the tubes attached to his arm and ripped the bandages off since he felt his body had been healed. As he got dressed he saw his chart on the end of the bed and looked at what had been done to him. He had to admit he was hurt worse in his fight with Moryo than he had ever been so far in his life. He had many broken bones all over which explained all the bindings to his appendages, cracked ribs, and the thing that got him was that a shard of metal had been lodged into his heart that they had to remove before they could seal it back up.

The shard was taped to the paper with warning not to touch since it was dangerous. Naruto smirked at this since he knew this was the only shard of Gashi he would ever be able to find. The rest were more than likely melted in the lava of the cave he had fought Moryo, or at least enough of them were to the point that recovery of the shards was pointless. Gashi was beyond repair, but he took this one bit with him since it was still his blade, shard or not.

He stretched a bit since his body was so stiff, yet being in a coma did that to you. Once fully stretched, he walked out of the room towards the front desk, and the nurse behind the counter nearly suffered a heart attack as she saw him. His injuries had been diagnosed as needing months to heal, and yet here he was up and walking about like nothing was wrong two weeks after surgery. It was unheard of. Naruto then simply walked out of the hospital since he wasn't needed there anymore, and walked around the small town he was in for a bit before his stomach grumbled. He went to a place to get a quick bite to eat before he asked for directions since he needed to head towards Iron Country. And once he was pointed in the right direction, he thanked the man and then took off in a sprint since he was way behind schedule going by the date that was on his chart.

Naruko was going to be so mad at him…

But as he ran off towards his next destination, Shion had entered the town and made her way to the hospital as she did every few days so as to know how Naruto was doing. The man had killed the demon she was fated to sacrifice herself to seal so it was the least she could do. But her blush only showed that there was more to the reasons in her head than she was letting on. Imagine her surprise to hear that Naruto was actually better, but then that surprise turned into a bit of a pout as she heard he had left already. So she walked about and asked the people if they had seen him. There was not a single person in the town who didn't know who she was and were more than happy to help her, but no one had seen the man she described. At least until she made it to the restaurant he had eaten at and the waiter told her that he asked for directions towards Iron country. She wondered why he was heading there, but she quickly made it back to her carriage and had it rerouted to try and meet him along the path back. Surely there was no way that Naruto was faster than a horse drawn carriage…

But Shion had been wrong to think this since Naruto was faster than she thought and had run nonstop to the point of collapsing for two day straight to the small town on the outskirts of Iron country that he had asked Karen to take Naruko. A samurai who he could call a friend lived there and owed him a favor for covering for him when he forgot his anniversary, so he was more than happy to aid the family of a friend. Plus Naruko played well with his own six year old daughter so it wasn't too much of a hassle.

Naruto eventually made it to the house of his friend, and yet before he could say or do anything he fell over exhausted and fell right asleep…

He was awoken the next day by Naruko poking his face with a stick along with the daughter of his friend. He woke up and pulled the two of them in for a hug. They hugged him back before he let them go and got up properly. He made the time to thank his friend for watching over his family while he was busy handling something that would endanger their lives if they had followed. He then told Naruko to thank the man, which she did and said good-bye to her new friend before the three of them including Karen left toward Iron Village. After all that he had been through, it seemed like the perfect time to head back home.

Plus, he wanted to introduce Naruko to the Mifune given their relationship as well as get a new blade forged. He couldn't really be a samurai if he had no blade to claim such a title. If he fought with his fists alone he would simply be a martial artist, which wasn't a bad thing, but he had been trained to be a samurai.

Naruto and his group traveled for a while until they were close to Iron Village. As they travelled closer to his home, he told them stories of Mifune as he basically raised as well as trained him over the years. Naruko laughed and smiled at the stories about the elderly man who took care of her older brother as she rode on the back of his shoulders while he piggybacked her there. Karen just smiled as they continued to walk, happy to see Naruto alive and well, since she had honestly feared the worse when he didn't show up when he said he would. The note had been vague and only stated he was going to help someone with a problem that was too dangerous for them to follow and to please watch after Naruko while they went to the place he mentioned was a friend's home on the edge of Iron Country. The sense of nostalgia was strong with her since the memories of walking with her own family when she was about Naruko's age came to her mind and it felt good to experience these feelings again after so long.

But the good times would unfortunately end as they neared one of the last hills that overlooked the plains towards Iron Village in the distance. As they stood there and Naruto spread out his arm to welcome them to Iron Village, he stopped mid-sentence since what he saw made him stop dead in his tracks. He saw the smoke from the clear signs of an attack rising from the village.

"What happened," asked Karen in genuine fear. Who would attack Iron village like this? She may not be a citizen of the place, but she knew that Shinobi usually stayed clear of this place since they were neutral. So why would they try to change that?

"Wait here with Naruko," said Naruto simply as he began to run as fast as he could towards his home. The fear setting in of the lives lost in an attack he had no idea as to whom would do such a thing. He neared the front gate of the village, where one of the guards was just about to order him to stop, but the other one slapped him on the back of the head since he easily recognized Naruto and knew the boy lived here. So Naruto easily ran into the village and the further he ran into the place, the more of the damage he saw had been done.

There were tarps over the bodies of the deceased, which were too many of different sizes meaning that children had been killed as well. This caused sadness to rise up in his heart to know their lives had been snuffed out like this. Blood splattered the walls of various buildings, showing that their deaths had not been clean. And while there was not as much structural damage, there were quite a few buildings that had suffered fire damage to the point that the smoke was visible in the distance. He saw a massive crowd of people in the village square where important information was told to the masses when needed.

While this was not as surprising, given the fact they had been attacked so the people needed to be told this, the fact that Naruto didn't see Mifune giving the information was what bothered him. Mifune was the leader of the village, and as such should be the one who told the people this kind of stuff.

"People please!" shouted out the samurai who had been trying to get the grieving people to calm down enough so that his voice could be heard.

"Jin," said Naruto as he finally worked his way through the crowd towards the stage, "where is Mifune?"

Jin, a man Naruto remembered as one of the first samurai to apologize to him when it became known that he wielded Gashi, did not answer his question. In fact, he did not even meet his gaze at all, which only made the urgency of knowing the answer to his question more prevalent.

"Where is Mifune Jin?" asked Naruto again, this time in an angrier tone of voice that basically told the man to tell him the truth or else.

"Naruto…" said Jin sadly as he pulled out a sheathed blade from behind his back to show Naruto, "I'm sorry…"

Naruto recognized the blade immediately as Kurosawa, the katana that Mifune wielded most of his life…

In that one instance time stopped for Naruto as the reality of the situation sunk in, and sunk in harder than he was truly ready for…

Mifune had been slain…

(A/N: Gonna leave it on that bit of a cliffhanger right there since I have plans for the next chapter in mind that would be a perfect start so I can't go into more details yet. But I hope you all stay safe and healthy out there, until the next chapter!)