Pure White Ash

by Ball Buster Doppo

The Second Shinobi War never ended. The blood of thousands formed an unbreakable stalemate between the great powers. However, the embers of war are stirring once more, and while old players make their schemes, the new generation will burn it all until nothing but ash remains. AU! Rated M for Violence. A rewrite of 'To Be Strong.'

9. Chapter 9

It didn't feel like waking up from a dream. To Naruto, that was usually a slow and gradual process. No, he just opened his eyes and found himself in an all-new room with absolutely no recollection of how he had gotten there.

His left hand was still shackled to a wall, but his right was now alarmingly free. And he was clothed, too, with a pure-white gi, accompanied by a black belt.

Naruto didn't know what the belt was for. But it felt…

It felt right. Proper, even. As if it was unthinkable for him not to have it. It matched the room too, considering he now found himself in an impeccably cleaned Dojo, with polished wooden floors and walls woven out of bamboo.

Punching the walls didn't do him any good, despite them looking rather fragile. It felt like hitting concrete. And no matter how hard he tried, Naruto couldn't gather or feel any chakra inside of his body. By that point, he was starting to panic.

Had his captors put some sort of seal on him? If so, they were surprisingly sneaky about it because he couldn't see a single mark on his body.

That's when the confusion began. Although Naruto was relieved to not see the black ink on his skin, his body had no marks at all, including scars. No matter where he looked, all traces of his former battles had been erased.

His stomach settled into a mixture of panic and utter serenity. A feeling he had unfortunately already gotten used to. It was his body's response to being presented with a life-or-death scenario.

Naruto closed his eyes and pushed his head against the wall. 'Calm down, there's an explanation for this. There's got to be. Like…'

Nothing came to mind. "Shit."

The Dojo's doors slid open. Naruto's body straightened in alarm, expecting to see the officer that had knocked him out waltzing in.

That was far from what happened, though. All he could do was stare blankly at the view as the whole word was thrown off from underneath him.

It took a few moments to recognize what had just walked in as a human being. His figure, Naruto assumed it was a male, was distorted and blurred. It was like looking at an old photograph, or one of those optical illusions Kiba had shown him.

Yellow hair stuck out of the top of his head and what seemed like a headband held it back. Naruto even saw the metallic-grey rectangle that undoubtedly represented his village's symbol, although he couldn't recognize it through the distortion.

On a surface level, the clearest thing about the man's clothing was the white cape thrown over his shoulders. Its end reached the floor, where its tips were colored in a bright orange, as if it had been set on fire.

When the figure turned his back on Naruto, he saw some words were inscribed on its back, though those too were unreadable.

But, by far, the most notable aspect he saw in the man was his strength.

As someone who had spent a significant portion of his life fighting, Naruto had an eye for power, and the man in front of him had it in spades.

He was stronger than Naruto by a far margin. The difference between the two of them was like the distance between the world's deepest crevice and the heavens themselves. It was completely different from what Naruto had felt when observing Gaara's Bijuu, though the two were comparable in more than a few ways.

The monster carried an ocean of bloodlust with him. A craving for wanton violence and destruction. His captor, on the other hand, was calm, but ready for action. Like bottled lighting just waiting to be let out.

Naruto was ashamed to admit it, but his instincts compelled him to turn tail and run as far away as he could.

"You're awake." The figure noted. His voice was surprisingly clear, and not entirely unpleasant, but still utterly unfamiliar to Naruto. "Good, this is long overdue."

"Where is here, who are you, and what the hell is going on?!" Naruto asked, not wasting any time. A voice told him he was trying to cover up his fear with some bravado, but he squashed it right away. "Better question - what the hell are you?"

"A figure," The man said nonchalantly. "A memory, or an imprint, even. I'm whatever you want to call me. Point being, it doesn't matter. Sorry, we weren't meant to meet like this, but your circumstances are… dire. Dire enough to change things, and to hurry all of this up. I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough."

"...That doesn't make a fucking lick of sense, you know that right?"

"Language. You know better than to swear in a sacred place, don't you?"

"This doesn't look like much of a temple to me." Naruto said, looking around them.

"Doesn't it?" His faded, shifting face stared at Naruto's. It was like seeing a mirror clogged with fog. "Isn't this what you've been worshipping your entire life?"

"Since when? And what would I have been worshipping, exactly? Taijutsu?"

"Strength. As for when, well, you're the only one who knows the answer to that. But if I had to guess, I'd say it was probably when Teuic-"

"Don't you DARE say his name!" He roared, flinging himself at the other man. Only the chains held him back from touching him. Even still, his expression didn't change. "You keep my father's name out of your bastard mouth!"

"Or what?" He raised both eyebrows at him. "Are you going to kill me? And how exactly do you plan to do that? Oh, who am I kidding? It's been a while since you've actually planned something out, hasn't it?"

Naruto had to resign himself to being unable to touch the man. Besides, now that his anger had somewhat subsided, he realized it wouldn't matter even if he did.

He was forced to play along for the moment. Or at least until he managed to break his restraints and escape. Preferably when the man was no longer in the room.

"And what's that supposed to mean? I got one of your guys yesterday. Things were getting pretty good until that gorilla officer stopped me. I half imagined it was him under that weird henge, but I'd wager you're his superior officer. Am I right?"

"That wasn't a plan, Naruto. That was desperation. There's a difference. Men make plans. They think ahead, see how things are going to play out, and act accordingly. What you did, and what most animals do, was acting out on pure instinct. You saw someone show weakness and pounced on it like a piece of meat. And let's be honest here, the most likely outcome to that scenario was them striking through your hostage to get to you. Nothing is achieved besides another life lost. Not that you'd mind, right?"

"Should I? Newsflash, this is war, and war's nothing more than both sides killing each other until one of them is too weak to fight back. If he dies because I tried to escape, or if I ambush him, or if we kill each other in the middle of a battle, or if I decide to do it on a whim, what difference does it make?"

The man shook his head. "It's worse than I thought. Have you forgotten this much already? Yes, Naruto, there's a difference. And an important one at that."

'Forgotten?' He thought before focusing back on their conversation. That seemed to be getting harder as time went by, focusing. "Enlighten me, then."

"Only you can do that. I'm here to try and help you through the steps."

"Great, a therapy session with the enemy, then," Naruto said, waving his free hand around. "Is that what this is supposed to be? Because if you're trying to extract information from me, I think your other method was working better than this."

"You still have no idea what this is, do you? You still think I'm from Suna." There was an odd mix in his voice, one of disappointment and bafflement.

"An idea? I do, just not the one you want me to. I'm starting to catch up on your little scheme here. Confuse me enough to think this is all a hallucination so I'll tell on my friends, is that it? Fat luck, pal, that's not happening."

"Fine. If you have all of the answers, then riddle me this," He pointed right at him. "What do you think happens whenever your body is healed?"

"...Excuse me?" Now it was his turn to be baffled. "What type of question is that? My wounds close up and I'm not dying anymore, obviously."

"But that's not what I meant, and you know it. I know you do. Bones you broke came back stronger, didn't they? And the same went for every other part of your body that was destroyed too. When you woke up after fighting Gaara, that was the most powerful you've felt in your entire life. Go on, tell me I'm wrong."

Outside, he was silent, but Naruto's mind was racing for answers. 'Does Suna have a branch of the Yamanaka clan working for them or something? There's no way a spy would have access to that type of info. No, he could just be bullshitting his way through this. Play it off.'

"Okay, I'll play along. Let's say you're right. Whenever I get my ass kicked, I come back stronger. So what? Getting scared? Is that why you stopped after breaking my legs?"

"Follow me through this, Naruto. If they come back stronger, that obviously means they don't come back the same. The Kyubi's chakra alters, or even makes, entirely new parts whenever you need it. Muscle, skin, organs, and who knows what else."

"Yeah, genius, we've already established that much-"

"So what do you think happens when your brain is damaged?"

Silence for a second. Three more passed with them staring at each other. Then...

"You're wrong."

"About?"

"I know what you're going to say. That I'm going insane. That the Kyubi's starting to control me somehow by changing my brain. You're wrong. I'm me, Naruto Uzumaki, same as I always was."

"Are you really, though? Is the Naruto Uzumaki I'm talking to right now the exact same that left Konoha for the first time three months ago? Are you the same kid who decided to fight in the arena for the first time? Have you not changed at all since?"

The abundance of information the man had on him suggested he had to have read mind somehow. If that was the case, though, why even bother to interrogate him in the first place?

That didn't matter. He wasn't going to be insulted without fighting back.

"Yeah, maybe I changed disphit, but so does everyone! What, do you think none of this shit got to you since you began fighting?"

"Does everyone else have gaps in their memories after a tough fight? Do they forget why they're fighting in the first place and who they're fighting against? Or are you just in denial? When you were out there, chopping scouts left-and-right, did you even remember your name, or did you just repeat it out of habit?"

"That's-!" Suddenly, he wasn't so sure anymore. "I was concussed. Happens to everyone who gets hit in the head hard enough, and I was hit pretty hard, I'll give you bastards that. I'm fine, since you're so concerned about me. I'll be fine, just as soon as I break out of this shithole. And let me tell you, pal, I am going to break out."

The man sighed. "This isn't going to work."

"I knew it. I told you I knew it! So this was plan B, huh? Well too bad! If you want information out of me, you'll need to bleed it out!"

"There's only one way to reach you at this point." The other man cracked his neck. "Please, at least try and pay attention to what I'm saying. This is important."

The shackle holding Naruto's left hand back suddenly disappeared. He immediately jumped to his feet and assumed a fighting stance, not even pausing to process what had just happened. He'd attack the man, immobilize him, and then ask him the questions. Nevermind the fact Naruto knew that was a fight he couldn't win.

At the very least he'd die on his feet.

What happened next was instant. One second the other man was standing right there in front of Naruto, both feet on the ground, mirroring his stance.

In the next, he dished out a front-kick with his right leg. Said right leg made contact with Naruto's chest, just a few inches above his heart. It sent him to the floor, clutching the wound with his right hand. A purple hematoma was already forming, pulsating with pain. He could barely breathe.

It was the fastest attack he had ever seen. As far as the power behind it, it didn't feel too different from being squashed by Gaara's monstrous form.

'What the hell did he hit me with?!' Involuntary tears were bubbling up from Naruto's eyes, a bodily reaction to the pain. 'An explosive tag?'

"If you're going to act like a child," His captor said from above him, grabbing Naruto's head by the hair and raising it in the air. "I'll treat you like a child. You have a problem, Naruto. It's about time you realized it. What do you think Sarutobi would say if he saw you like this?"

Still gasping for air, Naruto grabbed the arm holding him up with both of his hands and wrapped his legs around the man's throat. A successful triangle choke. Or it would have been, anyway, had the man not stopped it with a free hand before the hold was completed.

There was no pause for motion in his movements, no delay to his actions. It felt like flipping through photographs. Naruto had never seen anything like it in his entire life.

The fear caused by the man's superiority, together with Naruto's confusion and rage regarding his speech, made him rise to his bait.

"And what the hell do you suggest I do, asshole?!" Naruto shouted back in between breaths, struggling to pin the man down with his weight. "You haven't even told me my 'problem' yet! What, I'm not acting one-hundred percent rationally when they're trying to kill me?! Tough shit!"

"I want you-!" The hand that had grabbed Naruto by the hair suddenly let go, latching onto his collar instead. He knew what was going to happen but was, once again, too slow to counter it.

Next thing he knew, Naruto was flipped over the man's shoulder and slammed into the hardwood floor. "-To stop deflecting the issue here and take some responsibility! You want to know your problem, Naruto? Fine! I'll spell it out for you!"

The man pointed at his face while he regained his breath. "You've trained your whole life for this moment, for when you were finally able to fight in this war, only to throw it all away the very second the fighting started!"

"What… the hell… are you talking about?"

"You knew the scout you fought after entering Amegakure was out-matched as soon as you laid your eyes on him. Everything you know about warfare made it clear that the best course of action would be killing him right away before moving on to help the others. But that isn't what you did, is it Naruto? You fought him on his own terms!

Or how about the fight after that? The one where you knew where and when the enemy was coming? Did you set up traps to dwindle their numbers before the fighting started, preparing the terrain for your advantage? No! You did the same thing! Not only did you hold back on them, you even went through the effort of introducing yourself! And where did that land you? Half-dead, with a comrade captured by the enemy to boot!

There are two reasons a soldier would commit such a string of blunders like this. Either they're voluntarily trying to sabotage their own army, or they're involuntarily sabotaging themselves. You're not a traitor. So what the hell are you doing?

That brings me to the biggest offender here. The stunt you pulled with Kiba during the very first ambush, the event that set off this entire charade. I'm sure many considered that act to be a brave act, befitting of any soldier, including yourself. But we both know that's not the case."

The older man stepped on his chest, pinning Naruto down just as he had begun to recover. He couldn't even make his foot budge.

"That was a suicide attempt, Naruto. You had no way to know the Kyubi would save you. You decided Kiba's life was worth more than yours. And you did the same thing when fighting Gaara. So I want you to ask yourself this, Naruto. Why are you doing this, and where is it going to take you?"

"How… the hell..." Naruto tried his hardest to get out from under the man's foot, but it was like being stepped on by a mountain. "Could I be suicidal and desperate to survive at the same time, you moron?!"

"You tell me! Why are you trying so hard to die?! Have you forgotten what you've set out to do here in the first place? Have you already given up, is that it?! Because if you want to die, you should have the good sense not to drag your friends into it!"

Suddenly, his aggressor's eyes softened. His voice dropped to a solemn tone. "Are you still blaming yourself for what happened to Teuchi?"

"NOT A GODDAMNED WORD!" Naruto roared. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY ONE GODDAMNED WORD ABOUT HIM, YOU BASTARD!"

"That is what this is about. You're still blaming yourself for what happened. Just how much stronger do you need to get before you're satisfied? How many times do you need to be stabbed, burned, clubbed, and torn apart before you've had enough punishment? Naruto, when are you going to realize it wasn't your fault?"

"It was my fault!" His voice broke. For the first time in a long while, the tears bubbling up in his eyes weren't born out of physical pain. His next sentence was as low as a whisper. "How could it not be? If I was just a little bit stronger, if I was just a little bit faster..." His fingers clutched the wooden floor, nails tearing into it. "Then he wouldn't have..."

The foot was lifted from his chest. Naruto immediately sprung to his feet, preparing himself for a counterattack, only to be put into another hold. The figure pulled him into an embrace, and there wasn't a drop of hostility behind it.

"It wasn't your fault."

"Let go of me!" He tried to pull himself free, but his own grip was too strong. Naruto desperately punched the man, but it felt like hitting a rock. "Let go!"

"It wasn't your fault." He repeated, voice as solid as steel.

"Let go! Goddamnit!" More and more tears flew down his face, and sobbing made its way up from deep within his throat. "Please..."

"Naruto." The voice repeated for one last time, holding him against himself. "It wasn't. Your. Fault."

Long since abandoned memories made their way to the forefront of Naruto's mind. A scene that he never wanted to see again. Blood, mud, rain, and an emerald green pair of eyes staring straight into his soul. For a moment, it felt like the Dojo around them had vanished.

All that was left was a pure white void, and in that void, Naruto cried and bawled like a child. Until there was nothing left of him but what felt like an empty shell. He wept until the pain in his chest evaporated and was replaced by a sense of nothingness he hadn't felt in years.

"...What do I do?" He asked. "Please. What are you? What am I doing here?"

"...This is a preemptive measure, put in place on the day you were born. The effects you're suffering through right now, what the Kyubi is doing to you… this isn't the first time it happened. You're not the first one it happened to."

"...Kushina." He realized, eyes widening. "Is that what…?"

"Kushina Uzumaki went through a lot of things. It'd be incorrect to blame how she… turned out on anything in particular. But you do know that if things keep going as they are now, the line between you two will be blurred, don't you?

You can't keep acting like this anymore, Naruto. You need to change, to grow up. It's like that officer said, you're not the only one suffering the consequences for your actions anymore.

It's not fair, it's not right, but that's the price of war. That's the price you accepted when you became a soldier. You have people to protect now, Kiba, Hinata, and every other life in Konoha. You might think some of them aren't worth saving, but you need to have faith."

He grabbed Naruto's shoulder. "You don't need to do all of this by yourself. They want to help you, Naruto. Let them, and you'll see you're way stronger than you think."

"Strong?" Naruto shook his head. He felt drained, utterly drained. "I'm way too weak. Even if I managed to escape from my cell, that officer, I could never beat him, not in a million years."

"Have you forgotten?"

For the first time in years, Naruto heard his father's voice whisper into his ear. He wasn't a soldier trapped in Amegakure anymore. For that moment, he was a child back in Konoha, finding shelter from the rain in an old man's ramen stand.

His hands were bloody. Naruto had just done something, he couldn't remember the specifics of it, and the stand's owner had gotten into an argument with him.

"That's just violence, kid." He remembered him saying. It felt like ten centuries ago. "It's not martial arts."

"What's the difference?" He replied huffily. "They tried to punch me, I punched them, they tried to kick me, I kicked them, they tried to stab me, I stabbed them! That's what martial arts are!"

Naruto could still hear the smile on Teuchi's face as he ruffled his hair during that rainy night. "No, kid." He had said. "Martial arts…"

"...Were made for the weak to fight the strong." Naruto said, wiping one last tear from his eyes. When did he begin to smile?

He was alone in the Dojo now. The figure had disappeared while he was lost in his thoughts. Naruto was a little disappointed. There was a lot he wanted to ask him, a lot he still needed to figure out. But at the same time, he understood there was no need for them to talk after that point. He didn't need him anymore.

It felt like being on a flimsy boat that had just survived the most severe of storms. His entire body felt lighter than before. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

It was time to wake up.

What had led to the hallucination Naruto just suffered were made immediately clear when he half-opened his eyes and found himself in the same grungy stone-carved cell he had been stuck in earlier.

Men scurried around the room in a hurry, but they weren't really doing anything. To Naruto, it seemed like they were trying to make themselves look busy in case anyone decided to check in on them. The 'doctor' he saw earlier furiously scribbled notes into a scroll, his back turned to Naruto at the moment.

Making them think he was still unconscious was probably the best thing Naruto could do in that situation. Still pretending his eyes were closed, Naruto tilted his head to look at what used to be his right hand.

His gaze was immediately drawn to where the cleaver had cut through his flesh. 'Messy' was the first word that came to mind regarding the cut itself. Naruto's bones hadn't been cut through, but crushed. The pain that caused was probably why the seal was activated, mercifully drawing Naruto's mind to a better place.

Considering the most common elemental affinity in Suna was wind, known for its precise and clean strikes, that was more than likely done on purpose.

Of course, Naruto knew he couldn't dwell on those thoughts forever. His prolonged examination was done simply to draw his mind away from the issue at hand. In that case, the regenerative process of creating an entirely new appendage from scratch.

Red chakra poured around his 'stump'. Funnily enough, he didn't feel any drain being put on his reserves.

The process seemed to begin at his stomach, where all chakra originated from. Slight 'bubbles' traversed underneath Naruto's skin, all the way to his right arm. Like an army of insects acting out inside of his body. Finally, upon reaching the wound, all manners of tissue would stretch out, forming the outline of a human hand.

At the present moment bone composed most of it. Specifically, his wrist and most of the carpal bones. Muscle was following shortly behind, accompanied by what Naruto assumed were his own nerves and blood vessels.

Skin, of course, would be left for last, and considering how slow the process seemed to be, Naruto estimated he'd have a few hours at least before it was finished.

Strangely enough, he felt no pain. In fact, he didn't feel anything at all from halfway down his arm.

Seeing his own body repair itself like that, completely divorced from his own thoughts or feelings on the subject, it was…

It was the most fascinating, disgusting, revolting, conflicting, and by far the most amazing thing he had ever seen. If he wasn't compelled to escape and rescue his friends, Naruto could have sat there for days, just watching it happen. As it was, he reluctantly looked away from it, and began thinking about his next move.

First, he closed his eyes and focused on the inside. Some of the words he heard earlier repeated themselves in his mind. 'When you woke up after fighting Gaara, that was the most powerful you've felt in your entire life.'

His chakra was the calmest it had ever been. Like a great lake without a single ripple throughout it. Naruto could see it moving from his stomach, to the tips of his feet, being redirected toward his right arm, where another source chimed in…

For the second time, Naruto had to remind himself to focus on the mission. How could he kill every man in that room at once? Preferably without alerting the rest of the compound while he was at it?

Maybe the room's heavy-set door would help muffle some sound, but he'd carry on assuming it wouldn't do much to help him. Better to prepare for the worst, after all.

Well, something silent ruled out Doton or Katon techniques. He wasn't very skilled at those elements, especially Doton, only being able to use a select few attacks that he could brute force his way through by using his vast reserves.

No, Naruto would need something with more finesse. Delicate, even. A scalpel rather than a hammer.

An idea popped in his mind. In his experience, sudden and unexpected thoughts were often his best. The scouts were still thoroughly disturbed by his regeneration, it seemed, and most avoided looking at him altogether. Those who did were undoubtedly focused on his right hand, utterly ignoring his left.

As such, he managed to discreetly form a one-handed seal with it. Not the start of any Jutsu in particular, just a measure to refine his chakra control for the moment.

The reasoning for his idea went like this:

Naruto knew they were still in Ame. And based on the construction of his cell, he assumed they were either below ground or inside of a cave or mountain.

Either way, the building's construction wasn't the most elaborate. Being from Suna, the men responsible for it weren't the most attentive toward keeping the rain out, living in deserts and all that.

As Naruto had taken a great deal of time to learn water-walking, he knew the substance had a certain amount of chakra of its own. All he did was extend his chakra into the wall behind him and reach upward, until it touched the various droplets that had penetrated deep enough into the earth.

Voilà. All he had to do now was manipulate the liquid to his liking.

Unfortunately, that was the precise moment the room's other occupants decided to open their mouths for the first time.

"Fascinating," Someone with an odd accent noted. Probably the doctor, given the curiosity he heard in his voice. "I've never seen something like this before, even in bloodlines with regenerative abilities… It's like a lizard regrowing its tail."

"More like a monster." Someone else said. Naruto could picture the disgust in his face. Truth be told, he was inclined to agree with him. "No wonder Gaara lost… Gods help us. Doc, are you sure we're even safe here? Look at that chakra!"

"Don't be so short-sighted!" The doctor reprimanded his collegue. Naruto heard him stepping closer to the other man. 'Stop moving.' He ordered in his mind. Sadly, they didn't seem inclined to obey. "Think about the implications this has! If we managed to replicate it somehow, to make it accessible to everyone… You have friends who have lost their limbs, don't you? You know someone who died in the field before they could get medical assistance? Imagine all of that, gone! It'd revolutionize the very concept of medicine, no, of humanity!"

"Let's not forget your orders here, doctor," Someone else, probably older than the others judging by his voice, said. He took half a step toward the other two. Naruto cursed in his mind. "Think about the mission now, the implications later."

"Yes, yes, well, what can I do until this is finished? Look at it! We could be here for another hour at least. And I've already told the commander, we're going to need the first one back to conduct more tests."

'The first one? My hand, then. They still have it, and the man who knocked me out took it…' It took a great deal of restraint not to change his expression after realizing what that meant. 'He took it to intimidate the others, that bastard!'

The set-up for his technique was very nearly done. Even with his new-found tranquility, Naruto's control was somewhat lacking. That was fine, though. He still had more chakra left to pump into it than most people would ever use.

Suddenly, some of the water seeped through the ceiling and fell on his chest. A single drop, but the sound immediately silenced the room.

One of the scouts stepped closer to Naruto's body. He undid the seal in his left hand. If someone saw the motion, they didn't mention it.

"Damn rain." He said, looking up. "How the hell did it make it this far?"

Every step they took delayed his plan by a second. A second Naruto couldn't afford to lose. 'Stay fucking still, goddamnit!'

"How indeed," It sounded like the doctor was looking up. "The rocks outside didn't seem that permeable…" There was an undertone of shock to his pause. "What elemental affinity did the reports say the subject had?!"

"The reports say…" Pages flicking. Just a bit more to go. Naruto began to sweat. "Well, he used several techniques, but Suiton and Futon were the most common."

"Suiton..." The doctor repeated. "Could it be…? Is he conscious?"

One of the men standing in front of Naruto got even closer to him.

In that very second, his preparations were finished.

Naruto opened his eyes, coming face-to-face with one of his captors. They all stared back at him, stunned with delightful expressions of shock and horror.

Manipulating chakra outside of his body was like grabbing a piece of super elastic jelly. Naruto imagined himself squeezing said jelly as hard as he could. The ceiling above them began to rattle.

Naruto wasn't exactly an expert at making Jutsu. He didn't know much about how they truly worked either, something to read up on when he was off-duty. That's why he couldn't explain why saying their names helped in their execution, or why he felt compelled to shout out what he did.

Whatever the case was, he opened his mouth and yelled;

"Suiton: Moeru Taki!"

Before his captors could reach for their weapons or run to the door, jets of water shot out from the ceiling, cracking it in the process.

It was like several sprinklers going out all at once. The pressure of the 'projectiles' combined with Naruto's chakra made them capable of piercing through stone. The scout's armor, let alone their flesh, were ridiculously inadequate as a result.

His shots were wildly inaccurate, especially considering most men had moved since he began preparing the technique, but their sheer quantity made hitting Naruto's targets trivial.

The damage was almost comparable to being hit with an explosive tag. The watery shrapnel hit them everywhere. His luckier victims had their skulls pierced right away, ending their lives on the spot. Those who weren't as fortunate lived long enough to wish they hadn't.

Naruto could only hope his cell's door and constitution muffled their screams.

He found them to be quite disturbing. But then again, those were the men who had chopped one of his hands off, so his sympathies were limited.

Finally, his assault stopped, leaving a mess of water and blood behind. Naruto's body hadn't been unscathed, but he made sure to dilute the power put behind the drops hitting him.

As a result, his shackles were broken, but his worst injuries were just some simple scratches and bruises. Nothing compared to the torn-apart flesh lying all around him.

Only one other survivor was there with him. The doctor, who had immediately jumped under a table for safety. It hadn't done much for him. Even from the wall, Naruto could tell both of his legs had been mangled beyond helping.

He rose to his full height. Naruto stared at the door for a bit, waiting for their reinforcements. Thankfully, it seemed like no one was coming. He took a second to admire his handiwork, leaning against the wall to regain his breath. "Holy shit," He said to himself with boggled eyes. "I just made up my own Jutsu."

There was no time to linger on his amazement, unfortunately. Naruto began to scour for a dead body whose size was roughly the same as his, and whose clothes were the least damaged. After deciding on the best candidate in the room, he quickly took their clothes for himself.

Just their raincoat and pants, though. Even those were pretty far gone, and a disguise wouldn't do him much good, his right hand being what it was. Speaking of which, he took another minute to linger on the sight of it.

The regeneration had progressed even more when Naruto was busy concocting his new technique. Using more of his chakra probably had something to do with it.

The hand's skeleton seemed to be finished. It wasn't a pretty sight. Naruto's fingers were longer than before, with pointed knuckles and tips. It reminded him of an animal's claws more-so than a human being's fist. He still had no measure of control over it, though his previous numbness was replaced by a dull ache.

It felt like the pain that accompanied a sudden growth spurt. Naruto almost chuckled at the absurdity of it all. He didn't even want to think about how he'd explain any of it to Ayame.

"Focus," He reminded himself, shoving his arm inside of the coat. "Gotta focus."

He turned his attention to the screaming doctor. The man was hollering in pain, clutching at his destroyed knees.

Naruto tried telling himself that his next course of action was for the good of the mission, not his personal feelings.

He kicked him in the ribs. The blow sent him flying into the nearest wall. The sound that came out of him was like a squealing pig. Naruto had to admit, it was quite cathartic. He considered doing it again, but that'd probably kill the man on the spot.

"Please-!" He outright sobbed. The tears going down his eyes were mixed with the rain water and blood coating the room. A pitiful sight indeed. He extended a hand at Naruto, as if to keep him away from him. "Please, don't kill me!"

"Why?" Naruto took a step closer. Trying to look intimidating wasn't particularly difficult, him being covered in the blood of the man's comrades and everything. The doctor shirked away when he approached, stumbling on the floor and trying to crawl away from him.

Naruto interrupted that by stomping on his ruined legs, eliciting another scream of pain. He rolled his body around with a foot, staring into the man's eyes. He didn't need to conjure any made-up anger for what he was about to do.

"Let me guess, it wouldn't make as much progress," He spat the word out. "To medicine? Is that it, doc? That's why I shouldn't kill you, despite the fact you were just about to cut me into a bunch of little pieces? IS THAT IT?" He yelled, causing him to shrink back.

"We weren't going to kill you!" He pleaded. There was a lisp to his words now, like his throat was leaking air. Naruto probably broke a few ribs with his first kick.

"Right." Naruto crouched right in front of him, barely giving the doctor any breathing space. "And if you want me to return the favor, you'll tell me what exactly you were going to do here. All of it."

"We- we were under o-orders. The c-commander wanted to s-see how you… functioned."

There was no malice behind his words. That was truly the best way the doctor found to describe his experimentation. Naruto didn't bother hiding his disgust before continuing with the makeshift interrogation.

"And where did those orders come from, Suna or the officer himself?"

"From him! I swear!" He tried to crawl away from Naruto again, but his foot kept him in place. "He took your…"

"My hand?" Naruto asked with a quiet seriousness in his voice. "He took my severed hand, which you helped him cut off and experiment with?"

"Y-yes! He said he wanted to show it to your f-friend! To make her talk!"

Naruto raised his head to the ceiling and took a deep, calming breath. 'I've gotta think about this,' He reminded himself, clutching his left hand until it drew blood. It took every ounce of self control he had not to kill the man right there and then. 'Gotta learn what's going on here.'

"My friend." He finally began to ask. Naruto didn't have to make any threats. His tone was more than enough to depict what would happen if his question wasn't answered. "Have you seen her?"

"I- what?" He put more weight on the man's leg. "Yes!" He shouted. "Yes, she's unharmed, I swear!"

"What does she look like?"

The man didn't answer him at first. Naruto reached out, grabbed his chin, and forced him to look up at him. "What does she look like?"

"She has long purple hair!" He shouted, closing his eyes and turning away from Naruto's. "And a tattoo on her arm!"

Naruto nodded once. So it was Yugao there with him, not Hinata.

Guilt followed that thought. He shouldn't be relieved after hearing that. Yugao was a friend, and she was captured because of his incompetence.

Regardless, Naruto doubted he'd be as composed if it was Hinata being made to pay for his mistakes instead of her.

"What happens-" The doctor began to ask before Naruto jabbed him once, perfectly hitting the side of his chin. The man's body tilted over before falling face-first into the ground. The blow would send his brain reeling for a good while.

"Now you wait here." He answered the unfinished question, standing from the squat. "While I go and sort my mess out."

As much as he'd love to murder the man, he knew that wouldn't be the best choice for Konoha's sake. A scientist was always in need. If he could pass down his medical knowledge for their sake, lives could be saved.

He felt pretty good about being able to make that decision. It almost out-weighed his wish to kill him.

Almost.

With that being said, an idea of what was happening began to form in his mind, and it wasn't pretty.

Suna had probably recalled all of their agents, and the only thing keeping them from running all the way back to their capital was the possibility of more Konoha soldiers waiting right around the corner. Soldiers that weren't there, of course, as Asuma and Yoshimitsu were probably too preoccupied looking for Yugao and Naruto.

As soon as they realized Konoha didn't have that many men in Ame, their entire invasion plan would be put at risk.

"So I need to free myself and Yugao, not to mention escape from this place and meet up with Asuma, all before she talks or they figure any of this out." Naruto sighed and cracked his neck. At least his chances felt better than before, if not by much. "Great."

---

Yugao whipped her head back and laughed when one of her interrogators slammed an iron pipe against her torso. "Is that all you got? Come on! My instructors hit me harder than that, you fucking pussy!"

"You think that bravado is going to save you?" Bokuden asked, crossing his arms by the room's door with a raised eyebrow.

Yugao was hit again by the man standing behind her. It was a powerful thrust that hit the middle of her back, right in the vertebrae.

"Haah… and this is the guy who 'made' Ibiki?" She spat blood on the floor. "I'm never going to let him live this shit down, I'll tell you that much."

But he was right. It was bravado pushing her forward. It was hard to tell the time when someone was beating her, but the torture had been going on for about half an hour.

Her gaze was drawn to Naruto's hand sitting on a desk not ten steps away from her.

'Don't look at it.' She reminded herself, refocusing on Bokuden. 'You idiot.'

But he noticed it anyway. Of course he did. "Of course, you're more concerned about your friend than you are about yourself. I wonder if he feels the same? Either way, we have all the time in the world to find out."

That was their last hope. Asuma and Yoshimitsu would move much faster than the army Bokuden imagined they had. All she had to do was endure until they arrived. Endure, and avoid looking at Naruto's hand.

"You," Bokuden said, nodding to the man standing behind Yugao. "Take one of her nails out. Let's start with, say… her right hand's thumb."

It was useless to struggle against it, but Yugao still put up a show, kicking at the ground while trying to headbutt the man. All for nothing, unfortunately. Bokuden's second thug held her back while the first took a hold of her wrist with one hand and a screwdriver with the other.

"There are a lot of nerve endings on your fingers, you know?" The officer said from the door, looking at his own. "That's why it's such a good place to start. No matter how well-trained your target might be, or how long you've been working on them, they all feel just like the first."

"I'll save the tip." She promised with a grin. "And I promise I'll repay you for it."

The tool's cold metal tip pressed up against her thumb, pressing against the patch of skin just under the nail. It sent shivers down her back.

"I'm not a monster, regardless of what you may think. I don't derive any pleasure from this whatsoever. It just so happens you have information that'll help my country. Information that will save a few lives now, and thousands in the future. You're going to talk eventually. Even a name or location will be considered treason by your village, so why keep this up? Just tell me what I want to know, and I promise you'll be treated with dignity."

"I don't think you're a monster." The hair in her arms was standing up. No matter what happened next, it wouldn't be as bad as what Naruto was going through.

"I think you're a fourth-rate psychopath, serving a fifth-rate country, using sixth-rate go-!" Her sentence was interrupted with a groan, followed by a drawn out scream.

It was excruciatingly long. She yelled the entire time as the metal-tipped tool made its way into her thumb, tearing the flesh under it while cracking and jolting the nail up.

It felt like hours. The man paused for an intentionally long time, letting her savor in the pain, before finally jolting his hand up, tearing it all in one go. She cried, as shameful as it was to admit it.

Finally, she twisted the screaming into laughter. "You better kill me." She said, kicking the ground with both legs. Her boots had already made countless scrapes on the floor. "No matter what you do, you better make damn sure you kill me, because if you don't, I swear-"

A hammer's flat end fell onto her now bare thumb. It was the most painful thing Yugao had ever experienced, or imagined someone could live through.

It distorted her vision, creating bright white, all-encompassing flashes that disappeared just as quickly as they came. Her body went limp, then tensed, then limped again, like a convulsing cycle.

She could barely understand Bokuden's words as he stepped closer to her. He continued walking until they were standing face-to-face.

"That was just the first. Nineteen more to go. Like I said, you are going to talk. You are going to tell me everything I need to know. When all of your fingers are gone, we'll take your hands. If you still haven't talked, we'll take your arms and legs. Rest assured, we'll do our utmost to keep you alive throughout all of it."

Bokuden put hands on his knees and leaned in, whispering into her ear. "And if you still haven't talked after all of that, which I doubt… Well, there are many horrible, horrible things someone can do to a female prisoner. Rest assured, I will do anything in my power to save the lives of my comrades. But only if you force my hand. Please, make things easier for both of us. How many men are with you? Where are they coming from? Where will you attack Suna from?"

Yugao wheezed for a few seconds, head bowed as she tried to recollect herself from the incessant waves of pain that had just assailed her.

Then she gave Bokuden the answer he was waiting for.

By spitting more blood, right in his face.

"As you wish." He sighed in resignation, wiping it away with a disposable handkerchief. "I'll come back and see if you've changed your mind. You two," The addressed soldiers saluted. "Continue as planned. If she talks, call me immediately."

"Sir!" They both said in unison. They waited before Bokuden had left the room to relax, the steel door loudly closing behind him.

"Man, you've gotta admire her balls." One of her torturers said, looking at his buddy. "Spitting on the commander's face?"

"True." The other said, nodding. "Wouldn't dream of that, not for anything."

"Remember when that rookie tried to kill him? After the maze?"

"Don't think he ever recovered."

"Are you two… going to keep blabbing…" Yugao asked, raising her eyes to meet theirs. "Or are you going to fucking torture me?"

"No reason to hurry it. The commander doesn't lie, y'see? We've done this song and dance more times than I can count. Everyone starts out like you, but they don't last long. You'll talk."

"It's all a matter of when, and as long as we're here, beating you, we don't need to patrol out there in the rain." The man sat behind her.

"We don't much care for the rain, or the patrols, or the fucking night shifts. So whatever you could do to make us go back home sooner would be appreciated."

'Behind and in front, so they can see everything I do.' She thought with a grimace. 'They're slacking, but not careless. Goddamnit.'

"We Konoha folk don't mind it," She snapped back, deciding to at the very least regain her breath before the next round began. "But I suppose you're too busy killing our women and children to mind the weather, right?"

"And who gave you that high horse?" The one in front of her said, throwing his hammer up and grabbing it before it fell. "What, ya think all of your Konoha invasions are all nice and quiet? 'Rules of war' and all that?"

"Killing happens in war." His counterpart said with a shrug. "Soldiers shouldn't judge."

"Gods." Yugao shook her head. "How old are you two? Twenty, twenty-five?"

"The fuck is it to you?" The man playing with the hammer asked, catching it in mid air and taking a step closer to her.

"This war only got to this point because of morons like you." She spat out. "Things weren't like this. There was a code to it. When an Uchiha scouting party found a Senju compound, they didn't barge in to kill and rape everything they found."

"And just how old are you supposed to be?"

"That's bullshit anyway," His partner interrupted. "Every geezer likes to think their time was better than the next, but if we could go back, I'd bet it was the same shit."

Yugao realized the opportunity she had just stumbled into. The man sitting across from her had his eyes firmly set on her own during the course of their conversation. He was focused, too focused on their argument.

Someone dealing with a good amount of guilt, probably. Who liked to rationalize the horrible things they did. His partner didn't care as much about what they were talking about, but he did care about keeping his buddy in line.

The blood leaking out from her destroyed thumb lubricated her restraints. All Yugao needed was a bit of time without them noticing to escape.

"Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that. You know, a few years from now, everyone from that era is going to be dead, all of the Madaras, the Hashiramas, the Minatos. And all that's gonna be left are people like your commander and you two. How do you think the world will end up after that? Do you think they'll be able to ever end this war? Do you think they'll ever want to?"

"If those people were so great to begin with, we wouldn't have to."

"Great men don't live long lives. They're too busy fighting for something they believe in. What about you two, eh? What do you believe in?"

"And you?!" Another step closer. "What are you fighting for? It's all the same shit! You act like you Konoha bastards are so enlightened about it all, but if we weren't here to stop you, it'd be YOU invading OUR village. No matter what sort of pretty words you use to describe it, that's how it is."

"Hey, man, don't let it get to you." The torturer on Yugao's back said, taking a step closer to them. Her right hand was almost freed. Almost.

"Yeah? Well, three months ago, if the man you bastards are torturing right now didn't stop your little weapon from going on, your friends would have already killed everyone I know. You started the fight, don't whine when you lose."

"You Konoha BASTARDS started it!" He was shouting at the top of his lungs now, pointing a finger at Yugao's face. "The Kazekage offered peace first, but your bloodthirsty piece of shit third Hokage spat on his face for it!"

"Hey, hey Shinji look-!" Shinji's friend shouted while starting to approach them. "Her hand-!"

Shinji's face opened in shock. His grip on the hammer tightened. Yugao bit her lip and dislocated her wrist, finally freeing up her right hand. She kicked the chair forward and struck out at Shinji with her mangled fingers. He acted at the exact same time as her, swinging his hammer down at her skull.

She won by a matter of seconds. Yugao's pointer finger pierced through Shinji's right eye, gouging it out. He dropped the hammer while flailing back, screaming in pain.

Yugao's chair was carried by the forward momentum of her kick and crashed to the floor. The impact broke its legs, which freed Yugao's. She stood at once, whipping around with a sweep to drop Shinji's companion to the floor.

"Bitch-!" He yelled, head hitting the ground as he fell. Yugao took use of his disoriented state, scrambling to grab the hammer Shinji had dropped to the floor. It was still awkward to move, as both of her legs were still connected by chains. Still, she successfully reached the weapon.

The remaining torturer grabbed Yugao by the foot, forcing her to tumble. She spun around with an elbow-drop aimed to crush the man's nose, but he skillfully blocked it with a forearm. Then he kicked at her leg, forcing her body off of him.

He immediately took advantage of it to mount Yugao's guard, wrapping both hands around her throat. "You… damn…. you killed him!" He yelled at her, face red.

Yugao felt her strength sapping. The world was beginning to disappear. The man clearly didn't give a damn about his orders anymore, only interested in killing her. In a way, that result wouldn't be too bad. At least it'd give Naruto and the others an advantage.

But she wasn't willing to die without a fight just yet.

Her free hand brushed against something on the ground while struggling to get him off of her. She grabbed the hammer's handle and spun it with all of her strength. It bashed the man's temple, and his body fell on top of hers, limp.

She kicked him off of her, mounted him, and then began hitting his head over and over again with the weapon. The only sounds coming out of her were grunts of effort and half-muffled roars.

By the time she was finally done her entire upper-body was coated in his blood. Yugao hesitantly stepped off of him, falling to the ground in exhaustion.

There was nothing else she'd rather do than lie down there and rest, to sleep for a week straight.

But Naruto was being tortured to death, and Bokuden could return at any moment.

Yugao shakily stood and used the hammer to break the rest of her restraints. "Gotta find it… goddamnit..." She muttered under her breath.

From what Bokuden had said, the Dotanuki, her sword, was probably in his personal quarters, which meant she wouldn't be able to retrieve it without killing him first. Of course, that was secondary to rescuing Naruto, but Yugao knew one thing for sure.

She was not going to leave that hellhole without getting her sword back.

---

Naruto wasn't having the easiest time navigating the maze he found himself in.

That was a bit of an understatement. He was completely and utterly lost.

It was basically composed of poorly-lit tunnels that endlessly inter-connected with no indication of what way was right or wrong. He had already taken half a dozen paths that led to dead ends, miraculously avoiding some traps along the way.

At least he managed to avoid any confrontations with other scouts. Simple techniques like the henge did wonders for his infiltration, shifting into the shadows whenever footsteps began to approach.

He'd have torn his way through the mountain by that point, if only that didn't mean bringing it down on his head in the process.

"...The commander is back in his quarters." He heard from around the corner. Immediately, Naruto hugged the walls and formed a one-handed seal to disguise himself as a bundle of shadows.

He was getting pretty proficient at those, as necessity called for it. He hadn't looked at his right hand yet since stuffing it into his coat, although the pain he felt earlier had gotten worse over time. Thankfully, not enough to impede his plans.

"I can't believe both of those bastards haven't blabbered yet."

"I know. Here's hoping he doesn't stretch this out too much. I swear, one more day with that goddamned rain and I'm running back home."

"Don't be so loud! You know what he'll do to you if he hears that."

"I think I'm past the point of caring. You got a cigarette?"

They passed by Naruto's corner by that point. He kept his eyes on the pair the entire time, and neither noticed his disguise.

They stopped moving for a few seconds as one man handed a cigarette pack to the other.

"Thanks. I've been trying to cut it out since she was born, but you know how it is…"

"You should wise up and file for retirement when we get back home, then. Hell, you should have done it as soon as she came out, moron."

"And do what? My wife can't work and I don't know how to do anything else." He shrugged. "It's how it is. At least they'll get my pension if I croak."

'Great.' Naruto closed his eyes. 'I just had to hear that, didn't I?'

He smothered the feelings that arose after hearing their conversation, waiting until both men passed him before undoing the transformation. Soon, he began to trail them, taking great care to remain unseen.

His footsteps made little to no noise, drowned out by the men's much louder boots. Naruto took out a Kunai he had stolen from the scouts in his cell, holding it in a reverse grip inside of his new left sleeve.

The following squirmish was quickly resolved.

Naruto kicked his target, the man who had asked for a cigarette, on the back of his right knee. He fell to the floor just as the other man turned to face him. Naruto ended him with a quick, and relatively painless, slash to the throat.

The scout's body staggered, took a step back, raised both hands to his throat, and then fell to the ground, dead. A puddle of blood had already begun to form under his carcass.

Naruto put his knife by the other man's throat before he could even think of moving. The man stilled, and shakily raised both arms in surrender.

"Your commander, my comrade. Where are they?"

"You'll never make it to them." The man was clearly trying to avoid looking at the corpse bleeding by his side. Sweat rolled down the back of his throat in droves. "It'd be better for you to give up, right now, and return to your cell."

"Listen, I don't want to kill you." He pushed the Kunai's tip closer to the man's chin, touching his skin with the metal. "But I need you to give me something here. Where are they?"

"You can't expect me to give information that'd put my friend's lives at risk."

"That's the exact opposite of what I'm asking. You tell me what I need now, and I can sneak past your people here, take my friend, and leave. If you don't, I'll need to fight my way through. You already know who I am, and I think you've heard a fair bit about what I've done in this war. Which option here do you think would end with less dead men?"

He was still trying to avoid looking at his friend's body. Naruto couldn't tell if he succeeded or not. Finally, he spoke. "You're not like what I heard."

"And what did you hear?"

"That you wanted to kill as many of us as you could."

"Well, let's say I'm trying something new."

"...The commander is six floors up. Follow the right wall, and whenever you see two torches, turn to the left. That'll take you to the staircase. Your friend is going to be on the same floor."

"Thanks." He put the man on a choke-hold, but only held it long enough to knock him out. Then he dragged him, and the dead body, into one of the corridor's empty rooms and closed the door behind them.

He paused before continuing. Was that what the seal meant with him growing up? Was he doing the right thing by sparing an enemy in what was still an active war-zone?

Well, getting to rescue Yugao would be easier without needless bloodshed on the way. And he had given him enough information to bypass dozens of scouts. But they'd still need to kill - or capture - everyone there for the invasion to be successful. And gods knew how many more men would die once that ball started rolling.

'...Rescue Yugao first, worry about that later.' He decided.

With that in mind, he followed the scout's instructions, traversing the tunnels until he found the aforementioned staircase. It was narrow, its steps were misshapen, and most of all, it was dark. Naruto felt the path out with his left hand as he walked through it.

Every now and again he'd come across a door leading to another corridor, but no scouts had come looking for him yet. It seemed like the absence of his torturers hadn't been noticed.

It happened between the fifth and sixth floor, right as Naruto was so close to his destination.

It was the first time he heard someone else's footsteps in the staircase. And they were coming down toward him. There was no way for him to disguise himself. The passage was too narrow, any passer-by would step on his feet and dispel the Jutsu.

Just as he had done earlier, Naruto took out a Kunai with his left hand and prepared to strike. It was hard to judge how far away the two of them were, but it was only a matter of time before they came face-to-face.

He decided to stop walking, letting the other person come to him...

… Only for their steps to stop at the exact same time. Naruto cursed in his mind and ran up the remaining steps, turning around the corner while swinging his Kunai.

He hit nothing but wind. Naruto looked up to see a figure leap over him. He turned around to confront it once they landed, only to feel a hand grabbing him by the collar.

Knowing what was coming, he readjusted his center of gravity to avoid the upcoming throw, whirling his Kunai around to stab his attacker on the throat. The move was promptly deflected, and his weapon fell and rattled on the floor.

Muscle memory saved his life. He used his right elbow to block a rising uppercut aimed at his chin and retaliated with a low left hook aimed at their ribs. His target went limp to redistribute the damage, spinning like a top while kicking at his temple.

It was only after he blocked that attack that his eyes adjusted enough to the darkness. He immediately stepped back, disengaging her. "Yugao?!"

She stopped moving as well. "Naruto?!"

The two of them weren't particularly close. Naruto had met her when their team was first formed, and they were promptly separated once the fighting began.

Still, they embraced each other with the same vigor as two separated siblings.

"How'd you get out?!" They asked each other at the same time. Naruto laughed, a mix of genuine relief and letting out the adrenaline that had been hammering in his veins. "I was coming here to look for you!"

"Same here," Yugao sighed, running a hand down her hair. Then her body noticeably stiffened, and her eyes changed into pure concern. "Your hand, they showed me-!"

He wordlessly raised the regenerating limb. She stared at it in silence for a solid thirty seconds before he put it back down.

"Yeah, not the prettiest sight, I know."

"Are you… does it hurt?"

"I can't feel anything in it yet. Don't think the nerves have… nevermind."

"It… doesn't look human."

"Yeah, I know. It's a long story, and I'd rather tell it when we're fifteen miles away from here with the others. I think I know how to find the exit now."

"You do?"

"Interrogated one of them earlier, he told me how to navigate this place."

"So you know where Bokuden is?"

"Bokuden?"

"Their commander."

Naruto mouthed an "Oh." Before shaking his head. "Well, yeah, but who cares? We can ask for reinforcements with Asuma and come back here later. I don't know about you, but we should have some time before anyone realizes I left. Come on,"

"Wait!" She grabbed his arm before he could start going back down the stairs. He turned back to her, confused. "I… he has my sword, Naruto. I need to get it back."

He looked at the hand holding him back. The damage done to it was visible, her thumb looked like a crushed tomato. And now that he had a good look, the rest of Yugao wasn't pristine either.

"A sword? Yugao, Bokuden is bad news. I don't even know if we could both take him at the same time, and that's if he doesn't call reinforcements, which he definitely would. We're this close to escaping!"

"I-" She closed her eyes and sighed. "I know. But I still need to do it. You go on now, wait for me outside. Meet Asuma if you can. I'll try to get out as soon as I can."

Now it was his turn to tell her to wait, grabbing at her arm with his left hand. "Why do all this just for a sword?!"

"...It was a gift." She didn't turn back to face him. "From my father."

He felt a stir in his heart. Naruto immediately tried to shut the idea down before it formed in his mind.

It was stupid, and it was reckless, and he should never go along with it. He should knock Yugao out right there and then, rescuing her against her will.

But if Bokuden took something his father gave him, would he have taken the rational choice? Could he really leave it to the enemy?

"Fine." He said. She turned back to him, clearly shocked. "Let's do it, then. I know where his office is."

Naruto would be lying if the happiness he saw in her eyes didn't make dying seem worth it. "Thank you." She whispered.

"It's my fault we're in this mess to begin with." He said, resolving himself for what they were going to do. "But if we're taking him on, we better be ready for it. Come on."

---

Bokuden sat in his quarters, desk illuminated by faint candlelight. It was far from what one might have expected from a covert scouting operation, but there was no need to make Amegakure any more dour.

The room was pretty large, having been carved into the side of a mountain together with the rest of their headquarters, and he had brought two pieces of art from home.

One of them was a classic piece from Sunagakure. A painting depicting the birth of their village, dating all the way back in the warring states period. The other was a portrait made by his daughter, depicting him and his family.

Whenever the war demanded him to sacrifice another piece of his soul, Bokuden looked upon those two canvases, to remind himself of why they were fighting.

Country and family, the two things any man should aim to protect.

He sunk back on his chair. It was hard to deny things were dire. How many men had they lost in a week to the Konoha invaders? There wasn't any doubt in his mind anymore - all empires had to fall, and their time had come.

Suna did everything in its power to prepare for the invasion, but he feared that wasn't enough, even with the damage Konoha had taken during their previous attempt.

With Iwa being utterly unresponsive to their calls for help, that could very well be the end. The end of everything he had fought for. If his village ceased to exist, all of the blood in his hands would have been for naught. He had accepted the realities of his existence, and nature, a long time ago, but the thought was despairing nonetheless.

For the thousandth time, he cursed Gaara with every fiber of his being. If he had been the one burdened with a Bijuu, things would have never gotten that far.

Konoha would be burned, Kumo would be erased from the earth, and Iwa would be subjugated for their treachery and cowardice.

Suna would see the dawn of a golden age that would last for a thousand years, and his children, and their children's children, would never have to worry about war.

He rested his face in both hands. His last hope was that his wife would have the strength to do what was needed once the invasion started.

'I'll meet you in the other world.' He swore in his mind.

But for the time being, he had a job to do. Yugao still hadn't talked, and the team he entrusted Naruto to said they were on the verge of a breakthrough last they spoke.

'I'll see her first, then.' He decided, stretching as he stood from his desk. "This couldn't be over soon enough."

He took a step to leave, then stopped.

Several things could explain what happened next.

Maybe Bokuden's ear caught a distinctive, unforgettable sound any soldier would be on the lookout for.

Maybe he had developed a sixth-sense after a long and arduous military career that warned him of upcoming danger a fraction of a second before anything happened.

Maybe the stress and weariness brought to him by his duties had pushed his senses to the limit, making him more sensible to any and all sources of activity.

Either way, he moved before thinking, turning around and jumping away from his own desk. Just in time, too, because the floor underneath him suddenly exploded upward with what seemed like a concentrated explosion of wind and water.

Bokuden kicked the samurai sword his men had confiscated from their prisoner and promptly unsheathed it, facing the hole the attack had come from.

But something was wrong. If they knew where his desk was…

He whirled around to face his room's entrance. Naruto Uzumaki stood there with an already finished hand seal. "FUTON:" He filled his lungs with air. Bokuden channeled his chakra into the blade and stabbed it into the ground. "KAITEN SHURIKEN!"

The very air around the Uzumaki's feet were transformed into dozens of projectiles, like upcoming waves of air, gliding just above the floor. A technique specifically chosen to chop his legs off.

But that wasn't the end of it, and he knew it. In the same millisecond Naruto finished summoning his jutsu, the officer turned around to see Yugao jumping from the crater she had formed earlier, pouncing to rip his head off with a Kunai.

Unfortunately for them, that wouldn't be enough to end his life.

Bokuden abandoned his initial plan to deflect Naruto's attack with Yugao's sword and instead jumped high into the air.

He flipped around in mid-air and stuck both of his feet to the ceiling with the tree-walking technique. Yugao had to maneuver herself over Bokuden's desk to avoid Naruto's first attack.

"Impressive." He meant it. He angled his body to watch both of them at the same time, and they looked up at him in return. It seemed like they were wise enough to avoid attacking him without a plan, especially when he had his guard up.

Naruto and Yugao both began to wordlessly circle around him from below. He crouched, keeping his eyes on them. No words were spoken, but they were clearly still communicating somehow. Some nuance in their body language, clearly too obscure and quickly thought-out for him to decipher in the middle of a battle.

"Might I know why you've decided to attack me instead of simply running away?" He asked, slinging Yugao's sword over his shoulder. Neither spoke a word, but Yugao's glare tightened. "Ah, this then?" He held the sword out. "I should have known."

Now that he had an idea of their true goal, defending himself had just gotten a whole lot easier. Naruto was concentrating his power, Yugao was preparing for a leap.

Bokuden couldn't help but smile.

It had been years since he had a proper duel. The seriousness and importance of his work always forced him to face the enemy with all odds on his side. Getting caught in an ambush for once was reinvigorating, in a way.

He had to admit, even as they prepared to corner him…

….It was going to be fun teaching those Konoha brats who they were really dealing with.

Naruto moved first, hands blurring together into seals. Yugao was next, jumping to the ceiling right in front of him, finding her footing and running up to him.

'So she's going to distract me while the boy works on a Jutsu?' He thought, side-stepping, dodging, and parrying several of her attacks. 'Simple enough.'

'Let's see how they deal with this, then.'

First, he made a feint toward Yugao, pretending to go for a rising slash aimed at her right eye. The power and speed behind the blow were more than enough to convince the woman of his deception, and she quickly moved to dodge.

Halfway through the motion, though, he let go of the blade altogether. He answered her shock with a crescent kick that hit the woman's side and sent her tumbling across the ceiling.

Before the sword hit the ground, he grabbed it by the hilt and threw it straight at Naruto, who was forced to interrupt his preparations to get out of the way.

Of course, that entire interaction happened in less than ten seconds total.

The boy didn't expect Bokuden to leap at him, it seemed. For a second they stood in front of each other, as his much younger opponent was at a complete loss for what to do.

Then their battle erupted; a furious exchange of blows. It was Bokuden's turn to be surprised, not expecting the boy to be nearly as proficient in Taijutsu. Unfortunately for him, though, not being able to use his right hand was a fatal disadvantage.

Naruto missed a step and lost his balance, but Bokuden knew better than that. It was clear as day bait. He expected him to pounce on the opportunity and expose himself to his attacks.

"Bad move." Bokuden whispered before hitting him with a straight punch to the chest, right above Naruto's heart. He felt the boy's breastbone crack as he was flung across the room. Of course, he used quite a bit of chakra to strengthen the blow.

After that, all he had to do was grab the sword off of the ground and swing it behind his back, not even turning around to block Yugao's Kunai swing.

Metal scrapped against metal, an unforgettable sound that spread across the room. In the end, even in that disfavorable position, his strength won over hers.

A gasp. Bokuden swung the sword while standing from the floor, throwing off her balance. He turned, grabbed her by the throat, lifted her body above his head, and rammed her into the stone floor.

It cracked under his might, and Bokuden made sure to keep his hold on her throat, slowly but surely suffocating the woman. Of course, he'd rather not kill two sources of information, if at all possible.

She tried to hit him from the ground, kicking at his body and punching at his face, but it was all for naught. It was almost impossible to generate enough power behind a strike while you had your back to the floor. Even when you were Ex-ANBU.

'He should be attacking me in two seconds-'

That thought was interrupted when Bokuden had to reach out with his free hand and block Naruto's swing. The distinctive sound Yugao's sword made whenever it sliced the air abruptly stopped. He half-turned to face him, staring at wide, green eyes.

There was something familiar about them, now that he got a second look. Not the eyes exactly, but Naruto's facial structure as a whole. Suddenly, in the middle of their life-or-death struggle, the realization clicked in his mind.

Naruto Uzumaki was a far more valuable target than he was first led to believe. And a more personal one, too.

Naruto let go of the sword, jumped back, and performed four rapid one-handed seals. Smoke enveloped him and Yugao. When it was finally gone, Bokuden's hand was wrapped around Naruto's throat.

And Yugao finally had her sword back.

'That' s not good.'

She wasted no time in thrusting at his back with the blade's bare tip. She was nowhere near top condition, especially after almost being strangled to death by him, but the blow still had enough power behind it to be messy.

He escaped it by stomping on the ground hard enough to make several more cracks, refusing to let go of Naruto's throat while somersaulting over Yugao's head, and consequently, her sword.

For the first time in the fight, Bokuden felt pain. He looked down to see Naruto's right hand, the one he clearly recalled being cut off, stabbing into his arm.

Perhaps 'hand' was a bit too generous of a description. It looked like one of the metal claws soldiers from Kirigakure used to employ, only made of bone instead. A mighty interesting fact, but not one he could pursue in the middle of a fight.

Naruto seemed surprised at Bokuden's refusal to let him go, even as his fingers dug until they were halfway through his arm.

While they were still in the air, Bokuden whirled his body around and launched Naruto through the crater Yugao had used to enter the room, forcing a cloud of dust to surge upward from where his body landed.

Now it was time to face Yugao face-to-face. Facing a samurai woman, even a disgraced one, while she had a sword in her hands was far from an easy task. And even then, Yugao was proving herself to be a samurai among samurai.

There was one critical factor that still gave him a slight edge over her, though, and probably saved his life in the process. Experience.

Right as she stepped in to attack him, Bokuden flung the injury Naruto had caused at Yugao, trying to blind her with his own blood.

She avoided the attempt nicely, but still had to interrupt an attack to do so. Bokuden didn't waste any time closing the distance between them, grabbing at one of her wrists with one hand while pulling back the other. One good punch to the trachea should be enough to immobilize her for a while.

Or at least that was what he intended to do, until he heard the sound of stone breaking from underneath them for a second time.

He quickly separated from Yugao, kicking her in the chest away from him. Only after that did a question appear in his mind. Would the young Uzumaki really try to attack him if it meant risking the woman's life in the process?

It was a feint. Before he managed to do anything about it, Naruto's left hand erupted from under him and grabbed at his ankle. With one mighty pull, the floor broke altogether, and the boy dragged them both to the fifth floor. Bokuden couldn't see what happened to Yugao's body in the meantime.

He managed to land on his feet, but Naruto was already expecting him. He hit a perfect soccer-kick on Bokuden's face. Even while going limp and rolling with the blow to redistribute some of the damage, it hurt. More importantly, his brain rattled a tad, disrupting his sense of balance.

Just as he was about to involuntarily fall to one knee, Yugao fell upon them from the sixth floor, sword pointed down, ready to run him through. Bokuden reached into his pouch and separated from them by throwing a smoke bomb on the ground.

Yugao's sword pierced through stone, and soon the smoke cleared to show Bokuden standing across the room, while the two grouped together for the next round of attacks.

Blood was pounding in his ears. He should have known his fighting days weren't truly behind him. That's what every man liked to think, until they were back in the shit, struggling to kill their enemies.

If he closed his eyes, he could imagine himself standing in that same yellow field from so long ago, vomiting blood and meat after having his lungs eviscerated. Bokuden rolled his neck while staring Naruto and Yugao down. Finally, for the first time since their conflict began, he spoke;

"You remind me of the Fourth Hokage."

Naruto, who was shifting his center of gravity from one foot to the other, suddenly stopped moving. Even Yugao seemed baffled.

"Huh?"

"Don't get me wrong, you're not nearly as strong as he was." Bokuden assured him. "Gods, no. But there's something about your… tenacity. Just the same as he was, always moving, always looking for a spot of weakness to exploit… Ah, this brings me back to those days. Sometimes, I still wonder why he let us walk away."

"Bullshit." Yugao called from Naruto's side. "There's no way someone like you fought the Fourth Hokage and lived to babble about it."

"Really?" Bokuden reached out and removed both his vest and the shirt underneath it with a single sweep.

---

Naruto clenched his teeth to avoid them from rattling. Bokuden's body told a clear-cut story, one very similar to his own. There was no doubt he had spent years training for combat, and even more taking other's lives. Scars covered him from top-to-bottom, which wouldn't have been too odd to see on an officer.

But there was something about how Yugao reacted to seeing the biggest among them, a large oval shape that started right underneath Bokuden's chest and continued into his side. The grip on her sword's handle tightened until her nails were digging into the decorated wood.

"It's no surprise that you don't know what this is at a first glance, boy," Bokuden said. "But the lady knows. I'd wager you know quite a lot about the Fourth, don't you?" The man's face split into a sudden grin. "But not as much as I do."

Naruto's eyes were constantly scanning the man's body for openings, but he couldn't find any. Everything he could think of would lead to their eventual defeat. He decided to simply recover his stamina and concentrate his chakra while Bokuden meandered.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Yugao was clearly indiginated. "Shouldn't you be leading Suna's armies instead of doing their wet-work?"

"I've never cared much for glory," Bokuden rolled his shoulders with a sigh. The uneasy feeling Naruto had since their ambush began grew tenfold. Something told him that was it, playtime was over. From now on, Bokuden was going to go for the kill.

"Some of my superiors didn't want me in the spotlight. You know how small men are when given enough power, always afraid someone will come for it."

He began to slowly pace around the room. Naruto and Yugao moved appropriately, resolute to not give him a single inch of space. "I grew strong for one reason, and one reason only," He said, raising a finger. "To protect and serve my country."

Suddenly, he chuckled. "But I think you two will agree with me that there's not a single warrior on earth who is satisfied by simply crushing ants under their heels. I've been waiting to come across your mother for a while now," He nodded toward Naruto. "But you two will do just fine."

Yugao's eyes crossed with Naruto. It was time. Then, before he could do anything, chakra exploded out of Bokuden's body, which quickly became smoke. When it cleared, two silhouettes stepped out.

One of them faced Yugao, the other looked toward Naruto.

It was a feeling, not a thought, that spread through Naruto's body. It was like being drenched in cold water.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

---

Jutsu Translation List:

Suiton: Moeru Taki ("Water Release: Blazing Waterfall!")

Futon: Kaiten Shuriken ("Wind Release: Revolving Shuriken")

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)

---

AN: Wew, that one took a lot of work! As I'm sure a lot of you can tell, we're reaching the end of this Ame "mini"-arc. This chapter took a bit less to write than the last, at a whopping 14 thousand words. I'm pretty happy with that, honestly. I think I've mentioned it before, but long fight scenes like the one here are the toughest, but most fun part to write. I think that's good, considering the nature of this story

Before I get into that, though, thank you all a lot for the reception Chapter 8 received! I wasn't expecting such a sudden and positive response. For the questions I've received from Coldblue, I'm (sorta) sorry to say a lot of them will be answered throughout the course of the story, except for one which was already answered in this chapter. I hope I lived up to your expectations!

I really mulled over writing that 'hallucination' sequence, and I felt like its conclusion might not have been for everyone's tastes, but at the end of the day, I decided that it was my vision for the story, and hope everyone can understand where I wanted to go with it. There are probably a lot of questions regarding the exact mechanics behind Naruto's seal and regenerative abilities, but I want to make it clear that those questions WILL be addressed later on the story, so please keep an eye out for that.

As a side-note, I've decided to finally change the rating for PWA from "T" to "M". I wasn't entirely sure on how the rating system on worked, and still really aren't, because I consider their guidelines to be a bit vaguely worded, but the descriptions of torture and injuries in this chapter probably vaulted over into more "explicit" violence. Rest assured, I still have no intentions of putting any graphic sex scenes in the story. I'm considering it more of a pre-emptive measure on that regard.

With all that being said, thank you all very much for reading, and I'll see you all next time!