"How did it go?" Tsunade asked, watching Naruto and his vassals leave the hospital from the window of the office she'd been given.
Jiraiya shrugged, "Honestly?" he asked, "Better than expected, that Kimimaro has some interesting morals. He values selflessness, so I think Naruto might actually be able to get through to him." he answered, crossing his arms as he leaned against the window sill next to his fellow loyal Sannin.
Tsunade smiled, "Good." she said simply, happy that the younger blonde might be able to save the white haired teen from Orochimaru.
"I'll give him a bit to cool off, Naruto needs some more training with the kitsune chakra while I'm in town and he needs to do his own missions." Jiraiya said, "Try not to talk about this too much with the Kaguya kid, he'll probably react poorly if he thinks Naruto is just manipulating him."
Tsunade nodded, "It'd be easier for him to change his mind naturally." she agreed, taking a seat as Jiraiya left to go report to Kakashi.
Kin decided to join Naruto and Haku for training, figuring she'd need to get stronger if she wanted to have a chance of surviving. Then she saw how the blonde actually trained and wasn't sure if she should bother.
Naruto started by taking off his flak vest, jacket, and mesh shirt, then pulling a scroll out of his vest and making a bunch of kage bunshin. From what Kin understood creating that many at once wasn't something even Orochimaru could do, that or he never bothered due to the chakra requirements likely limiting his other ninjutsu. Then all of them pulled out their katana from the scroll and revealed the Sharingan in their left eyes before going at each other.
According to Haku this was how Naruto liked to warm up lately, they started by taking each other out in duels but by the end of it the last of them would gang up on one. Glancing blows were all that was needed to dispel the bunshin, but they got glancing blows on the original blonde too.
When he was finished with this warm up the Uzumaki was panting and had a few cuts and scraps that were visibly closing themselves as he caught his breath. Kin figured the idea was to get him used to fighting multiple opponents but she was pretty sure he was just crazy, Haku didn't like it all that much either from the expression on the older boys face.
Kin did warm up stretches with Haku while watching the battle of the bunshin, she had to admit it was impressive, and his growth since her team had fought him in the Forest of Death was astronomical. Some of it could probably be attributed to the fact she'd been locked up and needed to play catch up, but apparently the blonde was a ninjutsu specialist and not a kenjutsu specialist so she wasn't sure what to think.
Apparently neither Naruto nor Haku were particularly good at genjutsu, which gave Kin some measure of confidence back even if she knew the blonde had that freaky eye that basically made him immune to genjutsu anyway. Haku wasn't exactly terrible at getting out of them, and he had the chakra control to learn them, he just never learned any of them and didn't show any interest in them.
Kin took some small pride that she was about as good at shurikenjutsu as Naruto, but Haku made her feel like an amateur with his senbon groupings on the practice target. Apparently the blonde used to be much worse and Haku was used to giving pointers, so Kin took the advice of the older ninja but she still needed a lot more practice if she ever wanted to match Haku's groupings.
Naruto's taijutsu was something different, it seemed like Haku had refined his basics and trained some bad habits out of him but Kin couldn't tell if he was excellent with a unique style that blended Konoha with Kiri or a brawler that used whatever worked. The kunoichi knew she couldn't match him, but mostly she recognized that when it comes to taijutsu the blonde would just outlast his opponents like some kind of ninja berserker.
Ninjutsu was where Kin felt most inadequate. Naruto was a chakra beast, according to what she'd heard he had more chakra than most Kage, more than Orochimaru even without tapping into the kitsune sealed within him, and it showed when he practiced it. The chunin practiced ninjutsu he'd copied and Kin was stunned that he already knew four out of the Godai Kihon Seishitsu, and with Haku freezing the water for him he'd apparently picked up some Hyoton too.
Kin decided she'd need to do a lot of catch up training just to keep up with them if she wanted to survive, she was glad Naruto was fine with letting her do D rank missions around the village until then.
Kakashi wasn't sure what to make of the mission request, the messenger had come all the way from Tori no Kuni so he felt bad rejecting it, but the money was barely enough to cover a C rank let alone that the mission involved exterminating a ghost. Still, the messenger had startled him by talking of suicide, only to reveal he apparently meant financial suicide by adding his pocket money to the commission.
Still it was an odd mission, he was pretty sure you were supposed to hire monks or priests to deal with ghosts, not ninja. The Hokage wanted to send Sasuke with Neji and Tenten as a squad of three, putting two dojutsu against what could possibly be a genjutsu seemed the best bet, but Sasuke and Neji were both on missions. Neji should be back soon but he wasn't sure whether or not to send Naruto and Haku with Neji and Tenten.
Kakashi sighed as he looked over the mission parameters again, a ghost in white armor was terrorizing the people of Tori no Kuni and they'd hired ninja to deal with it. The Hokage really hoped it was a genjutsu, but that would make the mission at least a B rank, and with Sakura out on a mission too Naruto was pretty much the only chunin available, but he and Haku were both more than capable of dealing with a B rank, the issue was he was still pretty sure Naruto and Sasuke were cursed when it comes to mission parameters.
In the end, Kakashi had accepted the mission out of pity, so as soon as Neji returned he'd send the four man squad with the messenger, Chishima, to Tori no Kuni. If it was a ghost he hoped ninjutsu worked on it, chakra was half spiritual energy so it should work anyway he supposed.
Naruto wasn't scared of the new mission he'd been put in charge of and he didn't believe in ghosts, it didn't matter that his legs shook and his voice wavered he said he wasn't scared so that was that. Haku didn't call him out on it but did find the younger blonde being scared of ghosts sort of cute.
Neji didn't believe in ghosts at all, and after questioning Chishima they determined that the true identity of the ghost was probably Komei the strategist. This theory held up until they arrived in Tori no Kuni and saw the Cursed Warrior, in white armor and holding a naginata, flying around being chased by the town guards.
The ninja left Chishima behind and chased after the flying suit of armor, intent on getting the mission done as quickly as possible. When they followed it's trail to an old abandoned temple Neji activated his Kekkei Genkai and looked around.
The Hyuga frowned, "I don't see the presence of any living humans." he said.
"Did you have to word it like that?" Naruto asked, glaring at the ninja who was technically his subordinate for the mission. The door opened and Naruto and Tenten both took defensive stances, "Hey! Neji I thought you said you didn't detect anyone!?" the blonde panicked as Haku palmed two handfuls of senbon.
"I said living humans." Neji answered, although he seemed confused as well when the white armored figure came out, floated over a box and started walking at them. Haku tossed his senbon in between gaps in the armor, frowning himself when the apparent apparition didn't respond.
Naruto through kunai, the farming tools turned weapons lodging themselves in the armor without bothering the Cursed Warrior before Tenten unsealed a kusari fubo and sent it spinning at the approaching suit of armor, knocking its helmet off and revealing a glowing light from within but no head.
The blonde Uzumaki ran through hand seals, "Futon: Toppa!" he shouted, releasing the chakra enhanced breath of wind to send the armor tumbling back, revealing an empty suit of armor that didn't get back up, "Holy crap, it actually is a ghost!?" he exclaimed.
Chishima caught up to them with the town guard, the messenger took them somewhere to rest for the night so they could meet the high monk in the morning while the guards cleaned up the armor and weapon of the Cursed Warrior.
The next morning they were taken to meet with the magistrate and high monk Moso, "Moso-sama is a good man, he doesn't care for material possessions." Chishima told them, explaining his frugal home.
"I was expecting golden doors or something." Tenten said bashfully as they waited in the room.
Soon enough Moso himself arrived and humbly apologized for presenting such a poor domicile to guests, everyone except Naruto bowed and Haku silently cursed that the blonde was still rather socially blind, but with no one but Moso there to outrank him and call him out he greeted the magistrate like equals, which the man apparently found quite amusing instead of offensive much to the relief of Haku and Neji.
The old monk begged them to solve the mystery of the ghost warrior and put the worries of the town to rest. Neji still insisted it wasn't a ghost.
After the meeting with the magistrate they discussed what to do next with Chishima, Naruto wanted to meet Sagi, the young daimyo of Tori no Kuni. Sagi was refusing to meet anyone but Chishima told them he might have an idea.
It turned out Chishima's idea was to wait near a lake that Sagi had fond memories of in the hopes he would come there to reminisce. Thankfully the young man was right on the money and Sagi arrived under guard to watch the surface of the lake from his palanquin.
Before they could approach Neji and Haku noticed a faint killing intent, Naruto noticed Haku tense up and looked around as Neji activated his Byakugan. The Hyuga palmed a pair of kunai in one hand as he searched for the source of the malicious aura he sensed.
From the water a volley of shuriken flew at the daimyo, Neji intercepted by throwing his kunai as three masked ninja with came up out of the water wielding swords. The Hyuga rushed to stop one, blocking the tanto with a kunai before kicking the enemy ninja back. Tenten ducked and delivered an uppercut to another while Haku threw senbon into the third, who narrowly dodged as he frantically backpedaled.
The three ninja retreated into the water when they saw they were outnumbered and Naruto moved to give chase, "Wait Naruto!" Neji called out, startling the blonde into stopping, wondering why a genin was telling him what to do but understanding when there was an explosion, "If you'd chased after them, that kibaku fuda would have caught you too." the Hyuga explained.
"What are you lot doing here?" Sagi asked, not seeming very grateful for being rescued, "Is this Moso's doing?" he asked. Haku thought something about the young daimyo seemed off, but couldn't place it.
"Please, Sagi-sama," Chishima began, "these shinobi come from Konohagakure, Moso-sama sent me to get them and-"
"Pointless." Sagi said coldly, twisting the shuriken that had been thrown at him and struck his palanquin, he muttered something the ninja didn't catch as he tossed it aside.
"Oi," Naruto spoke up, showing his social ignorance yet again as he addressed a daimyo like an equal, "Chishima-nii was really worried about you y'know." he explained, "Be more considerate of your friends."
Sagi did not seem as amused by the blonde as Moso had been, "Friends? That was a long time ago, I am daimyo, we are on different fields!" he lectured the blonde and Haku felt bad for Chishima who turned his eyes down at those words.
Naruto looked livid, "The hell is that supposed to mean?" he asked, "Who gives a shit about station!? I outrank Neji and I still listened to his warning just then!" he pointed out, "Besides that Haku-chan is my vassal and I still value him as my most precious person!" he lectured right back, embarrassing the bearer of the Hyoton Kekkei Genkai.
Sagi was startled by that and looked at Haku, "Him?" he asked, looking up and down the dark haired shinobi's form, "Even his nails are painted..." the daimyo muttered, seeming confused but shook his head, "No matter, it may be difficult for you ninja to understand, and I'd heard shinobi can be a strange lot, but as daimyo I cannot be indulging in friendship with those of a lower standing."
"If you keep trampling on friendship I'll kick your ass y'know!" Naruto threatened the daimyo, his eye twitching as he glared. Sagi ignored him and had his guard take the palanquin away.
"Please forgive Sagi-sama," Chishima begged, "ever since his twin sister died right after his father he has become very cold of heart." he explained as Tenten picked up the discarded shuriken and examined it.
"That's not much of an excuse." Naruto grumbled, clearly not liking the way Sagi had treated Chishima, Haku couldn't help but smile at the morals of the young chunin as it was one of the things he loved about the younger teen.
"This is a weird shape." Tenten commented as she held up the three pointed shuriken.
"Ah that-" Chishima began, surprised, "Our land has no ninja village, but we have guardians who use shuriken like that." he explained how he recognized the shape, "They're under control of Komei-dono."
"We should get some more hard evidence," Neji said, "we can't go arresting someone like that even with this level of evidence." he pointed out. Naruto didn't look happy about it but thankfully listened to the council of the cool headed genin.
The ninja team waited outside Komei's residence to gather more evidence, Naruto was getting impatient as he wanted to run in there and arrest the guy already. Haku was glad the blonde was showing some restraint.
Eventually they saw Komei leave his home and followed him, avoiding being seen. The man moved without guard and had a mask on, and he went to the abandoned temple they'd fought the cursed warrior the first time. Neji activated his Byakugan and watched from a tree with the others.
The Cursed Warrior appeared before Komei, with a sheathed katana instead of a naginata this time, and Neji was surprised to note there was someone inside the armor this time, but before he could tell the team of this Naruto leaped into action.
"Komei!" Naruto exclaimed, "We know it was you controlling the Cursed Warrior!" he declared, pointing accusingly at the man who was obviously startled by the accusation and ran off. Haku landed next to Naruto and tossed senbon to disable the retreating strategist but the Cursed Warrior drew his blade and cut them out of the air.
Tenten jumped down next and threw a volley of shuriken that the warrior blocked with his metal gauntlet before the armored enemy started swinging the sword above his head, infusing chakra through the blade to form a tornado.
Naruto lifted his headband and ran through hand seals, "Katon:" he began, inhaling deeply and infusing the air in his lungs with chakra, "Gokakyu no Jutsu!" the blonde exhaled loudly, overwhelming the whirlwind with flame. When the smoke cleared the suit of charred armor fell smoking to the ground.
Neji approached to unmask the enemy but pulled back as a cloud of acrid purple released from it before it fully collapsed, green goo oozing from it. The Hyuga frowned to note it was empty, "It wasn't empty a moment ago." he muttered to himself.
"What does that mean?" Naruto asked as he pulled his forehead protector back down over the Sharingan.
"This Cursed Warrior is different to the first one we fought." Neji answered simply.
Komei was arrested that night, and the next morning Moso assured them that he'd confessed to his crimes and the mission was over. He explained that the man in the armor had killed himself with a strong acid that left the strange green ooze behind.
Naruto waited for Moso and Chishima left before turning to his team, "I don't like this one bit," he said as he took his half of Kiba off his sash and gave the legendary blade to Haku, "you guys should do some investigation, I'll leave the details up to Neji." he said, and Haku frowned, "Haku-chan, hold onto this for me and back Neji and Tenten up if they need it, I need to do some investigation of my own." he explained.
Haku didn't want to be separate from Naruto but nodded to show he understood his orders before the blonde ran off. Chishima returned momentarily, "Where did Naruto-kun run off to?" the assistant asked them.
"Don't worry about it." Neji assured him, waving off any concerns.
Naruto checked the places they'd seen the Cursed Warrior, and eventually ended up at the abandoned temple again, "Searching alone is a pain." he muttered to himself, wishing he'd brought Haku along, but if something was wrong he didn't want to leave Neji and Tenten alone.
The chunin bit the skin of his thumb open and ran through hand signs, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" he declared, summoning a pair of small toads, "Yo, Gamakichi, Gamatatsu, your guys noses are better than a human right?" he asked.
Gamakichi didn't look happy about that, "What are we? Puppies!?" he asked, clearly offended as Gamatatsu wandered off distracted, "The authority of the Gama clan must have fallen low, come on Gamatatsu we're leaving!" he decided.
Gamatatsu wasn't listening and was jumping at something hanging from a tree, after a few tries he caught it and pulled a large dark kite on top of himself, "Ah! It's dark! That means night time? Goodnight." the toad said from under the kite, sounding tired by the end of it.
Naruto lifted the kite up and examined it, "Weird, what's this doing here?" he wondered before a wind picked it up out of his hands and he had to rescue Gamatatsu from being carried off. The blonde noticed there were multiple kites in the trees and connected the dots, "So this is how the warrior was flying." he realized.
The toads and their summoner entered the abandoned temple to look for more clues, "Ah, Gamakichi-nii it's nice and cool in here!" Gamatatsu exclaimed.
"You idiot, this is a humid temple-" Gamakichi began to scold as he hopped over to his brother before stopping, "woah actually it is nice and cool right here." he agreed.
Naruto approached them, "Good job guys." he praised, indicating for them to move as he pulled out a kunai to pry open a hidden entrance to an underground passage. The three continued their search by following the tunnel until they wound up in some forested area near a fence.
They approached the fence and saw what looked to be a woman bathing on the other side, "Nice view!" Gamakichi declared and quickly had his mouth covered by the hand of his summoner.
"Quiet, are you trying to get us caught?" Naruto asked, only for both of them to hear the sounds of Gamatatsu struggling in a trap, "Are you kidding me?" the blonde asked, moving to rescue him only to be surrounded by guards holding him at yari point.
The blonde wasn't sure what to do at this point, he recognized them as the personal guard of the daimyo so he didn't really want to pick a fight with them since he was supposed to be a guest in their land, and if he resisted his village could get in trouble.
"Uh," Naruto began, "good work guys." he said with a forced smile, holding his hands up to placate them, "Don't mind me, I'm investigating the Cursed Warrior still." he tried and they advanced on him, one of them pulling out some rope.
"You're trespassing on the private property of the daimyo!" One of the guards accused, not buying his story. This bothered the blonde since his story was actually true.
"I am?" Naruto asked, his confusion genuine since he hadn't been aware of that, but if it was true it meant he was probably in a little more trouble than he thought, "Well my bad, I'll come quietly so we can get this sorted out, y'know?" he offered, figuring that was the best way to avoid an incident. If worst came to worse he could just escape the ropes and return to Haku in an instant.
The guards tied him up and took him to the daimyo, finding the young lord in between rooms, "Sagi-sama! We captured this suspicious trespasser!" a guard informed.
Naruto was relieved, "Oh good, hey Sagi-nii, we met yesterday near the lake. You can clear this mess up, I was just investigating the Cursed Warrior." he explained to the scowling daimyo.
"I have no idea who that is." Sagi lied, "Don't bother Moso with this, just throw him in the dungeon." he ordered, surprising the blonde.
Once Naruto was alone in a cell he struggled against the bonds they'd placed over him, a straight jacket that was much harder to escape from than some ropes, "Damn that Sagi, I cooperated because I didn't want to cause an unnecessary incident, bastard." the blonde grumbled to himself.
"Yo!" Gamakichi said, revealing he and Gamatatsu had remained hidden and infiltrated the dungeon.
Naruto beamed, "Oh good, it's you guys, quick, untie me so I can get out of here." he requested, and Gamakichi moved to do just that.
Before Naruto could be freed they heard footsteps coming towards the cell. The chunin was surprised to see the Cursed Warrior was there and opening his cell door. Then the warrior attacked, thrusting their pole weapon at the young ninja.
Naruto dodged a few times, intentionally cutting it close to allow his confines to become ripped in order to escape but ended up pinned to the cave wall by them as the warrior withdrew their katana. The Uzumaki ripped through the straight jacket and punched his attacker in the mask, sending them flying back and destroying the mask.
"Sagi!?" Naruto asked, surprised at the identity of his assailant.
The daimyo scowled in return, "Damn it," he grumbled as he stood up, "you can't be allowed to live now that you've come this far!" he declared, standing up.
Any further fighting was interrupted by the voice of Chishima, "Sagi-sama!" the young man called out as he approached, bleeding from shuriken wounds, "It was Moso-sa- no, just Moso, he fooled us! He had his own ninja! They were using the guardians shuriken to frame Komei-dono!" he informed them.
Naruto pulled out a kunai and puled his chakra into the blade, working fast while Chishima explained the situation to Sagi, "I'll be right back," the blonde began, approaching Sagi and holding out the kunai blade first, "hold this for a bit." he requested and Sagi did, looking at the odd spiral pattern on the blade in confusion before Naruto made a single one handed hand seal and disappeared.
Tenten and Haku followed Neji, the young genin wanted to investigate the tomb of the former daimyo. The Hyuga used his dojutsu to examine the tomb from the outside and his eyes widened.
"There is a poison within Owashi's corpse." Neji began, "The previous daimyo was definitely assassinated." he explained before he noticed they'd been surrounded by armed guards, "We've been surrounded for some reason, follow me." he added as he jumped up onto the wall, crouching down to take cover. Tenten and Haku followed his lead.
"Attention shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato!" One of the guards called out to them, "Your fellow ninja has been arrested for trespassing on the private property of the daimyo," he began, "the price for this is death! Leave now or suffer the same-" he got no further as he was paralyzed by a cold killing intent that washed over the guards.
Neji realized what was going on too late, "Haku-san, calm down!" he tried to order but Haku was beyond listening, the older boy leaped over the guards and hit the ground running, forcing Neji and Tenten to use shunshin just to keep up.
The Hyuga noticed they were being followed but also knew he couldn't get Haku to stop, the older dark haired shinobi had brought the legendary blades out in both hands and was leaping from branch to branch towards the residence of the daimyo with killing intent rolling off his body. It hadn't even occurred to him to use kuchiyose
Suddenly he was stopped by a familiar blonde chunin grabbing him around the waist, who appeared out of nowhere, "Yo, Haku-chan, what's the rush?" he asked as if nothing was wrong. Neji was startled by the sudden appearance and Tenten gawked openly at him.
Haku wrapped the younger ninja up in a tight hug, his shoulders shaking barely perceptable as he struggled to contain himself, "Naruto-san," Neji greeted cautiously, "we have company." he warned.
"It figures our Meisaigakure no Jutsu wouldn't work against a Hyuga." A voice mused as two shinobi came out of hiding, their forms seeming to rise up out of the trees themselves. Both wore beige tunics, one had cheek length black hair and small black eyes with a strange hat, the other had long blue hair with the bangs covering the right side of his face and large black eyes with a thin white headband.
Naruto frowned as he looked at them, "Damn," he said, "We have to deal with these guys quick." he decided as he raised his forehead protector to reveal the Sharingan and reached into Haku's haori, startling the older boy until he felt the blonde was grabbing the three pronged kunai. Suddenly the chunin tossed it at the blue haired one and took half of the Kiba from Haku.
The enemy ninja dodged and Naruto performed the seal of confrontation, appearing at the thrown kunai in an instant to catch it out of the air and toss it again, "Kiiroi Senko!?" the ninja was startled by the jutsu and Naruto instantly teleported to the kunai again in mid air, catching it and slamming the back end of it into his temple, knocking the blue haired ninja out.
The black haired ninja took a step back but was halted by senbon appearing in his neck, sending him to the forest floor, "He's in a death like state." Haku informed coldly as he caught the man by the leg, having leaped to the tree right below the man after throwing the senbon while the ninja was distracted by Naruto.
Tenten and Neji weren't sure what to think of that, they knew Naruto had gotten strong but that had been ridiculous, "Sorry for scaring you, Haku-chan." the blonde apologized as he gave the three pronged kunai back to the older boy who wrapped him up in another hug, leaving Tenten to tie up the captured ninja.
"I'm just glad you're okay," Haku sighed into the blonde boys neck, sending shivers down his spine, "we heard you were sentenced to death." he told the younger ninja, who sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.
"It's hard to explain, and there might be more enemy approaching." Naruto said, "Everyone gather round and make sure you're touching, I've never tried to move this many people." he warned and the genin realized they were about to be transported by the technique that had apparently reminded those ninja of something quite legendary.
Tenten knew about the kunai shape, "You know Hiraishin no Jutsu!?" she asked, stars in her eyes. Naruto grinned and nodded, motioning for the other ninja to gather around faster.
In a flash the clearing was empty.
Sagi wasn't sure where Naruto had gone but he got Chishima in a bed and hooked up to some medical devices. The daimyo tended to the young man's wounds and finished wrapping them when the small room suddenly filled with ninja, Sagi did not take this well and gave a very girlish shriek before the hand of the young blonde chunin covered his mouth.
"Chill out, Sagi-oneechan." Naruto said, surprising everyone with that honorific, Tenten and Neji looked around the room in confusion, baffled by the Jikukan Ninjutsu. Haku was more confused by the honorific and watched Sagi carefully.
Sagi relaxed but shoved Naruto away, "What was that? Why did you bring them here?" he asked, clearly still annoyed.
Naruto chuckled, "Sorry, sorry, I didn't want to leave Haku-chan alone much longer." he apologized, "Could I have my kunai back?" he added and Sagi slowly pulled out the kunai the blonde had given him, "Thanks! Now, what's the plan? Moso is behind all this right? So we should rescue Komei-san." the Uzumaki said as if it was simple.
Sagi frowned, "Yes," he agreed after a moment, "but we can't just go rescue him openly, one of you should disguise yourselves as the Cursed Warrior and bring him back here, we'll make a plan from there." he ordered.
Naruto nodded, "Alright, I'll do that. Haku-chan, hold this," he began as he handed over his half of Kiba again, "and stay here with the others, as soon as I have Komei-san I'll bring him back here with Hiraishin no Jutsu." he finished, explaining the plan quickly so the older ninja wouldn't get too worried.
"Please be careful, Naruto-kun." Haku begged and the blonde grinned, nodding to show he agreed to do his best.
Naruto, disguised as the Cursed Warrior, decided that using a kite to fly was pretty cool. The blonde covered the execution grounds with a thick mist using Kirigakure no Jutsu and descended, slamming the haft of the naginata into the executioner standing by Komei with a sword as he did.
The disguised blonde grabbed Komei, shifted the naginata to rest in the crook of his elbow, and made the seal of confrontation, disappearing in a flash.
Komei was stunned, one second he was being forced to kill himself, and the next he was in the courtyard of the daimyo surrounded by the Konoha shinobi, "Told you guys it would be easy." Naruto said, taking off the mask to show off his grin.
Sagi approached Komei, "I'm sorry, Komei-san," the young daimyo apologized, "due to me you were blamed for the Cursed Warrior."
Komei narrowed his eyes, "I thought it might have been you, Sagi-sama." he revealed, "Moso forced a false confession out of me, but I do not blame you for his actions. I would like an explanation inside." he requested, wincing at the reminder of his injuries.
They all went inside and Naruto took off the armor as Sagi explained his reasons and they all pieced together what had truly happened.
"Sagi-sama," Komei began, "please, do not live only for revenge! I do not want you to fall to such darkness!" he begged desperately. Sagi did not look like he was going to agree.
Naruto frowned, trying to relate to the situation, he'd never had a family, but if someone killed Karin or Haku he'd want to rip them apart, that much was certain, however he'd only killed in self defense before and even that felt bad, "Sagi-nee," the blonde spoke up, confusing the others with his choice of honorific again, "have you ever killed before?" he asked.
Sagi seemed startled by the question as Komei frowned, Haku could see where this was going and his eyes became downcast, "Well, no." the young daimyo answered, "But that bastard killed my family, I cannot move on until he dies for what he did!" he declared passionately.
Naruto nodded, "I figured you might say that," he said sadly, "well it's not within our mission parameters." he said, surprising Tenten and Neji, "However," he began before anyone could interrupt, "I can't let you do this alone. That Moso guy probably has more shinobi. If you try to get revenge alone you're as good as dead." he said with surprising coldness.
Sagi didn't look happy about it and Haku wasn't sure where the blonde was going with this line of conversation, "So you're going to stand in my way?" he asked, tensing up and backing against the wall, Komei frowned sadly.
"Hell no," Naruto answered simply, "I just said I can't let you do it alone," he pointed out and his fellow ninja's eyes widened, "if you're damn certain you need to kill this guy then I won't stop you, I wouldn't let anything or anyone stop me from killing anyone who took Haku-chan or Karin-neechan away from me. I'd rather protect them, and until fairly recently I never had a family to lose so I can't fully relate to what you're going through, but I won't stop you from getting revenge." he explained, Komei looked bothered by this but could tell he was outnumbered, "Neji, Tenten, this isn't in the mission parameters, so I understand if you guys want to hurry home now."
Neji frowned, "You'd stay and help even if we left?" he asked and Naruto nodded without hesitating.
Tenten scowled, "As if we'd leave now! We're shinobi, we should see this through to the end, and we're a team, right Haku-san?" she declared, looking at the older ninja in askance.
Haku smiled, "It was never a question if I was leaving, my place is undeniably beside Naruto-kun." he answered.
"That's that then," Naruto said with a grin, clapping his hands once, "Sagi-nee-" he began, turning towards the daimyo again.
"First of all," Sagi interrupted, "why do you refer to me as such?" he asked, seeming disturbed.
"Sorry!" Tenten swiftly apologized with a bow, "Naruto-san can be a bit socially oblivious!" she excused her squad leader, embarrassed. Neji sighed, also embarrassed to be the subordinate of the blonde knucklehead.
Naruto shrugged, "Well, you were the only one who could have been in the bath," he answered, stunning everyone and causing Sagi to blush, "plus I've been around Haku-chan too long to be fooled by that outfit." he added, shocking the other ninja and Komei further.
The young daimyo was blushing and glaring at the blonde, "You saw me?" she asked and the chunin nodded shamelessly, causing her to sigh, "Damn it, well if it's come to this I might as well come out with it." she grumbled, taking off her hat and letting her hair flow down her back, "I am Toki, daughter of the late Owashi and sister of the late Sagi." she explained and Komei's jaw dropped, "I will have revenge." she insisted.
"Yeah that's still fine," Naruto assured, waving off her concerns, Haku could hardly believe how brazen the young blonde had become and wondered if he'd been a corrupting influence, "but we're going to help." the chunin reminded with a grin that had Toki smiling softly.
Moso exited his domicile to enter the courtyard with a smirk on his face, gazing up at the night sky to see the white armored figure, "Ah, to think the Cursed Warrior would come again," he chuckled to himself, "well, it would be a crime to kill Sagi-sama the daimyo, but defending myself against the Cursed Warrior can't be helped." he mused as he ran through hand seals.
Toki was startled by the Gokakyu no Jutsu coming at her and adjusted her flight path, but her kites and parts of her armor still caught fire. The daimyo released herself from the kites and fell to the ground, trying to land on a branch but crashing through it on the way to the ground. She quickly reached up and tossed her heated up mask away as the flames died down.
"Moso," Toki began, "you damned bastard, what do you have to say for yourself!?" she accused, angry at the treasonous monk.
"I have no need to answer a ghost." Moso responded calmly, holding a fan at the ready. Toki snarled and threw her naginata at the man. The target of her rage merely smirked and sent it back with his fan, knocking her helmet off.
"Oh?" Moso was surprised, "You aren't Sagi at all, how deceptive." he accused with a chuckle. Toki didn't respond as she drew her katana and ran at the man who went through more hand seals, "Kagemane no Jutsu." he intoned simply and she halted in place, "Thanks to the torch light our shadows are touching, this is Kagemane no Jutsu." he explained, moving his arm holding the fan to the side and to her horror Toki's sword arm mirrored his movements.
"That's just genjutsu," Naruto's voice called out from the shadows around the home of Moso before shuriken flew from the shadows and cut the wires holding Toki in place, "Kagemane no Jutsu is the Nara clan's hijutsu, even the Sharingan can't copy it." the chunin explained as a group of the Cursed Warrior arrived.
Moso was startled by this development, "What is the meaning of this? Bunshin?" he questioned as he glared at the assembled warriors before running through hand seals, "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" he exclaimed, launching a hail of small bolts of flame at the warriors, who blocked the attacks with their armor, "Bunshin with substance? Kage Bunshin." the fake monk figured out, looking around in concern now.
"It's over for you, you'll answer for your sins!" Naruto declared and all the warriors pointed at Moso accusingly as Toki held her sword in both hands and glared.
Moso scoffed, "Us Watari ninja have worked too hard to be stopped by elitists now!" the man declared and a band of ninja jumped from hiding to engage the warriors as Moso himself rushed Toki, disarmed her and slammed his fist into her solar plexus before taking the winded woman under his arm and retreating into his house.
Tenten dropped her henge and pulled out a sansetsukon to defend herself, parrying a sword strike and twirling her chosen weapon, using the centrifugal force to strike her opponent in the temple and knock him out cold before catching another blade on the chain section between two sections of wood and striking the top of his head with the third.
Neji dropped his henge and engaged in taijutsu against his armed opponents, Byakugan already active as he delivered blows that disabled his opponents chakra systems and took them out of the fight.
Haku dropped his henge and poured chakra into Kiba, holding both blades and tapping them together, "Raikyu!" he declared as the legendary weapon turned his chakra into Raiton chakra and fired the orb of electricity at the first opponent who came at him before going on the defensive against another two tanto wielding Watari ninja.
Naruto dropped his henge and used shunshin to bypass the enemy shinobi, leaving them to his teammates as he chased after Moso and Toki, the Sharingan in his left eye already revealed. The blonde saw through a genjutsu an open trap door that lead to rushing water and heard Moso trying to lure him through there through the genjutsu, but seeing that his enemy had gone that way he jumped into the water.
The blonde chunin travelled with the rushing water down the pipeline, arriving in the lake he'd first met Toki in short order. Naruto stood on the surface of the lake and looked around before spotting Moso standing in a small boat with Toki tied up next to him.
"So, that eye can see through the genjutsu," Moso commented, "how irritating that I'd be up against the Sharingan, but poetic, two ninja who copy ninjutsu fighting each other." he mused in an amused tone, smirking at the young chunin.
Naruto scowled, "Don't even compare us, the Sharingan may be capable of breaking down ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu, but being able to copy them still requires training. Your cheap rip off jutsu are nothing compared to my training." he lectured angrily.
Moso scowled back, "Don't lecture me you elitist brat!" he shot back, "You lived in a cosy village, you probably had jutsu handed to you on a silver platter, every jutsu I have I worked for!" he declared as he shed his disguise to reveal a man with fair skin, short, and low-faded black hair. He wore face paint on his face, a sleeveless purple kimono with thick white lining and thin purple lines, mesh armour underneath, black gloves, and ninja sandals, "I am Hoki of the Watari Shinobi! I will defeat you and claim Tori no Kuni as the new home for my ninja clan!" he declared.
Naruto took a defensive stance, "I trained hard for every jutsu I know," he corrected as he closed his right eye, "I'll show you the kind of power you could get if you actually trained hard." he promised, although he had to admit he was more grateful than ever that he'd had Haku to help train him.
Hoki opened the fight with a pair of shuriken before running through hand seals, Naruto tracked the flight path of the thrown weapons and weaved around them, copying the hand seals and running through them a second after his opponent did, "Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!" the two opposing shinobi called out in tandem as the blonde recognized the jutsu from long before he'd received Sasuke's eye.
Two dragons of water rose up from the lake and clashed, rocking the boat Hoki was in. The Watari ninja glared and foolishly decided to try and best the younger ninja in a chakra endurance battle of ninjutsu, running through more hand seals, Naruto copied them again, growing more accustomed to it, "Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" they shouted in tandem yet again, twin swirling vortexes of water clashed above the surface of the lake.
Hoki was stunned, his chakra could barely keep up with the blonde, but he smirked and leaped, leaving the boat to be capsized. The dark haired man landed on the surface of the lake and looked around, having lost sight of Naruto. He found this worrying, wondering if the younger shinobi was hiding under genjutsu or within the water.
"You really are a coward." Naruto accused from behind the man who had pretended to be Moso, who turned on him and drew a tanto, noting that the blonde was holding Toki in a princess carry.
"And you're a fool with a soft heart." Hoki shot back with a smirk, lunging to take out the blonde while his hands were occupied only for another Naruto to leap out of the water between them and catch him with an uppercut. Hoki stumbled back and took a defensive stance, unable to tell which one was the bunshin.
The Naruto not holding Toki made a hand seal, "Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he declared and Hoki found himself surrounded. The man considered using Oboro Bunshin but knew the Sharingan would see through it.
"Damn it, how does a brat like you have so much chakra!?" Hoki asked, starting to feel outclassed, and furious to be outclassed by someone as young as the blonde chunin.
"I wish I could say training," Naruto answered, "but honestly my chakra reserves have always been massive, comes with being an Uzumaki apparently." he informed his opponent honestly, deciding to leave out his Jinchuriki status for now and ignoring the odd look Toki was giving him, "If it makes you feel any better my chakra control as a result was always bad, I still can't do a standard bunshin." he confessed as the army of bunshin advanced on the Watari ninja.
Hoki glared and prepared to defend himself but was coralled back to the shore line by the clones, unable to use his own kage bunshin to make up for the numbers disadvantage and even fighting defensively he struggled to land the glancing blows on the Sharingan equipped clones with his tanto as they either dodged or blocked with forearm guards concealed beneath their jackets.
"Suiro no Jutsu." Naruto intoned, one of them having gotten in Hoki's blind spot and catching the man in the orb of water right on the shoreline. The blonde holding Toki let her down on dry land and pulled a scroll from his flak vest, unsealing and unsheathing his ninjato, offering the leather bound weapon to the young woman.
Hoki realized what was happening and that he could do nothing to stop it, "Hey," he managed to stutter through the water distorting his voice, "let's talk about this?" he tried as the woman who he'd killed the family of took the offered weapon.
"Talk?" Toki asked with a glare, "Okay, I'll talk, you listen." she demanded as she approached the trapped ninja, all of Naruto's bunshin save the one maintaining the jutsu dispelled themselves, "You impersonated a monk, you killed my father, you killed Sagi-niisama, you tried to kill Chishima, and you tried to kill me." she spat, "For your crimes, I, Toki, daimyo of Tori no Kuni, sentence you to death!" she yelled hatefully, plunging Naruto's ninjato through the water and into his stomach before twisting and pulling the blade to disembowl him.
The last bunshin dispelled, the water released the dying Hoki to the ground and Toki panted breathlessly, her hands shaking, "Why?" she asked suddenly, tears welling up, "I killed him so why do I still feel like this?" she asked Naruto, lip trembling.
Naruto pulled his forehead protector back down over his left eye as he opened his right eye, "I've never sought revenge," he began, "so I'm probably not the best person to ask." he confessed, "But you got justice for your family, that has to count for something right? Maybe now you just need to live for yourself, your dad, and your brother too, they probably loved this place," the blonde mused, "I bet they loved you too so you should live for that and for them from now on and put this behind you." he advised.
Toki felt that was wiser than anyone Naruto's age had any right to be, and she realized from the look in his eye that he'd killed before. The young woman shivered at that, suddenly aware of how much younger he was than her. She walked back to him and returned his blade before wrapping him in a hug, "Thank you, Naruto-kun." she said gratefully.
"Ahem." Haku's fake cough caused Toki to jump back as if she'd been caught doing something wrong, and from the ninja's raised eyebrow he seemed to think so too. Neji and Tenten stood slightly behind the older ninja looking slightly awkward, trying not to make eye contact with the daimyo.
"Haku-chan!" Naruto greeted cheerfully, rushing to the older shinobi's arms and the two embraced, Toki found it amusing that the boy still tried to give her a glare but now it just looked possessive and jealous. She was pretty sure he mouthed the word 'mine' at her too and smiled in response.
"Thank you, shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato." Toki said formally, "Although my land cannot offer much, the four of you will forever be welcome here." she promised with heartfelt gratitude. The group of ninja smiled in response, even Haku softened up a bit.
The next morning Toki explained what had happened to her people, apologized deeply for her deception, and became the proper daimyo with no lies before seeing off the ninja of Konoha with Chishima.