A/N: hey guys, I'm back! Sorry for the wait, but I'm sure pretty much everyone put their stories on hold for thanksgiving weekend. Hope you guys had a good one, I know I did. Anyways, thank you all for the reviews, it really does help me out more than you all realize. Enjoy this chapter!

A Broken Man

Chapter 5

Call Off the Search

"Reptile, you filthy traitorous beast!" Mileena snarled at the zaterran creature.

"Why are you here?" Naruto asked the one now called Reptile. His eyes, showing that he was still in Sage mode, bore into Reptile's slitted ones.

"I will sssay nothing!" Reptile said defiantly.

"Good," Naruto told him. "Ma always wanted a snakeskin purse." Naruto looked over his body and said, "Looks like you have just enough skin for it, too."

"What are you doing?!" Mileena asked him.

"Unless he talks," Naruto responded, "I'm going to skin this little spy alive and, like I said, make a snakeskin purse."

Naruto pulled out a kunai and held it up to Reptile's eye and said, "Last chance, lizard boy. Talk, or you will know what it feels like to be skinned alive."

Reptile eyed Naruto carefully. Reptile didn't survive a war and several tournaments and not learn how to read people.

Clearly, this 'Naruto', whoever he was…he would stand behind what he said and literally skin him alive. To hell with whatever Kotal Kahn said, he couldn't let his race die out because of a poor decision.

"I am a scout," Reptile finally said.

"No shit," Cassie said to him. "We asked you what are you doing and why?"

"I was sent by Kotal Kahn to search for and possibly kill Mileena," he answered, looking at Naruto.

"How dare you!" Mileena yelled out. "You and the others betrayed me!"

"Your fall was your own," Reptile countered. He was then hit in the face…HARD.

WHACK!

Reptile's face snapped to one side from the blow. That Sage powered hit reeeaaalllly hurt! Reptile spit out a little blood and teeth. He growled at Naruto who pushed Reptile's chin up with the tip of the kunai in his hand.

"Where is Kotal Kahn now?" Naruto asked calmly, although his eyes showed unrivaled fury, which looked even scarier now that they had a toad-like iris. Furious was beatable, furious and calm was not. Reptile had to be VERY careful.

"I will not betray my master's position," Reptile said.

Naruto slashed diagonally across Reptile's chest, making a huge and deep gash that spilled blood profusely.

"You betrayed me you pathetic little lizard!" Mileena yelled out. She drew out her sais and walked forward towards Reptile, intent on killing him. Naruto held out his arm horizontally, effectively stopping her in her tracks.

Reptile leaned forward, breathing hard. He was losing blood fast from the deep cut that he had just received, courtesy of Naruto.

The Sage punched Reptile in the face, breaking his jaw. He then turned around and performed a few handsigns and yelled out, "Kai!"

The large wooden house he had created fell to pieces, dust and dirt flying everywhere, clouding everyone's vision for a few moments.

"Clearly, you have no idea who or what you are up against," Naruto told Reptile. He turned around and performed a few hand signs and yelled out with righteous fury, "Sage Art: Giant fireball Jutsu!"

He blew into his cupped hand and a HUGE fireball the size of a five story building formed and stayed in the spot it was formed in. Naruto had managed to control his chakra much better as well and had found that instead of launching any fireball right away, holding it in place for a few seconds dramatically increased the velocity of the jutsu.

And that's what he was doing right now, holding the giant building-sized fireball right there, in front of everyone. Jacqui, Cassie, Takeda, Kung Jin, Mileena, and especially Reptile, stood there wide eyed and in total shock of what they were witnessing right now.

Naruto performed a few more handsigns and thrust both hands forward, saying, "Sage Art: Giant Rasengan!"

He formed the giant rasengan within the huge fireball. Now, it was a rasengan that had a huge and incredibly dense fire coating on it.

Naruto thrust his hands forward a little more, launching the fire covered rasengan at the remains of the wooden house and surrounding forest.

The result was everything in front of them was completely burnt and obliterated. Smoke and dust covered the entire area. It was a few minutes before everyone was able to see clearly once again.

Reptile's eyes were filled with fear and awe. He had no doubt that if this man fought his master, his master would definitely not win, let alone survive.

Naruto released the Earth jutsu that bound Reptile and the zaterran fell to the ground in a heap. He had lost a lot of blood to effectively fight back.

"You saw for yourself, Reptile," Naruto spoke to him, "You just saw one of the very many things that I can do. Go to your master, Kotal Kahn, and tell him to call off the search. I am a reasonable person…he has three hours to make a decision. If he does not comply, I will find you…and I will skin you alive. This is your one chance, understood? This is in exchange for your life. Fail, and we will resume where we left off."

"WHY ARE YOU LETTING HIM GO?!" Mileena yelled out in protest. "He is going to give away our position!"

"No he's not," Naruto told her calmly.

"And why not?" Kung Jin asked Naruto. "You gotta admit, Mileena does have a point. Why return Reptile to his master? Why give them a fighting chance?"

"Don't forget," Naruto told him, "No one has all the information yet. And besides," Naruto looked at the zaterran who was struggling to get up and said, "He knows that if he fucks up, he WILL die, either by Kotal Kahn's hand or by mine. He doesn't have a choice. And as far as our position, well, that's why we keep moving. Never stay in one spot. I already know where Kotal Kahn is."

"Then why aren't we attacking him?!" Mileena protested.

"ENOUGH!" Naruto yelled at her. He pulled out his sword from his sheath on his back and pointed it right at her nose in an instant.

Mileena was wide eyed, not expecting that.

"What do you see, Mileena?!" Naruto asked her angrily.

"A…a sword, " she said.

"WRONG! How many times do I have to tell you?! STOP just looking at whats right in front of you! Damn, killing you would be so easy."

Mileena stared at him angrily as he sheathed his sword. He looked again at Reptile and yelled out, "WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!"

Reptile stood up shakily and ran off back to his master's camp.

Naruto turned around and began walking off. He stopped and looked behind him and told the rest of them, "Well? You coming or not?"

Cassie and her team looked at each other and shrugged. Seeing that he was their best chance at survival right now, they began trailing behind him.

Mileena couldn't help but feel at least a little bad for angering Naruto like that. he was right, she had been stupid again, and he had told her several times to be more perceptive. She could understand why he was irritated. She would have been too. She soon followed behind Naruto as well as they traveled further along through the thick forest in the mountains.

….

"Kotal Kahn," Reptile said, kneeling before his master, still wounded. "We…we must call off the search for Mileena."

Tilted his head a little at this strange behavior from one of his top generals, Kotal Kahn said, "And why is that, Reptile? Have you found her?"

"I did, my Lord," Reptile responded. "She was accompanying the four from Earthrealm and the strange one that had rescued her."

"Where were they, and how come you are wounded? Was it from Mileena?" Kotal Kahn asked. He was concerned. Reptile NEVER failed a mission…ever, no matter what it was. The fact that he had this time, and came back severely wounded, greatly concerned him indeed.

"No my Lord," Reptile said. "It was the one who had rescued her. He is called Naruto. He spared my life in return for me to give you this message-"

Reptile grit his reptilian teeth in pain, clutching his chest, still trying to stop the bleeding but to no avail. He had lost a lot of blood and was on the brink of death.

"He…he wants you to…he wants you to call off the search…for Mileena," Reptile barely managed to get out before he passed out.

Kotal Kahn wanted to get him medical attention before he gave his message, but Reptile was persistent on telling him what he had found out. Reluctantly, he had agreed. Now, he was close to losing Reptile.

"Summon a doctor," Kotal Kahn said calmly, yet with absolute authority. "And hurry."

An Oshtek guard bowed slightly and left quickly. A few minutes later, the guard and two Oshtek doctors ran in with a stretcher and carefully picked up Reptile and placed him on the stretcher and left in a hurry to their makeshift hospital for the time being.

Kotal Kahn shook his head a little bit, feeling slightly dizzy. D'Vorah walked up to him and said, "What did my emperor see?"

Kotal Kahn looked at her calmly and said, "A cub…grown to be a jaguar." He looked ahead, staring blankly and then called out to all of his guards in attendance and said, "Call off the search for Mileena!"

"What is my emperor doing?!" D'Vorah protested. "We need to find-"

"D'Vorah, Reptile was severely wounded," Kotal Kahn said to her. "He never fails any mission that he is given. He returned to us, and even so, he may not survive. It is clear that we are dealing with a foe who is not normal by any means. We must be careful and formulate a new plan. We must contact Earthrealm, see if they had sent this newcomer."

"The woman will have most likely contacted her general," Erron Black said, leaning on the wall. He stepped forward and walked up to him and said, "That's normally how things work with the Earthrealm military. If something goes wrong or changes, the higher ups are notified immediately. I would advise contacting Earthrealm. At least for now, anyway."

"Hm," Kotal Kahn said, holding his chin in thought. "Perhaps you are correct. In that case, do you have any other ideas? Erron? D'Vorah?"

Kotal Kahn believed that a united Outworld stood strong, which meant not making every decision on his own, hence why he had his advisors, Erron Black, D'Vorah, and Reptile. They were also his top generals for his armies.

He also had Ermac, Ferra, and Torr, but they were mainly his secondary generals. A chain of command was necessary for a successful kingdom. Pride was an enemy to a king, no matter where he was or what the title was, whether it be Kahn, Kage, King, Lord…pride was the enemy. He had to realize that he could not make every decision wisely. He needed help sometimes. Now was one of those times.

"I'd say call off the search, at least the main part," Erron Black said. "Have the main forces back here, but send out recon patrols out to search for her, under cover. Search covertly."

"This One agrees with Black," D'Vorah said. "Calling off the search completely would be unwise."

"Perhaps you are right," Kotal Kahn said. "Very well. You two," Kotal Kahn pointed at the two guards standing next to his throne and they stood to attention, "Go and summon Ermac. Inform him to find me immediately."

"Yes sir!" the two guards said simultaneously and left in a hurry.

Kotal Kahn walked towards his throne and sat down. He leaned to one side and held his chin with one hand and said, "Naruto…who are you?"

…

It was well past night time when Naruto finally made another wooden house for them, higher up in the mountains this time. It was much colder, and the wind was much more brutal. It was snowing a little, but was picking up quickly, showing signs of a snowstorm coming soon.

They had walked inside and Naruto immediately made a large but contained fire with a fire jutsu. They all sat down around the fire as Naruto said, "I'm going to go find us food. Wait here, I won't be long. Warm up and chat among yourselves, get to know each other. We'll be here for a while, there's a snowstorm coming in soon. Later." Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke, gone a second later.

"I swear that's just like the stories you hear in cartoons and stuff," Jacqui said aloud.

"What is?" Takeda said.

"Ninjas disappearing like that," Jacqui responded. "Wielding magic, turning invisible, you know, all that magical stuff."

"With the reveal of Outworld and other realms," Kung Jin said, "Are you really that surprised?"

"Um excuse me, but did you NOT see that big ass fireball he shot out? From his HANDS?" Jacqui said to Jin.

"Yeah I did," Jin said to her. "But we see stuff like that all the time, don't we Takeda?"

"Shit up Jin," Takeda said to him. "Stop letting your pride get in the way and just admit the damn truth, we all know he would beat us in a fight."

"He would kill you all," Mileena said abruptly.

"Ah, so the former Empress talks at last," Cassie said to her.

"Watch your tongue, Earthrealmer," Mileena said back.

"Wow, you look dangerous," Cassie said sarcastically.

"And pretty, like you, "Mileena said with just as much sarcasm.

"Your face could use a boot print," Cassie retorted.

"Ok that's enough from you two," Jacqui said just in time. Mileena was about to get up and impale the woman. Jacqui looked at her friend and told her, "You need to chill out. Remember what, uh, what was his name again?"

"Naruto," Mileena said, not looking at anyone.

"Yeah, Naruto," Jacqui continued. "He said for us to get along. I don't know about the rest of you, but I could also tell we are going to be snowed in big time, so get used to seeing each other's faces for a little while."

"Hm, easy for you to say," Jin said. "You guys don't have to deal with a bunch of incompetent people who have no idea what the hell they're doing."

"Shut up Jin!" Cassie said.

"What?" Jin said to her. "It's not our fault we have a teammate who had a revenant for a dad."

"Asshole!" Jacqui said in anger.

Suddenly, Jin felt something hook onto the back of his outfit and become taut. Next thing he knew, he went up, all the way to the roof, and Naruto came down at the same time.

Naruto had hooked some ninja wire onto the back of Jin's shirt and jumped down. As he went down, Narutos weight pulled Jin up. Naruto tied the other end of his ninja wire through the loop of one of his kunai and stuck it in the wooden floor.

Jin, outraged, yelled out, "Hey! Let me down you-"

"Shut up," Naruto said, irritated at him, "Or I'll leave you there the whole night. Understood?"

Jin, although reluctantly, nodded.

"Good, now then," Naruto sat down in Jin's place and said to everyone, "Sorry about that little interruption, but I wont have anyone disrespecting someone's parents unless they deserve it. From Jacqui's reaction, her father didn't deserve that."

"Wait a minute," Cassie said to him, "Weren't you out getting food for us?"

"Yeah, about that," Naruto said, "I already have some ready to go. I was hiding on the ceiling, watching you guys, seeing how this would play out. So far, its not as bad as it thought it would be, so that's good."

"You lied to us," Jacqui said to him. "Not cool."

"I don't know any of you," Naruto said. "Of course I lied. Deception is a ninja's greatest weapon. I simply used it. Now, onto the real deal!"

Naruto pulled out a storage scroll and unfurled it. He said, "Kai!", and eat, fruits, vegetables, and some loaves of bread appeared before them all.

"Well, dig in!" Naruto announced to them all. He pulled out a kunai and cut the meat evenly and gave some to them all, saving Jin's share to the side.

"Hey!" Jin announced none to politely. "Let me down!"

"Say it correctly," Naruto said as he pulled down his mask and bit into an apple.

Jin shut his eyes hard and breathed in a deep breath and said calmly, "Can you please let me down?"

"Sure!" Naruto said. He threw a kunai behind him, cutting the ninja wire that was tied onto the kunai that was stuck in the floor. The wire cut, Jin fell down in a heap onto the floor a few feet behind them all, rubbing his back and said, "OW! What the hell man?!"

Naruto said to him without turning around, "You really need to learn some proper manners, Jin. Otherwise, when the time comes for your team to help you, and trust me, it will come…they wont be there. Everything you give out is returned. Make sure you give out the right stuff, understand?"

Jin stopped and soaked in what Naruto had just told him. He nodded and sat with the rest of the group and said to Naruto, "Hey, uh, Naruto…thanks for the food."

"Don't worry about it," Naruto replied.

"Ok, I'm sorry," Jacqui said to him, "But how the hell did you just get all this food from a piece of paper?"

Naruto looked at her and smiled. "Magic."

Just then, a black and purplish whirlwind shape appeared behind them, about ten feet away. The Earthrealmers and Mileena got up and backed away a little, ready for a fight.

From the portal, Sasuke, Ino, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Kiba jumped out along with the sixth Hokage, Kakashi himself.

"Well, its about damn time, "Naruto said to them.

….

A/N: there we go ladies and gents! Another chapter for ya! Again, sorry for the wait, but it was thanksgiving weekend. Anyways, I'll try to not make you guys wait too much longer for another chapter. Lemme know what you guys think! all suggestions and criticism is welcomed. Until next time, Roku out.