Original Publish Date: 23rd-April-2016


A/N: This chapter is dedicated to MrKlonam for being the most awesome human being alive. MrKlonam has become my first Patron on , and therefore that is all the qualification he needs for the title hereby bestowed on him. MrKlonam, may the gods of fortune and happiness smile at you for the rest of your blessed existence, may women's panties get drenched whenever you walk into a room(or men's dicks get hard, if that's your thing), and may all children run down the streets screaming "Daddy's coming! Daddy's coming!" whenever you come down to walk amongst the mere mortals.

(Seriously, you're fucking awesome. You made me happier than when I got my first pay check, because this was for doing something I love; and for that alone, you deserve all the happiness in the world.)


Chapter 20 – Sweet Nothing

So I put my faith in something unknown

I'm living on such sweet nothing

But I'm tryin' to hope with nothing to hold

I'm living on such sweet nothing

And it's hard to learn; And it's hard to love

When you're giving me such sweet nothing

Sweet nothing; Sweet nothing

You're giving me such sweet nothing

- Sweet Nothing, Florence Welch & Calvin Harris


Pier, Honshu Island: Terumī Mei

"Do you have someone special waiting for you back home, Nanashi-kun?"

Given his reaction, she really should have asked this question earlier. Preferably before she took him to meet her parents.

"Err...maybe? I don't know...it's...complicated."

She raised an eyebrow. For some reason, this always seemed to make him squirm more; a fact that she was fully aware of and duly took full advantage of.

"There is this girl, but she and I never...I mean, we did, but we didn't ever go beyond that…"

On the other hand, watching him make a fool of himself was always entertaining.

"I'm not explaining this very well am I?"

She suppressed an amused smile. Instead of replying verbally, she raised her hands to her hair and went about putting her fringe back in front of her left eye. She noted the way his eyes were drawn to her long slender fingers sinuously twisting through their well-practiced motions, no doubt imagining them performing other actions.

Seduction was about far more than flashing cleavage after all. (It did help though.)

He floundered again, quickly tearing his eyes away from her fingers and hoping (in vain) that she hadn't noticed. "I kind of helped her with something, a long term condition, and she...was grateful."

Mei bet she could guess exactly how this woman had shown her 'gratefulness'.

"She punched me in the face and dragged me back to her place."

Mei blinked in surprise. Alright, so maybe her guess wasn't exactly right.

"But she never wanted to talk. It's weird, because I could have sworn that she wanted to. And when I left, she kissed me but didn't say anything…"

Foolish woman.

"So I don't really know…"

Was it her destiny to always be caught in a love triangle? Although this time around, technically she was the second woman. She had to admit that being on this side of the equation was...different.

Well, if worst came to worst, she could always maim that skank.

"What's her name?" Mei finally deigned to ask. How a person says someone's name says a lot about their relationship.

"Anko."

Thankfully, he seemed genuinely confused about her; and yet it was evident that he cared deeply for her.

In any case, she couldn't do anything about this 'Anko' right now. What she could do was tempt Nanashi away from a clearly ungrateful woman who didn't appreciate him. It wouldn't be easy, but she already had a head start; her target was already in lust with her. Mei wouldn't do something crass like punch him in the face with her feelings; she was a real woman, and women used their grace and femininity to seduce the men they set their eyes on.

And seduction was something she was very, very good at.


Six Months Later: 4465617468

Mei had driven me completely crazy.

Six months! Six months of a never-ending barrage of bipolar...no, tripolar...multi-polar!...multi-polar behavior. One day she would be overly affectionate, smiling at me and laughing at my jokes and touching me innocently; the next day she wouldn't as much as spare me a glance. One day she would leave her neck bare and twist her head a lot, deliberately drawing my eyes to the bare expanse of flesh; the next day she would draw my eyes to her graceful fingers, caressing a file as tenderly as she would a lover. She had somehow figured out that I had a thing for her lips and voice, and she would take every opportunity to draw my attention to them; quirking her lips a particular way whenever she felt me looking at her and humming to herself when she knew that it would drive me spare. Once, she even used a perfume that got in my clothes and left me smelling her all day.

It left my nerves completely frazzled.

I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her and demand her to tell me why she was putting me through this sweet torture; but I knew that the moment I put my hands on her shoulders I would end up kissing her and wouldn't be able to stop, even if she spat lava at me.

That, of course, led me to think about how hot the inside of her mouth usually was and how it would feel if she...erm, nevermind.

I did realize that this behaviour had started after she asked me about Anko, but it took me an embarrassingly long time to understand that she wanted to make herself irresistible to me. Well, that had been the case since I first laid eyes on her; but now that she was actually putting an effort in it, it left me genuinely half-crazy. I was in a constant state of semi-arousal around her, and my nerves were raw and my eyes bloodshot and my heart banging loudly in my chest constantly. I couldn't think straight, unless it was about my desire for her and what I wanted to do to her, with her...

Of course, this meant that she wanted me to make the first move. But she had miscalculated; she made this a game, and I refused to lose any competition; I was nothing if not stubborn. I refused to tell her I wanted her out of sheer contrariness.

Even though I desired her more than anything else I had ever wanted.

Yeah, there was Anko, and yeah, my clones met her every once in awhile; but there was nothing happening there. She had alluded to doing the dirty with my clone, but it was more important for them to report to the Hokage and spend time with Naruto than anything else. We barely had time to talk; also, since we weren't together, per se, there wasn't too much to talk about.

But I didn't want to let Anko go either. I definitely got the sense that she was waiting for my return.

This did not help matters at all.

Speaking of Anko, since Mei was crazy, would she cut out Anko's eye? Or would she cut out mine?

And why did Mei's craziness make me desire her even more!? What was wrong with me!?

When it came to Mei, I had tried everything I could think of. I tried ignoring her, but she just ignored me right back, and then I was back to wondering if she liked me at all. I tried responding to her flirting, but that just left me wanting more and I found it hard to resist putting my hands on her.

One time, I had even tried initiating innuendo. It was...a mistake.

Mei had smiled a terrifyingly gorgeous smile and started responding. Wickedly.

The resulting hard-on I got left me unable to sleep for most of the night, my hormone production having been driven through the roof.

She was a master at her craft.

But I had stubbornness on my side. I would wear her down through sheer determination.

Even though I would likely lose my sanity in the process.

The temptation she exposed me to on a daily basis was like a highly potent hallucinogenic; it messed up my mind, and yet I loved every second of it and wanted more.

The only distraction I had was the king's ransom Kaya had bequeathed to me on a whim.

Each and every single scroll was a treasure trove of Sealing knowledge. Kaya's mother, named Uzumaki Miyuki, was a prodigy in the art of Barrier Seals.

I knew a few barriers, but nothing especially powerful or mind blowing. I had focused on Space-Time techniques and Ninjutsu-Fūinjutsu Hybrids (a field that I was the pioneer of) for most of my career. I never even knew how truly versatile barriers could be.

For example, on my first combat mission in Kiri, I had to set up two separate barrier seals; one for containment, and one for chakra suppression. My primary focus at the time was making sure that the two meshed enough and didn't cause a simultaneous cascade failure. I knew it was highly inefficient, but I didn't have any choice at the time.

With Miyuki's knowledge, I could now incorporate both of them in a single seal at a third of the chakra cost.

If I had to describe her seals in a single word, it would be elegant.

Her approach was so simple, so fundamental, within a day I was wondering how I had never ever thought of something so basic. But, I suppose, all masters leave you with that impression.

Within a month, I had incorporated my Sight and Sound barriers into a single seal, along with a space-time barrier. It was more chakra intensive as compared to the three individually, but the improved casting time along with the removal of multiple points of failure made it worth it.

Each day, I grew more and more confident that I could use Barrier Seals as a part of my combat repertoire.

And yeah, there was stuff happening in the Resistance as well.

The Terumī clan had joined the Resistance in bits and pieces, finally all joining up about 3 weeks after our return from Honshu Island; a group that included, to my growing amusement, a chibi Chōjūrō. (He wasn't a member of the clan, per se, but he had trained alongside them on one of the islands. It explained the source of his rather adorable crush on Mei in the other future.) It provided a large boost in both numbers and morale, both of which were much needed.

It didn't last too long.

One of the next major raids we had planned went south, killing 4 Jōnin and 6 Chūnin, and injuring a few more. That brought the morale right back down.

Evidently, Kiri was finally taking the Resistance seriously.

All across the nation, security was doubled. Garrison's were guarded more securely, high ranking officials were granted more shinobi for protection, and important locations could not be entered without extensive security checks. They even started using chakra on civilians to break a possible Henge seal.

Naturally, I put down a blanket ban on using my Henge seal entirely. It only made sense to let the heat die down before we used it again. Since only one person, Fuyuki, had been caught using it, maybe they would think that it was an experimental seal used by just one person. It was unlikely, but we could hope. In any case, the last thing we wanted was to give them more samples of the seal to reverse-engineer, or negate entirely. I was kind of surprised with how easily people followed my orders, considering I was a foreigner; but a couple of overheard conversations revealed that they believed me to be single-handedly responsible for the Terumī clan's return to the fight for freedom. That scored me major brownie points.

We now relied on using civilians for our espionage more than ever.

It wasn't a complete disaster, but it only narrowly escaped being classified as such. Civilians weren't trained to notice tiny little details and remain unobtrusive. They either got caught and were summarily executed, or they never picked up on the important details that were vital for planning an operation.

The bulk of the shinobi fighting force went deeper underground, and could only be contacted by an extensive series of signals much like the ones on Honshu island. Mei somehow memorized all of them; nothing was written down. Even for ninja like us, who were used to memorizing data, this was highly impressive. Running a full scale rebellion and simultaneously keeping track of thousands of people and supplies with no paperwork whatsoever made Mei an administrative deity.

The missions themselves had slowed to a trickle over the last couple of months. We knew there were spies, it was inevitable given the large number of members in the Resistance, but the amount of misinformation we were dealing with was, quite frankly, ludicrous.

On one mission, the amount of security that was expected around a warehouse was quadruple of what it was reported to be. Thankfully the team had a sensor who was able to warn them and get everyone out with no casualties. The next mission the fighting force sent was trebled; only they found an empty target. It was infuriating.

Thankfully, the Genjutsu Seals I had developed with Kurenai came in very handy.

I had developed a particular brand of Genjutsu Seals that were designed to let the wearer think that they saw nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, this meant only infiltration specialists could use such seals, since they had to be applied to the skin of the target. The beauty of them was, I had incorporated a time-delayed self-destruct mechanism that activated as soon as the seal went live, giving the infiltrator 10 minutes before the seal incinerated. The tiniest amount of chakra activated them, therefore it was essential that they had to be on the target before they were activated. In case the infiltrator got caught, they were under strict instructions to flood the seals with chakra to set off the 10-minute self-destruct. Those seals could save the lives of their comrades in the future, therefore it was essential that they not fall in the hands of the enemy.

Overall, things had got so bad that on the last 3 missions we had, both Mei and I were forced to take to the field. For obvious reasons, this was not a desirable situation, because we could only move around in the Henge seal, and that made combat tricky. We could only break the seal once, and doing so would draw every sensor within a 5 click radius to us like a moth to a flame. The first and third missions we never needed to fight, but the second mission Mei had to bring out the big guns. I remained hidden under orders, a last line of defence, or surprise, depending on how things played out; but Mei thankfully took care of the enemies.

And once more, she went into a weird mood once she had killed her comrades. This time I hadn't been as successful in distracting her from her melancholy. She didn't even screw with my head for a few days afterward.

But something had changed after that third mission, even though nothing went wrong. Mei had locked herself in her office for a few days, only coming out to eat and sleep. Nobody knew what she was up to, until she finally came out, looking more determined than I had ever seen her. She summoned the council with a gravitas I had yet to see from her.

"We've been on the back foot for too long."

Yeah, but it wasn't like we could do anything else. We didn't have the numbers to go head to head with the resources of Kiri. I didn't say this out loud, because she was obviously aware of this. A quick look around showed me that everyone else was also waiting for the punch-line.

"They have sown confusion amongst our ranks. We need something worse than confusion."

I tilted my head. It was true that we needed to up our game, since we had been mostly reacting to Kiri's recent offensive.

"I have selected a highly guarded high priority target; the residence of the commander of the southern islands."

My eyebrows rose. It wasn't the most well-guarded residence in Kiri, but it did make the top ten. Attacking there would mean lots of casualties; both on our side and theirs. It was a suicidal mission; we could not afford to get caught in a battle of attrition with Kiri. That would only end one way: with the Resistance ravaged.

"Only four people from the Resistance will attack it."

My jaw dropped; and the rest of the council exploded in outrage.

Mei bore all their numerous (justified, in my opinion) objections in silence, while my brain whirred into life. Only four people attacking meant that only the very best of the Resistance would go. Obviously, Mei meant to go herself. I wasn't completely sure if I would make the cut; without being able to use the Hiraishin and Rasengan my outright combat capability was seriously hampered. The loss of Sage Mode and Kyūbi Chakra Mode was devastating in itself, but without my next two best weapons I wasn't the heavyweight I used to be. My Fūton chakra cloak was now at an acceptable level, sure, but that alone put me only at an A-ranked level. I still had a way to go before I could use it as devastatingly as Ē did his Raiton armour.

But that still didn't explain why Mei felt the need for a suicide mission in the first place.

Once everyone had (vociferously) expressed their displeasure at the idea, they fell into a disapproving silence. Mei continued as if nothing had taken place in the last few minutes.

"The location is guarded by 20 shinobi, plus the commander himself. In addition, there is a shinobi garrison less than 8 kilometres away from the commander's residence."

With every word Mei spoke, the colour drained from my face. 5-to-1 odds to start with, with the possibility...no, the certainty of reinforcements for the enemy!? This was insane!

And then Mei spoke in a chilling voice, "I'm done playing nice."

For once, my stomach fluttered with something other than arousal around her.

Curiously, everyone's objections had miraculously disappeared.

See, the thing with true leaders is, they are all forces of nature. They have the charisma, the spark of insanity and the sheer force of will to think of something utterly insane and then carry it out, heedless of challenges or consequences. And this was the moment Mei set herself amongst those leaders.

This was one of those moments I could feel in my bones would go down in history.

This was the moment the Resistance would finally seize the initiative.

Well, either that or we would all die a horrible, screaming death and Kiri's destruction would be complete.

No pressure.

I cleared my throat. "Terumī-san?"

That definitely got Mei's attention. I hadn't called her that since the first day I had met her.

"A word please?"

She inclined her head and we went into her office, shutting the door behind her.

I took a deep breath, "I'm not going to say anything about how insane this suicide mission is. I can see that you're dead set on doing it, and I want to volunteer to be a part of it. However," I narrowed my eyes to emphasize the word, "if things go badly wrong, as is likely, understand that I will not use the Hiraishin to escape or facilitate anyone's escape under any circumstances. If I do, not only is my mission a failure, but I plunge my country into a needless war."

Mei's voice was deceptively light as she stared at me, "You said that on the first day, if I remember correctly."

I gave her a grim look, "I want to make it crystal clear: I would rather die than use it."

Mei pursed her lips, but finally nodded. "Very well. Just remember that the battlefield is not the place to hold back."

I held her gaze for a moment longer, making sure she understood the depths of my conviction. I would not expose Konoha (and by extension Naruto) to a war any sooner than absolutely necessary, despite her pot-shot. Even though it had more than a grain of truth to it.

"Come on," I said, turning around and holding the door open for Mei, "let's go tell two other lucky sods that they won the lottery of a lifetime."


Six Days Later, Ikazuchi Port City: 4465617468

"I must be some masochist," I muttered to myself. "I could easily have sat this one out, but noooo. Suicide mission? Yes I'll volunteer! Why not? In fact, while I'm at it, I'll take two for the price of one!"

"Quit your yapping!" The 57 year old kunoichi named Hitomi hissed at me. "Do you want to get us caught!?"

I was sorely tempted to tell Hitomi to bite me, but the kunoichi with the Jinton (Swift Release) would likely smack me before I ever saw her move. Again. Apparently she was not a fan of my mouth.

Behind us, Terumī Mei and Terumī Hideki walked silently, each looking for the slightest sign that an enemy was close. Not that the enemies would see us.

So this was the dream team that Mei had scrounged up. Herself, an S-rank Kage level kunoichi. Me, a maybe A-rank maybe S-rank shinobi, depending on the techniques I could use. Hideki, who was the strongest member of the Terumī clan after Mei, so a borderline S-ranked shinobi. Hitomi, who refused to use (or indeed tell me) her clan name, claiming that the Jinton clan was dead. (Her son had died trying to release her from a barrier, and nobody else from her clan had shown up at the safe house.) Hitomi, who upon being asked how strong she was, snorted and said 'strong enough for this mission.' I suppose it was answer enough.

After coming back from my last long mission, when I was being de-briefed, one of the council members (Kitashi) had asked me about the raid we had conducted on the armory, I had talked about the Sealing Circle and how we carried it on our heads. He quirked an eyebrow and asked me why I hadn't used a hat.

Which was why all of us were now wearing hats with a combination of the Sealing Circle and the Tōton Jutsu (Transparency Technique).

3 of us were using simple bamboo hats. One of us was wearing a classic wide-brimmed lady's hat, complete with a lacy bow on top. No prizes for guessing who that person was.

I hadn't done something as dumb as give them an artifact that they could simply channel chakra into and use, to my credit. Ever since I had been given Uzumaki Miyuki's notes, I had gone back to the basics and re-designed most of my seals, if not all of them. The Sealing Circle Hat could hold one more technique inside it, and then the chakra of the wearer could keep both of them going. But I had to be the one to activate it.

We had snuck on board a ferry and hid ourselves in the engine room; I was damned if I was ever going to hide in a barrel again. We then got off the pier, narrowly avoiding getting caught by a bunch of sensors, and slowly made our way to the outskirts of the city. Technically, the shinobi garrison was 9 kilometers away from the resistance of the commander, but the city limit was 8 kilometers, so that was what we were counting the limit as. It didn't matter. They would be there in a matter of minutes once they got the distress signal.

Hitomi knew a hidey-hole about three kilometers away from the commanders location in the direction away from the city, so we made our way there. I setup another Sealing Circle around our location, and then we settled in to wait for four hours.

We had planned on attacking just after sunset, to use the fading light to our advantage. Not to mention, the four hours gave us all time to recover the chakra we had all continuously been channelling for the last six hours, keeping up our invisibility hats.

We didn't use soldier pills, not yet. Over the last six days we had modified our diet to include a lot more fat and protein, so as to give the soldier pills more to work with when we finally did use them. Right now, we were scarfing down carbohydrates to recover our chakra naturally.

One hour into our resting period, we heard a patrol nearby. All of us tensed, hoping against hope that they didn't know about the hollow area inside the outcropping of rock we had hidden behind. Thankfully, they passed us by without incident, causing all of us to sigh in relief.

Our plan was simple. Hit them hard with the element of surprise, and kill as many as we could in the initial volley. We wanted the fighting to take place outside the actual residence, since none of us wanted to fight in cramped corridors. Mei would take the front door, Hideki would take the back, and I would attack from the roof, while Hitomi stayed outside and dealt with any surprises and provide support. Out of all of us, I would have the least problems fighting in an enclosed place, which is why I was to go to the roof and make my way down.


Now that I was this close to the mission starting, I started to feel the frisson of excitement I usually did whenever facing impossible odds. Doubts melted away, and I used my meditative exercises to temper the adrenaline, waiting to release it at an appropriate time. I went through various combat scenarios in my mind, thinking about how I was to react. I couldn't use the Hiraishin and Rasengan, but that didn't mean that I was without offensive potential. I needed to plan my responses in advance, so that when the time came I just needed to rely on muscle memory and reflex.

"It's time." Mei said quietly.

I jumped to my feet. "Let's do this!" I exclaimed, smacking a fist into my palm.

"Oh?" Hitomi said, getting to her feet in a more reserved manner. "Where did all your doubts go?"

"'Doubts keep you smart, but they have no place on the battlefield. Fear and adrenaline are what keep you alive, so use them as your shield and sword.'" I recited with a grin, Ero-Sennin's teachings coming in handy once more.

"Heh, looks like you had a good teacher. I was getting tired of your whining, boy."

"Just make sure you don't slow us down, you old biddy." I realized my mistake too late- and yes. There it was. A smack on the back of my head from the kunoichi who was sitting in front of me, melting away and revealing herself to be an afterimage.

"I doubt it's my speed you have to worry about", said the kunoichi with the Jinton, a satisfied smirk on her features.

"Why are all old people such sadists?" I grumbled, causing Mei's lips to twitch in involuntary amusement.

We just wore our hats this time, without the cloaking technique, as we walked to within a kilometer of the base. We stopped just out of the line of sight, where everyone took off their hats and sealed them away. Mei gave out last minute instructions, "Hitomi-san, please make sure that Hideki's path is clear. He has to go around to the back, so either funnel any resistance he may face towards me, or take care of it yourself. Also, if you see anyone attacking Nanashi-kun-"

"I can take care of myself." I interrupted, bouncing on my toes.

Mei raised a sculpted eyebrow, and I grinned. "How do you plan on scaling the building then?"

My grin grew wider. "You'll see."

Her second eyebrow rose, and I continued. "This mission is about making a statement right? So let's make a statement. Let's give them shock and awe!"

My enthusiasm had spread to the others by now, and there was nothing left to except attack.

Mei locked eyes with me, and smiled her heartbreakingly gorgeous smile. "Let's go!"

Three of us shot out, no longer caring for stealth or suppressing our presence. We ran together until we were less than half a click away from the residence, and then Hideki split from us to round the building.

By now they were aware that they were under attack.

I saw a group of three shinobi jump out to attack Hideki, while a group of five came out to meet Mei and I. I had already activated the Fūton chakra cloak, and I yelled to Mei in glee, "These are all yours! Remember! Shock and awe!"

I'm not sure what the defending ninja were thinking when they saw a group of just three attacking a well-fortified location, but their expectations changed drastically within the first few seconds.

I felt Mei build up a truly massive amount of chakra.

I saw a blur rushing past Hideki and catch the three shinobi targeting him by surprise.

I jumped as high as I could. And then I kept rising, using Fūton chakra to propel me to a height of over 100 meters.

Underneath me, I felt Mei spew a torrent of magma, the slag catching at least one of the five by surprise. I sensed Hideki slow down and speed back up, his obstacles having been dispatched by Hitomi and himself.

It was now my turn.

I forced the entire cloak around me into a spherical ball around as large as myself and tossed it at the guards on the roof of building. "Fūton: Renkūdan (Wind Release: Wind Bullet)!"

A large man-sized bullet made of wind was impressive, sure.

But I wasn't done.

Shock and awe!

I started to spin, and my Fūton chakra cloak came alive around me again. Faster and faster I spun, and the Fūton chakra around me started screeching, not unlike the Rasenshuriken; mostly that was because I had bastardized it. I didn't call the name out loud, but I screamed it in my head 'Rasenyari (Spiralling Spear)!'

I then plunged through the building like a hot knife through butter.

Wood and mortar and metal were rent apart in the face of my supremely dense chakra. I'm pretty sure I blew through a couple of safety measures as well. I finally landed on the ground floor, having torn through the top two floors, confident that I had terrified the shit out of whoever had seen my awesome move. I really wanted to ask someone, 'Did you see that!?', but the only people around were enemies.

Then I turned around.

I stopped. I stared. Even though I was pretty sure I wasn't supposed to.

I had found the commander.

He was…

Let me put it this way. He was in the...process of batting for the other team.

"Err…"

I really wanted to tell him that I would give him five minutes and then meet him on the roof.

'So that's how that works…'

But you don't catch the enemy with their pants (literally) down everyday.

"Fūton: Shinkūha (Wind Release: Vacuum Wave)!"

The commander had had his arms around his male companion; which was why when he twisted to avoid my crescent shaped attack, the other guy was inadvertently brought into the path of the attack. He never had a chance.

With a cry of pain he was bisected at the torso.

He wasn't even a shinobi; probably a servant or something.

The commander didn't take the death of his lover well.

With a roar of rage, he leapt at me, intent on vengeance.

Rather disturbingly, he still had a hard-on.

Fighting a naked dude would have been one thing. Fighting a naked gay dude with a stiffy jumping towards me with an unholy fire burning in his eyes?

I was going to have a new nightmare.

I shrieked in terror, clenched my butt as hard as I could and tossed off at least three Fūton techniques out of sheer reflex.

At least two connected. I think. I had closed my eyes and twisted away from my would-be rapist.

I finally opened my eyes when I heard the sound of debris hitting the floor from my initial attack. The commander (thankfully) lay in pieces on the floor.

I shuddered in revulsion. "That never happened!" I muttered to myself as I started jumping back towards the roof from the hole I had made, my butt still clenched as tight as possible.


Once on the roof, I found two more enemies, both of whom made the fatal mistake of attacking me with Taijutsu. All I had to do was activate my Fūton chakra cloak and they were dismembered quickly.

That made it 3 that I had killed. Combined with the three that Hitomi had taken out at the start that made 6. So now we were around 3-to-1, but we had no idea how long it would take the reinforcements to arrive.

I still had to kill two more to make sure I was pulling my weight on this mission. I chanced a quick look over parapet to Mei. She was taking on 6 at the same time, and an occasional blur informed me that Hitomi was backing her up. I quickly made my way to the other end of the roof, and saw that Hideki was 3-on-1, but he was surrounded by the corrosive Futton(Boil Release) chakra unique to the Terumī clan. I took a chance and fired off a few Fūton: Shinkūgyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Spheres) in the direction of his attackers. I scored a glancing blow on one of them, which I counted as a win. But I couldn't back him up any more; I had to find enemies of my own.

By my count, there were at most 5 enemies unaccounted for. I made my way to the hole I had ripped into the building, and jumped down to the top floor. A couple of Kage Bunshin snapped into existence and scouted the corridor, walking deliberately loudly to set off traps or ambushes. A quick search showed that the floor was seemingly empty, but I didn't dismiss the clones as I made my way down to the floor below. Only a fool leaves his back open unless he has no other choice.

The reason I was entering through the holes I had torn in the building was that there were undoubtedly traps in and around the stairwells. Even if there weren't, the defending shinobi had the home field advantage. It only made sense that I played by my own rules.

Just as I jumped down to the first floor, before I could repeat the Kage Bunshin sentry trick, I was attacked. A kunoichi used the Kawarimi with a piece of debris to appear in my guard. She slashed at me with a kunai, and I learned back to avoid it. That just allowed her to carry out the second part of her attack, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!"

Fuck!

At this proximity I couldn't do anything; activating my Fūton chakra cloak took a few seconds, and in those seconds the Katon technique would use my chakra as fuel and cook me alive. I wasn't ready with a water bottle, so I couldn't even use a defensive Suiton technique.

That left taking the attack head on and counter-attacking.

All of this flew through my mind in a fraction of a second.

I grit my teeth in anticipation of the pain and extended my right arm even as I jumped backwards, hoping to avoid the worst of the damage by falling back through the hole into the former commander's bedroom. "Raiton: Jibashi (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)!"

And then both the techniques hit their marks and there were simultaneous sounds of pain from both myself and the Kiri kunoichi; a grunt from me and a shriek from her.

I could feel the blisters form on my face and hands; I just hoped that my eyebrows weren't completely burned away. Or that my hands weren't incapable of forming hand-seals.

Then I fell through the floor and away from the accursed heat of the Katon technique.

I immediately unsealed a water bottle and crushed it in my fist, causing it to explode with water, "Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique)!"

The Water Dragon went through the hole I had just fallen through and in the direction the kunoichi had been in a few scant seconds ago. I then felt the control of the technique being wrested away from me by my Kage Bunshin from the floor above, and I let it happen. I stood under the technique and let the water drench me, blessedly cooling me down and putting out the few flames that still licked my uniform.

I heard the Kage Bunshin launch a Fūton technique; why hadn't he used a Ration? She was likely drenched...oh. I was drenched too. I would likely electrocute myself...again.

See? Even my Kage Bunshin have common sense. Sometimes.

Once I was sure I wasn't still on fire I jumped back up…

...and was ambushed again, this time by a shinobi.

He had either not seen me bring the house down (hehe, get it?), or more likely he saw me drenched and figured he had a shot; either way, he used a Raiton technique to attack me. "Raiton: Raiga (Lightning Release: Lightning Fang)!"

"Fūton: Fūryūdan no jutsu (Wind Release: Wind Dragon Technique)!" I said contemptuously, watching my technique tear through the natural weakness of the Raiton. Behind me, I heard my clone use a Raiton technique of its own, and the kunoichi desperately used a Doton defensive technique; futilely, if her scream was anything to go by.

The shinobi had dodged my attack and retaliated by throwing a kunai with an explosive tag at me. I grinned, pulled out a pre-prepared scroll and spread it wide while channelling chakra into it.

The travelling kunai, complete with sizzling exploding tag, disappeared into the center of the Seal Matrix.

My grin grew wider at his stupefied expression. "Yeah, that just happened. You know something else?"

I sent another pulse of chakra into the Seal, and the same kunai shot out at the same speed as it had when it went into the Seal. The only difference was, the tag's fuse was almost gone.

And then it exploded before the shinobi could dodge.

I activated my Fūton chakra cloak and, as soon as the explosive shockwave had passed, immediately jumped to the last place I had seen the Kiri shinobi. I found him a few feet away, clearly disoriented from the explosion; I spat a Shinkūha at him and decapitated him before he could recover. Once I had confirmed that he wasn't a clone or a Genjutsu I turned back to the kunoichi who had burned me.

She was on her last legs, but she had managed to take out my clone just before I got there. The initial damage from my Raiton technique had done its damage, and my clone had simply pushed the advantage with the further use of Suiton and Raiton. Once she saw me coming she tried to use a Hōsenka (Phoenix Sage Fire) to keep me at bay; but I just used the water laying around to create a wordless Suijinheki (Water Encampment Wall). I then blasted the water forming the shield towards her in the form of spears, causing her to raise a Doryūheki (Earth Encampment Wall).

I mentally scoffed. I couldn't believe I had let such an amateur land a hit on me.

The moment my water hit her earth, I blasted another Raiton: Jibashi at her. The drenched earth formed the perfect conduit for her electrocution. She screamed for the first few seconds, before her convulsions caused her throat to seize and cut off the sounds. Once more, I walked forward and decapitated my enemy, ensuring that they were dead before making my way around the rest of the floor.

By my count, I had killed 5, which meant I had officially pulled my weight on this suicide mission. Time to see what the others were up to.

I left a couple of clones behind to guard my 6 as I decided to take a look around the front. Hideki hadn't been doing too badly, so Mei was more likely to be in need of assistance.

Once I took a look out the window though, I was mesmerized. Mei was facing off against a shinobi and a kunoichi, both of whom were not letting Mei in close; understandable, since Mei was devastating at close range. Mei flowed around their attacks, unable to get in close but not letting their attacks hit her either. But a closer look revealed a desperate intensity to their attacks, they were on the verge of making a mistake that would lead to Mei grabbing the advantage. Mei kept firing pot-shots, weakening their position and their resolve with every second that they failed to kill her.

It was as I was admiring the way her hair reflected the glow of her Yōton techniques that I saw the sneak attack.

One lone shuriken, one that suddenly multiplied into hundreds, promising a rain of destruction.

The reinforcements from the garrison!

I hadn't seen Hitomi; she was likely off helping Hideki. Mei's survival was up to me.

Once more I activated my Fūton chakra cloak, and I felt the drain that signified my chakra was getting low, but there was no time to care. I flew through the building, past the two attacking Mei, and past Mei herself.

Maybe it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been distracted with Mei's hair a moment ago.

Maybe it wouldn't have happened if I had focused on a plan instead of jumping into the thick of action and reacting.

As it was, I faced the wall of screaming steel headed my way, and I thought that I should use a Fūton technique to blow them away. Simultaneously, I spied a large puddle of water and thought that I should use a Suijinheki to block the attack.

With the terrifying end result being: I didn't decide between Suiton or Fūton.

And then I horrifically flooded the Suiton Sealing Matrix tenketsu in my left arm with Fūton chakra.


Here's why this was a VERY BAD IDEA.

"You're not stupid, Naruto", Sakura-chan would groan, "but by the Log you can be an idiot!"

Unlike Hinata, whose love for me always had an element of hero worship, Sakura-chan always saw me for exactly who I was, and loved me all the same. I always thought that that statement summed me up perfectly.

See, while Hinata was essential for my development as a person; Sakura-chan was vital for my growth as a shinobi.

She was, in many ways, the perfect partner for me once I actually started diving into Fūinjutsu. I was the prodigy, sure, making all the instinctive connections that people struggled with even after decades of study; but Sakura-chan was the one that kept me grounded. She was the one who understood the rules and kept me honest, she made sure that I didn't make any silly mistakes, and generally kept me from performing experiments that would leave me a head lighter than when I started.

(Why am I telling you about Sakura-chan?)

See, there is a reason that Fūinjutsu is no longer a mainstream shinobi discipline.

There is a simple reason why it has been overtaken by Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Genjutsu.

Fūinjutsu is not versatile.

You have to prepare a seal in advance, either knowing or hoping that it will do the job. It does not, however, allow you to adapt the Seal to the changing circumstances on the field.

A seal drawn for a purpose can only be used for that purpose, and no other.

Trying to use a seal for a different purpose than the one it was designed for generally ends in disaster.

It was for this reason that Sakura-chan had made me promise that I would not use any other form of chakra through my Sealing Matrix Tattoos, whether it was my Fūton chakra, Senchakra or Kyūbi's chakra.

I had agreed and promised, knowing that any such experiments would likely end up either killing me, blowing my arm off, or in the best case scenario, destroy the tenketsu in my arm.


Far too late, all this information blew through my head at the speed of light.

As terror flooded my body, my left arm froze!


I know that I can be scatter-brained about important details.

I know that I can be an idiot and miss the obvious.

On occasion, I can even be stupid and pull some really dumb shit.

But there is something else about me that you should know.

You see, sometimes…

.

.

.

Sometimes…

… I get lucky.


A wall of Ice sprang up and deflected or stopped all the shuriken that had previously been on a crash course with the future Mizukage.

My jaw dropped!

This...this was Hyōton(Ice Release)!

I fucking had Hyōton!

"YUKI!" screamed one of the shinobi reinforcements, his tone a study in mixing terror and revulsion.

"Not exactly!" I yelled back, once I had taken a moment to process the fact that I could now control a sub-element.

Now wasn't the time. (My butt did unclench, though.)

I chewed through a soldier pill, and since my Fūton chakra cloak was already active I went on the offensive. There were 8 people who had come to investigate the distress signal, and I managed to hold them off for the single minute that it took Hitomi to arrive as my backup. A minute after that, Hideki backed us up, and soon afterward, Mei joined us, and we killed all 8.

I then made my way back to the Ice wall (I could freaking control ICE!), idly noting that Mei had left one of the shinobi alive; likely to spread the message to the Yondaime Mizukage: no matter how well fortified your location, we are coming for you.

I tenderly caressed my Hyōton (I HAD ICE!) wall, this most magnificent mistake of my Fūton and Suiton chakra, and there was really only one thing to say.

"Cool!"


Author's Notes: Man, I'm getting so sick of all the messages that say that Nanashi should be kicking Mei's ass up and down. Helloooo! Mei was the only female Kage in history who earned her position. Tsunade did so, sure, but only after she was already confirmed as the Hokage. Mei led an insurrection with a minority and was successful.

Why does everyone want to keep dissing that?

I like having a kickass female character who can do something other than provide eye-candy or easy sex for the protagonist. She is a strong woman in a predominantly male-dominated society. That deserves to be acknowledged and celebrated.

In my story, at this point in time, she is stronger than Nanashi. That won't change for a couple of years, if then. She is a Kage level kunoichi, and will be treated as such. If you don't like it, tough. She will remain kickass.

Also, let me get this out of the way now: when you guys do write your reviews, (deep breath)...

CALL HIM NANASHI DAMMIT!

Phew. That one was coming for a while.

The next chapter will be the last one that will go up as soon as it is written. Chapter 22 onwards will be posted here 6 weeks after they go live. My Patron(s) will be the only ones enjoying the early releases. Have to keep my customers happy after all :)

There is a dialogue from the latest season of House of Cards. Kudos to whoever finds it!

I borrowed the Rasenyari from some other story. I know it's in my favourites list, but I can't recall exactly which one. If you guys know, tell me and I will acknowledge the story and author here.

There are maybe 3 more chapters in the Kiri Resistance arc, before we see what's happening back in Konoha with Naruto and Anko.

So, what did you think of Nanashi's cool surprise?

Hehe, I foolishly forgot to add this to my last chapters' Author's Notes. What did you guys think of my original quote in the last chapter? 'Battles may be fought with blood, but wars are won with words'? The entire story is based upon it, after all. Well, that and Florence's songs.

As always, I am on (check my profile for details), so contribute to my fund so I can occasionally eat delicious bacon sandwiches.