Chapter four is now up.

As always please rate and review.


Hunter was really starting to get sick of the forest. He'd spent hours jumping from tree to tree and had found nothing accept hostile ninjas. By now he was convinced that he was going in circles. He stopped suddenly when he heard a loud crash from further away in the forest.

'A battle?' he thought. 'So do I head towards it or away from it?...Oh what do I have to lose!' Hunter bounded off in the direction of the sound.

It didn't take long to find the source of the commotion. There were two people down on the ground below. Much to Hunter's surprise one of them was Anko , the other he didn't recognise. Hunter could tell from the damage to the area that the two had been fighting. Technically they still were fighting but it wasn't going well for Anko. She was down on one knee, clutching at her left shoulder. Hunter could see the magic in her curse mark firing up. He didn't know what exactly it was doing but it was obviously causing her a great deal of pain.

"Look out below!" both Anko and her opponent looked up just in time to see Hunter dropping down towards them. Hunter aimed a punch at the man but he jumped out of the way and landed on a tree branch.

"Hey! Don't you know it's rude to attack a lady! I swear, no one in this forest has any manners."

Anko looked up at Hunter in surprise 'What's he doing? Why did he interfere?'

"And just who might you be?" asked the man in a cold, insidious voice. Now that Hunter had a better view of him he could see this man wasn't normal. He had unnaturally pale, almost white skin, with snake like eyes, long black hair and the darkest heart that Hunter had seen yet.

'Yeah, this guy's a villain, no question.' thought Hunter. "I am Duncan MacLeod of the clan MacLeod!" he said in his best impression of a Scottish accent. "And you would be?"

"Hmhmhmh. I am Lord Orochimaru."

"Wow, yeah that name doesn't sound evil in the slightest. Why not just call yourself Lord Sauron and be done with it?"

Orochimaru let out an evil chuckle "My my. You are a brave one aren't you."

"Hunter. Get out of here! You have no idea what you're dealing with." said Anko through gritted teeth.

"No but I've got a pretty good idea." Hunter looked back up at Orochimaru "You're the one who put that mark on Anko's neck. And you did the same to that Sasuke kid to. Just what are you up to snake man!"

"Oh you need not concern yourself." he drew a kunai from his back pocket "You have bigger problems right now!" he threw the kunai at Hunter who easily caught it.

"Ha! Is that the best you can-"KABOOM

Hunter hadn't noticed the paper bomb wrapped round the kunai's handle. Orochimaru jumped down from the tree. "Well, so much for the young her-arrcck!."

A long metal chain and hook shot out of the smoke and wrapped itself around Orochimaru's waist, trapping his arms.

"What! These aren't normal chains, I can't break free!"

"Hey, Lizard Lips!" both Anko and Orochimaru looked over at the plume of smoke. As it cleared they saw Hunter standing there, completely unharmed and holding the other end of the chain. "GET OVER HERE!"

Hunter pulled and Orochimaru was yanked off his feet towards him. The chain unwrapped itself as Hunter did a spinning kick that smashed Orochimaru into a tree.

"Haha! I am never going to get tired of doing that!"

Orochimaru didn't stay down for long and within seconds he was back on his feet. 'Hmmm. This one is stronger than he looks. Almost as strong as Tsunade.' That was when he saw Hunters eyes. They were glowing bright yellow. He opened his mouth, allowing his long tongue to hang out. 'So he has a kekkei genkai. Interesting.'

"You gunna fight snake man or just stand there all day doing that tongue thing?"

"Sadly I have other matters to attend to. I'm sure we'll meet again though." With that he slowly sank into the ground. In seconds he was gone.

"That's right, be gone you jerk and make it fast. 'Cause if you don't I'll kick your-"

"Hey!" Hunter looked round at Anko. She was still clutching at her shoulder but now she was standing and holding a kunai in her free hand. "Your coming with me brat. I still have-argg." Anko dropped to one knee in pain.

"Um. You can't even stand. How are you going to bring me in?" asked Hunter. Anko didn't responded, she just gave him an angry look. "That's what I thought." Hunter looked over at the spot where Orochimaru had been 'That snake guy's going to be trouble. Oh I have a very bad feeling about all this.'

He looked back at Anko "Well it's been a fun third date but I've still got a job to do. Catch you later!" Before Anko could stop him he was gone, jumping off into the trees.

"What is he after?" she wondered aloud "He could have killed me or let Orochimaru finish me off. Why didn't he?"

Hunter continued jumping through the forest until he was sure that he'd left Anko far behind him. "Ok. Need a plan...need...a...plan...hmmm." A ray of sunlight shone down through the tree tops, making Hunter look up.

"I have a plan!" Hunter ran up the tree until he broke through the forest canopy. Looking around he could see a large tower in the centre of the forest.

"Why didn't I think of this sooner? Oh well."

It didn't take long for Hunter to arrive at the tower. There had been several groups of ninjas lying in wait but avoiding them was no trouble. Looking through the walls Hunter could see many Hearts inside. Not wanting another fight Hunter shape shifted into his ANBU disguise and snuck in through an open window. With no obvious way to go Hunter simply wandered around the tower, looking for...well he wasn't really sure what he was looking for. He passed a few people on his way. They either ignored him or just smiled and nodded politely.

Eventually he arrived at a huge set of double doors that lead to a large arena. Hunter could see a lot of people through the walls, he recognised some of them as Kakashi, Guy and Sarutobi.

"Well, this seems like where everything's happening. I can't go in the front door. Even in this disguise I'll draw attention. Guess that only leaves teleporting."

Hunter saw a suitable spot to aim for. Right at the far end of the arena was a statue of a pair of hands performing a hand sign. If he could teleport in right behind that he could observe without being seen.

"Ok. Focus...focus..." a black portal appeared around Hunter and in an instant he was transported directly behind the statue. "Ha. Text book teleporting. I'm getting good at this." Hunter dropped his ANBU disguise and carefully poked his head round the statue.

There were a lot of ninjas here. In addition to Kakashi, Might Guy and the Hokage there were also Neji, Lee, Tenten, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Ino, Shikamaru and Choji. Another team of three were with them, there was a boy with red fang like marks on both cheeks, another who wore black sunglasses and a girl with the same white eyes as Neji. There were also two other older ninjas behind the younger ones. One woman with red eyes and long black hair and a man with spiky black hair and a beard. Finally there was a man with silver hair and large glasses. Looking at his heart Hunter could tell he was evil and deceitful. Definitely one to watch out for.

On the other side of the room were the three sound ninjas. Standing next to them was a man that Hunter instantly recognised. His appearance may have changed but there was no mistaking that heart. Orochimaru. Looking away from the snake man Hunter focused on the last team.

There was a girl with blond hair and what looked like a large black pole strapped to her back, a boy who wore red face paint and had something wrapped in bandages on his back. The last member of the team was shorter than the other two with red hair and a red symbol on the left side of his forehead. What really got Hunters attention was that, like Naruto, this guy had another Heart.

'So he must have a monster locked up inside too.' thought Hunter. He could see that the boys own heart was full of shadows, definitely not a nice person. Standing lest to the left of them was a tall man with bandages around most of his face. Other than that there was nothing Hunter found interesting about him.

"Let the Preliminary Rounds begin!" announced a ninja that was standing in the arena.

Hunter hid behind the statue and watched the matches. Sasuke went first against a guy called Yoroi. It wasn't an easy fight but Sasuke won using a technique called Lions Barrage. As soon as he was done he was taken away by Kakashi. Orochimaru left too. Hunter wanted to follow but he couldn't leave without being seen.

Next up was a fight between Zaku and the kid with sunglasses, Shino. Shino won by blocking Zaku's air tubs with beetles which ruptured the pipes in his arms. Hunter couldn't help but laugh at that. 'Serves you right' he thought.

The next battle was between the guy with the red face paint, who was named Kankuro and a man named Misumi. It was a short match with Kankuro as the victor. Apparently the thing wrapped in bandages was in fact a humanoid puppet that Kankuro could control. During this fight Kakashi returned but Orochimaru and Sasuke were nowhere to be seen.

Next was a rather heated fight between Sakura and Ino that ended in a tie, both knocking each other out. The next match was Tenten against the blond woman with the black pole-thing, Temari. As it turned out the pole was a giant fan that let Temari control wind. She easily deflected every attack Tenten threw at her then defeated her. After that Shikamaru was pitted against Kin in another short match that Shikamau won using his shadow imitation technique.

The next fight was much more interesting. Naruto was fighting the kid with the red fang marks, Kiba and his dog Akamaru. It was quit the battle, plenty of kicks, punches and a killer fart. In the end Naruto won with a modified version of Sasuke's Lions Barrage.

The fight after that was between Neji and the white eyed girl, Hinata. The match started with Neji intimidating and berating her which confirmed what Hunter already thought of Neji. Total Jerk. Hinata seemed ready to give in but then Naruto started cheering her on. Hunter saw something change in Hinata's heart. It seemed to...grow. She still lost her fight with Neji, and suffered some pretty major injuries into the bargain but at least she'd had the strength to try.

The second last fight was between Lee and Gaara, the guy with the monster inside. Hunter soon found out that he'd been wrong about Gaara. He wasn't just 'not a nice person', he was completely psychotic.

It was an intense fight. Lee was fast and strong but Gaara was protected by a shield of sand that made striking him almost impossible. Later in the match Lee used a technique called Primary Lotus. With his speed and power increased Lee was able to bypass the sand shield and start hurting Gaara. Lee then tried to finish the match using a move called Hidden Lotus but Gaara survived and used his Sand Coffin attack to crush Lee's left arm and leg.

The final fight was between Dosu and Choji. The fight lasted less than a minute and unfortunately Dosu won.

"Congratulations to all of you for passing the Preliminaries!" said the Hokage. "I'm sure our guest had an interesting time observing you all!"

Hunter tensed up 'Does he mean me? No, he can't have seen me!'

"Or did you think I wouldn't notice you hiding behind the statue!?"

'Oh snap!'

Hunter jumped out from his hiding place and landed on top of the statue "For an old guy you have really good eye sight!"

"Hey Hunter!" yelled Naruto in a friendly voice "What are you doing here!?"

"Bit of this, bit of that. Great fight by the way. Even I didn't see that fart attack coming. Hey Neji, how's the arm?"

Neji griped his broken arm and gave Hunter an angry look.

"WHERE'S MY BOOK YOU FEIND!" yelled Kakashi.

"Which part?"

"Huh, Kakashi sensei, have you met Hunter?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, he's a criminal who's escaped from custody, attacked Hidden leaf ninjas, broken into the Hokage's office and defiled my book!"

That surprised everyone.

'He's a criminal' thought Naruto.

"Drama queen. You're making it sound far worse than it actually is." protested Hunter.

"This guy did all that?" said Kankuro "Wow, the Hidden leaf must really be losing its touch if this clown can elude you."

"You're calling me a clown? That's rich, you're wearing more makeup than most fashion models. Plus at least I don't play with dolls!"

That wiped the smirk of Kankuro's face. Now he just looked angry.

Hunter laughed "Don't play with fire man, unless you want-cripes!" Hunter jumped down to the arena to avoid an attack by Kakashi.

"Play time's over Hunter." said Kakashi as he jumped down after Hunter. He was joined in the ring by Guy and the other two older ninjas, Asuma and Kurenai.

"Four against one. Hardly a fair fight." said Asuma.

"You're right." agreed Hunter "I'd better fight with my eyes closed." He placed his left hand over his eyes.

All four jōnin attacked at once, aiming to bring Hunter down as quickly as possible. Suddenly Hunter removed his hand, revealing his glowing yellow eyes.

"STOP!"

All four jōnin were instantly frozen in time. Everyone else was just staring in shock.

While they were frozen Hunter re-arraigned Asuma and Kurenai so they would now collide with each other. He also adjusted Kurenai's arm so her punch would hit Asuma in the crotch. He then pulled down guys trousers and brought Kakashi's head band down over both his eyes.

"Three two one and ACTION!"

Time resumed. Asuma and Kurenai crashed into each other. The male ninja let out a pained cry as his ally's punch hit him in the privets. Guy tripped over and then went red in the face when he realised what Hunter had done. Kakashi stopped in his tracks and lifted his head band, while keeping his left eye covered.

The first thing he saw was his friends in various states of embarrassment. The second was Hunter almost falling over with laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Oh what I'd give for a camera right now! HAHAHAHA! Next I'm taking you out." He pointed at Gaara "I'm taking you out." then at Dosu "I'm taking you down." then Neji "I'm taking you out!" then Kankuro "And I'm taking you out..to diner!" and finally Temari who would have rolled her eyes if she weren't still amazed by the time stop spell.

"What kind of jutsu was that?" asked Sakura.

"It looked like he...stopped time." said Naruto.

"Impossible." they both looked at Shikamaru "No jutsu can stop time. It can't be done."

"Impossible! Pfft. No such thing man. Believe me. If you think stopping time's the only trick I've got then boy are you in for a surprise." Hunters chains and hooks appeared, falling to the ground with a dull metallic thud.

"I haven't even started fighting yet boys and girls. I'm the master of TIME and I demand all of you kneel. KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!"

While Hunter was having his fun Kakashi had decide to end this farce. He lifted up his head band, revealing his sharingan eye. 'Ok' he thought 'let's see how you handle...what!?' One of the powers that the sharingan grants is the ability to see your opponents chakra, the energy that all ninjas use for ninjutsu and genjutsu. Hunter had none what so ever. 'How can he use such powerful jutsu with no chakra!?'

"Just who are you!?" demanded Kakashi.

"I'm running out of witty alias's for myself. Ok one more." Hunter cleared his throat "I am ULFRIC STORMCLOAK! Jarl of Windhelm and true High King of Skyrim! Bow before me in the name of TALOS!" Hunter took up a mock heroic pose, then he burst out laughing.

"Is he completely crazy?" asked Kurenai.

"If you're only realising that now then you haven't been paying attention." chuckled Hunter.

"Shadow Clone jutsu!" suddenly about a half dozen Naruto clones dropped down from above and charged at Hunter.

"Hey what the-aah! Wow!" Hunter avoided the flurry of blows and jumped back. He swung his chain round in front of him in an arc, destroying several clones but the rest dodged and pressed the attack. One Naruto got really close but had to jump away to avoid Hunter's chain attack.

"So this is the thanks I get for saving you in the forest huh!" said Hunter.

"Yeah well that was before you attacked my sensei." said all the remaining Naruto's in unison.

"He started it!" insisted Hunter. 'I used up most of my magic on that stop spell. Now might be a good time to get out of Dodge.'

"Well as fun as this has been I must make like a tree and Hidden Leaf. Oh that was terrible. Even by my standards." A black portal appeared, swallowing Hunter up. Then it disappeared, along with Hunter.

"He's gone again." said Guy while adjusting his trousers. "And we still don't know anything about him."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that." said Naruto. Everyone looked at him. The blond Ninja was holding a small black rectangle in his right hand. "I got this from Hunters pocket while he wasn't looking."

"HA! Nice work Naruto. The fires of youth really do burn strongly in you!" proclaimed Guy. Everyone else ignored him.

"Great. So what is it?" asked Shikamaru.

"It's...erm...well it's obviously a..."

"You have no idea what that is do you?" said Sakura.

"Well...no. But it has to be important! Why else would he have it in his pocket! Hm. Hey, there's a button on it."

"Don't press it you idiot!" yelled Sakura.

Too late. A small screen on the device lit up and it made several beeping sounds.

Naruto held the device a little closer to his face "Hello?"

On the other end of the line DiZ sighed to himself.

'What has Hunter done now?'