Chapter 7

"I'm Riku, this is Naminé and DiZ"

"Hunter of the Dark"

"Who are you!?"

"What are you hunting?"

"Naruto."

"I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE!"

"I am an avenger"

"I think we've got a hero here"

"My name..."

"THIS THING IS NOT WHAT IT APPEARS"

"Lord Orochimaru."

"...is Twilight Thorn"

Hunter bolted upright. He didn't know how long he'd been out or what had happened to him, but he was clearly not in the Hidden Leaf anymore. He was in a side street of a city, but it wasn't an ordinary city. All the buildings were black in colour with windows that shone with a dull yellow light. The road he was standing on was made from black and dark blue stones. The strangest thing though was how quiet it was. There were no normal city sounds like crowds talking or car horns blaring. There wasn't even any wind.

"Hello!?"

"Hello!?"

"Hello!?"

"Hello!?"

The only reply Hunter got was his own voice echoed back at him by the buildings.

"Snap." Hunter murmured. With no obvious way to go Hunter started walking, hoping that he'd find something, anything that told him where he was. As he walked through the black city his thoughts turned to his fight with Kakashi and Guy.

He'd been about a second away from turning Kakashi into a Heartless. 'What if I lose control again? What if next time I don't stop myself?'

Eventually Hunter emerged from a side street on to a large plaza. At the far end was a colossal skyscraper that towered over the others. Up at the top were several large TV monitors that showed nothing but static. Hunter didn't know why but he felt drawn to the skyscraper. He walked towards it, tilting his head back so he could still see the screens.

One of the monitors crackled into life. It showed Naminé in the white room, drawing in her sketch book. The image changed to Riku, DiZ and Naminé together outside the Old Mansion.

'Wait a minute' thought Hunter 'I recognise this...these are places I've been. These are my memories!'

The other screens came to life and began to play more of Hunter's memories. One showed the fight between him and the three sound ninja. Another was of his first meeting with Orochimaru. For several minutes the screens continues to flicker between different memories, then they all change to the same image.

On the screens was a woman that Hunter had never seen before. She had blue hair, strange clothes and she was armed with a...

The screens all turned to static.

"What was that?" Hunter wondered aloud. "I don't remember that woman. It must have been from before I met Naminé. When I was still..."

Hunter's shoulders slumped. He'd never thought about the time he'd spent as a Hunter of the Dark. Who knew how many lives he'd ruined, or how many people he'd turned into Heartless.

Hunter turned to leave, then he stopped. The once empty plaza was now filled with Heartless. They were all identical, humanoid in appearance but with no mouth, nose or ears. Their bodies were jet black in colour with long crooked antenna that fell down over their shoulders and bright, almost glowing, yellow eyes.

None of them made any aggressive moves, they just stood there, staring at Hunter and he stared right back. He slowly raised his right hand and waved at them. They didn't react.

Hunter carefully walked towards the assembled mass of Heartless. As he approached they parted to let him pass between them, never taking their eyes off him.

When Hunter reached the middle of the crowd he stopped and looked around. He was now standing in the centre of a horde of Heartless and yet he felt strangely...at home.

Hunter shook his head. He needed to get out of here, away from this world. He closed his eyes and focused on the Elemental Nations. A black portal appeared around him and he was gone.

The Heartless stayed for a moment, then they all disappeared into the shadows.

Once more the black city was empty.

Back in the Hidden Leaf

The compound of the Hyūga clan was one of the most secure places in the entire village. Throughout the years many enemies had tried to steal the secrets of the clans kekkei genkai, the Byakugan, and while some had come close, they had all failed.

The current head of the Hyūga family was Hiashi Hyūga, and he was less than pleased to discover that someone had broken into his clans secret library, which contained knowledge of not just the Byakugan but all his clans secret jutsu and techniques.

He had been in the middle of a training exercise with his youngest daughter, Hanabi, when he'd been informed that someone had tripped the library's security seals. So Hiashi was now marching into the library, along with two guards from the branch family, to find out just who was trying to steal his clans secrets this time. Needless to say, he wasn't in the best of moods right now.

The Hyūga clans library consists of two levels. The ground floor contains information that is freely available to all members of the clan and some trusted outsiders. Below that is the secret library where only certain members of the clans main family are allowed due to all the sensitive and valuable information stored therein.

When Hiashi entered the underground library he had expected to find an enemy ninja gathering up as many scrolls as he could. What he found instead was Hunter, standing just a few feet away. Hiashi recognised him instantly from the description that he Hokage had given, black hair and cloths. The only difference was that he had a blue scarf now.

The boy didn't seem to notice Hiashi's arrival as he picked up a scroll, opened it and...

"No." he tossed the scroll aside and moved on to the next one.

Looking at the floor Hiashi could see that Hunter had gone through quite a few scrolls. The thought of someone stealing his clans secrets was bad enough, but seeing Hunter treat them like disposable garbage was more than his pride could stand.

"Hunter!" Hiashi's voice was thick with anger, but Hunter ignored him and moved on to a new scroll.

"No." the scroll joined the others on the floor.

Hiashi signalled the guard on his left to attack. The man nodded and ran at Hunter, jamming out his palm to strike at the intruder.

Without looking away from the scroll he was holding Hunter grabbed the man's arm, then he spun round so he was now behind the guard, pulling the man's arm with him. He dropped the scroll and used his free hand to deliver a chop to the guards outstretched arm. Hiashi heard a loud snap as the bone broke and saw the arm bend in a way it wasn't supposed to. Hunter's leg snapped out, making contact with the guards back and sending him flying.

The man crashed face first into the back wall, then slumped to the ground. He didn't get back up.

Hunter selected another scroll. "No."

Hiashi signalled to the other guard. This man was far more cautious than the last. He started approaching Hunter, already scanning him for weak points. Hunter raised his right arm. Before the guard could move four black and white lines appeared around the boy's forearm and shot forwards. They wrapped themselves around the Hyūga guard then they yanked him towards Hunter.

He crashed into Hunter's outstretched fist, breaking several ribs. As the man started to fall Hunter seized hold of him and slammed him into the ground with enough force to brake the wooden floor.

Then he moved on to the next scroll "No."

Hiashi had had enough. He charged at Hunter, channelling chakra into his palms. He'd barely gone a few steps when the boy's scarf sprang to life, the loose ends wrapping around the clan head's arms and legs, holding him in place. "Will you please stop." said Hunter in an emotionless voice "You're distracting me."

"The secrets of the Hyūga clan don't belong to you Hunter!" yelled Hiashi. "More guards will be waiting for you outside, you can't escape this time!"

Hunter turned his head so he was now looking at Hiashi. The head of the Hyūga clan had seen many ninja who hid their emotions but this was different. It was like there was nothing inside Hunter at all.

The scarf tossed Hiashi aside and Hunter went back to reading, then throwing scrolls. As soon as Hiashi's feet touched the ground he charged at Hunter again, hoping to catch him unawares. No such luck. Hunter spun round and batted Hiashi's palm away, then he delivered a punch to the clan head's chest. The blow lifted Hiashi off the ground but before he could go far Hunter grabbed his shirt and slammed his knee into the man's gut, winding him.

"I was told that your clan were powerful warriors." Hunter's scarf wrapped around Hiashi again, lifting him up off the floor. "It appears I was misinformed." Hunter picked up the last remaining scroll. "No. I've been wasting my time."

Hunter dropped Hiashi and began to walk away.

"You'll pay for this Hunter!" spat Hiashi as he struggled to his feet. "I won't forget what you've done here!"

"Good. It's nice to know someone will remember." a black portal appeared in the wall that Hunter was heading for. "And stop calling me Hunter. My name is Thorn." He walked through the portal and was gone.

Hokage Tower. A short time later.

The Hokage first heard of Hunter's return he'd been locked in an epic battle with his arch foe. Paperwork. He was almost glad for the interruption. His first action was to summon any ninja above genin rank who'd ever come into contact with Hunter. Soon everyone was assembled in one of the tower's meeting rooms, including Hiashi Hyūga. Well, almost everyone.

"Where is Kakashi?" asked Sarutobi.

"I'm not sure. He's probably still training Sasuke for the exam finals." answered Guy.

"Then we'll have to start without him. You've all probably heard by now that the Hyūga clan's archives were broken into this morning."

"So who was it?" asked Tsume Inuzuka. "The Hidden Cloud again?"

Sarutobi shook his head. "No. The culprit was Hunter."

That piece of news set off murmurs around the room.

"So, he's back then." growled Tsume. "I thought that brat died fighting Kakashi and Guy."

"Well, not exactly." admitted Guy "It was more like he...disappeared."

"Whatever the circumstances he has returned, however he is not the same." the Hokage looked over at Hiashi, who had a load of bandages covering his chest, forehead and right arm. The hospital had wanted him to stay longer but the Hyūga clan had an image to maintain. The Hyūga elder stood and told the assembled shinobi everything that transpired in the library.

"Focused. Brutal. Emotionless. That doesn't sound like the Hunter we all met." muttered Anko.

"He sounds like a totally different person." agreed Asuma "I think I preferred him as an annoying prankster."

"How could he have changed so much in such a short space of time?" asked Guy.

"It's not just his personality that's changed." said Kurenai. "He has new powers and a new name. Thorn. Could that be his real name? And how exactly did this change from Hunter to Thorn come about?"

"It seems every time Hunter appears he leaves us with more questions." sighed Sarutobi. "Still, this latest incident is an attack on the Hidden Leaf. We must find him before he causes more harm."

Elsewhere in the village

A black portal appeared on the rooftops of the village and Hunter stepped out.

"That actually worked!" he almost yelled with joy. "Ok...now what do I do? Hmmmm."

*Ring ring.*

Hunter reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "Hello?"

"Hunter." DiZ's voice came out of the phone's speaker. "Where have you been!? I've been trying to contact you for almost three weeks now."

"Three weeks!" Hunter yelled in surprise.

"Yes. What happened to you?"

Hunter quickly summed up the events of his fight with Kakashi and Guy and his arrival in the black city.

"That city sounds like a Heartless world, somewhere close to the Dark Realm. You must have transported yourself there by accident." said DiZ.

"Well it defiantly wasn't a planned vacation." muttered Hunter.

"You must strive to keep your instincts in check. If you lose control you may well revert back to the Hunter of the Dark."

"Tell me something I don't know! Do you have any proper advice?"

There was a moment's pause. "Nothing that you'd heed. For now continue searching for the nobodies. Contact me again when you have something to report."

"Define 'somethi-'...DiZ...DiZ... He hung up on me again!"

Hunter put his phone away and change into a perfect copy of Naruto, right down to the hideous orange outfit. He covertly got down from the roof and onto the main street. As he walked he passed by the Ichiraku's Ramen building and was briefly haunted by a flash back of his near miss with Tsume and the other ninjas.

He was about to walk on when a thought suddenly struck him. In all the time since he'd arrived here he had never eaten or drank, yet he was neither thirsty nor hungry. This was concerning to say the least. Hunter went into the ramen bar, planning to order some food, until he realised he had no money.

"Ah, Naruto!" it was the owner of the restaurant that had spoken, the same middle aged jovial man he'd seen last time. "Here, have a bowl of ramen on the house. You've got a big day tomorrow."

"Um. Thanks." said Hunter. He sat down and the girl with brown hair, whose name was Ayame, brought him a steaming bowl of ramen.

"Careful." she warned "It's hot."

Hunter picked up a pair of chopsticks and used them to grab one of the pieces of meat floating in the bowl. Despite Ayame's warning it wasn't hot. In fact it had no taste at all, he might as well have been eating cardboard. Both Ayame and her father, Teuchi noticed 'Naruto's' disappointed expression. Normal this would have been suspicious but with the chunin exam finals tomorrow they just put his reaction down to nerves.

Hunter was about to leave when he heard some of the other customers talking. Apart from him, Ayame and Teuchi there were three other people sitting at the bar. The closest was a man with blond hair that was spiky on top and ended in a long ponytail. Next to him was a thin man who had two scars on the right side of his face, black hair that he wore in a pineapple like style and a goatee beard. The last man was a good deal larger than the other two. he had red hair and purple marks on his cheeks.

All three were about middle aged and all obviously ninjas.

"You heard?" asked the blond one. "Someone broke into the Hyūga clan's library this morning."

"What? No way, I thought they had that place locked up tight after what happened with the Cloud." replied the larger ninja.

The blond shrugged "That's what I heard. Apparently whoever did it got caught by Hiashi Hyūga."

"Can't imagine that ended well for him." said the one with black hair, dismissively. He looked like he was about to fall asleep.

"Ah, but that's the interesting part Shikaku. The rumour is Hiashi lost. Quite badly to."

That caught Shikaku's attention "What? Really? That's troublesome."

"Yeah. I know one of the doctors from the village hospital and he told me that two Hyūga's were hospitalised and Hiashi was treated for minor injuries."

"Do they know who did it?" asked the red head.

"No. The Hyūga clan isn't talking, but some people are saying it's that 'Hunter' guy."

"What!" yelled Hunter. The three ninjas looked over at him. "That's impossible!"

"And how would you know that Naruto?" asked the blond ninja.

"Because I'm Hunter." he shape shifted back to his true form. The ninjas almost fell off their seat's in surprise. "And I only got back here five minutes ago so how could I have...Thorn."

The three ninjas had gotten back up and were now in a battle formation.

"Alright, tell me where this 'Hyūga clan library' is. NOW!" Hunter demanded.

"Not a chance." said the blond. "Whatever you're up to Hunter, it ends here. Battle formation! Ino!"

"Shika!"

"Chō!"

Hunter's chains materialised by his side. "Bring it!"

Outside the ramen bar

Anko was not enjoying her latest assignment. Once the meeting with the Hokage was over he'd ordered them all to patrol the village for any sign of Hunter and send word to him when they found him. This was all part of the Hokage's plan to get around Hunter's time stop jutsu and while the idea of finally getting one over on that obnoxious brat was grand, she still had to find him first.

Anko was about to pass by Ichiraku's Ramen when something came flying out of the shop and crashed into the ground in front of her.

It took her a moment to recognise that something as Chōza Akimichi. Before she had time to ask what the hell was going on someone else shot out of the ramen bar with a cry of "Aga Saga!"and landed right on top of the plus sized ninja.

It was Hunter. "If you like eating so much you can dine on my...hi Anko!"

Anko blinked several times. Hunter seemed normal, well normal by his standards anyway, not at all like the emotionless warrior that Hiashi had described.

Two more ninjas emerged from Ichiraku's Ramen, Shikaku Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka. Chōza landed a punch on Hunter while he was distracted, knocking him to the ground.

Hunter was now surrounded by all three members of Ino-Shika-Chō, but despite that he didn't seem worried. If anything he looked like he was having fun.

Shikaku made several hand signs. "Shadow possession jutsu." Shikaku's shadow grew longer until it reached Hunter's feet. For those who don't know, the Nara clan's shadow possession jutsu is a technique that forces you opponent to mirror your movements, like a shadow. Of course it's probably not the best thing to use on someone who can control darkness.

"Got you now!"

Hunter smirked, then he punched himself in the face, with Shikaku mirroring his movements.

"Who's got who?" asked Hunter, sounding very self satisfied.

He side stepped a strike from Chōza's bō staff and Shikaku unwillingly copied him. Struck by inspiration Hunter began dancing his own interpretation of Thriller while avoiding Chōza and Inoichi.

"Hahaha. This is FANTASTIC!" Hunter twirled round to avoid four snakes that shot out from Anko's sleeve.

"Stop that!" demanded Shikaku.

"No, it's too funny." Hunter had to duck to avoid Chōza again. Shikaku used the brief opportunity to end the jutsu.

"Kill joy." Hunter jumped onto Chōza's bō then kicked him in the face.

The Akimichi clan head reeled back. "Argh! Let's see you get out of this. Expansion jutsu!" Chōza channelled his chakra into his left arm causing it to rapidly expand to the point where he was able to grab Hunter in his hand.

"Inoichi! Now!"

The blond hair ninja nodded and began making hand signs. "Mind transfer jutsu!" Unseen by everyone else Inoichi's mind left his body as he fired his spirit at Hunter.

Acting on their own, Hunter's chain's rose up off the ground and slammed into Chōza's chest, knocking him off his feet and forcing him to release his hold on Hunter. The boy turned to face Inoichi and jammed out his arm, grabbing hold of the man's spirit before it could enter his body. This would have been impossible for a human but Hunter was a Heartless. The same rules don't apply.

"Your soul is mine." said Hunter. He punched Inoichi's spirit in the gut, the damage translating to his physical body, then threw him back into his own body. Once his soul was back Inoichi doubled over in pain.

Everyone stared at him in shock.

"How...how did he do that?" asked Chōza, still not quite able to believe what he'd just seen.

Anko gritted her teeth "No idea." Inwardly she thought 'Just when I thought he'd run out of tricks he comes up with something new.'

"He has to have some weakness." said Shikaku.

Hunter let out a tired sigh. "Look people, we all know how this will end. We exchange some insults, then you attack me again and I beat the crap out of you all. This time can we...just..."

What happened next was possibly the weirdest thing Hunter had seen yet. A large cat with brown fur and a red ribbon tied round it's ear ran out between the ninjas and Hunter. It stopped and tried to remove its ribbon by scratching at it with its back legs.

"Tora!"

The cat let out a frighten meow and ran off.

The source of the voice was a woman who looked to be in her forties, and from all the makeup and jewellery she was wearing, she was some kind of noble. She ran past the ninjas and Hunter, apparently not noticing any of them as she chased after her cat.

"Tooooraaaa! come back my kitty kitty!" she had a voice that could curdle fresh milk.

The cat ran faster and took a left at the end of the road, with its owner not far behind.

The entire group just stared after them, open mouthed.

The silence was broken by Hunter "What the flying fish was that!?"

With Hunter distracted Anko signalled the other to attack. They all got about five steps before...

"STOP!"

The group halted as Hunters spell caught them. Then he noticed the expressions frozen on Anko's face.

"Just what are you smiling about?"

He didn't have to wait long for the answer "Hello again Hunter."

He recognised the voice of Sarutobi, who was standing right behind him. He slowly turned round and sure enough the Hokage was directly behind him.

"Ah, I get it. You hung back and waited while Anko got me to use stop. Clever."

Sarutobi chuckled "I wasn't called the 'God of Shinobi' for nothing, Hunter."

"So, what now? Fight time?" asked Hunter, nervously.

"That depends on you. I still have questions for you Hunter."

Hunter folded his arms "You'll never get me to talk copper!"

The stop spell on Anko and the others wore off. They halted their attack, quickly took in the new situation and stood their ground.

Anko smirked at Hunter. "Final pulled one over on you."

"Oh don't pat yourself on the back yet. I've still got enough go-go left for one more stop." Anko's smug expression vanished instantly. "Didn't know that. Did ya. Now say good-"

"What is your name?" asked the Hokage.

Hunter puffed out his chest and pointed at Sarutobi "I am the terror that flaps in the ni-"

"You don't know the answer. Do you."

All the humour drained right out of Hunter.

"That's why you keep giving these aliases." Sarutobi continued "It's all an attempt to cover the truth. You can't remember your own name."

Hunter's silence was all the answer he needed.

"And the cause of your amnesia. It has something to do with the powers you use. Correct?"

"It's more complicated than that." muttered Hunter. "And the less you all know, the better. You'll all be safer if you just..." Hunter turned round and looked down at the other end of the street. Everyone else followed his gaze.

"So, we meet again." said Hunter.

Standing just a few feet away was none other than Naruto Uzumaki. "What the...Hunter! What are you doing here!?" he asked in surprise.

"Well, I was having lunch. Things kinda spiralled from there."

"Naruto! Leave now. Hunter is dangerous!" yelled the Hokage.

"Ah, come on Ji-ji, he's not that tough. I could beat him easily. Believe it!" declared Naruto.

Hunter face palmed. "Heart of a lion. Brain of a turnip."

"Hey! I heard that!" yelled Naruto. He brought his hands together and yelled out "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

With a great plume of smoke roughly fifty copies of Naruto appeared.

"Not this time!" Hunter raised both his arms, which began to glow with a dark aura. A storm of dark bolts erupted from Hunter's palms. In a matter of moments Naruto's clone army was wiped out, leaving only the original left.

Naruto laughed nervously "Haha...Ut-oh."

Sarutobi looked concerned. 'Even after all this Hunter is still holding back.' he thought.

"Alright Naruto, you wanna play?" Hunter's eyes changed to glowing yellow. "Let's play!"

Hunter surged forwards, pulling back his arm to punch Naruto. Without realising what he was doing Hunter's hand opened up just before his blow hit and passed into Naruto's chest.

He had just enough time to say "Oh bol-" and then the world faded away, only to be replaced by the dark stone sewer of Naruto's subconscious mind.

"There are times I hate being like this."

Looking round he saw no sign of the Nine Tailed Fox (aka, the great orange fuzz ball) or Naruto for that matter. The only thing of interest was a wooden door set in the wall that was labelled 'Memories'.

"Interesting." Hunter opened the door and stepped into a medium sized room that was full of metal filing cabinets. He reached for the nearest one and opened the top draw. Inside it was unsurprisingly full of paper files. Hunter picked one up and opened it.

The inside of the file was...well the best way to describe it is like a TV screen that showed images from Naruto's early life, his time in the village orphanage, how he grew up with only a handful of friends, how none of the grownups in the village seemed to even acknowledge his existence.

Hunter close the file and put it back. "That was...I don't even know what to say." he moved on to another cabinet and took out a new file. This time the memoires were a little happier, he saw Naruto's first days in the ninja academy, his budding friendship with his teacher Iruka and his first taste of ramen.

"So that's what ramen tastes like. Not bad."

The finally memory in that file was of how Naruto accidentally ended up kissing Sasuke.

"Bahahahaha! Oh I am sooooo going to use this one against him later."

Meanwhile, back in the real world

"It's no use, he won't budge!" insisted Chōza as he, Inoichi and Shikaku tried to pull Hunter away from Naruto.

The two were seemingly frozen in place with their eyes closed and Hunter's hand phased inside Naruto's chest. It was a disturbing sight to say the least. So far any attempt to separate them had failed and Sarutobi was starting to really worry.

"Keep trying." ordered the Hokage "Who knows what Hunter is doing to Naruto!"

"Alright, on three" said Inoichi "One...two..."

Back in Naruto's mind

Naruto was walking through his mind-scape looking for...well, anything when he saw a giggling Hunter emerge from a door in the wall.

"You! What's so funny!?" he demanded.

"Oh, nothing." said Hunter, stifling a laugh.

Naruto clenched his fists "Look, I don't know how you got in my mind again and I don't care. Just get out!"

Hunter raised his hands in mock surrender "Fine, fine. I've had my fun."

Naruto really didn't like the sound of that.

"Terminating connection." the dark sewer faded away to be replaced by...

Back in reality

"...three!"

Hunter's connection to Naruto ended at the same time the ninja trio tried to pull him away. The result was Inocihi falling to the floor, followed by Shikiau who landed on him and then Chōza who fell back onto both of them.

Hunter landed in front of the pile of ninjas but he was back on his feet just in time to cast a spell.

"STOPRA!"

Everyone 'stopped'.

"Sooooo. What to do with all of you. Oh...Oh, hohoho. Perrrrrfect."

Hunter ran back into the ramen bar and took all of the stools outside, along with Inoichi, Shikaku and Chōza's food.

As he worked Hunter started singing is own version of an old classic "Oooh I'm a mean one...Mister Hunter."

He put one stool down and arranged the other three around it.

"I really am a heel."

He sat the ninja trio down on the stools so they were all facing the centre stool. Then he brought out a large red table cloth and placed it over the middle stool, while tucking the ends into the men's shirts and pulling their head bands down over their eyes.

"I'm as cuddly as a cactus. I'm as charming as an eel. Mister Huuuunter."

Hunter put the bowls of food down on the cloth covered middle stool.

"I'm a bad banana with a...greasy black peeeeel."

That just left Sarutobi, Anko and Naruto to deal with.

"Oh you're a monster. Mister Hunter."

Searching Anko's pockets he found her supply of ninja wire.

"My heart's an empty hole."

He tied one end around Anko's partially outstretched arm, wrapped it a few times around Naruto's legs then around the Hokage's waist and the end around Anko's legs.

"My bran is full of spiders. I've got garlic in my soul. Mister Huuuunter."

With just seconds until time resumed Hunter jumped up onto a roof of a nearby building to get the best view of the show.

"I wouldn't touch me with a...Thirty-nine and a half foot pooolllle."

Time resumed.

Inocihi, Shikaku and Chōza jumped up from their seats, causing their bowls of food to fly upwards and land on their heads, covering them with food. As Anko's fist started moving again the wire around Naruto's legs tightened, causing him to fall forwards which made the wire around Sarutobi pull him over, leading to the wire around Anko's legs pulling her backwards.

"The work of a master if I do say so myself." said Hunter.

"Arrgh! Just what do you want!?" demanded Naruto as he jumped back up.

"Alright, I'll tell you. My plan is to start a war between all the ninja villages." everyone listened intently. "Then, I will use this war as leverage to steal the Hidden Leaf's pretty dam tasty ramen!"

The only one who still thought he was serious was, of course, Naruto. "That's got to be the most evil plan EVER! You'll never get away with it, I'll protect the ramen from you. Believe it!"

Hunter let out a mock evil laugh. "Mwahahah! Mark my words Naruto. The damned ramen will be mine!"

Then his disappeared into a black portal, still laughing maniacally.

"Errrmph! That fiend. We can't let him take the ramen!" declared Naruto.

"I think you'll find he was joking, Naruto." said Sarutobi.

The young ninja went red with embarrassment. "Oh...hehehe. I knew that."

On a roof top not far away.

Hunter reappeared and took stock of his surroundings. One of the things he noticed was a large banner that read 'Chunin Exam finals tomorrow!'.

"Excellent. No point in going to that whatsit clan library now. Thorn will be long gone. I'll just catch up on some beauty sleep, watch the exam finals and round off the day by hunting nobodies. Awesome!"

Hunter laid down where he was, made himself as comfortable as he could, looked up at the sky and waited to fall asleep.

A few hours later

"I'll fall asleep any second now."

A few more hours later

"Any second."

WAAAAY more hours later

"One sheep. Two sheep. Three sheep..."

Ninety-seven sheep later

"Ninety-eight sheep. Ninety-nine sheep...oh snap."

The sun had gone down long ago and while Hunter didn't know what time it was he was pretty sure it was gone midnight.

He let out a grunt of frustration "I know you two are there. Stop hiding and get out here!"

Two figures suddenly appeared on the other side of the roof. Hunter got up and stretched his limbs.

"Well now. I'll admit, I wasn't expecting more leaf ninja. Not you two."

He turned and faced the two ninjas. Kankuro and Temari.

"Still, someone had to find me. Eventually."

Konoha Strict Correctional Facility.

Mizuki was languishing in the same cell that he'd been in ever since Naruto had beaten him. The plan had been perfect, all he had to do was trick Naruto into stealing the Scroll of Seals, kill him and take the scroll to Orochimaru. And in return the snake Sanin would have made him even more powerful than ever. Needless to say, the plan hadn't worked, and after Naruto and his clones had beaten him to a bloody pulp he'd been thrown in the villages most secure prison.

But Mizuki hadn't given up. He'd get revenge on Naruto and Iruka and the whole blasted village. All he had to do was wait and-

CLANG

Mizuki looked up in surprise and the unexpected noise. Sticking out between the cell door and the wall was a pointed bit of thin blue fabric. Mizuki barely had time to register this when another blue point smashed through on the other side. Two more points followed underneath the last two. The spear like blue lines curled inwards then the solid metal door was ripped from its hinges and cast aside.

Someone stepped into the cell. It was a young man with spiky black hair, wearing a blue scarf and black cloths with a white symbol on his shirt. Twilight Thorn had wasted the past few days trying to locate a vital piece of information. He'd started with the Hyūga clan and had been caught by Hiashi Hyūga. He'd been far more careful since then. After covertly raiding several clan libraries and finding nothing of real value he'd opted for a more direct method of information gathering.

"Wow, a visitor." said Mizuki, trying his best to sound cool. "I get so few these days. But I take it this isn't a social call Mr..."

"My name is Thorn."

"Short, sharp and to the point." joked Mizuki. Thorn didn't laugh. "I take it you know who I am?"

"Mizuki. Former Hidden Leaf shinobi. Declared a rouge ninja and criminal after a failed attempt to steal the Scroll of Seals. You have a lust for power that stems from an inferiority complex, though in truth it's more of a fact."

That got Mizuki angry "Why you ignorant cocky little-"

"What's going on here!?"

Mizuki was cut off by the sound of a prison guard happening across Thorn. Mizuki saw an opportunity. While The guard fought with Thorn he would slip past them both and escape. That was when Thorn's scarf shot out and wrapped around the guard's neck. Thorn didn't turn round, he just kept staring at Mizuki. The scarf's tendril twisted, snapping the ninja's neck. The man's body dropped to the floor with a dull thud.

Thorn advanced on Mizuki, who retreated into a corner. "I'm here because you may have something I want. An answer to a question. Answer truthfully and I will release you from this prison."

"W-w-what question?" stammered Mizuki.

"Who is Naruto Uzumaki's mother?"

Mizuki was so taken aback by the question he almost forgot that Thorn had just killed someone. "What?...Um, well nothing was ever officially said but the only other Uzumaki in this village was Kushina Uzumaki."

"Kushina." Thorn repeated.

"Yeah. She used to be a ninja in the Hidden Leaf but then she got herself killed in the Nine Tails attack."

Thorn seemed to ignore Mizuki "So, Kushina was his mother and his father was-"

"Before you ask, no I don't know who the brats father is. Knowing Kushina, it could be any man in the village."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop a little "Kushina was superior to you in every way. And I already know who Naruto's father was. I have all I need from you."

"Right, well, it's been nice knowing ya."

Mizuki tried to leave but Thorn blocked his path. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Mizuki felt something clamp around his ankle. Looking down he saw with horror that that something was an inky black hand, belonging to a creature with bright yellow eyes that was slowly rising up from the shadows. More creatures started to emerge from the dark to restrain the panicking Mizuki.

"Hey! What are these things!?... I answered your question. You said you'd let me go!"

"No, I believe that my exact words were 'I will release you from this prison'. I never specified 'how' I would release you."

Thorn turned and left, a new objective already clear in his mind. Find more information on Kushina Uzumaki. If she had been a ninja then the village's main records would be the best place to start.

"Wait! You can't do this to me!"

Thorn didn't stop walking "Mizuki, if you dare to have dreams of power, you will be consumed by them."

Mizuki continued to futilely struggle against the Heartless. There were four of them now, one holding each limb, then a fifth one came out of the wall behind him and grabbed hold of his head. A sixth Neo Shadow rose up in front of him and slowly drew closer.

"No! Get away from me!" the monster didn't hear him. It got closer and closer until it's face was centimetres from Mizuki's. It held his gaze for a moment, then it looked down at the man's chest. It backed away and drew it's arm back.

"No! No,no,no,no NOOOOOOOOOOOO-"


Well, that's the end of him. Can't say I'm too broken up about killing Mizuki off.

Next chapter; The Sand Siblings give Hunter an 'enticing' offer.

'Till next time.