And here's Chapter thirteen, fresh off the press.

theblacklightprojekt: Thanks

Guest : Awesome work. Maybe Hunter could use his power to make Sasuke face his own dark side. Could be interesting. Good Luck. : Hmmm. I haven't really planned anything like that but it's an interesting idea.

Goldspark1: Not always. Some truly powerful opponents are coming up and Hunter won't be able to breeze through all of them.

Bl4ck st4r : Why thank you kind sir.

And now, the main event. Enjoy and as always please Rate and Review.


Chapter 13

'Stop him before he uses that charm!' yelled Matatabi.

Bee and Yugito ran forwards as their respective tailed beasts cloaked them in a translucent skin of red chakra. Hunter never got the chance to activate the charm. The two Jinchuriki slammed into him and the three of them ended up on the ground, with Hunter stuck underneath. The charm flew out of his hand and landed on the ground somewhere above Hunter's head.

The three of them were on the ground struggling for a few seconds when they all heard a loud 'Caw!'. Looking up Hunter saw a large magpie had landed close by and it was eyeing up his summon charm.

"Don't you dare!" he warned.

The bird ignored him. It hopped over to the charm, cocked its head curiously, then it snapped it up in its beak and flew off.

"Hey!" Hunter threw off Yugito and Bee and ran after the bird, jumping up into the air every now and they trying to catch it. "Give me my charm back you feathery thief!"

Suddenly Killer Bee appeared in Hunter's path. "Can't escape, no runnin' this time! Stand and fight, face your-Ooff!" Hunter jumped off of Bee's face and just kept going after the bird.

"Not interested! Call back later!" A chakra tail wrapped around his waist and slammed him into the ground.

"You're not escaping this time Hunter!" said Yugito. "We know what you are Dark One! Whatever you're up to it ends here!"

"I am NOT going to lose control again." insisted Hunter as he got back up. "And FYI. I'm not a 'Dark One'." Hunter started to conjure lightning in his hands "We're called the Heartless!"

Bee and Yugito charged together, launching themselves at Hunter.

"STOP!" both jinchuriki were caught in the spell and frozen in time "In the naaame of love! Before you break my heart!" He brought out his pen and quickly drew a moustache on Yugito before going back to chasing after the bird. Another little side benefit of his Heartless vision was that he could see the magic in the charm glowing like a tiny star. Curiously though the charm wasn't in the air anymore, it was much closer to the ground. Hunter soon found out why. As he drew closer he saw that the bird had apparently dropped the charm and it had been picked up by a travelling salesman, who'd stashed it in the back of his horse drawn wagon.

By the time Hunter caught up with them the wagon had already reached its destination. The Hidden Leaf Village.

"Oh snap." Getting chased around the village by every ninja therein was not on today's to-do list. But he needed that charm back and who knows what could happen if someone bought it and figured out how to used it. Adopting the disguise of a black cat Hunter jumped over the walls in a single bound and landed gracefully on a rooftop. The travelling merchant had already set up his stall, along with a few others, on the villages main road.

'Now, all I have to do is-'

"How about this one Konohamaru?" Udon and Konohamaru had walked up to the stall, and were now looking at Hunter's summon charm.

"Perfect! Moegi's gunna love this!" They brought the powerfully magic charm for a shamefully low price and walked off with Hunter following them from the rooftops.

'I need to get that charm back without raising the alarm.'

Eventually the two ninja's in training arrived at a small apartment building and made their way to one of the upper rooms. Hunter went straight for the building's roof and immediately started looking for a way inside. The first thing he noticed was an air vent, but it was too small even for his cat form.

'I'm going to have to go smaller.' he thought. He closed his eyes and focused on becoming as small as he possibly could. He felt his body shift and change as it did whenever he transformed and once it was over he opened his eyes. All eight of them. He'd managed to turn into a big, hairy tarantula. Walking on eight legs was not an easy task but after falling over several times Hunter soon got the hang of his new bug body and he scuttled into the vent.

By sheer luck it lead him to the exact room he wanted to be in. Peering out through the vents grill he could see Udon, Moegi and Konohamaru below.

"Happy birthday Moegi!" said Konohamaru as he presented the girl with the charm.

Hunter crawled out though the vent and ran up the side of the wall onto the ceiling. A smaller spider was in his way and when it saw him approach it immediately went on the offensive, raising its front legs and chattering "My space! My space! Mine, mine, mine!"

Hunter lashed out at it while clicking out a "Buzz off!"

The smaller spider retreated "Ekk! Your space. Your space. Yours, yours, yours!"

Looking down Hunter saw that Moegi had put the charm on a small table while she and the others had their backs turned to it. Now was his chance. Hunter attached a sticky silk line to the ceiling, then he let go and fell, the spider silk line slowing his decent. He made a few acrobatic twirls on the way down then he cut the strand and fell the last few centimetres. He landed right on the charm, he had it in his hairy spider legs.

"Thanks Udon. This will go great with-" without looking round Moegi reached out for the charm and instead put her hand on Spider-Hunter. Both she and Hunter slowly turned to look at each other, making eye contact at the exact same time. All the colour drained out of the girls face.

'Oh snap'

"AAARRRRGHHH! SPIIIDERRR!" Moegi let out a scream that was probably heard all over the village. She jumped up on to a chair, never taking her eyes off the massive arachnid looking back at her. Udon took one look at the spider and back up against the far wall.

The only one who was un-phased was Konohamaru, who gave his friends a pitying look. "Oh come on guys. It's just a spider." he walked up to the table and brought his palm smashing down on the bug in an attempt to squash it.

Hunter reacted almost on instinct. He grabbed Konohamaru's hand in two of his legs then he flipped the kid right over the table and onto the floor on the other side. Moegi screamed even louder, if that was possible while Hunter continued to fling Konohamaru around, smacking him into two chairs, a lamp and a pile of birthday presents.

He lay there in a daze for a while, then the super spider leapt off the table and landed on his face. Konohamaru took one look at the eight black eyes and large fangs, then he let out a yelp and tried to bat the spider away, but it jumped off him before he could hit it. As the spider sailed through the air Konohamaru got back on his feet and started putting some of his academy training to use. He took out a wooden practice shuriken from his back pocket and threw it at the spider, hoping to knock it out of the air.

Hunter caught the wooden shuriken and landed on the windowsill where he slung the weapon over his thorax, taking up a stance similar to a full sized person with a windmill shuriken. Konohamaru blinked a few times. First this spider had thrown him about like a sack of potatoes, now it was staring him down almost daring him to attack again.

"Time to go squish you stupid bug!" Konohamaru ran forwards, but he'd not taken three steps when Hunter threw the wooden kunai at him. It hit him right on the forehead with just enough force to stagger him. Fast as a bullet Hunter shot down from the window, landing at Konohamaru's feet when he lifted the boy off the ground and began spinning him round and round, faster and faster. That's when Hunter attached a silk strand to Konohamaru's leg. In a matter of moments the boy was all wrapped up so only his head was free. Hunter stopped spinning him, threw him up into the air, then he jumped up after him, delivering a two legged kick to the stomach that sent him crashing into the opposite wall.

"Oww" Konohamaru groaned. The super spider landed on his chest. It was still holding the wooden shuriken and now it also had the charm he'd brought for Moegi. It gave him one last smack on the head, then it launched itself at the window, smashing right through the glass on its way out.

"Wha-wha-wha-" was all Moegi could stammer.

After struggling for a moment Konohamaru managed to sit up "Don't just stand there guys, get me out of this. We have to warn everyone! The Leaf is under attack by Super Ninja Spiders!"

By now Hunter had made good his escape. With no one about he'd changed into a new form. A perfect copy of Naruto.

'Now I just have the wait for the Nobodies to come to me. Hehehe.'

"Hey brat." Hunter stopped dead in his tracks. He'd know that voice anywhere. He turned round and found himself directly in front of Anko's chest.

Hunter jumped back, feigning surprise "Gaah! Y-you! The crazy lady form the chunin exams!"

Anko's eye twitched angrily "My name's Anko, in case you forgot. I thought you were going to be out of the village for another few days kid. What happened?"

"Well I-"

"Anko." Yūgao, the purple haired sword wielding ninja walked up next to Anko.

'Snap! If either one of them see's anything wrong it'll take all day to lose them!'

That was when Yūgao noticed 'Naruto'. "Hm. Naruto? What are you doing back so early? Was Jiriya's mission a success?"

"Erm, well-I, um-"

"Hey, kid!" the owner of a small shop they were standing next to yelled at him "I've told you before, stay the hell away from my store! You're driving my customers away you brat!"

Yūgao and Anko both shot him murderous looks before looking back down at Naruto. He'd lowered his head slightly so his eyes weren't visible. Both of them knew about the grief he got from the villages civilian population (and some of its dumber shinobi as well). They were about to offer to take him to Ichiraku's when 'Naruto' suddenly reached out, pulled Yūgao's sword right out of its sheath and began marching towards the shopkeeper.

"I'm just going to borrow this Yūgao. I'll be back in a minute." he raised the blade over his head, then he chopped the man's stand in half. The shopkeeper stood immobilized for two seconds, then he ran away as fast as he could with 'Naruto' chasing after him.

"GET BACK HERE! When I get hold of you I am going to ram this sword so far up your-"

"Shouldn't we stop him?" asked Yūgao. When Anko didn't answer she looked over at her and found the woman was crying a river of anime tears.

"I couldn't be more proud of that kid right now." she said in a pride choked voice.

Yūgao sighed, then she looked back at 'Naruto' who was still chasing the shopkeeper round in circles. "Naruto, that's enough! Give me my sword back!"

'Naruto' stopped chasing the man and grudgingly handed back the sword. 'Maybe from now on people will be a little nicer to Naruto.' he thought.

"So, was Jiriya's mission a success?" asked Yūgao, again.

"Erm, yes. He...found Tsunade. WE found Tsunade. They...sent me on ahead to err deliver the good news. They should be here...soon?"

The two kunoichi looked at each other, surprise written all over their faces.

"I didn't think Jiriya could convince her to become Hokage." said Yūgao.

"Me neither. This means I own Kurenai a hundred yen. So what did happen exactly Naru-"

'Naruto' had completely vanished, leaving the pair scratching their heads and wondering just where had he gone.

As soon as they hadn't been looking Hunter had bolted, vanishing into a maze of side streets and back alleys. He was currently just at the mouth of a side street, looking round behind him to make sure he hadn't been followed.

"OK." he said to himself "No more games. No more distractions. I've got to find the Nobodies before-"

That's when, of all people, Hinata Hyuga walked round the corner and almost bumped into him. He was about to say 'hi' then make his excuses and leave but he never got the chance. Hinata's face turned tomato red, then she fainted on the spot. Hunter changed back into his regular form and looked down at her, dumbfounded.

"Spiffing. Absolutely spiffing. Great! One dead, ten to go!"

And then Hiashi Hyuga appeared round the same corner his daughter just had. He was just in time to catch the 'one dead' part and then he saw his daughter lying unmoving on the ground in front of Hunter.

Hunter's eyes flicked from Hinata to her father then he raised his arms and said "I swear, this ain't what it looks!"

Hiashi wasn't really listening right then. With a cry of rage he ran forwards, activating his Byakugan and...stopping in his tracks. He wasn't angry anymore, he was horrified by what his enhanced eyes were showing him.

"T-that's...not...What are you?!"

Hunter suddenly became deadly serious "Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to." then he turned and ran.

Hiashi didn't follow, he was still trying to reconcile what he'd seen. "No...nothing inside. He isn't human."

Hunter kept running until he had put several blocks between himself and Hiashi before he came to a halt on a rooftop. 'That's not good. Now he's seen me he'll raise the alarm. So much for no distractions.' Deciding that he should not be out in the open Hunter slipped down the side of the building and in through an open window. Several doors lined the corridor he found himself in but one in particular caught his attention.

"Inoichi. Counselling. Hmmm. Inoichi, I remember him. The blond guy with the mind transfer power" forcing the door open Hunter stepped inside a averages sized room with one large window, a lounge chair, a regular chair and some filing cabinets. He went straight for the cabinets. Yanking open a random draw he started thumbing through the paperwork. He discovered that theses files were records of Inoichi's sessions with various ninjas, most of whom he recognised. He grabbed one file from the 'T' section.

"Tsume Inuzuka. Let's see here. Volatile, aggressive. Knew that already. Blah, blah is absolutely terrified of the...Hm...hm..hahahahahaMUAHAHAHA! Yes. That I can do."

An hour later

"Still no sign of him." said Kuromaru.

"That won't last long. He can't resist causing trouble." replied Tsume. She and her dog were patrolling Konoha, like just about every other ninja in the village, looking for any sign of Hunter. Apparently the insane missing nin, or whatever he was, had returned and Tsume was eager to finally have her revenge on him.

"Hey! Dog lady!"

Tsume spun round and saw that her target was standing just a few feet away, smiling arrogantly.

"Looking for me?" he asked rhetorically before diving into the building next to him.

Enraged Tsume went after him followed by Kuromaru. As soon as she went inside however she knew she'd been duped. The room she was now in was pitch black, no doubt set up for an ambush. She was about to go back out the door when it shut behind her, eliminating the light completely.

"I'm disappointed Tsume." said Hunter.

Tsume tried to use her enhanced senses to find him but there was some other smell in the room that was masking him. Tsume thought she knew what the other odder was, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"You're late for you check up." Hunter continued.

'Check up? What is he-'

The lights came back on. The room was mostly white with occasional posters on the walls emphasising proper dental care, there was a single chair in the middle with a large adjustable lamp above it.

"T-this...this is a." Tsume stammered. She turned round, planning on breaking out through the door but her path was blocked by none other than Hunter. He wasn't wearing his usual all black outfit, instead he had a large white medical coat covering a blue shirt and trousers.

"I am your dentist! I have a talent for causing things pain!" Hunter sang as he hit Tsume in the stomach, sending her flying back into the chair. "I am your dennntisst! People pay me to be inhumane!" suddenly he was standing right next to Tsume's head, firing up a small dentist's drill then he started drilling into one of her teeth. Tsume let out a cry of pain, then she bolted out of the chair, smashed through the door and off into the distance. Hunter stepped through the ruined doorway, laughing to himself as he watched her go.

"Hahaha! That's two, one to me! Hahahaha!"

Just round the corner from all this were Ino, Kiba, Shikamaru and Choji. The first clue they got to Hunter's presence was Tsume running past them at break neck speed.

"Erm...mum?" Kiba looked puzzled, then Kuromaru ran up to them.

"Hey, Kuromaru. What's up with mom? She'd looked like she'd seen a ghost."

"Worse, it was-" the dog was about to explain when Hunter walked into view. "Him!"

Hunter gave them all a broad smile and a wave.

"You...you! What did you do!" yelled Kiba.

"Gave her a dental check up." chuckled Hunter.

"ARRGHH! THAT'S IT!" Kiba ran forwards along with his dog Akamaru. The two of them launched into the air and spun at beyond normal speeds "Fang over fang!"

Hunter dodged their attack, which tore a chunk out of the ground instead.

"Hey." Ino, Choji and Shikamaru looked down at Kuromaru "You guys try and hold him here for a while, I'll round up the villages elite. He's not getting away this time!" The three teenagers nodded and the one eyed dog ran off.

"Expansion jutsu!" Choji's body ballooned in size, then he started spinning on the ground before launching himself at Hunter screaming "Varroooommm! The Human Boulder!" Choji slammed into Hunter's outstretched palms, forcing him back several meters and carving a line in the dirt. Once they'd stopped Hunter punched Choji sending flying back past his teammates where he crashed into the ground.

"Ooww. Did I get him?" he asked.

Hunter dodged a bite from Akamaru, kicked Kiba aside, then he charged at Shikamaru and Ino. "Game over for you two-woah!" He'd gotten about half way to them when a huge blade on a stick embedded itself in the ground in front of him. Looking up and to the left in the direction it had come from Hunter saw Tenten and Neji up on the roof of a building overlooking the street.

"Damn, I missed!" said Tenten as she and her teammate jumped down to the ground.

"Haha, very funny." said Hunter sarcastically. He looked Neji up and down "You've changed. Naruto helped you work through that superiority complex of yours, right."

Neji seemed surprised 'He can tell just by looking?'

"Ha, if you mean Naruto smacked him on the head and he's not an asshole anymore, then yeah!" said Kiba.

That was when two more people showed up from Ino and Shikamaru's direction. Shino, Sakura and Hinata, who'd apparently recovered from her faint earlier.

"Just peachy." muttered Hunter.

"We came as soon as we heard." said Sakura.

"Hunter. Or is it Thorn?" asked Shino.

Everyone looked confused except Hunter who suddenly became serious.

"Thorn?" asked Ino.

"Kiba, Hinata and I all meet someone in the forest a weeks ago." explained Shino "Someone who looked a lot like Hunter, but he was different. Much colder. More efficient."

'Thorn was in that same blasted forest and I missed him!' thought Hunter.

"So wait, there's two of them?!" exclaimed Choji, who didn't like the sound of that.

"One was troublesome enough." agreed Shikamaru.

"Will you all stop talking about me like I'm not here!" said Hunter, angrily.

"You're right. We've talked long enough." everyone looked round at the other end of the street, behind Hunter where-

"SASUKE!" yelled both Ino and Sakura at the same time, their eyes transforming into anime hearts.

Sure enough, the Uchiha prodigy was standing at the other end of the street, a few feet behind Hunter.

"So you're back now too. So that makes it, let's see..." he made a point of counting each of them before continuing "eleven against one, not counting the dog."

"Erm, not counting Akamaru, there are ten of us." Tenten pointed out.

"No, eleven." said Hunter as he leaned to the side to look past the genin.

Cautiously they turned round to.

Rock Lee was running up to meet the group. He stopped next to his stunned comrades and took up his trademark taijutsu stance.

"Hunter. You will fall here today!" he proclaimed.

"Lee!? What are you doing here, you should still be in hospital!" insisted Tenten.

"She's right Lee, you're in no condition to fight." said Shikamaru.

With a determined expression on his face Lee ran forwards before his friends could stop him. "I may not be at my best but-GAHH!" Suddenly Lee fell, giving a cry of pain and clutching at his left leg. He skidded to a halt just in front of Hunter, who knelt down over him.

'Torn muscles, crushed bones. It's a miracle this kid can even walk.'

"I'm going to kick myself for this later. Cura!" Lee was momentarily surrounded by a ring of spectral green flowers. When they vanished he found that all the pain in his arm and leg were gone. He got up and experimentally flexed his previously damaged muscles, finding that they were as good as new.

"Ta-da." said Hunter.

Lee wasn't too sure how to respond but eventually he managed a "Thank you." followed by "But...I still have to help bring you in."

"Humm. Well, ok. Alright kids, come at me with everything you've got!"

All the genin got into their combat stances, the two Hyūga's activating their Buykugan.

Hinata froze and started shivering in fright while Neji just looked horrified.

"W-what.." he stammered.

"Neji, what is it?" asked Tenten.

"H-he...he hasn't got a chakra network!"

Ino, Sakura, Sasuke and Shikamaru's faces changed to mirror the fright of their friends.

"So, what does that mean?" asked Kiba.

"Kiba, a chakra network is spiritual energy present it ALL living things." explained Sakura. "If Hunter has no network then..."

"Hmmm...AGGHH! HE'S UNDEAD!" screamed Choji.

"You have no soul!" said Neji, taking a step back.

"Nope." admitted Hunter. "Soul, shmoul. Who needs it. I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel very alive right now!" Hunter dashed towards Neji, aiming a punch at his head that the Hyūga dodged at the last moment. Shino sent a horde of flying insects at Hunter, which all got blow away by an air spell.

Snapping out of their surprise the Genin started fighting back but somehow Hunter seemed to always know where their attacks were coming from, even without looking.

"This isn't working!" yelled Tenten as Hunter avoided several of her kunai.

"He must have a three-sixty degree field of vision, like the Buyakuagn!" guessed Shikamaru.

"If there's a way, Sasuke will find it!" said Sakura, who so far hadn't thrown a single punch because she was too busy watching Sasuke.

Hunter turned aside one on Neji's palm strikes, then looked at Sakura and asked "Seriously!? You're joking, aren't you?" He leaned back to avoid a kunai slash from Sasuke. "You're putting all your faith in Captain Emo!?"

"He CAN beat you!" insisted Sakura. "He's smart, and talented and complex an-"

"COMPLEX!" Hunter yelled incredulously as he batted Hinata aside. "I've seen more complexity in a couch from Ikea!" Sasuke gave an angry grunt, then he aimed a leaping kick at Hunters face, which missed. "Shadow the Hedgehog is a better anti-hero than you!" he continued.

Sasuke jumped backwards, brought his hand up to his mouth and "Fire style! Fireball Jutsu!" breathed a large gout of flame that rocketed towards Hunter.

"Oh, please." Instead of jumping out of the way Hunter simply caught the fireball in his hand, then popped it into his mouth and swallowed.

The genin just stared at him, open mouthed.

"H-he...ate it.." Choji stammered.

Hunter smiled at them all "I take my tea hotter than that!" He puffed out his chest then let out a blast of flame from his mouth forcing the genin to run for cover or get out of the way. When the fire stopped Hunter had vanished.

"Where is he?" asked Neji, looking from left to right.

"I AM YOUR DENNNTISST!" Neji spun round, pulling back his palm only for his arm to get caught by Hunter who was now standing right behind him. "And I enjoy the career that I picked!" he flung Neji aside, straight into Shikamaru.

"I am your dennntissst!" he stepped back to avoid an attack from Kiba "And I get off on the pain I inflict!" then he smashed his foot down onto Kiba's foot. The young Inuzuka gave a yelp of pain before he was kicked away by Hunter.

"I'm thrilled when I'm drilling bicuspids!" Tenten and Ino came at him at the same time from opposite directions, both planning to stab him with their kunai. Hunter grabbed both their arms as they closed in them spun round, throwing them both away. "It's swell though they tell me I'm Mal-adj-usted!"

Hinata charged at him, pulling back her arm for a palm strike. Hunter easily dodged her attack and her two follow up strikes, always staying just out of reach.

"That all you got?" he taunted "No wonder Naruto likes Sakura more!"

Hinata froze for a few seconds, then she sprang into action, running past all the other genin and landing a palm strike right on Hunter's chest. The other genin looked on in amazement as the normally shy and reserved Hinata let out an angry yell and continued attacking with no regard for anything else.

"I...don't think I've ever seen Hinata angry before." said Ino.

"I don't think she's ever been angry before." added Shikamaru.

Hinata increased the speed and force of her attacks while Hunter just stood there, like he was just letting her hit him.

"At the rate she's going she'll burn through all her chakra in no time." said Neji.

After another barrage of rapid palm strikes Hinata was almost out of chakra but she was not less angry. Pushing all her remaining chakra into her right fist she hit Hunter square in the jaw with an uppercut that lifted him off his feet, then he feel to the ground and lay still.

Hinata stood where she was as her anger subsided and everything she'd just done began to sink in. The combination of exhaustion, confusion, embarrassment and triumph caused her to faint. Fortunately Neji saw this coming and caught his cousin before she hit the ground.

"Is she alright?" asked Tenten.

As if to answer her question Hinata's eyes fluttered open as she returned to consciousness.

"W-what happened?" she asked, although she sounded a little dazed.

"You...well you...erm..." began Sakura.

"You won!" proclaimed Neji.

Hinata sat bolt upright and looked over at Hunter, who was still lying face up on the ground a few feet away.

"I-I won?" she repeated, unable to believe it despite the evidence before her.

"Yep. Sure looks like it." everyone suddenly looked over at Hunter, who slowly stood up, unharmed and smiling in a genuinely friendly manner. "That was GREAT! I knew you had it in you, I just knew it. All ya needed was the right push!"

Everyone stared at him, incredulously.

"T-the right...just what the hell's wrong with you!?" demanded Ino.

"Everything." said Hunter. He looked off to the left, detecting the presence of more ninjas. "Oooo. More playmates!"

That was an understatement. A small army of ninjas, close to every shinobi in the village, had all turned up, they were either standing on rooftops or assembled on the main street. They all looked ready for a fight but something seemed to be holding them back, perhaps they didn't want to risk the genin getting caught in the crossfire.

Kakashi body-flickered into view amongst the genin.

"You kids, you went to fight Hunter didn't you?" he said as though that wasn't blatantly obvious.

They all nodded.

Kakashi gave a tired sigh "I take it that went as well as ever."

"Hinata beat him." said Lee.

Kakashi thought he was joking at first but when the others confirmed it his visible eye went wide and he just stared at Hinata, who shifted uncomfortably.

"There's something else." said Neji, drawing Kakashi's attention to him. "We found out something new about Hunter. He's...he's..."

Suddenly Hiashi Hyūga burst from the crowd, picking up one of Tenten's fallen blades and before anyone could stop him he'd run Hunter through with it. The first surprise was that there was not blood, the second was when the rest of the weapon was sucked in and spat out from Hunter's back in tiny chunks.

"You have no soul!" yelled Hiashi as he attempted a palm strike. Hunter caught his arm, holding him in place.

"That's why I have NO FEAR!" He was about to give Hiashi an absolute kicking but he was interrupted by...

"LEE!" Might Guy had show up at last and the first thing he'd noticed wasn't Hunter, or the ninja army, it was that his protégé was up and about at last. He was literally tearing up. "I knew you could do it! The Power of Youth conquers all!"

Now Lee was starting to get teary eyed. "Guy-Sensei!"

The two of them ran at each other, going for a full on man-hug. Already a watercolour background of a sunset was fading in when Hunter got between them, flinging out his arms to halt the pair.

"For the love of all the stop signs in the universe! Cease-and-bloody-desist!"

With the two of them stopped, much to everyone's relief, Hunter rounded on Guy. "And it wasn't the 'power of youth', it was me! And seeing as how you repaid me by attacking me" now it was Lee's turn "that's the last time! No more healing for you punch bowl head!"

Guy looked momentarily confused "You...healed Lee's injuries?" then he broke in to his 'thumbs up' pose. "Once gain Hunter you have proven that the Fires of Youth burn strongly within you!"

"Right!" Lee took up an identical pose.

Hunter blinked a few times before asking "Does this mean I get a pardon?"

"NO!" everyone yelled at the same time.

"Oh, why not! Come on, I've help this village out plenty!"

"You've also been a major pain in the butt!" countered Anko, who was up on a roof nearby.

"And you still have my book!" added Kakashi.

"Well, there's another reason." said Guy. "The order to capture you was given by the Third before he died. With no Hokage there's no one with the authority to rescind that order until the Fifth is appointed."

"Exactly." Sakura decided that this was a good moment to chime in. "Only a Hokage can repeal the laws or orders given by another Hokage. So we're just followi-"

"Finish that sentence and I'll blow your head off!" yelled Hunter as a black arua rose up around him.

Sakura shut up quickly. Kakashi tensed up a little, he'd seen what happened when Hunter lost control. Not something he wanted to go through again.

"Sorry." muttered Hunter "Right now, where were we? Oh yes. BYE!" he shot off leaving a cloud of dust behind.

"GET HIM!" yelled Anko. The ninja mob gave chase, apart from Kakashi and the genin.

"Stay here. You aren't to engage Hunter again, am I clear?" ordered the silver haired Joinin.

The children all nodded to show they understood and Kakashi left to follow the others in their pursuit.

'Why did I bother?' He thought to himself 'Those kids never listen.'

Back with Hunter.

"WAHHHOO!" yelled Hunter as he dodged another kunai. By now he probably had every ninja in Konoha on his tail. And he was loving every minute of it.

"This is the most fun I've ever had!" he picked up speed, gaining more distance from the mob as he ran straight of the Hokage Mountain Monument. Instead of smashing into the solid rock he put one foot on the stone surface and continued running, vertically up the mountain. When he was about a quarter of the way up he looked back and was suppressed to find the ninja mob was still hot on his trail.

"Forgot they could do that too." he muttered as he passed between the First and Second Hokage's giant stone heads. At the mountains peak was a military base that also served as the entrance to a civilian shelter. Hunter stopped just short of this base and turned to face the ninjas, letting his final charm drop from his sleeve.

"We've got you now!" said Anko, who was at the head of the mob.

"Don't count on it!" said Hunter as the charm activated. "Yes. I can feel it! This is the most powerful one yet! Brace yourselves for my summon..." the charms light faded to reveal...nothing!

Confused, Hunter looked left and right for his summon.

"Baaa."

He looked down. Standing between him and the ninjas was a grey furred, droopy eared, dumb looking...Goat.

"A goat. My final summon...is a goat." The ninjas were just as dumbstruck as Hunter was, they were all either trying to stop themselves from laughing or just staring stupidly at the goat.

The goat gave another loud "Baa!"

"Oh, and how exactly can you get me out of this hmm?" asked Hunter.

"Baa."

"You can...how?!"

The goats body changed into a glowing light that shifted and changed. When the glowing died down the goat had been replaced by...an ostrich.

"Well, that's very impressive." said Hunter, dryly. "Only one problem. Ostriches are flightless birds!"

"Hoonk!"

"What!? You're clearly an Ostrich, there is no such thing as a 'feather goat'!"

"Hoonk!"

"Ostrich!"

"HOONK!"

"OSTRICH!"

The former goat started pecking Hunters head.

"Ow ow ow! Alright you're a feather goat, you're a feather goat! Now stop pecking me!"

"Hoonk!" the ostri-feather goat bent down, forcing its head and neck under Hunters legs making him fall onto its back. It spread its small wings and flapped, launching itself and Hunter up into the air and away.

By now most of the ninjas were too bewildered to even attempt to give chase.

"Did...did he just fly away on an ostrich that is also a goat?" asked Anko.

"Um...yeah." said a male ninja next to her.

She nodded quietly and started walking away.

"Where are you going?" someone asked.

"To the nearest hospital to check myself into the psych ward."

Hunter wasn't feeling much better than Anko. He was riding on the back of a flying ostrich over a ninja village. It was almost the definition of insanity.

"This is weird. But still, I've never felt so alive!" Hunters vision telescoped as he looked down at the village. His eyes quickly found the genin group who were still roughly where he'd left them but they were starting to head towards the Hokage Mountain.

"I should really just leave them be...ah, who am I kidding! Charge!"

"HOONNNK!" the feather goat dived down back toward the village.

With the genin on the ground

"Hurry up guys!" yelled Ino. "At this rate we won't get there in time!"

Kakashi had left to join up with the other ninjas and pass on their information about Hunter, and he'd given them express orders to stay put. So naturally they were going after Hunter again. They knew he was at the Hokage Monument, they'd watched the chase from where they were and they were all eager to link up with the other ninjas to help finish off Hunter once and for all. Well, almost all of them.

"Slow...down...!" panted Choji, who was bringing up the rear.

"This is a terrible idea!" said Shikamaru for the hundredth time. "We've never actually done any real damage to Hunter before! We should just let the grownups handle him!"

"They're not getting to him before I do!" said Sasuke who was dreaming of having all that power for himself.

"Sasuke's right!" said Sakura, who'd have probably agreed with anything her 'boyfriend' said no matter how dumb or dangerous.

"Yeah, once we get there, it gunna be payback time!" agreed Kiba.

BLAM!

A dark bolt smashed into the ground just in front of them, forcing the whole group to stop.

"Where did that come from!" yelled Ino.

"Above us!" Neji answered.

"AIR RAID!" cried Hunter as he and his steed dived at the genin who scattered to avoid him.

"Wh-what is he riding!?" asked Sakura as she looked round after Hunter.

"LOOK AT MY HORSE! MY HORSE IS AMAZING!" Hunter half sang, half yelled as he jumped off the ostriches back and landed on the ground. His summon crashed into the floor a ways behind him, but it got up and trotted over to stand next to him. "You kids are in for it now, for I have be joined by the mighty Feather Goat!"

"Hoonk."

No one was quite sure what to say.

Finally Kiba managed to speak up "Erm...that's an ostrich."

The feather goats eyes burst into anime flames as it let out an furious "HOONK!" Suddenly it began glowing as it transformed back into its original goat form. Something was different however, its fur was no longer grey but bright white.

"Baaa!"

Hunter cocked his head to one side "Blue Streak? You're not blue you're..."

The goat began spinning on the spot, going so fast it turned into a blue blur that shot forwards smacking into Sasuke and launching him backwards. Both Ino and Sakura tried to attack it at the same time by the goat vanished in a blue flash of speed and the two young konochi collided with each other instead.

The goat changed again, its grey fur returned but it had also become far more muscular than before.

"Let's go Akamaru!" Kiba and Akamaru went into their spinning 'fang over fang' attack which the goat met head on with a simple headbut. Kiba and his dog were thrown back while the goat hadn't so much as blinked.

"That is enough!" yelled Neji. "We will not be made fools of again!" the young Hyuga ran at the goat preparing to deliver an open palmed strike when suddenly the goat transformed again. Neji's blow did not hit flesh and bone but solid metal and steel. The goat had become a robot with a egg shaped main body, a blue screen as a face, two small legs, long arms that connected to large three fingered mechanical hands.

The robo-goat punched Neji in the stomach, winding him and forcing him to double over, then it grabbed hold of him and pulled its right arm back. A small rocket booster fired up in its right elbow and after taking a second to charge the goat delivered a full rocket punch to Neji's face. The result was pretty much what you'd expect. Neji was sent flying away down the street. He skidded on the dirt twice before finally coming to a stop some distance away.

While the genin continued to fight with the goat Hunter calmly walked into the nearby Ichiraku's Ramen. Ayame, her father and a few customers were taking shelter inside. When they first saw Hunter their first reaction was to hide, except for Ayame who instinctively grabbed a frying pan. Hunter ignored them all and walked right up to the bar and said "I'd like one miso ramen to go please. Don't hold on the spice."

After quietly arguing on whether or not to serve him Teuchi made Hunter his order and he went back outside. He stopped for a moment to avoid Rock Lee, who'd been thrown backwards by the goat, then he just found a good spot and stood, watching the fight and eating his ramen.

Then some of the adults showed up, Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma and Might Guy.

"Alright Hunter" Kakashi began "Now we...huh?" all four of them were stunned into silence by the sight before them. Their students, some of the most promising genin in the village were locking in some kind of losing battle with a shape shifting goat.

"No, your eyes aren't deceiving you." said Hunter, reading the expressions on their faces. "They really are getting beaten by a goat."

"A...a goat..." was all Kurenai could muster.

Guy was the first to shake of his surprise. "Hunter! In the name of the Leaf Village I order you to-"

Hunter ignored him totally and focused on finishing his ramen.

"Are you even listening!" roared Guy.

Hunter gave him an indignant look "My mouth's full you twit!"

"Didn't think you'd have table manners." said Asuma.

Hunter drank the last of the ramen, then he threw the bowl away. "Shows just how little you know about me, doesn't it. Alright. Shall we dance?"

Asuma went first, striking at Hunter with his trench knives. Hunter easily dodged him but then that was the plan. Guy followed up Asuma's attack with a series of blows and kicks, while Kakashi charged up his chidori. One of the chidori's big downsides however is that it is highly noticeable. As soon as Kakashi launched his attack Hunter directed it away and instead of hitting Hunter he just took a big chunk out of the floor.

"This is fun!" said Hunter as he blocked a kick from Kurenai.

"Gah! How can you be enjoying this?" she asked as she avoided his lazy counterattack.

"You guys really need to learn to lighten up. Enjoy life while you've got it. Because..." he ducked under one of Guy's kicks "The more we get together, together, together. The more we get together the happier we'll be!"

"Oh no. Not again!" groaned Kurenai.

"The mooore we get together, together, together. The moooore we get together the happier we'll be!" Hunter was not just avoiding attacks now but dancing around them.

"For your friends are my friends and my friends are your friends. The mooore we get together the happier we'll be!" He caught a downwards chop from Guy, then he twisted his arm and spun him to the left, right into Kakashi. "Take it away goat!"

The goat had changed to blue streak mode and was using its high speed to outmanoeuvre the genin. "Ba Baaa ba ba babaaaba, babaaaba, babaaaba. Ba baaa ba ba babaaba ba Baabaa ba ba!" After jumping over Kiba it went straight for Neji who tried to defend using his Rotation. The goat ran at sonic speeds in the opposite direction to Neji's spin, cancelling it out, then it head butted him in the back.

"Ba ba ba, ba ba ba!"

"And my friends are your friends!"

"Ba baaa ba ba Babaaaba, ba baabaa ba baa!"

Both Hunter and the goat broke away from their separate groups of enemies and ran towards each other, the goat changing back into robo goat mode. "Two, four, six, eight, who do we app-re-ci-ate!" They were about to go past each other but at the last moment they liked arms and jumped, robo goats legs slammed into Kakashi while Hunter collided with Sasuke.

"The more we dance together, together" Hunter ducked under Neji's palm strike and blocked a punch from Ino "together. The more we dance together the happier we'll be. For your friends are my friends!" Lee tried to hit him with a Leaf Hurricane attack but Hunter caught his legs and threw him into Kiba.

At the same time the robo goat was behind Kakashi, wrapping its arms around his waist "Ba ba baa ba ba baaa!" Several small rockets under its little metal legs fired, flipping them both over and smacking Kakashi's head onto the ground.

"The more we dance together, the happier we'll be!" Hunter jammed out both his arms, striking both Lee and Sasuke as they jumped at him.

"This is just plain ridiculous!" said Asuma.

Kurenai jumped out of the way of the charging goat "How can we be losing to a GOAT!?"

"We won't be losing much longer!" announced Guy. The others looked up behind Hunter and the genin and saw the rest of the villages ninja rapidly approaching. The jonin body-flickered over to their students while Hunter and the goat pulled back. It was now Hunter and his summon Goat against pretty much every ninja in the village now.

"It's over Hunter, you're hopelessly outnumbered!" said Kakashi, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, give up now!" added Sakura.

"Please don't" said Anko, who had joined them from the ninja mob. "I really want a chance to kill you myself."

"Got any ideas?" said Hunter in an aside to the robo-goat.

"Baa!" the goat shifted and changed again back into a normal goat, with one key exception. It was wearing a horned metal helmet on its face. "Baaa!"

"So now you're a...Dova-goat?"

The goat widened the stance of its front legs, like it was bracing itself. It craned back its head.

Hunter looked from left to right in confusing "Does anyone else hear that? Sounds like a male choir starting up?"

"FUS RO BA!" from the goats mouth came a huge wave of unrelenting force that blasted every ninja back, as well as everything that wasn't firmly nailed down. When the wave subsided most of the street was now perfectly clear apart from the very end where all the ninjas had been piled up, along with some potted plants, a few dazed household pets apparently someone had also left a pie cooling on a windowsill because it had landed on Kakashi's face.

Hunter and Dova-goat walked up to the mountain of groaning bodies and started to clamber up it, stepping on Saukra, Anko, Asuma and a few ANBU ninjas in the process. Once they were at the summit Hunter struck a heroic pose while the goat just sat down on its rump.

Hunter looked down at the civilian crowd that had started to gather, admiring his work. "Thank you Goat. This was a tone of fun."

"Baaa!"

Hunter chuckled "Hahaha! Yeah, whatever." The goat began to glow bright white as it turned back into a charm that Hunter picked up and stored in his sleeve with the others, then he jumped down off the ninja pile, the crowd parting as he walked away.

He'd just reached the edge of the crowd when three small someone's came tearing round the corner just ahead. Udon, Moegi and...

"Everyone!" yelled Konohamaru "You need to listen! There are these Ninja Spiders on the loose and they...huh? HUNTER!"

"Konohamaru. You're late."

The boy clenched his fists angrily. He was about to say something when Udon interrupted him.

"Um, Konohamaru?"

"What is...what the!?" that's when he noticed the other ninjas who were only now starting to disentangle themselves.

"W-what...just what's been going on here!?" he demanded.

Hunter shrugged "A goat did it."

All three children fell over backwards.

Hunter just smiled and shook his head as he carried on walking into a waiting dark portal. "Today was a good day."

The Village Hidden in the Sound. Land of Sound.

"How long have they been in there?" asked Jirōbō.

"Better part of an hour now." muttered Kidōmaru.

The Sound Four, Orochimaru's personal bodyguards, were all assembled in one of the 'villages' dark corridors, outside the room where Kabuto had taken their master after he'd returned from wherever he'd been. Calling the Sound Village a village was not an accurate description. The whole place was a giant underground laboratory for Orochimaru's twisted experiments so as you can imagine there were few creature comforts, the lighting was dim at the best of times and the smells coming from some of the labs...well, it made eating dinner a challenge.

Orochimaru had been in a rage ever since he'd lost the use of his arms in the fight against the Third Hokage . Now that his attempt to restore his limbs had failed he was even worse, if that was possible.

"Fifty yen says he's already eaten Kabuto." said Tayuya, callously.

"You're on." said Sakon.

"I'll take that bet." said Kidōmaru.

Jirōbō let out a sigh "I can't believe you guys, someti-"

BOOM!

All four of them spun round in the direction of the explosion.

"That was the west gate." said Tayuya.

"You think Konoha found us?" wondered Sakon.

A terrified sound shinobi ran round the corner, being chased by a load of black and white lines that wrapped around his legs and mid section, dragging him kicking and screaming back out of view. The screaming abruptly ended.

"What was that?" asked Tayuya, trying to hide how much that freaked her out.

Someone else walked round the corner, someone they all recognised.

"Hmm. Hunter?" Kidōmaru seemed surprised "Ha. So you found us. You must be real stupid if you think you can take us on alone."

Hunter didn't say anything, he just kept walking straight towards them.

"Silent treatment huh?" said Tayuya "Alright, let's see if we can fix that!" she pulled a kunai out of her back pocket and threw it at Hunter's head. The knife sailed through them air...and passed right through him, impacting on the back wall.

Hunter had stopped moving now and was just looking at the four of them with unblinking eyes "Get. Out. Of. My. Way."

"Let me think about it." Sakon took up a mock thinking pose "OK, NO!"

The whole sound four burst out laughing. They stopped when they heard 'Hunter' laughing to. It was probably the creepiest laugh they'd ever heard, and bear in mind, these people work for Orochimaru. It was just so fake an unnatural, like the same sound repeated over and over again. That and it started and ended way too abruptly.

"What kind of freak is this." said Kidōmaru.

"Stand. Aside." Thorn repeated.

"What part of 'no' don't you get loser!" said Tayuya as she brought out her flute.

Five more sound ninjas appeared behind the Sound Four.

"Bout time you showed up." scolded Sakon. "Don't just stand there. Get him!"

Thorn raised on hand and pointed at the furthest sound ninja on the left. A long black a white line shot out, going right throw the man's head with a sickening crack. Thorn wound his end of the line around his arm.

"Get. Over. Here."

Inside Orochimaru's private rooms.

Kabuto was standing just in front of the door, listening to the commotion outside.

"There must be at least six, seven enemy Jonin out there. We may want to consider retreating Lord Orochimaru."

The Snake Sanin himself was sitting in the middle of the room. He'd taken off his shirt so he could wrap most of his damaged upper body, useless arms and the left side of his face in bandages.

"We're not going anywhere." he hissed "Whoever it is. They've made a grave mistake.

Kabuto was about to protest when the door was shattered into splinters. Jirōbō shot into the room, landing unconscious on his back. Someone who Kabuto thought was Hunter walked in, stepping on Jirōbō without sparing the man so much as a thought. In his right hand he was holding a choking Tayuya by the throat, but he threw her aside. She crashed into one of the wall shelves and a glass jar fell down, that she instinctively caught. Inside the jar, suspended in liquid, was a single eye that turned to look at her. She gave a yelp then threw the jar across the room where it shattered.

Orochimaru managed a chuckle "Hmhmhm. Hunter...or..." he examined the intruder more carefully. "No. Not Hunter. You look like him, but you're someone else."

Thorn said Nothing, but he did take a few more steps towards Orochimaru. Kabuto attempted to grab hold of his arm but his hand passed right through.

Thorn extended a hand to the Snake Sanin and said "Curaga." There was a flash off green light as an ethereal ring of flowers appeared above Orochimaru. The rot that had been creeping up from his arms retreated, then his arms started to twitch. When the light faded Orochimaru lifted up both his arms and flexed his fingers a few times.

Kabuto looked stunned 'He fixed Lord Orochimaru's arm so easily. I've never seen a jutsu like that!'

The Snake just chuckled, then he burst into a full evil laugh. "HAHAHHMUAHAHAH! You lose again Sarutobi! Hahahaha!" once he'd calmed down he remembered his visitor who was still standing there silently. "I take it you want something in return."

"You have. Such small ambition."

Orochimaru's smile faltered. "And who are you to lecture me?"

"One who knows more. All you want are the secrets of this world. When you could have." Thorn created a ball of black energy that corseted with lightning in his hand. "The secrets of every world."

Orochimaru was completely captivated by the sphere "Such...power..."

Thorn closed his hand and the sphere vanished. "Interested?"

Orochimaru's face broke into one of his best evil grins. "Yes."

Hours later

Night had fallen and most of the village had settled down to sleep, apart from a few ninjas who were still on the lookout for Hunter. If they wanted to find him however, they were looking in all the wrong places. He was on top of the Hokage Mountain, looking down at the village. He'd been standing there just observing for hours now but people watching was effective at keeping boredom at bay.

He let out a long sigh "You can come out now man. I can hear you back there."

Someone body-flickered into view next to him.

Itachi Uchiha.

"I don't sense the fish stick. You're here on your own?" Hunter sounded surprised.

"Kisame doesn't know I'm here. Nor does anyone else for that matter." replied Itachi.

Itachi walked up to stand next to Hunter and stared down at the village with him. After a long silence he finally spoke. "You know. Don't you." he tapped the side of his head "I noticed you during our last fight. You can see it."

"Yep." was all Hunter could say. After another long silence Hunter finally plucked up the nerve to ask "So...what are you taking for it?"

"Nothing."

Hunter's head snapped round to look at Itachi "Nothing!? Seriously? That thing has to be the size of a two pence piece and you're not taking anything for it? No meds?"

"No."

"No pain killers?"

"None."

Hunter raised both his eyebrows "Damn. I knew you were a tough cookie but this is something else." Hunter looked back down at the village "I just don't get you. You wiped out your whole family. You act like an absolute prick. But I can tell you're not an evil person, or even a bad person. Why do I have this feeling that there's more going on than meets the eye."

Itachi's mouth twitched in what may have been a smile. "Those yellow eyes of yours do see a great deal, don't they."

"Yup. I can see everything going on in the Leaf. Sakura's asleep, dreaming about Sasuke. Lee is training by himself. Teuchi and Ayame are just closing up shop. Asuma and Kurenai are...hmm."

"Are what?" asked Itachi.

"Sorry man, you don't pay enough for that channel."

Itachi rolled his eyes "You're almost as bad as Jiriya. But...you are right. Destroying my clan was...not what I wanted. It was something I had to do. Things would have been worse otherwise."

Hunter fouled his arms and looked thoughtful "OK. But that still doesn't explain why you've got Sasuke convinced that you-...oh" it was like a light bulb had gone on in his brain. "You want him to hate you don't you." Itachi didn't respond so Hunter continued "This is all some kind of Karmic retribution plan of yours. You wipe out your clan, so you get your brother to kill you and you think that will what? Balance out the scales?"

"I don't need to explain my actions to you." snapped Itachi. "And you're hardly one to demand the truth from me. You haven't been honest since you got here."

"I don't know what you're talking about." said Hunter dismissively.

"Humph. You're not a shinobi, that's obvious. You're not a jinchuriki either. I'm starting to suspect that you're not human at all."

Hunter gave a disgruntled grunt and kicked the ground a few times. "Yeah. Alright. I'm not human. Happy?"

Itachi paused for a moment before answering "Vindicated, perhaps. If you're not human, then what are you?"

Hunter sifted uncomfortably "I'm a monster. I don't know how I wound up like this, maybe I was force to, maybe I chose it but...I don't think I can go back to what or who I was. Ever. And it's like I have this...gnawing feeling, this drive to kill people it sneaks up on me whenever I'm not looking. It's horrible. Have you ever lost control. I mean really lost control to the point where you don't even know what you're doing anymore?"

Itachi tilted his head slightly "You have trouble keeping yourself focused. Staying you. Easy. All you need is something else to focus on."

Hunter gave him an irritated look "Like what genius."

"Kings pawn to E Four."

Hunter nearly fell over "Y-you're kidding? We don't even have a board!"

"Too complicated for a monster." Itachi's half smile had returned.

"Son of a...Pawn to E Five."

"Pawn to F Four."

"Pawn takes Pawn. So, I've told you my secret, now it's your turn."

Itachi sighed and let his shoulders drop "You won't let this go will you? Bishop to C Four."

"No. And Queen to H Four, check."

"Aggressive. King to F One. Alright then. I suppose this started with the Nine Tails attack."

"Eck. That ball of fuzz again. He always seems to be in the bad stories. Pawn to B Five."

"Bishop takes Pawn. It's a...not widely, but a known fact that the Sharingan, my clans kekkei genaki, can control the Nine Tailed Fox."

"Knight to F Six. So why didn't one of you just order it to stop?"

"Orders from a man named Danzō." Hunter detected a flare of anger from Itachi despite him showing no outward signs. "He ordered my clan to purely protect the civilians. He thought that the temptation to control the Nine Tails was too great. Maybe he was right. Knight to F Three."

"Guy sounds like a total prick. You play to win, you don't keep your best weapons in reserve, no offense. Queen to H Six."

"None taken. Pawn to D Three. After the attack the finger of suspicion fell on the Uchiha clan. We were moved to a new clan compound outside of the main village and our actions were closely monitored. There had always been some who'd felt our clan was marginalised and now it was looking like that was the case."

"Knight to H five. This isn't going to end well is it?"

"No. Knight to H Four. The discontent grew and grew until our clans leaders, my father chief among them decided that a...change in village leadership was called for."

"A coup d'état. Queen to G Five."

Itachi's eyes became more distant as he sank into his memories "Yes. I was part of ANBU at the time so my father recruited me to spy on the rest of Konoha but..." Itachi paused, looking almost sad. "I lived through the Third Shinobi war Hunter. I saw my friends, some of them genin fresh out of the academy, no older than Sasuke is now, die. Blown up by traps or cut down by kunai and I couldn't save them. Afterwards I...I swore I'd do anything to keep the peace, to prevent another war. If my clan launched a coup, successful or not then Konoha would have been seen as weak and the other shinobi villages may well have attacked. It could have been a Fourth Shinobi War." There was another long pause. "Knight to F Five."

"So, you didn't go along with your dad's plans. Then what? Oh and, Pawn to C Six, watch your bishop."

"And you should watch your Knight. Pawn to G Four. I told Konoha's elders and the Third Hokage everything. Sarutobi wanted to talk things out, he always preferred diplomacy but Danzō. He had a more...final solution in mind."

Hunter tilted his head to one side as the full picture started to form. "He told you to kill them. Didn't he. Knight to F Six."

"He told me in private what might happen if the Uchiha went through with their plan. The risks of another war. He knew that I would do anything to stop that. That's when he made his 'suggestion'. I become the villain and wipe out my clan, except Sasuke. It prevented a war and kept the Uchiha name pure. Tower to G One."

"He told you to kill off you clan and you were ok with that?"

"It wasn't an easy decision!" Itachi snapped "I had to weigh up the lives of my clan, my family against the hundreds who would have died in a civil war and the hundreds of thousands who might have died in a World War!"

Hunter held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry. Pawn takes Bishop."

"Pawn to H four. Of course I made my choice and...well I don't need to tell you the result. My clan died. I was branded a traitor and in return I had the knowledge that my little brother was safe and the Uchiha name still had its honour."

"Seems like a bad deal to me. Queen to G Six."

"Pawn to H Five. It was a sacrifice on my part for the greater good."

"Greater good? Somewhere in a parallel world a race called the Tau are all face palming. Queen to G five."

"Well, what have you ever sacrificed in your life Hunter? Queen to F Three."

"Mmm, trying to trap my Queen, eh? Knight to G Eight. And Incidentally, what I've sacrificed." Hunter held up his right arm which slowly turned into a Heartless claw. "Everything. Now, don't kill me for this one, but why spare Sasuke if you'd already killed off everyone else?"

"Bishop takes Pawn. Threatens Queen. Two reasons. First off he knew nothing of the plot and secondly, despite what I say and do, he's my brother and I love him. I always will. I'm...not sure you'd understand."

"Oh I do." Hunter's eyes started to glow as he stared at a line coming from Itachi's Heart, leading all the way down to the village to another. "Believe me I do. Queen to F Six."

"Knight to C Three. You know your eyes look creepy when they do that. And you've overdeveloped your Queen."

"That's rich coming from you. That stare of yours is so intense it's a wonder people don't turn to stone when you look at them! Plus you're still a Bishop down mister, so don't get cocky. Bishop to C Five."

"Knight to D Five. Alright, that's what you are, but not why you're here." said Itachi.

"Queen takes Pawn at B Two. Well, the ...process, that made me like this also blitzed my memories. I can't remember anything that happened from more than a month ago."

"Memory loss. That's original. Bishop to D Six." Somehow Itachi managed to be sarcastic without changing his tone of voice.

"Hey, have you ever woke up and not known who you are?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow at him.

"Ok stupid question. Now...Queen takes Tower. Are you even trying?"

"King to E Two."

"Alright, Knight takes Tower. Your last Tower."

"Pawn to E Five."

"Seriously? I've got my whole army bearing down on your King and you're moving a Pawn?"

"Think about it Hunter. Now, you were saying."

"Hmm, oh right. Anyway, so I wake up with no clue who I am, what I am and the first people I meet are this warrior guy named Riku, a sweet little girl called Naminé and DiZ. He's sort of like that Danzō guy you mentioned. Knight to A Six."

"Knight takes Pawn at G Seven. Check. Let me guess. He told you that if you did a job for him he'd help you..."

"...find my way home." Hunter finished Itachi's sentence for him. "King to D Eight."

"And you think you can trust him? Queen to F Six. Check."

"No. But there's no one else for me to turn to so if he says he can help then like it or not I have to believe him. Now what are you doing man!? My Knight takes your Queen. You have no Towers, and only one Bishop. Too bad you spent all your time moving that Pawn to..." Hunter's victorious expression dropped "You sneaky little..."

"Bishop to E Seven. Checkmate."

Hunter crossed his arms angrily "Grrr. Good game ya ice blooded Vulcan."

"You too." Itachi managed a full smile this time. "Hunter. If you had the chance to be human again, would you take it?"

Itachi's question caught him off guard but it was a good one. After all this, could he go back to normal, even if he had the chance? Hunter created a small dark wisp around his right arm and studied it intently. "No. Sure I miss being able to taste food, and feel and sleep but all this power though. I don't think I could give it up."

"You really couldn't let it go?"

Hunter took up a heroic pose "With great power comes great responsibility! I've got a job to do, and I'm gunna see it through!" after this 'inspiring' little speech Hunter seemed to space out as he focused on a spot off in the distance. "Grrr. Those two again." He looked apologetically at Itachi. "Sorry, I have to deal with this. Ya know, it was actually nice to just talk to someone for once."

Itachi managed a small smile of his own "Yes, I suppose. Just one thing." he suddenly became serious again "Don't tell Sasuke about this." then his body broke up into a flock of crows that flew away.

"Show off!" said Hunter as he leapt off the mountain and fell into a waiting black portal.

The exit portal appealed horizontally a few meters above the ground. He shot out of it and face planted into the dirt with a loud thud, startling the two nearby ninjas. In a split second he was back on his feet, acting like he'd planned that disaster of an entrance.

"Well well, if it isn't Kitty Fast Paws and Mohamed A-Bee."

Yugito and Killer Bee both looked stunned, they hadn't expected Hunter to find them so quickly.

"Now's our chance Bee." said Yugtio as she was enveloped by red chakra. "We hit him with everything we've got!"

Bee settled into his usual cocky smile "Oh yeah. My true mode as the Eight Tails abode is about to unfold! WEEEEE!"

The change was very rapid. In just a few seconds Yugito had become a massive two tailed cat that seemed to be made from blue fire. Much of the giant felines 'skin' was covered in black glyph-like shapes that remained solid despite the shifting flames beneath.

Killer Bee's tailed beast mode was by far the more unusual of the two. It had the torso and arms of a man but the head of a bull, minus the left horn that had been partially sheered off. The lower half was made of eight octopus tentacles that waved around hypnotically.

"My true form is a glorious Longhorn! WEEEE!"

"Ah snap." Hunter jumped high up into the air, just missing the massive tentacle that smashed into the ground where he'd been standing. Mid flight however he was attacked by the Two Tails who tried to swallow him whole. Hunter ended up trapped between the cat's teeth, using all his strength to keep its jaws from closing on him.

"Blast, blast, blast SOOODDD!" the building pressure eventually forced Hunter out from between Matatabi's teeth and he crashed into the ground, gouging a long rift into the dirt before coming to a stop. "Ouch."

'You don't look so frightening anymore.' said Yugito from inside Matatabi's mind as she and The Eight Tails closed in.

"Careful kitten. He's still dangerous. We need to end this now!" warned Matatabi.

'Alright. Just one question then Hunter and I know you can hear me, even in here. So who was the girl?'

Hunter blinked a few times 'They haven't just turned into their monsters, they've traded places with them.' "You'll have to be a bit more specific lady."

'Don't play stupid with me. We got a report saying that you were sighted after the Third Hokage's death with a young blond girl. Another 'Heartless' like you?'

Hunter got back up, brushing off some dirt. "You really don't want to go there."

'I'll take that as a yes.'

"If there is another Dark One, we'll have to destroy her too." that was probably the single dumbest thing Matatabi could have said.

Hunter's reaction was instant. His eyes became glowing yellow and a thick black aura sprung up around his body.

"I think you made him mad." said Eight-o, stating the obvious.

'Yo, Our enemies blood lust is fully pumpin'. Time to blast him before he can give us a thumpin'!' rapped Bee.

Yugito nodded. 'Right. Time for a Tailed Beast Ball.'

Both Matatabi and Eight-o opened their mouths, generating large balls of dense dark coloured chakra.

Hunter let a charm drop out of his sleeve, the same one he'd used to summon Zilla before.

"You two have crossed the line with me." said Hunter even as his mouth split into a jagged line. Three spines emerged from his back, followed by his spiked tail, then his left arm changed completely into a Heartless claw form. A powerful dark surge travelled down his changed arm and into the summoning charm, as it began to glow with a black and purple light. "Dark Summoning!"

"Fire!"

Matatabi and the Eight Tails fired their Beast Bombs at the same time, the resulting blast was tremendous, a fire ball bigger than the two tailed beasts put together that obliterated all it touched. Anything that wasn't disintegrated was blown away by the resulting gale force winds leaving a large area of forest devoid of trees.

"Is he gone?" asked a hopeful Matatabi.

"Can't see a thing through this smoke." said Eight-o.

'And I can't sense any chakra, so it looks like we...hmm what rhyms with Chakra.' thought Bee.

"Bee! Can you take your mind off rapping for one..." the Eight Tails squinted into the clearing smoke.

"Wait, I think I can see..."

That was as far as he got.

The smoke finally dissipated. Hunter's summon had worked, there was now what looked like a massive ball in front of them. There was a huge gap in the middle and close to the top was a large horn, Hunter was standing on top of it at the base. Whatever this summon was it was huge, larger than even the Nine Tails but it didn't look very mobile and it had no visible arms or legs for that matter.

'W-what is that?' asked Yugito.

"How should I kn-huh, what the!?" Matatabi stumbled back in surprise as the strange creature started to change, the two half's of the massive ball started coming apart the action causing the ground to tremble.

'W-wait' Yugito's eyes widened as she realised 'th-those are...wings!?'

She was right, the creature in front of them had materialised curled up into a ball, and now it was merely standing up. Both Tailed Beasts and jinchuriki could do nothing but stare in slack jawed awe as the monster before them was revealed.

Both Matatabi and Eight-o were roughly one hundred meters tall. This thing dwarfed them both. It was a massive, demonic creature with powerful arms that ended in three vicious looking claws, building sized legs that lead to three-clawed feet. Its wings were absolutely gigantic, its wingspan was easily twice the size of its main body. A single blade like horn sprouted from atop its bone crested head. To complete the picture it had glowing red eyes and a wide mouth containing two rows of razor sharp teeth.

Hunter was still standing on the behemoths head, looking down at the two Tailed Beasts.

"You don't look so frightening anymore!" he yelled, parroting Yugito's earlier statement.

"W-what...what is that thing?!" stammered Eight-o.

Hunter gave a laugh that was more like a growl "Hahah! You can't tell?! It's the Destroyah!"

"REEEEAARRGGGHHHH!"


Cliff hanger ending...Dun Dun DUNNNN!

In case you're wondering the Goat is the Goat from Goat Simulator. Stupid I know but I think it's funny.

I'd like to thank Shadow clone 3333 for the Dark Summon idea. Or was it Shaodwclone 4444...Shadow cl- Oh I don't know which one. They're clones! They're all identical!

Next time, will Hunter come to his senses before it's too late? Will the Destroyah make mince out of Bee and Yugito? Can the ninja world survive a Deadly Alliance between Orochimaru and Twilight Thorn? You'll just have to wait and see.