Welcome to chapter fourteen. Wow, it seems like a long time ago when I started this story and it is without doubt my favorite to write.

A reply to superpeirce: Sora may or may not appear later, I haven't decided. No, there will most likely not be a squeal and Thorn will have many more data summons, big and small.

Now sit back. Relax and enjoy.


KAABOOOMM!

The blast was loud enough to wake the whole village. The shinobi were the first up. After the recent Sand-Sound attack they were on high alert and in moments most of them were at the walls, ready to repel any invaders. They all froze when they saw just what they were up against.

Several miles away was a monster the likes of which they'd never seen. A lot of them had been there the day the Nine Tails attacked and this thing was bigger than even the Demon Fox and it looked like something out of a nightmare. The loud noise had been caused by the creature smashing one of is great claws into the ground, creating a shock wave that some had mistaken for a earthquake.

"What on earth is that?" asked Kakashi who, along with Asuma, Kurani and Guy was standing atop the village wall staring at the beast.

Then the monster pulled back, flinging something across the forest. That something then got back up and charged at the monster. Only then did people start to recognise the smaller creature.

"That...that's the Eight tails!" said Kurenai.

"There's another! The Two Tails!" added Guy.

Kakashi had thought things couldn't get any stranger. He was wrong.

Over in the battle

"DIIEEEEGRAARRHGGH!"

"Watch out!" warned Matatabi as Destroyah's tail swung round at Eight-o and she herself had to dodge a dark bolt barrage from Hunter.

'Nice going Matatabi!' said Yugito from inside the Tailed Beast's mind 'The last time we got him angry he nearly killed us, now he may finish the job!'

"Not helping Kitten!" the giant cat fired back.

Eight-o was having more trouble fighting than Matatabi was. Destroyah was massive and an absolute powerhouse, every blow from it felt like a mountain was being dropped on him. Matatabi was built around speed so dodging wasn't much of a problem for her but he wasn't as fast or nimble, only just staying ahead of the beast.

"This is bad!" said the Eight Tails as it barely dodged another claw swipe. Seeing an opening Eight-o opened his mouth and fired a Beast Ball at the Destroyah that hit it square in the face. It s head twitched slightly from the impact but other than that it was just angrier now.

"RRRAAGHHH!"

"This is really bad!" he repeated.

'The situation is grim, we're in trouble no doubt' rapped Bee, even as Eight-o inwardly groaned from having to listen to more of his hosts rapping. 'And while I'd hate to add to it, where's Hunter in this bout?'

Matatabi looked up at the Destroyah's head. Sure enough, Hunter wasn't there anymore.

"Where did he-ghha!"

Hunter's chains burst out of the ground, becoming longer than they possibly should have been and wrapping around the Two Tails front legs and waist. As she struggled to break free Hunter rose up out from the ground shaking off lose dirt, holding the end of both chains to keep her in place.

"No one threatens Naminé!" he said in a voice that wasn't entirely his own "Destroyah! SMASH!"

The evil Kaiju smacked Eight-o aside, pulled back one of its massive claws and brought it crashing down onto the Two Tails. The cat was crushed into the ground, any trees nearby were uprooted and thrown away by the hurricane force winds that the blow caused. When the dust and dirt cleared the Tailed Beast was gone, replaced by a wounded Yugito who just had enough time to run out from between Destroyah's claws before they closed together.

Destroyah was about to attack again when it was blindsided by Eight-o. As the two monsters brawled Hunter's chains retracted to a more normal length as he closed in on Yugito.

"You've made your last mistake. Both of you! Grrrrrrr!"

Yugito dodged left to avoid Hunter's claw strike but he kept following her, always just a second behind. 'Matatabi, I really could use some chakra right about now!'

'I need a minute to recharge Kitten, getting hit buy that thing took a lot out of me!'

'Oh, fantastic!'

Yugtio used some of her remaining chakra to sharpen her nails to the point where they could slice through flesh, then she went on the offensive, slashing at Hunter. He dodged to the right.

And another him split off to the left.

"W-what!?" Yugito's eyes went wide. In addition to Hunter there was now a red coloured version of him standing next to himself.

Both Hunter's looked at each other and smiled in a way that made her blood run cold.

"Two of a kind." said the original.

"Much of a mind." said the clone.

They both tilted back their heads and let lose an earth shaking roar.

While this was going on the Eight Tails was still locked in a losing duel with the Destroyah. He was about to blast the monster with a close range Tailed Beast Ball when crackling energy started to play around Destroyah's horn. Before the Eight Tails knew what was going on the beast slammed its head forwards and down, slashing through his left shoulder. As the Eight tails reeled back Destroyah opened its mouth and blasted him in the chest with its micro-oxygen ray sending the Tailed Beast flying backwards until it slammed into a hill with a massive crash.

"Owwww!" Eight-o groaned as he tried to get back up but before he could so much as lean up he was blasted by another point blank micro-oxygen ray. When the beam finally stopped the Eight Tails was gone, replaced by a battered and bruised Killer Bee, who was groggily getting to his feet.

"Arrrr. Damn that hurt. Whoa!" Bee just got out of the way in time to avoid Destroyah's claws which nearly crushed him.

'Eight-o? Gyūki!? You in there? Damn, he's out cold. This can't get much worse.' that was when Bee found Yugito and saw the two Hunters "Ahh crap."

The Red Hunter saw him first and charged right at him. Bee dodged to the left and quick as a flash he brought out his seven long thin blades which he gripped in the joints of his arms, his right leg, his stomach, the side of his head and his mouth.

The Red Hunter stopped in his tracks and gave him a sideways look "Ok, there's no way you can fight like-Waow!"

Apparently Bee could fight with all those blades. His overall style was somewhere between acrobatics and a hip-hop dance, all done at such a high speed that Red Hunter was forced back.

'Hmmmm...Bee?'

'Eight-o! Good to know you're all right, now let's hit this fool with all our might!'

Bee launched a kick at Hunter that was just a cover for throwing the blade held in his leg into the air where it was caught by one of Gyūki's tentacles that had sprouted from Bee's back. The Tendril then drove the blade down at Hunter, infusing it with lightning chakra casing it to crackle with energy. Red Hunter raised his hand defensively and the blade went right through his palm. At first bee was happy with the result, then he noticed that Red Hunter was smiling too. The clone closed his fingers around the blade and spun a full three sixty degrees before letting go and sending Bee flying. Fortunate Bee was a skilled acrobat and was able to turn his fall into a spinning attack that forced the original Hunter away from Yugito. The two jinchuriki were now side by side facing opposite directions with Bee looking at Red Hunter and Yugtio focused on the original.

"This isn't going well for us Bee." said Yugito.

"Two Hunters have doubled the pain. Time to book, ditch this crazy train!"

'Tactical retreat. Sounds good to me.' added Matatabi.

"Ok, we pull back an-wait!" Yugtio saw that Hunter was charging up for another attack, creating a ball of dark energy in his hand. Behind her the Red Hunter was doing the same thing. Then the two of them ran at the Jinichuriki.

"Move!" yelled Yugito.

She and bee jumped out of the way. Time seemed to slow down. As Yugtio watched the Hunter's didn't try and change course to intercept them, they just carried on towards...each other.

'They weren't aiming at us!' she realised all too late.

"Now!" said both Hunter's together. "Supernova: Dying Stars Collide!"

All Yugito saw was a blinding flash of light then she and Bee were blown back as a massive explosion wracked the area. When they both got back up they found that a large circular smoking crater had been added to the devastation. The brief hope that Hunter had destroyed himself was dashed when he and his Red clone walked up out of the crater, both sporting predatory grins. This got even worse when the Destroyah showed up again, lowering its body so that its face was right behind the Hunters.

"Ha. Ha. Ha." the Original Hunter, who was on the right, gave a creepy laugh as his other arm morphed into a Heartless claw and three black and purple spines grew out of his back. "Destroyah..." he raised his right claw and pointed at the Jinchuriki "Obliterate!"

The Destroyah opened its mouth and a faint glow began to build somewhere in the back of its maw as it charged up its micro-oxygen ray.

"Are you crazy you'll...you'll *cough* *cough* what...I-I can't *cough*" what Yugito was about to say was lost when she and Bee started coughing as though they were having trouble breathing.

The Original Hunter laughed again "Destroyah's micro-oxygen ray eats up oxygen and turns it into carbon dioxide. Bet you never thought you'd run out of air in the middle of a forest!"

'Well then why aren't you choking?!' asked Matatabi, hoping she could by more time to think of a way out of this.

"I don't breath." he turned to look at Destroyah "Blast 'em!"

The glow emanating from Destroyah's mouth grew brighter. Yugito shut her eyes, expecting the fatal blast any second. Instead she felt herself being pulled violently to one side. Her eyes snapped open just in time to see Destroyah's mirco-oxygen ray shooting by.

'He missed?' was her first thought, then she realised that she'd been pulled out of the line of fire. That was also when she felt the hand on her shoulder. She looked up expecting to see Killer Bee but was surprised when she saw Red Hunter instead. He'd pulled them both out of harm's way.

"Hay, that's enough!" the clone barked at his original.

"What are you doing?" asked Hunter, cocking his head to one side.

"Me!? You tried to kill these two and you're asking what I'm doing!?"

"No one threatens Naminé. NO ONE!" screamed Hunter as his black aura grew more violent. Suddenly he shot forwards, pulling back his left claw to slash at Bee but before he could deliver the fatal blow his arm was caught by his red clone

"Calm DOWN!" he yelled, then he punched him in the face. Hunter staggered back, a spider web of cracks appearing on his left cheek. "Get a grip! What would Naminé say if she could see you like this?"

Hunter gave another angry growl but he didn't attack. After a few tense seconds of staring at his clone the spines on his back retracted and his right arm changed back to normal. He looked left and right surveying the destruction around him "I...really could have handled this better."

The clone raised an eyebrow "Ya think?"

There was a loud thud as Destroyah's foot came down right next to them. Apparently the creature had gotten board and was now eyeing up the Leaf Village off in the distance.

"We might want to think about stopping him." suggested Hunter.

"That's the smartest thing you've said all day."

The two Hunters shot off into the forest, only barely keeping up with Destroyah's massive strides.

"We have a plan?" asked Red.

"We don't have to take him down, just distract him long enough for his time to run out."

Destroyah's foot came down just in front of them and the two had to peel off to either side to avoid it before coming back together again on the other side.

"And how long should that take!?"

" 'Bout a minute. I think."

"Oh that's encouraging!" the two separated again to avoid Destroyah's leg. "Ok. I'll get his legs, you bloody his nose!"

Hunter nodded and changed direction, heading for Destroyah's right leg while Red Hunter jumped up on to the left leg, where he jammed one of his hooks into the beasts flesh then he began running round in a circle about Destroyah's legs, wrapping a chain around them. As the monster opened its mouth preparing to blast the Leaf with its deadly micro-oxygen it suddenly tripped and fell to its knees. At the same time Hunter had reached Destroyah's chest and as the creature fell he jumped, launching himself into the air so that he was level with its face.

"Eat this scaly! Black Rasengan!" Hunter shot towards Destroyah's face, pulling back his arm and creating a dark bolt in his palm. Hunter slammed the bolt into the space between Destroyah's left eye and its nose.

Nothing happened for a moment, then Destroyah's eye moved to look at Hunter. He stared at the massive unblinking red eye for a moment, then it focused angrily at him.

"Ut-oh."

"GRRRRAHAHHHH!"

One of Destroyah's pincer like claws rose up but he was gone before it could close on him. Hunter was now back on the ground, counting down the seconds until the evil summon ran out of time and vanished.

"Seven. Six. Five."

Destroyah looked down at him with its bright red eyes.

"Four. Three."

It opened its claw and thrust its arm down towards him.

"Two. One!"

WHAMMM!

Destroyah's claw smashed into Hunter with the force of a collapsing building. Just as it opened its mouth to roar in triumph it's body began to glow and changed back into a charm. In moments the monster was gone, the only evidence that it had even existed was the destruction left in its wake. In the large creature made by its final blow Hunter lay on his back, looking at the stars.

"Ouuucchh." he groaned. He looked to his left and saw his doppelganger standing over him, looking smug. "I...may have gotten the count...a little off."

"No, ya don't say." Red Hunter reached down and help his original up. After shaking off some lose dirt he looked around for any sign of Yugito or Killer Bee but the two jinchuriki had vanished.

"Looks like Tweedle Dee and Dumb have both scarpered."

"Well you did beat the crap out of 'em and set a huge monster on them so..."

"Yeah, yeah. I get the point. I'm not going to have to put up with you forever now am I?"

Red Hunter smiled and walked into Hunter, disappearing back into his original. He stood there for a moment, unsure what to say then he just shrugged and walked off into the forest. Naruto would be back at the village tomorrow and that meant the Nobodies would be active in the Leaf again. He had a lot of planning to do.

The Land of Sound. Orochimaru's hidden base.

CLUNK!

"Oops." said Jūgo unconvincingly as he dropped the large whatever-it-was that Thorn had brought with him, nearly crushing Kidōmaru's foot in the process.

"Be careful with that."

"Aaah!" Both Jūgo and Kidōmaru nearly jumped out of their skins. Neither had heard Thorn enter the room behind them.

"Ah. There you are." Kabuto, Tayuya and Sakon appeared in the doorway and entered the room. "I trust everything is going smoothly?" continued Kabuto.

"Well...this thing's a lot heavier than it looks!" insisted Kidōmaru.

"It is heavy." said Thorn. "It was also difficult to acquire. Do not drop it again."

"Who died and made you the boss?" asked Tayua venomously. Like the rest of the Sound Four she didn't like Thorn in the slightest but he'd managed to get in good with Orochimaru so they had to tolerate him.

"Orochimaru made me the boss. And several people died. Or did you forget?"

Tayua made a face but she said nothing.

Jūgo and Kidōmaru got back to work moving Thorn's 'acquisition'. It was cylindrical and made of metal but anything else about it was obscured by a fabric dust cover. Eventually the two managed to haul it up to the back wall of the room and stand it on its end. The room itself was one of the many experiment labs so aside from the cylinder there were two slabs of stone that served as examination tables and just about every piece of medical equipment ever invented plus several that had been designed exclusively by Orochimaru.

"So adding DNA from this ...creature will improve our forces?" asked Kabuto.

Now the Sound Four were curious, and annoyed that they'd apparently been left in the dark.

Thorn walked up to the cylinder "Yes. At least a one hundred percent increase. In the survivors." He grabbed hold of the cover and pulled it away.

Everyone stared open mouthed at the contents of the cylinder except Thorn who was about as capable of emotion as a teaspoon.

The ends and the back of the cylinder were metal but the front was made of glass. Inside, suspended in a clear water-like liquid was the body of something that looked vaguely like a female human. Of course there was no mistaking it for a real human it was clearly something else all together and it had seen better days. It had no visible arms, pale greyish white skin and long white hair that floated eerily in the liquid. On its head was some kind of metal helmet that only covered the top portion of its head, there was a bronze plate on the front of the device but none of them could read what it said.

Sakon was not liking where this was all going "Y-you're going to put DNA from that into us!"

Thorn turned to face him "No. I'm going to give you all something much more dangerous. Later."

"Where the heck did you even find this thing?" asked Kidōmaru who was still staring at the thing in the tank.

"It looks like an alien." muttered Jūgo.

The rest of the Sound Four burst out laughing.

"Oh an alien. Someone's been reading too many children's comics!" mocked Tayua.

"That's exactly what she is." said Thorn.

Everyone stopped laughing.

"I found her in another world. Like I have all my...resources."

"This is all getting too weird for me." said Sakon. Some of the others nodded in agreement.

"She's not the strangest thing I've found. The last world had an evil unicorn."

Everyone gave him a deadpan look.

"Seriously?" asked Tayua.

"She had an excellent singing voice." Thorn turned and started working on some machinery over on the far wall, leaving everyone else staring dumbly after him. "This day. Is going to be perfect." he half sang in his emotionless voice.

"What a creep." said Tayua quietly. She and the rest of the Sound Four turned back to look at the alien thing.

"Was erm...was she- it smiling before?" asked Sakon.

They edged closer and saw there was indeed a ghost of a smile on the things lips.

"Thorn. This thing is dead, right?" asked Kidōmaru.

The only response he got was a cold "Depends how you define 'dead'."

When the Sound Four turned back to the tank. And they all let out startled yelps. The alien creature had definitely moved, she was now much closer to the glass than she had been and her smile had grown wider.

"If you want to stay on her good side. I'd recommend using her name." said Thorn.

"O-okay...What's her name?" stammered Tayua without taker her eyes off the creature.

"Jenova."

Back in the Hidden Leaf

Moring was settling in and things in the village were tense. After last night's monster brawl the whole village was on full Hunter Alert (yes, they now have an entire alert system purely for Hunter). Most of the shops were closed, people had hammered large pieces of crooked wood over their windows and doors and the only people out of the streets were patrolling shinobi or the few brave civilians who wanted front row seats next time Hunter appeared.

Oddly enough Hunter had found that he now had a near mythic status among the civilian population of the Leaf. They'd only heard second hand accounts of what he'd done in the sand-sound invasion and the story had only gotten more 'embellished' each time someone told it. According to the latest version Hunter was a cold and merciless warlord who'd slaughtered the Sand and sound ninjas single handed, ripped off Orochimaru's arms, stolen the hearts of Kurenai, Anko and Yūago, that he now lived in a mountain somewhere on top a mound of bones and that he used the Sand Jinchuriki's skull as a gravy pot.

'They make me sound like a super emo combo of Sasuke and Lord Sauron.' he thought as he finished wiring up the detonator box. He'd spent the rest of last night getting everything set up and now his latest plan of action was all ready.

"Fire in the hole!" he pushed down and all hell broke loose.

Late last night Hunter had broken into the Leafs supply of fireworks and he'd strategically place them all around the village. Of course he'd made one major modification. He'd taken out most of the gunpowder and replaced it with paint!

In a matter of moments he'd painted the whole town red. And blue. And orange. And...well, just about every colour there is.

In the middle of all this madness the Leaf Genin (minus Naruto who still hadn't gotten back yet) had assembled in the largest open area they could find that hadn't been given a new coat of paint yet.

"This is Hunters doing." said Neji, stating the obvious. His regular looks had been altered slightly by the massive purple splodge that now covered his left arm and part of his neck.

No one else had fared much better. Choji, Shikamaru and Kiba had all been eating together when this had all started and they'd all been caught in the first blasts. They looked like a bunch of pre-schoolers had taken a paint set to them. Shino was now mostly aquamarine. Tenten had been hit by some red and blue and there was a patch of green on the left side of her hair. Lee had a blotch of pink covering his chest and Hinata looked like she'd been dipped in blue. Sakura had only gotten a few flecks but she was still freaking out, claiming that she'd 'only just washed this dress yesterday!'.

The only two who had avoided the paint entirely were Ino and Sasuke and the blond was using this as a way to try and get closer to her crush.

"Wow Sasuke. You didn't even get a single drop of paint on you! But hey, you are the best ninja in the village after all." Sasuke simply gave a 'humph' in response while everyone else just rolled their eyes. "Of course, being an above average ninja myself I didn't get any paint on me either. Unlike Billboard Brow over there!"

Sakura gave Ino a look that could kill "Shut it Ino-Pig! You probably just changed into a clean outfit before you came here didn't you!"

"Hey, it's not my fault that your only second rate!"

"Pig!"

"Billboard-brow!"

"Erm, guys." everyone turned to look at Tenten. She was staring at something at the other end of the street behind them and from the look on her face they could guess what it was.

"Hunter's behind us. Isn't he?" asked Shikamaru.

Tenten nodded slowly.

As one the group spun round to face him.

Hunter was indeed a few yards away from them at the other end of the street. That was the first thing that caught their attention. The second thing was what he was sitting on. At the climax of most village celebrations that involved fireworks the villagers always fired an especially large rocket to close the show. It was one of these very missiles that Hunter was sitting on. In one hand he held the rockets fuse and in the other, a lit torch.

"He's not." said Neji.

Hunter smiled and put the torch and fuse together.

"He is." said Shikamaru.

"RUN FOR IT!" yelled Choji.

The Genin turned and bolted just as the rocket fired up. Hunter leaned forwards so that he was now riding it like a motorbike then he shot off after them, leaving a trail of smoke in his wake.

"Everyone against the walls!" ordered Sasuke. they all compiled, flattening themselves against the buildings. A second later Hunter shot past and down the street until he disappeared from view.

"That worked." Kiba almost sounded surprised.

"Of course it did. It was Sasuke's idea after all." said Sakura. Ino shot her an angry look for saying that before she could. "That was Hunter's dumbest plan yet." continued Sakura "What, did he really think he'd hit us with that rocket. Ha!"

There was a rumbling sound off in the distance and Hunter appeared again, still riding his rocket and heading back towards them.

"You just had to open your big mouth Sakura." despite the situation Ino couldn't keep the smug grin off her face.

"Shut up Ino-Pig. How was I sup-"

"Argue later, run now!" said Shikamaru who was already making a break for it. The rest of the genin followed his example as Hunter came closer. The group split up with everyone running off in separate directions, forcing Hunter to focus on only one of them.

And the one he chose was Choji.

Long distance running was not something Choji excelled at and soon the tip of the rocket was only centimetres from the Akamichi heirs backside.

"Run Forest, RUN!" Hunter yelled joyfully.

Running low on energy Choji jumped to the left and Hunter shot past down the street then off to the left, whooping and cheering as he went.

"I really hate that guy." muttered Choji as he got back up and dusted himself off.

"Hey! Choji!"

Hearing his name Choji looked up and saw Kiba and Ino up on the roof nearby.

"Come on fatso, we don't have all-day!" shouted Ino.

Instantly Choji's eyes turned into anime flames "I'm not fat! I'm just a little chubby!"

Ino laughed quietly to herself as Choji raced towards them "Works every time."

Once Choji had joined them all the genin were now assembled on one rooftop, all of them looking out in different directions for any sign of their pursuer.

"I don't hear anything." said Kiba.

"Where are all the jonin!?" demanded Tenten.

"They'll be here." said Neji. "Hunter's not exactly subtle. It won't be long before-THERE!"

Everyone spun round. Hunter's rocket suddenly varied up from the street to roof level and corkscrewed towards them. Once again the genin were on the run, leaping from roof to roof with Hunter closing in.

"Target acquired!" he yelled "Firing retro rockets!" he swung the torch round behind the rocket again, lighting the retro rockets, which were a bunch of smaller rockets duck taped to the main missile. The resulting speed boost sent him flying over the genins heads, close enough for them to feel the heat of the rockets as he passed.

"He over shot us!" said Lee as they all came skidding to a halt.

"No." said Sasuke as he watched Hunter's course "He wasn't aiming at us at all!"

As they followed Sasuke's gaze the other quickly figured out what was going on. There was just one building left that hadn't been painted yet. The Hokage Tower. And Hunter was heading straight for it. Seconds later the rocket smashed through an upper window and once inside it exploded. Paint burst out from every window and the chimney, coating the tower almost entirely. Hunter appeared from a dark portal on the towers roof, observing his work.

"Not bad right!?" he proclaimed to the genin. "I got the whole village in one go!"

"Not the whole village!" yelled Ino. "You missed me and Sasuke."

Hunter smiled down at her, then he pointed to his back.

Ino wondered what he meant for a moment, then she felt it. There was something on her back. She looked over her shoulder and saw a small firework taped to her. Hunter must have put it there when he flew past, she just hadn't noticed until now. The fuse ran out.

All she managed was a quiet "Oh." before it went off, coating her, Sasuke and some of the others in bright green paint.

Hunter smirked and casually jumped off the tower, landing at the base.

"Y-you...YOU!" Ino was absolutely furious without thinking she jumped down from the roof and pointed an accusatory finger at Hunter. "That is IT! You ruined my dress you psychotic, soulless, flashlight-eyed jerk!"

"Shouldn't we get out of here?" asked Choji, who was still up on the roof with the others.

"We can't just leave Ino to fight him alone." said Tenten as she jumped down to stand with her friend. One by one the other genin followed, even Sakura (albeit reluctantly) until only Shikamaru was left. He gave a tired sigh and muttered "What a drag." before following the others. The genin slowly started fanning out, encircling Hunter who just stood his ground, smiling at them confidently.

"Do we have a plan?" asked Lee.

"Keep him occupied until the Jonin arrive." said Neji.

Hunter's chains appeared behind him, falling to the ground with a loud clang. "Bring it!"

The two sides charged forwards. Hunter ducked under a kick from Sasuke, turned away a blow from Lee and took a palm strike from Neji straight to the chest. When that did nothing he stamped on the Huyga prodigies foot then knocked him aside. Turning round he blocked another blow from Sasuke, then he heard someone off to his left yelling "Go get 'im Sasuke! You can do it!" He jammed out his arm, sending his chain out. Sakura gave a screech as it wrapped round her mid section.

"Get over here!"

Then she was roughly yanked forwards into the fray.

"No sidelining Sakura!" said Hunter as he aimed a lazy punch at her head that she easily avoided.

"Fang over fang!"

"Leaf Hurricane!"

Hunter leaned back, then ducked to avoid Lee, Kiba and Akamaru but while he was occupied Tenten slipped under his guard and slapped an exploding tag on him.

"Get clear!" she yelled.

The genin jumped back as the tag exploded, momentarily obscuring Hunter in smoke. Once that was gone however he was still standing and looking quite smug. "Those don't work on me."

"No." admitted Tenten. "But it made a wonderful signal."

Hunter sensed movement above him. He spun round just in time to catch a falling blade aimed at his head. Holding the other end was Yūago, the purple haired ANBU ninja. He couldn't see her face behind her porcelain cat mask but Hunter was starting to rely less on faces and more on Hearts to identify people now.

He smiled at her and said "Hey gorgeous." before pulling the sword out of her hands and using it to deflect a kunai another ANBU ninja had thrown at his back.

Two more ANBU ninjas appeared between Hunter and the Genin. "Good work." said the one on the left "Now fall back to a safe position. We'll deal with him."

The genin all nodded and were about to leave but their way was blocked by Hunter. "You aren't going anywhere." he slowly brought up the sword so it was horizontal before his chest "For now I am in-" he took a sudden step forwards, bringing the sword back so its hilt was by his head and the blade pointed at the genin. "SWORD AND SHIELD MODE!"

Rock Lee dashed forwards despite the warning of the others, leaping into the air aiming a punch at Hunter's head. "You don't have a shield!"

Hunter didn't try to defend himself and Lee's punch struck home. Nothing happened for a moment then Lee recoiled back clutching at his hand, obviously in pain.

Hunter's smile widened as he declared "My FACE is my SHIELD!" then he head butted Lee to the ground. "Ha!...snap. Incoming!" Hunter back flipped away just as Might Guy dropped out of the sky, smashing the ground where Hunter had just been.

"Hunter! Still as youthful as ever!" he declared with his trademark smile.

'Now if he's here that means...' Hunter heard a chirping sound behind him like a flock of birds. He spun on his heel and saw Kakashi running towards him, holding a chidori in his right hand. Instead of dodging Hunter rushed to meet him, dropping the sword and creating a dark bolt.

"Black Rasengan!"

The two attacks collided in a flash of electricity and dark power and after a moment's pause Kakashi was thrown backwards, holding his arm. Several of the older ninjas, including Guy, looked nervous now. They all knew that the Rasengan was the Fourth Hokage's jutsu so how could Hunter do it?

"H-how. How do you know the Rasengan!?" demanded Kakashi, giving voice to everyone's question.

Hunter merely shrugged his shoulders and said "I improvised."

Kakashi gave him an angry look. "It's over Hunter. Look around you."

Hunter did so even though it wasn't necessary. More ninjas had shown up, lining the roofs and the street some of whom he recognised including Anko and Ibiki to name a few.

"You're completely surrounded." continued Kakashi

"You're reign of terror is over brat." said Anko.

"Yeah. You've got the whole village against you now!" added Ino.

"Not the whole village." said Hunter. "You're one man down, in case you forgot."

"Actually, they're not!"

Everyone looked off to the right. Standing less than a yard away were three figures. Jiriya, Tsunade, Shizune and...

"Yeah, I'm back! Believe it!" Naruto.

"Is that Tsunade Senju?" asked Ibiki.

"Well I'll be. The kid actually did it." said an ANBU ninja.

Tsunade took a moment to survey the damage. From what little she'd seen so far the entire village, and most of its shinobi, had been covered in paint. "Well, this is almost impressive."

"Almost? I think you're missing the point." said Hunter. "The paint wasn't the plan. The plan was to get all of you here. Specifically YOU!" he pointed at Naruto.

"Erm...me?" Naruto looked confused.

"Yes. You've all forgotten one very important fact about me. The first trick I ever pulled on you."

Kakashi figured out what was going on first. "Everyone get clear of the-!"

"STOPRA!"

Too late. With everyone immobilised Hunter simply walked right up to Naruto. The blonds face was frozen in that confused look. For an instant Hunter was tempted to draw on a moustache as he had done in the past but then he heard something behind him.

"Stop him before he-"

Stop had a limited area of effect, apparently some ninjas had been far enough away to avoid it.

"Oh well. Here we go." Hunter jammed his hand forwards and it phased right through Naruto's chest.

Close to a minute later the stop spell ended. The first thing everyone saw was that Hunter was not where he had been moments ago, then they saw Naruto. Confusion and panic momentarily set in (Hinata looked like she was going to faint on the spot) then Jiriya spoke up.

"Everyone calm down. Naruto's fine."

"Clam down!" yelled Sakura. "He has a hand right through Naruto's chest and...why are their eyes closed?"

"Hunter's done this before." the Toad Sanin explained. "It's some kind of merging. I don't know the particulars but I think it lets Hunter into Naruto's mind."

"How do we separate them?" asked Shino.

"Tried that before." said Anko, remembering the last time she'd witnessed this. "Didn't work to well for us."

Tsunade cracked her knuckles "You just didn't used enough force!"

She took two steps forward before Jiriya got in her way. "That's a bad idea. We have no idea what the effect of separating them like that could be. Naruto could be hurt, or worse."

Tsunade folded her arms and gave a grunt of annoyance.

"So we just do nothing!?" exclaimed Sakura.

"Unless you know a way to separate them safely, yes." Jiriya walked over to Hunter and Naruto and examined the spot where Hunter's hand phased into Naruto's body. "Hunter's had plenty of chances to kill us all. Whatever he's doing I have a feeling Naruto will be fine."

Inside Naruto's mind.

"Mmmm...mmm...Huh?" Naruto groggily got to his feet. "Hey. What...what the!?" Now that he'd fully woken up he found that he was in his mindscape. He briefly wondered how he'd gotten there, then the answer presented itself "Hunter!"

Hunter was standing a little in front of Naruto, and beyond him was the massive cage containing the Nine Tailed Fox, however the massive daemon was not visible.

"Hey Naruto." said Hunter, cheerfully.

"Arrgghh! I can't believe you did this to me again!"

Hunter shrugged "Sorry but I need a word with the Great Orange Fur Ball." With that Hunter floated up to the huge metal gates, stopping when he was level with the paper seal that joined the two.

"What? How can you fly?" asked Naruto.

Hunter flipped so he was now upside down facing Naruto "This is all going on in your head mate. Anything's possible here." he rotated back to his upright position and took hold of one corner of the seal.

"No wait! You can't do that!" yelled Naruto.

Hunter ignored him and ripped the seal clean off. Instantly the gates opened and as Hunter descended back to the floor the Nine Tailed Fox began to emerge.

"At last I am free!" it declared.

"Not quite" said Hunter.

The Fox looked down at him, then it took several hurried steps back "You!"

"Yes. Me. Now, I suppose you're wondering why I've called you all here tonight." Hunter began pacing up and down "You have info about the Heartless. Or you think you do and I want to know what you know. So..." He turned and dramatically pointed at the great beast "..what does the Fox say!?"

The Fox gave an angry roar and launched itself forwards, opening its mouth to swallow Hunter whole. In a split second Hunter was replace by a large green box. The lid of said box flew off as a giant boxing glove on a spring shot out, punching the fox in the mouth.

"Ha! That's one point to me!" yelled Hunter who was now standing some ways off to the left.

Naruto looked from the box to him, not sure what was going on "What...how did...you were just..."

Hunter gave Naruto a look that was somewhere between pity and contempt "What part of 'this is all in your head' did you not get?"

The Fox made another lunge at Hunter but this time it was smacked aside by a massive log on a rope trap that appeared out of nowhere.

"If this is my head how come you can do all this?" asked Naruto.

"Because we're linked genius. It's not just your mind anymore, it's mine too."

The Nine Tails had gotten back up and with a howl of rage it charged at Naruto.

"Remember! Mind over matter!" yelled Hunter.

Naruto pushed his fear down, closed his eyes and focused. As the Fox took another step forwards it's paw came down on something sharp and pointy. Then something shot up and smacked it in the face. It had stepped on a gigantic rake.

Hunter and Naruto both burst out laughing.

"You brats! I am the Nine Tailed Fox! The mightiest of the Tailed Beasts! How dare you laugh at me!" with its little rant over the Fox opened its mouth and began charging a Tailed Beast Ball attack.

"Time for a change of scenery." said Hunter.

Before the Fox's attack could finish charging it was hit by something rising up from below. "What!?" All around it the dark stone prison that had been Naruto's mindscape fell away to be replaced by a modern looking city. The scale seemed a little off however. The Fox had never seen buildings like this before but it got the impression that they should bee towering over it, instead they only just came up past it's waist. The Fox looked left and right for Naruto and hunter but it could neither see them or any people at all, the whole place was deserted.

"Where are you you little rats." it mumbled as it prowled through the streets.

"Right behind you!"

The Fox spun round just as a large foot slammed into its face sending it sideways into a skyscraper. Quickly it pulled itself out of the rubble and got back into a fighting stance "You'll pay for...huh!?"

Standing in front of it was Naruto but he'd grown in size so he was now as large as the Fox.

"Hehe. This whole 'mind over matter' thing really works!" he declared.

"Don't get cocky." Naruto looked down at Hunter who was still normal size and standing on the roof of a nearby skyscraper. "This may be your mind but Bazil Brush over there is still a pretty tough customer."

Naruto angrily folded his arms "I don't need your advice. I can handle this all by myself. Believe i-arrgh!"

The Fox had gotten back up and had launched itself at Naruto in a flying rugby tackle. The two crashed to the ground with the Fox on top trying to get its jaw round Naruto's head.

"Hunter! Help!"

"What happened to 'I can handle this all by myself'!"

The Fox made another lunge at Naruto's head that he only just avoided. "Ahh! Alright alright! I was wrong, I need your help!"

"Alright, just keep him busy for a sec." Hunter turned, jumped down off the roof and disappeared from view.

This was not the kind of 'help' Naruto had in mind "Keep him busy!? Hunter!"

The Fox snapped at him again, forcing Naruto to grab hold of its jaws in an attempt to keep it at bay. "I would have waited forever for this." the Fox applied more force, pushing its jaws closer "I will finally be rid of you!"

"Guess again!"

SMACK!

Something large and metallic slammed into the Fox's side, knocking him off Naruto and into a row of buildings. The Fox looked up at where the attack had come from "How dare you...what in the-?!"

"Hunter?" Naruto had expected to see a giant sized Hunter, instead he was looking at a massive humanoid robot that looked like it was made of at least five separate components all joined together.

"A perfect copy of the Mighty Morphin' Megazord, if I do say so myself." Hunter's voice came booming out of a speaker somewhere in the robots head.

Naruto blinked a few times, trying to digest what he was seeing "Mega-what?"

The robot looked down at him "Long story."

"It kinda looks like it's made out of plastic."

If looks could kill Hunter would have buried Naruto "Everyone's a critic."

The Fox tried to attack again but the megazord moved out of the way and as the fox was going past it grabbed hold of one of its tails and began to spin round and round getting faster all the time swinging the Fox around like an oversized bean bag. Eventually Hunter had the mech let go and the Fox went flying over several streets before crashing into a row of housing.

"Ok, enough toying about. Fire up the eighties music!" an electric guitar began playing in the background "Calling in the Power Sword!" A huge sword dropped out of the sky, embedding itself in the street in front of the Megazord. The giant mech grabbed hold of the hilt and pulled the blade out of the ground. As the Fox began to get back up the sword started to glow and spark with power. "Oh, this is all my ten year old self's fantasies coming true!"

"I am not afraid of that!" spat the Fox, defiantly.

"And that's your last mistake!" The Meagzord and the Fox ran at each other and as the Nine Tails slashed at the robots mid section Hunter sliced right through the beast. The two of them went a few more steps so they were now facing away from each other, then there were several explosions of sparks that erupted from the Nine Tailed Fox. It gave a roar of defeat and pain as it sank to its knees then it fell flat on its stomach.

The Megazord vanished, leaving Hunter hovering in the space where its head had been, then he slowly descended to the roof of a skyscraper. Naruto stood up and walked over to the same building, which was just short enough to reach his eye level.

"Well erm...that was...erm..."

"Awesome?" suggested Hunter.

Naruto let out a defeated sigh then gave a quiet "Yes."

Needless to say, Hunter looked very self satisfied at the moment "As it should be. Now, on to part two."

Naruto gave him a sideways look "Hmm, part two?" then he began to slowly fade away, although from his perspective it was Hunter and the Fox who were vanishing "Hey..what...how come you're disappearing."

"Relax kid. I'll be back shortly." said Hunter.

Naruto was about to say "Don't call me 'kid'!" but he vanished before he could.

A loud groan brought Hunter's attention back to the Fox, who was getting back up again. The Beast turned and looked right at him "You...DIE!"

It opened its mouth and fired a tailed Beast Ball at Hunter with utterly obliterated the building he was standing on, and several others behind it to. As the dust settled the Fox smiled evilly as it saw that Hunter was gone.

For a moment it though it had won until Hunter's disembodied voice said "You know, this wasn't necessary. All you had to do was talk to me, but nooooo. You just wanted to fight."

"GAAAH! Damn you! Damn you! I will kill you you empty freak! You and the brat!"

Hunter's laughter echoed around the city "Hahahaha! Ohhhhh, Naruto's not here anymore."

The Fox snarled angrily "Impossible. This is his mind, he's always here."

"We're not in his mind anymore." Dark clouds formed in the sky, blotting out the sun. "I needed you distracted while I...moved the playing field."

"Moved the...to where!?" the Fox demanded. All of a sudden the world changed. The buildings became larger, reaching up to the sky, their colour changed to an inky black as they seemed to close in around the Fox. The sun was completely lost behind the rolling black clouds, the only light now came from the yellow lights in the windows. Lightning tore the sky and the Fox was hit by a sudden deluge of rain

"You think this will scare me! Where are we!?" the Fox yelled.

Something moved behind it. Before the Fox could move a massive claw reached down and grabbed hold of it, lifting the beast up into the air. The Fox struggled in a vain attempt to break free, then it went completely still as it got a good look at what was holding it. The claw belonged to a massive creature that towered over the buildings, most of which only came up to its knees. It's whole body was featureless and seemed to be made of a black and purple substance that was fire, oil and smoke all at the same time. The face had no nose or ears, just a jagged, broken mouth and two bright yellow eyes.

"My mind." said the monster with Hunter's voice.

The Fox felt something hit it in the chest, then a creeping feeling of cold. It looked down, and instantly wished it hadn't. A large purple and black claw was reaching into its chest.

"ARRRRRGGHHHHH-"

The whole world faded away. When it returned the black city was gone and the Nine Tails found itself on a large circular platform of rock amid a sea of fire and lava.

"So this is your mind." The Fox whirled round and found Hunter standing at the opposite end of the platform, looking out over the sea of fire. "Quaint, I guess. This means I'm in your mind, while I'm in my mind, while I'm in Naruto's mind. Very Inception."

"Keep away from me you freak!" Roared the fox, with a little more panic in his voice than he would have liked.

"Oh, I intend to." With a loud clang and huge metal cage dropped out of the sky and trapped the fox. As the Fox panicked and tried to break out hunter calmly walked up to the bars and put something on the floor. The Fox looked down cautiously and saw...a mouse. A grey mouse with a handlebar moustache and a ten gallon hat. And a tiny guitar.

"Is this supposed to be a joke?"

Hunter gave the Fox a smile that made its hair stand on end, then he just walked away. The mouse cleared its throat then...

"OHHHHH! Frogawentacortin did ride C-c-c-crambo! Frogawentacortin he did ride C-c-crambo! Crambo he-"

TWANG!

The Fox let out a snickering laugh as one of the guitar strings broke. The mouse looked at the instrument for a moment, then it reached up, its tiny arm extending impossibly until it grabbed hold of one of the Nine Tails whiskers. With a sharp yank it pulled the whisker from the Fox's snout and used it as a replacement string. The fox reared back in shock and pain, clamping its front paws over its nose.

"Can't sing without a string!"

"Ouch! you da-"

"OHHHH! Frogawentacorting he did ride-"

TWANG!

The mouse looked back up at the Fox.

"No...no absolutely not! Hunter! This isn't fu-OUCH!"

"Can't sing without a-"

"SHUT! UP!"

TWANG!
"ARRRGGGHH!"

With the Nine Tails now disposed of he closed his eyes and imagined a filing cabinet, which promptly appeared out of thin air in front of him.

"Here we go." Hunter grabbed hold of the top draw and opened it. All at once he was assaulted by images, sounds, smells all confused and muddled up.

Eventually this torrent of images began to calm and Hunter was able to make out particular events. One moment, apparently from early in the Nine Tails life, showed a small, car sized version of the Fox along with three other younger tailed beasts that Hunter recognised as Matatabi, the Eight Tails and that sand monster from the invasion a while back.

"I'm just saying." said the Nine Tails. "Our power is based on the number of our tails. So that makes me the most powerful and you the least, Shikaku."

Shikaku clenched its claws angrily "What! I dare you to say that again you overgrown poodle!"

That wiped the smirk off the Fox's face "Walking sand castle!"

"They're at it again." sighed Matatabi as the other two continued their shouting match.

"This is what, the fifth time today." added the Eight Tails.

Pushing this image away Hunter found a more recent memory. In the middle of a devastated forest at night a weakened looking Nine Tails was leaping towards a small blond baby, thrusting out one of its massive sharp claws. Two people were rushing to intercept it, one a man who also had blond hair and a redheaded woman.

"I am NEVER going back!" roared the Fox in rage and desperation.

The two adults got between the Fox and the baby and-

SHHHIK

"...oh no." was all Hunter could say.

The next memory showed a much large Fox battling with a wooden golem under the light of a full moon. Hunter could make out two men standing atop the titans, the one with the golem was the first Hokage, the other man he didn't recognise.

"Here I come Hashirama!"

"It doesn't have to end like this Madara!"

This image faded too and was replace by another memory from the Fox's early years. In this one he was sitting in front of an old man with spiky light brown hair, greyish skin, two small horn like protrusions on either side of his forehead, and weirdest of all a third eye in the middle of his forehead. Clearly not human but Hunter got the sense that he wasn't evil, and the fox seemed to be looking at him like a really young child looking at its father.

"So what happened then?" the Fox asked.

The Old man smiled as he spoke "My followers and I went and fought a great battle against the army of the Dark Ones. They had us outnumbered but eventually we drew out their leader. The Dark Warrior who'd drawn them to our world. I faced him in single combat and bested him, then his minions sensed weakness and turned on him before disappearing into the shadows."

The Nine Tails looked awestruck "Wow! Do you think they'll ever come back."

The old man's face became serious for a moment "I hope not. But if they don I know that you and your fellow Tailed Beasts will be here to stop them. That's one of the reasons I created you all. This worlds guardians."

The Fox tilted its head slightly "But you'll be here to help us if they come back, right?"

The man kept smiling but his eyes looked sad now "Ah, yes. I've...been meaning to talk to you all about that."

Hunter slammed the file shut. He looked over his shoulder at the Fox, who was still imprisoned and looking all around for the mouse. The rodent in question was on his head and once more it reached out and yanked out another whisker. At a mental command from Hunter the cage and the mouse both vanished leaving the Fox standing there looking annoyed and perplexed. It looked down at Hunter, who was looking back with an unreadable expression.

"Party's over."

For the umpteenth time that day the world remade itself. Both of them were now back where all this had started, Naruto's dark and wet sewer of a mindscape and the boy himself was there too, having been sat cross legged on the floor waiting for them to return. Still wanting its freedom the Fox charged at Hunter and Naruto but before it could even get close the massive doors of its prison slammed shut and Hunter smacked the paper seal over the join. The Fox smashed headfirst into the metal bars and crashed to the floor with a massive thud.

Naruto jumped to his feet and instantly started asking questions "Hey...what happened, where'd you two go!?"

"No where good." muttered Hunter. "This was a total waste of my time." He shot the Fox an angry look "You don't know anything about me or the Nobodies."

The Fox ignored him and banged against its cage again in frustration "How dare you invade MY memories you..you...whatever you are!? And how dare you shove me back in here again!"

"I know what you've done." some of the Fox's anger turned to confusion. "I had a good leaf through your brain. Every action, every choice you've ever made has lead to misery and death. People died." Hunter gave Naruto a sad glance "And a lot of them didn't have to."

"They all had it coming!" yelled the Fox "They always treated me like a beast or a weapon with no will of my own! They had no right-"

"Oh don't play innocent with me." Hunter interrupted "You never tired to prove them wrong, heck, you enjoyed playing the monster. You..." Hunter clenched his fists, then after taking a deep breath he relaxed. "You don't have anything I want. I'm done with you." with that he turned and began walking away.

"Hunter!" the Fox roared in anger as it banged against it's cell doors"Don't you dare turn your back on me! You think you can take the moral high ground!? If even half the stories I've heard about you are true then that makes you a monster beyond imagining!" he ignored the Fox and just kept walking.

Naruto looked from Hunter to the Fox and back again "Is anyone going to tell me what's going on!"

Hunter stopped for a moment. "It's...I don't think it's my place to say."

Naruto gritted his teeth in anger and frustration. Hunter had been leading this crazy train since it started but now it was his turn to take control. "That's it! Nap time's over!" using his mind Naruto created a massive fissure in the ground to his left. The rupture was so sudden that Hunter fell over. Then Naruto jumped into it. A long time ago he'd heard from someone that if you die in a dream you'd wake up in reality. Now seemed like a good time to put that to the test.

"No you idiot!" Hunter jumped in after him.

Naruto shut his eyes as the ground got closer and closer.

"We're still connected! If you wake up now you'll-"

Back in the real world.

Naruto's eyes shot open. The sight of Hunter's claw still in his chest freaked him out but that shock was quickly replaced by everything else he could see. Where once he'd seen the world like any normal person now he could see the electricity in wires, people in their homes, their bones, blood vessels even the neurons firing in their brains. He could see flocks of birds in the distance and tiny insects in the dirt. And when he looked at his friends all around him he didn't see their worried faces, he saw something inside them. A light and dark mixture that burned like a tiny sun.

"Beautiful isn't it." Hunter's voice was the only thing Naruto could hear.

"You...see like this all the time?" he croaked.

"Yep. Don't it just drive you mad?"

A sharp bolt of pain in his skull brought Naruto to his knees. Hunter withdrew his claw and instantly his vision returned to normal. He felt a woman by his side, Shizune maybe.

"Naruto! Naruto are you alright?" yep, it was Shizune and she sounded concerned. Naruto groaned out an 'uh huh' then he got to his feet and turned to his fellow genin.

"Hey guys. Ow!" another sharp burst of pain but less intense than last time. Then he noticed the strange look everyone was giving him. "What?"

"Naruto. Your nose." said Kiba.

Naruto brought his hand up to his nose. When he took it away he saw blood on his fingers.

"For a minute there your eyes were like Hunter's." said Sasuke.

"What happened to you two?" asked Sakura.

"That's what we'd all like to know." a very pissed off Tsunade marched past them all and walked up to Hunter, who was being held at sword point by several ANBU ninjas. "Explain yourself! Just what did you do to Naruto. If you hurt him then so help me I'll-"

"Hey! First off, he'll be fine. He'll just have a killer headache for a while. And second it his own fault, I told him not to wake up while we were linked. Human minds aren't meant to take that much info. It's a miracle his eyes didn't burst into flames."

That didn't comfort Naruto in the slightest, or placate Tsunade.

"You don't have the right to play with Naruto's life like that, or anyone's." said Jiriya "You're not a god Hunter."

Hunter jammed out his left hand which was now inexplicably holding a large jewelled crucifix. "I FORGIVE your blasphemy!" The cross burst into flames and Hunter automatically dropped it. "Well...someone up there doesn't like me."

"That's enough." said Kakashi "Hunter, you've been a royal pain for months now but it's over. So...GIVE ME MY BOOK BACK!"

Hunter shook his head "Nope. I'm keeping the book and I'm escaping to."

"How!?" yelled Ino incredulously "You're surrounded by every ninja in the village! Even you can't get out of this!"

Hunter gave them all his best evil grin. "I'd duck if I were you."

Everyone looked confused for a moment, then they heard it.

"Steady!"

It was Hunter's voice but he hadn't spoken. It sounded like it was coming from...

"Steady!"

"Above us!" yelled Guy.

"Get down!"

Everyone jumped back from Hunter as something dropped out of the sky and smashed into the ground next to him. That something got up and revealed itself to be a blue copy of Hunter.

"Let us do it!" said the clone.

"Yes." the original nodded "This is Commander Boreal!"

"You have Captain Diomades!"

"We shall not FAIL!"

Everyone was at a loss for words.

"T-there's...t-two..." stammered Sakura.

"I always thought if I were any more good looking you'd need two of me to hold all this gorgeous!" declared Hunter.

"T-this is still a dream right?" stammered Naruto "This has to be a bad dream!"

The twin Hunters smirked, then they ran towards the assembled ninjas.

"Blizzra!"

"Thundra!"

Several shinobi were trapped in ice, or blasted by lightning bolts. Blue Hunter barrelled into Asuma, then body flickered away as Kureni tried to stab him in the back. He reappeared off to her left and began beating the snot out of several other ninjas.

Hunter went straight for Naruto, ducking under one of Tsunade's punches and leaping over Jiriya. Seeing him approach, Naruto summoned up his chakra and made the hand sign for his most famous jutsu.

"Sexy jutsu!" one puff of smoke later and Naruto was replaced by an older, swimsuit wearing, female version of himself. His friends were less than impressed, they all fell over backwards in the face of Naruto's sheer stupidity.

"Two can play at that!" Hunter's body shifted and changed into his own female form.

"Unbelievable!" groaned Tsunade "You two are just as bad as each other!"

Hunter caught Naruto with a kick to the side and with a small puff of smoke the blonde changed back and went sideways into a wall. Kakashi and Sasuke both tried to hit Hunter at the same time with a duel pronged chidori attack. As they got close she spun on the spot, garbing Kakashi's arm "Look all you want..." then her hair came to life and wrapped itself around Sasuke's forearm. With both of them caught and unable to change direction Hunter smashed Kakashi into the ground and threw Sasuke into the air "...but don't touch the hair!"

This was when Naruto finally got back up. Things were not going well, Blue Hunter was trouncing most of the jonin, altering the environment with ice spells while Fem Hunter was gracefully dancing between everyone else, giggling like a hyper schoolgirl. She seemed to have focused her attention on Sasuke and kept yelling out "Notice me Senpai!" after every attack.

Sasuke tried to use the chidori again but Hunter simply grabbed hold of his hand, negating the jutsu and leaving him open to attack.

"Owww. Sorry Sasuke-senpai. Did I hurwt you?" she said in a mocking voice

Naruto charged back into the fray and was instantly whacked aside by Hunter's tail which suddenly sprouted from her back. Hunter was about to make a 'it's all in the tail' quip but she was interrupted by a shrill cry of "Take your hands off my Sasuke you harpy!" then there was a slight feeling on her left side.

She idly looked down and saw Sakura standing prone next to her, her fist extended outwards touching Hunter's ribs. When Lee had punched Hunter he'd just hurt his hand. From the look on Sakura's face she'd managed to break her knuckles. Hunter raised her hand to Sakura's forehead and casually flicked her away, sending the girl flying several meters back.

"Amateur." she muttered under her breath.

With hunter's attention elsewhere Sasuke made the hand signs for a substitution and in a puff of smoke he was replaced by a wooden log that Hunter promptly crushed in her grip. "I'm starting to have serious doubts about our relationship Sasuke-sen-huh!?"

The ground beneath her feet suddenly turned into a muddy bog, impeding her movement. Looking back over her shoulder she saw Jiriya kneeling close to the ground and making a hand sign.

"Gottcha this time." he said with a satisfied smile. "Now Tsunade!"

Hunter turned again, facing the other direction and saw Tsunade bearing down upon her, already pulling back her fist to deliver a boulder crushing blow. She had just enough time to catch Tsunade's first punch, but the second slammed into her stomach with enough force to knock her up out of the mud and cause cracks to appear over her body. Hunter landed on her back a few paces away. As she got up Tsunade hit her twice more, once on her left shoulder and on the left side of her face. She was about to strike again when Hunter grabbed hold of her arms, changing back into his male form.

"The worm has turned." he looked up at her and the Sanin could see the cracks that had appeared on Hunter's face, making him look like some kind of broken porcelain doll. Looking into the largest of the cracks that ran vertically past his eye she thought she saw something move. Then a yellow eye appeared in the crack, looking out at her.

"What?" she breathed.

"Blue!" Hunter looked over at his clone. "I have Steeled the Enemy! Prepare to Deep Strike!"

"For the Emporah!" declared Blue as he disengaged from Anko and Kakashi and jumped o his originals aide.

Tsunade looked to her left just in time to see Blue Hunter's foot before it connected with her face. At the same time Hunter let her go and she was sent spinning back.

"Areora!" Hunter cast an air spell, pushing Tsunade further away and blasting aside anyone close by allowing he and his clone to finish their attack.

"An easy target. For me." said Blue as he began channelling lightning magic in his hands.

"Orbital bombardment!" Hunter's body too began to crackly with electricity.

Tsunade got back up, shaking off the ringing sensation in her head. That was when she saw what the two Hunter's were doing. "Everyone get back!"

They both shot forwards as fast a lightning bolts. They got within a hairs breath of Tsunade before peeling off, one going either side, then they did an abrupt one-eighty turn and charged at her again from the sides. Tsunade jumped back but as the two of them made no attempt to follow her she realised that she'd been tricked.

"Both Hunter's smiled in the split second before they collided. This attack her worked perfectly in the forest and it had worked now.

"Thunder!"

"STOOORM!"

The two Hunter's met and a massive surge of electricity was unleashed. Tsunade got the biggest zap and anyone close by was hit by enough lightning to either knock them out or given such a large dose of electricity that they lost control of their muscles and fell spasming to the floor.

Blue Hunter walked up to his original and the two merged back into one. He rotated his shoulders then punched the air, letting out a cry of victory.

"I beat them all!"

"Not yet!"

Hunter turned and saw Sasuke standing a few feet away, charging up another chidori. The young Uchiha surged forwards, dragging the chidori along the ground, leaving a shallow gouge in the dirt behind him. As he reached Hunter he simply extended his hand and grabbed Sasuke's arm, cancelling the attack without so much as batting an eye.

"Annnd what was that supposed to do?" asked Hunter, almost tiredly.

It was only when Sasuke gave him an arrogant smile that his expression faulted. "Distract you."

"Expansion Jutsu!"

Choji's giant sized hand suddenly clamped down over Hunter's body. "Now, get him before-!"

Hunter gave an angry growl and broke loose of Choji's grip, throwing Sasuke aside in the process. He sensed movement behind him and that was when he realised what they'd done. They'd known that he'd be so focused on Sasuke that he be oblivious to everything else. Right in front of his face was a blue orb that could only have been a Rasengan, and behind that was Naruto.

Hunter had no time left to dodge, the Rasengan hit him on the left side of his face. There was a powerful gust of wind and for a moment Hunter and Naruto were frozen in place, the latter still pushing the Rasengan and the former still looking straight ahead in shock, his face half obscured by the blue ball of energy. Then his head jerked violently to the right and Naruto flew past him, landing a few steps away.

The two of them jumped back to a safe distance. "You ok?" asked Naruto.

"Hmm. Of course. Thanks but I didn't need your help idiot." Sasuke replied in his arrogant but still friendly tone.

"Oh come on!" yelled Naruto "I totally saved you there! Admit it!"

"It was impressive." said Kakasi "But I don't think we're done yet."

Everyone followed his gaze. Hunter was still standing, but there were large cracks all over his body now. He was leaning so far over that no one could see his face, his arms hanging limply down.

"Why won't he just go down?" groaned Shikamaru.

"What are all those cracks?" Asked Tenten, which was a question that just about everyone wanted answered.

"It's a shell." said Jiriya. "Hunter's made of two parts, an outer shell of solid chakra that he can mould and the real him his inside."

"The real him?" Naruto repeated, wondering just what the 'real' Hunter was.

There was a long silence. Then, in front of almost the entire village part of Hunter's face , the part that Naruto's Rasengan had struck, fell away, dropping to the floor where it disintegrated into darkness.

"What was that?" asked Naruto, nervously.

"It looked like a part of him...broke off." said Shikamaru, who was just as stunned as everyone else at this point.

Hunter rose back up, revealing his face. Everyone gasped, some even screamed.

"W-what..." Tsunade stammered.

"I don't believe it." whispered Naruto.

Hunter's face was split in two by a jagged line. The right half was completely normal but the left was jet black, with one glowing yellow eye, a broken crack for a mouth and three tendril like whiskers sprouted from the top of the head down to his jaw forming a half mane.

"Ok. That may have hurt." Only the left side of Hunter mouth moved when he spoke now. "What? What's everyone looking a-Gaahh!." Hunter caught sight of his own reflection in a window.

"Y-your face...What are you!?" yelled Sakura, recovering somewhat from the shock.

Hunter didn't answer her, he just continued to stare at his reflection as body began to fix itself. The cracks all closed and the human side of his face grew, covering the monster side until he once again looked perfectly normal. "I don't owe you any explanation. In fact, you all owe me a lot. Sort of. Maybe. Ish."

'Just what is wrong with this guy?' thought Naruto.

Hunter's eyes flicked up to the rooftop "About time...BYE!" Hunter jumped right over their heads and landed on the roof above them all.

"I seeee you." he said to the small Creeper Nobody hiding up there. Hunter had known that looking for the Nobodies was not working so he'd staged this whole day as a way of drawing the Nobodies out and it had worked like a charm.

The Creeper shifted into a bird like form and tired to fly away but Hunter gave chase. He heard a few cries of "After him!" and "Don't let him get away!" from behind him but he ignored them and focused on the Creeper.

"Come on. Come on...yes!" then the moment he'd been waiting for arrived. The spy tried to teleport out. He jumped up and grabbed hold of its tiny legs and just as the teleport took effect he felt something grab on to his leg.

The world around him vanished and for a moment all was darkness and he had the strange sensation of falling, then colour returned and he found himself standing in a corridor that was so white it was almost glowing. With one Darkness powered punch he destroyed the Nobody, which shattered into pieces and disintegrated.

A light to his left caught his eye. When he looked round he saw a window beyond which lay...

"Wow."

Outside the window he could see a world, the Elemental Nations standing amidst a swirling ocean of ever shifting colour. It all looked so peaceful and-

"Hunter!"

Hunter spun round, eyes wide. "What!?"

Standing there was Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi, all of whom were in combat stances and giving him very angry looks. "What!?"

"What did you do Hunter? Where are we!?" demanded Kakashi

Hunter's arms went limp and he hunched over tiredly. There was no way he'd be able to cover all of this up.

"Oh snap."


Snap indeed.

Tune in next time for major world jumping and cameos by a whole bunch of characters good and bad all the while Thorn and his new allies make their final preparations for war.