Student of the Silver Star

by Ouroboros666

The world is heading into a new age, technological innovation stemming from the Hidden Rain Village whose leader seems intent on dismantling the entire ninja system. In a plea for negotiation, emissaries arrive at the Hidden Leaf. Leading this expedition a man long thought lost to them, someone who has abandoned the shinobi ways for the man that fell from the sky like a silver star

Prologue: Emissaries of the Rain

God it was hot, blisteringly hot, but it wasn't the dry heat of a desert, it was the sticky heat of a sauna, of a rainforest at noon. The sweatshirt he doomed only made matters worse, compounded by the cape-like coat which hung from his shoulders down to his waist. The Land of Fire had always been miserable in the summer but Naruto had forgotten the sheer…stickiness of it over the years. They hadn't been walking for all that long yet it was already starting to get to him.

The Land of Fire was a tropical heaven or hell depending on your perspective, a lush and fertile land that composed the largest daimyo backed nation. Trees far as the eyes could see, ubiquitous wildlife, and the constant droning of insects ensured the image of unkempt wildness would be true for a long time to come. It was awful.

Naruto downed the rest of his water bottle in a single swig; the droplets which fell from his chin sizzled when the hit exposed rock on the dirt road. The resulting steam was one of the most disgusting sights he'd ever seen.

A golden retriever lazily followed in his shadow, no doubt an attempt to shield from the burning sun. The dog wore a collar and backpack. Noukan briefly took note of the rising water vapor. Had he known the Hidden Leaf would be located within this muggy hell he would have never agreed to tag along with his student. Konan's excuses for not coming sounded more and more like a ploy rather than something genuine, but maybe he was just mad he hadn't stayed home.

To the left of the dog was a girl unlike anything else. Her skin is unnatural porcelain, as if having spent her whole existence on some dark, frozen planet devoid of all light. One eye was a deep and gentle blue yet the other a vibrant green. Her hair was long, blond silk threads tied at her neck and flowing down to the small of her back.

She wore a traditional kimono cut short at the knees. It was black satin, smooth and soft, decorated with beautiful pink petals across the baggy sleeves, drifting from a sakura tree stitched onto the entire left side. Something about the child seemed off, alien, though still precious. There was maturity to her eyes and expressions, a confidence to her movements that seemed out of place on a girl her apparent age. There was something uncanny about her if you thought about it too long, like a foreigner poorly adopting the dress and mannerism of another culture.

At a glance most could tell she wasn't from the Five Great Nations, but nothing could hint as to where she was from. Even the paleness seemed too much, even for those of the Land of Snow; it was almost ghost-like.

Emerging from the horizon's edge, a long shadow began taking form. "We're coming up on the village now," Naruto alerted them.

The golden retriever beside him looked up with palpable annoyance. "I would hope so," his artificial voice gruff with age yet tempered with wisdom. He spoke despite his lips not forming shapes or consonants, despite being an animal. "There was no reason for us to stop an hour away. We could have at least made it here."

Noukan was mad that they had to stop flying so far from the village. Naruto had told them to stop and walk the rest of the way so as to draw less attention. In theory he understood, but Naruto failed to understand the annoyance of fur in a humid climate.

"Ah, come on 'teach! We've been through this already!" Naruto grumbled. How many times was he going to bring this up? "How long 'you gonna guilt trip me?"

"When I'm finally in a nation with sensible temperatures." Noukan missed the Rain, the place where he and Aleister had made their official home in this new world. Despite the constant showers the humidity was pretty sensible for most of the year, if anything it tended to be a bit cool, though there were a few weeks in the summers that surpassed even their old home in blistering humidity. On those days he never left a building if he could help it. "Grow some fur and maybe you'll understand my pain, brat."

Naruto stopped and pointed an accusatory finger at him. "How can a human grow fur, fur ball!" He yelled in exaggerated outrage. The drawstring bag he hung across his shoulder shaking like a bell.

The girl laughed at their bickering. "I don't know what you're complaining about Noukan, I think it's pretty nice," she added, knowing full well that it would annoy him.

"I wasn't talking to you, Nibiru. Besides, a goddess in some baggy kimono is hardly in any position to comment on this topic."

"Tsk-tsk, no need to be so hurt, Noukan. Just stating an opinion is all. Feel free to keep yelling at each other if it makes you feel better." Nibiru shrugged it off, flapping her sleeves defensively. Noukan was very sensitive to temperature, it was pretty much the only thing she could tease him on. Well, that and his smoking.

Noukan's feelings towards Nibiru were complicated. She was a mistake brought about by Aleister attempting to go home without fully understanding the laws of this reality. The result had backfired and brought with it a degraded magic god deep within some phase neither of them had meant to touch. Of course they had attempted to kill her instantly, for even a weakened Majin was still much too powerful to allow its existence in the mortal realms, but a young Naruto had prevented that. To be honest he was surprised that Aleister had even listened to the young boys' crying, let alone cave to it.

Noukan took great suspicion of Naruto and Nibiru's relationship, Aleister did as well, but both had decided to watch from afar until something happened to justify her destruction. Naruto acting as the leash to her power both calmed their nerves yet acted as a major red flag. He wondered if they would ever be at ease with her around. The creatures the people here called "Tailed Beasts" were hardly a threat to them, those beings called Otsutsuki could barely even be considered thorns in their side, but Nibiru, now she was something to be feared even when weakened as she was.

The bickering did not continue and the trio enjoyed the rest of their walk in something close to peace. In time the gates of a village appeared at the horizon. Both Nibiru and Noukan made a point to observe Naruto carefully, to see how he would react as they approached his old home. If this trip was stirring up any feelings at all he was hiding them uncharacteristically well. Even as the gates got closer his reaction never changed. Considering who it was they were looking at that lack of reaction might be telling in and of itself.

There was a reason why both of them were here in Konan's place. She was the leader of the Hidden Rain, Naruto her chief confidant and advisor, as well as her closest friend. Aleister and Naruto both vetoed her suggestion that she go along with him, her not wanting Naruto to be alone for this job in particular. She was much too important, they said, her role as village leader was greater than being Naruto's emotional support. Eventually the three compromised with the current arrangement, Nibiru and Noukan taking her place to look over Naruto while they were out. A bit overkill, but understandable nonetheless.

"I just hope this doesn't take long," the dog grumbled. "Oh, and remember to keep the physical affection to a minimum, you two. Things are going to be complicated enough as is."

Nibiru smiled at the jab instead of taking offense to it. "I don't see what the big deal is," she proudly proclaimed, "I'm the primordial goddess of the unknown. These kids want to tantrum about me and Naruto then I'll just wipe them away, village, country and all. Isn't that right, Naruto?"

He ignored them, his sights focused on what was ahead, his mind a whirlwind of painful nostalgia. Their destination was finally within walking distance.

Noukan huffed a ball of smoke. The goddess was being deliberately obtuse with him. "Oh, so you'll be a nuisance? I suppose that makes sense. Be careful, miss nuisance, make too much trouble and you'll be disposed of." Nibiru gave the dog a smug look, but said nothing. Aleister, at least, was a much better diplomat towards her.

The Hidden Leaf gate was a great monument, dwarfing most buildings and wide enough to accept a hundred people at once. It hadn't changed at all, not even the giant symbols on the out flung gates. A wave of nostalgia hit Naruto. His group crossed under the things' dominating shadow, that distant but familiar dull sound of sandals on the cobblestone cross section before one officially entered the village. How many hundreds if not thousands of times had he run back and forth on this ground? Here he was years later but the context was completely different. Now he was a foreigner, an emissary from a rival land. No one could have predicted this future.

Upon reaching the other side of the great wall Naruto noticed a booth. Where there had once been a check in desk staffed by low level ninja was now a more comfortable construction, with someone sitting on a chair on the other side shielded by the elements and there even looked to be a gift stand selling plushies and other souvenirs to the side of it.

"Hello, this is the Hidden Leaf's information desk," a young woman spoke with disinterest while doing something on a phone. "How can I help you," she finally looked up at the shadow. She became interested very quickly. The face, the hair, the blue eyes, even the whisker marks on his cheeks - the man looked like an older Natsu Uzumaki.

"Can I help you…?" she repeated, at a loss for words.

The stranger smiled. It was a nice, gentle expression. It put her at ease. "I am an emissary from the Hidden Rain. I have a meeting with the Hokage in an hour or two. Could you call in and have them send me an escort?"

"Um, sure-yeah, sure." The woman scrambled for a phone and began dialing numbers. Naruto looked around. There were people off in the distance further inside the village but the entrance here was pretty barren, his group the only ones in the opening section. Noukan had found a bench and was now laid out on his side, tongue flopped, panting in an attempt to relieve some heat. Crap, now he really was starting to feel bad for the old kodjer. He made a mental note to apologize to him later. Maybe he could find some cigars here that he'd enjoy, he'd insisted the one Noukan had already been put out before entering.

Naruto really had forgotten how hot and humid the Leaf was during the summer months. Not as bad as the worst weeks of the Rain's summer season, but those didn't last long. The Leaf's summer months, however, were way more prolonged.

Nibiru was staring out at the village taking in the sights of a foreign land. The Hidden Rain was an industrial metropolis long before any other nation thanks to Aleister and Noukan. The Land of Clouds was a small nation, and the Hidden Rain was situated on a vast lake that took up twenty percent of the entire country. What left is a population to do when they can't spread out? Upwards, of course, resulting in a city made up of skyscrapers clustered together like a bundle of spears. The Hidden Leaf, on the other hand, had the privilege of being spread out. A network of buildings, roads, rivers, lakes, and trains veining huge patches of lush green trees. The Leaf was almost triple the size of the Hidden Rain.

It had taken years for Aleister and Noukan to allow Nibiru the freedom of moving about within the village, and a few more years after that for it to be unsupervised, and even now she's only allowed to leave it when alongside Naruto. He felt bad about it but understood why it had to be like this. The Land of Snow was the only other country she had been to up till now.

He walked up to her. "Enjoying the sights?"

"It certainly is very different from the others," she spoke with amusement. It was the enjoyment of a child marveling at ants building a nest. She then laughed at something in the distance. "But I find that mountain over there amusing beyond belief." Naruto knew what she was talking about.

The Hokage stone faces were the six faces of past leaders, legends all, engraved into the stone mountain at the back of the village. They were meant to inspire others as well as to memorialize the greatest ninja of their villages' history. Naruto's thoughts soured. Greatest ninja, yeah right. If that were true then someone's face was missing. A dear and cherished friend who had more than earned his spot on that damned mountain.

"I find it funny how humans cope with death," Nibiru mused while looking at the stone faces. "You think a memory is immortal if you imprint it on something to pass down, but that couldn't be further from the case. Eventually those faces will erode away and no one will remember them. Them, this village or any other, and yet everyone pretends they are a part of something that will last forever."

"You must think we're pretty stupid then, huh?"

"I find it adorable." She pointed to the sky, her sleeve bunching around her elbow. She wore a wedding ring. "It's like how so many of you venerate the sun, if not literally then symbolically, yet I can pluck it from the sky so easily." She reached out and pitched Naruto's cheek as a mother would to her child. She had to stand on her toes to reach him. He blushed but didn't fight it. "That naive enthusiasm of yours is sinfully precious."

She released him, the blushing man now rubbing his sore face. "What about you? How do you feel right now? This is your home."

Naruto casually rests his weight against her shoulder as someone would a piece of furniture. She took the extra weight like the man weighed nothing. "Nah, this ain't my home. My home is with you and Konan, with Noukan and Aleister. The Hidden Rain is where I belong, not here."

The goddess giggled. "How sweet of you. Let's see if the people here will accept that."

Nothing more was said, they simply waited.

---

The Ninja world was heading down a dark path, its long-term future more uncertain now than ever before. Over the last six to seven years a change has begun shifting the world, heralded by the coming of a device called Kote. Developed by the Village Hidden in the Rain this device has single-handedly called the future of ninja into question, and it seemed that was the whole point.

Over the last few years the Hidden Rain has sold ninja devices, Kote foremost among them but in no way the only, to lesser villagers and towns. These devices gave the power of ninjutsu to everyday people, no training or specialized infrastructure needed to amass an army of competent ninja. For the price of an A-rank, or depending on the model, an S-rank mission, you could give hundreds of years worth of power refined on the battlefield to any person and they could use it out of the box. Five or ten of these Scientific Ninja Tools and you have a team in your small and humble village that could do almost any job a ninja village would do for you for basically nothing and without travel expense.

Those that ally with the Hidden Rain get extra benefits as incentive such as a steady supply of these next generation ninja tools, access to newer models, engineers to help fix and teach basic maintenance and more. Even with the taxes they have to pay the Rain, the benefits of these tools far outweigh their cost, and the independence they give is virtually priceless.

According to a census between the Five Great Nations it was determined that, as of the end of last year, roughly sixty percent of villages and towns have some agreement with the Hidden Rain, and half of those are full fledged protectorates. Kakashi has spoken to several highly respected economists from different lands and all of them have given similar dour outlooks: if nothing changes in the next ten to fifteen years the economy of the Five Great Nations will collapse, leaving the Hidden Rain as the sole superpower of the world.

Whoever leads the Rain now is a political mastermind, there was no doubt. In under a decade this new leader has managed to corner the five strongest ninja villages in an impossible situation. Either they do nothing and let their money, people, and culture be starved away into nothing or they go on an offensive and coordinate an attack, tarnishing what's left of their reputation? The regular people of the world already view ninja harshly, a scar left over by the last and bloodiest ninja war; should the five nations attack the village giving the people advancement and independence, well that's a scar that would never leave and possibly turn the whole world against them.

Kakashi leaned back in his chair. There was another option and this was it. Peace treaties, negotiations, trade agreements; these are what denote a real society and among the kage only Gaara and himself seem to understand that there was a third option. An emissary of the Hidden Rain was on his way to this room this very second. It's lucky they reached out when they did.

Sitting at the head of a large rectangular table of burnished wood, the Hokage had arranged this meeting in order to find a peaceful resolution to this sticky situation. It took five messages for a response to finally be given. The heads of the Eight Great Noble Clans gathered here, flanking either side of him. Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akamichi, Skimaru Nara, Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Kurumi Uzumaki. At Kakashi's sides were Natsu Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, acting as his guards for the occasion.

For Natsu's sake, he hoped this matter could be smoothed over sooner rather than later. In just a few months he will be crowned Hokage and have to deal with this himself. There was a possibility he would have to begin shifting the Hidden's Leafs entire economy into a more service based one, downsizing their ninja drastically. The implications of that alone would be unbelievably complex; this is all too much for a nascent leader to handle.

One of the heavy double doors opened and in walked Konohamaru, a handsome jounin with a black headband tied tight. His strut was stern and focused as the door shut with a heavy thud. "The representatives are here, everyone ready?"

"It's about damn time," Kiba grumbled. He was a wild, shaggy man with a red fang-shape on both cheeks, his attitude straight from the kennels. They had been kept waiting for about an hour now while these emissaries were gallivanting around the village. If it weren't for the check-ins by their escorts they would have sent trackers after them to find where the hell they were and drag 'em here.

Konohamaru shrugged his shoulders and responded naturally. "Apparently they wanted to do some sightseeing, according to owl. He's been telling me that the three of them keep getting sidetracked for one thing or another. Last time we talked he just got done waiting fifteen minutes while the guy was looking for some cigars."

Ino leaned her exposed arms against the table in sudden interest, long platinum hair flowing over her shoulders. "Wait, what do you mean by three? Only two people crossed over."

Kakashi answered that one. "No, the phone call I got said it was two emissaries, one girl, one man. They had a dog tagging along."

Shino turned his tri-slitted visor towards Ino. "I guess you could say it's two, I wouldn't really count the dog in that category."

Kiba made a growl of annoyance. Shino said that just to piss him off, he knew it. Ino's response was worried. "No, it shouldn't matter. Any living thing that crosses that wall should register to me. Over the last hour only two living creatures have entered the village. One man, one dog. No feminine chakra signatures have even crossed our barrier in the last six hours."

"What if they were concealing their chakra? Would they be able to hide from the barrier?" Hinata questions. For the most part she hated dealing with clan stuff, her time much better spent with her two wonderful children and adoring husband. The only times she got involved with this side of the village was when the Hokage required it of her, a mercifully rare occasion. For the last hour she had been bored out of her skull, just waiting to get this meeting over in time to start dinner. Now, she is starting to get engaged.

Shikimaru answered for his teammate in an effort to give a curt and concise answer. Leave Ino alone on this subject and she would just go on and on. "In theory someone could, but that's too much to ask for most ninja." Recent scientific advancements have made the Leaf's barrier team the most sophisticated defense system of the five great ninja villages, and every time someone has succeeded in slipping though they've adjusted the system for the future. It's been almost a full decade since the last confirmed case of anyone sneaking inside the Leaf Village.

Konohamaru spoke next, more annoyed that he had to restate himself. "I'm telling you it's a man and a girl and a dog. Both the information desk and the two escorts have said that. The only weird thing I've been told is that this guy looks kinda like Natsu, I guess."

Natsu and Kurumi shared an awkward look. Hinata shared a similar one with the Hokage. Surely, there was no way…

There was a knock at the door. A newfound tension born from uncertainty hung in the air and it hadn't been there two minutes ago. It was an energy, a thick smog that tensed everyone in the room. Kakashi gestured for Konohamaru to open the door.

The man with the scarf turned around, grabbing both handles of the great doors and opened them wide with a thunk of heavy wood and clamping metal.

…

The man that walked through the door was a distorted mirror. It was an older, taller Natsu with slightly more wild hair, an orange sweatshirt made from some expensive material partially hidden by a cloak hanging to his waist. His face was slightly rounder than his brother, a bit more youthful around the cheeks and chin despite being the elder. There was a bag held in his left hand.

Awkward silence hung like a shroud over the room. He was a ghost, an old forgotten mentor or neighbor, a distant memory at the back of the mind. He was someone who had disappeared over twenty-four years ago in the night, leaving no trace or clue as to where he had gone. Years of searching had yielded nothing, except for a vague description here and there, maybe a new rumor from time to time. His two followers seemed irrelevant to everyone else.

Feeling the awkwardness like insects on his skin, Konahamaru took a step back to the other side of the door. Whatever was about to happen was family drama, and he wanted none of it. He hurriedly bid his farewell and closed the heavy door.

Natsu seemed trance-like, mid step, the first syllable of his brother's name on his lips. "Stay away from that one," a disembodied voice slithered into his and his sisters' perceptions from their marrow. For a briefest moment the two were no longer at the meeting. An echoing chamber, standing upon water made from their own hopes, dreams and nightmares.

"That is no ordinary girl," voices boomed inside the chamber, deep and thunderous. Natsu and Kurumi looked behind themselves in unison. Two silhouetted fox creatures loomed over them like skyscrapers.

"What's wrong, Kurama?" Kurumi asked. Not since the war have the siblings seen the Nine-Tailed Fox cower in another's presence. It wasn't something anyone could ever forget, the chakra monster's normally rich, masculine booming voice tempered with anxiety. Imagine the confusion of seeing a dragon submitting to a mouse in fright.

"Keep away from that girl, for all of our sakes!"

The siblings were back at the meeting a second later.

Girl, what girl? Oh, there she was, wearing a kimono a size or two too big for her, leaning back against the wall with an almost lazy affect. What was so special about her?

Kakashi stood from his chair, the first to speak. "Is-is that really you, Naruto?"

"I'm surprised you remember me, it's been so long, Kakashi. You've certainly moved up in the world - all of you have." He pointed to the Yamanaka clan head. "You're Inoichi's brat, right? Ino? You've certainly blossomed into a beautiful woman. Choji, Shikamaru, it's like looking back into the past; you haven't changed much yet so obviously grown."

He turned to the slack-jawed Kiba. "You look pretty much how I always thought you would; you and your sister were quite the ruffians back in the day. You, on the other hand, Shino, did a complete one-eighty, glad to see you got over that shyness." He turned to the Hyuga clan lead. "Hinata, I can tell just by looking you've got confidence now. I always said you'd grow into it."

Then his gaze moved on to his younger siblings, the twins Natsu and Kurumi. They were five years younger than him. Their start had been a tumultuous one; it was their birth that had indirectly caused the Nine-Tails attack so many years ago. The weakening of the seal on their mother had allowed a malevolent third party to use the labor to unleash the beast and lay waste to the leaf village.

He had been with his best friend at the time, Itachi Uchiha, over at his house. When the demon fox had appeared, wrecking untold death and destruction, he had been scared out of his mind, both for the obvious danger and the then unknown fate of his mom and dad. He had relied on Itachi's collected personality to guide them through the night and subsequent headaches and heartaches.

All that considered, their childhood had been a blessed one. He and Itachi had gone far into the ranks of the ninja very quickly, though Itachi much more so than him, joining the Anbu by the time he had 'simply' made jonin. Nothing, however, was perfect. A schism had formed between him and his parents, and the more he dealt with the village system the more their philosophies began to differ. In time a seed of hatred for ninjas and clans became watered the farther into the ranks he got.

The breaking point had been the night he found Itachi having a mental breakdown, hands bloody with the sin no man should've had to commit, let alone a teenager. He knew the second he saw his bloody friend what had transpired because he knew more than most, though not all, of the trouble brewing among the Uchiha at the time, and the stresses placed upon Itachi by both his clan and the village itself.

It had been that night, hugging onto his best friend as he grieved a tragedy none could comprehend, when his hatred for the ninja system as a whole bloomed in its entirety. The friction between him and his parents became more and more emotional, more and more angry and rage filled.

One night a week after his friend had been kicked from the village and branded a traitor despite all of the context, vilified as the scum of the earth, when an argument between Naruto and his mom and dad had degenerated terribly. He said things he still regretted even now, and he imagined his parents regretted the words they shouted. That night he had taken out a scroll given to him by a mysterious stranger, one he had been meeting off and on for the better part of a year.

And in the middle of a raging and an emotional want to be anywhere but at his home, in this village, he had placed his hand on it and summoned himself into a land he had never been before.

That had been almost twenty-five years ago. Things were so different now, yet in some ways still very much the same.

"Long time no see, kiddos." He fanned out his arms dramatically. "I've heard the stories, the legends of you two go far and wide. I never would have imagined my cute little brother and sister would grow up to be heroes of the fourth great ninja war. Bringers of peace and slayers of alien gods - hilarious how destiny continues to be stranger than fiction."

"Not another word, deserter," his sister spat with venom. "You don't get to come around here after all these years acting like nothing's happened, like we're all on the same page. You've got some nerve acting all casual you scum-sucking bastard!"

"Kurumi! Don't be so rude to our brother!" Natsu defended him.

"No need to protect me from her," Naruto waved down the attempt. "Trust me, I've known way more volatile people in my day." It's a shame, but he sort of expected this from her. She may have been young the last they'd seen each other but Kurumi had always been a brash and prideful little shit, and to be honest he hadn't given her much reason to be otherwise towards him.

"So how's Mom and Dad doing? Last I heard they were enjoying spending time together after the sixth Hokage came to power." Once he had gotten more established with Aleister and Noukan and fully embraced the Village Hidden in the Rain as his home, he'd kept track of his family either through spies or double checking rumors, hearing what other rain ninja had to say during the chunin exams and the like. Turns out Aleister had a knack for spying on other countries even though never leaving the tower.

He knew they weren't dead because both of them were world-renowned shinobi, if either of them were to die every ninja across the continent would hear about it within the week.

"They're out enjoying a sabbatical. They spend like two, three months out of the year traveling now. Enjoying peace times for all it's worth now that Kurumi and me have our own families." Natsu's face fell with an awkward sadness. "Y'know, they searched for well over a decade. Even the tiniest lead or vague description was enough for them to send out search parties, but after a while they just sort of gave up hope, though I don't think either of them ever accepted the theory that you died."

"Oh, I see," Naruto shook his head with a tinge of sadness in his voice. "That is a shame. I would have loved to meet them again, but I suppose it's for the best. My purpose here is entirely business."

Paws were placed on the table's edge like hands. The golden retriever stood on its hind legs, head peering over the wooden edge, eyeing everyone at the table as if an equal. "Hello, sorry about the delay. This village is quite different from ours so we got a little sidetracked." With a dexterous jump the hind legs joined the front on the table. "I'm Noukan Khiara."

Everyone was less shocked by the talking dog and more confused. Was it a summon of some kind? Several people turned to Kakashi and Kiba, as they were the resident ninja hounds experts, but they seemed in the dark. Odd, since, like toad summons, ninja hounds were unique to the Leaf Village.

Clinking metal extended from the backpack. Two advanced robotic arms moved with natural dexterity, one holding a lighter and the other an already cut cigar. Those limbs alone looked more advanced and futuristic than anything the Hidden Leaf had developed. "I hope you don't mind, but Naruto insisted I don't smoke while walking the streets."

"'Tis the polite thing to do," Naruto responded with a smile.

A puff of smoke wafted through the dog's snout. "Whatever. Now, I understand this may be a bit awkward for some of you, many questions and the like. However, I'm afraid we are not here for pleasantries. We accepted this latest invite of yours, mister Hokage, for a very specific reason."

He couldn't decide whether or not to be offended by that. "Really? Well what could be so important to warrant the visit, then?"

"There's something that I need you to explain," Naruto pointed a finger at Kakashi. "Please do not be alarmed, but I'm going to summon something. I need you, as the Hokage, to answer for it."

Everyone seemed confused, though Kakashi's nod of approval smoothed over their doubts. Mostly.

The drawstring bag he carried was tossed onto the table for later use. Walking off towards the side Naruto made several casual signs. His palm slammed to the ground flat. In a second ink-like markings spread out in a circular pattern. Then a plume of smoke cast a light breeze through the room, his coat flapping in the wind.

A cross-shaped silhouette towered several feet over Naruto's head. He turned back towards his audience. "Now, would someone please explain to me why one of your ninjas crossed our borders and began a fight?"

Stunned silence became shocks of horror. An unconscious Tsunade, one of the three legendary ninjas, was beaten and bloody, half-a dozen rods of pure steel ran through her aged body, pinning her to the cross.

A ball of electricity formed alongside the sound of chirping birds. The sound of wind swirling in a tight vortex distorted the chirping. Sasuke and Kurumi had their signature jutsus formed and ready for the kill in an instant. Natsu and the other heirs were more stunned in shock. In a second hundreds of questions rushed like violent rapids, each one more horrible than the last.

Before they charged, Kakash ordered them down. "Stop it you two," his voice calm yet furious. "Stand down, I'll deal with this."

"But-" Kurumi was cut off.

"That's an order." The voice of their trusted teacher was gone, replaced by the iron orders of their superior. Reluctantly the two did, but their murderous gaze never left the outsider. "First rule of being a ninja: never let your emotions dictate your actions." The clan leaders in the room followed the Hokages words, though if given a second's notice all of them would rush in for the kill.

"Naruto," Kakashi walked out from his table. Anger flared a murderous aura but his voice never broke the facade of a collected leader. It was difficult to follow his own advice at times. "Explain yourself. What possessed you to do such a thing to one of your own, to Tsunade of all people? You guys got along so much when you were young. Have you fallen so far as to brutalize your comrades?"

"You're wrong on two counts," Naruto crossed his arms in defiance. Two fingers were held up. "I did not fight her. She had snuck into my village and assaulted one of our most valuable scientists. Noukan happened to be around at the time so he fought her." Naruto jerked his head towards the smoking dog. Everyone looked at the animal with disbelief, even Kakashi couldn't completely hide the shock of that statement. A ninja hound on the level of Tsunade, surely that was a lie?

"Secondly, she is not 'my comrade', I help lead the Village Hidden in the Rain, my home is the Land of Clouds. My duty is to my people, not yours. One of your agents aggressed into my territory, that's why I'm here."

Kakashi doubted it was that simple, but even then the words Naruto spoke gave an inkling into his thought process. Had he really cast away all sentimentality for his old home? Regardless of that, however, he needs to keep the conversation on point. "So that's all it takes to justify this? Friends or family are irrelevant to you if they cross that line?"

His shoulders shrugged dismissively. "If those friends start a brawl that destroys one of our buildings and tens of thousands of dollars in equipment and scientific data, not to mention putting civilians lives in danger; then yeah, I'd say this is pretty justified."

Kakashi shook his head in disbelief, as if the thought alone left a bad taste in his mouth. "You really expect me to believe that's the whole story? You and I both know Tsunade doesn't go on rampages for no reason, so why don't you tell some of the details you're leaving out. For starters, who the hell did she attack?"

"Who she attacked is not relevant, the fact that she went in guns blazing is. She destroyed the property of my people, put their lives in danger, and violated our borders. Tell me, would you be so pedantic if it was one of my people that assaulted this village? Would that truth seeking heart of yours accept my people's perspective in such a situation?"

Kakashi responded to that smoothly. "I don't know, depends on the context now doesn't it? Give me the details and I'll be able to give you something definitive."

Naruto smirked. "You're doing an awful lot to avoid responsibility for your people."

"And you're doing an awful lot to avoid giving me details. Naruto, did you really think bringing Tsunades' body here in that fashion would give you any sort of leeway? You give me no reason to believe you and for whatever reason you keep sidestepping every time I ask for any sort of clarification. What did you think would happen when you came here?"

There was a brief moment of silence. The air was thick with tension as these two traded gazes. Hinata Hyuga was practically shaking, and it felt as if there was a weight on her chest. It was getting hard to breathe. From the looks of them all of the other clan leaders were getting closer to a violent edge. Kurumi in particular was just itching for an excuse to attack. Natsu seemed more in disbelief than anything.

Naruto finally broke the awkwardness. "Kakashi, have you ever heard of the Rule of Three?"

"Don't change the subject!" The Hokage spat back, voice raised. Oh, his patience was waning. So many compounding factors are starting to break all the restraint he had up till now.

Naruto smiled. It was infuriating to look at. "Oh, I'm not." He placed a hand on the metal surface of the cross. "Think of it as a form of karma. Essentially, it states that what one does will be returned to them threefold. Tsunade over here destroyed a building and much research and equipment during her little rampage, so the law states I should return to you the damage your ninja did to us threefold."

"Naruto, don't do something you'll regret. We can still talk this out," Kakashi almost pleaded. The anger was still burning, if anything the implications of that statement enraged him, and everyone else, even further, but a line had not been crossed yet. There was still a possibility of talking everything out, of negotiating. At the moment this wasn't about the economic future of ninja or the Hidden Leaf, this was more short term than that. It was about avoiding an international incident, of avoiding a potential war.

Naruto released a sour chuckle. The clan leaders instinctively readied their weapons, primed for an attack. Anticipation reached a boiling point. "Man, what a waste of time. I shoulda' just killed her and threw away the body."

Choji, Shino, Ino, and Kiba all rushed. Kunai ready, claws extended, clouds of bugs swarming, and a fist expanding to twice the size of a man, the four clan leaders moved in for a swift kill. Kakashi turned to them, to order them down. This was not the time to strain international tensions even further.

It was too late.

In the micro seconds during the turn of his head bones broke, fingers snapped, mussels tore, and limbs twisted. Midair, the ninja fell in defeated heaps onto the table with dead thunks and clashes. Drinks shattered and spilled as limp bodies toppled over them and onto empty chairs, papers flapped in the air as unconscious bodies smeared and scattered them.

What had happened to them, Kakashi wondered? Naruto hadn't twitched so much as a muscle, yet his ninja were laying in a defeated heap. There had been no attack yet…

Naruto smiled confidently. "Attacking a man who hadn't aggressed onto you, tsk-tsk. Karma's a bitch, 'aint it?"

All restraint was out the window now. Kurumi was halfway to her brother in the blink of an eye. In her hand was a swirling bowling-ball sized mass of chakra. It seemed she wasn't as restrained as her siblings. There was no speaking. Naruto stomped his foot, and something like a balloon popped. A whirlwind erupted. The rasengan clashed with swirling air as if it were a solid wall.

Sauske was the next to move, a sword was drawn from its scabbard, and made two steps. A black rod embedded itself at his foot. The weapon reminded him of someone. It looked like the ones Pain and Madara had materialized years ago. He halted and turned, along with Kakashi and Natsu, at the one that threw it.

The dog sat on the table casually, a puff of smoke flowing from his breath. Of the two mechanical arms on his back one was outreached, like it had just thrown a weapon. His tail lazily wagged back and forth. "Let's be civil here, pups. The ones that don't attack will be the ones that don't get hurt. Diplomacy isn't off the table yet."

Naruto looked at his sister with something approaching annoyance or mirth. Maybe it was both. His eyes flicked to Noukan as he stared down Kakashi, Natsu, and Sasuke, then they looked towards his lover. Nibiru was still leaning against the wall in lazy amusement. They should count their blessings, if the goddess got involved then the world itself would shake.

He looked back at his sister. The force of the whirlwind suddenly tripled. Byakugan eyes caught that. His coat was violently pulled straight into the air as the winds around him sped up and up. The rasengan was starting to be pushed back, Kurumi's feet screeching against the floor as she tried to keep grounded. The entire room became whipped up as howling winds violently rushed through in random and clashing directions.

"Sorry sis, I don't have time to humor you." The energy tripled yet again. The chakra ball dispersed, his sister lifted from her feet, and shot back into the wall with the sound of splintering wood. The Hyuga's eyes noted that as well. The air began calming down immediately.

In the second everyone was distracted, Natsu took action. He snatched Sasuke's sword from behind and spun. Natsu wasn't much of a swordmaster but he could throw it, so he did. The longsword speared towards the talking dog. A fling of a robotic hand and another black rod appeared, clashing with sword and knocking it off course with a metallic clang.

Natsu was beside the dog, to his right, before the weapons had even clattered to the ground. From his back holster two spinning shuriken were launched, again at the dog. A swing of the other robotic hand and two more black rods clashed with them, knocking them off course. Once again Natsu was gone. Noukan, however, was a hound. His nose was much better than a humans.

The golden retriever looked up. Natsu was in the air careening, in his right palm another rasengan but this one was at least double the size of what his sister had made. The dog took a drag of his cigar. Noukan pointed a robotic finger at the young man.

On instinct Natsu raised his free arm in defense. A rod pierced through Natsu's forearm and out his shoulder. His rasengan dispersed harmlessly. He fell to the table with a painful thud, right by an unconscious Kiba, but quickly rolled off it just in time to avoid two more rods appearing in the wood. One was just a finger's length away from piercing the skull of his old friend.

Something wasn't right. Natsu analyzed his situation underneath the table in a matter of seconds. Those rods weren't being thrown by the dog, they weren't being thrown by anything or anyone. He wasn't pulling them out of anywhere nor was he summoning them, that was obvious as summons tend to make sound and smoke when they appear. It was like those rods were being spawned, simply appearing or teleported into something.

They were deflecting the weapons not because they were being thrown, rather they were being spawned right in front of them. That was Natsu's theory, and if he was right then this battle was going to be way more difficult than anticipated.

He saw a bag, one Naruto had brought with him and tossed to the table. It must have gotten knocked over by the wind. He snatched it off the floor.

The dog seemed not sad, but disappointed, like he didn't really want to do this. Maybe that was too much projection from a human mind onto an animal. A mechanical hand slapped down on the table. Sealing formulas spread out like cobwebs and a plume of smoke erupted from the center with force.

What emerged from the short lived smoke looked like an abnormally large filing cabinet at first, but under any sort of inspection that was obviously wrong. Six separate units were stacked perfectly on top of one another. They also looked to be more mechanical in nature. With the sound of pneumatic hissing the things quickly separated and floated around Noukan as moons orbit a planet.

Naruto crossed his arms again. "I think it's safe to say negotiations have officially broken down," he walked up to his old sensei. He was still sitting on his hind legs at the edge of the table. "I say we just go ahead and send them the message."

The dog breathed out a plume of cigar smoke. "Well go ahead and do it then, the less I have to be in this sauna of a village the better."

Shikimaru was currently assisting Kurumi out of her literal hole in the wall. Natsu was still underneath the table, Sasuke and Kakashi were eyeing Naruto and Noukan with murderous glares but neither knew quite how to respond in this delicate situation. The four other heirs were still but discarded heaps on the floor. Tsunade was groaning, but it was nothing legible. Hintata was playing her part and observing every movement, every change of chakra form to better understand their enemies. She had made the mistake of not having her Byakugan active when the other clan nobles attacked and so she had not seen whatever it was that had befallen her friends and fellow Leaf ninja.

Nibiru was still watching the quickly deteriorating situation with only mild entertainment.

Kakashi called out his name but was ignored. He tried pleading with the name of his parents but that didn't breakthrough either. Naruto reached his right hand to the ceiling.

During his escort to the building Naruto had made several detours, no doubt irritating his guides. He had given some kid money for a toy he had wanted, he had paid for an entire restaurant's worth of meals for the afternoon rush, he had scared off some bullies picking on a young girl, and then he had snatched a drifting birthday balloon from the air to give it back to a mother of four.

All good deeds come with a little karma, in each little deed a debt is accrued by the world. While they may be small and insignificant individually these particles of snow clump together and stack and stack, snowballing into something worthwhile.

Naruto called upon the karma that was due to come his way. The power surging through his body multiplied several times over. Only Hinata was able to see the staggering increase with her special eyes. The levels of his chakra didn't just double or triple, if anything it looked to be six or seven times what it had been just moments ago, maybe even more than that. The air was becoming thick with chakra, a great pressure bearing down on everyone in the room like sinking in the deep sea.

In the instant before something happened Sasuke flared a purplish aura licking at the edges of his silhouette. Its presence expanded out instantly to envelop his comrades

A white light blinded all

…

The Leaf's ninja academy was located in the shadow of the great Hokage Mountain, symbolically showing the future generations waiting in the wings of those heads carved upon the monument. The red building at the center of the village was the second most iconic symbol of the Leaf, second only to the monument itself, known the world over even before the era of photography. Most nations knew about the red building standing beneath the great stone leaders of the first ninja village to ever be.

It was more than just a school, however. That great red building was separate from the rest as it was where the Hokage themselves spent most of their administrative time, from handing out missions to the meetings that were held. With an entire village of people on one side and protected by the great mountain on the other, it was the safest place in all the village.

A spear of light destroyed the top.

The five curved pillars of concrete at the top were blasted high into the air, cracked and crumbling as broken pieces of redwood and a destroyed sign splintered upon the ground. In that second it was like the whole of the village ground to a halt.

Floating above even the smoke Naruto, Nibiru and Noukan hovered, looking down upon the building they had just destroyed. Naruto and Noukan leavited as one would expect, their feet dangling with no leverage, defying gravity on a whim. Nibiru was very different. She stood on the sky as if it was physical, breaking all laws of common sense. What's more, she walked at a forty-five degree angle for no particular reason other than that she willed it. If the position had been steeper then the edge of her kimono would have fallen and exposed naked skin, not that she would've cared. Do humans care about undressing in front of insects? It was a similar thought process with Nibiru.

"A bit overkill, don't you think?" The dog said casually.

"Hardly," Naruto shrugged it off. "I made sure no one would die. Besides you saw that-"

He was interrupted by a great purplish torso parting the smoke with three great arms, two right and one left. "So that's his susanoo, huh?" Naruto commented. He always wanted to see another one. His seemed a bit more demonic in design compared to Itachi's. One of the last two Uchiha was suspended within the chakra monster, hovering behind its face.

There was no time for more conversation. Sasuke pulled back an ethereal bow upon the susanoo's left arm, a similarly spiritual arrow primed that the three of them. "Well that's different," Noukan remarked.

It shot faster than any of them had expected, almost as fast as a bullet. It had been so quick, so unexpected that they hadn't the time to accelerate fast enough to dodge. Naruto reached up a hand, fingers splayed wide, but Nibiru beat him to it.

Appearing in his vision as a distorted blur, the goddess effortlessly kicked the arrow with bare feet, easily four times her size, to the side. It was like an explosion beyond the village, uprooting a chunk of dirt and trees in a flash of white, no doubt leaving an impact crater somewhere in that distant forest.

The Majin turned. She walked towards them at an odd angle in blatant mockery of physical laws. "Don't keep me waiting for too long," she casually waved them off. Her feet casually lifted off whatever invisible platform they had been on. Her figure began distorting similar to wet sand slipping through fingers in water. Eventually it was only her mouth left, drifting in the wind like a leaf. The disembodied lips smiled. "Oh, and watch out for that," then they too dispersed into unfathomable particles.

Naruto and his master looked back at the destroyed building. Off to the side a yellowish silhouette in the shape of a nine tailed fox was taking shape. Larger than the building they had just been in. "Oh," Naruto was surprised. It looked as if Kurumi had taken some inspiration from the Uchiha's susanoo and developed that thing. It was certainly interesting if nothing else, not to mention creative. He respected that.

Then he paled, law dropping. The chakra construct opened its maw wide, streams of chakra started gathering right before its teeth. No, she wasn't actually going to fire one of those at him, was she? Here? Was she insane!

Naruto took a deep breath and called upon more of his karma. It looks like he would be using up most of his stockpile today. He hadn't intended that but at the same time it didn't surprise him either. If it was going to be used up now would be the time to do so.

With great, deep breaths Naruto felt his power surge once again. A bloody but relatively unharmed Hinata looked on from within Sasuke's susanoo. Strength left her knees as her Byakugan witnessed an increase in the man's chakra twelve fold. This was beyond anything she had seen before. Right now that one man contained more chakra than both halves of the Nine-Tails several times over.

The energy fox tilted back its head and roared. The shockwave created ripped through the village like thunder. The ball of hardened chakra began shrinking and condensing. "Naruto!" His sister screamed to the point of being shrill. She floated within the skull of her construct. Her face was becoming red at the strain. He heard her voice even while being so high in the air. "Come down here and face your punishment like a man, traitor!"

He gave in to her wish. Naruto shot fourth faster than a bullet from a barrel, faster than he had moved in a very long time. Contours of shockwaves rippled the air, Noukan's fur was blown in all sorts of directions, ears flopping wildly. He almost lost hold of his cigar. That would've been a tragedy.

Before Kurumi could even react Naruto had crossed the distance between the two in just a few seconds. The construct proved to be a worthless shield. Naruto punched through as easily as a ball with through glass, right through the head via the eyes. A fist crushed her gut. Tears, snot, and blood-laced spittle leaked from Kurumi's face along with all of the air she'd had in her lungs. He didn't stop. Naruto kept moving and forced his sister from her makeshift susanoo. The thing violently dispersed, along with the chakra it had been amassing.

Sasuke aimed another arrow at the brother holding his defeated sister in the air. Naruto was currently flying towards a random building. Sasuke had him in his crosshairs. All he needed was a clear view without collateral damage and he would take the shot.

The susanoo jerked suddenly, violently. A black rod the size of a small building in the shape of a twisting screw, rammed into its head. It was spinning, violently so. His absolute defense cracked. Sasuke turned back towards where the dog had been. Two of those floating mechanical units were now missing. In their place a long contraption of gears and pistons and wires not unlike a crossbow or catapult.

The susanoo broke an instant later. The high velocity spinning pierced the supposedly greatest defense in the world. The rod broke through extremely close to Sasuke. Too close. The violent spinning caught the Uchiha's cloak and started twisting into it. Bound to the thing instantly like tangled rope Sasuke was pulled from his own creation as the rod ran straight through and down towards the ground. The susanoo fell, limp and fizzling away.

Naruto drifted close to a roof of some random building, his sister desperately gasping in his arms. "Damn it girl, you always did go too far." Naruto tossed his sister onto the building not carelessly but not gently either. His feet gingerly planted themselves on the rooftop.

An instant later he was attacked. Kurumi had pulled a kunai from her leg holster and aimed it for her brother's neck. She really was trying to kill him. Naruto was a little hurt by that. The knife was knocked from her hand and a palm smashed her nose in flat, all within a seamless motion. The weapon clanked to the ground while its owner was sprawled onto the roof in a groaning mess.

Naruto looked at the blood on his palm, then back at his sister. She was already getting up. She reached back to grab something from her weapons pouch. Naruto bit the bullet. He unclasped one of the leather pouches on his side and pulled out a blank card. He didn't think he would need this, but at the same time this was the easiest method of dealing with his sister without killing her; without exposing his secrets. He smeared the blood of his family upon its face.

"You're not getting away with this," Kurumi stood back on her feet. She clenched something within her pouch.

Naruto raised up a card, no, actually it was five but they were held together as one. About the length of a pencil and and half that in width, the backs of them inscribed with words Kurumi had never before seen, separated by a series of concentric half-spheres. The words, starting from the bottom of the card were: LVNA, MERCVRIO, VENVS, SOL, MARS, IVPITER, and SATVRNO. He held them to his face and murmured something to them.

The arm became limp, unresponsive and vestigial, falling away from her weapon holster. Kurumi had no time to even scream. Her legs suddenly lost all strength, more wobbling things of jello than actual limbs. She collapsed to her side in horror, her paralyzed limbs, and by extension herself, utterly useless. "W-what, what did you do?! What, why did-what hell did you do! Undo it, now!"

Kurumi was panicking, such a drastic departure from her aggressive and prideful persona. For the first time in many years she felt fear. Blood pumped and her heart raced, adrenaline surged her system into overdrive in an attempt to escape. It was an almost claustrophobic feeling, the vein willing of her limbs as hopeless as someone pressed on all sides by a cave's tunnel.

Naruto decided to humor his youngest sibling. "I guess you could say I've sealed away your arms and legs." He walked over to her, casually.

"Sealing jutsu doesn't work like that! Liar!" Kurumi didn't have a better explanation for what was happening to her, but her panic-fueled hysteria blocked all rationality. She focused on her right thumb. She remembered the training for the rasengan, the concentration required, the focus necessary to advance; she called up her life's worth of training and discipline, turning red with the will to move. Not even twitch could be mustered.

"And yet here you are," Naruto loomed over her, to her eyes a sinister silhouette against the summer sun. "Consider yourself lucky I'm not a true enemy, as you seem to think I am." He held up four cards, fanned out in his right hand. "I promise you, if the Hidden Rain wanted this village destroyed, we would have done it long ago."

The cards were tossed over her body. As they drifted to the ground he spoke a command. "I return to you the sovereignty of limbs." The cards shattered like glass but carried on the wind like scattered sand.

Kurumi jerked. She could move again, she could move! A foot pressed against her chest and forced her back to the roof instantly. She looked at her brother in shock. He held up the fifth card, this one in his left hand. He turned his hand to show her the face of it; it was blank, with the exception of a single smear of blood across the white center. It was her blood.

"So long as I have this," he warned, "you are no threat to me. Make any moves and I won't just 'seal' away the use of your limbs, I take them away from you outright. Would you like being a head on a stump the rest of your life? Or maybe I'll just dismantle you entirely? Either way you're at my mercy now." He pressed harder into her chest. Kurumi groaned in pain. "Don't push it. Believe it or not I didn't come here to hurt my family."

Before another thing could be Naruto was intercepted. A fireball in the shape of a dragon's head from his left forced him away from his sister. He felt its red heat like an open oven. A man in a porcelain mask and a cloak fell from the blue sky, sword in hand. He landed in front of Kurumi as a sentry would guard a gate.

Behind him dozens of Leaf ninja were on his tail. "Let her go!" one of them shouted. Naruto groaned in frustration. His feet lifted from the rooftop. He waved the blood-streaked card in his hand a final time. "Stay out of this, sis." This was his last warning though he didn't need to say it, the tone conveyed the threat crystally. The card was returned to the pouch and clasped tight.

He shot back into the air. Random screaming and a volley of jutsu, some water, some fire, some lightning, a variety of weapons thrown in for good measure. Naruto weaved through the hail of attacks as a needle would thread. A brave child Uchiha jumped at him from a distant roof, eyes glowing red with an immature sharingan. He bashed her aside to an adjacent building, skipping across roof gravel like a stone flung across water. "Sorry kid!" he screamed at her. He had backhanded her harder than he had meant to. Some of his pursuers diverted in their chase to go check on her.

Naruto turned back to the sky. "Noukan! Meet me outside the village!" He shouted into the air. The golden retriever was closer than him to the walls, Naruto was at least quadruple the distance Noukan was. His master heard the voice and nodded in understanding. The weapon as well as the other unused units floating around him poofed away. With newfound speed the dog flew beyond the village walls, too high to be aimed at by the ninja at the ground.

Soaring through the sky Naruto was bobbing and weaving through a hail of weapons and even more random jutsu. Two-thirds of the way there a trap was sprung by a multitude of ninja. A gigantic wall of mud suddenly towered over him, over half the height of the Hokage Mountain. It was an attempt to box him in.

It was a reflex, really. Had he been moving at a slower speed he would have had a half second longer to pick a different solution, but he didn't, as instinct took over to clear the obstruction. His right arm flung out and a spear of light flashed. An instant later something went wrong. Naruto's power was still technically multiplied by his karma. In effect, that meant the power of this attack was actually twelve times what he would have intended, were this a conscious action on his part.

White light bleached the village. The wall was blown into pieces with a loud crack of thunder that broke glass nearby, although whatever the light was it wasn't lightning. A shockwave rippled throughout the village with enough force to knock people from their feet hundreds of feet away. Nearby buildings swayed from side to side as the ground trembled across the whole village, the very crust of the planet quivering. The explosion was so visceral that the force rendered most of the debris into dust, a fortunate accident.

"Damn it," Naruto cursed under his breath. He didn't want any casualties here today. He pushed through a thick cloud of dust. Above him a chunk of ruble was flung overhead faster than the others. Odd, why was this one behaving differently from the others? Its direction and force were all wrong. Actually, it looked like concrete, not dried mud. Was it from the Hokage office, those pillars at its crown?

A bloodied but still fierce Sasuke brought a foot in a downward arch.

Wait, Sasuke?

A foot dropped like a guillotine onto the crown of his head. Dirt plumed as Naruto cratered the ground, kicked down from the sky. He groaned in pain. "Ow." His arms and feet hung out of his hole in the ground. He looked to be in some clearing, maybe a park, judging by a memorial stone in honor of those that died in the last great war. His bones creaked and cracked as he rolled onto his stomach and raised to his knees, his coat now a cape on some branches.

An orange light suddenly illuminated him from above. With a swipe of his hand Naruto whipped around; a shockwave blew the incoming fire ball into embers. The blast hit Sasuke like a bomb, launching him back farther into the air before landing at the opposite end of the forest clearing.

"Well aren't you persistent," Naruto stood straight. Sasuke raised the sword in his right hand. "Man, look at 'ya, just like Itachi; 'member me? I used to come by every day to hang out with your brother. You were always so offended when we would leave you with your parents."

"Ancient history." Sasuke shut down that conversation. "I'm taking you in, even if you lose a few limbs. This is your one chance to come peacefully."

Naruto suddenly groaned and clutched his right arm. Agonizing pain tore away at him as he felt bones crack and crumble within. He dropped to a knee again. "Damn it," he muttered in an uneven voice. "I thought I was careful with the rubble." Somebody must have sprained their arm or something.

Naruto's karmic abilities were a double-edged sword, on one hand it granted him access to levels of power most people would never dream of reaching; under the right conditions his power could dwarf that of the Ten-Tails. On the other hand the slightest misstep and all that potential got reflected back onto him directly.

His arm for example. With all the chaos and falling rubble someone must have hurt their arm in all the commotion, and so he, as the direct cause of all that, got a threefold karmic backlash, meaning now his forearm was crumbling from within with no physical injury.

Naruto raised his left hand and muttered to himself "release," and a slight breeze rippled through the forest, fluttering his cloth with unseen power escaping. Sasuke felt something, but not even his six-tomoe rinnegan could analyze it. With the power undone, should anything unfortunate happen Naruto won't receive the backlash, however that also means the next time he wants to start enhancing his powers he would have to rebuild his karma from scratch. All this left his current predicament rather iffy.

Sasuke saw this opportunity and capitalized. He didn't wait for an answer. The Uchiha drew back his sword like a spear. Naruto returned to his feet in a hurry. The sword was thrown with chakra-enhanced force.

A few steps was enough for Naruto to dodge the weapon, but he had been tricked. The sword that had just been thrown was now in the dirt in front of him, where Sasuke had just been. The hair on his stiffened as something electrical neared his back, chirping like a thousand birds.

Realization struck like lightning. So, that was it. Sasuke's teleportation was more like spatial switching. That chunk of concrete had been thrown by him, most likely the susanoo, so he could swap places with it, and that sword throw had just been a ruse to switch places behind him.

Slender fingers snatched his wrist, suddenly, just before a fatal wound could be struck. Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes, even more so because he knew instantly this was no illusion. How? His senses were some of the best in the world yet she appeared in an instant, as if not existing until this singular moment.

The nails were an alternating pattern of blue and pink, the hair was that unique shade of blond coming from Minato's line, long and voluminous, tied into a thick braid slung over her left shoulder. Her skirt was a long and loose beige fabric, the jacket was the same as Naruto wore but unzipped, her tight undershirt black. The face was Naruto's but perfectly feminine, the whisker marks of a Nine-Tails parent were prominent on sculpted cheeks, framing pouty lips and a button nose.

She wasn't Kurumi, she was Naruto, but at the same time not. What happened next was fast, so fast that it took the rinnegan Sasuke had to process the following events. A kick to the gut, the woman delivered, right on the gash delivered by Noukan, knocking the air from his lungs like balloons squeezed out of air. The chidori broke from the lapse in concentration.

The drooling man dropped, but even then he struggled. If nothing else, Sasuke knew how to take a beating and keep going strong. Naruto expected that. Birds of a feather knew their own kind in the wild. He didn't think branching out here was entirely necessary but better safe than sorry. His opponent was the persistent type, after all, and that teleportation was a hassle to deal with. That said, it wasn't like he had to use any of his powers to deal with the situation, even with his arm broken.

Sasuke looked up at the woman as she lifted her bare foot.

And then all went black.

---

Nibiru chuckled and stretched herself. She let out a sigh of pleasure. It was the unique satisfaction of moving long stiffened muscles, like getting up after a week long slumber and limbering up. She cared naught for the skin she exposed, as the kimono was lifted dangerously high in the process. "I don't know what you're being sarcastic about," she said with her fingers to the sky. "That was quite fun if I do say so myself." She bent her back into a c-like shape.

"Maybe I'm just a romantic," Noukan sighed, snout laying on his front paws. "But I think there was a way to get them to the table without the big show."

"Oh, I don't know," Nibiru turned around to face the dog. "Sometimes it's necessary to stir the pot, get all that forgotten gunk hidden at the bottom floating to the top!"

Noukan blew smoke from his nose. "...you suck at metaphors." The goddess pouted. She had learned the language in just a day but was still getting used to idioms. Still. After twenty years. She sucked at them.

Something landed on grass with a dull crunch. Naruto and his female look-alike arrived. The woman stood though he kept his knee to the ground. Naruto responds to their confused looks with a smile. Noukan looked at him with some level of exasperation. "That ended up working out well, didn't it?" Sarcastically referring to the broken limb while looking at the woman.

"Some unexpected things happened," Naruto shrugged sheepishly. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

"Yet you wound up with a broken arm and you even branched out," he said while flicking his eyes between the two. "Konan's gonna kill us for that, 'ya know, after she kills you for proving her right." He laughed and smoke wafted out like a chimney.

Naruto looked at his sensei. "C'mon pops, this is mission accomplished. After all that, there's no way they're going to ignore the bait." The woman placed her hand out. "Leave Konan to me."

Nibiru walked over to him. Being a goddess she had long since forgotten the feeling of broken bones or the sting of screaming nerves, but the pain he showed on his face was enough to pull at her heartstrings. She grabbed onto his shoulders, drifting her hands slowly up his neck before cradling his whiskered cheeks.

Their foreheads touched. "Are you alright?" She softly muttered, as a mother to a sickened son. "Give me your arm and-"

"I'm fine," the woman-Naruto said as he was tightening his hold on his right arm. "I'll have Orochimaru look at it when we get back home. Thanks for the offer though." The male Naruto kissed Nibiru. She didn't bother protesting or probing for a reason why he would pass on the opportunity for her to heal him. She already knew.

Despite being Aleister's leash for her power, one of the conditions for her to be left alive, Naruto never exploited it. He could draw on her magic whenever he wanted yet he never did. He even denied help with her magic, for he was so concerned about exploiting her for his own ends. She couldn't help but laugh at that, imagine a human denying a miracle because they don't want to exploit a god? It was so absurd the comedy wrote itself, but he took it very seriously. Maybe it had been too long since she had been around humans.

Naruto stood, cradling his own broken arm. Nibiru only came up to his chest. "Let's just get out of here before they start sending reinforcements or something." His red face cringed as another wave of pain rippled throughout his arm. "Especially not when I'm like this."

"Finally," the golden retriever exclaimed while standing up.

"Are you going to meet us there?" Nibiru asked the woman.

"No," she said softly. "I left with you guys, I'll return with you guys. Now let's go." The female Naruto faded away, like a mirage in a desert.

Nibiru smiled in acceptance. "Of course you are, I shouldn't be surprised."

Two pairs of feet and four paws all left the ground in unison, floating up high into the clouds. As they did, Naruto looked back at his old home, his expression just as unreadable as his thoughts. Secretly he had hoped to see his mom and dad again, but the rational portion of his brain told him it would have been a horrible mistake. He agreed with that, yet he still wanted to see them at least once in his adult life. There was no going back now.

The three flew off at break-neck speeds. It was time to go back to his real home

(End of Prologue)

Naruto's Rule of Three: An experimental application of grand magic in Naruto's world, taught to Naruto in a collaboration between Aleister and Nibiru. The core power is to return one's karma (based on one's own morality, as it is their power) threefold. By doing what one perceives as 'good deeds' one can accumulate karma and use it to multiply an effect such as jutsu or physical attributes. If enough is accumulated they could multiply an effect by a multiple of 3, so instead of being 3 times as powerful it could be 6 or 12, with each multiple requiring a progressive threefold increase in karma use.

Naruto has another use for this power. If multiple people all in conjunction break his Rule then that multiplication becomes an exponent. For example, 5 people attack Naruto without him having attacked, thus breaking his morality and incurring 'bad karma.' Instead of stockpiling that karma for himself Naruto can instantly resolve it. 3 to the power of 5 is 243, so each of his attackers would receive 243% of their combined power.

So long as Naruto keeps away from breaking his own morality, intentionally or unintentionally, then his power can snowball far beyond a Tailed Beast. However, each bad act will blow back on him and at the same progressive scale.

Naruto's Tarot: The first successful union of magic and ninjutsu. Blank cards engraved with the names of the seven planets/planes of heaven in the Paradiso section of Dante's Divine Comedy. Naruto can connect a person to the cards and then seal away individual parts at a time, both physically like limbs and conceptually like chakra or the use of said limbs.

Author's Notes: Over seven years ago I made a crossover fic called Student of Aleister Crowley and I can firmly say it is dog shit; it is a perfect encapsulation of things I hate about most fanfictions. Years passed and I got side tracked, my muse took me to other directions. I had some thought of someday remaking it but it was always a 'eh, maybe someday'. The furthest I had got was a redone description of the Hidden Rain itself. In the last three months I've recently caught up with the GT volumes and it reignited this passion for Index that I'd sorta fallen out of, and then I remember this forgotten file of a story from a couple years ago. Now I'm not going to delete the older story as it is my first real attempt at writing anything, so I want to keep it as a 'this where I started' type of thing. This is going to have the same broad strokes plot but the details are going to be entirely different.

The Majin aspect is definitely the thing that went through the most revisions. Originally I had thought about using Nephthys, Niang-NIang, or Othinus, but I quickly got inspiration to create my own and it just snowballed. The thing I love about Index the most are the abilities of the magic side because of my love of mythology and folklore, and the sheer LSD-induced creativity of them. I ended up with three different character sheets outlining character myths, inspirations and powers with all unique spells with unique inspirations from folklore to stories and/or myths. I settled on Nibiru because she combines my love of Lovecraft and all things outer space related. I got inspiration for her when I learned of a character in FGO called Abigail Williams, reading the wiki and seeing this combination of loli with this heavy dose of Lovecraft in this historical rendition of the Salem witch trials just got the creativity going. Even if you're not writing a story I would suggest creating your own magic god or transcendent as they are so fun to make, and take so much creativity in how you interpret their myths into spells or personalities.

If/when I decide to continue this my biggest challenge will be balancing the powers, I think. I have Naruto's powers ironed out already and there are ways to outsmart it, Nibiru and Aleister, on the other hand, are just way too strong in Naruto because the power system is just like any other shounen. The power ceiling of Raildex completely eclipses the entire franchise. I refuse to nerf them (well, Nibiru is technically nerfed because a magic god can't exist in the regular world without being nerfed, by default, or they'd destroy the universe, but you get the point) because it would be too easy and boring, Now I have a few ideas on how to handle this, so it's not impossible, but I'm going to need to be REALLY attentive on how I use them, which is honestly part of the fun.