Chapter Eight: Battle of Immortal Men

~~Hokage Office - Konohagakure~~

"What the fuck do you mean he ran off?!" Yuna yelled alongside Kushina as the two were in the office of Minato, both having angry glares in their eyes as they were just told that Naruto up and vanished after talking with him about his village.

Minato sighed, sulking back into his chair as he couldn't bring himself to look at the hateful glares being sent his way by his family, not even Shoto seemed happy as he was getting fussy in Kushina's arms.

"I…I kept asking about his gifts, then about how his village seemed to have clans that had some of those gifts. I grew concerned about them, and asked him if they would think of attacking Konoha and he took it as me thinking of the village over him…"

The two angry Namikaze women were furious with their patriarch, neither even giving him a chance to escape their angry looks. Yuna on the inside was both hurt and angry, the fact that her father was able to drive her brother away in that short of time after promising him a warm welcome. Kushina was just lost for words, her fury clear in Minato's eyes as he couldn't even think of anything to say to defend himself.

The family sat there in quiet tension, the ANBU looking over the office not sure if they should feel bad for their Hokage or angry at him for sending away his own son after so many years of not knowing he was even alive.

Before anyone could say anything a knocking was heard at the door. Minato silently thanked Kami for giving him this, and spoke for the person to enter. As soon as the door opened his hope for the tension even dying down a little bit. Two people came in, both the godparents to his children: Jiraiya and Tsunade.

"Are we interrupting something?" Tsunade asked, coming over and looking over the angry girls peering into Minato's soul hoping he'd catch fire. Jiraiya could feel the tension high and went to Minato's side. "What happened to Minato?"

"Your student there sent Naruto packing after pressuring him for information about Chikyugakure. Now he thinks that the only reason Yuna even asked him to come home was to get information about the village." Kushina said bitterly, having to take a deep breath as she went to the couch and sat down, now not even looking at her husband.

Yuna joined her mother, and just like her didnt even look at Minato. "Naruto probably thinks I played him to get him here, and will probably think nothing of me…"

Kushina brought a hand to Yuna's shoulder, trying to comfort her as she could feel the bit of guilt building up in her daughter. Jiraiya looked at Minato, a look of disappointment across his face. "Tell me that isn't all of the story, Minato."

Minato shook his head, looking at Jiraiya. "Noi, they are right. I let my concern for the village overshadow my duty as his father. And now I-"

"You idiot!"

Everyone looked to see Tsunade fuming, her fists clenched before she sent a powered punch down onto Minato's head. The blow caused his head to fly down and smack off the desk, leaving a few hairline cracks in the oak and some blood seeping from a new cut on the Hokage's forehead. "You had the chance to finally see him again and build something with him and you decided it was more important to assess him and the village that raised him?! Are you an idiot?!"

Jiraiya went to Tsunade, pulling her away and holding her close to himself. "Relax love, I understand that you're angry. I am too, but getting mad and beating him senseless won't solve anything. We need to think of how to get Naruto to understand that that wasn't his attention."

Tsunade let Jiraiya, her husband, hold her and comfort her while she sent a dagger through her glare at Minato. Yuna spoke up next, nodding her head to her godfather's idea. "Uncle Jiraiya is right, we need to find a way to show him that wasn't our intention. Uncle, do you know where his village is?"

Jiraiya smirked, nodding his head. "As soon as Minato told me about Naruto and Chikyugakure I got my spy network digging into it. Turns out the island that he told you about is actually no more than a day trip for us if we travel fast. Though getting to the island seems to be difficult since it is surrounded with a dense fog."

"But do you think we can get there?" Kushina asked as she held her baby in her arms, letting him sleep soundly in her arms as the tension started to die down.

"Yes, but I don't think sending an envoy would do any good. And I also doubt sending Minato to do this would be good either, the bad blood is there already and seeing him coming to his village may see Minato as a threat."

Tsunade agreed with her husband's assessment, taking a deep breath before pulling away from his embrace. "I will go with Jiraiya, he doesn't know us and might be more inclined to hear us out."

Yuna shot up from her spot on the couch. "No, I want to go too! It's my fault he came here in the first place, and I need to make amends with him. I don't want him to think I'm like father."

If nothing else caused Minato to feel any more pain, it was definitely his daughter's words that cut into him. He kept his gaze down at the desk, not caring for the blood that dripped down onto the desk as he accepted the pain from the wound. He sighed, reaching into his desk and taking out a scroll before starting to write into it.

"I will make this a A Rank mission. The rank is for the simple fact that you would be entering a foreign village that we know very little about. And as it stands, they don't have any official chunin seen in the eyes of the Elemental Nations since they never participated in the exams. Meaning their ninjas could vary in power. We need to be cau-"

"Minato, stop thinking as a Hokage for once and just let us handle it." Tsunade said with a growl in her voice, making Minato stop writing on the scroll and toss it in the trash.

"With that settled, we will be heading south towards the island in two hours. Yuna, get prepared." Jiraiya said with a smile on his face, easing the tension some more before he and Tsunade left, Yuna following soon after. Leaving Minato with a very disappointed, angry Kushina to deal with.

~~Chikyugakre two days later~~

The village's center was bustling with its typical business. Shopkeepers opening their wares for those looking and restaurants preparing for their days serving the cuisine the populace loved. It was all normal for Naruto as he walked down the streets on his lonesome, giving small greetings and hellos as to those he walked by when they greeted him with smiles and grins. It was truly a typical day in the life of one Naruto Shingami.

That's why when a strange pair of people wearing strange cloaks with red clouds walked by him he was a bit taken back. He looked to the two as they made their way to the center of the village where the Shinigami's Bell Tower was made. He shrugged his shoulders, expecting it to be some visitors coming to see the new village. After all, the Clan Council deemed it acceptable to start allowing guests to come to the city to show openness to the other villages around them. But the two, they gave him a weird feeling. And against his better judgment, he decided to start watching them via their shadows. Where he knew he could watch without fear of being seen.

The two stood at the bell tower's base, looking up at it. One of them, a man with slicked back gray hair, nudged the other with the face mask. "Look at that Kakuzu, they even have a pretty little bell. I guess that means this must be the place where they summon the Shinigami during their stupid Celebrations."

The man now identified as Kakuzu, looked at his partner with mild annoyance and was jabbed with his elbow. "Indeed it seems so Hidan. This would be a good spot to start our mission. Are you ready?"

Hidan snickered, taking the odd three bladed scythe off his back and looking at Kakuzu. "Sure, why not. The sooner we can get this done the sooner we can go chase down that two tailed kitten in Stone."

Before either could make another move, they saw someone emerge from the shadow of the bell tower. The boy standing before them wore a casual t-shirt and thick black cargo pants. "Excuse me, what mission are you talking about? And publicly brandishing a weapon like that is a crime in this village, stranger."

Hidan grinned, swirling the weapon around before letting it rest on his shoulder. "And what do we care about a destroyed village's rules?"

"What?"

Before Naruto could react Kakuzu turned his head towards the civilians around them and made hand seals. By the time Naruto was able to charge at him, the jutsu was finished. "Fire Style: Great Fireball!"

The man breathed out a large inferno of fire towards the citizens, a sinister smirk growing under his mask before he saw the fire dissipate. The cloaked man looked about, seeing himself now in a circle of shadows around his feet. He turned to the boy, seeing that Hidan's scythe was lodged into his arm as he used a single hand to make the hand seals to use the jutsu they were now surrounded in.

"I see you're not a friendly visitor. What are you doing here?!"

Hidan jumped back, licking the blood on his moving hand to the ground to make a symbol. However, before he could even lay a hand on the ground, a hand shot out from the void and grabbed it. Hidan yanked his arm back, trying to break free but the hand started to pull him into the void. Using his scythe he cut off his own arm, letting it be dragged into the void before he and Kakuzu jumped out of the dark pit. Naruto sighed, letting the jutsu fade before walking to them.

All around them hundreds of people were running scared, looking to hide from the people that attacked them while their favorite blonde defended their home. Naruto cracked his neck to the side, letting out a heavy sigh before making swift movements in his hands to have his two sickles of black iron come to his hands.

"So you're not going to tell me? Alright, that's pretty fucked don't you think? Coming to attack innocent people and not even give the reason why?"

He prepared himself as Hidan charged at the boy, the two engaging in an intense kenjutsu battle with their weapons in hands. As Hidan distracted the boy, Kakuzu went to work on completing their mission. They were here to destroy this village, not play with a child. When he turned to face the crowd he was met with an old man, a cane in his hand and an elegant kimono on his elderly frame.

"My, what's this? Visitors that want to fight? Well, it has been a few years, but I think I can take you young man."

Kakuzu let a snicker run under his mask as he got into a stance to fight. "If you want to be the first to die old man, so be it. Though it should be said that I am far older than you."

Kisho snickered himself, taking a deep breath before standing straight, gaining a few inches to his height. He took off his kimono, letting the rather chiseled and impressive frame of his chest be seen before twisting the cap of the cane to draw a slender blade out. The blade was quickly engulfed in black chakra, and Kisho got into his stance as well.

"Well then, it seems it's time to show these young people how we fight, no?"

~~With Naruto~~

Naruto parried another swipe of Hidan's scythe, taking a few steps back as he tried to analyze his opponent but had little time to do so as the crazed man was constantly on his assault against him. Each blow was parried or dodged, though thanks to the three blades of his weapon shallow cuts were being made, and every chance given the man licked the blood of his blades. This concerned Naruto, thinking he used some sort of jutsu that used the opponent's blood. How right he was.

After a few more strikes with his scythe Hidan made some distance between the two, Naruto slowly recovering as his wounds healed at a slow pace. This made Hidan smirk. "So, you heal too huh? Well, I know you're not a follower of the great Jashin. Is it thanks to your connection to that shitty excuse of a deity?"

This made Naruto's eyes glare daggers at the strange man, letting his sickles disappear as he prepared to start using taijutsu to better land his chakra infused blows against the man. "Jashin? Oh, don't tell me. He's one of those upstarts that think they have a domain over Lord Shinigami's realm? Pathetic, you worship fake. But what can I expect from someone who is weak?"

Now that pist of Hidan, who quickly made the symbol he needed on the ground. When it finished his body turned black, white marking to resemble a skeleton adorning his skin as he grinned wickedly. "Upstart huh? Let's see whose god is more powerful after this!"

With those words spoken he swiped his scythe against his chest, but instead of leaving a wound on himself it made the strike's mark land on Naruto's chest. Naruto looked down, blinking before looking at Hidan. "Is that it? Come on, that's all you can do?"

Hidan's eyes went wide seeing how quickly the wound was healing on his opponent's chest, making him grit his teeth and yell as he made several lacerations on his body before sinking the blades into his heart. The attacks landed eash time against Naruto's body, making the wounds appear before just as quickly healing till there was nothing more than a scratch. When the blade was shoved into his heart, Naruto did stumble back, coughing up some blood as he held his chest. Hidan licked his lips thinking he finally got to Naruto, but when he stood back up and let out a disgusting wet belch he was shocked.

"Damn, that hurts. So like I said, is that all you got? Because that's pretty weak compared to what Lord Shinigami has given me. Want me to show you?"

Before Hidan could respond Naruto melded into the shadows again, making Hidan look around to find him. He looked everywhere, but by the time he noticed Naruto emerging from the shadows it was too late as Naruto held his hand to the back of Hidan's darkened neck and squeezed tightly to hold a firm grip.

"You see stranger, my Lord doesn't bestow me with some sham version of being a voodoo doll. No, he lets me use a more practical approach to kill with. Like this."

With a swift tug Hidan felt his body growing cold before feeling nothing at all. When he opened his eyes he looked down to see his own body falling to the ground, the black coloring of his skin fading away before he saw his lifeless eyes. When he looked behind him, he saw a smirking Naruto who was quite literally holding his soul in his hand. He made Hidan's soul look at him as he looked at it.

"Your soul is so small and fragile, no doubt from the corruption of your precious Hidan. Something so powerless isn't even worth going into the Pure World, nor the Impure. I think I will make you stuffed a few times before I decide to let you pass on."

With those words he pushed Hidan's soul back into his body, making the colorless skin of his turn pink with life as he took a deep breath. Hidan got onto his back, looking up at Naruto as he experienced what death was truly like for the first time. Naruto slowly walked towards him, but as Hidan was trying to crawl away he felt his body too weak and fell onto his back. Naruto brought his foot down on Hidan's chest, holding him in place with a snicker to his lips.

"The sad thing is, if I really didn't need an outlet for some pent up frustration, I may have kept you alive to interrogate. However, I have a good feeling that you're not one to talk, so it would have been pointless in the long run."

Naruto sighed, shrugging his shoulders before reaching down and using the same jutsu ripped Hidan's soul out before forcing it back in. Every time he did this Hidan's soul grew smaller and weaker, the essence of his soul dying slowly with each time he passed back into his body. After twelve times of doing this Naruto reached down to pull his soul out, but when he tried the only thing that was taken out was a small ember of his soul left before burning out. Naruto sighed, looking at his hand as he thought about what he just did.

He didn't just kill that man, he made it to where his soul no longer existed. No afterlife, no chance of reincarnation. He was literally gone from reality now that there was nothing to tether him to either side of life and death. Before he could think on it more he heard the large explosion go off behind him. He turned his head to see what was going on, remembering there was a second man that came to harm his village.

~~With Kisho and Kakuzu~~

The two men were engaged in a heavy battle, either side showing any sort of edge over the other. Any time Kakuzu attempted to make hand seals to use his jutsu, Kisho was in his space aiming his Death Chakra enhanced blade to his chest. However, any time Kisho attempted to land a killing blow, Kakuzu would be able to wiggling his way out of the attack. At this rate, neither was winning.

Kisho threw Kakuzu off of him when he tried to thrust his fist through his chest, making the elderly clan head jump back and repose himself as he stroked his long, white beard. "You are indeed rather good, strangers. It's odd really, not many can dodge my Bleak Blade technique. Know you earned my respect, though that will not spare your life."

Kakuzu huffed, grunting as he looked around the battlefield. In their fight they had destroyed several buildings, though thanks to Kisho not a single villager was harmed. It was if he was controlling the fighting to where he knew no one would be. Kakuzu stood up, snickering as he was about to unleash his hearts. But before he could, he felt Hidan's chakra die. He turned his head to only see the boy that confronted them now standing over a lifeless Hidan as he wiped his mouth of blood.

"That shouldn't be possible…" He whispered to himself. This distraction gave Kisho a chance to finally land a good blow. He rushed towards Kakuzu, grinning as his blade sank in the center of the madman's chest. Kakuzu looked down at the blade in his chest, the black fire erupting from the blade that engulfed the man in Death Chakra.

Kisho thought the battle was won, however, the fist flying through the flames sent him crashing against the ground a few meters away. The old man looked up, coughing up his own blood as he saw the Death Chakra fade. The man was standing, however, seemed to have his limbs rotting away. The black threads hidden underneath the skin were faying, snapping away as the Death Chakra ate away at his body. Kakuzu was breathing heavily as he felt the Death Chakra eating away at his skin, threads, and even at all four of his hearts at one. He never encountered something like this, nor did the intel gathered from the sailors of the ship they came here on did their clan's Kekkei Genkai any justice.

"This…was not what was supposed to happen." He coughed, struggling to bring himself together just to feel the strands underneath unable to restitch himself together.

"And what…exactly was supposed to happen?" Kisho coughed, struggling to stand himself. The landing did a number on his back, causing him intense pain when he tried to stand only to fall on his knees. His sword laid at his side, his hands trembling as he felt his blood seeping from his mouth. That blast did more than what he had originally thought. He could feel the life leaving his body.

"I do not talk about my missions, old man. It's bad for business."

"And so is failing a mission, which it seems you and your friend have done."

Kakuzu turned his head to see the boy standing behind him, smiling and waving his hand. "Yeah hi, so can you tell me what you came here to attack us now or not? I mean, I knew that guy over there wasn't going to talk, so I played with his soul for a bit. I can do the same to you, unless you tell me who sent you to attack us."

Kakuzu tried to bring his hands together to attack, to make any attempt at a hand seal, but when he tried his left arm fell off. The strands that held him together so frayed that they finally snapped apart. And to add more to his plate, he felt his first heart give out, giving into the decay of the Death Chakra and was slowly making its way to one of the next ones. He looked at the boy, panting as he felt this was the end. They wanted to prove who those who had mastery over death was, and they were proven how wrong their arrogance was.

"I…am going to die…so I care little to tell you anything…" Kakuzu choked out, falling to his knees as he felt his body unraveling on itself as another heart was eaten away. Naruto frowned at the man, shrugging his shoulders as he was going to leave the man to die slowly. He turned to Kisho, a smile on his face but it quickly faded as he saw the old man laying facedown on the ground.

Naruto rushed to Kisho's side, the shinobi of the village now at the scene. Naruto didn't know it only took him about five minutes to kill Hidan, and in that same time how long it took for Kisho to take down Kakuzu. Naruto held Kisho in his arms, the old man coughing up heavy amounts of blood as he tried to breathe.

Naruto was conflicted on how to feel about this. Kisho and himself were never close, but he always knew the old man always looked out for him in the end. He cared for Naruto in his own way, and that was proven when he came at Naruto's side to defend the village when he was attacked by the strange men in cloaks.

"Heh, not even a tear my boy?"

Naruto was taken out of his thoughts as he looked down at Kisho, who smiled and looked up at Naruto. "It's okay…I am not as close as I wish I could have been…I suppose that's my fault in the end…but it's okay…"

Naruto shook his head, smiling down at the old man. "You just hold on Kisho, we are sending for my clan to come and heal you. Just take it easy and conserve your energy."

Kisho shook his head lightly. "No my boy, I think it's time for me to finally be in our Lord's loving arms…Though I wish to leave you something before I pass…hand me my cane."

Naruto listened to what was asked of him, moving his hand to where Kisho dropped his cane sword and brought it to him, but Kisho stopped him with his own hand and pushed it towards Naruto. Naruto blinked, now tears forming in his eyes as he knew exactly what this meant.

"M-my Lord…I am not of the Shintami Clan…"

Kisho chuckled, patting Naruto's hand that held the sword. "No, Naruto…you are greater than any one clan…lead our people with pride…I hope…to not…see you so soon…in the Pure World…"

Naruto watched as life left the body of Kisho, the people around them seeing what happened. Many began to weep, knowing that Kisho Shintami was the oldest and wisest even compared to those of the Yantoro with all their wisdom from the Pure World. No single man or woman spoke in the streets as news of Lord Shintami's death at the hands of an outsider ran rampant through the entire village. The only sound that was heard was the weeping of countless villagers at the loss of one of their beloved leaders.

Naruto just looked down at Kisho as he laid his body down to rest, holding the cane sword in his hand. He now held the Erudaken, the Elder Cane. The symbol of the leader of Clan Shintami. Naruto wanted to revive Kisho, to bring him back, but he knew that would only cause a tremendous uproar within the village. No one cared who was living or dead outside the village, but within, it was a commandment to never raise their dead. So now Naruto, with no options and a confused heart, was meant to be the next head of the Shintami Clan, alongside the Tuyin.

(Author's Notes)

So, I apologize off the bat for the rather lackluster battle scenes in this chapter. I struggle with thinking how to word things properly, or extending the scene to give it justice. Especially with how stronger Naruto's abilities are with the Gifts. With that being said, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

-Vermillion Clover