The Village Of Sin

by Spyderjsr

The war in Konoha rages on and Hinata is forced to protect Naruto as the white shinobi closes in. Tsunade must fight a heartwrenching battle against her ressurected loved ones. And Keinea has a surprised in store for Sasuke

10. Origins of Sin

Chapter 10: Origin Of Sin

Tsunade and the Raikage discuss Toshida's origins over a few bottles of sake in the early hours of the morning. The two sit at opposite ends of a long table in the Raikage's temporary room, as the Raikage reveals to Tsunade, Toshida's history.

The Village of Sin. A nickname given to the Raikou prison colony on the northwestern fringes of the thunder country. The colony was home to any number of convicts and criminals from the thunder country and their associate countries. This barren wasteland in the high mountains of the colony, was where Toshida was born and raised. The announcement comes as a shock to the would be captive of Toshida, the Fifth Hokage and legendary sennin, Tsunade. She can only sit and wait for the Raikage's next startling announcement.

"Almost twenty years ago, three years after I took the position of Raikage, I came to grow quite fond of a young jounin in the Cloud villages' service by the name of Akira Kunashiro." The Raikage pours himself a fresh cup of sake before he continues. "This man was capable of doing almost any mission that was asked of him and he would complete it with ruthless efficiency."

"He was not only known for his loyalty and effectiveness, but he was also known for his swordsmanship. He possessed a great blade passed down in his family, which is said to be as priceless as it is deadly. The blade was always sharp and by legend, could cut through almost anything. His skills were swift, articulate and most of all deadly and accurate. Almost too accurate if you ask me."

"What do you mean?" asks Tsunade.

"I mean that he took too much pride in his work. He was a very dangerous man. Ruthless does not accurately describe him at all. He successfully completed more then one hundred "A" rank missions, and more then one hundred and fifty "S" class missions. And this was all in the span of only two or three years. To find a man this dangerous at the age of 23 is unprecedented."

"So I used him as my most precious tool. I had him perform missions of the highest calibre, and I returned his loyalty with whatever he desired. However, he desired nothing. He wished only to continue his service in my dominion. What more could a leader ask for?"

"I suppose nothing." Responds Tsunade, "But how did this loyal servant of yours end up in your country's prison colony?"

"One day I sent Kunashiro on an S class assassination of a man who was spawning a rebellion in the Thunder country. The man he was sent to kill, was very fond of using kinjutsu's and black magic techniques so to speak. He was planning on using these dark techniques as a way to overthrow my government."

"So you sent Kunashiro to kill him and stop the uprising?"

"Yes. However, it did not go as expected. Kunashiro did not kill the target for a reason to this day I still do not understand."

"He betrayed you, didn't he." Tsunade guesses.

"Yes indeed he did. He stormed my palace by himself and attempted to murder me. He failed of coarse and was stopped by my guards and me. However, he killed 12 of my best shinobi before he was finally subdued."

"I took pity on him for his past loyalty and deeds, and sentenced him to the prison colony to live out the rest of his life."

"That doesn't sound merciful at all!" Tsunade says rising from her chair. "You just told me that nothing can survive in that colony. You sentenced him to die either way."

"Hmpf, yes you're right. However, in that way he would succumb to the elements and die, and would not face what in his mind would be a great dishonour, to die by being executed by his former comrades. So I saved his honour for him and did not kill him on the spot. Also, who knows, Kunashiro may have been able to survive after all. He was an extraordinary man after all."

"And he did survive?"

"Yes he did. He found the village in the mountains and lived amongst them. From what I was lead to believe, he met another criminal, a female, the two later fell in love and became quite happy together from what I hear. But for Kunashiro, that wasn't enough. He became obsessed with getting his revenge on me. When he and the woman he fell in love with had a son, he began training him to be just as ruthless as he was, as soon as his son could walk."

"How did he come to leave the prison colony though?"

"One day, when he was about eight years old, he and his father stormed the guard towers and successfully made it out of the colony. Over the years there were cut backs from the Daimyo of the thunder country, so we had to take away some of the security that was stationed in the towers. We lost only three shinobi when they stormed the towers."

The Raikage removes his robe and hat and places them on a rack by the door of the hotel room. He retakes his seat at the other side of the table and pours yet another cup of sake.

Tsunade notices that the Raikage has begun to sweat. "Why is he sweating? It isn't overly warm in here. Wait a second, he isn't hot, he's nervous! Why would he be nervous?"

The Raikage continues with the story of Toshida's origin. "After they stormed the guard towers, they began planning my assassination. They were stupid enough to both try and storm my palace head on and were defeated swiftly by my guards. I thought that they had both been killed. But I suppose that I was wrong."

The Raikage stands up yet again, and looks at the clock on the wall. "Oh my, it is getting late isn't it. I suppose that Toshida just returned to get his revenge upon me yet again. As for why he abducted you, I suppose he wanted to try and use you as ransom in order to get close enough to me or something."

"He is trying to get me to leave." Tsunade grows more suspicious of the Raikage's actions with each passing minute. "Although he is a powerful shinobi, he is a horrible liar. That is not what Toshida told me. I don't know what part of these stories to believe."

"I am sorry Hokage-dono, but I must ask you to leave. It is getting late and I must return to the cloud village tomorrow morning where an action plan will be carefully laid out to take care of Toshida and his brother."

"Brother? The Raikage never mentioned anything about Toshida's brother. Did he think that I just did not know that one of those shinobi was his brother? That's it! He doesn't know how much I know and he is trying to get me to forget about all of this." Tsunade just nods and stands up and stretches her arms and yawns.

"Toshida scares him for some reason. But why? The Raikage is certainly a more powerful shinobi then Toshida, even with that thing inside him. He isn't afraid of him because of his power, then what is he afraid of?"

The Raikage walks Tsunade to the door, "I am glad that the two leaders from our respective villages can talk so openly. Just forget about Toshida and the others, their attempt was unsuccessful against you so it is most likely that they will come after me again. It is no longer any concern of the leaf village's so I must ask that you keep all that I have told you to you for confidentiality purposes."

Tsunade puts on a fake smile and waves to the Raikage as she walks away. "Oh of coarse. It was a bit of a scare but I trust that you and your government will handle it all. Good luck! Oh and have a safe trip home!"

Tsunade thinks to herself as she walks away, "That man is underestimating me. I don't know what the REAL story is, but I must find out. Perhaps I need to talk to Toshida again to put all the pieces together. However, after today I doubt I will ever see him again."

Back in the hotel room the Raikage is joined by one of his security guards. The Raikage's expression changes from a false smile, to an angry glare. "The Hokage was on to us. I don't know what Toshida told her but I just hope that it wasn't anything too important. If what Toshida knows becomes public, my whole career could be ruined."

The Raikage turns to his guard as he puts his robe back on, "I want all of our current resources going into finding out where Toshida is. I want you to lead my personal guard and find him. Bring him back to the cloud village alive, and do it QUIETLY!"

The guard responds, "Yes Raikage-sama."

"I do not need the people of the cloud village becoming more aware of Toshida then they already are. To the public he was nothing more then a flash in the pan item of interest. If he were to resurface and start influencing the people of our village, I could face a general uprising, which would mean chaos for the entire country. So find him and bring him before me. You cannot kill him or that thing yet, but if we have him contained then at least he can be controlled."

The Hokage returns to her hotel room where she lays down on her bed, staring at the ceiling and wondering to herself, who is telling the truth. She begins to remember all of the things that Toshida had told her back when they spoke together in the forest.

Flashback

Akira Toshida and Tsunade stand before one another in the forest standing roughly ten metres apart. It is several moments after Ino was rendered unconscious after her attack against Toshida had failed.

"It all started roughly eighteen years ago. My name of course is Akira Toshida. I have no village to call my own, no great clan, and almost no family or friends. I am a wanted criminal in the Cloud village, for crimes I did not necessarily commit."

"Necessarily commit?" Asks Tsunade.

"I committed the actions, but they were not crimes. I am a former associate of the Raikage's and I used to be a lieutenant in the cloud villages' army, before the attempt on my life."

"Get to the point boy. What do you mean you need my help?"

Toshida lowers his head and lifts up his left hand. His hand then begins to become covered in a whitish green set of scales and his nails grow into thick long claws. Tsunade looks on in horror as Toshida's teeth begin to grow long and sharp, his eyes glow green and his pupils disappear.

Tsunade struggles to find the words to express what is going through her mind, "Wh-what the hell are you?"

Toshida's form then reverts back to normal just as suddenly as it changed. "My body does not just belong to me. My body contains the spirit of a demon, a dragon to be exact."

"A demon trapped inside him? Another boy like Naruto? But how?"

"When I was not even born, my father used a dark art's technique to summon the spirit of a dragon from the demon realm. Although he planned to summon the beast into himself, he did not understand the technique fully and the jutsu failed. He wanted to obtain the power that the dragon's spirit offered in order to take revenge upon those that had wronged him."

Toshida looks at his hands as feelings of regret and self loathing fill his mind. "My father did not obtain any of the dragon's powers. That fact drove him mad, until he fell in love with a woman who would later become my mother. When I was conceived, the spirit of the dragon moved from father to son, and the beast became manifest in me. I was born and the dragon was sealed within me, by me being given life."

Toshida lowers his hands and becomes more emotional as he tells the story. His voice gets louder and his speech becomes faster as he explains his origins.

"When the dragon was sealed in my father, its spirit became dormant in his body until it transferred to me. The technique took so much out of the dragon's spirit that it needed to regain all of its strength and power. So it has been growing, and getting stronger alongside me."

"However, the relationship is far from symbiotic. The dragon is a parasite. As It gets stronger, it converts more and more of my body to resemble its own. It takes almost all of my chakra and will power to simply maintain my humanity."

"The dragon's spirit works almost like a black hole of spiritual energy. Whenever I kill someone, their spiritual energy is absorbed into the dragon and the dragon gets stronger and stronger."

"You mean that it absorbs people's souls?" Tsunade asks.

"In a way of speaking, yes. Anytime someone dies by my hand or around me, their spirit and their very being are absorbed into me and used as sustenance for the beast. It gets stronger and stronger every time someone dies around me."

"The dragon remains conscious most of the time if not taken care of. My will is not strong enough to circumvent it, so if it wishes to kill someone, I have no say. It takes over and morphs my body as much as it can and does whatever it wishes. My consciousness remains subdued by the dragon's, and I can only stand by and watch as it does whatever it wishes."

"I helped my teammates to develop a sealing technique that works as a sedative for the dragon. By triangulating the point in my body in which the dragon is beginning to surface, the seal tranquillizes the dragon temporarily and I am able to remain in control."

Toshida thinks in his mind about the sacrifices that his team has made on his behalf. "The sealing technique has permanently branded each of my teammates with a large black scar that takes the shape of the seal. Performing the technique on me is not only excruciatingly painful and draining to me, but it hurts and exhausts them as well. Yet they stand by me, and perform the technique whenever I require it."

Tsunade finds herself almost saddened by the shinobi's story, "His teammates aren't so much his comrades, as they are his caretakers. One of them is his brother if I remember. To have such a necessary bond between the two of them, its almost as touching as it is sad."

"However, the sealing technique is not holding its effect as long as it used to. The technique incorporates a mild genjutsu that covers up all of the scars left by the sealing technique." Toshida raises two fingers in the seal of a half ram, and all of a sudden seals begin to appear all over his body. Numerous symbols and ancient text appear out of nowhere and cover almost eighty percent of his figure, his arms, hands, and face included.

"So many of them everywhere!" Tsunade says. "You have seals, on top of seals. This is madness!"

"As you can see Tsunade-sama, I am getting desperate." Toshida then reverts back, and all of the seals disappear. "The dragon has been growing accustom to constantly being sedated. So not only has it been growing a tolerance to the sealing jutsu, but whenever it does awaken, it is far more hostile and ruthless then it ever was before."

"The dragon can also be awakened by other means. If I use too much chakra too quickly, it wakes up. If I use up all of my chakra, the dragon takes over and uses its own supply. Or if I use one of its techniques, I run the risk of waking it up."

"One of its techniques? You mean the dragon has jutsu's of its own?"

"Yes actually. And they are extremely powerful. There are two types of techniques: The dragon's techniques, and those which were created in unison with the dragon's energy and my own."

"Because I am unable to use chakra to my full extent, I have been forced to focus primarily on taijutsu techniques and my swordsmanship. Fortunately for me, it was just increasing knowledge and skill that I was already superior to most shinobi in from a young age. But enough about me Tsunade-sama. I should tell you about my associates."

"My team is composed of some very talented shinobi. My brother Keinea specializes in surveillance and is very adept at developing new techniques. He is a brilliant young man and has been my right hand since the day we set out together. He was the one that first started using the sealing technique to incapacitate the dragon's spirit within me. He was the first one to join my quest."

"We later met a talented young medical ninja named Sukio Maea. She had been branded a criminal by her village and Keinea and I rescued her from her inevitable execution. Since then, she has felt that she owed me a life debt that she could never fulfill. Her expertise has come in very useful when trying to develop a proper technique to seal the dragon forever . . . or to finally kill me once and for all. Whichever solution comes first. So far . . . nothing. It was also she that thought of finding the "legendary medical ninja" Tsunade."

"She used to say, "If anyone could help you, it would be her." Toshida says remembering Sukio's words so vividly.

"Finally there is Masato Toragai, the newest member of our rag tag bunch of hoodlums." Toshida says with a smile on his face trying to see if his remark would get a smile out of the Hokage. Tsunade's expression remains determined and sceptical.

"S-sorry. We do not know much about Toragai, although he claims to have heard great things about my father, and was anxious to meet the son of the man who "stuck it to the Raikage" I believe he put it. We don't know which village he originally came from, but a lot of his techniques are earth based so I presume he was from the Hidden Rock village."

"Toragai is the binder of my group. His containment skills are very effective, as I am sure you noticed back at the arena."

Tsunade remembers Toragai's sound binding technique that contained the entire crowd in a sonic binding jutsu that used an enormous amplifier to send out the signal.

"Yes, I remember it well. Who designed that amplifier?" Asks Tsunade.

"We don't really know. When we told Toragai of our plan for the arena, he left our group for several days and returned with the amplifier. We were so impressed with the prospect of binding the entire crowd, rather then having to rely on sneakiness and luck, that we never asked where he got it from."

"All right I have heard enough already, I want to get down to the bottom line if you please." A stern Tsunade says as she readies her fists in case a conflict becomes necessary. "So why is it that you need my help?"

"The dragon is getting too strong for me to contain anymore. I am losing the battle within myself. I have killed many people in my lifetime, but that was years ago, and I avoid any fatalities whenever possible, and if possible, I avoid conflicts all together. However, when I sleep, I see their memories. I can hear their thoughts, I know their dreams . . . and I can see their faces."

Toshida clutches his fist as he grimaces to himself. "I am haunted by all those I have killed. If the dragon gets strong enough to convert my body into its own, it will be unstoppable. There is no shinobi alive that could possibly destroy this beast. I need your help, to find a way to take this monster out of my body or help me find a way to kill it."

"But this creature supposedly makes up most of your being. It is a part of you. You cannot just destroy or remove something like that and move on with your life." Tsunade tries to think or something that she could do to help the boy, but her instincts are telling her not to believe him. "This is like removing the essence of your being and giving it a cleaning, then putting it back again. It just doesn't happen. You would die if such a thing was to be attempted."

"At this point Tsunade-sama . . . I have learned to accept the thought of my death. I wish for it actually, anything to rid myself of the hell that is my own mind and soul, and more importantly, to keep this beast from ever manifesting in this realm or any realm ever again."

"And if I say no to your request for help? What happens then?" Tsunade asks, looking sceptical at the tired and saddened Toshida.

"In that case, I will be forced to fight you." Toshida responds.

"You cannot win against me." Tsunade says. She then looks curiously as Toshida's expression does not change. "But you realize that already . . . don't you?"

"Yes Tsunade-sama. I cannot win against you. That is what I was hoping for. If I was to be attacked or fatally injured, the dragon would begin to take over when I have lost consciousness, and it would fight in my stead. When that happens . . . people usually die, and I wake up with another face stuck in my mind, and more memories haunting my dreams."

"The cycle must end Tsunade-sama. You are supposed to be the strongest shinobi in the strongest village in the five countries. If I were to fight you, I would certainly lose . . . and then you would fight the dragon's spirit using my body as its vessel. With any hope, you would kill me, and the dragon's spirit would have no container and it's spirit would eventually dissipate, killing it completely. My suffering would be ended, and the threat of the beast returning to life would be ended."

Tsunade begins to think to herself as to whether or not this boy could be telling the truth or not. "His eyes are genuine. But this story is ridiculous, I cannot believe it. But why would he just let me go like this? He could have killed me when I was subdued. If he is not telling the truth, what could his real motives be?"

Back in her hotel room Tsunade begins to second guess herself. "Maybe I should have taken him at his word. There is no other real explanation how strong he was back in the forest." Tsunade remembers Toshida's frightening strength back in the forest, when Toshida single handedly took out Shikamaru and Sakura with no difficulty at all. Tsunade then remembers the face to face confrontation that Toshida had with Naruto.

"And how could he possibly have known about the nine-tails? His eyes were so focussed in on Naruto, it was as if he and Naruto had some deep history, and the two hated each other. But Naruto doesn't even know who this man is."

Suddenly Tsunade is hit with an epiphany, as everything that is happening as finally fallen into place. "He was telling the truth! The nine-tails! It must be from the same realm as the dragon. That is how Toshida knows Naruto, he doesn't know him at all, it's the dragon that knows the nine-tails!"

For the rest of the night, Tsunade finds herself unable to sleep soundly, as the events of the day have taken its toll upon her. Perhaps being abducted, learning about an ancient evil that only she may be able to stop and the injuries to her shinobi, would cause her to be a little on edge.

Meanwhile, in his hotel room, Naruto finds himself unable to sleep soundly as his dreams are haunted by his confrontation with Toshida. He has a dream that he is once again face to face with Toshida and no matter how hard he tries to fight, nothing can harm the enigmatic shinobi.

Naruto asks himself in his own mind, "Who is he? Why do I know him? And why do I hate him so much?"

Before Naruto can even attempt to answer his own question, he finds himself in a dark hallway. The hallway's walls are a dark golden colour, and seem to be covered in shadows wherever he turns. He is frightened by the dark and dreary place that at the time seems so alien to him. However, deep down Naruto knows where he is, but does not know why he is there.

Inside his dream, Naruto speaks out loud, "All right you damn fox, where are you and what do you want? Why have you called me here?"

Naruto gets no answer from the seemingly endless darkness. Naruto wanders throughout all of the corridors and hallways that make up the metaphorical manifestation of is own psyche. It seems like hours as Naruto knows what he is looking for, but cannot seem to locate it.

He says out loud again, "Stop screwing with me fox! I know you are down here, now tell me where you are!" Naruto shouts as he walks down a seemingly infinite hallway that leads only to more darkness.

Suddenly, Naruto can hear an echoing laughter coming from the darkness. The laugh is evil. Sending shivers up Naruto's spine. The laughter is quiet, but it echoes with a deep, bass filled voice. No matter how many times Naruto hears that voice, it still frightens him, although he shows no sign of fear in his eyes and on his face.

Without warning, Naruto finds himself in a large open room with walls that seem to go on for miles. Behind him is the hallway in which he came, and in front of him, stands an enormous golden gate, locked by sealing jutsu that almost no one can penetrate. Then from behind the gate, two enormous red eyes appear before Naruto and the sinister grin of the nine-tailed fox can be seen staring back at Naruto.

Naruto stands his ground and shows no fear in front of the beast, "Why have you called me here?"

At first the fox does not answer and simple stares at Naruto, laughing silently to itself. However, when Naruto shows no signs of intimidation, the fox answers.

"I didn't have to call you here. I simply opened the door to answer some of your questions. It has been a long time hasn't it boy, since you last visited me in this place? You steal some of my power whenever it suits you, but you never think to drop by and say hello."

"SHUT UP FOX! I WANT ANSWERS ALL RIGHT. I WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU CALLED ME DOWN HERE. NOW ANSWER ME!"

The fox laughs loudly as Naruto's actions have come to be expected. "Still as impatient as always aren't you? I told you already. I did not have to call you down here. YOU were the one that wanted to talk to me. However, you still get afraid when you have to come down here don't you?"

"I do not! Now shut up and tell me what you want, or let me get back to my regular dreams."

"I know you just as well as you know yourself kid. You hate coming down here. You hate acknowledging that I am a part of you. Any time you come to this place, or even steal some of my power, it scares you. The dark hallways, the golden gates, the silence and the sound of dripping water, it all disturbs you to no end, and gives you shivers right down to the bone doesn't it?"

Naruto wants to object to the beast's claim, but finds himself unable to find the words. Naruto knows that the fox speaks the truth. No matter how much Naruto tries to come to terms with the monster inside him. All the years he spent feeling lonely and all the times he went unacknowledged, he has come to almost instinctively blame on the beast inside him.

The nine-tails laughs at Naruto briefly but quiets down after a few seconds. "You wanted to ask me about the man you met today. You wanted to ask me where WE know him from, am I right?"

"Y-yes. That's right. Who is he? And why does he seem so familiar to me?"

"It is not you that finds him familiar. It is I. I recognized him as soon as I felt his presence, when you two crossed each others paths in the hallway back at the arena. And it was not the man that I recognized, but the beast inside of him."

"The beast inside of him? What do you mean, a beast? You mean like you?"

"Yes, just like me. That kid holds the spirit of another demon from the same realm as me. In fact it was I that sent that beast spirit to this realm."

"What do you mean? How did you do that?"

"The beast inside the boy is the spirit of an incredibly powerful dragon, a beast that even rivals me in power. The dragon and I were bitter enemies for countless centuries. Whenever we met, the two of us would fight to a stalemate, but not until each of us had suffered greatly at each others hand. That beast almost killed me on several occasions."

"Enough of the trip down memory lane, tell me why this thing is in that guy!"

"You cannot just sit still and shut up for ten seconds can you? One day during another of our fights, I tricked the dragon into launching one of his own attacks against himself. The attack nearly killed him. I used the opportunity to banish the dragon from our realm and into this one. That way, I would never have to worry about him again."

"In his weakened state, the dragon was hunted by shinobi from many different countries in an effort to prevent the beast from harming anyone. They destroyed the beasts body and its spirit was trapped in this realm unable to leave. And he remained trapped in the same place where its body was destroyed . . ."

When the dawn comes, the scene turns to the camp grounds where the sin shinobi have spent the night. Keinea awakes from his sleep to see his brother standing at the shoreline watching the sun come up from just over the horizon of the east bank. Keinea starts getting dressed while walking over to meet with his stoic brother.

Toshida stands facing the water and the sun rise with his coat draped over his shoulders, blowing in the wind like a long black cape toward the west. His hair remains down and below his shoulders blowing in the same direction. He holds the sheath that holds his sword and flute in his left hand, and his right hand remains dangling at his side. He quickly notices his brothers' presence without ever turning to look at him, or moving his eyes toward him.

"I see you are finally up." Toshida says to his younger brother.

"The dawn is just beginning and the other two are still asleep, if you wanted me up earlier you needed only to wake me and I would be ready to go." Keinea responds remaining calm while taking the defensive.

"It's all right Keinea. Today will be a long day, and I want all of you to be well rested before we set out."

Keinea has a look of concern on his face as he notices that his brother has bags under his eyes and looks to be very weak and exhausted. "You didn't sleep again did you?"

Toshida shakes his head as his only response.

"I understand that it is a tough brother, but if need be you can ask Maea to prepare you a sedative. At least you will have some form of rest. You are no good to us if you are exhausted."

"Hmpf, you worry too much brother." Toshida smiles at his younger brothers caring attitude, "It should be the older brother who looks after his younger sibling, not the other way around."

"Regardless brother, wake Maea and Toragai while I get the boat ready. We must set off as soon as possible. We must reach our destination before nightfall or we will be at a disadvantage."

"I understand brother. But, where is it that we are going?"

"You will find out when we get there my old friend. We will plan our attack when we get there and not a minute before. I just ask that you trust me."

"You never have to question my trust in you brother. It has been and will always be absolute."

Toshida turns around and faces his brother. He puts his hand on his brothers' shoulder and looks his straight in the eyes and smiles. "Thank you brother. Now go! Wake the other two and let's get a move on."

Thirty minutes later, the four shinobi boards the small boat and paddle their way toward the shores of the fire country. After several hours, they arrive at the shore and hide their boat in a series of bushes a few metres from the shoreline. The four then continue to make their way quickly through the forests of the fire country headed Northwest.

Meanwhile, several hours have passed back in the wave country and the shinobi of the leaf village ready their caravan to return to the leaf village. Ino and Shino are set in the back of a carriage that is pulled by a set of horses. The rest of the group, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shizune, Naruto, Sakura, Chouji, Neji and all of the ANBU guards follow suit and make their way through the trails of the wave country and over the bridge on their way back home.

On the way home Naruto cannot shake the feeling that something strange is going on around him. The confrontation with Toshida has him shaken and confused and he feels as if Toshida may hold the secret to learning more about himself.

However, the words from the nine-tails disturbed him even more . . . "its spirit was trapped in this realm unable to leave. And he remained trapped in the same place where its body was destroyed . . ." the frightening fox said to Naruto earlier when he was sleeping, and Naruto awoken suddenly after hearing the rest.

". . . an area which is now part of the thunder country. An area I believe has been called, The Village of Sin."

Several more hours have passed since then, and the scene changes to the four sin shinobi standing on a large cliff side all staring off in the same direction. A faint smile is across all of their faces as the wind blows in their faces.

Toshida's coat blows in the wind like an enigmatic cape yet again as he reaches behind his head and begins tying his hair back into the large thick braid he is used to. As he finishes tying the braid, he reaches over his shoulder and reveals the large black rice hat he wore when he first arrived at the wave country tournament. He places the hat on his head and turns to his teammates as they continue looking off into the distance.

"It sure is a beautiful place, isn't it?" Toshida asks his teammates.

It then becomes evident as to where the Sin shinobi are, as the view of the cliff side that holds the visages of the previous Hokage's. Toshida turns his view from that of his teammates, to the sin shinobi's target . . . the leaf village.

"Well then . . . let's begin."