The Rise of a Warrior: Naruto: Shippuden

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Three years have come and gone, and while Tatsu and the ninja of the Hidden Leaf have grown stronger, they'll have a whole new group of enemies to face. The era of Team Dragon has arrived, but can they rise to the challenge? Sequel to the Rise of a Warrior: Naruto, second story in my Naruto trilogy. Please read each chapter until the end and check for notes.

27. Legend of the Stone of Gelel

The Gelel Stone, a very special mineral that contains mysterious and incredible power that could be very dangerous in the wrong hands.

At one point there was a clan capable of controlling the power of the Gelel Stones, but they were destroyed during wars over the power of the stones themselves.

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A night time battle was taking place on a desolate beach, a fierce conflict between ninja of the Hidden Cloud and soldiers wearing bulky suits of armor, and while the Hidden Cloud ninja fought bravely, they were slowly being overwhelmed by the sheer power and numbers of their mysterious opponents.

Fortunately for them, the well timed arrival of reinforcements, led by two talented Hidden Cloud chunin by the names of Samui and Darui, were able to turn the tide of the battle, most notably thanks to the efforts of Samui with her kenjutsu techniques and Darui using his Black Lightning jutsu, as taught to him by the Third Raikage.

However, when the Hidden Cloud shinobi prepared to shine a flare at the retreating forms of their enemies, a massive warship suddenly appeared before them with a massive arsenal of heavy weapons, shocking the Hidden Cloud forces with its appearance and weapons.

The ship used its weapons to open fire, killing many of the Hidden Cloud shinobi as its artillery shells pounded the surface of the beach.

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Morning came, and the skies were calm and peaceful over the Land of Fire.

Our team of heroes, consisting of Kazuma Kamikaze, Ayame Ichiraku and Itachi Uchiha, all 12 years of age, all remained hidden amongst the branches of a thick forest looking down on their target, a small ferret creature "That's right you little rat, just a little bit closer."

"Keep your voice down you idiot." Ayame hissed "The last thing that we need is for you to scare it away, again."

"Hey that only happened like six times, and the first three were because you were-"

"Will you two stop talking." Itachi pointed to where the ferret creature had wandered into the trap they had set up "He fell for it."

"Yes, we did it!" they all rushed towards the trap in order to collect their prize.

Ayame gently lifted the box and found the ferret nuzzling against her chest "Woah now take it easy, now that's a good boy."

"You're lucky you're so good with animals, otherwise at least seven would've killed you in a bunch of inhumane ways by now."

"His hind legs have black fur on them." Itachi noted "I think it's safe to say that this is the animal we were hired to catch, Kazuma you'd better put him in the cage." he was only met with the sound of Kazuma laughing "What's so funny?"

"The fact that this furball fell for such a stupid trap!" he kept laughing until the ferret started growling at him, cutting his laughter short "Okay now what's up with this thing?"

"It recognizes that you're antagonizing it and it doesn't appreciate it."

"Oh come on, what the heck did I do?" he was met with the ferret clawing his face in a comical fashion before running away at full speed "Ow."

"I think this goes without saying, but that's your fault." the three of them promptly started chasing after the ferret again.

"I got it!" Kazuma made a lunge for the ferret, only for his foot to end up getting caught in another one of Itachi's traps, leaving him dangling in a comical fashion with the ferret gnawing on his face "I think the blood is rushing to my head."

"You're an idiot."

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Soon enough, Kazuma and the others were wandering their way through the mountains to deliver their bounty in the form of the ferret "I still don't have any idea why someone would actually pay to get this thing back, this is why I hate cats and why I never let Tatsu get a cat."

"You don't have anything to complain about." Itachi pointed out "The fact is that we had been assigned a mission to find this animal, and besides the hard part is over, so now all we have to do is return him to the client. And besides it's not a cat, it's a ferret. There happens to be a big difference." he glanced down to see the ferret snuggling against his collar bone "That and I'm fairly certain that it's only you that he hates."

"Agree to disagree Itachi, now let's just drop him off and head back home. Tatsu tends to worry whenever I'm gone for more than a week. Now how do we get there?"

"Well according to this map, if we cross this bridge-"

"All that I need to hear right now. Just come on and move it you guys, the sooner we get this mission over with the sooner we can go home." Kazuma quickly made his way onto the bridge, only for it to break from under him, leaving him dangling over the ravine below "Well… this sucks."

"What the hell was that you idiot!" Ayame pretty much exploded at him "Do you not have any sense in you to read the signs?! You getting yourself killed is one thing, but what if something happens to the precious cargo!"

"You realize that Itachi is carrying the cat right now." Kazuma pulled himself back onto the bridge, now with even more scratch marks on his face, only to notice Itachi staring out into the distance "What is it Itachi, is something wrong?"

"Maybe." Itachi pointed in a certain direction "The village that hired us should be just beyond that field. I don't know what it is, but something feels rather strange here."

"Why what do you mean?"

"I mean it's the middle of the afternoon, but there isn't a single person in sight."

"Now that you mention it… Well what do you know?" he was promptly slugged by Ayame in a comical fashion.

"We should split up from here."

"Give me a minute to shake this off."

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Soon enough, Itachi and the others had split up around the mountain side in order to investigate their findings, or lack thereof "Are you two listening? I think we should start running some recon tactics. I'll head around to the woods on the west, and I want the two of you to head over to the opposite end. Understand?"

"Got it."

"Good. I just hope this doesn't turn out to be more complicated than it needs to be."

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It didn't take long for Ayame and Kazuma to reach the woods on the east "It's just beyond that forest."

Kazuma glanced back to see the ferret squirming around in his bag "How do I get this thing to keep quiet?"

"It's because something has it riled up, probably because of the way you keep treating it you idiot."

"You're blowing that completely out of proportion-" they cut their argument short and whipped around.

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Itachi finally reached the woods on the west side, only to freeze in a mix of horror and disgust at the sight of the village having been completely annihilated "What… Who or what could've done this? Kazuma, Ayame, change of plans. This is looking a lot worse than we thought, we'd better meet up fast." he was answered with a scream from Ayame "What's going on over there, are you okay?"

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"Ayame get back!" Kazuma pushed Ayame out of the way of an attack by multiple masked figures in bulky battle armor and kicked one of them in the face, sending it skidding backwards a short distance, only to be grabbed by the foot and thrown to the ground, knocking his headset off in the process "Who the heck are you guys, what do you want with us?"

"Kazuma, can you hear me? Kazuma!"

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Ayame found herself facing off with one of the masked figures on her own "I don't know who these guys are, but we've got some company over here and it looks like they mean some serious business!"

"Just hang on, I'm on my way and I'll be there as fast as I can."

"Just make it fast." Ayame wasted no time in dodging the enemy's heavy attacks with surprising speed "If you wanna play then I say game on! Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" she breathed out a large fire dragon, incinerating the attacker on the spot, only to freeze mid victory pose when she realized that the third one was standing right behind her "Oh crap."

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"Alright big guy, if you wanna go then let's go! Fire Style: Crimson Dragon!" Kazuma was quick to breath out a large red fire dragon, burning the masked attacker alive in the explosion that followed.

However, when the smoke cleared, in his place was a new attacker, this one having blonde hair and wearing what seemed like a knight's armor, and he gave Kazuma a thumbs down "Shoddy skill in battle, but your power does seem interesting."

"I take it you're the leader of this bunch then." Kazuma wasted no time in charging at him at full speed and launching a furious barrage of punches and kicks.

The knight figure blocked, dodged and countered every attack being thrown at him with ease, only to raise an eyebrow when Kazuma disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Lightning Style: Purple Thunder!" Kazuma burst up from within the ground and unleashed a purple blast of lightning at point blank range.

The knight was blown off of his feet, but he quickly rebounded and dealt Kazuma a quick spin kick into a nearby rock before he landed on his feet, but that didn't change the bleeding lip he received from the blast 'This one…'

"Leaf Style: Crescent Moon Dance!" Kazuma drew a sword off his back, summoned two shadow clones and had them charge forward.

The knight summoned a shield on his forearm to block the attacks from the clones and then cut them down with his own sword, as well as using both shield and sword to block the attacks of the real one.

Kazuma prepared to continue his advances, only to be momentarily distracted by a scream, and so he took to the trees only to find Ayame in the captivity of the third masked figure that was accompanying the knight "Ayame! Let her go!" he quickly dropped down in front of them, only to be followed by the knight "Ayame just hold on, I'll get you free of that cowardly bastard in just a second." he aimed his sword at the masked figure "Let the girl go and try picking a fight with someone who actually understands honor, and doesn't resort to taking an innocent girl hostage to get the job done. I'm not going to ask her again, let her go or I'm not holding back with you."

The knight said nothing, he simply prepared to draw his sword, when…

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Shuriken Jutsu!" a barrage of fire enhanced shuriken from within the trees quickly forced the knight onto the defensive, courtesy of Itachi "Kazuma, just leave that one to me."

"Right!" Kazuma's body began glowing with cyan-coloured chakra "I don't know who any of you guys are and I don't care, I'm taking all of you down at once. Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he promptly summoned 7 Shadow Clones by his side in an instant.

The knight calmly raised his sword, the blade of which began extending and glowing with cyan coloured energy so that, with a simple wave of the sword, he eradicated all of the Shadow Clones within a matter of seconds 'Those were all just duplicates, so where's the real one?'

"Lightning Style: Purple Thunder!" Kazuma charged forward from within the smoke with a blast of purple lightning armed and ready.

"Rising Thunder!" the knight released a blast of lightning of his own from his sword, the technique blowing Kazuma's bag off his back and negating the Purple Thunder, as well as destroying the mountain peak they were fighting on, resulting in both of them getting thrown off a cliff.

"Kazuma!" when the smoke cleared, Ayame and Itachi rushed over to where the battlefield once stood, only to find it leading down into the abyss below "Kazuma…"

"This isn't good." Itachi muttered, only for this to suddenly be followed by what seemed like an earthquake "Hurry Ayame, this way!" he hid both of them behind some rocks as the shaking stopped, only to see the cause of the quakes: a massive mechanical fortress moving forward in the distance.

"What the heck is that?"

"Whatever it is, I doubt it's on our side. I've seen enough anime to know that when a massive evil fortress pops up out of nowhere,

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Meanwhile, with our main hero…

Kazuma slowly opened his eyes to the sound of chattering, and he glanced over to see a large crowd of people nearby 'Huh… probably just some locals…' he glanced over to see his bag lying nearby, only with a massive hole in it 'And the cat is gone, just great.' he tried to pull himself to his feet, only to cringe at the pain he felt from his wounds, and he looked over to see the Knight sleeping on a cot next to him 'Okay, so let's recap. I'm badly hurt, the cat is gone, I'm in the middle of nowhere and stuck sharing a room with a guy who tried to kill me. In all honesty, out of all of the bad days I've had over the years, this one isn't even in the top 10.'

"Oh good, at least one of you is awake." that was when an unfamiliar old man made his way into the room "You shouldn't try and move around too much for now. I didn't think either of you would wake up for at least two or three days really."

"Oh, thank you. So who are you exactly?"

"The name is Kahiko, and I'm the elder of this caravan."

"Caravan?"

"That's right young one, the villagers usually refer to us as the wandering people, or the nomatic tribe." he got to work putting some medicine on Kazuma's wounds "We travel near and far as the seasons dictate, and that's how it's been for centuries."

"I see, sounds interesting."

"Looks like fortune was smiling on you my friend, if we hadn't been passing by in the moments that we did then the two of you would've been washed away by the river."

"How long have we both been unconscious anyway?" Kazuma tried to pull himself to his feet, but strained as he did so.

"A few hours, give or take." Kahiko looked over to see the knight's eyes snap open "Oh good, it seems that he's regained consciousness as well."

"I'm not sure how to feel about that, especially considering the fact that he tried to kill me any my friends, and he took one of them hostage, and that was without being provoked."

"Well now, it's good to see that you've got your energy back son." Kahiko patted Kazuma on the back, causing him to wince in pain "Anyway, let's not have any fighting shall we? When we're travelling together, our differences are put aside."

"I understand that, but that doesn't mean I trust him or-" Kazuma looked down to see the ferret climb out from underneath the Knight's blanket "And it just keeps getting better, and in case it didn't sound like it, that was sarcasm."

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A few hours passed, and almost everyone at the sight of the caravan was fast asleep.

Kazuma was talking with Kahiko over a pot of stew "Fortunately I've always been known for recovering from my wounds quickly, something like this usually doesn't take more than a day or so."

"That must be very convenient." Kahiko noted "Your new friend over there is pretty impressive as well, after all he's healing even quicker than you are."

"He is?" Kazuma locked eyes with the night, and both of their expressions hardened.

"I must say gentlemen, I really do envy your youth." Kahiko frowned slightly when he noticed the symbol the Knight had on his chest, but then he lit up when the ferret suddenly climbed onto his shoulder.

"I would be careful if I were you, I know from personal experience that the creature on your shoulder is as vicious as they come." Kazuma was met with only a chuckle.

"Oh come on now, I know Nerugui is a shy one but I've never known him to bite people."

"Wait a second, you mean to tell me you know this cat?"

"Indeed I do my friend, it's the first time he's ever been separated from the caravan. Isn't that right my little friend, I'm sure you're glad to be back safe and sound with us again, am I right little one? We all cherish him, he's our little treasure. The truth is that I'm actually the one who hired the ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village to find him and bring him back to us."

"So that means you were the client for our mission."

"We move around all year, we never remain in one place for very long, so we wanted him to be delivered to one of the villages at the border. How did all of you whind up here?"

"Me and my team got ambushed while we were searching for your little friend there, by a group that was led by him." Kazuma looked over at the Knight, which was followed by the ferret nestling itself in the lap of said knight "Well what do you know, he doesn't exactly come off as shy now does he?"

"Well how do you like that?"

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Meanwhile…

Ayame and Itachi hid themselves as they watched the area being covered by dozens of masked figures in bulky armor "The area is crawling with those guy, do you have any ideas as to who the heck they are?"

"I haven't the faintest idea." Itachi told her flatly "In the meantime Ayame, you keep looking around and see if you can find Kazuma, and if you do find out anything let me know on our com link."

"I'm not it, but what are you going to do?"

"I found something earlier, something I think I need to look into."

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Meanwhile…

The young knight, who shall now be known as Temujin, slowly opened his eyes, his mind drifting with the wind above 'I had that dream again… My home was attacked and destroyed by some unknown force, and I was the only one who survived… I was almost found by them, but I managed to stay hidden… and then he found me… Master Haido…'

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Morning came, and the sun was rising over the skies.

Kazuma, along with Temujin, found himself travelling with the caravan for the time being, and was soon being educated by Emina, Kahiko's daughter, about some of the history behind their clan "Wait hold on a second, you mean to tell me that your caravan has always been travelling like this?"

Emina nodded "Yes that's right, the land we all came from was destroyed and we've been travelling like this ever since."

"You mean your entire country was destroyed?"

"Yes, it's a legend from long ago that was passed down through our clan. According to what the legend says, we once had a beautiful homeland but it completely wiped out."

"Wow, so what happened?"

"Well long ago there was an ancient catastrophe of some sort, our home was lost and the people of our clan were scattered to the wind, and as a result our people have become a tribe of wandering nomads. Even some of our people have crossed the ocean."

"Really?"

"Yes, Neregui happens to be evidence of all of this, considering he lived among our ancestors in the days of yore. The little ferret is proof that we had a country long ago."

"I don't know about that, if that was the case then we would've been alive for a pretty long time now wouldn't he?"

"No it's true, he's far from being as young as you are."

"Uh huh."

"If you can believe it, Neregui is even older than my grandfather."

"With all due respect, I can't and won't believe it."

"Quite amazing isn't it, our people have been looking after him for generations now. That's why he doesn't particularly take to anyone outside of our caravan. He usually prefers to stay amongst his own." Enima looked over to see Neregui rush between some of the carriages and animals and settle himself on Temujin's shoulder "At least that's how it's always been, but now it's the second time he's done that."

"Looks like he's taken a liking to the big guy over there."

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A few hours went by, and the caravan stopped to rest for a short while.

Kazuma took the opportunity to make his way over to Temujin "Alright, I think it's safe to say you and I have some talking to do. Why did you and your men attack me and my friends out of the blue like that?"

Temujin studied Kazuma for a moment, recalling the memories of their battle 'This one… those powers he used…'

"You know, I don't appreciate being ignored like that."

"Tell me something. That strange power you used when we fought before, what was it?"

"Wait, what power? You mean my chakra?"

"Chakra… It's true, I don't sense any Gelel energy coming from him.'

"Stop dodging the question, I want answers. Who are you, what's your objective?"

"I'm simply here to build a utopia."

"Are you serious?"

"The power you wield is very interesting, you should come with me."

"I don't have the slightest clue as to what you're talking about."

"Just think about it."

"Yeah, I think we'll come back to that one later. What I want to know is why you and your men attacked me and my friends before so-" he was promptly cut off when the ostrich he was riding on suddenly threw him off and started pecking at him "Ow ow ow ow ow! Why the hell do animals hate me so much?!"

'Well at least I can hear myself think again.' Temujin looked over to his armor and gear, and while no one was looking, he quickly geared up and put his armor on, and he started making his way away from the caravan, but stopped when he noticed one of the kids falling out of a nearby tree, and without thinking he rushed over and caught the kid before he hit the ground, which quickly drew the attention of everyone else in the caravan.

"What's going on?" after freeing himself from beneath the foot of the ostrich and getting up to speed on the situation, Kazuma slowly made his way over to Temujin and begrudginglu held out a hand to him "Here."

"Not necessary." Temujin pulled himself to his feet "I've already repaid my debt to these people, and now I have no further business here." and on that note, he promptly took his leave.

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Meanwhile, with our B plot hero…

Itachi found himself hiding in the vent system of the massive fortress, spying on the bulky armored figures roaming the halls 'There's no end to these men in sight, it's like their numbers are limitless.' he poked his head through a nearby window and froze at the sight that laid before him, that being children trapped in capsules, dozens of them 'Those children… It doesn't look like they're conscious, probably kept in some form of suspended animation by that liquid. The only question is, who would need children kept comatose in capsules like that, and why? It doesn't make sense.'

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In another part of the lab…

At the same time, two women by the name of Ranke and Kamira, wearing armor similar to the armor Temujin was wearing made their way into the room with the capsules and started working one of the machines "I don't know, I mean how much longer do you think I can put up with having to look after all of these brats?"

"Easy now dear, you really should watch your temper." Kamira chided her with a confident smirk.

"Oh just lay off will you?"

"All we have to do is hang in there until the Stone of Gelel is in our possession, and then we'll have no further use for them. You just need to have a little bit of patience."

"Well we could sure use its right about now." Ranke promptly activated the machine, which resulted in the creation of one of the many bulky soldiers roaming the ship, only to notice the presence of Itachi, which prompted them to bolt out of the room, but by the time they did he was nowhere in sight."

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Nightfall came for the people of the caravan.

Kazuma was less than pleased to find out that Temujin was nowhere in sight "You've gotta be kidding me, he just cut and ran like that? He thinks he can just run away like that, well he has another thing coming-" he whipped around and prepared to take off, only to stop at the sight before him.

Kahiko was standing before him looking absolutely devastated "How on earth could this have happened?"

"What's going on here, is there some sort of problem?"

"I can't find Neregui, he's vanished into thin air!"

"You mean the little ferret ran off with that knight?"

"Yes. What was the point of spending all of that money on the unparalleled shinobi of the Hidden Leaf village?"

"Okay just to be clear, we brought him back to you just as you requested."

"QUIET!"

"Okay."

"I told you to deliver him to the next village, and now I just found out that he's gone! If I had known that something like this was going to happen, I would've hired some of those legendary ninja from the Hidden Cloud right from the start."

"Oh for crying out loud, are you really going there right now? Look I get it, I'll go track down the cat okay?"

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Meanwhile, with Ayame…

By this point, Ayame was still searching for any sign of Kazuma, to no avail 'Kazuma…' she looked down at the ground and noticed something 'These are signs that someone has been through here. I wonder, could it be…' she looked over and noticed tracks running through the grassy landscape.

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Meanwhile, with Kazuma…

It didn't take long for Kazuma to track down Temujin and Neregui in a landscape covered to the brim with fog "You didn't make it very hard for me to track you down. First order of business, just hand over the cat that wants to claw my face off." he was met with hissing "You're making this way harder than it needs to be."

"Enough messing around, now look." Temujin pointed ahead to the massive fortress lying in front of them.

"What… What the hell is all of this?"

"To put it in simple terms, this is my home."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Temujin, come with me and I'll introduce you to Master Haido."

"What do you mean your master?"

"You'll see soon enough, if you choose to follow me inside."

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Soon enough, Kazuma found himself following Temujin down the halls inside of the massive fortress "So who exactly is this Master Haido you were telling me about?"

"He's the lord that I serve within these walls." Temujin told him "He's a man of both great strength and great vision. You'll surely understand that for yourself when you meet him."

"Uh huh. And those men that you attacked me and my friends with earlier?"

"They're nothing more than soldiers dedicated to the cause. All of my friends are… Here we are, we'll take these elevators to reach Master Haido." they made their way into an elevator, which promptly took them up into what looked to be a throne room, and Temujin bowed to the man sitting on the throne "I have returned my lord."

"Ah Temujin, it's good to have you back my boy?" Haido, appearing to be dressed in the attire akin to what a bishop would wear, looked up from the book he was reading and smiled as he stood up and looked at Kazuma "I take it you're the one? I had been informed by Temujin that he was bringing you, and he claims that you have quite an interesting power at your disposal."

"That is correct my lord, allow me to show you." Temujin drew his sword and wasted no time in attacking Kazuma with it.

Kazuma was quick to dodge his attacks "What the hell are you doing?"

"Stand and fight."

"No Temujin, stop this unnecessary fighting at once." Haido told him.

"My lord…"

"Resorting to violence is never the answer my son." Haido snapped his fingers and the blinds covering the walls opened, revealing the vast landscape in front of them "You see Kazuma, we have travelled far and wide in our efforts to create a utopia."

"What do you mean by utopia?"

"Well to put it simply, we wish to create a world where there are no longer any wars, and there is no oppression of the weak."

"As if to create a permanent era of peace and equality for all."

"Precisely. The land we travel here from is a far off continent, a place that has been ravaged by conflict. War is an ugly and painful thing, a source of boundless sorrow, bestowing nothing but misfortune upon the land. Temujin knows this all too well, war was what caused him to lose his homeland."

"I see, so does that mean he's all alone then?"

"Far from it, I have ensured that he will never be alone. When he was a boy, Temujin was left to survive in the ruins of his shattered village. I made a decision when I found him, I wanted to protect those who could not protect themselves in any way that I could, to create a world where fighting was no longer necessary. That is our utopia, it is my only dream, and for the sake of that dream I've travelled the world gathering believers and comrades. It has taken much time to come as far as I have, and it pains me to admit that many noble people have been sacrificed along the way. Tell me Kazuma, would you like to join us? We could use someone like you, and together we can make the world a better place."

"...As amazing and tempting as you make that sound, my loyalty mainly lies with my comrades and my home in the Hidden Leaf Village, and most of all with my younger brother. I do everything that I do mainly for his sake."

"Your younger brother you say?"

"He's about 5 now, and since we lost our parents in an attack on our village a few years ago all I really want is to do right by him."

"I see."

"How about this: I might not be able to go with you, but I promise I'll do what I can to support your cause and keep peace in my homeland."

"I greatly appreciate your support, so I suppose this just means we will have to do our best until then." Haido looked over and noticed the passenger Temujin was carrying on his shoulder "Oh goodness me, who is your little friend there?"

Temujin looked down at Neregui "My apologies, I spent some time with a caravan and it seems that he took a bit of a shine to me."

"A caravan you say? My, isn't that interesting." Haido looked down at Neregui, only to see that it was furiously growling at him.

"Master Haido, my apologies my lord but we have a problem."

"Tell me, what is the problem?"

"The fleet that we sent to the Land of Lightning has been completely annihilated."

"Don't worry, I'm on my way." Temujin was quick to rush off.

"Wait hold on, I'm coming with you." Kazuma was quick to rush off after him, and the two of them left.

Haido frowned in thought for a moment "We have no other choice. Fugai."

"Yes my lord?"

"There's somewhere I need you to go for me my child."

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Later, with Kazuma and Temujin…

It didn't take Kazuma and Temujin long to reach the sight of the earlier battle, and he looked around in horror "What in the world happened here?" he was quick to follow Temujin inside one of the damaged ships as the two of them looked around, only to end up finding a lab inside that was littered with corpses "What the hell is this? What the hell is all of this about?"

"Lightning Style: Thunderbolt!" a suddenly blast lightning burst out from beneath the rubble and attacked both Kazuma and Temujin, forcing them to evade it as Samui suddenly revealed herself to them "I didn't expect to find a Hidden Leaf Shinobi involved in this mess."

"The same with ninja from the Hidden Cloud."

"We'll get to that in a minute." Samui shot a glare at Temujin "You thought you could sneak up on us, but you underestimate the ninja of the Hidden Cloud."

"I'm really out of the loop here, you mind filling me in on some of the details?"

"I'm surprised you didn't already know about this, these people invaded the Land of Lightning out of the blue. We've suffered a considerable number of casualties trying to stop them from rampaging, whole villages were wiped out in the fighting up until now."

"What? Tell me Temujin, is that true?"

Temujin didn't even flinch or hesitate "They were all noble sacrifices for the sake of the greater good."

"Don't give me any of that, what you say and do are two different things!"

"As fun as this is, note the sarcasm I'm gonna have to take this guy out now." Samui pointed out dryly.

"Look just stay out of this, this one is my opponent so let me handle him."

"Do not stand in my way." Temujin promptly drew his sword and pointed it at Kazuma "All of those who stand in our way will be eliminated without hesitation."

"I can never get a read on you, but I was planning on taking you down from the start." that was when Kazuma looked over and noticed something.

"What?"

As it turns out, it was Ranke and standing in another doorway of the room "Temujin, what the hell do you think you're doing? You know you're not supposed to be here you idiot, your primary duty is to scout."

"I know that but-"

"Forget it." Kamira cut him off "This one is just acting as a lookout, there's actually another unit waiting nearby."

"Yes, but-"

"What has you so worked up? We're getting out of here before things get ugl around here." this was followed by a sudden attack on the two of them in the form of two panthers made purely of black lightning chakra.

That attack came from Darui as he revealed himself "Well this is a pain."

"Nice of you to finally showed up." Samui commented dryly.

Kamira and Ranke were able to dodge the blasts without too much difficulty "Well alright I guess we can play for a bit, but you two really should've learned when to walk away.

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Kazuma found himself in a standoff against Temujin, his teeth grinding furiously "This is insane, what the hell are you thinking?"

"I thought I already made it clear to you." Temujin told him "If one hopes to achieve a higher goal, certain sacrifices must be made."

"Not if it means sacrificing your friends, the people you hold dear, as if they were nothing! Look around you!"

"They are my friends yes, and like me they are willing to give up everything in order to bring about our dream of utopia."

"Spare me your preaching, if they are your friends then you sure have a funny way of showing it to people."

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Meanwhile, with the Hidden Cloud ninja and Haido's knights…

Samui found herself battleing against Kamira, firing a barrage of kunai and shuriken but they were dodged with ease "You're pretty adept and agile, you can dodge my attacks easily."

"Oh trust me, I'm able to do a lot more than dodge." Kamira unleashed a wave of darkness that appeared to cover the entire area.

"If all you have is darkness, then you have no chance of winning." Samui looked around but nearly lost her composure at the sight of a giant sized Kamira watching her every move, as well as the sight of various grotesque figures from within the darkness.

"Feel the cries of those who stood against us, doomed to wander the Land of Death!"

'So she uses some kind of genjutsu.'

"So prepare yourself for an eternity of anguish and suffering, the same with all of those who dare to oppose us!"

Samui found herself being further and further engulfed in the genjutsu, to the point where she whipped around and found herself being strangled by an illusionary version of Kamira 'What kind of genjutsu is this?'

Kamira's smirk widened considerably "Well this has been fun, but I'll be seeing you on the other side."

'What the hell…'

"There's no use in struggling against me." but then Kamira suddenly saw Samui disappear into a puddle of water "What the hell, some kind of water clone?!" she disappeared in the form of a flock of bats, and her genjutsu disappeared and the setting returned to normal "So that's your game then is it?"

Samui found herself hiding amongst the rubble 'I have to admit, this one is pretty cool with her genjutsu.'

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Meanwhile, with Darui and Ranke…

As it turns out, Ranke was set up to battle against Darui, and she shot him a smirk "I hope you know what you're getting into."

Darui gave a simple shrug "Well it might be a pain, but I can handle it without too much of a problem."

"Sure, you say that now. Tornado Lightning!" Ranke unleashed a surge of electricity from her palms that ripped through the ground around her and shot towards Darui at full speed.

"Water Style: Water Wall!" Darui summoned a water barrier around his body that protected him from the electrical surge, and when the smoke cleared he was revealed to be completely unharmed "Gale Style: Laser Circus!" he blitzed through several hand seals and unleashed a barrage of electrical lasers.

"Plasma Ball!" Ranke unleashed an electrical barrier to protect herself from Darui's Laser Circus jutsu, as well as a surge of electricity.

Darui protected himself from the surge using his Water Wall jutsu.

"Oh come on, don't you want to play?" Ranke thrusted her hand into the ground and unleashed another Tornado Lightning surge, which allowed her to break through Darui's Water Wall and get close to him "Thunder Sabre!" she unleashed a blast of electricity from her hand and promptly struck Darui with it, blowing him clear through the wall of the room and into another wall "Well that was easy." but then she found her arms and legs being bound by water "What the hell is this stuff?!"

The smoke cleared to reveal Darui alive and well, and with only a few scratches "Ninja Art: Water Prison Jutsu!" he engulfed Ranke in a water prison sphere.

Ranke suddenly burst out of the water prison, but she revealed herself to have taken on a partial hideous transformation, leaving her looking like a deformed monster "I'm not through with you yet, not by a long shot!"

"So you can make yourself more powerful by altering the structure of your body."

"You got it, now let's finish this!" Ranke transformed herself all the way into her monstrous form and charged forward at full speed, blowing away every water stream being thrown at her "It's all useless, none of that will do anything against my Plasma Ball, now take this!" she let a fist fly towards Darui, leaving the water jutsu to engulf her.

Darui himself was sent hurtling downwards and crashing to the ground, leaving him in a heap as a result of the impact.

Ranke lowered herself to the ground in front of Darui and let out a scoff "And that take care of that, now that was just pathetic." but then she saw Darui dissolve into water "What the hell is this, some kind of clone?"

As it turns out, Darui was standing above her a short distance away "Let me guess, this is your first time facing off against a shinobi?"

"What the hell, you mean you're still alive?!"

"Yep, and as much of a pain as it is I'm gonna have to take you down. Lightning Style: Double Black Panther!" Darui blitzed through several hand seals and unleashed two panthers made entirely of black lightning, engulfing Ranke in the explosion that followed and blowing apart a good chunk of the ship in the process.

When the dust settled, Ranke burst up from beneath the rubble and charged towards Darui in a blind rage "Now do you see, your black lightning and your water are nothing in comparison to my electricity! You don't stand a chance in hell of defeating me!"

"You think so huh? Gale Style: Storm Rods!" Darui rained down several black rods made of electricity from above, creating a massive surge of lightning that caused Ranke to scream in pain and agony "What was that you were saying before? Lightning Style: Black Panther!" he then unleashed one final Black Panther, engulfing Ranke and frying every last ounce of life out of her body, killing her within seconds "What a pain."

By this point, Kamira had rushed out to see what was going on, just in time to see Ranke being killed by Darui "I don't believe it…" she looked down to see Kazuma and Temujin still going at it with each other.

"Oh cool, I finally found you." that was when Samui showed up on the scene and fired a barrage of kunai that was dodged with ease "Are you really going to run?"

"You should've run when you had the chance." Kamira dodged another barrage of kunai and promptly took on her own monster form, then breathed out a large smokescreen, which allowed her to escape from the scene.

'So they decided to flee because they knew they couldn't win.'

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Kazuma was still fighting against Temujin, their blades clashing, only for him to be stopped by the smokescreen "What the hell is this?"

"New plan Temujin, we're withdrawing!" Kamira swooped down and picked up Temujin, and the two of them flew off and out of sight together.

"You're not getting away that easily!" Kazuma charged after them, and he pounced at and caught ahold of a figure in the air within the smokescreen "You're not going anywhere!"

"Can you just let go of me?"

"Not a chance!" Kazuma looked up as the smoke cleared and he realized it was Samui he was holding onto "Oh. I've gotta work on my sensory abilities."

"And I'm losing my grip."

"Why the hell are you even up here?" but then the bar Samui was holding onto gave way, and the two of them fell into the ocean below.

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What they hadn't realized was that the caravan had been attacked.

Another one of Haido's followers, a woman by the name of Fugai, had laid waste to the caravan and had Kahiko in her grip "I'm not leaving without that Stone, so where is it?"

Kahiko wasn't giving up against her that easily "What… What makes you think I would know anything about that/"

"Don't think you can play dumb with me!" Fugai tightened her grip, when…

"Water Style: Raging Waves!"

Fugai was forced to release her grip on Kahiko to dodge the stream of water that was shot towards her, and growled at what she saw "Great, one more piece of trash…"

As it turns out, it was Itachi standing atop a nearby boulder "You know, you really should respect the elderly."

Ayame was quick to come to the aid of Kahiko "Are you alright?"

"We saw your signal flare, it wasn't hard to notice."

"And just who the hell are you?!" Fugai let out a snarl.

"You won't have any luck calling for your goon squad either, we already took care of them. All of the power in the world doesn't mean anything if they don't know how to control it."

"You little…" in her rage, Fugai transformed into a monstrous werewolf like creature, and she promptly let out a howl that destroyed the boulder Itachi had been standing on and nearly sent him flying, and then she retreated across the rocky landscape.

Itachi pulled himself back to his feet and spat out some rubble "Like that for example, knowing how to control it like that."

"Kazuma probably won't let you live that down." Ayame took a moment to sit Kahiko down on a nearby rock "Don't strain yourself, just try to catch your breath."

"And as he does, I need to ask him a few questions." Itachi looked Kahiko in the eye, his expression deadly serious "What can you tell me about the Stone of Gelel?"

"Stone of Gelel?" this caused Kahiko's expression to harden.

"I know it has nothing to do with us, but I don't think this is something that can be ignored. I heard some people talking about it back in that fortress."

"So you think they need it to achieve their goals somehow?"

"For all I know, the Stone could very well be their goal. Anyway, if you don't want to tell us then I'm not going to force you. Besides, we have a friend we came here to search for, so that's our main goal right now. Come on Ayame, we should get going."

"Just a moment." Kahiko finally found his voice "Is Kazuma this friend you're referring to?"

"That's his name yes, I'm guessing that means you know him."

"Please help me I don't have anyone else to turn to. If we don't hurry then something terrible is going to happen."

"And Kazuma is at the center of it, this has actually become somewhat of a trend for us by this point."

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Meanwhile, with the deuteratagonist…

Temuin stood high atop a tall tree, brooding over his exchange with Kazuma earlier 'That damn fool, he doesn't know anything about me! Master Haido found me and showed me the power of the Stone of Gelel, and he told me of how its power would allow us to create a utopia, a world without any wars or bloodshed, and he entrusted me with a Stone of Gelel and implanted it inside me.' then he got a message on his comm from Fugai "What's the matter?"

"You blind little fool, that caravan you were trancing around with has information on the Stone of Gelel!"

"What?!"

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Meanwhile, with Haido…

Haido looked over at Fugai as he was informed of the events unfolding "So this lead then, has the trail gone cold?"

"I already had Temujin head out after them my lord." Fugai assured him.

"Well done my dear, the day in which he has failed to meet my expectations still has yet to come upon us."

"All thanks to that power he wields, fortunatley for us."

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Meanwhile, with Temujin…

Bu this point, Temujin was searching through the wreckage of the caravan 'Fugai said that there was some sort of information the caravan had on the Stone of Gelel, but if they were keeping it somewhere then where would it be?' he suddenly dodged a quick volley of shuriken, only to find himself trapped by invisible wires 'What the-?'

As it turns out, those wires were coming from none other than Itachi "We've been expecting you to come back at some point."

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Nightfall came, and the team from the Hidden Leaf had regrouped with the rest of the people from the caravan, who were hiding in a nearby cave.

Kazuma wasted no time in rounding on Temujin in a rage "You idiot, do you have even the slightest clue what you've done to these people?!"

"I have nothing further to say to you." Temujin told him flatly.

"Well too bad, because I have plently to say to you!"

"Easy now Kazuma, just hold on for a moment." Kahiko was quick to call him off, and then he approached Temujin himself.

"It never would've occurred to me." Temujin noted "The possibility of you having any sort of information about the Stones of Gelel I mean."

"Never mind that right now, why are you after the stones in the first place?"

"The reason why we're after them is simple, they're essential to our cause."

"Your cause doesn't know anything about the horror those stones carry with them. They must never be allowed to return to this world, do you understand me?"

"What I understand is that you can save your lecture for someone else." a light started shining from his chest, revealing the silhouette of a stone in front of him "See for yourself."

"I see, so it's just as I thought."

"What is that light exactly?" asked Ayame.

"It's a Stone of Gelel, the supposed source of all life energy."

"Indeed it is." Temujin gave a smirk "I know more about the Stones of Gelel than anyone else does."

"That explains the powers of recovery you possess. Tell me though, how exactly did you come by that stone?"

"It was a gift, given to me by my Master Haido."

"I see, and is that the only stone you have in your possession? That is odd though, if you actually are a descendent of our clan members who travelled across the sea then I can't help but wonder as to why it is you wouldn't know that. Does that mean the Book of Gelel was lost then?"

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"In the days of old, it was only the members of the royal family that could fuse the Stones of Gelel with the flesh of their physical bodies. Kazuma tell me, I did speak with you about this the other day did I not, about how some of our people took to the sea after our country had been lost, correct?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah actually…" Kazuma muttered.

"According to the legend, it was the royal family itself that left, taking with them the Book of Gelel as well as the last of the remaining Stones of Gelel across the waves. You said that your name was Temujin right? You haven't come to a new land boy, you're returning home. The fact is that you and I are of the same people, both of us descended from a single clan. We know very little of the origin of the stones, but it seems that thousands of years ago, during the time of the Rabbit Goddess, a mysterious deposit of minerals was discovered. Our ancestors were able to refine that mineral in a crystallized form, and they started referring to the mineral by the term that is Gelel. A vast empire was built on this continent with the precious stone acting as its foundation. We were able to build wells that never ran dry, we had livestock that multiplied overnight, and trees bore fruit continually. It's even said that they looked for ways to stop all life from aging."

"This is the first I've ever heard of this." Itachi noted.

"That's not surprising, this was a very long time ago. But as is often the case, great levels of power brought with it unimaginable catastrophes. People fought and quarreled shamelessly over the power of the Gelel Stones, and in the end their power was used to wage a massive war. Earth and mountain were ripped asunder, until eventually the empire was completely obliterated by the conflict altogether."

"That's horrible…" Ayame muttered.

"Only a handful of young people were able to survive, and our ancestors sealed away the coveted mineral deep underground, and they vowed never to revive the stone again."

"But I don't understand, I mean if it was really that dangerous, then why didn't try to get rid of such a terrible thing once and for all?"

"The reason for that is because the stones can only be destroyed by those who come from the royal bloodline, but with the royal family lost to us forever, all we can do is watch over them and guard the secret with every new generation that comes. The legends have slowly faded away, supposed to fade away, and one day the story of our past will forever be lost to the memory of time."

"Fade away, for ever lost to the memory of time?" Temujin let out a scoff "And thanks to hearing that, my resolve is stronger than ever before. Nothing is going to stop me from getting my hands on those stones now."

"You can't be serious!" Kazuma promptly rounded on him in a rage "Didn't you hear a word the old man just said?!"

"The fact is that power is power, nothing more and nothing less. The only thing that matters is who wields that power."

"The Stone of Gelel is far too dangerous to the world of men." Kahiko told him "Even the likes of the Rabbit Goddess knew of the danger they represented. They must never be awoken from their slumber!"

"It doesn't matter what power it may hold, because I know for a fact that Master Haido is going to use it in a just way. He once told me that war breeds only suffering, but without someone guiding us from above, there can be no end to the blood being shed. This is what my master teaches, and the truth in his words is forever etched into my heart. In the fog of war, my village fell prey to an attack by a gang of thieves. Those of us who survived were left orphaned as a result, but we were taken in by Master Haido. I want to grant him his wish to free this world and its people of war. My comrades and I share those feelings, no sacrifice is too great. That is the only dream I possess, and I need the Stone of Gelel in order to make it into a reality." and so on that note, he broke free of his restraints, leapt behind Kahiko and held a blade in front of his throat, effectively taking him as a hostage.

"So he was faking being a hostage from the beginning." Kazuma let out a snarl "You little son of a…"

"Alright enough of that, you're going to tell me where the Mines of Gelel are hidden."

"I will not." was all Kahiko said.

"So be it then, you leave me no choice." so he knocked him out with a hit to the back of the neck and threw down a flash bomb, blinding everyone present and allowing him to escape from the cave, taking Kahiko with him.

"Dammit, it's times like these I think glasses do more harm than good." Kazuma rubbed his eyes as the effects of the flash bomb went off "Alright Ayame, Itachi, let's get moving. We've gotta go after that dirty bastard. Emine was it, I don't suppose there's any chance you could tell us where we can find the Mine of Gelel?"

"I'm sorry, I would if I could." Emina bowed her head sadly "But unfortunately, the only one who knows where it is would be my grandfather."

"And my sensory abilities only work with chakra, but apparently these Stones of Gelel are working with something different, so that rules me out, and we don't have a ninja hound or anything going for us."

"I think I have a substitute in that regard." Itachi pointed at where Neregui was clawing against the wall of the cave.

"You don't think…"

"You have to learn to improvise in situations like these."

"...I hate this already." and so the three of them rushed out of the cave, following Neregui through the thick forest.

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Meanwhile, with Temujin…

By this point, Temujin was riding on horseback through the forest, taking Kahiko with him as he did so 'I've come too far to turn back, I shall do whatever it takes.' he stopped when they reached the ruins within an old canyon "So this is it." he made his way over to the horse and the young one that had been riding it "I'm sorry I had to treat you so roughly little one, now go on." and so he sent them on their way, then turned to Kahiko as he drew his sword, the blade glowing a cyan color as he rose it into the sky, causing a pillar of light to shoot up and then redirect. Once that happened, he sheathed his sword and looked over at Kahiko "Do it."

"...So be it." so with some reluctance, Kahiko started leading Temujin onwards.

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Meanwhile, with Haido…

From where he remained at his base, Haido and his remaining suboordinates received the cyan-colored energy unleashed by Temujin "Well, how is it?"

"Everything is ready my lord." Fugai told him.

"Excellent, then I believe the time has come for us to get moving then, shall we?"

"As you wish my lord." and on that note, the base promptly started moving forward towards their objective.

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Meanwhile, with our three protagonists…

By this point, Kazuma and the others (Ayame and Itachi in this case) had followed Neregui to the point where they made their way into another part of the ruins "Okay, so does this thing even know where it's going?"

"I don't think that's relevant right now." Itachi pointed out "The fact is that right now, he's the only chance we actually have."

"You'd better be right about this- Hey guys check it out, there's an exit?" and so they ran straight through it, only to suddenly find themselves hanging from the ledge of the path.

"Do. Something. Idiot." Ayame ground out from where she was hanging onto Itachi for dear life, whereas he was hanging onto the path.

"Shut up, I see something." he looked down at Temujin and Kahiko walking on a path below them, and then he pulled himself back onto the path and found Neregui poking his head out of another doorway "I found the cat."

"It's a ferret."

"Whatever."

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Meanwhile, with Temujin…

By this point, Temujin had continued to follow Kahiko until the two of them reached what looked like a dead end "You know this place, so lead me the way."

"So be it then, follow me." Kahiko led him forward.

"If you're trying to mislead me then it won't work."

"HEY!" this was when Kazuma suddenly dropped down onto the scene with his sword drawn, clearly ready for a fight "I'm only going to say this once, let the old man go."

"I'm only going to tell you once, stay out of this." but then every started shaking as a massive machine suddenly drilled through the walls, and a door opened to reveal Haido and what was left of his knights.

"What the hell is that?"

"Master Haido." without missing a beat, Temujin got down on one knee "The Mines of Gelel are below us."

"I thank for that my son, I'm in your debt." Haido gave him an unnerving smile "For it's thanks to your sacrifice that our utopia is finally within our grasp."

"Yes my lord."

"Very well then everyone, let us be on our way." Haido started to make his way, only to suddenly be bound by some threads.

"Hold on just a moment." as it turns out, Itachi was the man behind the threads "I hope you don't mind, but my friends and I have a few questions that need to be answered."

"So you do. I'm alright Fugai, you don't have to worry. This is a bit unsettling though, good manners appear to be such a hard rarity to come by in this day and age. He wouldn't happen to be a friend of yours would he Kazuma? I have to say that I am a little bit puzzled my boy, we made a promise to one another did we not? We swore that we would do our best to try and make this world into a better place."

Kazuma let out a scoff "Oh please, as far as I'm concerned you're the only one who has any sort of explaining to do. What do you plan to do once you get your hands on the Stone of Gelel, what sort of endgame goal do you have?"

"What do I plan to do? Well it's like I said, I aim to create a utopia, a world without any sort of wars, where the weak will be free from the weight of oppression by the strong."

"And yet I can't help but wonder." this was when Itachi decided to speak up "From where I stand at the moment, it appears as though you're doing the exact opposite of that."

"All that I do is in the name of true justice."

"Then why did you go out of your way to attack an innocent caravan? I doubt that could really be considered justice."

"Such things cannot be helped. Myself and my children have made great sacrifices up until this point as well. These are noble sacrifices that are necessary to finally bring about the creation of a world that doesn't have any wars."

"Hey old man." this was when Kazuma got his attention, his scowl still present "A hell of a lot of people gave their lives for your dream, it wouldn't kill you to at least pretend to care. Then again I don't know why I'm even bothering with you, because in your eyes they were just a means to an end weren't they? Is that all your fallen comrades are in your eyes?"

"This is what it means to accomplish something."

"So you don't mind that these noble sacrifices are your own comrades."

"That's right." this time it was Temujin who answered him "The fact is that I've already accepted this, just as the rest of my brethren have done." he failed to notice Kahiko step back slightly.

"Is that so?"

"Such a thing cannot be helped." Haido told him simply "As comrades we share a common vision, a vision of a peaceful utopia. Each of us dreams of a world where peace can finally be possible."

"Then they aren't really your comrades are they?"

"And why would that be?"

"I don't know if this is the best way to put it, but a friend or comrade is someone that actually matters in the grand scheme of things. They should be the most important thing in this entire fucking world to you!" he took a breath to calm himself down "I lost my parents at a young ange, and for awhile it was just me and my younger brother trying to get by. I felt the pain eating away at me each and every single day over the years, but over time I made friends and that loneliness slowly faded over time. That's why I want to make the world a better place, so I can protect all of the people who help me to stay strong, those who are important to me. And this so called utopia that you're constantly talking about, who is it even for? Dreams that don't include the people you hold dear are as good as trash, and that's why I'm putting an end to all of this." this was followed by the ruins beginning to shake, and the structures in the center of the area disconnected from the main path.

Temujin immediately rounded on Kahiko "What is this old man, what exactly do you think you're doing?"

"What I'm doing is what should've been done a long time ago." Kahiko told him "The time has come for this plague to be eliminated from the world once and for all, even if it means that we perish in the process." and then the structure they were on began to sink downwards.

"Old man hold on!" Kazuma tried to rush over towards them, only for the path to seal itself after they were gone.

"He intends to eliminate the stone?" Haido's expression quickly twisted into one filled with rage and malice as he pulled out a book from his robe "That cannot be possible!" he searched through the book but quickly threw it to the ground "The old man must know something." he leapt down onto the structure and swatted Kazuma aside with surprising levels of strength, sending him flying into a nearby wall, while Haido himself slammed a fist down onto the ground of the structure, causing it to shatter and reveal the pathway lying underneath "Hurry up and go, I'll catch up to you!"

"Master Haido, you must return to the stronghold!" Kamira called out to him.

"We'll never make it in time that way, just bring the stronghold with you." and as the four dark red orbs floating over his back morphed into black strips attached to him, he floated down the passageway with some of his Gelel men following him.

"Yes sir!" so on that note, Fugai promptly floated up in front of Itachi "Sorry little man, but you're going to have deal with me if you want to get to them."

Kamira on the other hand, she found herself stopped from advancing by a barrage of kunai, courtesy of Ayame "You've got a lot of nerve going for you don't you?"

"I think you'll be surprised by what else I've got going for me." Ayame promptly whipped out some more kunai and shuriken "Hurry and get going Kazuma, we can handle them."

"Right, I'm on it!" and on that note, Kazuma burst out from the rubble, shook off the potential concussion, and promptly started sliding down the passageway himself 'Haido, Temujin, I hope you guys are ready, because I'm coming for you!'

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Meanwhile, at the bottom of the pathway…

By this point, Temujin and Kahiko had reached the bottom of the passage and ended up reaching a large underground chamber "What is this place, where are we?"

"According to the stories of old from our ancestors, this place is what's known as the Chamber of Sealing." Kahiko told him "Everything is just as it was described by the legend. I've never even been here before in my life, and yet all of it feels familiar somehow. The images we're seeing were left here by our ancestors when they sealed this place away. They depict the terrible power of the Stones of Gelel."

"What are those pictures over there?"

"Oh those are about another evil that ravaged the world known as the Rabbit Goddess, but we're not here for that right now."

"And what about this one in front of me?"

"That seems to be a depiction of despair, the empire was reduced to nothing, just like the picture you're seeing before you."

"How promising. This means that our search hasn't been in vain, it's all that we hoped it was going to be."

"And you're telling me you're not horrified by all of this? That ghastly picture proves it, this kind of power brings only destruction. Seriously, if you need another example just look at the pictures of the Rabbit Goddess over there."

"That picture also proves that people are always going to fight, with or without the power of the Stone of Gelel, but we shall be wielding this power for the greater good."

"Is that so?" he started subtly reaching into his robe "The Stone of Gelel is actually much further down, but our journey… well that one ends right here!" he suddenly whipped out a small dagger and charged at Temujin.

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Meanwhile, above ground…

With a maniacal laugh, Kamira started chasing Ayame across the ruins "You made the wrong choice today little girl, your meddling is going to cost you your life!"

"I think we'll see about that soon enough!" Ayame continued bolting through a hallway in the old ruins, only to screech to a halt at the sight of Kamira standing in front of her, already in her beast form 'Dammit!'

"You're damn right we will!" Kamira started blitzing through Ayame with one attac after another, forcing her on the evasive.

'Dammit this is bad, I have to think of a way out of this.'

"You can't run from me forever girl!"

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Meanwhile, with Fugai vs Itachi…

"Come on little boy, what's the matter?" Fugai didn't waste a second in chasing Itachi across the ruins "Why don't you go ahead and show me what you've got, give me some entertainment already!"

"If you insist, then I suppose it can't be helped." Itachi didn't waste any time in firing off volleys of kunai in mid air, each one deflecting the other until they were all closing in on her.

Fugai was forced to use evasive maneuvers to avoid the various kunai, though she still took a few scratches from the onslaught 'Looks like this one is a lot better than he looks, and he's not that bad looking either.'

'This one is fast and has the advantage of aerial maneuvers, so that makes it harder to get a lock on her.' Itachi promptly activated his Sharingan 'Yeah okay, that makes up for it.' using his advanced eyesight, he glanced over and noticed Samui hiding behind a corner 'That one, isn't she a ninja from the Hidden Cloud?'

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Meanwhile, with Ayame vs Kamira…

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Ayame breathed out a barrage of fireballs, which promptly exploded against the wall of the ruins "How do you like that one?"

"Well you do you like THIS!" Kamira pounced through the smoke towards Ayame, once again forcing her on the defensive.

"Dammit, I thought I blinded you with those blasts. How is she still following me?"

"It takes a lot more than just eyesight to win a battle, I can smell your blood from miles away and that's all I need." she let out a shriek along with a smokescreen, the force blowing away a large amount of rock and rubble surrounding them, revealing what appeared to be a set of large chimes nearby "You know it's no use trying to hide from me, where could you be I wonder." she looked up to see Ayame on a ledge above her "So there you are, it was nice knowing ya!" she let out a howl directed up at Ayame.

"That goes both ways too." Ayame flung a kunai at the chimes, causing them to start swinging and for the howl to be reflected off of them, causing Kamira to scream in pain as a result.

"Dammit… you little bitch… I'LL KILL YOU!" but that wouldn't be the case, as in she was promptly crushed by the chimes suddenly collapsing on her, crushing her to death.

All the while, Ayame watched from where she was hanging onto a stalactite "Well that's one thing we won't see about."

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Meanwhile, with Itachi vs Fugai…

'A few more here, there, and…' by this point, using his Sharingan to enhance his perception of the battlefield, Itachia was throwing various kunai into the walls surrounding him, equipped with threads linked with paper bombs at all ends 'Keep them going.'

"Oh come on now brat." Fugai let out a chuckle full of arrogance despite finding herself trapped in what looked like a maze of paper bombs "You don't really think this is going to hold me do you?"

"I wouldn't be too sure, it doesn't seem like a good idea to move around too much." to prove his point, Itachi hurled a kunai at a paper bomb, causing it to detonate.

"Uh huh. Well what do we have here, an escape route." she prepared to swoop downwards, but stopped "Just kidding, you've got one of those clone things waiting for me down there now don't you? No worries, there's more than enough room for me up here, and you've left more than enough openings for me to be untouchable by your standards."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Fugai looked back to see Samui standing a short distance away with a few familiar hand signs prepared 'Oh shit.'

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" Itachi blitzed through some hand seals and breathed out a large fire dragon.

"Lightning Style: Thunderbolt!" Samui unleashed a blast of lightning, the combined power of both jutsu engulfing Fugai as well as detonating the paper bombs around her, causing her to scream in agony as she was incinerated by the fiery explosion that followed.

"That was quite a gamble, but it seems it paid off."

"Pretty cool move for a Hidden Leaf shinobi." Samui dropped down in front of him "So did I happen to be part of your grand plan?"

"In all honesty, you were more of a contingency plan than anything else, but I do appreciate the assist at the end."

"Don't worry about it, I had a score to settle with her either way. Still though, it's not going to be very cool trying to get around all of those paper bombs you set up."

"Don't worry about it, truth be told most of them are actually just regular pieces of paper. Most of that plan was one gigantic bluff."

"Huh. Pretty cool actually."

"It helps to be prepared."

"So it does."

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Meanwhile, in the underground cavern…

Despite the attempt at stabbing him, Temujin fended off Kahiko with ridiculous levels of ease and promptly knocked him to the ground "How foolish, did you seriously believe that you would be able to defeat me with a surprise attack?"

"No, I suppose I didn't." Kahiko pulled himself back to his feet "But all the same, I was able to achieve my goal." he held up the dagger, which was now coated in some of Temujin's blood.

"What?"

"Do you know what the design on this floor is? It's actually an ancient form of theSummoning Jutsu formula, one that's used to call forth an incredible power."

"Where exactly are you going with this old man?"

"What I'm getting at is, here is where we shall both breathe our last!" he held up the dagger and prepared to bring it down, only for it to suddenly be blown out of his grasp.

"What the-?"

The wall of the chamber was suddenly blown apart, revealing Haido and some of his soldiers standing there, the former looking as calm and arrogant as ever "I'm not entirely sure as to what he was planning there, but it seems I should be pleased that I came when I did."

"Master Haido."

"Tell me Temujin, are you alright?"

"Yes of course Master Haido, but how did you-?"

"Oh, you mean that." he pulled off one of his gloves, revealing that he had a Stone of Gelel embedded in the back of his hand "I was able to do so using this." he was met with stunned looks from both Temujin and Kahiko.

"That's a Stone of Gelel…"

"Indeed it is my boy, it's just like in the book, amazing is it not? I have the ability to blow things away without even touching them." he blew away part of another wall in order to demonstrate his point.

This was when Kahiko stepped forward, and he looked pissed as all hell "Tell me, is what you're referring to the Book of Gelel?"

"Come again?"

"How did such a thing come into your possession?"

"Oh, it's actually quite simple. I bought it from a peddler on the side of a road some time ago."

"That is utterly impossible! I thought there was something strange here! You destroyed the village this boy came from in order to get to the Stone of Gelel, didn't you?!" that seemed to leave Temujin frozen where he stood.

"Oh come now, what is the cause of all of this doubt? The only goal I have of this lifetime is to rid this world of war, so how could you even say such things?"

"One who truly wanted would know better than to ever even think of seeking out the power of the Stone of Gelel!"

"What I desire is the ability to put an end to war, and there is nothing more to it than that. Let's see now, where might those mines be located."

"I can tell how black your heart is just by looking in your eyes!"

"Hmm, to be honest I don't really know where to begin." but then his face suddenly lit up at the sight of a certain mechanism rising up from the ground "Could this really be it? It must be it, it must be the key that grants access to the Mines of Gelel!"

"No don't touch it, that isn't meant for you!"

"Oh come now." Haido glanced over to see Neregui pounce at him, but immediately sent him flying with a sudden burst of energy.

"Neregui no!" Kahiko could only kneel down beside its form, just as a certain something fell out of its mouth.

"Well what do we have here, the beast had a small stone in its mouth. The poor thing, yet another noble sacrifice for the sake of the cause. Honestly, those who stand at the top have to make such difficult decisions."

"Shut up, I've had just about enough of your empty words."

"Oh honestly, it breaks my heart. One more sacrifice for the cause it seems." he unleashed a burst of energy that sent Kahiko tumbling backwards, as well as ripping through another section of a nearby wall "It seems that I'm not able to control my power very well yet. Well anyway, I suppose it can't be helped." he unleashed another wave of energy, when…

"No!" this was when Temujin suddenly blitzed in front of Kahiko and deflected the blast, surprising all of those present, and then he got down on one knee.

"What do you think you're doing Temujin?"

"Forgive me my master, it's just… The Mines of Gelel are already in our possession, if we were to toss this helpless old man aside."

"That's not what I meant, I mean don't stand in the way of my target."

"What…?" Temujin looked up at him with an expresson of disbelief "Master Haido?"

"You heard me my boy, you're in the way, now step aside." he unleashed another blast from his hand.

"Wind Style: Skybound Wind!" this was when Kazuma burst onto the scene and unleashed a wave of wind from two fingers, cancelling out the blast while simultaneously pulling Kahiko out of the range of the blast "Does someone want to start explaining what the hell is going on around here?" he was answered with the armored soldiers raising their weapons.

"Honestly, this is becoming so tiresome." Haido unleashed another blast with his stone.

Kazuma was quickly forced on the evasive, being sure to keep Kahiko out of harm's way as he did so.

"What are you doing Temujin, why are you just standing there? Are you going to kill them for me or not?"

"If you try, just know that it's not going to be much of a fight compared to last time."

"Be silent boy, now Temujin do what I say!"

"Master…" Temujin slowly pulled himself to his feet and looked up at Haido "In your eyes, this is what you call a noble sacrifice?"

"What's the matter? Just take care of them like you always do, now hurry up and do it and be quick about it!"

"No… I've had enough… I can't…"

"...I see. Honestly Temujin, I must say I'm very disappointed in you. You've proved yourself to be an inferior individual, and as such you're no different from your parents." that struck a chord in him.

"...What?" he took a good long look at Haido, and the horrifying realization slowly began to dawn on him.

"You truly are quite the pathetic little brat aren't you?"

"But that's… impossible…" he was met with the sound of maniacal laughter.

"Yes that's right, it was me all along! How blind could you possibly be, latching onto the very man responsible for murdering your parents, what an adorable little pawn you are." he started walking forward and firing off blasts from his stone "But here's the thing, now that I know where the stones are I no longer have any need for you now do I?" he blasted Temujin's sword out of his hand as his robes disappeared, revealing a monstrous humanoid form underneath with gray skin and red eyes, and then he grabbed Temujin by the neck.

"Master… Haido…"

"Not your master, not anymore you good for nothing brat, now die!" he thrusted his hand clear through Temujin's chest, causing him to cough up blood, and then he pulled out the Stone of Gelel in his chest and promptly threw it aside, which didn't go unnoticed by Kazuma "Now this entire world is going to fall to its knees before me!" he casually threw Temujin aside.

"Temujin no!" Kazuma could only look on in horror.

"Kazuma please, listen to me!" Kahiko got his attention "I beg of you, you have to stop that man whatever it takes."

"I will, that much I can guarantee."

"What a worthless piece of trash." Haido started walking away from Temujin, only to stop when he saw Kazuma standing in front of him "Oh?"

"And just where the hell do you think you're going?" Kazuma drew his sword from his back and dropped into a stance "We're not done here old man, not by a long shot."

"Everywhere I look, there's nothing but worthless trash." Haido blitzed in front of Kazuma and slugged him both in the gut and across the face, sending him tumbling backwards into a nearby wall.

"Leaf Style: Extreme Crescent Moon Dance!" Kazuma sent forward a solid dozen Shadow Clones with their swords drawn, all of them charging at Haido in a rage.

Temujin was now lying on the floor in a bloody mess, barely clinging to consciousness as he watched Kazuma attack Haido over and over again 'I was… We were… What… What on Earth have we done…?'

"Such pathetic trash indeed, no matter how persistent!" Haido used his black strips to block every attack from Kazuma that he didn't dodge, and then he blitzed in front of Kazuma and grabbed him by the wrists "Too slow brat!" he hurled him to the ground in a heap "Why don't you go ahead and just give it up already you little brat?"

"There will be… a cold day in hell… before that happens…" Kazuma started to pull himself back to his feet, only to suddenly be kicked into a nearby wall, causing him to cough up blood from the sheer force "Dammit… Are you just gonna… give up here…" he slowly pulled himself back to his feet and looked down at the form of Temujin "Didn't you tell me… it was your dream… to make the world we live in… into a utopia…" and so he charged forward again with a spiralling ball of chakra building in his palm "Rasengan!" he slammed a Rasengan straight forward into Haido's chest, the fore blowing him backwards and sending him flying into a nearby wall "There we go… now I've got you…"

'This one…' Temujin slowly lifted his head and looked at Kazuma 'His power… his resolve… Where does it come from…?'

"So what do you say old man, is that it or-" Kazuma was cut off by the sound of a massive crashing noise.

"Well what do you know?" the smoke cleared to reveal that Haido was still alive, although his body was twisted and mangled "That one was actually able to cause me pain."

"What the…?"

"Oh yes, this is it!" with a maniacal laughter, Haido was suddenly bathed in cyan-coloured energy that quickly restored his mangled and broken body.

"No this can't be!" Kahiko could only look on in horror "This is the mine of Gelel!"

"I can feel my wounds healing, and I can feel the power coursing through my veins!"

"You say that like it's going to be enough." Kazuma drew his sword once again and dropped into a combat stance "Temujin get up already, I'm gonna need your hand. As much as I hate to admit it, I can't defeat this guy by myself."

"What…" Temujin looked at him in disbelief "You mean… you still…?"

"What else would I mean? I have people I have to protect, and that's why I can't afford to give up under any circumstances, now get back on your feet and give me a hand."

"I've had enough of having to listen to your pathetic blathering already, now why don't I go ahead and deliver you to your so-called utopia." Haido unleashed a wave of energy from his Stone of Gelel aimed at Temujin.

"Shit, Temujin no!" Kazuma was forced to shield his eyes, but then the smoke cleared to reveal that the armored soldiers had taken the hit for him, with the souls of the children emerging after doing so.

"Everyone… no…" Temujin had tears brimming in his eyes at the sight before him "What have I done… What have I been doing…?"

"Worry about that later."

"What foolish children." Haido let out a scoff "I thought I ordered the lot of them to not interfere in this, but I guess they're just at that rebellious age. Well I suppose it doesn't matter, I'll just have to take care of you myself then."

"Temujin get up, we've got work to do." and so Kazuma charged forward, and his eyes turned from brown to cyan as he activated his Tenseigan.

"R-Right…" Temujin stumbled to his feet and tried to force his way forward, and with a roar of rage he started running forward at full speed, grabbing Kazuma by the wrist as he did so while two cyan-coloured Rasenga's formed, one in each hand and one appearing to be more potent than the other.

"Huh, Gelel-powered Rasengan. Nice, now let's end this!"

"I've had more than enough of you up until now, and now I'm going to send you to join the rest of your ancestors!" Haido started preparing his final attack, unleashing a massive wave of energy as he did so.

'Dammit!'

"Hold on!" Temujin suddenly ran in front of Kazuma and started using his bare hands to deflect the wave of energy 'You were right Kazuma, it's just like you said. There's no use for a dream if it means you have to sacrifice those you hold dear!' but then he was suddenly blown back by the sheer force of Haido's energy.

"Go ahead, give me some kind of speech about how my death is long overdue, I couldn't care less old man!" Kazuma used one of his Shadow Clones to ricochet himself into the air, and he hurled one of his Rasengans forward.

"Am I supposed to be impressed you pathetic brat?!" Haido sent forward his black stripes, which quickly blocked the Rasengan "Oh please, I doubt you would even be able to touch me!"

"You wanna bet!" Kazuma thrusted the Gelel Rasengan forward further, which shattered the black strips into rubble.

"Dammit you little brat, why won't you just die already!" Haido charged forward in a rage.

"How about you go to hell and save us all your bullshit!" Kazuma promptly thrusted forward his Tenseigan-powered Rasengan as it collided with Haido's fist, the force of the jutsu destroying the Stone of Gelel in his fist "And this one is for Temujin!" he thrusted the Gelel Rasengan straight into Haido's chest.

"Hate to break it to you brat, but that's not going to work on me!"

"You wanna bet?" he thrusted it further, and it started to take effect.

"What?! This can't be, I can't be defeated by the likes of you!" and he was sent flying into the mechanism by the jutsu, crashing to the ground as he did so. Eventually though, he pulled himself back to his feet, albeit with a pink substance oozing from his chest, and he promptly raised his arm, but then he suddenly fell to the ground with a loud thud, while the mechanism shattered.

"Okay… so that was fun." but then the entire underground chamber started collapsing around those of them that were left, revealing what appeared to be a pool of cyan-coloured energy.

"Oh no, this is terrible!" Kahiko let out a horrified gasp.

"What's going on, what is that thing?"

"That thing is the Mine of Gelel, the source of life!"

"That doesn't explain a lot, some context about this thing would be nice."

"When the key that unlocks the Mine of Gelel was destroyed just now, it resulted in the seal being broken."

"And that means what exactly?"

"It means they're going wild, the Mines of Gelel are spiralling completely out of control!"

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Meanwhile, with the others…

By this point, Itachi and Ayame had rescued the rest of the children from the fortress and had carried them to safety "There shouldn't be too many left, so how are they?"

"Well the good news is, they're still breathing." Ayame told him "But the bad news is, none of them are regaining consciousness."

"I suppose all we can do is wait then." and then they heard the explosion.

"What was that?"

"I don't know, but what I do know is that the sound of an explosion like that one never turns out well. 100 ryo says that Kazuma is at the center of it."

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Meanwhile, in the underground chamber…

The Mines of Gelel were still collapsing.

Temujin was particularly freaked out by the prospect of the mines collapsing "So what's going to happen when the mine goes out of control?"

"I wish I had answer to that, but I honestly don't know." Kahiko told him grimly "But then again, considering the size of the empire that was lost, I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up taking out half of the continent."

"You can't be serious! How can we stop it?"

"There's nothing we can do, it's too late to stop it now!"

"Then what is it you were doing before? You know of a way don't you, what was that talk about a summoning circle?"

"There's no way to bring it under control again, although there is a way in which the mines could possibly be destroyed."

"So tell me already!"

"You must place your hands in the center, this is an ancient form of summoning bound by the royal bloodline of our clan."

"But what exactly are you going to summon?" asked Kazuma.

"What I'm going to summon is a space-time rift, a boundless void that's sole purpose is to engulf everything surrounding it, but it will spawn from the point the jutsu is executed, and as such the person who performs the ritual would be sacrificed, never to return."

"That doesn't sound promising."

"Perhaps now, but I understand." Temujin pulled himself to his feet.

"You can forget about that, there's no way I'd let anyone-" Kazuma was cut off by a chop to the back of the neck that sent him crashing to the ground.

"This is going to be the way in which I atone for all of the sins I've committed."

"You?" Kahiko looked up at Temujin in disbelief.

"Indeed, this is my atonement." so Temujin slowlystepped forward as the cyan-energy started pooling down towards them.

"Temujin no!" Kahiko could only look on in horror, while he hoisted Kazuma's unconscious form over his shoulder.

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Meanwhile, outside…

Itachi looked over to see Samui bringing more and more of the unconscious children out of the ruins to safety "How many of them are left?"

"There shouldn't be too many left." Samui told him "Two or three would be my guess."

"So be it then. Kazuma don't do anything stupid, none of us can afford to lose you my friend, especially not now.'

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Meanwhile, inside the mines…

'Come on, come on…' Temujin continued inching his way further and further into the storm of energy bit by bit until he reached the circle in the center of the storm 'So this is it, the time of my atonement is here at last.' he knelt down and placed a hand on the symbol on the ground, causing a dark cloud to begin spreading throughout the area.

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Meanwhile, outside…

'Itachi… Ayame… Tatsu… the man in the mask… he'll get all of them…' Kazuma's eyes then snapped open out of nowhere 'That won't happen, I'm going to make sure of it. But before that, I have to take care of something else.'

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Meanwhile, with Temujin…

By this point, Temujin just sat in the center of the rift, watching as the cyan-coloured energy around him was being sucked into the vortex 'So this is it, the moment in which I atone has come at last. I think I've had enough.' he closed his eyes and prepared to fall into the void, only to open his eyes and look up when he felt something grab him by the wrist "What the…?"

As it turns out, it was Kazuma grabbing onto him, his body enveloped in a cyan-coloured chakra cloak that matched the color of his eyes, and he extended an arm made of pure chakra that was grabbing onto Temujin by the wrist "Whatever happens, you'd better be sure as hell you're not going to let go."

"You can't do this, just forget about me or you're going to get yourself killed! What about your little brother?!"

"Just shut your hole, I don't want to hear it!"

"You can't do this, stop before you get pulled in too!"

"You can forget about that, I'm not going to stand here and let you die like this! I've lost too many friends already, I'm gonna lose more down the line, I know that for a fact, but I sure as hell don't plan on losing you!"

"Kazuma, I… alright." so Temujin grabbed Kazuma by the chakra-arm as well, and they slowly started to climb back out.

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Meanwhile, outside…

By this point, Ayame and the rest of them (Itachi, Darui, Samui, etc) had made their way out of the canyon where the ruins were located, only to see the entire canyon being swallowed up by the space-time "Kazuma… Wait where's Kazuma, he's not still in there is he?" she promptly started running towards the canyon.

"Ayame wait! Dammit…" Itachi started running after her.

"Kazuma!" they started running down the wall of the canyon "Kazuma where are you?!"

"Ayame get back!" Itachi suddenly pulled her back just in time to avoid a beam of light shining up from within the canyon, and then the canyon suddenly started shifting and revealing lots of new greenery taking route in the canyon.

"What the heck is this, what's going on?"

"It was even more powerful than the legends tell!" this was when Kahiko suddenly burst out from within the rubble.

You're the old man, are you okay?"

"I was tossed around like some sort of rag doll and practically crushed, I was so certain that my time had come."

"And yet clearly that was far from the case." Itachi noted "So what did happen exactly?"

"It would seem that these lands have given birth to new life, the reason this happened is because a fraction of the stone's power was able to escape when it was destroyed. That power is the reason why I'm as fit as a fiddle again!" and then he noticed Neregui quickly scurrying onto his shoulder "Oh Neregui my little friend, you're alright!"

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Meanwhile, with the Hidden Cloud ninja…

"What is all of this?" Samui looked around at the newfound greenery surrounding everyone "It seems pretty cool, but where did it come from?"

"What is this…" this was when some of the children started coming too "Temujin…"

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Meanwhile, with our heroes…

'Where…' Temujin slowly opened his eyes and suddenly found himself among lots of rubble and wreckage surroundings 'Where am I… What is this place…? Am I still alive…? I see… these ruins… this is…' then he noticed a certain picture in front of him, and he could only give a small smile at the sight 'I see… so it wasn't meant to be a picture of despair after all.' he looked over at the sight of Kazuma's unconscious form holding onto his hand.

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A few days went by, and things seemed to calm down, but at the same time, a great change was about to take place.

Ayame was showing concerns about this great change "But Temujin is still part of their clan right, so shouldn't he have stayed here?"

"The lands that he's heading to are at war." Itachi pointed out "That's the path that he's decided to follow, and if that's what he wants then it wouldn't be right for us to try and talk him out of such a choice. Besides, his path and that of the rest of his clan ended up splitting apart a long time ago. His soul is no longer tied to this continent, as far as he's concerned his fate lies somewhere else."

"It's not going to be easy."

"Maybe not, but it's not like anything in life is. Besides, it's not like he'll be alone. He says that this time, he and the rest of his friends are going to create a world that doesn't have any sort of wars, and he's going to do it the right way."

"The old man didn't seem too happy about him leaving either."

"I'm fairly certain that's not it." Itachi pointed at where Temujin had a certain passenger travelling with him in the form of Neregui "Is that what they refer to as being dumped?"

"Not exactly, but I'm pretty sure that's as close as it gets without actually being for real." they started waving as the ship set sail for the other continent "Speaking of which, do you have any idea where Kazuma is right now?"

"Well I've been looking for him for about an hour, but I haven't seen him around since this morning. He said he had something to take care of."

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Meanwhile, with Kazuma…

As it turns out, Kazuma was standing atop a large plateau overlooking the sea, where he was giving a silent goodbye to Temujin 'Never give up in your goal my friend, I know for a fact that I won't, and I'm sure that we'll meet again someday. There's no chance of me forgetting our meeting either, for a number of reasons.' he looked down at his hand, and in it was a very familiar-looking cyan-coloured stone 'The sole surviving Stone of Gelel, merged together with remnants of the energy from the Mines of Gelel while I was saving Temujin, and from what I can sense it only has enough power for a single use. I'd better hold onto it just in case, you never know when you're going to need something like this.'

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(11 years later)

'Looks like it's just about time, I never thought Madara would actually go so far as to start the Fourth Great Ninja War.' Kazuma placed his bag on his back, only to notice something that fell out as he made his way out of the village, and he stared long and hard at it 'The last Stone of Gelel, to think that I've been carrying this thing in my bag for almost 11 years and I never once thought about it since that day. Temujin, I wonder how he's doing.'

"Kazuma." that was when Yahiko snapped him out of his thoughts "It's go time, don't forget that the two of us are leading the Feudal Lord Protection Squad."

"Yes I'm aware, while Kakashi and the others are leading the main 5 divisions on the front lines we're gonna wait for Black Zetsu to make his move so that we can take him out."

"But without jeopardizing the safety or the lords."

"Right." he looked out the gate "The Fourth Great Ninja War has begun, and we're going to win it."

"That goes without saying." Yahiko took off running, with Kazuma and the rest of their squad following right behind him "As long as we all band together the Akatsuki don't have a chance of winning."

"We will stand united as one and fight until our last breath for the sake of our friends, for the sake of our world."

A/N:

Okay yeah, this is late by at least an entire year, and I mean at least. I have no good excuses for this, but let me just start by apologizing for taking as long as it did to finally start the second half of this story, I've been so sidetracked with my second year of college and my other stories (DBZ Next Generation, Rise of a Warrior: Fairy Tail), that I put this one at the back of my list of priorities. I mean the WAY back, hell even writing a fic about Dragon Ball GT of all things (Yeah, I'm not shy about not being fond of that series) came before this. I still have the original first nine chapters of the war itself from when I originally uploaded them like two years ago, and I do intend to re-upload them with some modification and edits, but in order to avoid burning myself out too quickly again, I'll be following a system that I had used before, which did work for awhile: I'll only be uploading one chapter of this story per month.

One other reason I've taken as long as I have to upload the second half of the Shippuden adaptation of this fic is because I've been doing a lot of revising of the canon plot in order to ensure that it doesn't drag out as much as canon.

Unlike with the original version, this time I'm finishing off the prelude to the war with my adaptation of the second Naruto movie, Legend of the Stone of Gelel, in order to properly explain exactly why Kazuma has one of those Gelel Stones with him. And for the record, he will be using it once somewhere down the line during the war, but only once.

Considering this took place about 11 years before the events of the Fourth Great Ninja War, Gaara and Kankuro would've been too young to be involved in the events of the movie. I did consider maybe involving Sasori in it somehow, but it still would've been at least 9 years after he defected from the Hidden Sand, so instead I decided to go a different route: include the Hidden Cloud instead of the Hidden Sand.

Now then, before we get back to the actual war itself, I should probably address something important: Kaguya. I know for a fact that a lot of people weren't too fond of this plot twist, but there's a minority that are okay with it. I am personally part of the minority. Yeah I'm not afraid to say it, I don't mind Kaguya being the final villain (not counting the Naruto vs Sasuke fight at the end). Sure it could've used a little bit more buildup and Madara could've been sent off with a better fight, but aside from that, it seemed fine to me. I mean sure some things I think didn't really sit well were Naruto and Sasuke being the reincarnations of the sons of the Sage of Six Paths, that I do plan on changing when the time comes. Long story short, yes to Kaguya, no to reincarnations.