Naruto: A Red Eye Hidden by Shadow

by Tatanka4Life

On the fateful night of the Uchiha Massacre, a girl of Uchiha and Nara blood is spared and left with no memories of her past. Now she must walk on the path left by her family to help her build a new future for herself. Her path will be hard, full of struggles and pain, but as long as she has her friends and family at her side she will keep forging ahead, even if it was a drag.

140. Chapter 139: Mizuki's Endgame

Chapter 139

Mizuki's Endgame: The Ultimate Body and the Ultimate Weapon!

The cave which Mizuki led them to was, as expected, characteristically dark, cold, and disturbing in its quiescent silence.

However, for all its characteristic familiarity, the atmosphere felt disquieting, cloaked in an unnatural presence that felt alive despite its lifelessness. Like a pile of rotted corpses staring dully at the soul about to set them ablaze without funeral rites, as if silently blaming them for their untimely demises with their lifeless gazes.

A mysterious, tangy scent hung in the air, its point of origin indiscernible.

Nothing of the cave's stony innards could be seen from its mouth. The evening glow of the sun cut a distinct line of demarcation between the outside world and the den of shadows, as though it was placed there by its master to encourage the foolhardy and the weak to turn back, to stay within the safety and purity of the light lest they be swallowed whole by the monsters waiting amid the darkness.

Mizuki did not hesitate to enter. He marched past the demarcated line, chest puffed out and chin raised, proud as a peacock.

Aoi cautiously followed behind him. Deeper into the darkness. Deeper into the cave which housed the means to attain his so-called Ultimate Body. Deeper, far beyond where any light could shine, to the resting place of another Ultimate Weapon.

Neither man said a word. They merely proceeded silently into the dark bowels, afflicted by a strange, tangy scent, growing colder and darker, stiller and piercingly silent the further they trekked.

Mizuki, Aoi could tell, was practically thrumming. The excitable fool. If he listened closely, he could almost hear Mizuki's heart pounding against his chest, almost sense his muscles twitching and spasming with every step closer. He didn't need to see his palms to know they were sweaty and warm.

Excitement, certainly. Perhaps a hint of primal arousal as well. It was difficult to say despite observing the fool's downward spiral firsthand. He certainly acted like a beast in the throes of a ravaging heat when it came to his "Ultimate Body."

Truthfully, he seemed ready to attach himself to his "master's" leg if that would grant him new power. It might even amuse Orochimaru.

The obsession Mizuki possessed bordered on addiction. An addiction which trumped all others, wielding a spiked choker chain the fool didn't realize was tightening around his throat, burying its spikes into his flesh until, eventually, he wouldn't be able to remove it without removing his own head.

It's almost tragic, Aoi thought, lips curling in twisted amusement.

Almost. But the way of the shinobi world was to use and be used. Mizuki characteristically, in accordance to the breed of man he was, fell into the latter category.

Anyone who called another man Lord was destined for the role of a collared dog.

"And here we are," Mizuki announced suddenly.

"Care to explain. I can't see a thing," Aoi replied, lost in the shapeless void as but another thing without form or shape.

"Ah, my apologies, Aoi. I forgot your senses weren't nearly as sharp as mine." The apologetic tone didn't match the slimy smile he sensed through the darkness. "Give me a moment. I'll illuminate the room."

Aoi sniffled derisively but said nothing. He heard Mizuki move through the darkness flawlessly, could sense the movement within void, but struggled to track his "comrade's" exact position.

The striking of a match broke the silence. The tiny ember at its end, like a firefly dancing at midnight, glowed brightly, casting both orange light and flickering shadows over Mizuki's chiseled upper body.

One at a time he lit a series of candles situated around the room. Candle by candle more of the cave—the lab—became visible.

Aoi began to take it all in.

The room was fashioned into the shape of a small rectangle, stretching further left to right than it did from the entrance of the lab to its opposite end. A counter carved out of the stone of the right wall was neatly occupied by beakers, vials, burners, scalpels, surgical forceps, and other assortments of lab and surgical equipment.

However, the main feature of the lab was a coffin-shaped stone pedestal. It stood no shorter than four feet. Although its was perfectly shaped, Aoi immediately noticed how the top face was crafted at a mild descending angle. Likely for the channels burrowed into the stone, which converged in a hollowed out basin at its bottom end.

"So, this is the mixing table for your Ultimate Body, is that right?" Aoi asked, cautiously walking around the table as he examined it.

"Keen eyes, Aoi." Mizuki turned his back to the Rain shinobi and set the ingredients on the stone countertop. "First I'll have to prepare the ingredients with the supplies Lord Orochimaru has left me. Then, once I finish all the necessary preparations, I'll use the mixing table to combine the ingredients. It's a complicated process. The directions I memorized were very specific."

Directions which you've told no one, Aoi thought. If it were something I could do, I would've eliminated you as soon as you revealed the location of the cave. Yet you've found a way to make yourself too valuable to kill. For now.

Value diminished over time, however. And Mizuki's value was quickly running its course.

There are the users and the used. And I've just about finished using you up.

What a world they lived in.

Aoi scanned the small lab. Despite utter abandonment it was in good condition.

No one, not even an animal, had entered the premises for some time. At least a year. Maybe more. He could tell by the neat state of the lab, or rather the stasis it had succumbed to in its master's absence. And the lack of bones, fur and feces. It seemed even animals sensed the same dark chill he felt when standing at the mouth of the cave.

The tangy scent was most intense in the lab. It curled his lips in an unpleasant grimace and burned his nostrils. Perhaps, he considered, it was an odorous agent that deterred animals from tracking inside, akin to the fantasy of garlic repelling vampires. More than likely it was a chemical in one of the vials Orochimaru abandoned for the potion.

I'm sure the Rain Village will be interested to study a performance enhancing drug concocted by a shinobi of Orochimaru's caliber. And this Ultimate Weapon that may surpass the Second Hokage's Blade of Thunder Spirit could be even more valuable.

To his annoyance he did not see a weapon lying anywhere. He decided to address it since, in Mizuki's own words, it was his gift.

"So, where is this 'Ultimate Weapon?' I'd like to examine it while you complete your potion," Aoi said. "It might also be handy should the Leaf track us here."

Mizuki, who had been preparing the burner, the beakers and the vials, stopped suddenly. So suddenly one might have expected he had been frozen in a Paralysis Jutsu or been cast in plaster as a decoration also abandoned by Orochimaru.

Had Mizuki not had his back turned to Aoi, the Rain shinobi would have seen the sinister smile on his lips, he would have seen his eyes overtaken by a crazed glint and sensed the impending danger. He may have thrown away his plans to claim the potion and struck the rogue down then and there like the feral, rabid beast he resembled. No hesitation.

Had Aoi sharpened his senses, had he considered the possibility that Mizuki possessed several more cards up his sleeve, he would have realized following him this far was a grave error. That it, too, was apart of Mizuki's grander scheme.

Had he possessed sharper senses, a less grandiose sense of self, and understood the darkness within the rogue, he would have cut off and escaped alone while he had the opportunity.

But he lacked such sharp senses. He believed himself to be in full control—a grave error of any shinobi deep behind enemy lines. He believed he was using Mizuki, manipulating the excitable fool to reveal secrets that would guarantee wealth upon his return to the Rain Village.

He thought it a masterstroke of cleverness to be shown to a lab of Orochimaru's by his disposable pawn, and his act as a willing puppet worthy of a roaring applause.

Only in his final moments of agony would he realize his mistake. And curse Mizuki with all of his hatred.

Mizuki's stillness lasted but a moment before he set aside his ingredients.

"Ah yes, you're right. Of course. It would be dangerous to lower our guard, now when we're so close to retrieving the gifts Lord Orochimaru has left us. Now, the weapon he left should be… Here it is!"

Mizuki acquired a small scroll out of a hidden alcove. Intrigued, Aoi stepped around the mixing table, closer to the foolish rogue.

"I should've expected it would be hidden in a scroll."

"True. You wouldn't want something like this just laying around. Here, allow me to unseal it for you."

When the scroll was fully unrolled across the floor, Aoi squinted in the dim candlelight. The sealing formula written on the inside was unfamiliar, sharing no resemblance with any storage seal he had ever encountered or read about. A bizarre stain marked its center, like someone had tried to erase their work but instead smeared the ink over the page.

Drawn in by his curiosity, he stepped closer.

"What's that staining the fūinjutsu?" he asked.

"Oh, it's nothing really. Now hold still. I know you're excited. I know I am."

Mizuki clasped his palms together and interlaced his fingers.

The stain, commanded by the handseal, rapidly spread outwards, forming a vast and intricate technique formula across the lab floor, in the center of which Aoi found himself.

A horrifyingly inexplicable sensation overcame the Rain shinobi. He felt his insides turn over, flopping about despite his lack of motion. He felt the hairs on his arms and along the back of his neck stand on end and a thick layer of gooseflesh prick up on his skin.

"What is this technique formula?" he asked, his unease quickly transforming into something close to instinctual fear.

"The Ultimate Weapon, I told you. It's all yours." The sinister expression on Mizuki's face became clear to the Rain shinobi. His crazed eyes glinted with delight. "It'll take… There we go. It's finally begun!"

At first Aoi didn't see anything. But then he noticed the clumps of dust and what appeared to be ash rising from the technique formula all around him, as though the world had flipped and snow was falling from the earth rather than the sky.

His eyes darted side to side, wide and horrified. He didn't understand why.

Something instinctual, an instinct so primitive he barely recognized it as the fight-or-flight system, screamed at him to move. To run fast and hard far away from this technique formula.

It's a jutsu of some kind. He's finally making his move! Aoi locked eyes with the crazed Mizuki. That's fine. The potion isn't necessary. I'll kill him now!

Moving to rush Mizuki, Aoi made one full step before the clumps of ash and dust suddenly darted at him, covering his feet with the speed and fierceness of an infestation of ants exploding out of their hill over an intruder.

Like a child stepping in that ant hill, bitten and stung mercilessly by the warrior ants, Aoi screamed. It was all he could do. The pain was akin to someone sawing his feet off, and rather than going unconscious, his stubborn body kept him awake to feel the sensations of in vivid detail.

But it didn't stop at his feet. It climbed up his legs.

The pain was too intense to run, too intense to form curses or intelligible noises beyond a wordless wailing. It was too intense to fight.

Because it was already too late.

He collapsed to his knees and scratched, clawed, and screamed at the ash and dust consuming his thighs, rapidly climbing towards his waist.

"Aoi, Aoi," Mizuki sneered. "Did you truly think I didn't know you planned to betray me?"

His grin, like the man himself, was pure evil.

"Oh, I knew. I planned for it from the start. You see, the Ultimate Weapon is here. This is it. But I forgot to mention that it requires something very important: A human sacrifice. You, Aoi! You will be my Ultimate Weapon now!"

The dust and ash covered his whole upper body. It was climbing up his neck now, up to his chin and earlobes.

Aoi couldn't move his arms. He writhed his neck and head around, screaming and wailing in horror and agony at the top of his lungs. Part of him just wanted to die. The other part hoped someone, anyone, would strike Mizuki down and spare him.

He would've even allowed it to be Amaririsu. He would've begged her, shamelessly.

But no one was coming.

"To use and be used is the way of our world," Mizuki sneered vilely. "Who better to take the fall than the fools! Ahahahaha!"

As the dust and ash covered his head, the last thing Aoi heard was Mizuki's cruel laughter ringing in the cave. The last thing he saw was his crazed and sinister expression. The last thing he felt was agony unlike any poison or physical pain known to man.

Aoi Rokushō died screaming. He died cursing Mizuki, hoping, wishing, pleading with whatever divine power he could to ensure his murderer suffered the same unimaginable pain he was suffering before the end.

He died to be used by another.

What a world they lived in.

What a world.

---

Finally the time had come.

His pawns had played their roles remarkably well. All so eager for freedom. All so certain they would claim a reward. All so dimwitted.

It was just as Aoi said: to use and be used was the way of their world, and the fools of the Maximum Security Prison, in their unmitigated arrogance, mistook their place in that hierarchy.

They believed he was the fool. That he, the man who orchestrated the entire prison break, wasn't capable of reading their duplicitous intentions.

They believed they could use him. They believed they were better than him. Smarter. More cunning and clever than a fox while he was but a court jester they could humiliate and toss aside when they finished amusing themselves.

As Mizuki held the potion in his hands, trembling from skin to bone with excitement, any lingering doubt he may have harbored washed off him, and in its place a regal cloak of certainty came to shield his heart from the dastardly poison.

For the true jesters and puppets displayed themselves for all the world to see. They were the dead. The used. The captured. They were the fools who had flown too close to the sun while he now stood at his intended destination, potion in hands, and ultimate weapon secured.

In the end, his pawns performed the roles admirably. Even Aoi. He had fulfilled his purpose to the letter.

Now, finally, after meticulous preparations, after painstaking efforts to prepare his body and his mind for his evolution, Mizuki held the gift promised to him by Lord Orochimaru in his warm, sweaty and quaking hands.

Not Aoi, who had thought his act of obedient dog would hide his true intentions. Ha, Mizuki couldn't help but laugh. The stench of duplicity wafted off Aoi like the pungent stench of a tannery.

It wasn't the Cloud shinobi to succeed in their plans, plotting secretly to steal Amaririsu right out from under his nose, or the bloodthirsty Demon Brothers. It certainly wasn't the Idiot Brothers. It wasn't the Grim Ripper or the Red Death or anyone else!

Him! He was the one who succeeded. He was the one who played all the little pawns and fools to suit his needs. He came out on top. He did what those dull-witted, pacified cretins failed to even dream of!

What else could this be if not a true sign that fate favored him?

The potion bore an iridescent red and black glow that frothed and swirled on its own, as though a colony of shadowy minnows were agitating the liquid.

"I've done it!" Mizuki laughed, trembling in exhilaration. "I've finally done it!"

Grinning, he brought the potion to his lips and drank down its frothing ichor greedily, hungrily, swallow by acidic swallow. His eyes began to water. His throat burned terribly. But he did not choke. Nor did he stop.

He drank and drank, and drank more, tilting his head back as he raised the cup to ensure not a single drop was wasted. Until the cup was drained entirely.

When he swallowed the final acidic gulp down, Mizuki dropped the cup onto the mixing table, which it then bounced off, crashing dully onto the cold stone earth—so cold it now stung his warm feet—and rolling idly into the shadows.

The dull echo of its fall went unheard, drowned out by his gasps for air and wet coughs.

He slouched forward, bracing himself on the mixing table. His legs, weak, began to wobble. His neck muscles spasmed painfully. His upper body was beginning to convulse, muscles contracting into taunt, stabbing knots that made him quiver from skin to bone.

Gasping, choking, Mizuki dragged his wobbly and nearly limp body around the mixing table, towards the shadows. Towards the exit.

Every cell in his body raised its voice to scream—no, roar bloody murder. His stomach flopped without warning. Heat rushed up his esophagus, he could taste bitterness at the back of his throat.

He felt the urge to retch, to eject all the contents in his stomach out onto the floor and pray that would be enough for the pain to stop. But he rejected the impulse with all of his willpower. He rejected it fiercely, passionately, and swallowed roughly.

"This…is the Ultimate Body," Mizuki ground out.

His heart, suddenly feeling tight, palpitated harshly. He gasped and collapsed to his hands and knees. Profuse amounts of sweat poured off his forehead, excreted from his warm and convulsing body.

He could hear his own breathing, but didn't recognize it as his own. It was an imitation of a dying animal, to his ears. A wounded, dying animal that was desperately trying to live. And he could almost feel the ghostly presence of its hunter hovering above it, knife in hand, preparing to put it out of its misery.

"I will…not die. I will not," he swore, crawling towards the mouth of the cave, out of the lab and into the formless darkness. "I refuse it. I refuse to die… I refuse to…"

Another palpitation. The burning pain was growing. It refused to stop. More and more burning, building in every limb, every cell. His sweaty hands slapped frantically at his thighs out of habit in search of a ninja tool box, desperate to find a knife to cut out all of the pain.

He found none. He'd forgotten that he already removed his weapons before drinking down the potion.

Mizuki groaned and collapsed onto his side, convulsing, shaking, sweating. He clutched at his skull, eyes wide and staring into a blank and shapeless dark void, breathing shallow, rapid, on the verge of panicked cries.

"You're afraid."

"Gehhhh!"

"Don't tell me you are doubting Orochimaru's gift. I thought you believed it would grant you the Ultimate Body."

"Shut…up… The Ultimate Body…is mine! I will have it!" Every croak sounded shamefully battered. Broken. "Do you hear me? I will not die! This is…my gift. Lord Orochimaru has leant me his power. I believe in it entirely. So shut up. Irukaaaaa!"

Another harsh palpitation.

Suddenly, without warning, the burning pain exploded into a searing inferno.

Mizuki choked. Gagged. Retched. His body convulsed in a full-blown seizure.

He inhaled shallow, sharp breaths and heard himself whimpering and whining in agony. Then…

---

Outside of the secret cave dwelling, the birds chirped peacefully, insects chirred noisily and the breeze was calm. There was peace in the light. And then…

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

The piercing wail sent the birds flying from their nests, it silenced the insects and seemed to still the air itself.

It was the first wail of many.

---

"Dammit," Shikamaru grunted.

Sweat was pouring like rain down his face. He felt intimately the muscles in his body trembling as his Shadow, but a thin thread connecting him to the monstrosity of a man he and his teammates were trying to restrain, waned and trembled right along with him.

Raijin's power was just too much. Despite the Shadow Possession connected to him and the three hands—very large hands, at that— restraining him, the big oaf no longer found his limbs under the control of the Nara.

Instead, on sheer brute force alone, he had managed to move his arms beneath Chōji's vice grip, starting first by slowly pressing his elbows against the giant hand to build space.

It worked. Little by little, even as Shikamaru and Chōji tried to tighten their holds, his struggles bore fruit.

Once Raijin had the room, he pressed his hands against Chōji's to forcefully open the massive appendage, not with any sort of jutsu or strength enhancement. He did it on his own, on physical strength that could've body slammed one of Tayuya's puppets like they were small dolls.

To their horror, his resistance was working.

Raijin, growling furiously, fat nostrils flaring and big, dumb eyes practically white in rage for "taking" his brother from him, had nearly freed himself from the Shadow Possession and the massive hand holding him in place.

His brother, under Ino's control, was struggling to keep a grip around his thick throat.

"Rrrragghhhhhhhhh!" roared Raijin.

Shikamaru grimaced. "I…can't hold on…"

His Shadow thinned. Thickened. Then snapped off Raijin and slunk back to the Nara.

Shikamaru caught himself as he hunched forward, bracing his hands on the grass and heaving heavy breaths like a chubby kid after a few laps around the Academy training field.

Every muscle twitched and quaked. The hot sweat pouring down his face and soaking through his undershirt sharpened the cold air into a spear that lanced him through and through. But that was nothing compared to the trouble they were in now.

One eye shut and the other squinting through his uncontrollable quaking, Shikamaru watched in labored horror as Raijin grappled Chōji's large hand, proceeding to lift the boy off his feet then, with a pivot of his hips, swing him straight for—

"Ah hell," the Nara groaned.

The collision sent the two boys sprawling. Chōji ended up flat on his back, his arm returned to its natural state. Shikamaru rolled onto his stomach with another groan.

Feels like he hit me with a boulder. Ugh.

He was going to be one badly bruised banana tomorrow.

Pushing up onto his hands and knees, he heard a fist crash against flesh, then the splintering of bark. When he lifted his gaze fully he saw Fūjin's body sat at the trunk of a tree, a tree which, besides its broken bark, was now leaning at an angle.

His eyes flitted quickly to Ino's still form. Just in time to see her body convulse, reacting to stimuli that never physically touched it. A streak of blood dripped out from the corner of her lips, gliding down her cheek, over her pierced ear and into her blonde hair.

Ino suddenly squeezed her eyes tightly in a grimace before she gasped—repeatedly. Her arms crossed over her abdomen as she curled up into a tight ball, shaking and gasping.

Ino… Shikamaru shifted his jaw. My Shadow Possession Jutsu isn't enough to hold these idiots down. They're way too strong. But, looking at it another way, that just means I'm still too weak.

He had work to do later. After he got them all out of this alive and home safely.

"Hey Bro, are you all right?"

"Is that you Raijin?"

"Bro, you're back!" Raijin cheered dumbly. "Something really strange happened to you."

"My head is all fuzzy."

"You were acting all funny. It was like you were another person or something, so I thought if I hit you, you'd wake up. And you did!"

"Oh, that's okay. I would've done the same to help you. Like this."

Fūjin conked his brother on top of the head, who laughed dumbly.

"Thanks, Bro! It's good to have you back."

"I wouldn't leave you, Raijin. You're too dumb to leave on your own."

"Yeah. You too, Bro."

Shikamaru groaned again. At this point, I think it's safe to say Naruto and Iruka won't be coming back. Not in time to save our skins, anyway. Mizuki must still be an active threat. Which means, he inhaled a long breath, we're on our own until someone else shows up.

How troublesome.

"Ino, talk to me. Are you all right?" he asked.

Did they need to retreat now? Did she need a medic-nin? He had a final formation to hold their enemies here a little longer, but if she needed medical attention, he would scrap it and shift into a retreat strategy.

"I'm…alive," she wheezed, gasping for precious air to get the words out. "Feels like…a…horse was dropped…onto me. That…jerk."

"Can you still fight?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure? This isn't a time to act tough. If we need to go—"

"I can…fight," she interrupted. "I can do it."

After a moment, he nodded.

"Good. Not to be pushy, but I need you to get up."

"Easy…for you to say."

Despite her complaint, Ino pressed her palms against the grass to push herself up. Her forearms trembled, her elbows bent and she gasped, sometimes choking, in an effort to breathe. But she actively tried to get herself up.

That was when her left arm buckled. She fell to her forearms and elbows, shifting—collapsing—onto her hip. He could see her gritting her teeth, frustrated, hurting, but determined to get up.

Shikamaru looked at the Idiot Brothers. "Don't you still want to pummel Naruto for saying a boy is prettier than you? It's not your style to leave something like that to Sakura. Unless—"

"Grrr! Another word, Shikamaru, and it'll be you I pummel first!"

Ino began to fight and struggle to rise to her hands and knees, gasping on shallow breaths, wincing.

"And Sakura can wait in line! That jerk, that jackass, that idiot is so dead when I get my hands on him!"

Shikamaru snorted and smirked. Sorry about that, Naruto. You'll understand. I'm sure. Or you won't, since you can't even remember what you said.

"Chōji, what about you?" The Nara looked to his best friend. "Are you all right?"

"I'm okay." He was frowning in disappointment. "Sorry about that, Shikamaru."

"It's not your fault. My Shadow is what failed first, anyway. These idiots are just freaks of nature."

They were lucky, though. Lucky Fūjin and Raijin shared the same amount of braincells as a sea sponge, which was to say zero. Had they possessed a fraction of a brain they might have finished off Team Ten rather than waste time happily reminding each other of how stupid they were.

The world was funny that way. It gave genius intellect to lazy good-for-nothings and immense power to idiots who's brains never developed past childhood. Shikamaru almost felt himself laugh.

What a strange world they inhabited.

He wasn't about to complain. It bought time for Chōji to stand up all the way, ready to fight. It gave Ino the chance to rise onto her knees and wipe the blood on her cheek onto her trembling wrist, and allowed him to catch his breath and prepare his next moves.

"What's the plan, Shikamaru?" asked Chōji.

"We'll go with our new formation," he replied, weaving the Dragon, Tiger and Rat handseals. "It's a drag, I know, but our mission is to hold them here until reinforcements arrive. So, that's what we'll do.

"Besides," he added, watching as Fūjin and Raijin finally turned to face them, their grins as dumb as they were evil in their dumb innocence, "it's not like we have a choice."

"I guess that means we're stuck doing the heavy lifting," Ino said, smiling through a grimace.

"Seems that way."

Shikamaru didn't waste another moment. He extended his Shadow into four tendrils, wrapping them up the legs of both men, around their torsos and arms, bringing a Shadow-shaped hand to their thick throats.

He constricted it as tightly as he could, as though tightening a chokehold, but the diminishing strength of his Shadow techniques made snapping their necks impossible. Unfortunately.

"Ninja Art: Shadow Strangle Jutsu," he grunted. "I've got them restrained. Ino, your turn."

"Right." Ino aimed her hands at Raijin, connecting the thumb of each hand to the opposing pointer finger to create a sort of window. "Mind Destruction Jutsu!"

Raijin's head slumped forward, briefly. Then, acting as if commanded by invisible puppet strings, he began to turn, reaching his hands out while moaning dumbly and furiously in resistance to the forced motions. He clapped his massive hands on top of Fūjin's shoulders, and his brother hunched beneath the force.

"Hey, Raijin! What's going on? Say something!"

"Something's wrong, Bro! It's not me, I swear!" he whined.

"Chōji," Shikamaru commanded.

"On it. Partial Expansion Jutsu!"

Both of his arms extended and grew in size, clutching Fūjin and Raijin once more inside his massive hands.

"Formation Ino-Shika-Chō complete," Shikamaru said.

Now we hold here.

And hope reinforcements show up in time to save our skins.

---

From the outside, the cave system where Mizuki's scent ended didn't appear special. Nothing at all like the entrance to the Sound Village base, where hidden among moss and trees and spider silk a secret staircase of stone descended into a dark, man-made hall.

The mouth of the cave, an oblong oval shape, had no interesting features. No obvious carvings or symbols signifying to an agent of Orochimaru's that it belonged to him. It didn't hint at anything nefarious inside, nor were there any candles illuminating a path through the darkness as there were in the Sound Village.

It appeared to be a perfectly normal cave. A naturally occurring cave like any other, which was likely the point. In the Land of Sound Orochimaru had the peripheral support of the Feudal Lord. He could build his underground base without any real fear.

Out here, in the Land of Fire and the countries beyond, he couldn't build a fortress or a lab for the whole world to see if he hoped to continue slithering about in the shadows. He had to keep them underground. In cave systems, natural or man-made, hidden amid hills, mountains and canyons where even the Crows network couldn't find him.

All the same, despite how normal it appeared, just looking at the place gave Naruto the creeps. Something dark was inside. Something evil. Very evil.

He could feel it on his skin, making his hairs stand on end. Sense it on the air like a bad odor, as though someone had spilled spoiled milk all over the place and left it sit out for days just to see how bad the stench could get.

"Mizuki's scent leads inside," Pakkun informed. "He isn't alone. There's another scent in there with him. And… Hmm…"

"What is it, Pakkun?" Iruka asked.

"Smells like someone dug up a corpse. Whatever you plan to do, be careful. Something isn't right."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed quietly. "I've got chills from whatever is in there. Think Mizuki and Aoi found Orochimaru's gifts?"

"Could be. If it were up to me, I'd drop the cave on them and call it a day."

It certainly sounded like the best option.

Unfortunately, they never had the chance to enact the plan.

The silhouette of a man formed at the edge of the cave opening, hovering in the shadows just behind the natural barrier between light and darkness created by the evening sun.

"Well, well," Mizuki sneered from the shadows, "I must say, I am impressed, Iruka. I was certain you had perished in the explosion, or at the very least were taking your final feeble breaths while buried beneath the rubble. Yet here you are! Alive. You are a hard man to kill. You've exceeded my expectations entirely.

"And would you look at that, the Nine-Tailed Fox is here, too. I'm disappointed in Fūjin and Raijin."

"Yeah, well, those morons never stood a chance against me!" Naruto declared, knowing full well he was lying through his teeth.

He was worried about Shikamaru, Chōji and Ino. Their Clan jutsus were strong, but the Idiot Brothers were basically human hippos, wielding the same strength, speed and predatory instinct. Though he'd bet hippos were smarter.

They had to take down Mizuki and Aoi here and now and hurry back as soon as possible.

"If you really want a piece of me, then come at me yourself!" said Naruto.

"Oh, I will," Mizuki promised. "Though I'm disappointed in those two idiots for failing to rip you apart limb from limb like the prison guards, they ultimately fulfilled their purpose. All of my pawns did. The fools who heard of the 'bounty' I set on Amaririsu and swarmed the Leaf Village, believing that I or Lord Orochimaru would reward them anything at all; the prisoners who fled for the border, spreading the Leaf's forces out and, of course, those pesky Crows I thought only to be an old man's senile ghost story.

"And then there were my closest puppets. First, the Cloud shinobi, who's Earth Style ninjutsu and Camouflage Jutsus made escaping all the easier, and, of course, when they finally left my company, they would be priority targets who I knew the Leaf couldn't dare let escape the border. Just another distraction to keep you all busy.

"Then there were the the Demon Brothers, who's tracking abilities and infamous bloodlust were mine to wield like tools. All I had to do was promise money and a chance at Kakashi Hatake's squad, and they fell in line like obedient dogs. And the Idiot Brothers were even easier to convince. Food was their reward. A feast unlike any other!

"Oh, heh," he chuckled darkly, "and how could I forget Aoi. Naïve and foolish Aoi, so obsessed with revenge, so certain he could use me. He thought I was just another fool like all the rest. They all played the roles I planned for them perfectly. And now it's finally done. The Ultimate Body and the Ultimate Weapon are mine!"

Ultimate Body? Ultimate Weapon? Naruto clenched his hands into fists. I've got a real bad feeling about this. Does he mean the Curse Mark?

"Best of all, I can test it out on the Nine-Tailed Fox and you, Iruka. Two of the people I hate the most! This must be fate. Why else would we all come together like this one last time?"

"You've got one thing right," Naruto growled. "This is gonna be the last time we fight. Because I'm gonna pound you so far into the dirt you're gonna wish you never crawled out of prison!"

"Hehehe! Ahahahahaha!" Mizuki laughed harshly. "Still have delusions of grandeur, I see, eh, Demon Fox?"

"The only one here with delusions is you. Ultimate Body, Ultimate Weapon, get real!" Naruto swiped his hand through the air. "Your Curse Mark is nothing special. It didn't save the Sound Four or Kimimaro from me and my friends. And it certainly isn't going to save you!"

"Nothing special? That's where you're wrong."

Mizuki stepped out of the cave, out of the darkness which shielded him, and into the light fearlessly. Iruka and Tsubaki let out horrified gasps. Mizuki wore an arrogant smile, but that didn't shock them.

They'd finally seen the First Stage Curse Mark transformation.

Naruto grunted, shifting his jaw. He'd seen the inhuman transformation of the Curse Mark before, he'd seen Sasuke's and Kimimaro's twisted and altered by it. Except, if his memory was right, those had taken place in the Second Stage. Not the first.

This Curse Mark is different, he noticed immediately, eyes scrutinizing the rogue. It's like the First Stage is his natural state now. And that First Stage has morphed his body already. It isn't just those black marks the Sound Four were covered by, or Sasuke and Kimimaro.

The strange black markings were there, their form different than any he had seen previously. To his eyes, they resembled tiger stripes along Mizuki's torso, across his arms and poking out from beneath his hairline.

Checking his forearm, Naruto noticed the skull tattoo had disappeared. The marks didn't connect or spread out from any specific point. For all intents and purposes they seemed to be a permanent part of his body, more akin to a tattoo rather than a Curse Seal.

That wasn't all. New black streaks striped his white hair, his pupils had become cat-like slits, and strangest of it all, deep grooves resembling whiskers lined his cheeks.

His features were wilder. Feral, even. His shoulders were broader, his body taller, his muscles bigger and sculpted like a statue. He had a large shuriken strapped to his back.

"Is that really Mizuki?" Iruka gawked.

"I'm afraid so," Pakkun confirmed reluctantly. "His scent has been altered, but that's definitely Mizuki. I'd say whatever he did in that cave has changed his body's genetic makeup."

Tsubaki brought a hand to her mouth. "What on earth have you done to yourself, Mizuki?"

"Can't you see, Tsubaki?" he gloated wildly. "This is the Ultimate Body!"

Mizuki clutched his hands into fists and looked at them, grinning ear to ear; his canine teeth were longer and sharper.

"I can feel the power coursing through me." He punched the air, and the air shuddered around his fist. "There's no end to it. It's overflowing!"

"This dark power," Iruka muttered in horror. "It's making my skin crawl."

Naruto felt it, too. Even the Nine-Tails, he sensed, creaked an eye open to see what the disturbance was.

"All of that pain, it was to awaken this!" Mizuki was officially off his rocker. "I haven't even released all of my power yet. This is only the beginning, I can feel it. Yes!" He laughed manically. "This is it! Ahahaha! I've done it! I've finally done it!"

"This is it!" Naruto was struck by déjà vu. "I've finally reached it—the pinnacle of strength no one will ever hope to surpass! I have become the Ultimate Shinobi!"

At what cost, though? He questioned his memory of Arashi. At the cost of your soul? Your life? What's the point of that?

What about Sasame? She was waiting for you, you know? Searching for you. She would've done anything to be at your side. Yet you would've twisted her.

Naruto tightened his fists.

"Hey, Mizuki," he spoke up. "Answer me one question."

"Is this to be your final request?" Mizuki taunted, turning his infatuated and vile grin away from himself to Naruto.

"I heard you murdered your classmate. Genda, right? You also told Iruka-sensei you found his pain and loneliness funny, and tried to use him to gain influence with Old Man Hokage."

"Right on all points, Demon Fox. But there wasn't a question there. Unless you're curious exactly how much pain you caused Iruka by killing his parents. I'd be happy to tell you about how much he used to cry when he was alone."

Naruto growled but ignored the barb. "What I want to know is where Tsubaki fits into all of your schemes. From what I can tell, even before Orochimaru branded you with a Curse Mark you were obsessed with power and influence. You were willing to manipulate comrades and kill them when they got in your way. You were the worst scum imaginable.

"Yet somehow you tricked a nice and sweet lady like Tsubaki into loving you. She was even ready to marry you. She tried to bring you from the darkness when she thought you were disillusioned. And when you told her the truth and betrayed the Leaf, she hid secrets for you. Because she loved you, sincerely."

Naruto's lip curled. "You're not capable of love, though. Not real love. Not sincere love. If you were, you wouldn't have ever laid your filthy hands on her! No way. The only person you love is yourself.

"So, tell me, what was Tsubaki's role? Why did you go so far to manipulate her into loving you when a monster like you never deserved her in the first place!"

"Ohhh, so harsh. I think my feelings are hurt," Mizuki mocked his anger. "I guess your a demon with your words, too, huh? It just seeps into every part of you. But maybe I'm the one being too harsh. It's not like you can help it." He shrugged. "That's just what you are. It's the nature of being a Demon, wouldn't you say? Monsters like us just can't control our impulses."

"Answer my question, Mizuki!"

"Hmph," he smirked. "All right. I don't see why not. There were a few reasons, I admit. At first, I did it to spite Iruka. I knew he pinned for her affections since we were children; you said it yourself, Demon Fox, she is a nice and sweet lady. And beautiful, without a doubt. I saw an opportunity to make him miserable. His misery was…satisfying.

"Another reason, simplest of them all, really, is that Tsubaki was a nice diversion. A port I could dock my ship in whenever I pleased," he said with a lewd smirk. "You're not old enough to understand, and you won't live to understand it either, but a man has needs. Any port in the storm will do, generally, but knowing it drove a wedge between them made it so much sweeter. Having her call my name out instead, it was a rush."

Tsubaki lowered her gaze in shame, face flushing.

"And it was easy, too. All I had to do was show affection, gentleness, make her feel like she was a goddess and, when the time was right, tell her the words all women want to hear. How I adored her. How I loved her. How she was all I thought about. Heh," he chuckled, "I had her eating out of the palm of my hand.

"After Lord Orochimaru gave me his gift, though, her role changed. You see, I had a different need which her body would've been good for. Fortunately for her, I was arrested. And then along came Aoi, who took her place.

"But how about it, Tsubaki," Mizuki grinned vilely, his feral features making it all the more grotesque. "There's no reason for you to die here. Come with me, my love. Leave behind the Leaf and join me at Lord Orochimaru's side. Help me kill Iruka and the Nine-Tailed Fox.

"You know you can't return to the Leaf now that they're aware you hid my secrets. There's no place for you there. You'll be branded a traitor. A rogue. A lovestruck fool who protected a criminal."

Every word seemed to push the knife deeper into Tsubaki's heart. She winced and flinched and bit her lip.

"I'm all you have now. I'm all you'll ever need. I can protect you, you see, from those dastardly Leaf shinobi. With this power, I could even kill Orochimaru himself. You won't have to want for anything. You won't suffer. We'll live a good life. A simple life."

"Naruto was right," Iruka said, his voice low and threatening. "You don't deserve Tsubaki. That you would manipulate her, strike her, and then try to twist her heart so you can continue abusing her, you're a disgusting excuse of a man, Mizuki."

"Aw, such hurtful words, Iruka. Are you trying to make me cry again?"

Naruto stepped forward, fury mixing together with guilt in his stomach.

"I'm sorry, Tsubaki," he apologized. "I asked him that because I needed to know if he actually loved you or not. I was…trying to figure out what his reasons were. For abandoning you, I mean. I didn't except him to say things like that. Maybe I should have.

"I'm sorry," he apologized again, starting to walk directly for Mizuki. "But don't worry, you still have a place back in the Leaf. You always will. I'll make sure of that. Even if I have to nag Granny Tsunade to death, I'll make sure of it."

"Naruto…"

"Don't bother listening to him, Tsubaki," Mizuki sneered. "Demons are known to lie—"

"That's enough, you rat," growled Naruto, stopping halfway between Mizuki and his comrades. "I heard all I needed to hear from you."

"All right." Mizuki, grinning like a feral cat, lifted his hand and gestured—dared—the boy to approach. "Don't keep me waiting. Show me what you can do, Nine-Tailed Fox."

Naruto formed the Clone handseal and created five corporeal copies of himself, three on his left side and two on his right.

"Ah," Mizuki sighed, "now this takes me back. You should know, this won't be like last time."

"Maybe not," replied Naruto. "But it'll still end the same way, with you crying and begging me for mercy as I pummel you!"

The barb struck visibly. Mizuki inhaled sharply, his cat eyes narrowed and his grin twisted into a vicious snarl.

At the same time, four of Naruto's Shadow Clones, two from each side, charged ahead in near unison. The Shadow Clones at the far ends took the lead, spreading out to attack from multiple directions as they rapidly approached their enemy. The other two kept close, one ahead of the other in a parallel formation.

"Mocking me even now?" Mizuki was incensed. "That's the last mistake you'll ever make!"

The Shadow Clone at the left end bounded further left at a sharp diagonal, then shot in at Mizuki's right side. It's mirror raced an arc at his left side in the same amount of time.

Meanwhile, the Shadow Clone leading the charge in the center pair stopped abruptly, swinging his hands out. The fourth and final Shadow Clone snatched its partner's hands, letting his feet leave the earth. He was swung a full three-hundred and sixty degrees then released to torpedo headfirst straight at Mizuki.

The rogue pivoted. He back kicked the bounding Shadow Clone and caught the torpedoing Shadow Clone by the back of his neck simultaneously, the kick causing the air and the dispersing smoke of the Shadow Clone to shudder.

Before anyone could blink he slammed the latter into the ground, dispelling him with tremendous impact.

In a flash, he was up, knee crashing into the stomach of the third Shadow Clone, its dispersal making it appear as though he bisected it with a single strike.

The whirling of a large shuriken cut across the battlefield. Mizuki showed no fear or surprise. His hand flung out, catching the Demon Wind Shuriken at its inner ring flawlessly.

The shuriken suddenly dispelled. From it, the fifth Shadow Clone appeared, snatching the muscular arm to Mizuki's mild surprise.

He vaulted up to stand on the rogue's back and wrenched the limb into an awkward angle, forcing him to bend forward at the waist by applying pressure on his spine and neck with his feet. He wrenched it harder, trying to snap the bone or dislocate the shoulder.

Ahead, dashing in swiftly, was the Shadow Clone to throw its partner. He threw his feet out and slid across the grass, loading a kick. Then crashing his foot straight into Mizuki's jaw.

The blow connected. Yet Mizuki's head did not move, nor did his arm snap. The Shadow Clone's foot, pressed against his jaw, shook in effort that achieved nothing. His arm refused to bend, as though it was a piece of metal firmly cemented in the earth.

Suddenly Mizuki's expression twisted into a feral grin that was made all the more horrifying by the deep grooves in his cheeks and the tiger-like markings.

"My turn!"

His hand clutched onto the Shadow Clone wrenching his arm and, despite its awkward angle, despite all the force the Shadow Clone was exerting, pulled him straight off his back and drilled him headfirst into the ground. It dispersed instantly.

His other Shadow Clone attempted to retreat, rolling back onto his shoulders to his feet, desperate to gain a firmer position before Mizuki could eliminate him, too.

As his head came up, he recoiled back, all but tripping over at the sight of Mizuki's feral face directly in front of his.

The rogue snatched him by the wrist. He tugged the Shadow Clone forward straight into his fist, dispersing it.

The cloud of smoke whirled, and Naruto gagged, choking on air as a knee struck him in his belly; a shockwave pulsed off his back from the sheer power.

He shot into the air, saliva flying from his lips, Mizuki grinning wildly up at him. Then vanishing, if only for a moment.

Mizuki's shadow—it could be no one else's—appeared over him. Naruto only managed to glance up and see the rogue drawing both of his clasped hands above his head, and then he felt the strike slam into his back.

He plummeted towards the earth at a sharp angle, where he crashed like a falling boulder, bounced and skipped like a thin stone over a river, and then slid to a painful halt.

He grunted and winced, then the shadow fell over him again. Eyes wide, Naruto rolled over onto his stomach, pressed his hands against the ground and flung himself up into the air, into a rapid roll reminiscent of the Inuzuka Tunneling Fang, narrowly evading Mizuki's falling knee.

It didn't stop the earth from breaking apart. It didn't stop dirt and tiny stones from peppering him or a large jagged piece of earth from nearly eviscerating his stomach.

Mid-roll, Naruto climbed his hands up the jagged piece of earth, imitating a handstand run, and vaulted over it, twisting through the air so he could attempt to land on his feet.

His Curse Mark, or whatever he did in that cave, has increased his speed and strength to a ridiculous level.

The Uzumaki landed on all-fours. He rose quickly, jumped and spun laterally to avoid Mizuki's follow-up attack. Air whistled by him as the rogue skidded by; he was still adjusting to his newfound speed and strength, it seemed.

Floating helplessly, Naruto created a Shadow Clone, clasped it at the wrists and let it spin him through the air, throwing him at the rogue shinobi. While he flew he made the Clone Seal again and unleashed a horde of Shadow Clones numbering more than two dozen, who flew headfirst in a sea of broken orange jackets rustling in the wind.

Before they could strike, Mizuki drew his head back and unleashed a powerful animalistic roar, expelling a gale of wind from his lungs directly into the horde.

Consecutive dispersals left a thick cloud of smoke hanging in the air. Naruto flew out of it with a cry, crashing and sliding on his back as he weaved handseals.

Again Mizuki was on top of him in an instant, appearing beside his body with his fist drawn back. Again Naruto threw himself out of the way, landing in a low crouch within arms reach of his enemy, drawing his head back, chest expanding with a large exhale.

Wind Style: Air Bullet!

The gust of wind he expelled slammed against Mizuki at point-blank range. Dirt and dust exploded outward, the force of the gale whiplashed back on the Uzumaki. His jacket and the First Hokage's necklace whipped and undulated with the wind, the howling wind stung his skin, nearly cutting it open.

A hand marked by black stripes surged out of the cloud of dust, snatching him by the throat. Suddenly he slammed back first against the earth, air knocked from his lungs.

Mizuki loomed over him, squeezing his throat tightly, with an absolutely self-satisfied and animalistic grin on his face.

"I'm sorry. Was that supposed to do something?" he taunted.

There wasn't a scratch on him. Except, strangely, beneath his arm. Near his armpit.

Naruto choked and gasped, grabbing and clawing at the hand choking the life from him.

"Hehehehe. It's impressive, isn't it?" Mizuki lifted his free hand up and took a long look at it. "With this body, there's no limits to what I can do. Power, speed, durability, it's just as Lord Orochimaru said. This is the Ultimate Body. I haven't even tapped into all of my power yet. It's almost frightening."

"You think…Orochimaru…has given you a gift?" Naruto choked out. "You're only…kidding yourself. Orochimaru…doesn't…give anyone gifts. This power…will eat you alive!"

"It already tried to," Mizuki replied calmly, still examining his arm with fascination. "The pain was unimaginable. Like someone was pouring acid over my body while a toxin ate my insides apart. But I survived it. I took control of this power. Now it's mine to wield."

He lifted Naruto up slightly and slammed him into the earth again.

"And if you know what's good for you, you'll die quietly, Demon Fox. I'm too smart for your manipulations. This is Lord Orochimaru's gift to me. He sees my value, and nothing you say will change that."

"If that's…true…then why did…Orochimaru leave the Sound Village behind?" he countered. "He…didn't bother to break you free. And he sure as hell didn't wait for you to return. Seems to me like you were just another pawn."

Mizuki's slit pupils locked onto Naruto, glinting with rage and hatred. He slammed him against the ground again then wrapped both hands around his throat.

"Don't you lie to me, Demon Fox! How would you know where Lord Orochimaru was anyway?!"

Naruto choked. He thrashed with his legs, trying to kick the grown man while pulling at his hands. It wasn't going to work, his face was turning red, on the verge of a dangerous shade of purple. His vision was blotting black, the threads of consciousness slipping through his fingers.

He had to get him off another way.

"We…just…came back…from the Land of Sound. He wasn't there."

"If you think lying to me will make me kill you faster, you're wrong!" Mizuki shook his oxygen deprived body as he snarled. A thin trail of blood, Naruto noticed, slid down his armpit. "Well, admit it! Admit that you're lying before I send you to an early grave!"

"Heh," Naruto choked on a laugh, hand falling to his side. "What's the…matter? Got abandonment…issues or something? Seems…your Lord…left you behind…" The boy forced a vicious smirk. "Again."

"Stupid Fox!"

"Ouch. I…think…you hurt…my feelings."

"Rragghhhhhh!"

Naruto gripped his hand around the hilt of the kunai poking out of his ninja tool box. With what little strength and consciousness he had left, he pulled it free and plunged it straight into Mizuki's armpit.

The blade pierced his flesh, burying into the sensitive area, drawing out a animalistic cry of pain from the man.

His vice grip loosened. Motivated by survival, Naruto shimmed the blade a bit, breathing in as deeply as he could. And then he twisted it to draw out another animalistic roar.

"Doesn't…look…like you're…as durable as you thought!"

Bending his knees in, he buried his feet into Mizuki's gut, releasing chakra from them as if he was trying to torpedo off a tree or a pillar. The tiger-striped man skidded back on his heels, kunai being yanked from his armpit, while the boy slid further away.

Overall, he is more durable, Naruto considered, turning over onto his hands and knees, sucking in air desperately, purplish face flushing with fresh oxygenated blood and feeling hot enough to barbecue meat. But there are some gaps in it. Like gaps in armor, maybe.

No jutsu or technique was flawless, it seemed. Not even an 'Ultimate Body.'

He wondered if there was still a steeper price Mizuki would pay for drinking a potion from Orochimaru. Like the Cadaver Puppet Jutsu that ultimately destroyed Arashi's mental state.

"There are reasons jutsus like that are considered Forbidden," he recalled his Master's words.

"Think you're clever, huh?!" boomed Mizuki, equipping the large shuriken in his hand. "We'll see how clever you are when you're dead! I'll finish what the Villagers are too scared to do. Now die, Nine-Tailed Fox!"

Roaring, Mizuki flashed forward, shuriken hissing fiercely as it spun like a power saw in his hand. Naruto tried to move. He did. But his body refused his desperate commands, deprived of adequate oxygen and beginning to quake; he hadn't fully recovered after the Idiot Brothers, it was finally catching up to him.

Mizuki, lunging at him, whirling blade drawn back, slashed the large shuriken at a mild downward diagonal for his exposed back. His features were wild. His evil permeating off him like a foul stench.

The individual blades were invisible, melding together in a blur no normal eye could perceive.

A shadow came over Naruto. He turned his head just enough to see the cause.

Lightning may as well have struck him. His whole body tensed. His eyes went wide.

For it wasn't Mizuki looming there, but Tsubaki standing in front of him as a human shield.

The whirling shuriken carved a diagonal rift through her flak jacket, from beneath her left breast, along her abdomen, spraying a streak of blood off her right hip as Mizuki finished his swing.

Her cry of pain paralyzed Naruto. It made his blood flash freeze.

"Tsubaki… Why? Why did you…"

Clutching an arm over the length of her wound, hunching forward as blood dripped and streamed over the limb, Tsubaki stared up at Mizuki. Her expression was soft.

"Please, stop this, Mizuki. Before it's too late."

The weak and selfless plea did move the rogue. He drew his whirling blade over his opposite shoulder, his feral expression intensifying.

"So, you've chosen to side with the Demon Fox, huh? Fine, I have no need for you or your body anymore!"

He struck to cut down Tsubaki where she stood.

"Tsubaki!" Iruka cried out, diving into the kunoichi and tackling her out of the way of the blade.

Naruto watched in horror as the blade carved through his Academy teacher's flak jacket, across his back. He saw the pair crash, rolling roughly in the grass, then stopping entirely. He saw the blood whip off the rapidly spinning blades, splattering over Mizuki's animalistic features.

Iruka trembled and quaked as he tried to rise onto all-fours. Tsubaki, to Naruto's eyes, seemed to go utterly still.

Iruka-sensei, Tsubaki…

"Heh!" Mizuki laughed cruelly. "Tsubaki, Tsubaki, you surprise me. Throwing yourself in front of the Demon Fox like that. I'd say it's a waste for you to die here, but who would I be kidding? You're a fool like all the rest. Besides, your body was all I really enjoyed about you. But were you to live that part of you would be irreversibly scarred. Now you're just unsightly."

Up to that moment, Naruto had kept a tight clamp over his emotions. They'd been boiling to the surface, he could admit. Bubbling since Amari's home was brazenly attacked.

Seeing Iruka nearly killed in the explosion, hearing Mizuki's reasons for manipulating Tsubaki, they agitated the already foaming concoction further.

Witnessing Tsubaki take a blow meant for him, and then his Academy teacher following suit on her behalf to save her from the callous man she was tricked into loving had the pot rattling, the bubbles popping, splashing boiling hot water over his skin.

Yet he still tried to control it, tried to clamp a seal over the rattling and steaming pot of fury bubbling inside of him.

Mizuki's abrasive insults and clear enjoyment of treating Tsubaki as just a means to a very specific end sent the seal shooting off in an explosion of steam and boiling emotions that showered over him.

Red-hot chakra, hot as lava, awoke within Naruto's belly. It circulated with every quickening beat of his heart. He inhaled and exhaled sharply, each breath more shallow, more furious than the last. He grit his teeth to the point of pain, growling deep in his throat.

"Mizuki," he snarled.

"Excuse me?" Mizuki sneered, walking up alongside the boy. "I don't think I gave you permission to speak. Have you forgotten you're in the presence of a superior!"

He swung his leg back.

His shin slapped against Naruto's palm, and did not go any further.

Red eyes with slit pupils locked onto the rogue shinobi. Seared themselves onto him with the heat of a hot brand.

The intense fury, the demonic presence, the tangible hatred which, to Mizuki's bewildered and horrified eyes, took on the shape of the Nine-Tailed Fox was joined by hot air rippling off of Naruto.

"I'm going to kill you!" Naruto bellowed.

Roaring, Naruto pushed the leg away and was on his feet in a blink, slamming his fist into Mizuki's exposed abdomen. This time a shockwave pulsed off the rogue's body, larger, harsher, popping his ears.

Muscles and skin rippled beneath the power. Spittle flew from his mouth, hung agape in agony and shock. His wild eyes bulged, as though being pushed out of his skull from the inside, but they did not pop out.

Mizuki stumbled back two steps, hand over abdomen, before emptying out the contents of his stomach in a vicious spray of reddish-black colored vomit.

"Blasted…Dem—"

Naruto cleared the distance between them in a single powerful stride, roughly knocking aside a desperate punch with his left forearm, stepping in closer and unleashing a muscle rippling and air shaking two strike combination.

More spittle, this time mixed with bile, flew from his enemy's mouth. The air, hot and ripe with chakra, pulsed and swirled around the boy, warning of its imminent release.

The strikes nearly stumbled Mizuki again. However, the Uzumaki refused to give him an inch. He snatched him by his jacket, drew his fist back, and felt the red-orange cloak of chakra erupt and shroud his body.

His broken jacket and the First Hokage's necklace whipped viciously beneath the pulsing air. His red eyes burned with malice and hatred, his whisker marks darkened, becoming more prominent.

With all of his strength he tugged Mizuki straight into his punch, roaring,

"Shut! Uppppppp!"

The force of the blow sent the rogue flying backwards, flipping head over foot. Mizuki, by a stroke of luck or skill, landed on his feet out of the worst of the flipping, though the momentum caused him to trip, fall and roll one final time before he was able to dig his heels in.

His vision, though dazed and shaken by the strikes which rattled his very skeletal structure, perceived in full clarity the Demon Fox's visage that surrounded the boy as he darted in.

It grinned, taunting him, mocking him with human-like consciousness. It's eyes glared into his blackened soul to demand a simple question:

Now that he had finally witnessed a fragment of his immense and unimaginable power, did he still believe a cretin like him, a measly human grasping at power the way an infant grasps at all it can touch to stick it in its mouth, could actually kill him?

Unlike the Nine-Tailed Fox, though, Naruto had no such questions.

"Sick bastard!" He punched Mizuki again. "Monster!" Another punch. "You manipulated Tsubaki!" He snatched him by his stupid white and black striped hair and drove Mizuki's face into his knee. "You tricked her into falling in love with a rat like you!"

As Mizuki's head recoiled, Naruto lunged in again.

"And despite all you said, despite you striking her, despite knowing all you did was use her like some kind of tool, she still tried to plead for your worthless soul!"

His fist was caught in Mizuki's larger hand. Growling, he swung another punch with his free hand. It, too, was captured.

"I see now," Mizuki said. "This must be the Demon Fox's true power. Still not enough, though. It might be a good way to test my new body out."

Their hands fought and trembled against one another, their feet digging into the earth as they both tried to gain superior leverage.

"You've gotten stronger, I admit. But a few cheap shots won't change anything. I still possess the Ultimate—"

To the surprise of Mizuki, Naruto forced his hands open and interlaced their fingers.

"Why won't you—"

Again, wielding his newfound strength, he tugged Mizuki head first towards him. Simultaneously, he slammed his head forward in a meeting of skulls that instantly drew blood from both of them.

"—shut uppppppp!"

"Gahhh!"

Their heads recoiled back. Despite the thunder of an incoming headache coming on and the blood pouring into the fabric of his headband and down his face, Naruto recovered quicker and darted in again.

"Everything you say pisses me off!"

He unloaded four rapid punches to his enemy's abdomen, each one stronger than the last, lifting him off his feet. His final strike was a point-blank Wind Style: Air Bullet. The gale struck with the harsh and earth-trembling force of a punch courtesy of Tsunade.

Without preamble, Mizuki shot like a loosed arrow into the sky.

"You lie. You manipulate. You twist people's feelings! Trick them into calling you friend and kill them when they become inconvenient!"

High in the air, Mizuki suddenly felt hands wrap around his ankle. His wide eyes snapped down to see a human ladder of Naruto's grabbing each other by the ankles. The final Naruto dug his nails into the rogue's ankles, glaring at him with those same red eyes of hatred. Of judgement.

He could only wonder in horror what sort of madness this was. How was he being bested once more by the Demon Fox.

"You manipulated good people. Iruka-sensei. Tsubaki. You pretended to care for them. Pretended you loved her! When all you were doing was hurting them, poisoning their lives with your deceptions!"

The bridge of Naruto's undulated and snapped like a whip. Suddenly Mizuki was flying rapidly towards the earth, held firmly at his ankles by his assaulter.

They slammed him into the ground, dragged him across it, and threw him across the battlefield, dispelling as he skipped and flopped gracelessly like he was falling down the steep side of a mountain.

Naruto, cloaked by lashing chakra, raced on all-fours to meet Mizuki's skipping body, appearing behind him, fist drawn back.

"You struck Tsubaki."

Another punch. Another shockwave. Mizuki flew, but Naruto chased him down.

"Shamed her! Then you tried to kill her and Iruka-sensei!"

Jab, cross, straight kick, Naruto unloaded another combination into Mizuki's flopping body.

"You won't hurt them ever again! I won't let you!"

Mizuki unleashed another roar. The gales whipped past Naruto. He lifted his arms in front of his face, and then threw them down and back as he unleashed a roar of his own. A roar of fury and wind that was louder, harsher and more powerful.

The wind barreled into the rogue shinobi, but he weathered the storm and, upon stopping, equipped his large shuriken again, whirling it around.

Despite the distance between them, Naruto saw his wild and desperate eyes flick over towards Iruka and Tsubaki, the former of the two leaning over the unmoving kunoichi, his back turned to the two battling shinobi.

"Let's see if you can keep that promise!" Mizuki pivoted and threw the shuriken directly for Iruka.

In a strange moment of clarity, Naruto darted into action, rushing across the battlefield so fast, when he appeared in front of his Academy teacher wind rushed past them both.

Iruka, hearing the whirling shuriken, feeling the rush of air, had enough time to turn his head and see his student standing over him, protecting their bodies with his own.

Naruto, in turn, tensed, but his eyes were cerulean instead of red when he looked at his teacher, and the cloak was flickering away like the fading orange tongues of a campfire.

He was ready for the pain. For the blade to pierce his back just like it did to Iruka when Mizuki tricked him.

Instead, to his surprise, a blur of black shot past him. It took him an extra second to recognize they were black feathers, and an extra second after that to realize they weren't ordinary birds.

They were Crows.

From flock of Crows, a scarred hand suddenly appeared, snatching the whirling shuriken at its center, its halted momentum jerking the limb slightly. But he felt no pain, and the blade, though a fraction of an inch from piercing his flesh, did not touch him. Not even his jacket.

Suddenly a human shape—a kunoichi—took form amid the spiraling black birds. She landed on one foot, lowering herself to the ground, spinning three-hundred and sixty degrees with inexplicable grace. Her blue hair whipped through the air as she rose rapidly out of the spin, and so did the shuriken, sent whirling straight back at its sender.

Mizuki had but a breath to dodge the blade, and he did so, but only narrowly. The shuriken vanished into the trees, taking branches with it.

He stared with an expression of joy and rage at the kunoichi who emerged from the swirling flock with the grace and regality of a Princess.

Or, perhaps, a Queen.

Naruto turned around. The long, wild blue hair of his savior undulated beneath the breeze. Her dominant hand clutched the hilt of her tantō, jutting out over her right shoulder from its harness.

Opposite of the weapon, occupying her left shoulder, was a Crow with feathers that shimmered an iridescent blue.

No one except Mizuki could see her eyes, one burning crimson, the other hardened lavender. But Naruto could imagine them. He could see her cold expression simply by the tone of her voice when she spoke.

"You should've stayed in prison, Mizuki," Amari's voice was ice. The blade hissed out of its scabbard, the light of the setting sun gleamed off its sharpened edges. "For what you've done, I'll scatter your ashes in the wind."

"Amari…"

---

Shikamaru, Ino and Chōji stared in awe and, though unmanly to admit, with a hint of fear at the sheer power displayed before them.

The Nara was seated on the grass, beads of sweat the size of peas dripping down his face, frozen and stiff as a corpse despite feeling his heart slamming against his chest.

The Yamanaka, kneeling beside him and sitting on her heels, watched on with wide blue eyes and a thin trail of blood leading from her lips down her neck.

The Akimichi, who had collapsed back onto his buttocks, leaned back on his normal sized hands, mouth agape in the same awe and fear his comrades felt.

Their formation had collapsed. Shikamaru anticipated the possibility, sensed it would come to fruition over more optimistic scenarios in the prolonged and troublesome absence of reinforcements, and so was prepared to beat a retreat when it became clear they were at their absolute limit.

He anticipated it would be his Shadow that failed first. Followed by Ino's Mind Destruction and then, with their bodies in their control again, the Idiot Brothers would free themselves of Chōji's tight hold with shocking ease that would once more remind them of the inhuman physical strength these buffoons possessed.

As expected, his prediction was right. At least on account of reaching his limit first.

The series of events that followed his Shadow snapping back to him, his hand shooting into his pouch and Ino grunting and sweating in struggle to maintain her Mind Destruction Jutsu for as long as necessary were something no Nara could anticipate, at least not without proper Intel.

Shikamaru, Ino and Chōji stared openly at the source of their awe and fear.

Ruts, craters, cracks that no normal person, animal or carriage had any hope of crossing marred the landscape. Slabs of displaced earth sat at odd and irregular angles, as if anything about the new scenery could ever be considered regular. Trees were felled and lay amid the devastation.

At the center of it all, Fūjin and Raijin. The Idiot Brothers had proven their inhuman strength when they struck Naruto and when they broke free of their initial formation. They'd proven it long before this battle, that was how their infamy began, after all.

The Ino-Shika-Chō trio recognized their overwhelming power. Respected it. Feared it. For they knew what would occur should the Idiot Brothers get their large hands on them.

In all their time holding them down, the trio witnessed nothing from the two inmates except their brute strength and their idiocy.

At the center of the devastation, laying amid the ruts, craters, cracks marring the landscape, surrounded by displaced slabs of earth and felled trees, covered in dirt and bearing visible contusions and swelling, as well as streaks of blood from broken open skin, Fūjin and Raijin ceased to be frightening.

It was hard to be frightened of them when they were barely conscious. No. The source of their awe and fear was the woman standing unharmed inside the devastation, who appeared out of nowhere and saved their skins before he could pull his smoke bomb and light bomb out of his pouch.

The Fifth Hokage, Tsunade Senju, who the mere sight of snapped Fūjin and Raijin awake out of their rage and froze them in terror. For the first time they had shown they weren't nearly as brainless as they acted. But one glimmer of intelligence, sourced by a sudden spur of self-preservation, didn't wipe the slate clean.

And Tsunade Senju, if nothing else, knew how to track a debt.

Their pleas for forgiveness and mercy hadn't stopped the Fifth Hokage from beating them into the ground like she was tenderizing meat. Their begging did not change the simple fact they had killed and injured Leaf shinobi for a feast of all things.

The Fifth Hokage beat them to the point of near death, but stopped there, making Shikamaru, Ino and Chōji wonder if death would've been more merciful. They wouldn't eat solid food for years, if ever again. He didn't even know if they'd ever walk again without assistance.

Either way, the beating Team Ten witnessed made them realize two facts.

First, and already known, they needed more training. They needed to get stronger before the war began.

Second, and unquestionably bearing greater significance in the moment, the fact they did not realize the truth of in its entirety until that moment:

The Fifth Hokage was the strongest and most frightening woman they'd ever seen.

---

Squinting off at the thick grey ribbons rising high above the canopies, brushing wide and long strokes of darkness over the evening sky's canvas, Tsunade frowned in discontent.

Something was amiss. Something she could feel not on her skin or in any tangible sensation, but in the very essence of her existence. Almost as though she checked a lottery ticket and learned she won the largest jackpot of the last several decades, and rather than joy, as anyone would naturally feel, all she felt was dread and horror.

The feeling was strange. Her old bones were restless even when the Idiot Brothers no longer presented a threat. Tension strummed her taunt tendons and muscles. She naturally maintained a high alert, yet she felt herself clenching her fists in anticipation of…something.

Something she couldn't see and knew did not occupy the present battlefield. Otherwise she would've picked up on it. Tonbo would have alerted her to another presence, his Sensory Abilities sharp as a sword forged by a master smith.

What is this feeling?

Tsunade flicked her brown eyes around.

Nothing. No one. Not even a critter of the forest, those had all been scared off by her assault on Fūjin and Raijin.

"Lady Hokage, what is it?" Tonbo asked, appearing beside her. He sensed her tension, could all but see her fists tightening to the point of discomfort.

However, he did not sense the strange feeling overcoming her, that much was clear to Tsunade by his question.

Something was amiss. Something she did not know the nature of. Not yet. But she intended to find out, and she knew exactly where to look.

If only she had known what the source was, of the despicable jutsu Mizuki had claimed in that cave, the jutsu Orochimaru left him as a sick joke, maybe then she could have prepared all of her shinobi for the darkness and pain he was set to unleash.

"I have a bad feeling," Tsunade answered.

If only she had known…

---

"This must be fate," Mizuki declared, thrumming from head to toe with excitement and pent up aggression. "That you would show up here, on your own volition, no less, alongside that Demon and Iruka, yes," he grinned. "Fate has brought you straight to me! This is where it all comes full circle. On this battlefield, with my Ultimate Body, I will finally achieve my vengeance!"

"Ultimate Body, huh? I doubt that. Your body has changed, I'll give you that. But all that change has done is make you harder to look at," Amaririsu Yūhi taunted him.

"Hehehe!" Mizuki chuckled darkly in his throat. "I knew it. Despite all the time that has passed, and even with those judgmental eyes of yours, you can't see a thing!"

"I've seen plenty," Amaririsu replied coldly. "Of you. Of the people you set loose on me and my home. I've seen all I need to understand what you are. What you all represent. What your body looks like doesn't change who you are at your rotten core. I can see straight through you, Mizuki."

Mizuki snarled. He was careful not to meet the burning red and hardened lavender for a second time; he hadn't come this far to fall at the hands of her Sharingan genjutsu like the Cloud shinobi had during the Invasion.

However, he sensed their judgement all the same. Felt them glowing, searing into him no matter where he looked. They followed him in his mind's eye. They stared through him. And judged him.

His nostrils flared as he inhaled. His snarl fell. A slight light laugh escaped his lips.

"Likewise, Amaririsu."

With a quick turn, he spun around and caught the sword preparing to cut him down. Felt its sharpened edge cut into his palm, drawing warm blood, but dealing little by way of damage.

The Anbu agent in a cat-mask, a man with dark eyes and brown hair, stared at him emotionlessly. Mizuki's arm trembled slightly; the agent was surprisingly strong, he'd give them that.

Mizuki grinned wildly.

"What a nice sword."

The blade fractured beneath his overwhelming strength, all but snapping in half at its middle like a thin twig.

For possibly the first time in his life, for he was Anbu after all, the cat-mask agent's eyes widened in an emotion he might not have known was shock.

Wielding the shattered upper half, Mizuki slashed the blade for his enemy's head, nearly burying it in his neck.

The Anbu agent was good, though. He ducked, then hopped back. His eyes glanced at his broken sword, then snapped back to Mizuki. Swiftly, he pivoted to the side to evade the other half off his sword, thrown by the rogue.

"You must be her guard," Mizuki deduced. "I can see through your simple tricks, Amaririsu. This won't be like last time. Allow me to show you the true depths of my power!"

Roaring like a beast, Mizuki summoned upon all the strength of the Curse Mark, flooding his body with its delicious dark chakra.

Intangible waves of power crashed off of him. Wind kicked up and whirled ominously as the air itself was tainted by the darkness he harbored.

An icy chill afflicted the cool temperatures. Hatred, greed, hunger for more, more, more! It was insatiable. It melded into his killing intent and struck all the shinobi at its highest potency, making even the skin of the Anbu agent crawl with invisible insects.

Simultaneously, his body underwent changes. Unpleasant and painful changes. Changes which clawed at his insides, seemed to twist his spine and pull his skin apart. Changes which burned in his throat until his powerful roar couldn't be separated from that of a tiger's.

At its end, he stood before them a foot taller than before, covered in orange and white tiger fur, shoulders and arms thick as tree branches, bearing a physique that a performance enhanced bodybuilder would be envious of.

Mizuki looked down at himself. He opened and closed his hands. Extended and retracted his claws. His vision, he noticed, his hearing and his sense of smell were stronger than before. Keen. He could smell their sweat, their blood, the feminine scent of Tsubaki and Amaririsu. He could hear their hearts beating faster.

And he grinned.

This is it, he realized in excitement. My evolution is complete! The Ultimate Body is mine!

"What on earth…" The Anbu agent muttered.

"What have you done to yourself, Mizuki?" Amaririsu's voice detailed her shock and horror more than her beating heart did.

"Hehe," he chuckled sadistically. "I've evolved to the next level. Or can your eyes not see me as clearly as you thought? But, although I'd like to rip all of you to shreds one by one, it hardly seems fair for me to have all the fun. How about I introduce you to the Ultimate Weapon, too?"

Weaving a series of handseals, Mizuki clapped his palms together and grinned like a madman.

"Summoning! Reanimation Jutsu!"

"Reanimation Jutsu?" The Anbu agent sounded shaken.

"No way!" Iruka gasped in horror.

From the earth itself, a cream-colored coffin standing upright emerged beside the laughing madman. Its lid collapsed forward, revealing its sole occupant, who, at his command, stepped out.

The woman, while elderly, stood with straight posture, arms crossed in front of her and hands hidden inside the opposing sleeves of her loose fitting kimono.

When the breeze rolled through, her long maroon hair, which streamed down to her waist despite the two large buns on her head, undulated. A red rhombus was centered on her forehead. Cracks marred her flesh and the sclera of around her black eyes had become black—a result of the jutsu.

Mizuki sensed the shock of Iruka and the Anbu agent. Naruto and Amaririsu were tense, for they sensed danger, but weren't certain of what they were seeing. The Crow, with his wide black eyes and open beak, did. And that made it all the sweeter.

"Impossible," the Crow gasped.

"Osamu, talk to me," Amaririsu demanded, feet shifting in preparation for combat. "What the hell has he done? Why am I sensing immense power from this old lady? And where the hell has she come from?"

"I can feel this old lady's power, too," Naruto was visibly nervous. "This is bad. Real bad. Even the Nine-Tails is thrashing about inside of me."

The woman stopped. Whether moving or standing, she bore a dignified air even Mizuki could respect.

She stared at the two children. And frowned.

"To think I would be summoned by Tobirama's despicable jutsu to walk among the living once more, and then be commanded to fight these two children. This is a cruel fate. I see the world has not changed. For mankind has not yet changed."

The elderly woman glanced back at Mizuki, her old eyes bearing disapproval of the highest degree.

"Whoever you are, beast or man, know that the darkness you have summoned will eat you from the inside until nothing but a rotten shell remains."

"Hmph," he snorted dismissively. "You can't touch me so long as I command you."

"I was not speaking of myself, foolish child," the woman replied coldly. "However, you will learn your mistake before the end. You will learn," she promised ominously.

Then, as though he were no longer important or in control, she returned her gaze to the two children.

"Son of Kushina, ancestor of Madara and Yua," she spoke to them directly in a regal and dignified, if not old, voice. "Prepare yourselves. I cannot fully control my actions."

"Kushina's son," Naruto repeated the foreign name in confusion.

"Madara and Yua… Oh god," Amaririsu realized, eyes wide.

"My dear friends," Mizuki sneered vilely. "Please help me in welcoming our dignified guest back to the world of the living. Today, standing before you, is the wife of the First Hokage, the first jinchūriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox.

"Mito Uzumaki!"

This was fate.

Mizuki could feel it.