Chapter 35

Blanket disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Ninja Gaiden or DOA

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Real life has been rather unkind to me lately so the updates will continue to be slow for a while. For those interested I've posted a Naruto fanfic challenge on my profile. It's one I'd like to do but I have too many stories going as it is. I now present to you chapter 35:

Last time:

"So if you and your clones all make love with each of your wives then you remember having sex with all five of them every night?!" asked Genjiro with utter shock in his voice.

Naruto nodded, "Exactly; every night I get five nights of memories with my beautiful himes." Naruto smiled dreamily at that thought.

"YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" screeched Genjiro. "You're immorally lucky! Help me beat him senseless Ryu! What he's getting every night should be outlawed!"

Ryu quickly knocked Genjiro out with a chop to the neck. He said to the wide eyed Naruto, "Sorry about that Naruto; Genjiro had way too much alcohol earlier and is out of sorts. I'm sure he'll apologize later. I truly thank you for your advice; I'm going to go home and talk to Kureha-chan and make things better my friend."

"Do you want me to make a clone to drop Genjiro off at his place?" asked Naruto.

Ryu shook his head, "No, I'm going to drop him off with Father and then go home to Kureha-chan. I miss her."

Naruto patted Ryu on the back before showing him and his cargo (also known as Genjiro) out. "Whew, what an evening." said Naruto as he told everyone that things were okay and to drop the emergency barriers.

Later, the Castle of the Dragon….

Ryu was resting in the warm embrace of his Kureha-chan. 'So this is passionate make up sex….' he thought to himself. He had come home to the upset Kureha and apologized for not treating her like the princess she is to him. They talked for some time before she invited him into their bedroom and took his breath away with her incredible lovemaking. Hayabusa Ryu held her a little closer before he joined her in dreamland and promised himself to treat her like she deserved from now on….

Hayabusa Village, Uzumaki Compound

Maya was sitting back reflecting on the last three months of her life. They had been both heaven and hell. Shinobi training was absolutely brutal. All of the Uzumaki family members had been involved in her training but Hinata and Momiji were the only constants. Kasumi and Ayane had a mission in Tokyo and later Naruto and Aoi went to Nagoya to contact the Karasu Clan that had finally settled into their new home. Apparently Maya was officially listed as 'missing' and Detective Akihara Minako had taken over the role of head of the Specialist Investigations Division. Maya knew Minako and felt the woman would do well in the position as a professional. On a personal level she didn't like Minako because the woman slept around with everybody. On top of that she drank like a fish and was a chain smoker. For whatever it was worth Akihara Minako was a competent Detective though.

The former detective had adopted the clan name of Uzumaki Maya and was very proud of it. The three months of hard training had transformed her from a weak person that needed help getting around the house into a lean, mean fighting machine. Hinata said she was low genin level but compared to her fighting abilities as a Police Officer Maya felt incredible. Every muscle in her body was toned and built for speed. Maya felt younger, stronger and better about herself than she ever had. She also found out kunoichis eat a lot because they are always burning masses of calories. The idea of packing away so much food would have appalled her months ago and she would have gone on a crash diet to maintain her figure. Not now though….

Maya was cooling down from an afternoon spar with Hien Akito who was teaching her the way of the sword. Naruto had gifted Maya with his spare chakra katana because it was compatible with her holy chakra and he used the Kusanagi now. She was absolutely thrilled with it and promised Naruto to make him proud and learn the way of the sword. Akito-sensei said she had an affinity for it and was progressing nicely which made her really happy. She also was now competent with kunai and shuriken. But her real strength was chakra control. It had taken time but Maya could now do both tree and water walking now.

The best part of her training had been getting to know the Uzumakis though. It turned out Naruto was goofy and silly in his own way much to her shock….

Flashback….

Naruto was standing by a pit trap they'd dug out in the forest to demonstrate the concept to Maya. It was just a hole in the ground at first glance but all kinds of things could be put in it like sharpened bamboo spikes or explosives to make it more lethal. Naruto was carefully showing Maya how to camouflage it with the rest of the girls throwing in pointers for Maya. It was a simple but effective trap and one of many Maya had to learn. Naruto was now standing in front of the well concealed trap and said, "And that's the basics of it Maya. Even if an enemy were to avoid the trap it would slow down pursuers because they would fear more traps lying around. Now let's-"

That was when Naruto tripped and fell into his own trap with a crash. Aoi and Ayane burst into laughter and Momiji and Hinata just face palmed. Kasumi dashed forward calling out to Naruto to make sure he wasn't injured. Five minutes later a dirt covered Naruto emerged from the hole in the ground and said. "Ummm….as you can see these traps can be quite effective…."

Flashback end….

Maya also found out about the other members of the household having quirks and idiosyncrasies. She should have expected it but somehow in her mind Maya never pictured that what seemed to be a bunch of ruthless ninja killers could be so unusual. It turned out Momiji was a clean freak and a germophobe. She not only believed in spiritual cleanliness and purity but also keeping the house spotless –whether others liked it or not. Aoi, the scheming master of potions also loved all things cute and fuzzy and her room had several stuffed animals. The auburn haired young woman had opened up to Maya and seemed to genuinely care for her wellbeing.

Maya already knew Hinata loved to cook and was amazing at it. But she also liked flower pressing. Hinata tended to take command when Naruto-kun wasn't around and was indeed his head wife. She didn't lord it over the others at all but no one questioned it either. The former detective wondered just how strong Hinata truly was for the others to acquiesce so easily. Maya found out Kasumi gave amazing massages and was always a peacemaker although at the same time she had the biggest stash of hidden weapons in her room. Maya also figured Kasumi had enough shurikens to arm the whole village hidden away. Kasumi also was downright vicious about the sweets war….

….The kunoichi sweets war absolutely blew Maya's mind. Naruto's wives went to extreme lengths to conceal any and all treats from one another while trying to hunt down each other's hidden stashes….and Naruto was completely oblivious to it all somehow….Maya believed his subconscious mind was in denial of it personally and that he didn't want to know. Lastly there was Ayane who on the surface was the most merciless of the lot but at the same time was the youngest and absolutely adored Naruto and having a family….she also adored explosives. Ayane was fiercely protective of her Uzumaki clan mates as well and always seemed to be looking out for Maya in her own serious way.

Maya found she meshed into this odd group rather well. They were all extremely well disciplined like a military unit but they all treasured family bonds above all else. Maya's own parents vanished when she was a teen (which was why she became a police detective to begin with) so having family again really made her happy. Maya was slowly getting closer to Naruto-kun as well. It seemed he was soft as a marshmallow when it came to his 'vixens' but at the same time held vast amounts of power. Only Hinata had seen him truly go all out. Having the fox spirit Kurama stuck in his gut was another surprise. Naruto-kun was very kind to her and had finally started calling her Maya-chan much to her happiness.

The Uzumaki Clan was preparing to take a three month training trip to the Sacred Wilderness after getting the appropriate permission from Jô-sama. There were several large scale techniques everyone wanted to try away from the village. Naruto wanted to try 'Tailed Beast Mode' whatever that was. It wasn't just Maya training either. All of the clan members had been pushing themselves to new limits. Everything was packed and they would be leaving tomorrow morning….

Em Nenhum Island, DOATEC Base

Lisa Hamilton shook her head. After three months of experiments the very last of the Uzumaki DNA was gone. A bumbler from the LOA tried to duplicate it directly through alchemy and ended up contaminating the remaining samples they had. Secretly she was glad. Their cloning attempts -Project Zeta- had met with one catastrophe after another. Several scientists died in an energy burst they unleashed trying to activate the mysterious energy in Uzumaki's DNA. It was as if they'd died of a concentrated radiation leak. The equipment they were using had been utterly destroyed as well in the blast so Lisa didn't know exactly what had happened. They'd tapped into the energy but the remaining staff didn't know how.

On the other hand Project Lambda –the Hierro Gladius Cloning Project was an astounding success. They had 250 active, functioning clones that were being trained to be super soldiers. Lisa and her staff did make an attempt at crossing the Uzumaki DNA with a Project Lambda clone….The incomplete clone self destructed within minutes. The LOA had about as much success with Project Zeta as DOATEC had. They tried grafting the Zeta DNA in with simpler animals through alchemy. The results were equally catastrophic. Only one of the animals didn't die in an instant….and that was a disaster.

The LOA appeared to have successfully incorporated the Project Zeta DNA alchemically into a Smilodon Saber-toothed Cat only for the cat to morph into something monstrous and uncontrollable. For nearly three days the cat was covered with an impenetrable shield of red flame like energy that drove it berserk with pain. The cat exploded out of the lab after 24 hours and destroyed everything in its path during its rampage. The staff responsible for the experiment was all slaughtered before they could escape and the building they were conducting the experiment in was completely leveled.

After that the demon cat tore up the countryside for 48 hours and killed anything that dared to venture near it. The creature shrugged off anti-tank shells as if they were nothing and finally seemed to burn itself out leaving nothing but a puddle of burning organic ooze behind. 43 people and who knows how many animals died in the process. Even the grass it stepped on died. Lisa certainly wasn't a religious person but she was beginning to wonder if some higher power was at work here. Everything involving Uzumaki's DNA resulted in death and destruction. Project Zeta was cursed….

Unfortunately the order of the day was to get more Uzumaki DNA in blood and or sperm samples. Victor Donovan and now Ashtear Higgens had both observed the rampage of the demon cat and now wanted to harness that power even more. 'Can't they see it's uncontrollable?' was the general line of thought among both the DOATEC and LOA staffs on the project remaining. It seemed that they uncorked some sort of genie in a bottle and couldn't close it….

Lisa Hamilton truly feared for her future….she felt that some things aren't meant to be tampered with and this was one of them….All they had left was a single vial of the 'super soldier death serum.' The LOA was cautiously trying to reverse engineer something from that. Lisa could only guess how many deaths that would cause….

The Sacred Wilderness

The Uzumaki Clan's trip the next morning to the Sacred Wilderness was largely uneventful. It wasn't a long trip since they were tree hopping and like Jô-sama and other Hayabusa Clan members the Uzumakis could easily enter. To most people the Sacred Wilderness had a genjutsu like effect on them and the area remained untouched and unnoticed. It was close to lunchtime when they arrived so Naruto and Hinata led the others to the large clearing that they had stayed at with Jô-sama and Genjiro what seemed like so long ago. Naruto set up a perimeter and everyone pitched their tents in a circle around where their fire pit would be. Naruto felt these three months were going to be very productive.

An hour later they sat down together around the fire for a well deserved meal and two rabbit mononokes appeared. Naruto and Hinata immediately recognized them as the Samurai rabbit Yagyu and his much more responsible and level headed Uncle Toru. Naruto greeted them eagerly. "Yagyu; Toru! It is good to see you again. Please come join us for our meal."

Toru said, "Well met Sage Naruto; it is good to see you as well. The Elders sensed your aura and sent us to see if we could aid you in any way." The brown furred rabbit smacked his silver furred nephew and said, "Greet them properly Yagyu!"

Yagyu quickly regained his footing and said, "I welcome you back Sage Naruto and Lady Hinata, I'm afraid I do not know the others. I am Yagyu and this is my Uncle Toru."

A green clad blur pounced upon Yagyu and held him in a death grip leaving him totally helpless. "Sooooo Cuuuute!" squealed Aoi before anyone could stop her. Yagyu and Toru were too shocked to speak at the sheer speed of the kunoichi as she nuzzled her cheek into the top of Yagyu's head. "Naruto-kun, can I keep him? He's soooo adorable. Just look at this cute little suit of armor on him. Oh, and the eye patch! He's just unbelievably precious!"

Naruto stifled a chuckle at Yagyu's terrified look and said. "Yagyu, may I introduce my wife Uzumaki Aoi. Aoi-chan; please put Yagyu down. He's a proud samurai of the Rabbit Clan of mononokes, not a pet."

Aoi said, "Come sit with me while we eat Yagyu-chan. I want to snuggle you." Not giving him any choice Aoi hauled Yagyu over and sat him down in her lap. For his part Yagyu was too dumbfounded to react. Naruto soon introduced all of his wives and Maya as he explained to Toru that the Uzumakis were there to train and didn't intend to infringe on anyone.

Toru was secretly enjoying his pompous nephew's situation and figured that as long as Yagyu was tied up (so to speak) he would chat with Naruto a bit and make small talk with Naruto's harem. He could sense they were all potentially very strong and well bred. Toru figured the Uzumaki Clan would grow large and incredibly powerful in a few generations. "So a three month training trip, eh? You should have good weather here during your stay. If you need help with anything flare your Sage chakra and a messenger will come from our clan." Within the hour the two rabbits departed bidding their farewells and left with Yagyu planning to suggest to the Elders that a flee on sight order be issued where Aoi was concerned. Toru just laughed.

Em Nenhum Island, DOATEC Base

The lead LOA researcher Lovelace was talking with Lisa Hamilton in her office. She was normally in charge of the Abismo Island Facility but had been sent in by Ashtear Higgens about the demon cat incident a month ago. Lovelace was a blue eyed blonde and very alluring woman that was coldblooded even by Lisa's standards. Lovelace said, "In the near future the LOA is going to be making some maneuvers and I believe that Uzumaki Naruto could be lured out of hiding from wherever he is. We've targeted the Hayabusa Clan Heir and I believe Uzumaki is closely associated with him."

"What exactly is the LOA planning?" asked Lisa suspiciously.

Lovelace smiled coldly. "I haven't got all the details but it's on a need to know basis only and you don't need to know." The blonde woman leaned back enjoying the troubled look on Lisa's face. "I would ask you though; what would you think of becoming the Mother of one of Uzumaki Naruto's children?" Lisa barely stifled a gasp. "The Lords of Alchemy have already determined that the best way to study his DNA is through natural reproduction." Seeing the shock filter across Lisa's face she said, "Trust me; you are an ideal candidate and the odds are heavily in favor of the child of such a union being superhuman. You are intelligent and very strong in both mind and body. Such genes would make for a very powerful child with Uzumaki. I myself am a candidate and personally cannot wait to give birth to such a child."

Lisa did her best not to blanch at the thought. "I really don't know what to say to that."

"Well, it's just something to consider." said the blonde. "The LOA has done some very selective profiling of women as potential Mothers and you a very high on the list. Normally we'd select only from LOA members but frankly you are simply too good of a candidate to pass up. Just give it some thought. The idea of having a child that can singlehandedly take out an army is quite exciting, is it not?"

The next day Lisa Hamilton saw Lovelace leave for the Abismo Island Facility via helicopter and couldn't have been happier that the evil woman was gone….

The Sacred Wilderness

A month into their training the Uzumakis were working incredibly hard and some real results were starting to show as all the girls had begun to master basic jutsus of their elements and had started true elemental chakra training. Kasumi was learning lightning elemental exercises. Ayane had both fire and lightning at her disposal and was learning lightning along with her sister for now. Momiji was unsurprisingly a fire type being a Dragon Shrine Maiden. Aoi had an earth affinity and Naruto and Hinata already knew they were wind and water respectively. Much to everyone's surprise Maya had Yin release which allowed her spiritual powers to be much more effective. Hinata also knew her old sensei Kurenai had Yin release and started training Maya in genjutsu as a result.

It was during that night that another set of scrolls mysteriously appeared that gave them training aides and weapons that suited their particular needs. Everyone was very excited but also very concerned that someone knew so much about them. Their benefactor had been watching them very carefully over the last month and Naruto was determined to find out who this 'forest guardian spirit' was. Activating his Sage Mode Naruto detected a trace of chakra on the scrolls that seemed familiar though he couldn't place it. Sensing a trail at last he shot off like a bloodhound and it eventually led him to the fabled (and forbidden) Orochi Cave. Sensing something was off he unleashed a shockwave of chakra and yelled "Genjutsu Kai!"

It was then that a figure appeared and was clapping at Naruto. "I see you found my old Grass Cutter Sword Naruto-kun, well done. I guess it's been nearly 28 centuries since I'd seen another ninja from our time. You can't imagine how happy I was to see you when you and your friend Hinata arrived in this time period."

"Orochimaru…." said Naruto dangerously. "Why are you here snake?" Naruto's wives and Maya caught up only for Hinata to stop them all at safe distance when she saw the snake sannin.

"There's no need to be hostile Naruto-kun." said Orochimaru. "I knew you wouldn't willingly take me as a sensei or trust me so I decided to help you indirectly. Believe or not I only want to help."

Hinata asked, "Why would you want to help us? I thought all you wanted was immortality."

Orochimaru faltered a bit at that. "I achieved immortality at a terrible price just before our era ended. You have to realize I'm a shadow clone. My real body is practically dead."

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto puzzled.

The snake sannin said, "I discovered the path to eternal life but eternal youth didn't come with it. I live my existence through shadow clones as in essence my real body is a living mummy that hasn't moved in centuries. I can't transfer my soul to a new vessel due to the nature of the justu that gave me immortality. If it wasn't for my ability to still make shadow clones and communicate with the mononokes in the area I surely would have lost my mind imprisoned alone in that worthless body. Believe me, eternal life is a fate worse than death."

"Why didn't you just destroy your original body and end your suffering then?" asked Hinata.

Orochimaru sighed wearily. "After the disaster that ended our era which was about 800 B.C.E. by modern reckoning; a priestess from Demon Country told me of a vision that I needed to gather all the knowledge of our people and preserve it until you returned in the far future. She explained you'd been sent through time by that fool Uchiha Obito and I was the only one that would live long enough to preserve things for you."

"What happened that ended the shinobi nations and who is this Uchiha?" asked Naruto.

"Why don't we all head back to your camp and I'll tell you the story?" asked Orochimaru. "It's a long tale I'm afraid and standing out here with weapons at ready is getting tiresome."

….

Uzumaki Campsite….

Everyone sat down rather uncomfortably in silence on one side of the fire pit while Orochimaru sat on the other side. "I understand you don't trust me Naruto-kun but may I ask a question of you?"

Naruto nodded and said, "Go ahead."

"Thank you." said Orochimaru. "As far as I knew people who could wield chakra were extinct and you and Hinata-san were the only ones left. Yet you've come back with a harem of five other young wives that can also wield chakra. How is this possible? I searched for centuries and found no one."

Naruto nodded and said, "Chakra was extinct but through the power of seals I managed to help my wives join their physical and spiritual energies harmoniously. Eventually that led to them unlocking their chakra."

Orochimaru chuckled, "I should have known. With you being an Uzumaki you would be able to achieve the impossible with seals."

"So what happened that ended our era and who is Uchiha Obito?" asked Hinata.

"Uchiha Obito was the mastermind behind the Akatsuki." explained Orochimaru. Naruto and Hinata frowned. "You knew him by his ridiculous moniker as Tobi." Then both Hinata and Naruto paled. "Obito sought the recreate the Ten Tailed Juubi so he could use its power to place the world in an Infinite Tsukuyomi which would have trapped everyone in an eternal genjutsu. He was quite insane."

Naruto asked, "But without the nine tails shouldn't it have been impossible?"

"Correct Naruto-kun." said the snake sannin. "The only source of nine tails chakra was a tiny amount he extracted from the Gold and Silver Brothers. The short version is he succeeded in reviving an incomplete juubi which due to its inherent instability exploded and a third of the Elemental Nations were vaporized, the remaining two thirds were completely decimated by the fallout and within a century they ceased to exist because the land could no longer be cultivated and the people were dying off in droves from the fallout. I always expected the tailed beasts to reform separately but from what I've theorized they actually were converted from living chakra entities into pure energy that detonated."

"By the gods…." said Naruto in a hollow voice.

Orochimaru spent the next few hours filling the Uzumaki Clan in on the details of the Fourth Shinobi War and what he had learned since. It was a sad and empty tale that left Naruto, Hinata and Kurama devastated. Orochimaru himself seemed to find it very painful to recall all of the events himself. "Anyway, while all of this was going on I was still recovering from the immortality jutsu that I created. I wasn't involved in the war but there were a few survivors that explained what happened to me and I reconstructed the full picture from there." finished Orochimaru.

Hinata said, "So in a nutshell, Uchiha Obito blew himself up and destroyed our kind because he was obsessed with a girl that died over a decade before."

"Actually, Obito survived the blast even though he was crippled." said Orochimaru.

"What…?" whispered Naruto and Hinata as one.

Orochimaru nodded. "Yes, about a decade after the cataclysm I was travelling to the remnants of Konoha looking for scrolls I could preserve for the future. I'd already assumed the role of 'keeper of knowledge' if you will. There I found Uchiha Obito. He was crippled beyond recognition and his chakra system was destroyed. He was still lamenting over Nohara Rin by her grave marker that somehow survived. He recognized me and asked me to bring her back by using the Edo Tensai jutsu. I found myself possessed by a righteous anger I'd never felt before in my life for what he'd done. In the end I tortured him to death in the most painful ways I could think of. I managed to keep him alive for nearly a week before he finally died and went to whatever hell he was destined to go to. After that I burned the remains so he could never be revived by Edo Tensai or any other means. To me that was the final chapter of the Elemental Nations."

"So is there anything remaining of the Elemental nations now?" asked Hinata. "We don't even know where they once were."

"The Elemental Nations were on what is now known as Hokkaido Island, Japan." explained the snake sannin. "Occasionally an archeological dig turns up something but the devastation was so complete that there is nothing left that's recognizable from our era. The scientist these days have labeled the things they've found as early examples of the Yayoi period and think that the first iron weapons were being created around that time. I originally had a place in Hokkaido that I used as my base to store the knowledge of our people but it was partially raided by grave robbers. That's how I lost the Kusanagi. After that I spent several decades looking for a suitable place and eventually I settled here in the Sacred Wilderness. I created the Orochi cave with earth jutsus and set up so many traps there that the place became legendary as a place of death. Besides, so few can get through the natural energy here that the area remains unspoiled."

"So you settled here because of the pocket of senjutsu energy." said Naruto. "With the natural energy causing a barrier like a genjutsu only people with an incredibly high spiritual affinity could even find this place. I'll bet that's why all of the mononokes settled here too." Naruto then asked hopefully, "Do you know what happened to Mount Myōboku?"

"All of the greater summons died Naruto-kun." said Orochimaru gravely. "The Toads, Snakes and Slugs were so attuned with natural chakra that the juubi's explosion wiped them out completely. Mount Myōboku is now known as Mount Asahi which is the tallest mountain in Hokkaido. It's kind of a tourist spot. I haven't been there in decades but perhaps you might find something I couldn't since you are naturally attuned to the energy there."

Naruto looked crestfallen and Hinata put her arms around him. "I guess that explains why any attempts to summon them have been failures." said Naruto in a hollow voice.

"I felt the same way when I lost the snakes Naruto-kun. I sympathize." said Orochimaru. "Still, it wouldn't hurt for you to poke around Mount Asahi. There may be something of personal value for you there. It would also help with the grieving process." Naruto just nodded. Orochimaru stood up and said. "It looks like the sun is going down. We've been talking for hours. I'm going to dispel and send the information back to my original. Come by the entrance to the Orochi cave tomorrow and I'll send another clone out. I have much to teach you and your wives." With that Orochimaru's shadow clone burst into smoke and Naruto broke down in Hinata's arms.

Though he expected it in a way; now knowing his dear summon friends were truly gone was heartbreaking for the young sage. Naruto ended up retiring early in Hinata's arms. He was too depressed to do much else….

Hayabusa Village….Three Weeks Later

Ryu was presented with an odd request from the JSDF. A terrorist leader known as the Regent of the Mask was holding the British Prime Minister and his family hostage in London. The strangest thing about it all was this Regent of the Mask had personally called out Haybusa Ryu by name. The Hayabusa Clan felt uneasy about this but Ryu felt as a Dragon Ninja it was his duty and began packing his things to head out to Great Britain….

The Sacred Wilderness

For the last month the Uzumaki Clan had trained directly with Orochimaru. Both Naruto and Hinata thought this was incredibly ironic but found the snake sannin was a very competent teacher. He was strict and a taskmaster from hell but all of them were learning and getting stronger faster than ever before. By the end of the month Orochimaru summed up their levels:

Naruto: Kage Level

Hinata: Elite Jonin Level

Kasumi, Ayane and Momiji: Jonin Level

Aoi: Low Jonin Level

Maya: Low Chunin Level

All in all they were all very pleased and were planning to work even harder in the next month. Maya was particularly thrilled and was also closer to Naruto. Their relationship had moved to the point that they were kissing and making out now and she was very happy. Her dreams were filled with the Uzumaki clan being a large family and all of the girls having sons and daughters. Maya didn't know if these were just nice dreams or visions of the future but they gave her a warm feeling inside. She also had a shadow clone of Naruto sleeping with her at night. She and Naruto hadn't engaged in any sexual activities yet but she was anticipating it soon….

Alas, all good things must end. A messenger falcon from the Hayabusa Village arrived at the Uzumaki campsite much to everyone's surprise. They still had another month's training to go. "I hope nothing is wrong back home." said Kasumi worriedly.

"Maybe they are just checking up on us." said Aoi reassuringly.

Momiji quickly unfurled the message and said, "This is bad news. Ryu-sama took a job in London and barely made it out alive. He has some sort of curse on his sword arm. The Dragon Sword is somehow gone. Jo-sama has asked us to return and assist in this matter. Whoever they are fighting called Ryu-sama out by name personally and Ryu-sama says he knows you by name also Naruto-kun."

"Shit…." said Naruto. All of his wives agreed with that sentiment.

Hayabusa Village

The JSDF Agent Mizuki McCloud looked on as Ryu's fiancé Kureha tended Ryu's cursed arm. "I've never heard of The Grip of Murder but I'll look into it in the old texts Ryu-kun." said Kureha worriedly. "Judging by its name and the fact this Regent of the Mask calls himself an alchemist I'm pretty positive it's of Western origin. I'll just have to start researching."

Jô said, "I've already sent out a messenger bird to Naruto. You know he'll help us and The Mugen Tenshin Clan has already lent you the Jinran-Maru so you know we have Hayate's full support."

Mizuki spoke up and said, "We've found that the Regent of the Mask has transmitted his demands to the world Rub' al Khali desert. There have also been several transmissions going to and from the desert and Em Nenhum Island in the Azores. We could go to the Rub' al Khali Desert in the Middle East and this Uzumaki person you know could go to the Atlantic."

Ryu sighed. "I hate to ask this of Naruto without even consulting him but-"

Jô put a reassuring hand on Ryu's shoulder. "You know that Naruto will help whether you want him to or not. Agent McCloud; when the Uzumakis return can the JSDF provide transport to this Em Nenhum Island?"

"That will be no problem." said Mizuki. "But Hayabusa Ryu is a legend in hidden circles. Can this Uzumaki Naruto actually do the job?"

"I'd stake my life on it." said Ryu without hesitation. Trust me, Uzumaki Naruto will do what needs to be done."

Mizuki was taken a little aback by the Dragon Ninja's iron tone. "I'll take your word for it then Hayabusa." she said.

Ryu kissed Kureha goodbye and said, "I'll see you soon Kureha-chan." Turning to Mizuki he said, "Let's get going. There's no time to waste."

The Sacred Wilderness

"….And so we must be going Orochimaru-sensei." said Hinata standing alongside a clone of Naruto.

Orochimaru nodded his head. "I understand Hinata; a ninja's work is never done. Good luck." The two bowed to each other respectfully and Hinata shot back to the campsite.

Momiji had just sent off the falcon back to Hayabusa Village with the simple reply, 'We're on our way.' Naruto and his clones as well as the rest of the girls were finishing up packing when Hinata got back with Naruto's shadow clone.

"Orochimaru-sensei wishes us luck." said Hinata. "Are we ready to go?"

Everyone looked at one another and nodded. "Let's move out." said Naruto.

The Uzumaki Clan went flat out tree hopping all the way back to the Hayabusa Village. They arrived about three hours after Ryu had left by helicopter with Mizuki. Arriving at the village gates they were quickly ushered to the Castle of the Dragon where Hayabusa Jô was waiting for them. The messenger bird arrived only a short while before so he was a bit surprised to see them arrive so quickly. "It is good to see you all." said the Hayabusa patriarch. "I just wish it was under better circumstances…."

POSTSCRIPT:

….And done! I really wasn't intending for any sort of cliffhanger but this was a good stopping point. We have officially started the Ninja Gaiden 3 Arc (actually the version I have is Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge). It seems the plans to clone Naruto by DOATEC and LOA have been an epic fail so the LOA is planning something else with the lead scientist Lovelace at the helm. Ryu is stuck with the Grip of Murder curse and is headed towards the desert and the Uzumakis have just arrived in the Hayabusa Village.

On an unconnected note Orochimaru was planned going all the way back to chapter one so they could find out what happened in the past and learn from his wealth of knowledge. It may seem like they accepted him as a sensei too easily but remember there was a month time skip in there. Hopefully most readers were surprised by his inclusion. A lot of information was given this chapter and the next we'll be full swing in Ninja Gaiden 3 so there will be much more action. See you next time. Blue out. 11/26/15