Hello and welcome back everyone, this is gonna be a fun one-for you! Personally I enjoyed writing this one up, and I hope you get a laugh out of it as well. Did some minor research, did a little looking around on YouTube on a certain scene, and managed to come up with this just for you. So without any more ranting, enjoy.

Please note that the names of the people (besides Naruto) are real people I do know and work with (several have gotten out, but they have been and will always continue to be friends) over the course of my military career. I use them here because we all match at least one member of the scene that is being used here. I brought it up o the guys at one point and we all laughed when I pointed out specific parts as specific people, and we agreed we would definitely fit in as his. That being said, this is gonna be a wild one.

Francisco Salinas (Bosco), Jacob Phillips (Hannibal), Lee Wilkinson (Murdock), Naruto (Face)


~XxX-Iraq; 5 years ago-XxX~

They had done something that would definitely set them up as either lunatics, or as heroes. They had convinced the Air Force to use-and potentially lose- a C-130 aircraft for a incredibly dumb mission. What was said mission; to go and rescue the rest of Cherokee Company 1-26 Infantry Force from certain death a the ambush point of a valley located in the middle of Iraq and hope nobody beside's the enemy died. Now came the hard part, making sure they didn't get killed in the process.

Lee cranked the four massive propeller engines up and shoved the throttle forward, "Hang on boys." he told them as he steered the plane towards the runway... the wrong direction actually. The Iraqui people weren't gonna be happy about this. Lee had taken a crash course-literally point and say how it worked-on how to fly the plane, and now they were about to pull off a incredibly stupid move. However, the flight tower wasn't allowing anyone to take off on any rescue missions-sadly the Iraqui people had a certain policy that required all aircraft to give specific numbers and codes before takeoff; which they failed to do and acknowledge as they were uninformed.

A black car steered onto the runway facing the massive plane and the passengers felt their eyes widen. In the passenger seat was a young woman who Naruto tended to flirt playfully with from time to time. She was a friend, and he was also true to his wife and would remain faithful to her for the rest of his natural life. She placed a hand on the dash as she called out to the driver, "Stop. Stop, stop." as she grunted when the driver slammed on the brakes.

Lee grimaced as he looked at the car at the end of the runway, "Naruto, your girlfriend is back." he told him as the plane continued to barrel forward with not intention of stopping. They needed to be airborne NOW!

The woman patted the dash in panic, "Reverse now!" she ordered in hysteria.

The driver didn't hesitate and ripped the drive shaft down to reverse as he cursed loudly, "Son of a bitch!" and then slammed a foot down onto the gas pedal to try and escape the charging plane headed their way.

"Move your ass now." the woman commanded in worry.

Lee spoke to himself as he held the plane's flight control's, "It's the C-130 versus the Mercedes-Benz." as he kept the plane straight onthe runway.

Jacob looked to the man flying the plane, "Lift us off, Lee." he ordered as the man began to pull back on the steering and began to lift off, while also ripping out the domes to each fighter plane on said runway without noticing.

"How about faster?" the woman screamed out in panic.

"Faster." another man inside the car yelled out in worry.

"I am trying. I got it pinned." the driver exclaimed to them in worry and panic. He didn't wanna die either.

Lee was chanting a prayer as he pulled up off the ground and screamed as the tire smashed into the windshield but never hurt any of the panicked passengers in the car as it flew through the sky. The car rocking as the wheels hit the ground after spinning a bit, "My God." the woman exhaled in relief, she was so not gonna flirt with the crazy American ever again. She looked to the driver, "Get us to flight control." she ordered, it was a half hour away, but by then the Iraqui Air Defense would be chasing them to take them out for potential hostile intent in restricted airspace using a foreign aircraft.

In the air nearly forty miles away, a storm was gathering in the air as Lee flew the plane into the clouds, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are expecting slight turbulence. Please remain in your seats until the captain has turned off the "Fasten Seat-belt" sign." he said fastening his own seat-belt, "Don't worry, boys. Turbulence has never brought down a plane." he told them without a hint of worry.

However, approaching from the rear were a couple of Iraqui interceptor drones with missiles and machine guns attached to them.

Then the alarm went off throughout the cabin.

Naruto looked to Lee, "What the hell is that?" he demanded as the tall man grimaced.

Lee looked to the radar in front of him and went wide eyed, "But we got inbound subsonic UAVs with missile lock. And they bring down planes all the time." he said to the blond as he prepared to do some incredibly stupid flying while he flipped several switches on and prepared himself, and just in time as the drones launched missiles at the plane, "Okay, they're coming in. Launching countermeasures!" he announced as the flares expelled themselves from the plane as Lee steered the plane out of the way, the missiles impacting the flares-nearly hitting the belly of the plane as they exploded.

Lee was giddy with excitement, "Did you see that? That's my diversion. They die on this version." he said laughing hysterically, the drones remaining behind as they continued to give chase to the plane. Once more the drones launched their missiles at the massive plane, Lee's eyes going wide as he cried out, "Hang on. Hang on. Hold on. We're going over." and then he did something that should have been impossible; HE ROLLED the C-130 in a barrel roll and into a dive to try and escape the missile attack.

"Lee, what the hell are you doing?!" Naruto cried out.

"WHOO-HOO-HOO!" Lee cheered in excitement, "You boys remember Sierra!?" he cried out to them, and was unable to joke around further as a Drone struck the far right propeller with a hail of bullets. Looking out the window Lee grimaced, "Ladies and gentlemen, from the flight deck, if you look out of the right-hand side of the aircraft, you will notice that your right wing is on fire." he said as he flipped several switches and pulled a lever to stop the engine and try and contain the damage.

In the flight control room of the Iraqui Air Defense, the military was working on two things. One was to shoot down the massive plane that had unauthorized flight in their airspace, and the other was to bring the plane down safely to arrest those inside, "Target reacquired." a drone commander said, "Missile lock pending, sir." he told his lead officer.

The woman and her entourage entered the room, "Lieutenant Clarissa Sosa. Major, do not shoot that aircraft down. Scramble fighters and force them to land. There are people on that plane we need alive." she told the commanding officer.

"They have also stolen property from the U.S. Army and are flying in restricted airspace." the man responded before turning to the man flying the drones, "I need you to get the nose-cam view up here on my monitor now." he ordered.

"It's up, sir. Here it is." he told the man as the image came up. And just as it came up, the drone fired its last missile, "Missile away, sir." as the missile flew at the plane, and then the footage died, "We have shoot-down. Hercules has been intercepted and destroyed." he told the man.

"Sorry, Lieutenant. I am sorry." the commanding officer said honestly.

In the air over 35,000 feet above ground, the tank fell through the air before it's chutes deployed causing it to slow its descent to the ground. However, as the drones passed by, the sight of the tank was revealed causing a moment of confusion, "I don't believe it." the woman said in both shock and disbelief.

"Sir, we have chute deployment on the Buford." the drone pilot commented in confusion.

"What?" the officer said in shock as he looked at the screen.

Clarissa looked to the pilot's of the drones, "I want these drones taken offline right now." she ordered the,

"They're 300 miles away." the officer responded.

"Whoever is running those drones. Get me a direct line to whoever is running those drones." Clarissa demanded heatedly.

The man who had been driving the car looked at another control officer, "We got to get these drones to stand down or I am going to be on bitch duty." he commented silently.

"I need to get those men alive." Clarissa stated with fury.

Back inside the tank, Naruto groaned as he sat up, "Ow~" a bruise fading from where he face planted on the steel floor.

"Everybody okay?" Jacob asked from the seat.

"What are the chances they think we're dead?" Naruto asked as he sat up. He was given a answer when one of the drones opened fire upon the armored tank.

"Not great." Jacob answered him as the other circled about and fired on the parachute itself.

Salinas groaned as he sat up, having as he had been briefly been knocked unconscious, "Tell me we ain't still on that plane?" he questioned.

Lee grinned as he looked at the man, "We ain't on that plane." he said honestly.

Naruto looked at the man who led them, "Jacob." he demanded.

"Yeah?" the man responded.

"If we're under 20,000 feet, we can still breathe, right?" he questioned him.

Salinas looked at the man in confusion, "What are you talking about, 20,000 feet?" he demanded.

Jacob grinned as he finally understood Naruto's plan, "Let's fire up the old weapons system." he said eagerly.

Salinas tried to get up only to find he had been restrained to a seat, "What the hell, man?" he asked.

Naruto grinned as he looked to his friend, "Hey, Salinas, it's a little stuffy. I am going to pop a window!" Naruto said with a grin as he stood up and opened the hatch to the tank and gave a wild grin, the drones shooting at the chutes to try and bring the men down and kill them. However the hatch opened as Naruto stood up and then he grabbed a hold of the massive .50 caliber machine gun's charging handle and ripped it back to load it up before pressing down on the butterfly trigger and began to unload the rounds at the two planes attacking them, "Yeah! What you got, bitches?! What you got?! Yeah!" he cheered excitedly as the machine gun unleashed fire and lead at the circling planes around them, several striking the engine of one gaining a trail of smoke as it retreated.

"Let me have a turn, Naruto. Come on!" Lee cried out to the blond grinning wildly.

Salinas looked to Lee in confusion, "Why are we in a falling tank?"

Lee grinned as he looked at the darker man, "Because the plane exploded."

"Wh-What? When?" Salinas demanded.

Lee kept up the crazy grin, "Recently. The Reapers shot it down." he responded

Salinas was confused as ever, "What Reapers?"

Lee nearly burst into a hysterical laughter, "The same ones that are still trying to kill us!" he exclaimed loudly as the drones continued to circle and fire upon them.

"I blame you, Jacob!" Salinas cried as he pointed at the man.

Jacob snorted as he looked at the screen in front of him, "Technically, we're not flying." before briefly looking back to the Hispanic.

"I know! Because we're falling, fool!" he yelled out in panic. He hated flying for a reason.

Outside, Naruto continued to lay the hate as he unleashed fire and lead at the drones, and then he destroyed one, but it don't go as planned as the flying debris ripped apart two of the parachutes nearly hurling the blond out of the vehicle, barely having enough time to send chakra to his fingers to halt himself from being thrown out the roof as he planted his hands on the roof, "OH~ Jesus! WHOA~" he cried out in shock as the tank began to plummet towards the ground.

Back at the flight control room, the control pilots were in shock, "UAV-2 has splashed down. We just lost one of the drones." one of them announced.

"Jacob, we're in trouble!" Naruto said pulling himself back into the vehicle, the guys-sans Salinas-cheering in partial excitement and enjoyment as the tank fell towards the earth. They were about five miles away from the objective anyways so this worked perfectly. You had to love the Infantry's 'Give no shit's about anything' policy.

"Brace yourselves." Jacob called out to his team.

"Awesome!" Lee exclaimed as he held onto one of the seats and pulled himself into it and buckled up.

Jacob looked to the blond, "Naruto, get on to the main gun. There's a lake a half-mile away from this position." he said, looking at the radar that now faced the ground.

Looking through the scope, the blonde yelled, "What the hell am I trying to hit?!" he couldn't see shit!

Rather than answer, Jacob simply told him what needed to be done, "Trust me. Rotate the turret 82 degrees." he ordered, the long barrel shifting to where it needed to be.

"Fire in the hole!" Lee yelled out loudly.

"Fire!" Jacob commanded.

"Boom!" Naruto called out as he pulled the trigger. And as with the facts of Newtons Laws of Physic's, 'Every action as a equal and opposite reaction' the tank was blasted in the opposite direction of the round being unleashed.

"Fire!" Jacob said again as Naruto once more shot another round out the tube.

In the control room, the Iraqui solider's looked on in confusion, "Are they trying to shoot down that other drone?" one of the pilot's asked not sure what was happening.

Clarissa shook her head, "No. They're trying to fly that tank." she said as the image of the tank flying in the opposite direction was shown in the monitor.

"He's flying the tank!" Lee said in excitement.

"You can't fly a tank, fool!" Salinas yelled out.

"Rotate 16 degrees." Jacob ordered Naruto as the turret shifted around.

"Got it." Naruto said loudly.

"Fire." he ordered as the round was expelled, the single remaining drone flying after them to try and shoot them down.

"Whoa!" Lee cried out as he was thrown to a wall.

"Rotate 34 degrees now." Jacob ordered.

"Jacob..." Naruto groused out loudly.

"Wait..." Jacob told the man, before he yelled out, "Fire." and the round burst out pushing the tank away, another round shooting out right after; slamming into the drone and destroying it in the process.

In the control room the drone pilots looked to the commanding officer, "Control, we have lost the second UAV." the pilot said.

"Is that a confirmed hit?" the former driver for Clarissa asked the man.

Back in the air, Jacob looked to Naruto, "Bring turret full-front and wait." and then returned his gaze to the screen of the radar, "Lee. Close the hatch." he ordered.

"Hatch, okay. Did that work? Did that work? Did this work? What about this?" he asked himself flipping random switches and pushing unknown buttons.

"Boss!" Naruto yelled out.

"Come on, baby," Jacob muttered to the screen, "Come on." he told himself.

"Hatch control?! Hah!" Lee yelled out as the hatch creaked and groaned as it begun to close over them and lock into place.

As the hatch nearly closed, Salinas' voice filled both the tank and the sky around it, "I am too young to die!~" and closed while cutting off the cry of panic.

"Jacob. I am aiming at nothing!" Naruto yelled out.

Jacob ignored him as he stared at the screen, "Come on." he muttered to himself.

"It's been an honor, gentlemen." Lee yelled out.

"Come on, baby." Jacob urged the tank.

"The greatest ride is the last ride, eh boys." Lee called out to his team mates.

The lake soon took up a major portion of the screen and Jacob called out loudly, "Fire everything!" as Naruto held down on the trigger, powerful detonations filling the air as the tank continuously shot round after round down into the water below.

"Come on, baby!" Naruto cried out in excitement as he shot out everything he had in the tanks arsenal. From the rear of the tank, the driver's sticker-that Lee had placed upon it reading 'HOW'S MY DRIVING? For Question's or Comment's please contact Lee Wilkinson at Go Fuck Urself Dot Com'-bounced with each shot Naruto expelled from the tanks turret.

Lee cheered out loudly as he held onto the seat as Naruto fired round after round out-this was so fun. Salinas was crying hysterically, "Get right with God, ya'll. This is it. Come on." as they ignored the man and laughed out as if doing a stunt like this was a natural occurrence. Lee was of course grinning and laughing, Naruto was cheering behind the gun, Jacob was watching the screen-though he did have a bit of a laugh as they made their way down to the ground below.

"COME ON!" Naruto shouted out excitedly as he pulled out the round and quickly reloaded the barrel and unleashed the round.

Down on the ground, First Sergeant Kramer was sitting by a fire next to Captain White and roasting some MRE packets to heat up the meals inside, "Do you feel as if something incredibly stupid is about to happen?" he asked.

Captain White nodded, "With this Company, you never know." he said, just before one of the rounds impacted the water. The Company was instantly on alert, "What the hell was that?" Captain White asked as he cocked his M4.

Another round blasted through the air and impacted the water causing all 168 of the remaining infantrymen to look up, "Looks like a god damned falling tank!" one Sergeant Smart called out just as the tank hit the water.

It was decided then and there, they were all too old for this shit-despite most of the guys there being younger than 25.

~XxX-Current Date-XxX~

Tsukiumi laughed so hard her stomach hurt, "T-Thou can't b-be serious, you fell into a lake in such a m-manner and survived?" she laughed. Uzume and Miya were also giggling at his tale. It sounded to surreal to have been true.

"Oh yea, it totally happened. When we drove the tank out of the water, we nearly had our heads ripped off by First Sergeant Kramer, but we never got in trouble because we stopped a ambush by Alkaida forces using the damned thing. Oh sure we were all reduced in rank and lost a good portion of our pay for the stunt, but when it came down to it, we saved an entire company from dying." Naruto laughed.

Yuuna was currently in Uzume's arm's, watching the strangeness that were the adults laugh about something. The grill was smoking with the meals inside, and the meal was nearly prepared. Naruto decided to lighten the mood a bit before he got down to the nitty gritty about Minaka and his crazed World Domination plan and whatnot. He had told Miya in private, but the others weren't in the loop. Miya had also decided to inform him of Matsu-the hidden Sekirei in the house to perhaps introduce them at a later time as what was happening did indeed require a particular skill to try and breach M-B-I itself.

Unbeknownst to the others in the house, as soon as he had gotten home, Naruto had put up a powerful privacy barrier that allowed no form of spying to happen. Pictures could be taken, but no audio recon could be performed. That was about all that could be done. He didn't know what to expect when Matsu had told Miya she had received a coded message from both Karasuba and Derieri within minutes before Naruto was introduced to her, but she knew it was bad if the Mad Dog of M.B.I contacted her on a secure server. She must've used the old backdoor's to contact her, because Minaka sure as hell couldn't contact her-she'd seen the attempts sure, but never made any effort to respond to his attempts.

Upon revealing this to Miya, the Sekirei Queen, the Hayna of the North conceded that she would have to allow her and Derieri into her home to talk that evening when Minaka was asleep-Matsu was currently monitoring his every move to tell them what he was doing. Before he could ponder more on these thoughts, his cellphone rang, looking at the number he growled in annoyance as he realized who it was. Grabbing it he accepted the call, "You have thirty seconds." he said into the phone.

"Naruto-kun, sorry to call you on such a short notice, but this is important." Minaka's voice spoke in his ear. Naruto of course wanted to growl in annoyance, but let Minaka continue speaking, "Listen, we have a small problem here. Someone just sabotaged our security and made away with something very important. However we can control that part easily. It's the second thing that happened that we need your help with." Minaka spoke calmly.

"Well what is it?" he asked.

"A single digit Sekirei was somehow tampered with and for some reason she emerged on her own. We wish to help her try and emerge normally, but to do that we need to find her. Our trackers have said she is fleeing towards the park near the eastern outer edges of the city. Find her and bring her back to us unharmed. You'll be payed of course for doing so, but she must be alive and in healthy condition in order for us to help her reclaim her ability to emerge like any other Sekirei." Minaka told Naruto.

"Name? Describe." Naruto told Minaka.

"Her name is Akitsu, she's the seventh Sekirei and her ability is the absolute control over Ice. She has silver hair and hazel eyes. That should be enough for you to find her as there are only three others in the city with those exact descriptions. And two of them are at the southern part of the city while the other is somewhere in the northern sector. While I don't mind things happening all willy dilly I do not like the fact that one of my workers tried to sabotage a key player in my game. I'll pay you double the fee for finding her early. Best hurry, you only have thirty minutes to get her." and with that the line went dead.

"Ladies, I believe the grilling is finished for the day. I have business to attend to, but you are free to have a meal while I'm gone. Don't wait for me, I'll return in about a hour or so." he told them as he prepare to leave. He turned to get moving, but after a moment's thought about what Minaka said, and what his own Sekirei had almost had to go through, his face marred to a frown as he looked over his shoulder, "...And if you happen to find any Sekirei in danger of being forcibly winged...drown the offending Ashikabi." he said looking to Tsukiumi as water began to arc around her body at his demand and nodded in confirmation. Naruto turned, before leaping over the fence and walking down the road.

All three were so wrapped up in their own thoughts, they never noticed the masked figure watching them intently. Her initial thoughts on this Ashikabi may have been off, Homura noted, turning and beginning to walk away. She had to admit, it would be nice to have some help watching out for the unwinged Sekirei though.

XxX

Climbing out the taxi after telling the driver to wait, he walked into the park where his target was said to currently be. He was currently wearing a black shirt and loose black pants with his shinobi tools pouch on his hip, 'According to the tracking chip's information on Akitsu, her last known whereabouts was in this general area, and should be right around...there she is!' thought Naruto, as he saw the Sekirei in question on a bench, her head down, and wearing nothing except a lab coat with a blood stain on it.

Her eyes were empty. They were of a person that had given up hope. Given up on life. Naruto guessed she was possibly a day or two from ending her life in the belief that death would be merciful. For a moment, Haku's form appeared in his mind, and Naruto fought back the memories of the past failure of not being able to save his first true friend. Shaking his thoughts of that place in time, Naruto walked over to Akitsu, and knelt down on one knee to get a good look at her. She in turn raised her head to look at him, a sense of curiosity showing in the lifeless eyes of one wishing what could not be obtained that others had, and yearned for deeply.

"Who...Who are you?" asked Akitsu with Naruto staying silent while cupping her cheek and looking at the seal on her forehead.

She must have noticed because Akitsu looked down again and looked like she wanted to die again. Naruto looked at her with sorrow in his eyes, something she couldn't see due to her not looking back up at him, and Akitsu clearly thought he would say to Hell with her before leaving.

"Oh Akitsu, what did that dumb doctor do to you?" asked Naruto though the question was more to himself then her while looking at the marking on the woman's forehead.

Akitsu gained a look of surprise on her face that someone outside of M.B.I. knew her name, and had yet to leave upon seeing the mark that she was forever declared a broken Sekirei. A "scrapped number" as it were and could never be winged because of what her Adjuster did that prevented any potential Ashikabi from winging the broken Sekirei. And yet...here was this man, kneeling in front of her, speaking her name softly, sadly, like he cared, and wanted to know what the Adjuster did that cause the emptiness she felt since being broken.

"How...How do you know my name? Are you from the...M.B.I. lab? Are you here to take me back?" asked Akitsu while Naruto stared at the symbol that personified her despair.

Naruto shook his head, "No. I'm not from M.B.I. or loyal to them in anyway Akitsu." he told her softly as he looked her in the eyes, "But Minaka did ask me to take you back to see if he could help you. If he can you could find yourself a good home." he told her.

"I have no home... I am... broken... I'm... a failure..." she said in a voice that was so broken that without himself even realizing it water began to gather in Naruto's eyes, no matter how long he walked this earth, he was a sucker for sob stories of any kind. If anything his inability to listen to someone as they poured out there pain and soul had only gotten worse with time. Which really sucked for him because there were a lot of people who had it bad in this day and age. He generally hid that side of him by keeping his distance from everyone, but it had always been there, waiting for an opportunity to come out.

It seemed that moment had finally come.

He cupped the woman's face and lifted it so she was forced to make eye contact, "You are not a failure," he said, watching as the woman blinked at his proclamation. Naruto had the feeling that was the most emotion she had ever shown since whatever had happened to leave her in this state. He could tell she was not only surprised by his words, but more then likely by the conviction in his voice. Hopefully, it would help her snap out of this stupor, "I don't know what idiot told you that, but you are most definitely no failure."

"But I can't be winged," she said, as if that answered everything, "A failure like me will never be able to find an Ashikabi. I'm useless... a discarded tool..."

"My purpose is now gone, Zabuza-sama has no need for a broken tool. I need you to do me a favor, and kill me."

He could hear the words of Haku, the person who had first started him on the path to true strength ring through his head at the light haired Sekirei's words. It had been Haku that told him about true strength, how it only came from protecting the things that were most important to you, those things that you held dear to your heart. Hearing those words, so similar yet so different from the person that told him what it meant to be strong caused a sharp pain to enter his chest. It was an almost physical pain that Naruto forcefully shunted to the side so he could focus on the woman before him.

'I may not have been able to save you, Haku,' he thought to himself with gritted teeth. 'But I'll be damned if I let her end up in your position.' he thought to himself bitterly. He would not let this girl become like Haku, working for a person treated her as nothing more then a tool – even if Zabuza had not truly thought that he still acted as though he had until the end – that could easily be disposed of when it's purpose was finished. He would get this girl to understand that she was not broken, she was not a discarded tool. "Just because you can't be winged doesn't mean you don't have worth." Naruto said adamantly, the conviction in his words once more making the woman blink. "A persons worth is not determined by something so menial. You have something that is special only to you, something no one else has but you, something that makes you unique. That is what makes you special, and is what gives you worth."

"But I -"

"Come with me." Naruto said, once more surprising the woman whose opened mouth quickly snapped closed, "Come with me and I'll prove that you are worth something. I'll prove that you can shine just as well as any other Sekirei."

The woman looked at him for several seconds before speaking. "Ok..."

"Ah... I didn't get your name." Akitsu said.

"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto is my name." Naruto told her softly.

"Naruto-sama..." Akitsu whispered to herself.

"Pleasure to meet you, Akitsu-chan." Naruto told her.

As he went to help her stand up a voice drew his attention as three signatures entered his sensing range, "There she is Yomi, let's grab her and get the hell out of here." a female voice said in a excited tone.

"Bring her to Master Mikogami." a male tone commanded.

"Of course Mutsu, but first there's someone we need to deal with." Yomi said.

Naruto heard Mutsu sigh before he addressed him personally, "Please move away from this woman sir. Our master wishes to speak with her in a private location and I would rather avoid removing you myself if it can be avoided," said Mutsu with a laziness in his tone that sounded not unlike Shikamaru and holding his sheathed sword in hand ready to be used.

Naruto sighed and looked at Akitsu, "Wait here." he told her silently as he stood, "I see your manners and somewhat lazy nature haven't improved since we last met Mutsu. I hope your still prepared for the upcoming ass-kicking I'm about to deal you again." replied Naruto with Mutsu going stiff for a moment before getting into his sword stance.

"So you know about Sekirei and most likely the Sekirei Plan in general. Meaning you are an Ashikabi," declared Mutsu while slowly drawing his sword, the sound of it meant to intimidate the unknown blonde, and make him reconsider grabbing Akitsu away from being Mikogami newest Sekirei among the collection.

"Of course I'm a Ashikabi. I'm also the one that stopped you from allowing your sleaze-bag of a master to forcibly winging a Sekirei a few days ago." Naruto said as he turned around to face them.

"Wait a second, this was the human that denied our Ashikabi-sama his prize." a young woman with a scythe, he assumed this was Yomi, growled out as she readied herself once again.

"Have the lot of you even learnt your lessons?" he asked them.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you. You disgraced us, made our Ashikabi upset that he didn't get what he wanted, and he took his anger out on us because of you." Yomi said gleefully and angrily at the same time.

"Extremely bad timing." Naruto drawled out, "Just try to run when you realize how much you just fucked up." Naruto said to her before he held his hand up and summoned a katana in a puff of smoke confusing the aliens. He stabbed the blade into the ground before he then reached into one of his back pocket and withdrew three, small black balls. They were very unassuming, but Naruto knew better. While smoke bombs were not dangerous in and of themselves, they were dead useful, as he was about to tossed the balls down onto the floor directly in front of the confused Mutsu, "What the –"

The smoke bombs exploded, expelling large layers of thick, black, smog that swept over the area. It covered every corner of the large park causing the Sekirei to begin coughing. With their vision hampered, Naruto knew it was time to act as he jumped into the smoke. The black smoke enclosed on him from all sides, cloying and thick. Were it not for the fact that he was using chakra to filter his lungs of the acrid smoke, he would have no doubt started hacking up a lung. As thing were, he could hear the others who had been caught within the smoke coughing as well. One, two, three...

Three?

Naruto frowned. There were only three people coughing, two of them could be heard off to his left. They were close together, Mitsuha and Yomi, he was sure. The other one was directly in front of him, and judging from the feminine tone it could only be Akitsu. That meant the one who was missing was Mutsu. His frown deepened. Mutsu was the most dangerous of the Sekirei after Akitsu. He couldn't afford to have the number Seventy-five after him as he made his escape, not with the limited amount of power he could bring out without alerting others to his own unique status.

That meant he had to trap the man another way.

It was time to use one of his more passive abilities.

Carefully as he could, Naruto let a small crack open up within his chakra coils. Before the chakra could become a maelstrom, he began expelling it out of every tenketsu on his body in mass quantities as he released it in a familiar fashion known only to him, sharpening the element to its finest point. Wind. It was the very first element Naruto had ever gained mastery, true mastery, not that shitty excuse for mastery that most ninja considered mastering an element. Naruto had trained quite extensively with his wind chakra during the course of the Fourth Great War.

He had, in time, become so in tune with his own element that at the height of his power he had been able to create elemental attacks without the need for jutsu. One might be able to say he was capable of using ninjutsu without handseals, but that phrase didn't really do what he was capable of justice. Naruto did not need to use ninjutsu. With the wind at his every beck and call, all he had been required to do was use his chakra and reach out to it.

Now he was no longer at the height of mastery anymore. Disuse had led to his abilities degrading greatly over time. But he still had the ability to use some of his less intensive abilities, one of them being the passive sensory abilities he had created near the beginning of the war. It was relatively simple to use, by expelling wind chakra from every tenketsu in his body and expanding the wind outwards into a hemisphere shaped dome, Naruto could gain an image of everything within that dome no matter how small. Even the most minute of movements did not escape his notice while the jutsu was active, the twitch of a finger, the scuffle of a boot, the flick of a wrist or tilt of a head; he could 'see' all of it.

Of course the passive wind sonar had its limitations. He could only extend it a certain distance. When he was at the peak of his powers, Naruto was capable of extending the ability up to a radius of five kilometers. Since he was so out of practice, that ability had been reduced to a little less than five hundred meters. It was just another reminder that the once great power he had was now gone, due in no small part to his own machinations. Still, it was enough for what he needed to do here. Mutsu couldn't have gone far.

And he was right. Naruto found him quite easily standing atop a building above the smokescreen. He was close. Just a few meters away. But how to keep the man from chasing after him and Akitsu. He needed something that would either hold him off long enough to escape, or distract him long enough that he didn't even notice them escaping. Reaching into one of his pouches, Naruto rummaged around, before eventually finding something that he felt would work.

Shuriken and ninja wire, a ninja's two best friends. With a quickness that should not be possible, and a surety of movement that anyone capable of watching would find enviable, Naruto attached a long strand of ninja wire to each shuriken. Then with a flick of his wrist, he launched them at Mutsu with speeds that were far faster than anything a Sekirei was capable of.

With his passive wind sonar still active, Naruto could watch as the six shuriken burst out of the smoke screen. They traveled through the air, creating a whistling sound as they cut through the wind. Mutsu saw them coming, Naruto could see his head snap up from staring into the smoke screen to look at the weapons. As predicted, the Sekirei tried to evade the projectiles at first, jumping to the left in order to dodge them. With a minor application of chakra and a few gentle tugs, the shuriken shifted direction and were once more soaring towards the male Sekirei. He could see Mutsu grimace, no doubt coming to the conclusion that he would have to deflect the projectiles instead of dodge them.

Good. Everything was going exactly like Naruto had hoped.

Mutsu slid the sword at his side from its sheath, the movement smooth and nary making a sound. As the six pointed ninja stars closed in on the Sekirei's position, his sword lashed out to deflect them.

That was when Naruto made his next move. Channeling more chakra up the ninja wire, Naruto changed its nature to wind and allowed it to surround the shuriken. However, this was not a cutting wind like most elemental jutsu are, no, instead Naruto was simply using the wind to create air currents, which he then used to guide the shuriken on the path he wanted them to take.

The look on Mutsu's face was almost priceless when all six shuriken suddenly veered off course. Two them of split to the left and right respectively, while the other three went over his head at various angles. The three that went over head then arced back around and tried to impale themselves into the back of Mutsu's head. It didn't work; the male Sekirei had spun on a dime, his sword flashing out with expert precision to knock the shuriken from the sky. But that was alright, those three were just a distraction. The last shuriken Naruto had thrown had gone low, and this was the first shuriken that reached Mutsu.

It wove between the number seventy fives legs, spinning and arcing in an intricate figure eight pattern several times over. Because it was so low to the ground, Mutsu didn't even notice until he could feel the cold steel tightening around his legs. When he finally did notice, it was already too late. Naruto yanked on the wire that particular shuriken was attached to, tightening it to the point that Mutsu's legs snapped into place. Like a tree that no longer had its roots supporting it, Mutsu began to topple over, but not before the two shuriken that had moved around his left and right swooped in and wrapped around him several times, pinning his arms to his torso.

The entire process only took five seconds. By the time Mutsu was tied up in ninja wire, Naruto had covered the distance between him and Akitsu. Without hesitation he grabbed her hand and began running out of the smokescreen. Naruto charged out of the smokescreen with Akitsu stumbling behind him trying to catch her breath. However, they weren't able to get to far as a slash of wind ripped his back open causing Naruto to fall with a cry of surprise. As if to mock his thoughts, Mutsu and the other Sekirei belonging to Mikogami came running out of the smoke.

"Ashikabi-sama!" Akitsu cried out and tried to run over to him, only to cry out when some wires managed to wrap themselves around her, "Ah, let me go!" the ice Sekirei cried out, "Ashikabi-sama!" she pleaded.

"Now, now," Yomi chided with an almost manacle grin, "We can't have you acting out anymore. You've already given us enough trouble as it is. Just be a good little Sekirei and let us take you to our master. You'll make a wonderful addition to his collection." she sneered.

Mutsu sighed, "We've wasted enough time here."

Naruto wondered what he should do. He needed a plan if he wanted to get out of this without revealing too much of his power.

"Keep her bound so she can't get away. It's bothersome, but we don't want her trying to escape again." Mitsuha snorted.

Unfortunately Naruto couldn't think of anything. So long as Akitsu remained bound and Mutsu remained near, the amount of limiters Naruto was able to place on himself diminished. But that didn't mean he was helpless.

"You jerks, let me go, my Ashikabi-sama needs me!" Akitsu cried.

Hearing her pleading cries, Naruto's fingers clenched around the hilt of his blade, which had miraculously remained in his grasp while he was experiencing the cut. The muscles in his arms flexed as he pushed himself into a crouch, legs bunched under him, fingers splayed. He looked like some kind of jungle predator preparing to pounce. It was a surprisingly accurate analogy.

Mutsu nodded, satisfied. Neither he nor the others saw Naruto as the blond prepared to attack.

Chakra once more flowed through his body like a tidal wave. Naruto grabbed the energy and forced it into submission. He took hold of it, directed it, the energy flowed down his legs and to the bottom of his feet, where he directed untold amounts of the mystical energy to in what would be a move that was equal parts brilliant as it was stupid.

One of the most basic chakra control techniques that ninja are taught when they first became genin is the tree climbing exercise. It's called tree climbing, but in truth it would be more accurate to say that it was tree walking. By adding chakra to the bottom of the feet, one could stick themselves to any vertical surface and walk up it as if they were walking on the ground, thereby defying gravity. The trick was getting the right amount of chakra to the bottom of the feet, which was the hardest place to direct ones chakra to. Too little chakra and you risked falling off. Too much chakra and you risk blasting yourself off the surface, which is exactly what happened to Naruto.

With the utterly ridiculous amount of chakra Naruto was channeling to the bottom of his feet, which was far more chakra than most ninja ever gained in their lifetimes, what happened next was only natural. Newton's third law of motion insured that. With the amount of kinetic energy the chakra was creating under his foot, Naruto was blasted forward with enough speed that his body was a complete blur, the ground where he had blasted off cracked under the pressure from the amount of force he put on it.

Mutsu heard the sound, so did the others, but he was the only one quick enough to react. Even then the only thing he could do was turn his head as Naruto's blurred form past him and continued on unimpeded.

Mutsu wasn't the target.

Grabbing his sword with his hand, Naruto lifted the blade above his head, and swiftly brought it down on the strings that were holding Akitsu in place. There was a loud screech, almost like that of metal on metal. For a moment Naruto wondered if the strings were made of some kind of metal, but discarded that notion. They were too flexible to be made out of metal that thick. Some kind of synthetic material then? MBI had the technology. Well, whatever, he could ponder over the Sekirei's weapons later. Maybe he could even take a sample home with him and study it.

Despite the strength of the strings, they snapped under Naruto's attack. Mitsuha, who had been holding onto the strings tightly and had even placed her body weight into keeping Akitsu bound, stumbled backwards with a surprised look on her face. Naruto wondered if it was because the steaming 'corpse' from earlier had suddenly risen up and broke her weapon, or simply because he had broken her weapon; perhaps a little of both. Looking up Mitsuha looked to the blond in confusion and shock, "What the hell!?" Mitsuha shouted in shock. "I thought he was dead!"

Her surprised shouting went largely ignored. Yomi and Akitsu were both in the same boat as she was, but they seemed to have lost their voices, though Naruto was sure if they had them they would have agreed with the Sekirei's assessment. The only one who wasn't affected to the point of not being able to move was Mutsu, who had launched himself at Naruto the moment he sliced through the strings that had bound Akitsu.

The soft 'hiss' of his blade sliding through the air was all it took for Naruto to spun on a dime, the katana coming up to block the attack. He channeled chakra into his arm, legs, and the bottom of his feet before his blade clashed with that of Mutsu's. There was a loud 'clang!' as steel cashed against steel. Naruto let out a slight grunt of exertion as the combined strength and momentum hit him, but other than that he gave no indication of having felt the attack. Indeed, he remained planted firmly on the ground, neither stumbling nor sliding backwards as the smaller katana was bashed against his own blade.

And then it was his turn. Channeling a bit more chakra to his arms, Naruto shoved his sword against Mutsu's using both his own chakra enhanced strength, and the inertia that had been created when he blocked Mutsu's attack. The male Sekirei was sent stumbling backwards, his eyes widening in surprise. He hesitated. Naruto could have used that moment to attack, but there was no guarantee that Mutsu would fall with his next move. Would he be able to attack quickly enough to land a decisive blow? How fast was Mutsu's reaction time? Without knowing those answers, attacking someone of number zero five's caliber was foolish given the situation he was in.

Naruto couldn't afford to be drawn into a large scale battle when there were two other Sekirei waiting to pounce on the one he was trying to protect. Speaking off...

"Ashikabi-sama, you're alright!" Akitsu said happily.

"Not now, we have other things to worry about." said Naruto as he burst forward to cross blades with Mutsu as Mitsuha and Yomi attacked the ice Sekirei with their scythe and strings respectively. She managed to jump back, dodging the whip and several strings, but a few managed to catch her unawares and managed to make small nicks in her flesh. She hissed, but despite how tired she must be from everything that had happened, managed to pull enough strength from somewhere to raise her hand and point it at them. Slivers of ice grew out of nothing and shot forward with incredible speed and power.

"You, what are you?" asked Mutsu, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at the blond. "You're far too strong to be human, yet I can sense that you're not a Sekirei."

"Me, I'm just a regular everyday bad-ass." Naruto said with a projected air of indifference.

Naruto placed his single hand on his katana and fixed his grip slightly, his eyes never wavering or his conviction failing him.,

Mutsu, having gotten tired of waiting, decided to make the first move. Charging at the blond Uzumaki, their swords clashed in a shower of sparks. Mutsu performed a couple slashes, but Naruto simply brought his sword up and allowed it to take the hit before he ducked under the next swing. Mutsu smirks as he rolls the sword in his hand over and then back before he leaps at Naruto. The kick is blocked, but Mutsu swings down, only to clash with Naruto's katana and pushes Mutsu away to ready a swing that is blocked by the Sekirei.

Spinning around, Mutsu elbows Naruto in the chest before smashing his arm into his nose causing him to stumble back with a small cry. Spinning in an attempt to cut Naruto in two, dirt and dust is thrown in the air as Naruto jumps back and slides across the ground. Coming to a stop, Naruto's fierce gaze locks on Mutsu and he charges forward once again. Akitsu and the others are silent as they watch the two men embroiled in battle seemingly ignore them for the sake of their own fight. The world around them is a blur, their main focus is the opponent before them and their own goals.

Mutsu leaps over Naruto, the blond spinning on a dime to try and cut Mutsu down, only for his sword to slice through a full grown tree as Mutsu leaps away, Naruto giving chase soon after. Landing on a thick tree branch, Mutsu slides across the wood, snow falling off as he did so, and Naruto lands shortly after as he thrusts his sword, only to be parried by Mutsu. Kicking Naruto away, a fog of snow fills the air as Mutsu charges in, their blades clashing with sparks as the snow calmly returns to its original form and clears the air.

Pushing Mutsu back, Naruto thrusts and jabs his katana a couple times, only for Mutsu to leap up and over him to land on a slightly lower branch. With a silent grunt, Mutsu attempts to slice at Naruto's leg, but barely nicks him as the Uzumaki jumps over the slash in time. As he flips over Mutsu, their blades block one another in a new shower of sparks before Naruto lands on the opposing end of the branch as the two thrust and parry their blades at incredible speeds where Naruto spins around and swings his blade. Mutsu barely blocks it, but Naruto simply runs his katana down Mutsu's sword in a rain of sparks and swings, barely missing the Sekirei.

Mutsu performs several flips back and stops to look at Naruto. Blood pools on the ground at his feet from the cut given to him by Mutsu, but as Mutsu looks at him, he feels a small wetness on his cheek and puts his hand on it, only to see the crimson from Naruto's own cut from seconds ago. They had both drawn blood. Mutsu's grin said it all, he was enjoying himself, and he wanted more. From a distance; Akitsu, Mitsuha, and Yomi stared in wonder as these two seemingly master swordsmen fought it out on a tree branch, their skills of balance and movement unlike anything they had ever seen in their life.

Suddenly a powerful wind blew from the side, kicking dust up and forcing everyone to cover their eyes, save for Naruto and Mutsu who allowed the dirt to turn into a dense dust fog, Mutsu's form being enshrouded as he charged ahead. Bursting out of the smokescreen, Mutsu swings, but Naruto blocks and stumbles away, nearly falling. But in the end, the Uzumaki gains some distance as Mutsu gives chase. Swinging, Naruto ducks under Mutsu's blade as the Sekirei spins around in an attempt to cleave him in two, but he misses and barely manages to stop Naruto's thrust before he continues to run after the blond.

Naruto tries to swing back, but Mutsu lands on his back and spins around Naruto and back to his feet in front of the blond. Swing after swing, clash after clash, the two are relentless as they try to break through the others guard. Mutsu gives a spin before lashing out with a quick thrust, cutting into Naruto's cheek forcing the Uzumaki to dodge out of the way, but this leaves him open. With a swing of his sword, Mutsu draws more blood as he cuts into Naruto's shoulder, the blond's blood spraying across the tree behind him as he groans in pain. Another slice strikes the tree deeply as Naruto moves out of the way.

Running through the branches, Mutsu follows Naruto across the forest, only for the blond to make an abrupt stop as Naruto turned back and thrust his sword. Several clashes of sparks fill the air before the two yell, Naruto spinning around just in time and the two men slam their blades together, the metal shaking, sparks filling the air, as they hold their swords with both hands. Mutsu grins darkly as he looks into Naruto's eyes. However, the Uzumaki simply inhales before releasing it as he controls his breathing, the edge of his sword fogging up for a second. Pushing Mutsu to the side, Naruto crouches slightly and swings his blade, a spray of blood filling the air as Mutsu's forehead is sliced deeply.

Mutsu drops his weapon as Naruto stands above him now, only to clap his hands together and grab the katana in his opponent's hand before he pulls it in and smashes an elbow into the blond's face causing him to stumble back. Picking up his own sword, Mutsu flips it and holds the tip of the blade and watches as Naruto gets on his feet. With a spin, Mutsu hurls the sword at Naruto intending to impale his heart. However, Naruto's wide eyes manage to perceive the threat to his life and crosses his arms, where the sword stabs through his arm out the other side.

Naruto grunts as he falls down on the ground at the base of the tree, the pointed branch jutting from the ground nearby, nearly claiming his life if he had fallen off and onto the earth without using chakra to protect his body. Without his weapon, Mutsu simply charges forward, grabbing onto his opponent's katana where he leaps off the tree and at Naruto, slamming his feet into the blond where they crash through the rocks and down to the ground below near the wide eyed spectators. Rocks, dust and chunks of several tree's fill the air as Naruto comes rolling out, the blade clearly seen sticking from his arm as he comes to a stop.

Naruto grunts in pain as he looks at his arm, and then at Mutsu now charging him. Without hesitation, Naruto rips the sword from his arm in a spray of blood that covers the earth at his feet and raises the sword up just in time to block Mutsu's swing, the two blades shattering from the sheer force used to slam the two katana's into one another. Rolling back, the two draw their hands back, a light filling Naruto's palm as he conjures up a final attack. Electricity filled Naruto's hand, screaming with lightning as he summoned forth the power that could cut lightning itself, and with a snarl he yells out, "RAIKIRI!"

Snarling, he thrusts the one thing that could split lightning itself at Mutsu, missing his heart and lung as he plunges his hand through a body cavity. Mutsu gags on his blood and pushes Naruto away, stumbling heavily as he coughed up blood, glaring at Naruto. Mutsu, though heavily injured, was the first of the shocked spectating group to recover. He looked over at Mitsuha, who looked like she might vomit at any moment. "Mitsuha! Yomi!" he shouted, forcing them to look away from the gruesome scene before her, "This battle's lost, we're leaving." he commanded. The user of the strange string-like weapons didn't need to be told twice. Shuddering from head to toe at what could have been her fate had she been closest to the blond; she jumped up and over the wall followed by Mutsu who was chased by the terrified Yomi, ignoring the Ice Sekirei they had no choice but to leave behind.

Naruto watched them go. He could have gone after them, but really, all he wanted to do now was get home. Then he looked out of the corner of his eyes and saw Akitsu staring at him with a strange expression, a mixture of abject horror and arousal that would have looked out of place on anyone. He turned to face her, noticing how she flinched. Sighing, he wiped the blood off his face with the sleeves of shirt, discreetly using what concentration he could to gather the moisture in the air to help wash his face off. When he was sufficiently clean, he looked back up at his new Sekirei, "Are you alright?" he asked into the silence.

Akitsu seemed to shake herself out of whatever funk she was in, and gingerly stood up, wincing a bit as the aches and pains of the day, as well as the way her body was reacting to Naruto, descended upon her, "I'm fine Ashikabi-sama." she told him.

"Then let's get you home." he said walking her out of the park and climbing into the taxi.


Alright, gonna call that the end of the chapter. Please LIKE/FAVORITE/FOLLOW to show the story some love and don't forget to leave a COMMENT/REVIEW to let me know what you think of this chapter. Please also join me and fellow writers on my Discord we will love to hear thoughts/idea's/concepts and who knows-maybe we will publish one of your creations.