rippling future

Book Three Chapter Four: Assault


Hakai no Mikami

The new name spreads among the soldiers like wildfire. Three young shinobi had made themselves infamous overnight through their actions on their second encounter against Dotou's forces. Nothing could seemingly touch them. An entire regiment of ninja had disappeared in a matter of seconds as they dismantled one of the army's best weapons along with it.

It had brought fear within their ranks. Many of whom began contemplating a new life, back to a life of being on the run instead of staying within Dotou's payroll. To others, uncertainty turned into hope. The news of these three young shinobi spreads throughout the country and the splintered factions of those who opposed Dotou suddenly found their second wind and began uniting under Sandayuu's banner. In just two days, missives from different parts of the country began looking into Sandayuu's group and one by one, swore loyalty to Koyuki, the rightful heir of Snow Country.

It was a sight to behold, as warriors of old and new bowed to Koyuki, the rightful heir to Kazahana Sousetsu. Their hopes of a country freed from the grasp of Dotou now growing ever more as they had gained significant morale. But there was still a problem.

The envoy from Kumogakure were still present. And they were causing havoc on the countryside. In particular, a nasty rumor about a particular moniker, Aoi Hono no Josei (Lady of Blue Flames) had began spreading earlier than the Konoha Shinobi.

It seemed it was not only the rebels who had hired outside help to deal with their problems.

Frankly, to the three Konoha shinobi, it was disconcerting.

Naruto, in particular, was looking out into the night outside his window. There was no snow currently raining tonight and the moon above was a quarter moon, he was feeling restless.

Tomorrow would be a full moon, he had thought. It was a peculiar trait that he had been made aware of since Gaara's mention of it. Jinchuuriki like him were restless when the moon was full or when it was close to a full moon. As if the certain night had brought forth a wellspring of energy within them that they couldn't know how to spend.

"Naruto? Shouldn't you be asleep right now? We have a big day tomorrow. You need to rest up."

Naruto turns to look at his teammate, Sakura was the one assigned for night watch today. Not that she was needed, there were plenty of sentinels to alert them if ever they were needed to fight. But an extra set of help coming from them was a big boost to the rebel army's morale so they decided to help. Sasuke had done his work earlier as a recon agent to know the nearest and most vulnerable enemy position that could give them a clear path towards the castle.

Naruto nods and goes back to his room.

"Nothing. I just have this tense feeling tomorrow. Like I somehow anticipate that it's going to be difficult from here on out."

Sakura nodded. She stares outside the window too and sees the quarter moon above the country's snowy grounds.

"You think we'll face those Kumo nin?"

Naruto only nods once and heads back to his room.

"We won't be having a choice in the matter. But those rumors about the lady of blue flames have me worried. They said that she sprouts a tail of blue fire when she sees her enemies. I don't like where those rumors are going."

Sakura nods to this as well, "You think she might be..."

Naruto shrugs at this, "Maybe. Let's just hope we can persuade her to stop before she does get serious."


Dotou's castle:

Nii Yugito watches as she sees Dotou's men begin to fortify the castle. A wave of uneasiness escapes them and Yugito was quick to notice her comrades seem to have taken notice as well.

She reaches out to one of the shinobi, who turns out to be Dotou's right hand man.

"Is there something going on that we should be worried about?"

Roga nods, "The rebellion has asked for outside help concerning this war and Konoha has heeded their request. Right now, we are preparing for a possible assault and all the bases outside of the castle are being prepped as we speak."

Yugito and her team were alarmed at this. An encounter with Konoha shinobi was not a good sign for both parties. And since she and her team have committed their time for this mission, an encounter was all but unavoidable at this point. Unless they chose to abandon their mission and deem it a failure. Or they could persuade Konoha's shinobi to do the same.

"Can you tell me what abilities these Konoha shinobi displayed?"

Roga nods again, "Mostly ninjutsu users, all of them. They have specialization to at least one of each element, Earth, Wind and Fire. Two of them are sword users, one uses a Katana who also is an Uchiha with an element combination bloodline, Enton. His fighting style is swift and deadly, he has a shunshin ability that is better than most of what I've seen and he is precise in his movements. The others made a note to nickname him Kagemusha (Shadow Warrior)."

Yugito made a mental note that this person was probably trained by ANBU.

"The other is a girl that uses two swords in conjunction with earth jutsus. She also seems to carry some form of super strength along with her. She can destroy the earth with a stomp of her feet and her attacks with the swords are quick, precise and brutal. She is designated as Tekken (Iron Fist)."

A girl with super strength reminded Yugito of a certain legendary shinobi in Konoha's ranks that was also an expert in medicine and battlefield surgery. If she had taken an apprentice, then most likely that this girl would also posses the same knowledge or at least close to it and be also a medic nin.

'That is something to be concerned about.'

She thought. An apprentice of the Sannin is a sign of caution that she shouldn't underestimate. No matter if she did have the Nibi as her arsenal, Tsunade should not be underestimated at all times. Her work had made Konoha Ninja incredibly resilient and hard to kill. Kumo had just now only began to catch up to Konoha's best assets and even then, their medical knowledge still far outstrips Kumo by a long mile.

"The last one is the most dangerous of them. He has the ability to fly and his wind jutsu managed to pierce through a thick layer of iron like they were nothing. He's fast, just like Kagemusha, and he made short work of our equipment and managed to secure our objective. He is designated as Kazama (Wind Demon)."

Yugito raised an eyebrow at this. There were very few people in the history of shinobi that had the ability to fly and almost all of them were in the level of Kage. The ability of flight had posed great advantage to one with that jutsu and it also meant one thing.

That this person was confident enough to be seen and not be taken out of the skies by Jutsu that can reach him.

Yugito had never faced airborne opponents before. And due to their rarity, she never had thought of having a strategy to use on them other than to shoot it out of the sky.

"Yugito-san, Dotou-sama is asking for your presence at his court."

Yugito already knew what Dotou was going to ask of her team. She had every reason to decline, but her reputation as well as Kumo's reputation would be placed in question for her and her village's allies if she were to back away now.

After all, she made a commitment.


Morning of the next day:

Snow started to fall again as Sandayuu's faction began to march. The soldiers' armored legs making deep marks within the snow covered landscape. Samurai, team Seven had noted, preferred to face their enemies in large formations. An army this large meant to take down a sentinel just west of their own base in comparison to shinobi was meant to take down countries. This one, will be used to take down a base that had the clearest path to Dotou's castle.

The previous night had been a strategic conference for the vassals of the former daimyo now of Koyuki. This was the first time the three shinobi had attended a strategy meeting and they had been heavily involved in coordinating the assault and looking at the landscape that they could use as an advantage. Naruto noted that the garb of the Samurai were heavier than theirs. They didn't emphasize mobility but rather protection, to serve as frontline warriors that will meet their enemies head on.

Sakura, on the other hand, also noted that the armor that the Samurai were wearing were similar in composition to that of Dotou's army. It was designed to protect them from enemy jutsu.

Sasuke had also learned, that these Samurai could also mold and use chakra but not as diversified or as expansive compared to them. These Samurai seemed to be adept at combat without the need of conjuring up jutsu after jutsu.

Their blades probably had something to do with it.

Naruto and his team watched above the treetops as the Samurai began their march, resolute in their promises of victory and peace.

The three then looks back to the very edges of the batallion at the back. There on horseback were Sandayuu and Koyuki, Sandayuu was now equipped with the same armor as that of his men, but it had the distinction of being red all over and his helmet had been adorned with a wreath of leaves as a design. Koyuki, meanwhile, was now wearing robes meant for Daimyo. She had been garbed with the protective armor beneath her garments and a helmet in the same shape as that of Sandayuu but with no mask. She had preferred it to be so, so that Dotou could see her face. Her look of despair now changed to one of determination.

She had deemed it now that she will not run and will face Dotou even though she herself could not fight, others were willing to support her cause.

Their march towards the enemy base was seen by the suffering peasants of the land. Thus, this was her chance to do what her vassals couldn't.

She would use her theatrics.

Koyuki had commanded her troops to stop, and all of them looked at Koyuki with wonder as Team Seven did so as well. Koyuki dropped by her horse and approached a lone farmer, suffering in his tattered clothes within such cold conditions. The daughter of the former Daimyo kneeled before the farmer and drapped him with her Haori as she stood up to the peasants and began to speak with her will.

"People of the land! Today, your suffering ends! Today, I will give you your voice! Today, I will end your misery! Stand tall and be resolute! Farmers of the land, fishers of the sea, hunters of the forest! The time is now to rid of the man who has wrought so much death on our lands, if you will help me, I will ensure a brighter future where no peasant shall die of negligence! This injustice will not stand! Not anymore! Be with me, and I will promise you all victory!"

Soon young men began flocking towards her. All of them carried weapons with them, spears, swords, bows even their garden tools. Soon, two hundred more men, armed with weapons and light armor were with the two thousand armored warriors, they will be her ashigaru (light of foot). And they will be the last line of her defense.

All of these peasants had grown weary of the Dotou's rule and all of them finally had a voice after ten years of neglect and abuse. Finally, the will of the country was waking up.

Soon, they had seen the base. Behind it, was a mountain and on top of that mountain, they could see the castle with its high walls. The Samurai then began scurrying about in their formation. The clank in their armor could be heard at the base as the shinobi behind its walls were looking at the horizon.

"Look at all those fools. Don't they know that seeing an army out in the open is disadvantageous in this era?"

One shinobi asked, but one of them, a senior shinobi who had seen the last wars outside the country scowls.

He had only seen Samurai in Tetsu no Kuni in his many travels. And his former comrades had always warned him about the foolishness of facing Samurai in direct combat. He had never seem them in action, but it would serve him better to heed their warnings.

Their base had about a thousand men inside. All of them shinobi, light armored and capable of doing long range jutsu. They were a formidable force. But he still did not feel like this was going to go well.

"Do not underestimate them." Was his only warning. As they saw the one clad in red armor stood at the front and raised his sword up high.

"Spearmen! To the front! Archers! Take your positions and aim! Vanguard! Draw your swords and aid the spearmen!"

The samurai shifted in their formation, the archers now stand on a cliff their long bows drawn and string pulled back. They then applied chakra to their arrows as they glowed an incandescent blue.

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke now stood with Sandayuu at the front. Those behind the walls saw the three shinobi and with their appearance, startled those behind the castle walls.

They had immediately recognized these three. Hakai no Mikami.

Kagemusha

Tekken

Kazama

All of them were shaken to their core as the three performed a set of handseals similar to each other and slammed their hands to the ground.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"A large plume of smoke escapes the three, now standing over the top of three large summons, a toad, a slug and a hawk were the three Konoha Ninja that they had deemed dangerous. The senior shinobi of the base recognized two of the summons that popped up and pales in utter shock and disbelief.

Two of these were the summons of the legendary three way deadlock!

"SHIT!"

The only word that had ever escaped him before the mayhem could begin as all of the shinobi inside felt the wind much colder than before.

Katsuyu began to separate to smaller pieces attaching themselves to the Samurai, to the ashigaru and to Koyuki. For being slugs they were quite quick to attach themselves as Sakura performed a more limited version of Tsunade's remote healing technique. The large hawk gave a shrill cry as it took to the skies and took Sasuke along with it as Naruto performed the shadow clone jutsu and went for Gamahiro's blades.

"Gamahiro! I'm adding wind chakra to your swords! Go wild!"

The giant toad gave a nod and leaped towards the base.

The winter winds then changed direction towards the castle and Sandayuu turns to his men.

"ATTACK!" Sandayuu bellows from behind the Shinobi and a wave of long arrows fly towards the base.

Frantically, several groups of shinobi behind the base slammed their hands on the ground and a wall of ice and earth rose up just before the walls as the wave of arrows had managed to be lodged into the thick ice and earth with some, enhanced by chakra, managed to pierce the wall. Those that were standing above the wall peering at their enemies suddenly found themselves dead with an arrow lodged to their heads or some piercing their eyes and going through their skulls.

The initial volley soon ended and the Samurai had begun their charge.

"Counterattack! Don't let them enter the gates! Counter with Jutsu-"

The more experienced of the shinobi barking orders was soon engulfed in an inferno from above as a hawk made its presence known breathing fire on the hapless soldier and burning him to a crisp. The moment was not savoured however as the giant toad landed at the fornt of the gates and with its wind enhanced blades, cut down a portion of the wall along with several shinobi behind it.

Naruto and Sasuke had jumped down as their summons did their work and started doing their assigned roles.

Jutsu were flying about trying to hit the hawk from above as other Shinobi desperately try and hold off a giant toad on the walls of their base. One shinobi managed to perform a summoning technique with a giant rat but it was soon cut down by Gamahiro with ease thanks to Naruto's wind enhancement.

Soon, Samurai started swarming inside the base and the shinobi directed their jutsu at them. But the Samurai armor merely absorbed their jutsu and these armor clad hulking men smashed through their lines as the tip of the spear began killing enemy shinobi left and right. Some who had forgone ninjutsu, engaged the armored soldiers in close combat and were cut down brutally for their troubles. Quickly, the enemy forces were being overwhelmed. Some who saw the massacre taking place, decided it was not worth the effort and began abandoning their posts while some were left for dead. The enemy lines had broken in matter of minutes. Their enemy commander dead at the beginning of the fight due to Sasuke's summon.

The base, the keep, was in total shambles as enemy shinobi were picked off one by one.

By afternoon, the stragglers were all dead. Samurai had begun burning bodies left and right and those who fled either went back to the castle or turned tail and ran, never to return again and resorting back into the life of a missing nin.

Sasuke had began killing the enemy leaders inside, those that betrayed the trust of the former daimyo were put to death swiftly while Naruto secured a passageway that led to the castle that no one knew about.

As the summons dispersed, Sakura noted that there were no casualties on their side of the conflict. It was too easy in her opinion.

Sasuke, who now cleaned his sword off blood, went to Sakura who was looking cautious and mistrustful of the results of their first campaign.

It seemed like he had the same idea.

"Something is off."

Sasuke nodded.

"This was too easy. You do not have an army and control an entire country for a decade by soldiers that is this poorly disciplined."

Naruto then appeared before them and suddenly said, "Change of plans, you and Sakura are going with Koyuki to the secret trail while I'll be the one who'll be making a direct assault."

Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other. Naruto had acted before each of them as Naruto reasoned out his plan.

"There's a good chance that Dotou is turtling at the castle with all of his most trusted soldiers. He might be planning this the whole time..."

A messenger suddenly runs towards Sandayu as he falls to the snowy ground in exhaustion.

Sandayuu orders one of the men to grab some water but the messenger refused as he said in between gasps.

"The Hideaki faction has been ambushed. Survivors are close in the hundreds and are retreating. They are headed this way. The Motonari have been defeated. No survivors. The Hojo have been pushed back. There were traps in the base that they stormed into. The commander was killed. All soldiers were forced to surrender..."

As news after terrible news broke, Sandayuu closed his eyes for mourning. Many of those retainers he had come clashed with all those years ago were also good friends of his. Even though they had different ideas to run the country out of fear of the Kazahana line being snuffed out, Sandayuu still considered them as friends of his and their iron clad will in deposing the tyrant had been the only thing that kept them going. His generals soon gathered and looked down once more on the map that they rolled out earlier. Their army was smacked dab in the middle of Dotou's forces. There were about at least five thousand enemy shinobi forces that Dotou had in his command. His allies might have cut the number down severely, but Sandayuu predicted that they were still outnumbered and now, surrounded.

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke looked down at the map and the three now had to gamble. Naruto was right. They would have to do the assault immediately.

"Are you guys still okay for fighting?" Naruto asked Sasuke and Sakura. The two nodded. Their reserves were not down at half but that summoning had put a strain on them as well as Sakura's healing technique had depleted her chakra pack while a good portion of her own chakra had been shaved off.

Naruto nods at this and turns to Sandayuu.

"We'll begin assaulting the castle earlier than planned. We'll try to recover as much chakra as we can. But we will have to do it earlier than expected. This is our only chance in defeating Dotou."

Sandayuu contemplates this and nods. There was grim silence all around. The Samurai were looking at the man in trepidation as he says, "Then do so as quick as you can. We will hold the fort down."

To many who understood what Sandayuu had met, they were going to stall Dotou's army while the shinobi deal with Dotou themselves. The Samurai steeled themselves. This may be their last stand. Koyuki dismounted from her horse and spoke, "Take me with you."

Sandayuu had approved. With the Shinobi, Koyuki would be safer. And the hidden path would be enough to keep her safe.

Koyuki then addresses her peasants.

"There is no need to risk your lives any longer. You are free to go, you have suffered enough. Your lives are worth more than this country, much more than mine."

A young hunter with her bow disagreed, she spoke, "We never had much to begin with. We were only deer hunters before this. When you gave your haori to old man Hikone, you gave us hope. We can't back down now, now that we're so close to beating that jerk."

The other peasants gave a nod.

"We were always hopeless, we didn't have the means to fight back. But now we have this chance. I can't leave this world behind without at least trying my hardest to give a better life to my daughter. I don't want to be a father who cowers against them."

Koyuki looks at herself for the first time, and she feels uplifted from all the people supporting her.

Naruto grins at her and says, "This is what I said about gathering people and borrowing their strength."

Asura smiles and nods in approval inside him and Naruto gives both him and Kurama a thumbs up.

Sasuke on the other hand, watches everything and the voice in his head remains in silence. Perhaps disgusted or surprised that people who thought they were powerless before, now rose up against an evil that threatened their lives.

He was reminded of his trauma as a child, but then remembers that his team were now filling those empty holes within him. Sasuke looks at Sakura and she looks back at him. She smiles as she discreetly holds his hand.

"We're in this, together."

For the first time, Sasuke responds with a nod and holds Sakura's hand with his as well.

Naruto glances at the two and smiles.

Three hours later, Sakura takes out a food pill for Sasuke and for her and swallowed hard. The effects were immediate, their chakra networks were working in overtime to produce more chakra within them as they prepared themselves. Sasuke summons a smaller hawk this time, about the size of a grown man and had Koyuki ride the hawk.

Naruto sets his goggles in place and activates the jutsu in his board Fuujin no Odori roars to life as Naruto flies into the air and heads straight for the castle.

The two shinobi and Koyuki soon left after.

When they were gone, the feeling of hope within the group became somber as Sandayuu stands before them.

"Our hope rides with them. We will not cower into the night. For this is our chance. If we die today, then we die to fulfill our duty. Our standing in life be damned. For I know not the circumstances of your birth, but I will know the glory of your deaths! Stand with me! We will free our land or die trying!"

The warriors roused, by this speech all raised their arms.

This may be their last stand, but they will die fighting.


Dotou's Fortress:

Night had come. The setting sun changes the color of hue of the sky from visible to bright orange and a line of cold blue.

Shinobi were going left and right throughout the castle, manning stations of different points of the castle as they waited in bated breath for their enemy. News had spread quickly, it seemed.

Two of the three summons of the Legendary Sannin had appeared in battle. For those that knew, it was a sign that they were screwed. Some, who had heard of the news and heard of the legends of the Sannin, panicked and ran for the hills, abandoning their posts. Roga growled at these ingrates. They had the nerve to leech off of their leader and run away at the first sign of a real struggle.

He had been concerned too, the Sannin were famous around the world. The tale of their exploits were a reminder why Konoha was a superpower.

Konoha had produced exceptionally fine shinobi throughout its history. Tales of their exploits remained in books even today. In every era that a Hokage is risen, there were several more legends that this village had produced.

From Hashirama Senju, the Shodaime, up until the Yondaime, Minato Namikaze. There were names in each era that would prove to be enough to topple armies entirely.

It was why Roga was terrified to meet them again. He had made the mistake of going out with his best men, only to lose them to these children of all people.

It had been humiliating for him. Especially when he had to explain this to Dotou.

When he faced them a second time, these three hellspawns not only managed to wreck one of their best weapons, they also managed to kill fifty plus shinobi in a span of minutes.

Not hours.

Minutes!

He then hears that two of these little monsters could summon two of the three iconic summons of the the sannin. Not only that, they made short work of the sentinel base with zero casualties!

When he heard of that last news, the gears in Roga's mind began to turn and he came to a conclusion.

It all made sense now to him why Konoha would only send three shinobi.

Shinobi apparently trained by two of the legendary Sannin!

"It seems my suspicions were correct in about these three. The most essential of them has to be the girl. Being trained by Tsunade places her as the Medic. They will be hard to fight."

Roga looked at Yugito and his eyes widened further at that implication.

Yugito began thinking as she decided her options. Dotou has asked her to serve as defense against these three but Yugito had another thing in mind.

She had been considering just dropping out of the mission entirely, there was nothing for Kumo to gain, but now an opportunity presents itself before her.

She had to gauge and gather information on Kumo's most hated enemy, Konoha. A feeling of restlessness settles within Yugito. She looks up and sees the full moon coming into view.

Yugito goes inside as Roga sees her thinking deeply. A few minutes later, Roga hears a strange sound in the air, humming and getting louder and louder.

Roga turns to the sound and immediately feels a powerful gush of wind slamming on to his face and effectively shredding his entire head in the process.

A few seconds later, Roga's body falls down on the floor and the entire fortress was on high alert.

Multiple explosions could be heard all around the castle as Naruto buzzed around the fortress blasting the damn place with wind jutsu after wind jutsu.

Dotou's men began going for their defensive turrets and Jutsu but Naruto would swoop down below and use his Kuukanzangeki to tear down the gunner and his equipment while some were blown off when Naruto graced the area with clones

BOOM!

Down below at the base of the mountain, Sakura, Sasuke and Koyuki watched as Naruto began harassing Dotou's group with his jutsu.

Sasuke then says, "It's starting. Once we are inside, where are we supposed to go to Dotou?"

Koyuki nods, "We will be arriving at my father's library. From there, I can remember that my father's bedroom is to the right. We can expect Dotou to be in the court surrounded by his henchmen. The court will be at the center of the keep itself."

As soon as they went inside, Sasuke was immediately on high alert as Sakura took the rear position with him at point while Koyuki was in the middle. They had silently entered the secret passageway that Koyuki had used as a child. Once they had made it to the end of the road, Koyuki feels the wall to her front with her hands and presses a hidden button that opened their path to a flight of wooden stairs. Sasuke immediately gets to work.

With a plume of smoke from Sasuke's right hand, a white porcelain mask of a hawk appears and Sasuke dons the mask on, completely concealing his identity.

He then rushes upwards as Koyuki and Sakura follows.

Outside the fortress, Naruto immediately adjusts his position in midair and heads straight to the largest tower of the building. He slams on to the windows and immediately crashes inside. Naruto braces himself for the impact and once he does crash, he rolls on to the floor and gets up on his feet.

Naruto then looks around, kunai in hand and sees multiple ninja staring at him behind any object they could find. He could tell from their eyes that they were eyeing him fearfully, while some were looking to have a chance to strike back.

Asura had asked him once, if he was willing to shoulder the burden of killing men and women for the sake of his ideal. Naruto couldn't answer, but Asura had warned him, that the life he was about to journey into was a life that he had once walked as well. There will be others who will see him as an enemy and Asura also said to him one thing that he will never forget.

'Ideals without power will only remain as ideals. But power itself leads only to destruction.' He had warned Naruto that he had come to accept his brother's reasoning but he also accepted the fact that power alone was not enough to change people. There will be people who will oppose him, people who will yearn for his head, those who will seek him out willingly or unwillingly.

So he had to steel himself for the inevitability that others will come for him for power's sake. And he will gladly carry on that burden not as a peacekeeper, but as Hokage.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Multiple clones exploded around the blonde as more than a hundred clones began attacking his enemies. Naruto watched as one by one, his enemies fell. Most were only knocked out but the more resilient ones had to be put down.

"That was foolish of you to attack this castle on your own."

Naruto turns to the source of the voice and finds a blonde haired beauty wearing light armor and the insignia of Kumo etched on her forehead protector.

Naruto holds his kunai right when her opponent leans down slightly with her fingernails elongating and becoming claws.

"No matter how strong one is, they all fall the same in face of sheer numbers."

Naruto remained silent and still, watching his enemy still on her stance. Naruto was instantly reminded of a cat.

'Matatabi?' Asura asked as he sees the female growl at his reincarnation with her claws dangerously out in the open.

"Aoi Honno no Josei, huh?"

Yugito merely gave a grunt and frowned at the nickname, the natives of the land sure were poetic in their monikers.

The Lady of the Blue Flames was indeed a title that describes herself. Her renown had spread throughout her country and now here, although in less than ideal circumstances.

"And from these Shinobi, you are designated as the one named Kazama. My real name is Nii Yugito, Raikage-sama's right hand."

Naruto looked serious now as he replied, "Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha Jounin."

Yugito's eyes widened at that. Did the boy say Uzumaki? The long sought after bloodline by Kumo? Whose blood can presumably suppress a Bijuu?

The same Uzumaki clan that had an unparalleled ability to use Fuinjutsu?

Yugito cursed. A seals expert and a Jinchuuriki fighting would spell destruction on the surrounding area provided that this boy before her were sufficient in his skills as a seals specialist.

A tense atmosphere escapes between the both of them. Yugito being much more careful this time as Naruto began sliding to the side slowly, he could feel Minamoto Banbutsu pulsing behind him of a new seal that it had just detected.

Naruto was sure for now that his current opponent was likely a Jinchuuriki.

Yugito carefully began sidestepping as well. The few shinobi remaining conscious were looking tense as these two began squaring off. Each step they took, the other followed.

A tail then conjures up behind Yugito, made up entirely of Blue flames as she then dashes at Naruto.

The blonde was quick to respond and threw the Kunai at Yugito and quickly clasps his hands together as Yugito parried the Kunai with her claws.

Three Shadow clones popped out of the white smoke from Naruto's immediate vicinity and the three of them dashed at Yugito who was zipping on the floor in different directions. The clones drew a kunai from their pouch each and went in to strike their opponent. But Yugito simply sped up and ducked on the first slash of the kunai, barely hitting her and in quick succession, Yugito stabs her right claw on the first clone.

It should have connected, but another clone intercepted by jumping above her striking zone and applied wind chakra to his kunai and extended the reach of his wind blade, cutting her elongated nails in the process. Yugito saw her middle and index claws were sliced in half. Just before retracting her hand back while another intercepts her other side. Surprised, Yugito had to twist her body in a clockwise turn whipping her tail at the third clone who jumped back just as Yugito then finished a full circle, clawing away at the first clone that attacked her. Dispelling it completely, Two clones then managed to surround her as the one clone that jumped before landed just behind her.

Then, several jet streams of wind came from multiple directions aiming towards her, Yugito jumped back and saw the impact of the Jutsu creating a dome of slicing winds at her front, the force of the impact send her flying towards a wall.

Regaining her balance, Yugito lands on the wall with her feet. And cracks appeared on them and cratered just from the strong push of the impact that her enemy had created. The floor from where she was standing caved in and the force was strong enough that it shattered the floor completely to a five meter radius of a hole. She looked around and found that several clones earlier were now surrounding her from all sides. It was then that a gentle blue glow escapes behind her.

Yugito looks back and sees Naruto diving right towads her with a blue orb spinning rapidly in his right hand with the blonde about to slam her with it.

Another set of explosions occur.

The chaos of the whole fortress had placed Dotou's men in disarray as they scattered about looking at different areas where they think they would be needed. Without someone to bark orders at them, they were frantic and disorderly that Sasuke, Sakura and Koyuki had an easier time sneaking in.

As they got nearer and nearer to the royal court, they were suddenly stopped when three set of shuriken had landed just before Koyuki, Sakura was quick to react and with her own set of shuriken, let loose on the general area where they were thrown.

Sasuke steps back and Sakura were now surrounding Koyuki with their swords drawn.

"Kagemusha and Tekken? We didn't think you were bold enough to take on the entire fortress on your own. I have to admit, that's pretty hot for you two. Total respect for having a giant set of balls with you."

Sasuke then reacts on reflex as he parries a sword strike from above with his katana and a man flips in midair and lands back to Sasuke's front while another appears from the side.

"Your sword skills are no slouch either, that's hot too."

Sasuke remains silent as he holds the katana with two hands and goes into a stance. Sakura yanks Koyuki and says, "Go and hide. We'll deal with these two."

Sakura then brandishes her swords and and walks beside Sasuke.

"Oh another Kenjutsu practitioner. You Konoha Shinobi are just burning hot!" The man with the sword exclaimed getting excited to face the two shinobi.

"I'm Atsui, by the way, Tekken, Kagemusha. If we weren't opponents, we'd have been friends or I would have asked for Tekken for a date, because she's hot."

Sakura laughs a little nervously as she replied, "Thanks but I'm not interested."

"Wow, not even a minute and she just goes out and dumps you, Atsui. That's got to be a record." His partner replies and Atsui points at him angrily.

"You shut that damn pie hole of yours, Shi! You ain't hot shit! So what if I got dumped two hundred out of two hundred times!? I'll finally get my girl, you'll see! The two hundredth and one time is going to be different!"

"If you two are done talking..." Sasuke interrupts and the two of them looked back at the Uchiha with Atsui turning his anger at the boy.

"I wasn't done yet, mask boy! I got problems with this pretty boy! You want a fight, we settle this after I have words with Mr. Popular over here!"

"Wow, I didn't expect we'd be dealing with a Naruto in this mission. And from Kumo too." Sakura was reminded of her teammate as she saw Atsui arguing with admittedly a good looking blonde man a little bit older than them. She looks over at Sasuke and she couldn't tell just what his expression was beneath the mask.

"This is pointless. Let's just go." Sasuke remarks and turns around but paused when Atsui started yelling.

"And where do you think you're going!? I hate being ignored! That ain't hot, bro!"

Sasuke was grinding his teeth in annoyance. But the others couldn't tell, not with the mask on his face.

"And here you were trying to bite my head off earlier. I guess I'm just going to have to help out."

Sakura's amusement turned to something serious when the man named Shi clasped his hands together. Sasuke immediately turns around and sensed killing intent from the two Shinobi as Atsui went low and dashed directly at them. Sasuke swung his sword from above his head but suddenly light flashed between him and his opponent.

"Raigen Raikochu! (Lightning Illusion Lightning Flash Pillar)!"

In quick succession, Sasuke's illusion shatters just as fast as it came. Not when Sakura had intervened just as quickly at her opponent and him clashing blades with Atsui.

The effect was immediate, Sasuke was able to stop Atsui's advance by pounding his blade down and parrying it to the ground and letting Atsui get past him. The swordsman from Kumo looked in surprise as he went past Sasuke as he noticed that the pink haired shinobi was gone from his side and was on his teammate who had no time to place the second stage of his jutsu. Atsui rolled on the ground and regained his balance as he got up to face Sasuke who went back to his stance.

Atsui looks at his hands for a second. He felt the weight of that strike. It was heavy and precise. As if the masked shinobi before him had carried so much weight in that strike.

He looks back at Sasuke, astonishment turning to seriousness.

"That blow was just a parry, but I felt the weight of your sword to mine. I'm very surprised with how much weight you had placed with just that blow. You, you've been through hell, huh?"

Sasuke merely replies, "Still living through it."

Atsui's surprise changed to seriousness as he leans down and held his blade sideways behind him with his free hand on the ground.

"I thought your spirit was hot, Kagemusha. But I was wrong. It's a raging inferno. I can't afford to take you lightly. Your sword is heavy with those blows."

Sasuke slowly went for a thrusting stance and replied, "Then come."

Atsui then kneads his chakra to his sword and fire began sprouting from the tsuba to the tip. Sasuke had then noticed, that Atsui had been holding a katana the same size as his. From his understanding of usage of these swords, they came with another sword, a shorter one meant for closer spaces.

His mother once told him that these swords usually came in pairs and that she had lost hers during the previous war. Sasuke knew he had to be careful. Because anytime, Atsui may pull another sword out of nowhere.

Sasuke was then surprised that Atsui sprouted fire around him and his sword ignited in flames.

"I'll show you how we Kumo nin fight!"

Sasuke activated his sharingan and quickly dashed at Atsui and his sword ignited in flames as well as both of them charged at each other. The high-pitched sound of metal echoed throughout the halls as blade met against blade, dispersing the flames around them and reigniting again. As soon as both of them disengaged, more clashes of steel can be heard as well as the sound of metal cutting through the air with both Sasuke and Atsui missing each other with every strike this time.

Sasuke's sharingan remained focused on Atsui as the kumo nin leaned down and went for a horizontal slash. Seeing through it, Sasuke timed his jump perfectly as the blade narrowly misses his feet. Sasuke went over Atsui and time seemed to slow down between them as Sasuke was now upside down in midair with his blade about to be swung at Atsui upwards.

Atsui turned to look back at the masked boy as he was about to rip his back off.

Then, Atsui grinned and soon, Sasuke's vision was suddenly surrounded in fire.

"Kumo ryu: Kaenmaru (Cloud style: Fire Circle)"

Sasuke's Sharingan saw it coming, but could not stop it all completely when Atsui used the momentum of his slash to perform a single and fluid motion to spin. Sasuke, instead of slashing his opponent, readjusted the course of his blade at the last second and blocked the completion of the technique, flipping him in mid air as part of his clothing was singed by the flames and sending him careening upwards into a wall.

Sasuke readjusted his bearings as he was sent flying and landed on the wall with his feet. His quick reflexes, honed by his training in ANBU had come in to help him as he stuck to the wall with his chakra.

Sasuke studied his opponent for a few seconds and saw the flames raging around the man in a circle, forming a defensive wall arouns him. Atsui grinned when Sasuke, instead of trying something different, resorted to his sword once more.

Sasuke's body then began emitting small arcs of lightning around him and soon, Sasuke quietly vanishes from Atsui's vision. Then, from two sides of Atsui, he sees his opponent drawing their blades at him. Atsui wasn't worried there, his defensive fire wall will prevent Sasuke from entering his field.

But soon, they were able to penetrate the wall unscathed, blowing the flames away. on both their sides, but not before Atsui decides to narrowly dodge the blades coming at him. The images of Sasuke vanishes for less than a second and he could suddenly hear the sound of a thousand birds chirping.

Eyes gowing wide, Atsui turns to the source of the voice and sees Sasuke in mid air, hand crackling in lighting and a long blade of lightning chakra racing towards him.

"Chidori Eisou (Chirping of a Thousand Birds True Spear)"

Atsui ignites the flames on his sword and kicks the floor beneath his feet.

"Shukuchi! (Reduced Earth)"

Sasuke could hear the sound of the kumo nin stomping on the floor and sees it shatter upon impact and Atsui suddenly disappearing from view.

Then, the sound of thunder escapes, multiple times in succession as the floor then could be seen progressivley having more dents and then the wall had large foot sized holes in them.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM

Atsui then blurs into view at mid air with a blade of flames igniting wildly behind him as he spins and slashes Sasuke with it.

"Homura dama (Burning Soul)!"

Sasuke had no options to dodge his opponent seeing as he was in midair. Sasuke was sure that his maneuver would have been certain to hit. But seeing as Atsui had revealed that not only was he a master of the sword, he was also quite fast as well.

Sasuke had no time to lose as the attack was getting closer and closer to him. Sasuke had to take a page from Naruto's book and performed a middle index cross seal.

A clone pops up behind Sasuke, and pulls him away. The clone then rolls and tosses Sasuke as far away as possible before it was slashed and flames consumed the clone by quickly.

Sasuke suddenly felt winded. He gasped and felt his chakra being halved instantly after performing that jutsu. He had never thought just that much strain could affect his coils so suddenly. But the information that he saw about how Atsui used the technique that he was attacked with suddenly proved useful.

Unlike the Higasa no Mai, this technique had two purposes.

The first was the blade, hidden within the flames. That was the true strike.

The second was the flame itself. It was used to obscure the view of the blade, but if it was dodged, the target would have to be burned by the large range it was able to cover.

Sasuke clicked his tongue, this guy was as much as Naruto as well.

He couldn't underestimate this fool.

The Shinkiro Raikou was a jutsu used to move at visually confusing high speeds. The model of this jutsu, Shisui's very own unique shunshin ability, had been used as an inspiration for Sasuke's technique, it had required to expend chakra. He was surprised then, that his opponent could use high speed movement in the same vein as Shunshin with just leg strength alone. He only knew two people who could do that, but those two were in Konoha and this one was rather different.

Near instantaneous high-speed movement and fluid swordsmanship. It was as if he was fighting a samurai who turned ninja.

This guy would have fit with the seven swordsmen well.

Atsui landed on the ground obviously in a frown as he had missed that opportunity to take his opponent down.

Sasuke then assumes a new stance, this time he holds his sword in a reverse grip.

It was time to use the Shinkiro Raikou to full bear.

Sensing Sasuke's intentions, Atsui grabs the saya of his blade from his back and inserts it to the belt of on his waist, hand hovering by the hilt of the sword as he leaned down.

Sasuke recognized a battojutsu stance. It really was like fighting a Samurai.

Sasuke vanished once again, and this time, his after images began to multiply around Atsui, who decided to meet Sasuke head on with his Shukuchi.


With Sakura:

As soon as Sakura recognized a genjutsu, her mind was quickly on running a dispelling technique. Shi was quick to draw his jutsu first before all of them but he was less likely to react when Sakura was already on his face with a fist drawn back and a one handed seal at her chest. His whole jutsu collapsed when he stopped midway for the jutsu as he jumped back and Sakura slams her hand on to a wall forcing it to shatter and collapse into rubble.

Realizing the danger he was in, Shi opted to keep away as Sakura went after him. Shi then performs another set of handseals as he then points his palm at Sakura.

"Raiton: Kussetsu Raikou Ha! (Lightning Release: Bending Lightning Wave)"

Sakura jumps in the air and avoids the jutsu in time and lands on a pillar, she then bounded on that pillar and headed straight to a wall and landed there as she continued her approach. Sakura then applied chakra to her swords just as Shi was about to unleash another wave of assault at her. She then landed on the floor just as another wave went past her but this time, the lightwave bended and went back to her as it arched in the air. Sakura then plants one of the blades on the floor and ran just as the jutsu was about to hit her. The lightning wave never went to her as it suddenly turned and went on to hit the blade and transmitted the lightning below them.

Shi was surprised at this. His jutsu should have hit the girl! How did it change direction from the target? It should have been impossible!

Then he remembers that he saw Sakura applying chakra to her blade long enough to leave enough chakra any lingering application of it must have been enough to attract his jutsu!

She made a makeshift lightning rod.

Sakura then pursued her target, with a single blade drawn. Her sword style may have included two swords, but it certainly didn't exclude using one sword!

Sakura held the sword in right hand dashed at Shi who drew a kunai from his pouch and clashed with Sakura. Shi flinched when he felt that withstanding was taking all of his strength.

Sparks flew from their blades clashing as Sakura was the first to parry Shi's kunai away from his hands and with her free arm, grabbed Shi by the wrist and pulled. A knee then drove on to Shi's back and he was suddenly prone on the ground with a sword being held close to his neck.

"Stop before I do something regretful."

Shi could only grin, "I'm not much of a fighter, but you should know by now that these kinds of things are never enough."

An angry hiss enters Sakura's ears and immediately lets go of Shi as he turned into a log with three exploding tags taped on it.

Sakura jumped in time just enough that she could escape the blast radius, but not enough with the impact.

She grimaced as she hits a wall and a new indentation was made there. Sakura flinched and checked her right arm, the cloak couldn't protect her from the splinters as the wooden shrapnels pierced through it and through her arm. Sakura flinched once more now that she saw her arm bleeding through the cloak.

kneading her chakra to her left hand, she used her chakra to precisely extract the shrapnel from her wounded arm amd subtly began healing it after pulling all of the shrapnel out.

She then looked around and saw her opponent nowhere in sight. She was getting sick of this cat and mouse game.

Sakura then raised her right foot above her head, chakra concentrated from it as she slammed it on the floor below her.

BOOM!

The floor around her, as well as some of the collumns were destroyed and crumbled at the point of impact from her heel. They were now several floors below the original one they were in. She then sees her opponent, now having no place to hide from her as she gave a vicious grin.

"No more hiding from me."

Shi had to waive his white flag. He would not survive if he was forced to fight this person.


With Naruto

Naruto's ears were ringing. He got up and held his head, his body was aching from what happened. Looking around, he was in a sea of rubble. Something had gone off. He then notices something peculiar, a shroud of blue chakra surrounding Yugito, and two swishing tails of blue flame from behind.

He remembered that he was about to strike Yugito with a Rasengan but something had sent Naruto away with a shockwave. The explosion from earlier was mere chakra alone. Raw, unchanged and densely pure chakra.

If that wasn't a true definition of power in every sense of the word, then nothing is for Naruto.

'A vessel for Matatabi.' Asura quipped as Naruto asked, 'Is she like Kurama?' Asura nods at this and replies, 'Yes, Matatabi is the Nibi no Nekomata. She has power presiding over flames. And those blue flames are hotter than what normal shinobi could emit.'

'To have control at this level of Matarabi's power... This human is dangerous.'Asura nodded to Kurama's assessment.

'Partial transformations are a sign of good to expert control of humans harboring tailed beasts. You best be careful, Naruto, you are still not equipped in handling a person of this calibre.' A bead of sweat escapes from Naruto's brow as he wiped the dirt and grime from all over hia body. Yugito was growling.

With a deep breath, Naruto inhaled and exhaled before he checked for his equipment. His paintbrush and ink were still intact.

Good. He still has a chance without resorting to Minamoto no Banbutsu. He still has a good card in fighting off Yugito.

"I know you were only hired by Dotou. I want to make this impersonal as I possibly can. But stand aside, we don't want to end this to something both our countries will fight over. I didn't come here to start a war with you."

Yugito scoffed at this as she growled, "Yet your presence has caused enough havoc that a war has happened already. You only paved the way for more bloodshed."

Lucidity under the influence of Matatabi's chakra, that was not a good sign for him.

"Yeah, that happened. But who can honestly blame the people under Dotou's heel? They are suffering from his actions."

Yugito seemed to agree internally but she refuted, "One man's tyrant is another man's savior. What you are doing is leaving a power vacuum or worse, you are essentially invading a foreign land. Konoha is no different from the rest of the villages concerning your actions, it seems."

Naruto didn't seem to get what Yugito was implying at first, but he finally understood once he began to digest his fellow jinchuuriki's words.

"No, stop that. We didn't come here to make this all about absorbing this country or what have you. But we have the heir apparent, the rightful daimyo for this land. And behind her are the previously torn vassals of the former Daimyo. There is no power vacuum going to happen now with her as the Daimyo."

This surprised Yugito, the rebel factions actually have the real Daimyo's daughter? Then this marks Dotou as illigitimate to rule. With Dotou's army collapsing by the second, Yugito remained firm.

"I don't believe you. Kazahana Koyuki has been declared as good as dead for many years now! She was just a child when she went missing!"

Naruto had somewhat expected this.

"Believe what you want, but this fight didn't need to happen. Yet here you are taking his requests just like a good shinobi. You never stopped to see how Dotou's a piece of shit?"

Yugito grinned, "Oh I definitely see how Dotou ignores his subjects but that is an impersonal stance on it. We are not to meddle in the political affairs of an isolationist country or any country for that matter."

Yugito then continued as she saw Naruto looked somewhat unwilling to believe that someone would perpetuate this kind of suffering. Then again, maybe Yugito's words were mere lip service. He seemed to have recalled that Kumo caused the tragedy of the Hyuuga a decade before.

"That being the case, if it were another matter, I would have done the deed myself. Dotou may be an isolationist but a power hungry fool would be dangerous if left to his own devices. The Raikage merely wants to place the man under close supervision."

"Then we need to stop! There's no sense in continuing this fight! You don't have much of a stake here as the people of this country!"

Yugito scoffed at that, "You're still a naive fool if you think that. All villages have a reputation to uphold, and that reputation is what attracts clients to do our missions. Without our missions, Kumo would be left peniless. A huge sum of money is needed to run a village, to give as wages for its shinobi, to maintain its infrastructures, and to sustain the prestige the village holds. To back down from this is to fail my village. You will have to defeat me before we can come to terms. And I doubt you will be able to."

Of course, Yugito had other reasons on why she was fighting Konoha shinobi, but she was not going to say that out loud.

Naruto gritted his teeth and performed the shadow clone technique. Yugito, gaining a speed boost from Matatabi's chakra, closed the gap between them so quick that the blonde had to back off just as soon as five of his clones had appeared. The clones, knowing how corrosive a bijuu's chakra was, did not engage Yugito and instead spreaded outwards just as Naruto had backed off.

Yugito seemed impressed at that. The blonde had reflexes that could react to an empowered Jinchuuriki. The only account that she could recall within Kumo's stories about such a person was...

Yugito squinted at the features of the boy.

Spiky blonde hair, deep blue eyes, impressive reaction and speed.

No, there was just no possible way!

She had to take drastic measures.

'Nibi! Take over! We cannot let this battle drag on!'

But Matatabi was having second thoughts. The Nibi no Nekomata had been quiet ever since the whole fight. And throughout their encounter, something about the boy's chakra kept bothering it. As if it was familiar with a hint of potency that it had felt a long time ago.

It unnerved the bijuu as the battle went on.

And when the bijuu had been asked by Yugito to lend her chakra, the Nibi no Nekomata had some form of grasp of what she had felt earlier, that sense of familiarity was one she had not felt for hundreds of years.

It was Kurama.

Matatabi changes her attention back to Yugito as her vessel essentially told her to cut loose.

It was here that Matatabi became reluctant. She had hardly faced her siblings im a fight and she didn't to be part of a human's quarell to fight off their enemies.

But if it means that this fight that she could at least set one of her siblings free, then she will do it.

Blue fire erupted around Yugito as the vessel of the Nibi was engulfed in dark blue flames. Naruto watched carefully as the two tailed cat roared into life and gave such a primal roar that the earth itself shook from just her roar alone.

The two tailed cat then leapt at Naruto, fiery claws drawn intent on shredding him to pieces.

Naruto, seeing the bijuu about to go on a rampage. Decided to keep away by unsealing his board and flew through the air, smashing against one of the windows above as Matatabi crushes the wall behind him. The two-tailed bijuu roared again as the winter winds howled that night before unleashing a ball of blue flames at the blonde who immediately performed evasive maneuvers in mid-air. Naruto kept track of his opponent despite the dizzying rolls, dives and ascents he did. The blue flames from Matatabi's jutsu then explode just behind him, sending forth a powerful shockwave all around, causing Naruto to be forcefully destabilizes in midair, rolling and falling to the ground, until Naruto regained control and began his climb again.

He watched as his clones began to secretly do their work.

Killing Yugito was out of the question. She was an important military asset for Kumo. If she dies, the Raikage WILL know. And that could lead to more problems than Konoha was willing to face now.

With that in mind, Naruto thought up of a seal that would help him. And true enough, there was one such seal. However, in order to do that seal, Naruto had to put it up to scale, he had to make the seal as large as possible and he needed the space to do it.

And true enough, when Matatabi leapt out of the castle and into the courtyard of the keep outside, Naruto saw his clones began writing the ink just one hundred meters from Matatabi, silently surrounding the bijuu. In hiding places as they began writing their works on the floor with ink and brush in their hands.

The two tailed cat then gathers more blue flames to its mouth and fires them at Naruto.

Naruto swerved around in mid air confident that he couold dodge Yugito's attack, until the fireball scatters in mid air and from it, tongues of blue flame scattered every which way before bending and turning to Naruto who by now picked up speed as he dodged, turned and spun the chase of these blue flames were so relentless that Naruto was starting to lose track of his position in mid-air. Naruto gritted his teeth as his he impatiently waited for his clones to do their job.

Eventually, amidst the relentless blast that Matatabi was using on him, he had made a mistake in dodging. One managed to land on his left shoulder and bursts into a fiery explosion.

Soon, all of Matatabi's homing flame projectiles suddenly found their way to the blonde. A cascading set of explosions happens in the skies of Yuki no Kuni and Dotou laughs maniacally from his seat as he watches one of his nuisances burned and ripped to shreds by the awesome might of a bijuu.

Dotou was about to cheer for it when a blade erupts from his stomach.

"Arrrgh! What...?"

"It has been a long time, uncle." A familiar face appears behind Dotou, the man could figure out that this was his long estranged niece.

Though in pain, Dotou had a smirk escaping his face.

"Koyuki... So you have come to exact revenge on me for your father?"

Koyuki scowled and twists the sword to make Dotou suffer further.

"I didn't come here for petty revenge. I'm only doing what's needed to be done."

Dotou, though in pain and wincing as Koyuki twists the sword further, gave an amusing laugh.

"You think with my death, you would be free from all of THIS!?"

Dotou, through sheer force of will, grabs the blade protruding from his stomach and shatters the blade with his gauntlets. The man pulled himself from his seat, blood gushing out from his wounds as the man staggered up front and screamed to the heavens.

"Naive of you, my niece. To think that you would kill me with that pathetic knife of yours."

Dotou gave a disturbing grin as he grabbed a small vial from his pockets and shattered the tip with a flick of his thumb. The man downed the contents of the vial and steam rose up from his gaping wounds, slowly closing as the blood loss became minimized.

"I knew that one day, one day, you will be coming back here. You were a loose end that needed fixing. An unfortunate circumstance when I murdered your father. I didn't think that a single, meddling ninja from Konoha would have particularly been a problem. But you established quite an amount of power within Hi no Kuni. I have to say, I'm impressed. To start at nothing then to have your own little kingdom and capturing the hearts and minds of people that don't even know you."

Dotou then rips his attire, only to find an ornate piece of chakra absorbing armor hidden beneath his robes.

"Quite a name you've made for yourself, Koyuki, no, Fijukaze Yukie!"

The raging snowstorm outside howled with the cold frigid winds. Yukie stood shocked as Dotou approached her, still grinning from ear to ear, "You've saved me quite the trouble. You know what you should have done?"

Dotou pointed a finger at his forehead.

"You should have gone for the head."

Then, suddenly, a bestial roar escapes from the outside.

Dotou turned around and he could see from his window the Nibi had chains holding down on its neck and limbs and the source of them, had been the seals implanted on the ground as five clones of the blonde shinobi from below began performing hand signs one after another.

A little earlier,

Just as Naruto was hit from all sides from Matatabi, the bijuu growled lowly, obviously still not convinced until it saw a body.

It then sees the blonde Konoha shinobi in midair from the smoke, clothes tattered beyond belief with only his black pants remaining and descending from the air straight down.

It was about to strike when the bijuu heard one popping sound that seemed to have jostled Naruto awake.

Information entering his mind, Naruto was immediately awoken from his temporary unconsciousness and saw immediately clasped his hands together to form the hitsuji seal.

"Fuinjutsu: Kongo Fusa Mane no Jutsu! (Sealing Arts: Adamantine Sealing Chains Mimicry Technique)"

Two pairs of chains suddenly erupted from ground on one side of the seal that Naruto was doing as another pair erupted from one more side and another, until five points surrounding Matatabi had glowed and ten total sealing chains had erupted from the ground. Two chains went for the neck, binding the bijuu down as the chains pulled it down to the ground and eight more chains made its way to Matatabi's four legs.

Naruto landed on the ground safely, his board intact but his clothes weren't. He was basically shirtless, his upper body exposed to the elements.

It was then that his clones began performing the next set of hand seals and multiple sealing lines began surging on the ground as Naruto's clones continued with their sealing jutsu.

"Rin, pyo, to, sha, kai, jin, retsu, zai, zen!"

All of the clones repeated their chants as they continued to running their hands through numerous seal sequences. The ground began to glow brighter and brighter as Matatabi gave another ferocious howl and the real blonde shinobi then stepped towards the middle, his fingers were glowing in an ethereal blue as it approached Matatabi.

Asura was quick to responds inside the blonde as his chakra flooded Naruto's system now face to face with Matatabi.

"Simmer down, Matatabi!" Naruto shouted as he planted his glowing fingers on Matatabi's face.

"Fuinjutsu: Fuka Hoin (Sealing Arts: Fire Suppression Seal)!"

The symbol of fire then appears on the middle of the sealing field, Matatabi's powers suddenly were suppressed as its flames were absorbed into the seal.

Asura, at the moment of Naruto's connection to the bijuu, immediately leapt into the mindscape of the tailed beast and jailor.

Naruto suddenly found himself into the hall of the bijuu once more. Behind him was Kurama. To his front was Matatabi, on top of the two tailed cat was Yugito, a look of confusion showing on her face.

"What in the world?"

Beside Naruto, now appearing towards Yugito, stood Otsutsuki Asura.

"It has been a while, hasn't it Matatabi?"

"Asura..."

"Who?" Yugito asked, Matatabi answered.

"I cannot answer for you, Yugito. But this person is someone who was a very important in the past."

"So why is he here?"

Asura then answered, "I do not know, nor do I care of the circumstances that brought me here, I am just here to stop you from rampaging again."

"Asura, it is not wise to show yourself to Matatabi, especially when she still has her unsuspecting host."

"I don't understand any of this, why am I here?" Yugito asked now looking down on the person beside her opponent while she was growing increasingly confused by the minute.

Asura answered for her.

"You need not concern yourself with me, but you are standing on holy ground to which the bijuu can gather and speak to themselves freely. Due to the link of their tailed beast and their chakra, the jailors of Matatabi and the rest can come to this sacred place if their bijuu let's them. It seems Matatabi trusts you enough that you can enter here."

Yugito then turned to Naruto and looked behind the blonde and saw the nine-tailed fox going forward and now directly behind the blonde.

"So you must be the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi as well."

Naruto stared up at his fellow blonde but didn't answer for a bit.

"No matter how I think about this, you are someone we cannot hope to see flourish, you are a threat to Kumo, another Yondaime Hokage in the making. Someone like you is too dangerous to ignore."

Naruto growled at that and answered, "I didn't come here just to be told to die! I came here to save this country from Dotou's grasp. I only wanted to tell you that this needs to stop. We shouldn't be fighting like this."

"And I told you that this is not cut and dry as you make it seem." Yugito refuted.

"Then let's make it cut and dry! We have the rightful heir! Recognize her, and I'm sure you can gain favor from this country as much as we are going to! We don't need to continue this out of duty!"

Yugito was surprised at this, "You would give a rival village an advantage when you can monopolize your trade with your country alone? Are you stupid?"

Naruto sighed, "Not as stupid as you, apparently."

Now it was Yugito's turn to feel insulted, "Our villages compete for resources, for revenue! You cannot expect me to believe that your proposition would ultimately end in such amicable terms!"

"Look past your own insights for once and listen to me, lady! I'm not here to conquer, I'm here to create a peaceful solution and right now, your neutrality shtick is getting us in conflict when we should be letting the legitimate heir of this country be the one to lead it! Ever thought about looking for what's best in all parties? Don't just think about your stinking village!"

"MY VILLAGE IS STAKING ITS REPUTATION AND I WILL NOT HAVE IT HARMED IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM, MILITARILY OR ECONOMICALLY!"

A pregnant pause escaped between the two jailors. It seemed they are at an impasse, that is, until Naruto had one crazy plan that just seemed to pop out of nowhere.

"Reputation, huh?"

Yugito looked at the boy, she could tell that the jailor of the Kyuubi was a wily and mischievious troublemaker. The boy's posture, his grin, his speech, and the way he seems to find simple solutions to complicated problems.

"Alright, seems you don't want Kumo to have a black eye, I'm willing to compromise. It doesn't have to be known to the outside world, it could just be between you and me, between two jinchuuriki."

Yugito's eyes narrowed at the blonde and raised an eyebrow.

Compromise?

Would she be willing to listen the boy's schemes? Unlikely, but this was the boy's last shot at letting her hear him out.

"I have a solution."

In the outside world, everyone who saw the bijuu unleashed suddenly began to move again, this time, struggling to set itself free once more from the sealing chains that bind it.

The beast stirred and raged before it broke through the chains from Naruto's sealing jutsu. Naruto was suddenly forced back when the two-tailed cat demon slammed its gigantic paws on the blonde as Naruto was sent flying away from it.

Dotou couldn't help but laugh.

"All that flair and talent and Kazama was no match for a monstrous beast!" He taunted Koyuki, now staring at his niece who looked on in despair as her champion was brought on his knees, probably maimed and killed by that monster.

She shivered and then, she broke.

All of that bravado, all of that sureity, all of it dissolved in one second. She was going to die. Her knees gave in as she stumbled on the floor of her father's castle, defeated and hopeless.

"Now, all that's left is that crystal of yours and with it, Yuki no Kuni's secret weapon."

"Secret weapon?" Koyuki looked at Dotou who was merely sneering at her at this point.

"Surely, you'd know about it. My brother made a weapon as a way to stand up to the five great villages. I've noticed it since he started allocating so much money into a project of his. Surely you understand that such a weapon can bring the five great villages to its knees."

Koyuki shook her head, no, it was impossible. His father was never am ambitious man. His father was a total pacifist, who thought nothing more than the well-being of his people.

"My father would never do such a thing!"

Dotou smirked, "You'd think that, wouldn't you, my niece? The loving memory of your father who you only saw as a kind and gentle man. He was no saint."

Dotou approached his niece and his smug grew larger as he gripped Koyuki by the neck of her clothes and grabbed the crystal she had always worn throughout her life.

Dotou looked at it, it was a key disguised as an accessory. Only those who had read his brother's journals knew of what it truly was.

Dotou smirked at this and then looked down pitifully at Koyuki before tossing her away.

"Pathetic."

Koyuki did not even put up a resistance against him.

"Once a coward, always a coward."

Dregs like his niece deserve nothing but misery. She had no strength of her own, thus, she does not have the power to sieze what she wanted. Even death was too good for a miserable person like her.

That was what Dotou thought anyway.

He was about to turn away when he heard a voice loud and clear from behind him.

"With this, it was then deemed prudent that the shinobi of Konoha would eliminate the a dangerous man like Kazehana Dotou."

It was male and Dotou's eyes widened as he turned around to see the source, it was that blonde demon that Yugito had stomped earlier. Why was he there!? Alive!?

A smug look appears on the blonde shinobi's features, he was messed up pretty badly, now only wearing a pair of black pants and a tattered shirt that only covered half of his torso. But the blonde was grinning ear to ear with that cocky smirk of his.

"His intentions made clear, Kazehana Dotou wishes to increase his sphere of influence through force on the mainland starting with those nearest to its borders. Aside from this, we have been made aware of Konoha's shinobi that they have the legitimate heir in their protection. If we wish to see an emerging rich and powerful country to be allies, we have determined that we will ally with Konoha's forces and act as liaison for Kumo to Kazehana Koyuki and recognize her as the defacto leader of Yuki no Kuni. Assassination of Kazehana Dotou is now our top priority." Another person walks in at the court, just behind the Konoha shinobi, and it was Nii Yugito, a scowl was escaping her face.

"You planned on double-crossing Kumo with your intentions, Dotou. A man like you deserves to be put to the sword."

Naruto's smirk further continued, "If that doesn't give you the perfect excuse for your Raikage, I don't know what would."

"The only question now is..." Yugito trailed off, her fingernails elongating sharply and a wisp of flame escaped behind her.

Both jinchuuriki looked at each other and they both smiled deviously before turning to Dotou.

"Who gets to kill him first?"

Naruto followed suit and the winds began dancing around his feet and picked up as it danced around him, he had activated Ura Tenrin Kazahana earlier and he felt right in just about unleashing it to the man that had brought them so much trouble.

"After that last fight, man does it feel good to punch something that actually deserves getting his shit wrecked. It's almost therapeutic, in a sense!" Naruto replied, feeling too good about punching something he liked for once.

Yugito couldn't help but agree. She had spent days trying to restrain herself for the benefit of her village, in truth, she found herself more agreeable with the rebellion than she did with Dotou's army. But now circumstances changed, she can now freely move against this tyrannical maniac and give him a piece of her mind.

Without warning, the two jinchuriki leapt into action Yugito was the first to reach Dotou, being empowered with Bijuu chakra, she went ahead and slashed her opponent by the face. Though Dotou managed to evade by the skin of his teeth, scratch marks appeared on his face from his left temple down to his right bottom lip. The strange elixir he had taken had managed to do its work as it protected him from further damage.

Naruto had appeared just to where Dotou had stepped out off and then proceeded to deliver a vicious haymaker to his face that sent Dotou flying back towards the court walls embedding himself there.

"That's funny, that should have broken his skull."

"I could have sliced his head clean off first." Yugito replied, Naruto eyed his fellow container for a second and replied.

"Keep talking. You just have Matatabi's enhancements with you compared to mine. If you were at base form, I'd be faster."

"Keep telling yourself that, kid. I know a sore loser when I see one."

Naruto had to keep his temper from flaring at that one. Yugito sure knew how to talk trash despite being rational and observant.

Koyuki was broken out of her stupor finally when she noticed Naruto punching her uncle clear in the face.

She had seen clearly that time and time again, he was always there to uplift her spirits. Though he never said a word to her now, she could clearly see that Naruto was keeping his promise to her. To see a miracle take place.

Right now, she was seeing one more miracle from him.

He was her miracle.

"Dotou took something before this. I could have killed him, but he took some weird vial and from there, he managed to heal the damage that he took from me."

Dotou managed to come out of the rubble, the wounds that he got from Yugito were already healing, the blood was drying up and all that was left was a scar on his face.

Naruto then finally noticed it. Somehow, Dotou was absorbing Natural Energy and it made him almost impenetrable with anything conventional that they had now.

"You two will pay for that." Dotou threatened and ran towards the two shinobi.

It might as well have been called a walk for Yugito and Naruto as they saw Dotou coming a mile away.

Yugito had managed to jump away easily but Naruto had evaded for the last second, thinking he needed to find out more of how Dotou was absorbing nature energy in small amounts.

By the corner of his eye, Naruto watched Dotou make his way past Naruto and noticed black markings spreading through the whites of his opponents eyes it was almost as if it was...

"The cursed seal?" Naruto thought, a potentially worrying problem. So many questions entered his mind as he stepped back and his expression turned into a scowl.

Miniscule amounts of natural energy was being absorbed by Dotou, it was all too familiar for him.

Did this man have any contact with Orochimaru and the like?

How did he get his hands on something like the cursed seal?

Since when?

"Yugito. We have to step up our game. This guy probably absorbed the Tenbin Clan's cells. He's basically an incomplete sage at this point. If we have to put a stop to him, then we don't need to hold back. At all."

Yugito looked at the blonde with surprise and then back at their opponent.

How did the boy come across this information?

"It's a long story. But suffice to say that he has probably made contact with one of our most dangerous enemies. Either we kill him, or cut him off from his power source. And with the heir apparent this close to us, we can't take that chance."

Naruto then notices the black marks on the man's sclerae crawl faster and faster to the middle with Dotou chuckling, his mind was slowly being consumed by the cursed seal formula.

Yugito would be asking more later, right now, she complied and drew more power from Matatabi, a red chakra cloak surrounds her, springing up two tails worth of power and cat like ears coalesced on the shroud by the side of her head.

Claws and fangs sharpened, Yugito's eyes shifted to red and her pupils reshaped into slits.

Yugito gave a fearsome roar as she went on all fours and then leapt at Dotou. Naruto, for his part saw his opportunity and grabbed the hilt of Minamoto no Banbutsu.

With Yugito in her berserker state, she would care not much about the tiniest of details, this included the sword in his possession.

He had lied.

Naruto knew for a fact that he could cut off Dotou from his power source if he tried. The Fujahoin was a sealing method he knew at the back of his mind now. Minamoto no Banbutsu not only gave him a record on how to do the seal, it also implanted that knowledge in his mind.

What Naruto was aiming for was to suppress the idea that someone made a deal with Orochimaru to get a hold of this dangerous elixir that would drive any man insane.

Somehow, Orochimaru and Kabuto found a way to mass produce this drug and are using it on anyone who would dare try it.

That was something that Naruto couldn't allow.

Especially now, when the world was at its most dangerous point in time past three world wars.

'A seal to bypass his armor as well as bind him and his energy in one place.'

The wakizashi in his hand responded to Naruto's thoughts, the information within the sword flowed and transferred straight to Naruto's mind. It was like finding the perfect tool that he never knew of and Naruto started performing the required sealing ritual.

Naruto then made a small cut in his hands and started to use them as ink on the ground. He began writing inscriptions and symbols as fast as he could. The matrix for the seal made, Naruto then began adding more inscriptions on the floor. Koyuki watched as Naruto finished the first step of the ritual and the Konoha Shinobi began performing a set of hand seals.

Once he was finished, Naruto slammed his hand on the floor hard.

"Fuinjutsu: Tensa Shibari no Jutsu (Sealing arts: Heavenly Chains Binding)!"

Four golden chains with spear heads then appear beneath Dotou, each of these chains pierce his limbs one by one, Dotou yelled in agony as these chains had managed to pierce his armor and his enhanced body. He found out soon that these chains not only bound him in one place but also paralyzed him to a point that any movement he tried would only hurt him more.

It was then that Yugito pounced.

Dotou turned around in fear, he could see the monstrous two tailed jinchuuriki bearing down on him and was powerless to stop him. The black markings in his eyes receded before he could fully transform and a tingling sensation on his neck was felt.

'Strange...' Dotou wondered.

He could see where his body should be. He could see Yugito pierce his chest with her claws and her hands brutally exiting out to his back crushing his heart in the process. He could see the Konoha shinobi just above the kumo shinobi with his right hand outstretched in a chopping stance and was looking at him coldly.

He could see blood, everywhere.

It was all red.

The floor, the walls, the ceiling. Yet, strangely, his view of the the ninja changed, they were grayer, at least that was compared to the red blood on the floor.

Dotou's vision soon faded to black.


Three days later:

Yuki no Kuni was free.

The three Konoha Shinobi and the Three Kumo Shinobi were fast recovering from their injuries self-inflicted or otherwise. During this time, an agreement was made.

Trade would officially begin within the three nations. With Koyuki having complete control on what goes in and out of the country. Her attendants, her father's surviving loyal retainers have had the chance to iron out the deals in between the two nations and Kumo has sworn to give some compensation in return to the damages dealt on much of structures that were left behind in the battle with Konoha giving aid as well.

Naruto, who had been recovering from both chakra exhaustion and injuries with fighting against a bijuu, wasn't present much for the meetings that came with them. Sakura and Sasuke had to brainstorm their way through the talks without his help much but they managed to pull through. Sakura just didn't like the fact that they were using Koyuki's affection towards her teammate but Sasuke had no choice in the matter. Seeing as it was the only two leverage that they had and the first being the fact that they were supporting Koyuki in the first place.

Sandayuu seemed perfectly satisfied with the deals in place. As for the secret weapon?

It turned out to be a machine to help grow crops in Yuki no Kuni. It was a project that Sousetsu had poured the country's money into as a way to help their citizens grow food and not left suffering in the hands of long winter periods. With this discovery, Yugito had backed out of destroying it if it turned out to be true. So far, Sousetsu's person was validated in Koyuki's eyes and with their people. The former daimyo remained a pacifist until his last breath.

It was during these times that Sakura had asked for Koyuki's autograph that the new daimyo graciously gave her along with a commemorative photo. Theirs were more formal.

Naruto however...

"Told you, you're hot stuff for female nobility, you idiot."

"Gah..."

"Hey, at least you get to live out your fantasies of saving princesses from evil tyrants." Sakura added. She smiled and chuckled a little to cover her mouth.

"B-B-But..." Naruto stuttered, shakily holding the photo in his hands.

"No buts, Naruto. From now on, when we're handling missions involving females and noble bloods, you're going to be our go to guy."

"I hate to admit it, but Sasuke-kun's right, Naruto. Much as I think you'll become the enemy of women everywhere, I just don't think that a better deal couldn't have been arranged without you around. What did she call you? 'Her miracle'?"

Sakura mentioned that last part with air quotes.

Naruto was glaring at his teammates.

In his hand was another commemorative photo, this time, much more personal. With Koyuki kissing Naruto's cheeks, unconscious and him being cradled in her arms. Also note, a signature with a heart and an additional message that told him to come back to her country when he turned eighteen.

Inside his head, Jiraiya was dancing, laughing and prancing around like a madman throwing confetti all around shouting the words "harem protagonist".

Things were not looking good for him.

Or not.

whichever you prefer.


Konoha:

It was another day later that Naruto and his team arrived in Konoha, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto had reported to Tsunade about their mission.

Though Tsunade was a bit concerned about the encounter involving Kumo, she was relieved when Naruto of all people, managed to convince the Kumo delegates to take their stance and support the legitimate heir. She slumped her shoulders and breath a sigh of relief at that point. She also managed to laugh at Naruto's situation when he had to forced to show his photo with the princess.

"In my defense, I used too much chakra intensive jutsus and seals and was knocked out after that. You try fighting a bijuu then going over to assassinate a rage induced daimyo."

Tsunade had to stifle her laughter and had to praise Naruto's decisions during the mission along with Sasuke's and Sakura's.

"You three did a remarkable job despite being newly minted jounin, relatively. Especially you, Naruto, you knew what information to let go and keep especially concerning our problems with Orochimaru."

Naruto gave a nod, "The less people know about it, the better. The last thing we need is a nasty group of nameless thugs roaming the country with that stuff since we're still far from a breakthrough."

Sakura and Tsunade gave a serious nod at this and then the Hokage added, "Which is why you three will be on break this week to see through these projects that I'm having."

Tsunade laid out the two files in front of the trio.

The Cursed Seal project

The Caged Bird seal project

"Naruto, Sakura, you two will be working on these two projects with two separate teams. Sasuke will be involved as one of the three patients concerning the first project. The second will involve Hyuuga Neji."

The trio looked serious for a moment as Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this, Naruto did as well as he held both files within his hands and passing a copy of each to Sakura.

"This will be a joint project with the Fuinjutsu team and the Medical corps. Jiraiya will be working with Naruto and I will be working with Sakura every few days. We're hoping for a breakthrough hopefully within this year. We can't follow a certain timetable especially with what we have right now, but hopefully, just within the year, we can make a journal of our studies and use the data to solve one or two of our problems."

A knock on the door interrupted their talks as Jiraiya entered, followed by Neji and Hinata.

"With your groundbreaking discovery a year ago, I felt that we can finally make head way with the cursed seal. The caged bird seal is a different beast altogether." Tsunade continued and Jiraiya nodded.

"We're inching closer towards Orochimaru and for now, our borders are secured against Akatsuki, your teachers are doing a fine job in keeping the enemy at bay. Just so we're cleaaaaaa, is that a photo of Naruto being kissed by Fujikaze Yukie!?"

Jiraiya was quick to grab the photo from Tsunade's hands as his pervert senses went into overdrive and looked at the autographed copy.

"MY BOY, YOU MAKE ME PROUD TO BE YOUR SENSEI!"

This got a different reaction from Hinata, though.

"Naruto-kun..."

Naruto didn't know why, but he felt like his soul was burning in hell for something he didn't do.

"I didn't do it! I'm innocent!"


To be continued...

Jutsu list

Kumo Ryu: Kaenmaru 雲流: 火炎丸 (Cloud-style: Flame Circle)" - C-Rank A technique that encircles the user with flames to act as a deterrent for any assailant to attack the user. It is usually followed by an attack from within the encirclement.

Shukuchi 縮地 (Reduced Earth) - A-Rank A technique that gives the user extremely fast speed. By kicking the ground with force, the user can go exceptionally fast and leave a mark on the ground. The technique does not require chakra to expend but requires enough leg strength to force the user to accelerate. This is not a shinobi based art but rather A samurai based one. The inspiration for this came from Sojiro from Rurouni Kenshin

Homura Dama 焔霊 (Burning Soul) - B-rank a technique that wreathes the user's sword with fire. This technique has two purposes, one is to hide the blade and thus the true strike to slash down enemies, the other is to burn the target if the blade does not hit. The inspiration for this technique is Shishio's techniques from Rurouni Kenshin

Raiton: Kussetsu Raikou Ha 雷遁: 屈折電光波 (Lightning Release: Bending Lightning Wave)- B-Rank- A jutsu that homes in on a target's ionic charge. The lightning traces the charge and follows the target around until it hits. It's B-rank nature is due to its difficulty to control and only those with much experience and good skill in chakra control can properly use this jutsu effectively

Fuinjutsu: Kongo Fusa Mane no Jutsu 封印術:金剛封鎖真似 (Sealing Arts: Adamantine Sealing Chains Mimicry)- A-Rank- A sealing jutsu mostly used by an Uzumaki without the inert ability to use the true Adamantine Sealing Chains. This jutsu molds the chakra of the user and turns it into a pair of sealing chains. With the help of the Kage Bunshin, these sealing chains can multiply and be as effective as the original. Due to the nature of this jutsu, it requires a lot of chakra to manifest the sealing chains themselves hence its difficulty.

Fuinjutsu: Tensa Shibari 封印術: 天鎖縛り (Sealing arts: Heavenly Chains Binding)- A-Rank- The ability to bind that is as good as the Kongo Fusa. It stops the enemy dead in its tracks and binds the victim's ability to use chakra and suppress whatever it sets out to do. Chains spout from the ground and pierce the enemy upwards binding them in place and leaving them unable to use jutsu to escape.