Here we are again, my friends. I'm still not sure where I'm going, but as the dead gods are my witnesses, I think we're headed in the right direction.

Let's get this trainwreck moving.


In the late morning of a new day, Yuurei sat high in the branches of a tree to restore himself. He was a scant few minutes from Konoha, but rest had been a luxury that he couldn't truly afford during his time learning Fuinjutsu in the City of the Dead. He wasn't at any particular risk; his demonic constitution afforded him the ability to eat and sleep far less than a normal human, though he hadn't yet reached the stage of demonhood that would allow him to ignore mortality's constraints altogether. As his conscious mind faded, he cycled through the recent memories he'd experienced in Uzushiogakure, wanting to reinforce the skills he'd been taught. A bitter scent filled Yuurei's ears, however, and he opened an eye as he scanned the area with his chakra.

Soldiers were moving through the trees, some of them directly below him. Ninja heading west, like he was, in enormous numbers. And the headbands they wore were a warning sign that Yuurei couldn't ignore: hitai-ate branded with the symbol of Kirigakure. If all truths were to be made equal, the blond was willing to launch himself into their ranks and begin a wholesale slaughter...but even for an engine of destruction like him, the sheer weight of numbers would come back to bite him. As Yuurei snaked out his sensory technique, borrowed from Kakashi's memories, he found an utterly shocking scene—from the rough directions of Suna, Kumo, and Iwa, three other forces had mobilized toward Konoha. Recalling his technique and hoping he hadn't been counter-sensed, Yuurei launched himself to the top of the treeline and made a bum-rush for his home hidden village.

Deep in his heart, though, he was combating the idea that it was far too late. As the sun rose to its zenith, drums sounded from Konoha's inner city. Yuurei didn't know what the occasion was—he only knew that waves of deadly force had come to raze his homeland to its roots. Now wearing the black-cloth Uzushio headband on his forehead, his worn rags finally tore their way off of his upper body as he ran. A thoughtless kunai followed behind the fabric, pinning it to a tree trunk and preventing it from falling. The last thing he needed was for the enemy to be alerted to his presence. In the distance, a loud cry rang out, and an explosion rocked the northern gate of Konoha as Iwagakure's forces started to pour into the city.

Yuurei closed his eye in solemn silence, knowing that there was nothing he could do until he got there. But in that moment of lonely darkness, something reached out to him—something cold, and burning, and filled to the brim with acid. A red light bathed his inner sight in its glory, both eyes snapping open. He felt no hate, no love, no fear, no rage; coating his entire being was the will to dominate all life, and drive it to extinction. Unbidden, he felt his scars ache across his body, and his teeth seemed to pronounce themselves from inside of his mouth. In this moment, Yuurei decided that the wanton slaughter of any and all enemies was to be his duty, his honor, and his pleasure. From the center of the village, a siren sounded, and Naruto understood that the village would be on alert; unless an incredible opportunity presented itself, this area outside of the city's walls would be his battlefield.

As Yuurei fell through the trees, he grabbed the heads of two Kiri-nin, his bare hands crushing their skulls inward and splattering their brains a few feet in any direction. The demonic aura that he exuded would make the unaware avoid him out of uneasiness, but now that he'd revealed himself in the midst of these soldiers, they had no choice but to acknowledge him. Throwing the beheaded corpses to the ground, Yuurei pressed his advantage as he flew through a string of hand seals, a massive Doheki mud wall rising to cut off the Kiri-nin behind him. Then, facing the dozen or so ninja who'd stopped to turn and fight, his hands began to move once more. Monkey. Dragon. Rat. Bird. Ox. Snake. Dog. Tiger. Monkey. Living lightning encased the flesh of Yuurei's right hand as he shot forward. His every step seemed to move with a shunshin, and his enemies were dead before the Doheki behind him crumbled to reveal the remaining horde of Kiri-nin. Streams of light flowed into his body, invigorating him as his opponents watched, and the spinning tomoe of his Sharingan moved with his killing strikes.

After the slaughter was over, the blond didn't bother counting bodies. He knew very well that he'd only caught the tail end of Kiri's invasive force, and that the vast majority of them had already started breaking and killing their way into Konoha. Bile rose in his throat at the notion, his gaze transfixed on the Hokage Monument as he moved toward the northern gate. Before he got too far, however, a demonic presence overwhelmed his senses—one that was far more muted than his own, and several shades weaker than the monstrous clone who'd sat in Uzushiogakure.

Kumogakure, it seemed, had seen fit to bring a Jinchuriki to the battlefield. That was far from a pleasant surprise, but at the same time...Yuurei wanted a true test of his abilities. It was his nature; for a demon to come across another demon on this battlefield, not finding out who was stronger would have been more bizarre. Immediately, all plans of suppressing the forces outside of the walls were put on hold. Taking care of the enemy Jinchuriki was a much higher priority. Violence echoed in Yuurei's heart, and hell broke loose as he launched an enormous Karyuu Endan into the not-so-distant force from Rai no Kuni. And, with its explosion, a vision of hell descended on earth. Wisps of light made their way to Yuurei's body as flames began to eat away at the foundation of the world, his hands twisting into the seals of the Futon: Teikiatsu. The cyclone pulled those flames into its center of power as it shot out from the blond's body, and he heard several dying screams as burning flesh was torn apart.

Pulling out a pair of shuriken, Yuurei bit into a finger and let his chakra flow with his blood. With nothing but chakra control, he etched a seal into both shuriken before throwing them far in front of him. Moments later, a massive explosion resounded, and several more Kumo-nin were killed. Now, witnessing the destruction that one ninja could cause, they took off to face him—right into his trap. The shrapnel from the shuriken came alive with electricity that arced between their other pieces as Yuurei activated the Raiton: Raigen'ya, and the smell of ozone mixed with burnt flesh as Yuurei walked through a new field of corpses. Fragments of their strength poured into him, and he seemed perfectly relaxed as he moved in on the position of Kumogakure's Jinchuriki.

A blonde woman with startlingly red eyes was preparing to invade Konoha, past the massive hole she'd blown into the city's wall, but something stopped her. It was a dark and sensitive force, one that almost seemed to caress the inside of her skull—she shuddered at its touch, turning to see the source. There was Yuurei, staring at her with one demonic eye and one Sharingan, with sandals and black pants the only clothes that had survived his trials since leaving Konoha so many months ago. The scars that coated his upper body were on full display, but none piqued the woman's interest quite like the lines of cuts in his throat. In spite of her curiosity, though, the neck-hair beneath her ponytail stood on end—a warning sign that the young man in front of her was a serious opponent.

"I don't recognize that headband." She said. "I'm Yugito. Who are you?"

Yuurei pondered that question for a moment, making no move to attack. Instead, as the opposing Jinchuriki watched him, he crossed his arms and stopped moving forward.

"Let's make a deal." He said, and Yugito shivered as the ambient temperature dropped more than a dozen degrees. From inside of its seal, the Nibi no Nekomata was screaming at Yugito to run away without listening to a word Yuurei said. But, whether it was her own inability or a byproduct of Yuurei's nature as the Oathkeeper, she was rooted to the ground and unable to hear her inner demon.

"You leave now, you take whatever comrades you want with you...and I won't follow after you. I swear it."

Those final three words seemed to shake the world, from Yugito's perspective. A sense of vertigo assaulted her vision, and she felt sweat start to pour down from her forehead as the forest's temperature returned to normal. All throughout, the dark force inside of her senses hadn't stopped moving to coat her brain. With a burst of the Nibi's chakra, she shook herself sober of Yuurei's demonic presence, and her entire body was on pins and needles from the pressure he exerted.

"You don't seem like someone I'm going to have much fun fighting, but...no dice, kid. I don't really have a choice in the matter."

Yugito was a Jounin, and an experienced one at that. Coupled with her ability to draw on the strength of a Biju, she was a formidable opponent that any sane human wouldn't go out of their way to face. But Yuurei wasn't human, and his pool of experience extended back to before Yugito had begun her training as a ninja. She was more than a decade older than him, but he was still confident in his power.

"You're right." He said, his body wavering as he appeared behind her. "You don't have a choice, but I do. So whatever happens, you don't have to accept any blame."

In a flash, the nails on Yugito's fingers and toes had extended into hardened claws. She swung her left hand at Yuurei as she backed away, but the shallow cuts she delivered healed before her eyes. He remained unfazed, looking at her with the sort of laziness that a civilian might reserve for a very large bug that they didn't quite feel like squashing.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." He said as he crossed his hands in half-Ram seals. With only that warning, a thousand copies of the blond arrived to surround Yugito, and each one gave off the same horrendous sense of pressure. Inside of her mind, Matatabi screamed in confusion. There was no way this should be happening, the Nibi told herself, and there was no reason for her host to be caught up in the consequences of this scene.

Yugito became a whirling dervish, attacking each clone that came her way and destroying them after they took a lethal blow, but she couldn't defend her entire body as she did so. Powerful blows rained down upon her, augmented by chakra and pushing the limits of her endurance. As she toiled, Yuurei set to work on a layered Fuinjutsu array that circled around the area where Yugito was fighting his clones. Upon its completion, the markings in the ground began to glow blue as they spun, and it rapidly shrank in size. Hundreds of Yuurei's remaining clones were destroyed in seconds as the sealing circle tightened, until the only living creatures in the vicinity were Yuurei and Yugito.

"You're a Fuinjutsu expert?" Yugito gasped, the breadth of the seal leaving here only the room to move her chest as she breathed.

"I've only been studying for a few months." Yuurei replied honestly. In truth, the clone in Uzushiogakure hadn't taught him any extremely detailed arrays—in his estimation, and Yuurei's, it was better for him to come up with his own methods and ideas. And if he went back to Uzushio after completing his transformation into a demon, he could absorb the rest of the knowledge then. But that clone had also been made by a true Fuinjutsu master, whose skill in the esoteric field completely eclipsed any human Yuurei might come across.

"Bullshit. I knew people who studied for years and wouldn't trust themselves to make seals on the fly in battle!" The blonde raged, a vicious snarl on her face as she denied her captor's words.

"Why the past-tense? I'm not going to kill you unless you give me a reason. I'm sure you've felt my chakra rolling around in your body by now." Yuurei said mindlessly as his attention turned to a blank piece of paper. Blood seemed to be his preferred method of Fuinjutsu, he mused as he watched it drop. Before it could sink into the sheet, though, his chakra twisted it into a particular shape.

In Fuinjutsu, any number of markings could convey a certain meaning. Layering several of them together would strengthen that meaning. Even those humans who might make and use the seal Yuurei was crafting wouldn't dare to amplify its effects; the red-eyed demon had no such compulsion to stop. As more blood fell, the blond twisted it into new sigils, reinforcing the first intent while twisting its result. It was a cruel thing to do, he knew. She would never forgive him, for as long as she lived. But maybe, one day, she would thank him. Finally letting the blood fall into the paper, he walked several steps toward Yugito, who paled as she processed her inability to defend herself. In desperation, she kicked at the ground, and dirt came up to cover a portion of the seal that bound her—the blue light faded, and she did her best to leap away.

Yuurei decided to move first, and process later. Clones sprung up on either side of him, moving to intercept the fleeing Jinchuriki, and he followed behind them. As she threw out long slashes with her arms, a clone kicked the inside of her knee and made her drop into a kneeling pose. From there, her arms were held apart by other clones, and her remaining foot was stepped on.

"Just kill me." She growled in frustration. "I don't know what that seal is, but..."

"I already told you that I wouldn't kill you unless you gave me a reason. I have some decisions to make regarding my next course of action, but I've decided that I want you to be part of them." Yuurei said from behind her. She felt, more than heard, her captor lean down to whisper his next words to her. "You will serve me."

Yugito felt her ponytail move up as Yuurei lifted it gently, his hand almost seeming to caress the back of her neck as he softly placed his bloody seal into her skin. The clones Yuurei had summoned all disappeared, and Yugito was horrified to find that she couldn't move a muscle—even to breathe.

"You have autonomy." Yuurei said, and Yugito brought her arms down to catch herself before her face fell into the dirt.

"What did you do to me?" She asked, furious. As she stood up, she pulled away the paper that Yuurei had placed on her, she saw only a blank sheet; the seal had been imprinted into her skin, a bloody tattoo that she couldn't remove. Turning to face him, she waited for his answer.

"I like to solve my one-on-one problems without coming to blows, if possible. Typically by making...and enforcing...vows, oaths, and the like. You denied me that opportunity, so I had to decide on a new way to end our fight without killing you." He replied.

"So you chose an enslavement seal? What's wrong with you?" Yugito raged, hoping that somebody—anybody—would come to take this madman away from her.

"Strictly speaking, it's not an enslavement seal. Nowhere in the margins did I write that you were to be my slave, or my servant. What I did was make you completely obedient when I give you an order. You've kept your personality, you've kept your mind, and you've kept your chakra. But that seal can't be modified or removed, except by me, and I wouldn't suggest attacking me for as long as it's active."

Yuurei's words were met with a look of scorn.

"So it's an enslavement seal with some illusions of free will thrown in. Hooray. I feel so relieved." The blonde Jinchuriki said sarcastically, her unnatural red eyes twitching.

"We're in the middle of a war zone right now, but I'll have plenty of time to argue semantics with you when this is all over." Yuurei said. "In the meantime, though, maybe you can ask your demon for help or advice."

With that, the blond made his way back into the city of Konoha. Walking through the hole that Yugito had blown into the side of the city wall, he felt the older woman follow after him, and he marveled at her Bijuudama's destructive power. Were it not for the protective barrier seals that were in place, the gouged earth and accompanying burn marks might have continued on for several city blocks. As it stood, however, the small trench carried on for farther than he could measure at a glance. In the surrounding wreckage, ninja from Konoha were attempting to keep their invaders in check; Yuurei turned his back on them, confident in the idea that they could handle the situation after he'd killed so many others beyond the wall.

Instead, he set his sights to the north gate, where Iwagakure's ninja had begun a ruthless slaughter in the civilian sector of the village.