Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or one piece or any other anime I use in this fic, all the credit goes to the authors of the respective series.

Go ahead and enjoy.

Chapter 8

Moments before the Civil War,

Naruto was still outside, overlooking the battlefield. As a pretty good sensor he could feel the chakra of the shinobi living in Kiri and he could feel them gathering their forces together for the final battle. He was anticipating the battle that was about to occur and he was not looking forward to it as he knew many would perish in this battle. This was primarily the reason he was even helping a country that helped destroy his clan.

While he was no stranger to killing and saw it as a necessity to kill a few so that many could live, he did not like innocents dying. Which is why he had baited the Mizukage into meeting them in an open field to decide the winner once and for all. The life of a shinobi mainly revolves around stealth and assassination but when it came to situations like this and the Great Ninja Wars, every shinobi and kunoichi took everything they had in their arsenal to the battlefield and tried to prove their worth.

This was one of those situations.

Naruto could have simply attacked the village by using his powers and destroy the walls of the village and have the army of the rebel leaders go through it. This would have been simply and effective, but the Mizukage still had civilians locked up in there and Naruto would not sacrifice them just to kill the Mizukage.

But it wasn't his job to worry about them anyway.

The only reason Mei and the rest of the rebels allowed him to lead this attack was because he was their best chance at survival and containing losses, and ability wise he was the only one who could even match the Mizukage when it came to battle. Mei and the rest of the leaders would have trouble handling him even with their combined strength, this is why he was leading this battle.

His strategies were also the only thing that allowed the rebels to deal such damage to the Mizukage's forces in such a short time. Seeing his capabilities, he was now the leader of the forces that would finally end the rule of this tyrant.

He was broken out of his thoughts as someone gently placed a hand on his shoulder, and he wasn't startled in the slightest as he could feel the familiar chakra that resonated with his. It was his adopted sister after all, Karin Uzumaki.

She was a year younger than him and her life had been one of complete tragedy and heartache.

She and her mother, who had been living at the edge of the Fire Country were forced to flee away from their village when she was 8 years old. They thought they were fortunate when some jonin of the Village Hidden in the Grass (Kusagakure) had found them and helped them. They were brought to their village and treated well. But they soon discovered their true motive.

They were after the special ability her mother possessed. Anyone who bit into her skin and ingested some of her DNA or chakra into them would be able to recover from their injuries, depending on the magnitude of the injuries and how much chakra they were supplied with. She helped them since they allowed her and her daughter refuge in their village, but soon came to regret it.

Karin's mother, Kuina, was used as a blood factory to treat anyone who even had the slightest of injuries and the everyone would always brutally hurt her while doing so, since they discovered she could heal herself. Kuina was helpless as Karin was their hostage and she could not let her daughter be killed by them

This went for over 3 years, until one day, Karin finally showed signs of possessing the same ability. Kuina was scared for her daughter's fate as she understood the true price behind that power. She knew they were constantly being monitored, so she utilized her best skill as an Uzumaki for the first time in a while: the Chakra Chains.

She could only manifest three of them and used them to escape the village with her daughter in her arms, using it as a rope to fling the two across trees and landscape. Though it helped her go on for a while, ninja from Kusa eventually caught up to them and stabbed her.

This caused her to lose focus and she fell down along with Karin who injured herself as well, but healed her wound instantly. This caused the jonin in front of them to grin cruelly as this meant they could now use Karin as well and he thought of disposing the older woman as he knew that she would always try and escape with her daughter, and they did not want to chance her being discovered by Konoha as it could lead to war due to agreement between them to locate Uzumaki clan members and return them to Konoha.

So, he decided to get rid of the problem and used a tanto to stab the woman multiple times in the stomach and brutally laughed while doing so. The very next moment his arm was cut off and blood gushed out of it like a fountain.

He was shocked and pain filled his entire body, his forces behind him were shocked as well and became more alert. Soon they met the reason for the missing hand of their boss. A boy not older than 12 or 13, was coming towards them with cold eyes and an o-katana that glowed red as if it was being heated in a furnace.

The jonin commanded them to attack him and then a massacre began. The boy killed all of them, quite brutally. They fell one by one like flies, and the last thing they saw before their death was a boy… no a demon, wielding a sword and cold heterochromatic eyes, sending their souls to the Shinigami with a slash of his sword.

That boy was Naruto Uzumaki-Senju, who was passing by when he sensed familiar chakra that resonated with his and arrived at the scene.

He quickly tried to treat the lady, but she refused saying that she had already used up all her life force in these 3 years. That was the price of that ability. A person could use their chakra to heal people but for a person like her, who was born with low chakra reserves (for an Uzumaki), it was too much for her and she perished. Her last request was that he take care of her daughter, something Naruto vowed to do till the end of his days.

He consoled Karin after the poor child watched her mother's life drain out of her eyes at such a young age. No child should suffer from this, but unfortunately circumstances did not favor them.

Naruto then proceeded to ask her what she wanted to do after this, and Karin's answer surprised him. She wanted to follow him to become stronger so something like this never happens, but she wanted to avenge her mother first. Naruto understood where she was coming from, and he explained to her that dedicating herself to avenge her mother's death would not bring out her true potential.

Karin was sad about this as that meant she would not be allowed to get revenge for her mother's abuse, but Naruto surprised her once again. He told her something she would always live by.

'Never let the people who hurt your family get away. Hurt them but do not lose yourself while doing so, as it would mean that your mother's sacrifice was for nothing.'

Naruto wasn't going to let anyone who hurt his clan get away without paying the price. What followed next, reached the ears of all the villages, even the Great Villages.

In a single night, every single ninja in the Hidden Grass Village, from Genin to Jonin along with their Daimyo (small villages do not have kages) and his guards had been killed. The civilians also do not know anything that happened as their memories had been wiped. The very knowledge of the shinobi and their arts had been erased from their minds (Naruto created a seal that erases the memoires of a civilian since their mind is unguarded by their chakra and could be easily altered. The seal would draw chakra from the civilian's body and the surrounding, and would keep going till they die).

They were all shocked and sent the best of their scouts to get an idea of what happened. And all of them gave the same report when they returned.

"The civilians did not have anything to say, as if their memory had been wiped clean since they did not possess any knowledge about shinobi and only a few samurai and the likes were still alive. A new daimyo had been appointed, the cousin of the late daimyo that was killed. But a statue of a woman had been left at the end of the village, with the words:

Here lies a mother who sacrificed everything to protect her child. Long live Kuina Uzumaki, a true mother. She was hurt by these monsters and now she has been avenged. May she rest in peace. Beware our enemies, long live the Uzumaki. We did not disappear into the night; if you mess with us, we shall come for you.

A very high-level sealing barrier surrounded her grave and no one could get through it. If anyone tried, they would be electrocuted immediately."

This shocked everyone for multiple reasons: first, an entire village of ninjas was annihilated for one woman; and secondly, the fact that the Uzumaki's were back. This especially terrified Iwa and Kumo as they were the ones responsible for their destruction along with Kiri, but they were the ones involved the most, unlike Kiri who only sent 100-200 shinobi. This needed to be dealt with but they did not have any leads to what happened.

Even Konoha was stumped. Kushina being the most shocked, as this was the first time in so many years ever since the demise of Uzu, that any news regarding had come through. She did not know what had exactly happened, but she would definitely find out as she could not help but feel that her missing son was somehow related to this, but she prayed for his safety.

Back to the present, Karin stood beside her older brother and guardian as she watched him drown in his thoughts. She knew that he did not like killing, but he would do it if it meant it was the only way, and right now, it was.

"Nii-san, the forces have been organized. The leaders need to be assigned to each squad and tasks need to be distributed. Let's go, we have a battle to win," she told him as she watched him look at her with pride in her eyes. She had come a long way with his help, and she would forever be indebted to him.

Naruto smiled lightly as he watched the fierce determination and the eyes of the girl he had saved and left with her to address the army of the rebels. It was time to end this.

An Hour Later

It was time.

The forces of the rebel factions had gathered near the Snowy Mountains, and the leaders were also prepared to go out and give it their all, along with every single shinobi out there. In the distance, near the borders of the village, forces of Kiri shinobi could be seen gathering, led by masked men who served as leaders. These men belonged to the FLOW unit of Kirigakure. They served as the ANBU of the village and had status just below that of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. They were not to be taken lightly.

A short man could be seen standing above all of them, as he stood on the walls of the village and watched the battlefield like a hawk. This was Yagura Karatachi, the Yondaime Mizukage and the Jinchuriki of the Sanbi. A man so brutal and vicious, he slaughtered half of his own people.

Naruto had already called dibs on that fucker.

He turned his head towards the other Uzumaki beside him and asked her, "Karin, how do you feel about them? Anyone worth saving?"

The reason he asked this of her? Simple; as an Uzumaki, Karin was naturally good at sensing people however, she also had a special ability called Mind's Eye of the Kagura, a special technique that allowed the user to enhance their senses exceptionally, allowing them to not only sense chakra at a great distance, but also sense the intent of the people. The more innocent the person, the purer and comforting their chakra felt. But people who had been swallowed by their darkness, their chakra seems malicious and borderline psychopathic.

Naruto asked her to utilize this ability to ensure if anyone worth saving amidst the forces of the enemies. But to her surprise, "Nii-sama, all of them have chakra as dark as the night. It feels as if they relished exterminating their fellow comrades who possessed a bloodline. None of them even feel human to me." Karin informed Naruto as sweat ran down her forehead. While this technique did not take a toll on her, the pressure from the malicious chakra and the killer intent she felt was making her feel sick. These people were truly not human.

Naruto only nodded and steeled his resolve as he took in a breath to stabilize himself. This was going to be his first taste of war and he did not want to make a mistake and pay for it in between the battle. He turned around to address the army one final time, "Everyone! This is it! The moment you all have fought for is here. Victory is only one battle away. Don't give up now! Even if their numbers overwhelm ours, we shall fight till our last breath, so give it your all!"

The morale of the rebel forces shot up and they started cheering as well. Mei and the others took their time addressing the army as well and informed them to be careful as their dream was about to come true and they wanted all of them to see it blossom with them. This was enough to get the army fired up. And moments later the battle began.

Meanwhile in Konoha,

In the Hokage's office in the Hidden Leaf Village, alongside the Hokage, the Yellow Flash, Minato Namikaze, dozens of other shinobi and kunoichi of the village were gathered as they had been summoned to lead a team of genins and have them experience the world of shinobi and how they were expected to work in this world, along with the harsh realities.

They were just about to begin when the door opened and a guest walked in, surprising anyone as nobody expected him to take a genin team after what had happened the last time, he took a team of students to train.

Minato, who was just as surprised as everyone else spoke up, "Orochimaru-san, are you also here for the genin team placements or is it something else?"

Orochimaru, still wearing his makeup, gave a snake-like smile to his friend's apprentice before saying, "I am here to request a couple of individuals for my team as well, Hokage-sama."

This surprised everyone greatly as Orochimaru had refused to take a team to train every time he was offered the chance to, after the death of his first team which included Tsunade's younger brother, Nawaki Senju. He had only trained a couple of apprentices after that and yet he had never taken a team again. But right now, he was about to, for the first time in almost thirty years. This excited the other jonin as they wanted to know who had caught the eyes of the strongest of the Legendary Sannin.

"So, I guess you can pick first since you did not put in an application before but it is fine. So, who is it that you would like to choose, Orochimaru-san?" Minato said with a visible smile on his face as he could relax a bit now. With one of the sannin leading a team, the probability of students passing this year would definitely increase. Their chances of surviving in the field will increase as well.

"Minato-kun, I would like to request Kaguya Uchiha and Ai Hayasaka-Hyuga for my team. Those two would suffice."

This once again surprised everyone as they had heard about these two girls. Both were rumored to be extremely beautiful but whenever someone tried to approach them, they would stare at him like that person was a dung beetle or something worse. The two were also extremely powerful and were known to have great potential as they had achieved near perfect score in practical exams and were known to be able to perform several C and B rank ninjutsu quite easily.

"Orochimaru-san, you are aware that that you would be required to take one more student right since our teams perform in a 4-man cell?" Minato questioned along with several jonin nodding alongside him.

"Do not worry Hokage-sama, I have seen these two young women grow up and become the kunoichi they are today, and have even had a hand in training these two. These two would be enough and any other person would just be a liability to our team."

Minato felt helpless in this situation and could not help but agree with Orochimaru's demands as if he decided to add another person to the cell, it could affect the functionality of the team and he could not risk that so, he agreed.

Next, he turned to another jonin and said, "Kakashi, please select your students and give me information on the type of team you envision them to be?"

Kakashi Hatake, the only survivor of Minato's genin team and his beloved student, put down his signature orange Icha-Icha Tactics book, and said, "Hokage-sama, I want Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Sai on my team. I can teach Sasuke how to utilize his sharingan and help him adjust to it. Sakura from what I know is exceptionally smart and has good chakra control so she could be a good medic. And as for Sai, he is skilled due to his time in ROOT, and his skills would come in handy, considering I want to make this team a frontal assault/assassination team. He is definitely above genin level but I believe working with this team would help him recover from his experience in ROOT."

As usual, Kakashi had given the perfect reasoning as well as selected the perfect candidates for the type of team he wants to make. Minato gave a small smile looking at his student with a proud look in his eyes as he looked at how far his student had come from being the arrogant bastard that not many people liked to the man he is today. Though he could hold off on his tardiness and perverted giggles a bit.

A few other jonin went next and selected many civilian students, before it came down to Asuma, Kurenai and Kushina Uzumaki. Yes, she had also decided to return to her duties as a kunoichi of Konoha and had decided to take a genin team as well. Asuma and Kurenai chose an intelligence gathering and hunting/tracking team respectively (same as canon).

Kushina came forward as it was finally her turn and with a serious attitude she said, "Hokage-sama, I would like to request Menma, Natsumi and Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze on my team as I believe being a former jinchuriki, I can help them control their chakra and with my chakra chains I can also restrict them and keep them from going out of control. This team would be a heavy hitting team with Menma and Natsumi as the main mid to long range fighters and Mito as a combat medic."

Minato was satisfied with her explanation and also smiled slightly thinking that about his children finally becoming ninja of Konoha village. However, at the same time, his eyes dimmed and he felt extreme sadness and regret wash over him as he realized not all of his children were passing today.

Kushina noticed this and had trouble keeping her emotions at bay as well. Ever since she had lost her son, she hadn't been the same and many people noticed this but nobody asked her why. Only Mikoto Uchiha knew the reason and they hadn't spoken in years, ever since the 8th birthday of their kids. Kushina had finally figured out why they weren't speaking anymore and had tried to reconnect a few years back, when she found out that Naruto was friends with Mikoto's daughter. They had talked for a few moments when Kaguya had walked in and Kushina had to admit, the girl was truly beautiful.

But the disgust with which the child had looked at her, had made her realize just how much she had fucked up. If Naruto's friend had looked at her with such an expression, how would her son look at her if she ever met him again?

Only time would tell, and Kushina did not know whether she wanted to find out the answer to that question.

Back in the Mist

The battle was raging like a wild storm. Countless corpses littered the ground as rivers of blood drenched the battlefield and stained it red. Screams of the people kept increasing each passing moment and even after an hour, the war did not show signs of stopping. Although the mountain of bodies of the fallen kept rising, most of them were from the side of the Mizukage's forces.

This was due to the fact that Karin had summoned her contracted animal clan to aid her in battle. She was one of the few who possessed the fabled summoning contracts that the Uzumaki had in their possession. Her summons, the Wolf Clan, were wreaking havoc on the battlefield as the mist ninja did not have a counter to this move and hence, they lost many of their men to the towering beasts that used their claws, fangs and swords to tear apart the enemy forces.

The ninja of the mist were subdued easily but they were not the problem. The first problem was the FLOW unit that was currently being handled by Ao and his forces that included many elite ninja that belonged to the hunter-nin corps that rebelled alongside him, and the leaders were also a part of that battle.

While the Mizukage had numbers on his side, the rebels had experience as well as the power of bloodlines with them. This helped the forces a lot as the FLOW unit was more suited towards assassinations and working in the shadows. Many of their abilities were related to sneaking around and finishing the fight in a moment. However, with a significant amount of sensor ninjas on Ao's side, this was proving to be a difficult task.

While this was going on, Mei was currently engaged in a heated battle with her former commander and friend, the captain of the FLOW unit, Turtle or Hirata Momochi. They were former teammates and attended the academy together as well, but when he tried to kill her after he cornered her with many of their unit members, she lost all trust and respect for him. Though it still pained her that she had to fight and kill a comrade she had been through so much with.

While all this was going on, Naruto stood face to face with the man responsible for the slaughter, the Yondaime Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi. He was a short man, with shaggy brownish-green hair and pink pupilless eyes, that showed no shred of remorse or guilt for the lives lost today. He had a scar going down his right cheek, which seemed to have been stitched up though it was clear that it was caused due to a sword. He had rather long staff on his back that was riddled with uneven hooks and had a flower shaped design at the end.

Naruto felt nothing but disgust looking at the man who committed genocide and massacred his own people, from infants to the elderly.

"Was this what you envisioned you reign to be like, Yagura Karatachi? Was it worth it? Look around you. These are your people that are losing their lives over your grudge. Was all of this worth spilling their blood?" Naruto spoke with a raised voice as he noticed that the battle was nearly finished. The ninja that had surrendered were being rounded off while Karin and a few other made their way close to them. In the distance, Ao and his team could also be seen making their way towards him, while Mei put the finishing touches on her battle with the commander. Looks like they were having a last conversation before she took his life.

"There is no point in me answering your question, Naruto Uzumaki. However, I can see now that I have lost this battle. Even though I might lose my life, I am still a Kage. I will be damned if I didn't take you down to hell with me," Yagura spoke up as he slowly drew his staff and assumed a stance that was often observed by people who practiced bojutsu.

Naruto knew that it was pointless to continue talking and decided to make the first move himself. He made two hand signs before he thrust his left hand forward and bolt of black lightning rushed towards his opponent, who was taken by surprise due to the color of the lightning as it was a technique unique to Kumogakure.

Naruto did not actually need hand signs to use ninjutsu that belonged to elements making up his devil fruit abilities. But he did not show that as it may cause quite a commotion. Even Tobirama used at least 5 to 6 hand signs just to not show his capability.

Yagura watched as the attack drew near and he did not have to guess what the result will be if it collided with him so he quickly used his secret jutsu, the Water Mirror technique which caused another Naruto to appear and use the same technique, even though the attack was weaker and the lightning that appeared was blue in color, it did its job and weakened the attack greatly, before Yagura used Wind Style: Wind Cutter technique to completely nullify the streak of lighting racing towards him.

After the brief exchange of power, the two certainly understood where they were at and what their opponent's level was. While Naruto had more quantity and highly dense chakra to rely on, Yagura had more experience and speed. This didn't surprise Naruto as he knew that the man in front of him, even though he was short and very young compared to other kage, he could easily give every one of them a run for their money.

And the reason for that, he was using now. The chakra of the Tailed Beast sealed inside of him. While Yagura could not utilize the full power of the Sanbi like how Killer B of Kumo could, he was still fairly adept in using it. And this was definitely the moment Naruto was waiting for. He fumbled through his pouch that hung limp on his hip, and pulled out a sealing tag and began making some last-minute changes to the kanji inscribed on it.

His concentration was shattered by a ferocious roar as he jumped away at the last second before a heavy, turtle shaped creature crashed into the ground he was standing on. yes, Yagura Karatachi had entered the Tailed Beast Mode, even though it was only version two. The body of the creature was completely red and two huge tails swayed behind him. It looked at Naruto's direction and an inhumane roar followed as everyone's attention turned towards the fight between their soon-to-be dead Kage, and the man who was leading them to victory.

While most people would have experienced nervousness or fear at this moment, Naruto simply grinned. Why? It was simple. In this state, Yagura was more vulnerable to Naruto's attacks than in his normal state. With Naruto's chakra chains and sealing techniques, Yagura had landed himself in a lot of trouble at the moment.

What followed suit was probably the most one-sided fight the ninjas present at the battlefield had ever seen and by the end of it, they were left gaping at the sheer power the young Uzumaki possessed. Without wasting a second, Naruto blitzed past the red beast, and began barraging it with multiple clones that unleashed a volley of elemental jutsus on the beast, and while it did not serve any damage to the monster, it served its purpose of halting the beast in place.

But Yagura did not stay idle as he blasted an incomplete tailed-beast bomb and blew the clones away. Its eyes caught a flicker of gold coming towards him but he couldn't move out of the way fast enough and thus ended getting caught in a mass of golden chains, the chains made out of the special chakra of the Uzumaki Clan. These chains were the same ones that had restrained the Kyuubi long enough for Hashirama to seal in his wife, Mito Uzumaki and were also used by Kushina to hold back the Kyuubi while Minato sealed the beast in their children.

However, these chains of Naruto were… different. Because, if one paid close attention it looked as if the red corrosive chakra that shrouded the Yondaime Mizukage, was receding and disappearing into thin air. This shocked all the ninjas present since it is a well-known fact that both a kage and bijuu had massive chakra reserves. So, how was this possible?

Simple, Naruto had also attached several sealing tags to his chains that were specifically designed by him to reduce the power of a jinchuriki and also reduce the influence it corrupted chakra of the bijuu had on the jinchuriki. Naruto did not stay idle during this time and quickly began bombarding the weakened kage with a barrage of ninjutsu. He knew that after the transformation ended, Yagura would be momentarily weakened and so, he took his chance.

Soon, the Kage lay tired and defeated on the floor, moments away from passing away, and Naruto silently walked towards him.

"Naruto Uzumaki… I guess I will remember you… in the afterlife. Thank you… for freeing me… from this curse," Yagura spoke with ragged breathes as he thanked Naruto after breaking off from what he recognized was a powerful illusion that had been caste on the poor man who was forced into taking the lives of his own people. Naruto didn't say anything but just offered a silent prayer to the Shinigami to carry on the man's soul to the afterlife where he could finally live, in peace.

He did not hear the members of the rebel army cheering, nor did he hear the thundering of the clouds as the heavens wept due to the bloody war that had taken place today. His only focus was on finding the man responsible for this and making him pay, something he vowed to do.

Author's Notes

So yeah, it's done. I have never written a fight scene before so I know it sucked but please do tell me how I can improve in the future. Naruto will return to Konoha in the next chapter or two.

Stay tuned for the next chapter, Canon is about to start.

Kirigakure MAP – Krigakure Map | Naruto Profile Wiki | Fandom

See ya.